A quick one. I keep saying to myself that I want to run a 17:30 5k. But to get there I am actually going to have to run fast. This isn’t going to happen if I keep doing events that imply running when it’s really just me doing long power walks in the hills. To rectify this, I have joined the Steel City Striders Parkrun Cup as a way to make me try get faster.
I’m not entirely sure on how it works, but I think it’s something like this. You provide your Parkrun PB from the start of the previous year (Rother Valley excluded). You are then paired with another club member. You both agree on one of four weekends for your race at the same location. Whoever gets closest to or most below their PB progresses to the next round. I was paired with a man called Ian, his PB about six minutes slower than mine but the format favours room for improvement. I need to push hard.
I’d like to at least get through one round, so the last couple weeks has seen one or two speed focussed sessions consisting of mainly 400m or 800m repeats, to hone my leaden legs into composite marvels.
The run began and I sat in behind Harry. I knew his mile time was a few seconds better than mine so as long as I let him slowly pull away, I should be at a good pace. I also tried to account for the fact the longest effort I’d put in was only a recent mile effort. I was now running three and a bit times more. The long decent allowed me to roll down the hill and I used the grass to get around the deep bottleneck of slower runners that clogged the narrow path. I could feel my left side dropping a bit more than my right, but it wasn’t causing any discomfort, so I kept up the effort I felt good coming round to finish off the first lap. The second descent I could feel my legs slowly begin to stiffen and my form drop. Feet nicked my calves as they carelessly flicked back with each stride. I knew I would struggle today – I haven’t raced a 5k for a while – but I didn’t expect the problems to arise this early. I could hear footsteps approaching. I let a heavy breathing man overtake as we jumped over a railing that marks the climb. I quickly overtook him as the hill sapped his strength. A young lad who was running with the pack Harry was in had dropped back and I briefly ran beside him before making an attack. A mistake. This allowed him to use me as a pacer and in the final corner he launched the sprint. I quickly responded and for a brief second, I thought I had him. I was betrayed by the crunching of leaves underfoot and he turned to see me, unleashing an additional burst of speed to match my own and just beating me over the line by a single stride. I finished in 20:23, a result of +00:55. Thankfully my experience walking up hills was enough help, as my rival finished with +01:47. Into round two we go!
Stats
Moving time: 20:23
Distance: 5km
Elevation: 64m
Average Pace: 4:05/km
Average Speed: 14.7kmph
Average HR: 175bpm