5K Time Trial (With A New PB)

• Posted: July 29, 2008
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• Author: Shéamus
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• Filed under: Time Trials, Workouts
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• Tags: 5K Time Trial

I was looking around this site today and specifically my running log, where I noticed two things - one, that I hadn’t included my 10-mile time, and two, that my 5K personal best was really pretty soft. In the back of my mind, I thought I’d gone faster than that. I knew today I’d have to put it right.

I liked the idea of going under 23 minutes. I did some quick mental calculations and realised that I’d need to average quite a bit better than 7:40/mile to do this - that last 0.10 miles of the 3.1 miles that makes up a 5K is really the difference between a good time and a bad time, at least where I am right now as a runner. I figured the best strategy was to go out as hard as possible and maintain that as long as I possibly could, and then just try and hold on.

This would also hopefully shake off the ‘slow legs’ I seemed to have picked up ever since my 10-mile run. My average pace this week has been a pretty mediocre 8:09/mile.

(Additionally, my plans to run my first 5K race tomorrow [Wednesday] have fallen through for various reasons. As it is now, my first proper race will be coming up on August 9. More details on that soon.)

The weather was warm but quite a few degrees cooler than yesterday - probably mid-20s - and while there was a moderate wind, it never really played a factor. Mile one was a cracking 7:11. My legs felt pretty good. Mile two was an equally decent 7:19.

However, just after the two-mile point, I really started to feel it. And by ‘it’ I mean ‘lousy’ - around 2.25 miles, I figured that at any moment I was going to throw up or blow up or both. It was less my legs and more my stomach - it was clearly rebelling against the speed.

Come on, I told myself, you can do this.

I pushed on. I managed a 7:33 for my third mile, which in the circumstances was a cracker. After that, I just ran as hard as I could and ended up clocking 22:51.47 for the 5K, almost a minute off of my previous best. I really thought I was going to puke when I stopped, but somehow held it together. For most of the rest of the day, however, my stomach has been cramping a little bit.

My average pace per mile was 7:21. Splits and chart:

This is an important breakthrough for me today and one that I’m pleased with, for a couple of reasons. One, it’s the fastest I’ve ever run, and two, it looks like I’ve shaken off my rubbish legs of earlier in the week.

However, it once again puts me totally in awe of the professional athletes who can do this almost twice as fast as I can. Pretty much anyone can run one fast mile, or do a reasonable 100m dash with some training. I mean, impressive as Tyson Gay’s recent 9.68 wind-assisted 100m performance was, I just don’t think it compares to what some of the guys in the longer distances do, simply because they keep up an immense stress on their body for a really significant period of time.

As I’ve said before, the world record for the 5K is 12:37.35 - that’s 4:03 per mile. The pace per mile for the world record in the marathon is an unreal 4:44. Mark Allen averaged 6:06 per mile for the marathon in the 1989 Hawaii Ironman, after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112. Under that sun.

Scott Jurek has won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run seven consecutive times, and in 2004 set the course record at 15:36:27 - that’s 9:21 per mile.

Finally, a pace I can relate to! Man, that actually seems kinda slow.

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