Couch to #4x5KChallenge

By | June 19, 2017

C25K Graduation, March 4, 2017

#4x5KChallenge graduation, June 19, 2017

When I first ran in January (January 7, to be exact) it was .61 miles in 12:00 (19:40 pace, essentially walking) following Runkeeper’s version of the Couch to 5K. That was on a whim when I went to the gym and I had no sense of whether I’d stick with it. A few milestones over the subsequent months:

  • By February 4 I’d run/walk 3.0 miles in 47:49 (15:56 pace)
  • On March 4 I graduated c25K and ran 3.1 in 44:06 (14:14 pace) after realizing I’d need to modify what I was doing with c25K to make it work for me. Then on March 12 my inner Penguin ran (with hill walks) her first 5K in 43:58 (14:11 pace)
  • By April 1 I’d added a 10K and a 4 miler, the latter of which finally brought my pace below 14 minutes to 13:36. Couple random races that month including a pseudo 5K (3.04 miles in 37:17 (12:16 pace)) for the 9/11 Memorial and 2.2 miles of the March of Dimes 3 miles in 26:48 (12:12) as it was impossible to run the first mile with the crowd.
  • In early May I was trying ASICS Pace Academy, which I didn’t quite finish yet. May was not a race month as I had the Saunter and a vacation.
  • and June. I feel like I don’t need to summarize June as I’ve actually been blogging a lot. Running brought out the writer in me.

After last week’s post about the #4x5KChallenge and whether it was my second or third run, I decided I didn’t want to count the 5Ks that were within the Retro or the Mini 10K. Although I wasn’t properly following the challenge-supposed to be on the same route-I wanted to actually run 5Ks…. and because I never do anything halfway I ran three in the last five days. Still doing every other day off even though the hip  is much better. So here are my 4x5KChallenge times:

  • June 1: Hope4TheWarriors race: 3.11 in 40:12 (12:55 pace)
  • June 15: Central Park: 3.12 in 38:58 (12:28 pace)
  • June 17: Central Park with Cat Hill repeats at the end: 3.16 in 40:54 (12:56 pace)
  • June 19: Yep, that’s the one above. Treadmill crazy insane splits (.5 miles at 4.8, .4 at 5.5, .15 at 3.2, .9 at 4.8, .25 at 5.5, .15 at 3.2, .6 at 4.8, .15 at 6.0) 3.10 in 38:52 (12:32 pace)

So in less than three months, I’ve taken 5:14 off my 5K time and ~1:46 off my pace. I feel as if those two are fair comparisons as they’re treadmills in the same gym. Probably even the same one.

More spectacularly for me, my post-work runs have gone from 20 minutes and 1.5 miles to 40m and 3 miles. I have the physical and mental stamina to do that. That’s amazing. It’s a harder sell on the treadmill, but I did it today and will continue to do so because I’m loving this.

I’m 1t 197.45 miles run on the year and 970.14 miles run/walked for Run the Year. I will hit 1000 and Pinstripe Belles may hit 2000 before the year’s halfway point 😮

Working toward a possible September goal. Not sure I”m ready to put it in writing yet. We’ll see.

One thought on “Couch to #4x5KChallenge

  1. Pingback: Training and Recovery, Week of 6.24 and #GoTheDist mid-year – travellingcari.com

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