I'm number one

At least for the moment.

Lunchtime today I went out for a run to put down a marker for the 5k online challenge we've recently started on the Concept 2 website http://concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23293&p=575384#p575384.

Conditions were good, overcast but reasonably warm for running at about 8-9 celcius with a stiff breeze, but one that I could avoid if I took the right route.

I warmed up with a gentle jog up to the post office to check opening times before I post a parcel tomorrow.  Stopped the watch and then restarted from a standing start.   I had a fair few things in my favour if you think about it
1) Having never run a hard, timed 5k before, I had no idea what I could do
2) I've switched to metric this year, so I have no idea what pace I'm doing yet, which means I'm not likely to tell myself it's impossible
3) I've just had a very good result in a 10k, so confidence levels are high

So basically, I went out hard, pushed for the first km, pushed for the second km, then tried to limit the damage for the last three km.  Probably not the best pacing strategy to be honest and from pretty much the start of the fourth km I was hanging on and watching the HR climb steadily and wondering when I would blow.  That last 2km were tough, pulling from reserves that I do not test very often, particularly in the last 500m when I'd ended up into the wind on an exposed fen road, but that's when you need to grit your teeth and keep going.

I was both amazed and chuffed to see the results. 

1) 3:52.1 / A 156 / M 167 
2) 3:58.7 / A 167 / M 170 
3) 4:03.3 / A 174 / M 177 
4) 4:00.4 / A 172 / M 175 
5) 4:03.1 / A 176 / M 179 
Total 19:57.6 / 4:00 / AHR 169 / MHR 179

Garmin geek trace here,showing the HR Rising inexorably http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140523825

That max is about 97% of theoretical max so I was working pretty hard at the end, but one thing I've noticed since starting this Maffetone training is that I seem to be able to work at a higher HR for longer in racing, which seems to suggest that the aerobic base is working well at higher paces.

Interestingly, if you plug that into a race timee predictor, a 19:58 5k predicts a 41:53 10k, which is another 2min 20 secs faster than my PB of ten days ago. 

Now that would be interesting indeed.

But more to the point, that time puts me at the top of the online league at the moment for absolute time.  I'm sure it will be only temporary until the fast boys put in their good times for the month, but it's nice to be there.