Pilots 5K Training Log

Day 36
Wednesday, Nov. 5
3.2 miles - 28:50
Training Miles Completed: 34.9
Days Until Race: 3

This was the final run before the race. It was mean to be a light run, so the time does not bother me. What bothers me is how wiped out I felt after it was over. I felt like I had just pushed myself really hard. The last few weeks have been really discouraging and disappointing. I got sick, but I was also pretty lazy. I just hope I can summon the energy Saturday to push myself and still make my goal.

Day 35
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Rest

Day 34
Monday, Nov. 3
3.2 miles - 27:16
Training Miles Completed: 31.7
Days Until Race: 5

I was pushing hard this morning and could not keep a fast enough pace to even get close to 25 minutes. I'm starting to think that goal might be out of reach. Maybe I'll do well in the race, but training has been discouraging lately.

Day 33
Sunday, Nov. 2
Rest

Day 32
Saturday, Nov. 1
Rest

Day 31
Friday, Oct. 31
2 miles - 16:12
Training Miles Completed: 28.5
Days Until Race: 8

Motivation has been really lacking lately, plus my endurance has really dropped since getting sick. I'm glad I was able to keep such a high pace for two miles, but I know I couldn't go much longer than that.

Day 30
Thursday, Oct. 30
Lazy

Day 29
Wednesday, Oct. 29
Rest

Day 28
Tuesday, Oct. 28
2.5 miles - 23:00
Training Miles Completed: 26.5
Days Until Race: 11

After a week off and still not fully recovered from a head cold, today's run was tough. I felt pretty good through the first 1.5 miles, but then fatigue set in. I struggled the last mile, but I'm glad I at least got through 2.5 miles. Now, I have to push hard the next 11 days to still reach the goal of a 5K in less than 25 minutes.

Days 21-27
Tuesday, Oct. 21-Monday, Oct. 27
Rest, Lazy & Sick
Training Miles Completed: 24
Days Until Race: 12

After a planned rest day on Tuesday, I was lazy on Wednesday and then picked up a cold starting Thursday. I felt like I was carrying a cement block around on my face all weekend and am still not completely healthy. I am going to try to get back in the swing of things tomorrow. Hopefully I didn't lose too much momentum!

Day 20
Monday, Oct. 20
3 miles - 25:06
6 strides (for a total of 4 miles @ 33:43)
Training Miles Completed: 24
Days Until Race: 19

After a weekend away with Katie and a lot of eating out, I was worried how I would feel. But, today's run was good. I tried to push, but not too hard because I knew I had to do the strides at the end of my 3 miles. My pace during the 3 miles was 8:22, so that's really good. I definitely think I could have sustained that through another .2 miles, which would be a 5K time of just under 26 minutes. Getting there!

Day 19
Sunday, Oct. 19
Rest

Day 18
Saturday, Oct. 18
Rest

Day 17
Friday, Oct. 17
5K - 26:44
Training Miles Completed: 20
Days Until Race: 22

Wow - I felt like I was pushing so hard today and still couldn't break 26 minutes. I did have to stop and walk at 2.9 miles because the pace was just too high. If I had kept running the last .3 mile I probably would have broken 26 minutes, but not 25. I feel like 1:45 is not that much time to take off over the course of 3.2 miles, but at the same time I can't imagine running much faster than I did today!

Day 16
Thursday, Oct. 16
Rest

Day 15
Wednesday, Oct. 15
3.6 miles - 31:00 (5K at 27:31)
Training Miles Completed: 16.8
Days Until Race: 24

This was supposed to be a 4-mile run but the pace I was running at was too much. I felt good through the first 3 miles, but then started hurting. It turns out that I was on an 8:36/mile pace, which is slower than I ran Monday. I think the problem is that I started out slower on Monday then increased my pace as I ran. Today, I stayed at the same pace throughout. I'll have to keep that in mind for the race!

Day 14
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Rest

Day 13
Monday, Oct. 13
3 miles - 25:44
Training Miles Completed: 13.2
Days Until Race: 26

OK, back on track! I felt really good this morning. Ran an 8:34/mile pace, much faster than I've been running. I still need to knock off another 34 seconds to finish the 5K in less than 25 minutes. I feel pretty sure that I can do it now.

Day 11-12
Saturday, Oct. 11-Sunday, Oct. 12
LAZY

Day 10
Friday, Oct. 10
LAZY

Gonna have to make up for this tomorrow!

Day 9
Thursday, Oct. 9
Rest

Day 8
Wednesday, Oct. 8
4 miles - 36:24
5 Strides
Training Miles Completed: 10.2
Days Until Race: 31

It is nice to be running shorter distances than I was while training for the half marathon. I did 4 miles today at a pace of 9:06/mile, which is nearly a minute faster than my normal training pace. But, I still have to cut another minute off that pace to finish the 5K in less than 25 minutes. I fell pretty confident that I can do it!

Day 7
Tuesday, Oct. 7
Rest
Training Miles Completed: 6.2
Days Until Race: 32

Day 6
Monday, Oct. 6
3 miles - 27:14
5 strides (20 second sprint, 45 second walk/jog)
Training Miles Completed: 6.2
Days Until Race: 33

OK, so after last week's 5K training run, I got lazy. I decided that I'd wait until today to really start the plan since the training plan I downloaded works best to start on a Monday.

I felt good today. I tried to increase the pace so I finish at a faster pace than I start. Plus, the strides felt really good and should be a big help to increasing my speed.

Days 2-5
Thursday, Oct. 2-Sunday, Oct. 5
Rest
Training Miles Completed: 3.2
Days Until Race: 34

Day 1
Wednesday, Oct. 1
3.2 miles - 27:50
Training Miles Completed: 3.2
Days Until Race: 38

My goal for this race is to finish in less than 25 minutes. It will take somewhere around an 8 minutes/mile pace to beat 25 minutes and I've never trained at that type of speed. My half marathon pace was 10:13, although there were plenty of runs where my pace was less than 10 minutes/mile.

Today was kind of a test run. I pushed it pretty hard to see how much work I have to do to reach my goal. It looks like I've got to shave off nearly a minute to get down to an 8-minute/mile pace. That may not seem like much, but I've only got 38 days to do it and a minute really is a lot of time to cut. So, I've definitely got my work cut out for me, but I'm excited.

Note: I don't intend to put a link to this training log on the sidebar like I did with my half marathon training log. This one is more for my own personal use, although you're more than welcome to follow along. You'll just have to search for this entry every time you want to check in on my progress!