5K

I ran the Tortoise and Hare 5K this morning and finished in a disappointing 20:07.  My goal was to run even 6:15/min pace since this is my goal pace for the upcoming Fort Collins Thanksgiving 4 mile.  My splits instead were 6:20, 6:23, 6:29, :55. I will write off today's slow run to having tired legs from yesterday's 15 mile somewhat hilly run though the mud on the Blue Sky and Indian Summer trails.

Last weekend I ran the Spooktacular 5K at the park down the street hoping to run well under 20 minutes and I did run 19:41 which was good enough for 10th overall and 2nd in my age group.  This was my besk Colorado 5K which I was pleased about, but I know I could have run it smarter.  I started out too fast and died in the last mile; splits: 5:55, 6:12, 6:28, 1:03  I stopped at the timing mat that was placed 20 yards out from the finish which explains my especially slow final 10th, but still you can see from the splits that I didn't run very smart.

Coming in to the false finish at the Spooktacular 5K

Before we moved to Colorado five and a half years ago I routinely ran 5Ks in under 19 minutes.  Back then I was running a group track work out every week, training mostly roads and racing 5Ks and 10Ks.  My 5K PR is 17:50.  I was 30 and it was downhill course at sea level, but still I was fast.  Since I moved to Colorado and started running mostly trails and mostly slow and not very many 5Ks, I have not run a fast 5K.  Well, I guess I'd like to and maybe if I can get some speed back in the shorter distances, it will pay off with faster times in my upcoming trail ultras too.  So I am heading back to the track at least once a week for the next few weeks to see what I can do.  There is another 5K next weekend, but I'm not sure if I am going to do it.  I will be running the Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day 4 Mile which is pretty close to a 5K.  My best time for this race is 25:43, but this year I'd really like to go under 25 minutes.  6:15/mile will do it so Tuesday night I'll be at the track running 800s.

Carlsbad 5000- back when I was fast (18:47)