Monday, May 15, 2006
First 5K
Okay, provided that my training plan continues as anticipated, I have tentatively set a goal for my first race, being the Queen of the Lake 5km which is on 6 August 2006. The Albert Park lake course is nice and flat so not too bad for a first go. I have figured out that my jog/shuffle pace is about a 7.5 - 8 mins per km pace. So assuming that I can actually maintain that pace when jogging non-stop, that gives me a 37.5 to 40 min 5k. The running part of my brain says this is very slow (I used to get pretty annoyed if went much slower than about 25 min for a 5K).
But I have looked up the results from last year and have determined that of 365 runners in the 5K there were about 30 that finished slower than that pace (incidentally a 25 min time would have put me in the top 40 or so runners). They were all probably walking, but at least I don't think I would be the last person across the line. With any luck having another two and a half months of training under my belt I could do better than that again.
If not this run, then I will try and find a 5K race which suits some time around August/September. I think my aim will be to run it in under 40 minutes but I won't be too fussed. For a first run my main aim will be to finish, to run the whole thing and to feel relatively good whilst doing it.
But I have looked up the results from last year and have determined that of 365 runners in the 5K there were about 30 that finished slower than that pace (incidentally a 25 min time would have put me in the top 40 or so runners). They were all probably walking, but at least I don't think I would be the last person across the line. With any luck having another two and a half months of training under my belt I could do better than that again.
If not this run, then I will try and find a 5K race which suits some time around August/September. I think my aim will be to run it in under 40 minutes but I won't be too fussed. For a first run my main aim will be to finish, to run the whole thing and to feel relatively good whilst doing it.