Sunday Faster Running

I've been doing a four week challenge through @polarglobal setting myself the challenge to try and improve my 3km time from 11 minutes and 27 seconds. Today was the day were I tested myself again. Even though it was on the same course, it was a beautiful morning for a run and taking on a 5.6km race seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a good crack at improving my time.

For the past 12 months or even more, I have been doing my best to improve my shorter distance times, and feel like even though my training has been going well but the results simply aren't happening. I have been deliberately been trying to put myself in difficult situations during my training but it seems like there is something I am clearly missing.

The trace out in Auckland today was nice and small with only a few competitors. It was nice to have a win after a winter of lock downs. After the first kilometer one of the 10km runners came past me, which I was cool with but it seemed like he was running easy when I felt like I was sprinting.

The above image is from today's run posted on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/4208644469

I was working last night so only got about 4 hours sleep, so am hoping this was the reason why I did not get the times I was hoping...Let me just say one thing though, I am really happy with the time and the consistency of my kilometer splits.

On a side note

With my Ironman fast approaching, I did try a training session I will be hoping to do a lot more of in the coming weeks. I did the 5.6km run at high intensity, then did a easy 5km run afterwards, giving me a total of 10km for the morning. The goal is to fatigue my legs before running easy for 5 to 15 kilometers afterwards. It was an easy start today, but hoping to pick up the pace and distance even more in the coming weeks where I will be able to give everyone more of a breakdown of how the training session works and if it has an impact in my speed.

And another side note

The image above is from @run.kirsty.run receiving her award for the half marathon where she took out the top overall female for the day. She is pacing the Auckland Half Marathon in two weeks and was supposed to be practicing her 2 hour pace for the half, but I think the competition was too much and she must have seen an opportunity to win, so went for it. It was great to see and am really proud of her.

In two weeks I am racing the 5km race at the Auckland Marathon Running Festival. I raced an even 19 minutes last year so hope I can make some improvements on that time this year. I'll definitely be getting a lot more than 4 hours sleep for that race(hopefully).

Stay Strong Everyone!