5k - 20:47
All up 6.5k
A week since my last run (which was the 10k).
Good to get back at it. I felt great throughout.
at turn to homestretch at 17:42 so was happy with that - usually at 17:10 round about then but to be sub 18 is good (& a decent 8k time can be recovered provided you're sub 18 at this point) so I was happy.
11:05 through the first loop & 14:10 through the penultimate turn so that's decent - usually 14:25 then I speed up to get under 18 for home.
I noticed the main thing on the run was the re opening of my chest that I experienced having not done any major cardio over the last 7 days - I walk daily but it's just to get out of the house with the dog & never lasts for more than 15 mins. I havn't hopped on the bike for a while now & Rep city hasn't been done in weeks.
So the breathing was the biggest thing - I could breath totally normally throughout the run which suggests in actuality I was jogging around - which is about right - still under 7 min mile pace - so pace is respectable but can go significantly faster. But to think that my record here for this 5k loop is 20:02 is ridiculous...
I have changed the route ever so slightly in that I go the long way round now so as to avoid the sharp turn into the estate. I reckon I actually have lengthened the route slightly by doing this but I am more than happy with this as I get to run on the road & not the concrete footpath which undulates underneath your feet.
I also eased up as I came in towards the end - I could have gone sub 20:30 if I absolutely went all out but I decided against it & reserve the strength for the runs I have in store for the rest of the week.
Overall really happy with it - I didn't run the last week as I simply didn't want to - so I didn't force myself to do it as there is no point in forcing oneself to do something that you don't want to do, that you don't have to do - not to mention the lack of races on the horizon - with Covid hitting a second peak - there will be no possibility for races for many months yet to come. The 1st Vaccine has been administered in Ireland today but will not do much until minimum I would say June. By the Autumn we can think about races again...
I tend to stay in the sport when I do the training I want to do - I've always been a really light trainer. The 6 weeks I've done straight in that Sept - Early Nov period of 6 weeks on 20 miles plus weekly is some of the most consistent training I have done in years in which my performance only marginally improved form my more usual weekly average mileage of about 10 miles (2 runs a week).
Anyways... I think how decent I could be if I did 40 miles a week but, to date I cannot reach 35 without getting injured. This season I topped out at I think about 22 miles. I havn't had the desire to train any more than that - now bear in mind 95% of this was on my own (due to Covid etc) but to go beyond 40 miles a week it becomes like a job - i,e. you put in so much effort you therefore expect to be performing well at it due to the time you input but, as we know it can all blow up in your face... so I don't invest too much in the sport that way, when it goes wrong, I am not too disappointed...
But the good days you have in running, like today in my case - just a perfect little 5k - make it all worth it...
