2016 Goal - Sub 20 min 5k!

Time to get serious! At my local 5k Parkrun I can do it in around 22:30. That's 4:30/km pace. To achieve sub 20 I need to get to a fraction under 4:00/km pace. It's gonna be tough, no doubt about it. My current pace already kills me, so I'm going to need to get in some serious training.

First goal this weekend will be to see if I can hit 4:25 pace, which would give me a race time of about 22:05. That would be a big PB for me. I will use my old Garmin 405 which has a Virtual Partner function - you set the pace you want to achieve and it tells you how far ahead/behind you are.

As well as training I need to lose some weight. I'm currently 78kg, which is down from 82kg last year. That's still too heavy though. According to Runners World if I lose 5lbs my 5k time could improve by 30 secs. Lots of assumptions in that article though. I would like to achieve 75kg which is a 6.6lb loss.

I'll try and do the same Parkrun most weeks to gauge my progress. I'll also post my weight to see if there is any correlation.

By the way I am 48 this year...yikes!

218km in July

Highest total all year, pretty pleased!

About 4 weeks till C2S marathon, no injuries in training so far. Feeling unsure about the 4hr target, a consistent 5:40 per k over 42.2k feels slightly out of my reach at the moment. Only one more long run of 32k scheduled next Sun, then taper. Looking forward to it :-)

Decided to enter Perth C2S Marathon

One of those spur of the moment decisions, I have 62 days to train :-) Race is on Aug 25th.

This week was my first 40k+ training week of the year. Very pleased. Goal for the marathon is sub-4 hours. I have done marathons before, both in 2009, the Perth Marathon and the C2S. So I do know the C2S course and I know the second half is hilly. It's a tough nut to crack. My time in 2009 was 4:20, so I'm hoping for a 20 min PB this time round.

Trying to get to 40km per week

I think my running is finally coming together. If I can get to 40km a week I think I will be good enough to attempt some 10k races, maybe the Joondalup 10k in August. If I can do 4 x 5km in the week (5k lunchtime runs) then that leaves 20km to do split across Sat and Sun. Pretty much the only way I can do the Sat/Sun runs is first thing in the morning, which is hard in the winter when it is still dark at 6:30am.

The chart above shows my 30 day totals. Lots of peaks and troughs, if I get to 40k a week it should steady at the 160km line.

Good start to the year

9 runs so far this year, with the last 4 on successive days. No injuries. Hoping to get up to 40km a week soon.

Asics Run for Gold 10km

I've done this race twice before, around the beautiful Swan river in Perth.
Started off well enough, 1km at 5min/k pace and then around 4:45 for the next 6k. I felt great but unfortunately I felt a dull throb in my right calf. I knew it wouldn't be getting better and sure enough, it turned into a regular pain at around the 8k mark. I managed to keep going but it was painful and I finished in 48:06, my worst time for this event.

I need to improve my endurance, so my long runs will be increasing each week. Only hitting 12k at the minute, which is no good if I want to race 10k.

Long time, no update

I'm still alive! Very little running over the past year due to life problems *sigh* but all good now. Have a couple of months of training behind me and looking forward to the Asics Run For Gold 10k this Sunday.