I will admit that this has not been the ideal week for me to do testing. It is the end of the quarter as we prepare our final grades for the semester and try to keep our sanity as kids are wound up for break. I have been battling a cold/flu that has wreaked havoc on my head, body, and joints.
Earlier in the week I had a great turnout on the bike test. I was so happy to see the progress on the bike. Today was the day for the 5K run test.
I woke up not feeling good at all. My knees and joints hurt and I just felt tired. However, I knew I had to get this done with a snowstorm on the horizon and things not slowing down at all.
Here is plan for the 5K run test today.
WU: 15′ including 4 x 30″ at 5k pace.
MS: Run a 5k Time Trial. Find a relatively flat course (or track) for your test.
Goal is to hold a pace you can sustain for the full duration of the test without blowing up and without having a lot left to kick at the end. The ideal course is one you can test on repeatedly.
CD: Walking, jogging as needed, etc.
Note 1: Get average HR for test, this is your Lactate Threshold HR used to calculate HR training zones. Bonus if you can record miles splits for this test.
Below are my test results from week 1 when I inputted everything into EN. When I tested the run during week 1 I had a glitch with my watch as it did not record properly so I had to estimate my times.
At the time of this week 8 run test I weigh the same, but dealing with a cold/flu.
I started off this morning feeling not too bad. I did a one mile warm up to get me to my starting point. I was not sweating and was trying to get my body temp up and ready to go. It just was not happening. I don’t know if I was dehydrated or what. I hit the one mile mark, reset my watch, turned on my jams and got ready to go after clearing out the nasal passages with some powerful snot rockets.
I took off like a cannon and tried to find a good pace and rhythm. I am not sure if that is possible when trying to push your body and mind to new heights. I also tried to not look at my watch and get concerned with time. I really wanted to hit a sub 20 run and thought I could pull it off. I felt good the first .9 of the first mile.
From that point on I started to slowly fade. I had to keep fighting and pushing, but during the second mile my stomach started to get upset. I tried to work on breathing and just get things under control, but it continued to get worse.
Right around the end of mile 2 I started to feel like I was going to puke. As much as I tried to not think about it I thought about it more and more. I had to keep swallowing air and snot to keep from barfing. I told myself I would not stop if I puked because I did not want to do this test again. I was getting mentally ready to run while tossing cookies off to the side. I was fortunate enough to not puke, but I was ever so close. Due to my terrible gut pain my time did slow down and I faded mentally.
However, with all that being said I did show progress. I ended up with a 6:37 pace. I also ran a tad over so seeing my time I was a bit bummed until I remembered that a 5K is 3.1 and not 3.2. My time the first test was 20:52 with a 6:43 pace and today I was 20:33 with a 6:37 pace. I knocked off 6 seconds off my time. I will gladly take that considering how I felt and that fact that I know I neglected a few runs here and there. My goal by the next test is to be closer to 20 minutes. I may not be sub 20 minutes, but I want to be closer so some spring I am hitting sub 20 in some local races.
My VDOT went from 47.4 to 48.3
Here are my new splits
Today will be a day to let my body heal and recover. Tomorrow is a big day of training and then rest. Even more important is to figure out the holidays and training as I have not even begun to figure that out yet and need to with all the traveling.
Enjoy your Wednesday and kudos to everyone testing and working hard to improve their fitness. I love it and feed off all of your energy and stories.
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