I don’t normally make resolutions, but I find that with running, having some clear goals really helps me stay focused.
Here’s what I want to have achieved by the time 2014 comes along:
8:45 for 3000m (1.50% improvement)
My current best is 8:53, set in June this year. A one second per lap improvement will see me achieve this one. Given where I was at the start of 2012 and where I am now I think this is possible. After my spring half marathon I will dedicate time to improving my speed, and do sessions of long reps at target pace (70 per lap) and hopefully this one should fall in June or July.
15:15 for 5000m/5km (1.72%)
I ran 15:32 twice this year, which is one second slower than my best time for the distance. If I beat this it is more likely to happen on the road, as I only get about 2 opportunities for a 5k track race every year. Last summer a friend set us a programme which involved running a high-volume session every week at 3k or 5k target pace, which seemed to really work for me. I plan to do the same sessions again but quicker. It all sounds so simple!
31:59 for 10km (1.18%)
Last week I set a PB of 32:22 after a good block of training. Now I want to run quicker. I can definitely manage this, if not in the spring then in the Autumn. I have a couple of races in mind where I will have a go.
69:59 for half marathon (1.13%)
This one’s more likely to happen later in the year when I hope to run a half on a flat course. Of all the ones listed here it is the one I want the most, mainly because it starts with a different number and therefore automatically sounds more impressive. It’s 5:20 per mile or 3:19 per km. I managed 9 miles at that pace in September; now let’s see if I can do it for the full distance. My current PB is 70:47.
Note: I calculated the percentages after writing the post. It is interesting to see the difference between what I feel is more difficult and what the numbers actually say.
Last night I took part in the 3000m at my club’s open meet, which also doubled up as the Warwickshire county championship race. The race itself had a very different feel to it; it took place at 9pm, much later than I have ever raced before, and there were over 20 people toeing the start line, many more people than there usually are in a track race. We set off in two starts, merging on the home straight after the first bend. There must have been 15 or 20 people ahead of me when we did. I thought to myself that I was either going to come last or that everyone had gone off pretty hard. I turned out that the latter was true.
I went through 400 in around 72 and spent the next couple of laps overtaking traffic in lane 2. The clock was at 3 minutes dead when I passed through 1k. At this point I passed my clubmate Martin who was bidding to win the county veteran title. Ahead of me was a runner from Bournville who had beaten me at 5k the previous week. After a couple of laps I caught him and tucked in behind. My 2k split was around 5:58. The pace started picking up with two laps to go and I just managed to hang on down the back straight. As the pace dropped with 500 to go I made my move and started kicking for home, and managed to surprise myself with my acceleration on the last lap. I held off the people just behind me and finished in 8:53, a big PB for me. Though I didn’t win the race overall (It was hard to tell with so many athletes on the track, but I think I finished 3rd), I was the first in the county championship race.
At exactly the same time last year I ran 8:59 in a time trial but this felt much easier. It’s interesting to compare my training with what I was doing last year and there are some subtle but important differences. I have been following a schedule put together by a friend, which has us running one session per week at target pace for 3k or 5k. This is supported with quicker than race pace intervals which makes the race pace sessions feel much easier. I’ve also cut the length of my long run from 20+ to around 16 miles, which gives me a bit more freshness when I’m trying to run hard track sessions a few days later. The main difference is that I’m not trying to cram too much in. As long as I do 3 out of short intervals/long intervals/tempo run/long run in a week I’ll feel I’ve trained well. A year ago I would have tried to do all four.
I’ll probably still look at my current training in a year’s time and decide that in fact it is all wrong, but it seems to be working for me at the moment.
A few weeks ago a training partner and I decided to do a 3k time trial on the track and to try and get close to 9 minutes. A couple of friends agreed to pace us at 72 seconds per lap. There are actually plenty of opportunities to run 3k races, as our club organises as series of open meetings every summer. This one was quite a late one, so we decided to give it a miss, as well as benefitting from perfect pacing!
My PB was 9:19 from last summer, and I felt that I would be happy with anything below 9:10. We set off at 9 minute pace anyway though. Might as well give it a go. That’s the good thing about doing a time trial rather than a race; it doesn’t matter if you screw it up. The obvious down side is that it isn’t an official PB if you run faster than you have before, but I don’t really mind. For me this was just a chance to see what I could do, regardless of whether anyone else is there to see it. As it happened though, there were people to see it. The first was Mark, who paced the first kilometre in 2:59. Rob took over for the second kilometre: 3 dead. I suspected before hand that if I could get to 2k in 6 minutes then 9 minutes was probably on the cards, but it took a lot of concentration. We’ve done time trials before but usually over greater distances, where you can afford to switch off a little in the knowledge that it’s easier to make up a few seconds here and there. 3k is right at the bottom of my racing range so I find it hard to vary the pace. At least I only had to focus for 3 more minutes.
Mark took the next lap, giving me something new to focus on. My legs were getting really heavy by this point but his 72 kept me right on pace. Rob took over for the next 400 metres and I just about managed to hang on, only dropping a few metres back. This meant I got to 2800 in 8:25. I had to pick up the pace to break 9, but I could see the finish line. With lungs and legs burning I took off and sprinted down the home straight, crossed the line and collapsed.
I lay on the ground for a few moments trying to get my breath back and then looked at my watch:
Tim crossed the line shortly after, not feeling 100% after a week’s holiday. He was disappointed not to have run closer to 9 minutes but I know he’s got it in him in the right conditions. It’s always hard to feel sharp after a week off.
I know I can do it now. Just need to do the same in a race. After all, if it’s not on Power of 10 it never happened.
