Friday, September 2, 2011

Starting 5K Time

Yesterday morning I recorded my "beginning" 5K time for September.  I woke up not feeling at all good.  My tummy was very off.  I had a fairly tight schedule for the morning, but managed to switch a few things around and was able to delay my run by an hour.  Luckily by then I felt much better.

It was a beautiful crisp morning.  As much as I HATE/despise/loathe/detest the thought of summer coming to an end, running is the absolute best on a morning like this.  When the air is damp, there is a slight dew on the ground, and you start off with just the slightest of chills.  A thing of beauty!

I decided for these timed runs that there would be no watch stopping.  This would be a race situation.  If I need to stop or walk, the clock will keep ticking.  I also was approaching this as a race situation.  There would be no wiggle room left so that I could allow for improvement at the end of the month.  I was going all out with a best effort.  If I can't improve by the end of the month then I can't improve, but I didn't want to fool myself into thinking there was improvement, so it was all or nothing.

Gotta say ... I kinda shocked myself.  It was an INCREDIBLE run.  I have not had a run like this in quite some time.

My initial time for the Cardio Challenge 
for 5K was 26:32 - 8:34 pace

I have not hit that pace over ANY distance yet this year.  In fact, I have not hit better than that pace on a straight through run (i.e. no watch stopping) since October last year.

I am SOOOO happy!

Of course this will make it a little harder to get the amount of improvement I set out.  I had wanted to improve this time by 1 minute by the end of the month.  That would put me at 25:32.  My PR over this distance is 24:53.  Can't say I have a ton of confidence, but I'm going to give it my all and try.  When I decided upon that 1 minute improvement goal I figured it would take me somewhere between 28-29 minutes.  I figured my "improved" time would be 27 or better.  So yeah, I'm a little shocked, but very, VERY happy!

This weekend I'll be setting my 10K time.

I want to send out best wishes to my blogging buddy MARCELLE who is running her VERY first half marathon this weekend, and I believe just her 2nd race ever.  AWESOME!  She is going to smoke it and I'm so proud of her.  Good luck Marcelle!

Heidi
♥♥♥♥♥

13 comments:

kimert said...

That is amazing!!!

I'm going to join your challenge. I just have to find the time (hopefully tomorrow) to sit and gety everything down before adding the details to my blog! :)

Marcelle said...

Firstly, YOUR 5KM TIME ROCKED!!!!! SHEW what a time, as you know I did my best ever 5km time the other day and I nearly died, so I know what pace you were going to get that time...MY RUNNING QUEEN IS BACK!!!

Marcelle said...

Oh that went without me finishing :)

Thanks so much for the special message, I'm feeling excited about Sunday, and trying not to stress about a time.
Hear on the radio 2 700 people have registered already and more are welcome on the day...lots of live music a long the way, so really looking forward to that as my first race was pretty boring with people and the start and finish only.,..am hoping for a lot more atmosphere this time.
will FB after the race!!

kimert said...

I couldn't find a place to email you back..haha

kimert@comcast.net

and my running blog is here now...
http://anotherrunningmom.wordpress.com/


And good luck tomorrow, Marcelle!!!

Marlene said...

Ohhh I love those crisp mornings! Can't wait for fall!

AWESOME job on your 5K time trial. No doubt there will be a big improvement this month, too!

Fran said...

I'm so happy for you too! I eat your dust at a 5K race with that pace of yours :) Oh well in that case you will be at the finish line cheering for me :)

Absolutely fantastic run Heidi, it must have given your running confidence a major boost.

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! That is an awesome time!!! It is interesting picking goals before vs. after you run the distance you chose. I hadn't considered picking before because I was thinking of goals in terms of total time, like a 25 minute 5K, not in terms of reducing whatever time by a certain amount. But they both seem to make sense.

Syl said...

wow! look who's back ;-)

Lynsey said...

Holy cat fish! That's a great time! Good for you.

Missy said...

Great starting time!!! That is amazing!

Anonymous said...

Awesome 5k time! :)


Also, not sure if you got my message, but my email is 063619o (at) acadiau.ca for the Action Challenge!

Sister, we need each other! said...

Your time was awesome! I need to read deeper into your blog and see how you have improved your time so well - I'm stuck at 28 minutes!!

I have an online running community for moms and would love for you to come and check it out!!

http://theblogfrog.com/1503785

jamie@sweatyhugs said...

Oh my goodness! Now THAT's a 5k finish time! Way to go!!!!! I know you are beyond proud of yourself.