Back at Bushy

It's been a short break from the regular Bushy Park 5km time trials, but I'm back and having fun.

I started out running the time trials back in January of this year, but stopped due to getting involved with Athletics training, and then volunteered at the event a few times. With the athletics season winding down and winter on the doorstep (yeah, like we even had a summer...), I've got back to Saturday morning bliss at Bushy.

Having only run 7 times, I have managed 6 Personal Bests (The one I never got was while I paced my son on his first run)

So starting with a time of 24:41, I've dragged that down to 20:53. Not brilliant, but I'm getting there one step at a time.

My mission statement: I must start SLOWER next time! I start way too fast and then burn out by the 1.3km mark, only to let 80 people pass me between the 2km and 3km mark. Grrr.

Next weekend is the Decathlon.... Let's hope this running helps me a bit with the final 1500m event.

Bushy Park 5k - 16 Feb 08 (New PB)

Message to me from Bushy Park: "Your position was 87th and your time was 0h:21m:07s"

Elmarie broke through the 30min mark today and completed the 5km in a brilliant time of 0h:29m:40s

I was a bit nervous going into the race today after being down with a cold all week and not able to get much training in, but I went for it anyways. I decided to try something different and pace it one kilometre at a time, and if my breathing became too difficult then I was just going to take it easy around the track and enjoy the run rather than push it.

I knew that in order to get anywhere near my best time I would need to stick within the 4min a km mark but as usual I pushed a little too fast on the 1st km, so I backed off and took it easy while keeping one eye on the watch at all times. Speeding up slightly when I needed to, and slowing down when the pace became too fast. One kilometre at a time...

It worked! By the time I hit halfway mark I knew I was heading for a decent time and felt no pressure to hurry up and pick up the pace. (Which is usually when I start feeling depressed and about to give up)

At one stage late in the run towards the 4km mark I remember having a chat with the runner next to me as I could see he was feeling the pressure and decided to offer some encouragement. (But I know that generally whenever I hand out encouragement like that it's usually because I probably need to hear it more than they do. :-p ) One of the things I remember saying was: "It's not a race, it's only time".

I remember saying this because for a few of the races I had done before I was very disheartened when other runners passed me after I had given my all and was about to collapse in a heap on the side of the track. I guess it was more to do with me coming to terms with the fact that the other runners were all running against their own times and I just needed to focus on my time, rather than think about it as a race.

It's not necessarily about who comes 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Although I know most of us would love to hit the number one spot one day and it’s certainly one good reason to keep on training and training and training...

Bushy Park 5k - 26 Jan 08 (New PB)

Message from Bushy Park: "Your position was 78th and your time was 21:45."

Elmarie also ran and improved her time by 85s to run a personal best of 31:10min

I could not be happier with the results of the race. After a week of giving my body enough rest and with the race track being run in the opposite direction to what we were normally used to, I was not sure if I could get anywhere near my personal best let alone beat it.

Due to new trees being planted near the usual starting line, the race organisers were forced to run the course in reverse to minimise potential damage to both runners and new trees. This proved to be quite an interesting change for my running as it now meant the beginning stretch opened up the field a lot quicker and allowed for everyone to not be so bunched up in the first 500m.

The tactic for this race was to try stick with the front-runners for as long as I could. (And when I mean front-runners, you must understand that I'm referring to the first pack of 100. I'm not exactly Michael Johnson.... yet) Easier said than done, but then again I did recall looking ahead at just past the 1km mark and still able to see the leaders, which has not normally been the case in my past few races so far. By that stage they're normally so far ahead it's all a bit depressing.

The race was by no means an easy one and I realise there is still quite a bit I need to be working on in order to improve to the next stage. My pace and breathing were out of sync for parts of the run and I recall slowing down on a few occasions as I just could not push any longer. I also noticed the slight pain in my ankle that has still not 100% recovered after my parkour injury last year. (Although I felt the slight ache, it is feeling a LOT better than it has been over the last few months and I should just keep an eye on it and make sure it does not get any worse.)

So far since starting the 5km time trials, I have managed to improve my time by 2:56 minutes.

I know there is more to come and my goal is to break the sub 20 mark (5km in less than 20 min). One step at a time though...

Bushy Park 5k - 19 Jan 08

The run today was a little harsher than last week, as the wind was quite strong and created a tough headwind on the last straight, but overall was it dry with only a few mud-traps along the route caused from last night's rain.

I never felt completely comfortable throughout the entire run, and on occasion was even wishing I had my own personal motivation team that would arrive at the press of the button to help me through the bad stretches. (Madness, I know)

Although saying that, it did manage to keep my mind off whatever was not working for me at that time and kept me on the track and moving closer to the finish line.

Determined to give it all I had, I pushed hard on the last 500m and managed to secure 120th position with a new PB of 23:20 (81sec off last weeks time).

This week's training is going to be a little more focussed on pace, and hopefully I can shave some more time off my personal best [PB].