My first 5K and first hard run since my injury; approximately 3 months ago. Did this to get a bit of a fitness test.... aaaand to break a mental barrier I had about the pain of running 5Ks. Not sure if I broke that today :)
Splits were a little nasty: 6:22, 6:37, 6:51 with 6:18 for the 0.1. Avg pace was 6:37 min/mile. Yowch. To put this in perspective, I ran almost the exact same pace for the final 5K of my last half marathon. Got hit with a serious headwind in the second half of the race, which really threw me.
While I don't think this was a great fitness test (maybe its my ego, but I feel like I can do a bit better than this!), its a good starting point. I'd like to get a bit stronger on the VO2 max side of the equation, and given that 5Ks have a shorter recovery time, I wouldn't mind continuing them as my speedwork, as I begin training for some Autumn races.
The race itself was small but really lovely! Free timed entry, really well set up and efficiently run. You register once and then just rock up to any of their races (they have 5Ks every Saturday in Albert Park, Melbourne) with your printed-out bar code. Ran it with my dear childhood friend Rory, with whom I'll be running in Melbourne Marathon 2014!
ETA: I was uber paranoid about my hip this morning; especially after a nightmare in which I dreamed I shattered it while running! Was able to cool down properly, with no pain, and its feeling 99% now. The muscles in there are a wee tight from the run, but no more than anything I've had in my recovery so far. Pretty good outcome on the injury front.
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