So back to the super flat Marina course where I first ducked under 17 mins only 5 weeks ago, time to see how I’ve progressed having run some hillier (and hotter!) 5k’s in between. Training has been consistent with plenty of speedy track work and I’ve stayed injury free so felt I had a good run in me today.
Just over 450 turned up on this nice and calm evening, though slightly humid. It also happened to clash with the Paulo Nutella gig which was on at the Marquee, traffic was a nightmare but nothing the organisers could do except wait for it to die down a little. It didn’t die down so we just eventually had to start using one side of the road. I had gotten a nice 20 min warmup done around the course but started to feel restless standing around for over half an hour waiting. Finally the hooter went at around 8:20pm. I managed to get a good start this time though again like the last race it was a serious sprint start for a lot of people, must have been 30+ ahead of me but I kept my own pace, long way to go yet.
Mile 1
After a couple of minutes of hard breathing I settled into my pace, I started reeling in a few people and noted the pace hover around 5:20 on my watch, perfect. There was a distinct lead group of 6-8 after taking off and then a fairly large group of about 12 including club-mate RP who I’ve trained with in the last few weeks and knowing we’re at a similar level I worked in with him at the front of the group. We cruised along nicely, felt pretty comfortable and breathing well hitting the first mile in 5:18.
Mile 2
A concern from the last few 5k’s was that I was always losing ground on the 2nd mile so today I would focus and concentrate fully on that middle section, to really work hard and hold that pace and still finish strongly. Well that was the plan anyway but I knew if I could do that I’d persevere through the 3rd mile. On to the 2nd lap of the course, I was going along nicely with RP just on my shoulder. A green singlet had made a surge to the front but I didn’t move just keeping my own pace steady. Soon he dropped off and I found myself slowly taking away from the group. I was definitely working hard here but kept my focus and was delighted to see the watch clock a 5:22for the 2nd mile, it gave me huge encouragement to just get through the last section. Some brief inner words of encouragement to hold this pace till the end and on we go.
Mile 3
It was just pure perseverance for this mile, I was hurting but it was just a question of how long I could tolerate it. I felt my form was good, I was running strongly but the burn was there too. There was a navy singlet ahead of me at the start of this mile, he had gone with the lead group and I didn’t even consider it a possibility that I’d catch him but slowly I started reeling him in throughout the last mile. I glanced at the watch with just under half a mile to go, still holding a 5:20 pace and I knew I was on for something special if I kept this going. I focussed on the top ahead of me, breathing heavily now but knowing a big PB is potentially around the corner was a huge incentive to keep going. We started to turn for the finish straight and I’m a couple of yards from navy singlet. Out of nowhere comes clubmate RP breezing past me, I knew he had a good finish in him from the track sessions so I wasn’t hugely surprised. We both overtook the navy singlet at the same time but more importantly I had a glance at the finish clock, just ticking onto 16:10! Holy mackerel I’m on for a good one here! I gave it all I could on the finish straight and crossed the line in 8th place in a brand new PB of 16:27 still not sure if it was real or not. Final mile of 5:19, so I think pace-wise I (finally) got it spot on.
Really surprised myself out there today but I did feel there was a big performance in me and I think that middle mile gave me the confidence to keep going and finish strong. I have to admit I’ve exceeded my targets by a long way in the last 2 months, sub 16:30 was the yearly goal for 5k and only 5 weeks ago I was over the moon with a 16:56 on the same course. I don’t expect these sort of rapid improvements all the time so I’m going to enjoy them while I can. Great confidence booster for the half marathon next week, will ease off slightly next week and give the body a good rest.
Summary: 5k in 16:27 @ 5:19 min/mile (8.4m total)