Ho No! A Return To The 5k

So next weekend I am gonna run a local 5k called the Ho Ho Ho Holiday Run. I did this event a couple of times some years ago and I always enjoyed it.

I did some 5ks over the summer and early fall as speedwork during my early marathon prep. But that was a while ago. The last time I ran "fast" was mid-October when I did the Rock n Roll 10k in Brooklyn and I haven't done a 5k since September I think. The point is, I haven't run fast in a while and I am wondering if all my speed (what I had of it) has disappeared.

With my long training, tapering, and recovery running fast was just not part of the plan. But now I am beginning my training for the Manhattan Half-Marathon January 21 so speed work is definitely part of the plan. So it is with this in mind that I want to run this 5k. That seems logical. Here is the illogical part. I am afraid of what I might find.

Over the summer as I progressed from fatty to less fatty, my 5k times steadily improved. Each time I raced I got relatively faster.
August 10 - 5k - 29:37. Crazy slow and I felt like I would puke. But at least it was under 30 mins.
August 17 - 5k - 28:04. A little less slow but a pretty big improvement for a week.
August 31 - 5k - 27:02. Two and a half minutes off my 5k in just 3 weeks. Still slow but moving in the right direction.
September 10 - 5k - 26:04. Three and a half minutes off. If I keep this up, 2 more months and I will qualify for the Olympics!!
September 17 - 10k. 54:33. First big race at the very hilly Cow Harbor 10k. Not much of an improvement but given the distance and terrain, I wasn't unhappy.
October 22 - 10k- 49:52. I ran each 5k in this race a full minutes faster than my 5k just a month ago.

So up until October I had seen some pretty steady improvement in my running speed. But other than a few pick-me-ups during my other runs, I haven't done any speed work in 2 months. So I don't know what to expect in this 5k. I just don't want to go backwards.

In my head I am hoping to go under 24, but I really don't know if this is possible. I am also planning to do a 5k series in January leading up to the half as speedwork for the half. My goal is to get down to 22 minutes for the 5k by the end of this so I can go under 1:50 for the half. This is, of course, subject to change as I see how my body responds to renewed speed training.

I want to work on speed now for come spring, I will be all about long and slow as I get ready for the IronMan. But for now, I want speed. Speed is what we need. Greasy. Fast. Speed!

Posted in: 5k,training