Out Season: 5K Test - Are You Kidding Me?

I have been mentally preparing for this day. My running has been terrible since June. In triathlons it has progressively gone worse until Pigman. Back in April I ran a sub 20 minute 5K and was just killing my running. From that point things began to fall apart.

I am out of shape and overweight. I was more nervous for this run than the bike test because I knew it would hurt more and that the results would speak to the issues at hand.

This morning I took my AdvoCare, mentally prepped and headed out. It was chilly out this morning, but it was perfect weather to test in my mind.

Here is a breakdown of the morning

WU: 15' including 4 x 30" at 5k pace.

You can see I ran a bit longer to get to the starting point. I had a place in mind to start and I wanted to be there. The extra minutes did not do much in terms of wearing me out, but just took more time than planned.

MS: Run a 5k Time Trial. Find a relatively flat course (or track) for your test. Goal is to hold a pace you can sustain for the full duration of the test without blowing up and without having a lot left to kick at the end. The ideal course is one you can test on repeatedly.

Now you are probably saying, "Isn't a 5K 3.2 miles?" Why yes it is! My stupid watch decided that it was going to pause during the run. I started the watch and took off. I made myself not look at the watch so I would not be so worried about distance and time. Instead I would just focus on my breathing and trying not to barf. When I hit a point I mentally mapped out to look at my watch where I knew I would be close to the end it read .38 miles. I blew up! I was so mad. I hit start and kept going until I got to one mile. This mile is .38 from the start and .62 from the end. I was cruising around 6:30 pace at the end but that was fueled by anger. I was not running this pace the whole time. I was more around 7:05 - 7:15 if I had to guess.

During this run my legs were shot. I had bile brewing in my gut and I prayed I would not puke. However, like I always do after the first few miles I hit a groove and was able to push. I have always been this way. I have not pushed my body this hard in a long time. My brain was screaming at me to stop, but it felt good to challenge myself. I did not enjoy the feeling of burning legs, lungs, and bile, but it was a great feeling to know I was tough enough to keep pushing harder.

CD: Walking, jogging as needed, etc.

I walked a bit before jogging home. In all I ran about 6 miles. It is the same old course I have ran with the CRAZIES for over a year so I know it is 6 miles.

So, where does this leave me? I posted my situation to my coach. Time will tell if I have to retest which I am thinking I will need to do. The problem is that my legs are already sore. Mentally I have to find that drive to push myself again and soon. Perhaps this weekend I will give it another go. Or maybe I can use the data that was recorded. I want to do this right so I know that means testing again. BARF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall, I really surprised myself by the time I was running. I did not think even low 7's were possible at this stage of my training. This gives me hope that I might be a little better off than what I thought. I look forward to getting some better data and watching my progress develop.