39:19.
I have shaved 2:20 off my 5k time! Very exciting. The Fools 5k was my first outdoor 5k this year. Let me say, harder than the treadmill.
I've been preparing for the outdoors. My treadmill is set at an incline and my legs are toughing out the times, but still, I was sore. Much more sore than I have been with my virtual 5k's. I think part of it was because I was pushing it. That pushing it resulted in a 5k UNDER 40 minutes. Yes. I'll take that.
The other good news? I want to be faster. A co-worker who I consider to be a goddess in the running department has helped me work out a little schedule to become a little faster. That schedule? Speed runs. I winced a little when I said it. So, walking for a mile to warm up, then running AS FAST AS I CAN for one minute. Walk for two minutes to bring my heart rate down. Repeat. Three times.
I'm going to be doing a speed run once a week, a long run once a week and two easy runs. And by easy runs I mean runs that are comfortable, easy to talk during and don't leave me feeling fatigued. So I'm changing one easy run to a speed run and then adding another easy run back in there. We'll see how it goes! I think I'm going to do my easy run and then lift, at least for one workout, if not for both. That way I will be working out every other day and I'll be giving my body some time to recover. We'll see.
My next goal? To run a 5k in less than 36 minutes. I may not hit that goal by my May 5k, but I'll be on my way there. Then, when I hit that, I'm completely and utterly aiming for a sub-30 minute 5k. It's doable, completely doable.
I'm excited after this last 5k. I'm excited to keep training. I'm excited to see what my body can do this year when I really push myself on my running instead of haphazardly throwing it in when I feel like I should.
I have a July 5k set in Ames, but am still looking for a June one. I know there's one out there, but there's always the trust treadmill. It might even be good to treadmill it to give myself a slight break. Speed baby. That's the name of the game over the next couple of week. Who knows, next time I may beat a turtle!
