Last spring, I was regressing in my training. My legs were getting destroyed and my times were slowing down. I ran an awful half marathon on a hilly course where I didn't even break 1:40. At that time, I decided my training needed changing.
My greatest strength is probably my desire and work ethic. However, that is also my greatest weakest. I push, push and push until I fall over the edge. I'm terrible at taking the long term approach, even though I know I should. It has also been tough to take that approach because I've never been healthy very long.
After the spring, I decided that I would just stop running hard. I would work on my endurance base. I wanted to build up to where I could run high mileage comfortably. I also knew that trails helped my legs out tremendously, so I headed there for most of my runs.
This summer has been great with weeks of 40 miles of running and 100 miles of biking pretty consistently. When I ran the VIA Marathon in September, it was rather easy and I knew my endurance was at an all time high. That day, I had an inkling that I might have some decent speed too. I ran a 3:45 with relative ease. I didn't think I could run much under 4 hours at that point.
Still, it is hard to know if you have any speed until you test it out. Last week, I had an awesome 25 mile trail run that seemed pretty easy and was again thrilled at my endurance. Then on Friday, after 10 decent paced miles, I ran hard at the end and surprised myself with a 6:34 mile.
I figured it was time to test my speed a little more to see where I was truly at. After 3 days of 10+ miles earlier in the week, I rested yesterday. The plan today was just a mile warmup, then a fast 5K segment and a couple miles to cool down.
I decided to head to the Nor-Bath Trail since my legs are comfortable there. I started at Savage Road. I wanted to head out with the wind at my back. I knew my breathing would lag behind my legs and I couldn't afford to run into the wind.
I was hoping for something under a 7 minute pace. If I could hold that for 3.1 miles, I would be impressed. I kind of knew it was going to be a great day when I did the warmup mile. It was more like a moderate paced mile and I was cruising. I ran a half mile out and half mile back at 7:04.
I then picked it up and felt great early on. I was shocked when I first looked at my watch and was actually slightly under 6 minute pace. It didn't feel too hard at this point. I felt like I could go even faster, but of course I knew whenever I did that I'd really fall apart.
I've run so many 5Ks that I know how to pace myself for them. However, since I've been doing all slow runs, I wanted to run slightly slower from an effort standpoint than I normally would.
Of course my pace slid as would be expected. Mile 1 of the 5K trial was still a blazing 6:23. My breathing labored not too long after that. I kept pushing though, trying to find a balance between fast and not too fast. By 1.5 miles, I was struggling.
My pace was still awesome, even though it was falling off, so I got a huge boost from that. I just kept battling. I figured that I could at least get through the 2nd hard mile.
I came through that mile at another amazing 6:36. At this point, I was just thrilled with these 2 miles. I actually didn't even care much how I fell of in the final 1.1 miles. In fact, I slowed for the next .1 miles and clicked my watch at that point. I figured I could include the fairly fast warmup and just count that as a 5K. Even then, I would've impressed myself.
I picked it back up instead. I figured that I would just hang on as long as I could. My legs were still awesome. My lungs were just holding me back big time. Even though I was slowing, I was able to continue at a 6:44 pace for the final hard mile. That was so encouraging.
I got to Airport Road shortly before I was done with the hard segment. I wasn't going to cross the road, so I had to turn around and battle the headwind now. I actually pushed harder and was able to even drop this mile's pace in the final couple tenths.
That last hard mile was 6:41. Added altogether and my time was 20:23 (6:44 pace). It was well beyond even my best expectations for this run. It was wind aided, but I'd have to think whatever advantage the wind gave me would be the same as the disadvantage of running solo with no competitors.
I ran mostly out, so I was almost 3 miles away when I finished the run. That meant several slow miles back to cool down. I'm not sure I've ever had a happier few miles. I was fist pumping with excitement like I had won the Boston Marathon.
I'm probably not far off of breaking 20 minutes in a 5K. I used to do that all the time when I was 19, but that has only happened exactly once since then. That was my PR in 2010. I haven't had this kind of speed since 2010. In fact, I might've only run this fast one other time in addition to my PR. I'm very interested in seeing how much faster I can get by actually incorporating some regular speed into my runs. I may not be too far from PR land.
I definitely need to improve my lung capacity. Still, I want to be cautious with it. I don't need to get injured again. I'm going to stick with the same plan of lots of slow long runs. I will add one day a week of intervals, tempo runs, fartleks and stuff like that.
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised with this speed. After all, the way to run better/faster is to run more. It's not a big secret. Arthur Lydiard discovered that exact thing 50+ years ago. I just can't believe how much it seems to be ringing true now. We'll see where it goes from here, but my "Summer of Endurance" might be really paying off.
Tomorrow is a rest day from running. I'd like to go for a big bike ride. Hopefully it isn't as cold as today. Saturday, I'll likely run again. I'm kind of interested in running a real 5K now to see what I can do. I did find a night one in Reading on Tuesday evening. That might work.
7 miles - 52:00 (7:26 pace)
Fast 5K segment in middle 20:23 (6:34 pace)
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