Racing 5k in 25 minutes

Since my last post on 12 March I've been gradually increasing my weekly mileage and racing the 5k regularly. I'm now at close to 60 kilometres per week, which seems to be producing slow fitness gains. My 5k race results since early March have proceeded thus: 28:11, 26:34, 26:03, 26:06.01 (track), 25:11, 25:49, 25:37, 24:36, 24:59 and 25:31. The 24:36 on 12 May was in the Mother's Day Classic 5k, a big fun run in Canberra. It was a harder effort than races since then, average heart-rate of 145 compared to 141 for the 25:31 Tuggeranong Parkrun.

There was a big fun run atmosphere for the MDC in spite of the cold (5 degrees C) and calm conditions. My mate Jim called me towards the first 'pen' of runners — we were only about 6 rows back from the front. Jim bolted at the gun and I spent the first 800m or so pegging him back. At about the same time the 25-minute pacer went past — 'Okay, this is good, I'll try and stick with this group' as we passed 1k in 4:58. The pacer opened up a gap of 20 metres as he ran over Kings Avenue Bridge. I ran hard on the down slope of the bridge and passed 2k in 10:04. I never caught the pacer but the small group I was with were overtaking runners who had started faster. My third kilometre was 5:01, then 5:03 over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. I ran hard down the bridge and to the finish, 4:33 for the last kilometre but still not quite catching the pacer! I was very happy with my finish time, good enough to win the 60-69 age-group. Jim came in about 90 seconds later to win the 70-79s, a solid run and one of his better recent races.

Looking forward, I plan to continue racing regularly while maintaining mileage at 50 to 60 kilometres per week over winter. I'm feeling confident about improving the 24:36 5k time towards 24 minutes. I hope to run faster than 24 and will have a good idea if that's possible after a few more months. I hope everyone is enjoying their running — until next time, be well!

Jim (left) has run over 300 Lake Stakes lunch runs