farfromfearless
The Great British Weather (And My First 5K Time-Trial)
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I’ve never competed in any kind of running race. Ever. This is something I really want to do. I’m going to Mississippi for three weeks in August and wanted to get a race under my belt before then.
Originally, I had been eyeing one of the 10K summer series road races in Rye but don’t feel I’m quite ready to run at pace over 10K quite yet. So, 5K seemed about right, and as luck would have it, there’s a race in my nearby town of Bexhill-on-Sea on July 30, two days before I board a plane for old Miss. So, that’s on the calendar for later this month.
It dawned on me this morning that the race was about three weeks away. As I’ve never ran a 5K before, certainly in race conditions, I felt I needed to get a few time-trials under my belt so I have some idea of my expected pace. I decided to do one today.
Looking at my recent pace, I figured that breaking 25 minutes is an absolute must, but ideally I’d like to go under 24. I felt very rested after my run yesterday and was in good spirits as I set off at about 4.30pm.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating.
What a difference a few days can make in this otherwise fine country. It was Saturday when I ran bare-chested in glorious sunshine. Yesterday, the wind and the rain made the workout a war of attrition and decidedly unpleasant. And today was even worse - the wind was so severe, so strong, that the waves were crashing over the promenade, shelling the pavement with fist-sized pebbles.
Going out, I made a snap decision and decided to run into the wind first. I felt strong, and figured if I could pull off a miracle opening mile then I could turn around, get the wind behind me, and power on to glory. This worked well for about a half-mile, when I cruised along at a 7:20 pace, finding shelter by running alongside the beach beneath the promenade. I had to run over a lot of stones, with the waves crashing alongside me, but it kept me out of most of the wind.
However, when I ran out of pavement and had to move up to the street level, the impact of the wind literally took my breath away. My 7:20 quickly became an 8:30 which quickly became a 9:20. The gale was so powerful, and my body quickly became so numb, that it was almost impossible. As soon as I clocked my first mile - an 8:00, which in those conditions was something of an achievement, I turned around.
Miles two and three were significantly more enjoyable - a 7:48 and a 7:56 respectively. This is the first time I’ve broken eight minutes in back-to-back miles, and I would have done so in mile #1 too if the wind hadn’t basically stopped me in my tracks. That felt pretty good. Indeed, as you can see from the chart, I got a real second wind about 2.25 miles in and was running around 7:15 for a while.
I started to fade at about 2.8 miles, and my dream of breaking 24 minutes wasn’t going to happen today. Still, 24:37 first-time out, in that weather, wasn’t too bad at all. Okay, it’s a second or two shy of Kenenisa Bekele’s world record, but you have to start somewhere.
Splits and chart:
Moreover, my average for the day was 7:55/mile, which is some improvement on where I started with my Garmin last Wednesday. Thirty seconds in a week? That’s not bad at all.
Back to the full 30-minute runs tomorrow, but I really hope the weather picks up.
4 people have left comments
Felice said:
Hey, that’s great! The weather is always a wild-card. But, running that time with crazy winds is really good and I’m sure you’ll be under 24 minutes in no time. Good luck!
And, thanks for the information that you left on my blog. I was over at your other site, checking out the info on the diet and I’m really very interested in trying this out. Thanks!!!
Andreas Rilinger said:
To participate in a competition is a good motivational factor. What i want to do next is to go to the “Lauftreff” (Runners-Meeting) here at my hometown. One of the biggest ones in Germany. There a different speed Groups running all one hour in total every week. To run together with other people you don’t knew before or to participate in a race makes running very interesting as a social factor as well. Till now i run alone most of the time which in fact is very good for thinking and relaxing.
Shéamus said:
@ Andrew - Cheers!
@ Felice - Yeah, I’m taking mostly positives from it, as I did from my run yesterday, too.
@ Andreas - I like to run alone as well. I keep toying with the idea of running with my local club, if only for a couple of days each week, but want to get my level up a bit first. Foolish pride - how thee holds us all back. 
Still, I think I need to get the experience of running with others before I can start to compete more regularly. I think I’ll take care of this when I come back from the States in late-August - it’s likely that the realisation of knowing that others are waiting on you should help get me out the door in the long, cold winter.
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