Marathons and 5Ks are very different events with very different strategies. With a marathon you hold back for most of the race in the knowledge that later in the race it will benefit you. I find when I run this distance that I plan different paces throughout the race as I know I’ll tire too much towards the end – it’s all about discipline. With a 5K it’s very different – you put everything you’ve got into it from the start, and keep pushing for as long as you can, hopefully for the full 3.11 miles.
Last year I decided to try out the Rocket 5K event that Milton Keynes added as part of their marathon weekend. I could tell that it was a fast race, though I felt I didn’t push as hard as I could have (especially when I walked some of it). I came short of a sub-19 time and that was something I’d wanted to achieve. For 2017 I set my running goals as:
- sub-19 5K,
- sub-39 10K,
- sub-89 HM,
- 3:15 mara,
- completing 100K race.
Up until this point I’d had three races booked to have a go at three of those goals, though for each of them I fell short. For one of them I did actually move my PB a little closer to my goal, but not close enough. The MK Rocket 5K seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a go at beating that sub-19 time again, though admittedly with how close I already was to it I should probably have been aiming for sub-18:30.
In reality my chances of getting a PB, or attaining my goal was slim due to having had two weeks with almost no running whilst in the US in the preceding weeks. I still wanted to have a go at it though so on the Sunday morning I drove to Milton Keynes to see what I could do. When I got there I spent the next twenty minutes trying to find my way to somewhere I could park. Fortunately I found somewhere about a mile away that only charged 50p per hour, and I used the distance to throw in a light warm-up run.
For the majority of the next hour I stood around in the relative cold waiting for the race to start whilst the DJ played classic hits such as Elton John’s “Rocket Man”, and David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. This being a “rocket” 5K meant they were keeping with the space theme for both the music and the race number background. As the time approached it started to warm up and I wandered close to the start line. I stood around watching as the pen filled in around me. One of them just in front of me was talking about how she’d like to go sub-30 on this run. I’m no expert, but I think if the pen was organised it’d mean that wanting that sort of time wouldn’t put you two strides from the start line.
Once the race started quite a few people shot off like a rocket, weaving passed those near the front that had set off slower. The first section of this race was up a 3.5% hill to a crossroads where the route then begins its (mostly) downhill descent along Saxon Gate to the MK Dons stadium.
I didn’t look at my running watch often, but at the top of this hill before the descent I saw that my time was 06:43min/mile – far from good enough, and slower than my training during the week had been. During the first mile my pace was all over the place – it peaked at 5:41 but didn’t stay there long before my speed started to drop once more. There was some wind, but not that much, and I was finding I was wearing out quicker than I normally do. My thoughts at this point turned to wondering how I was ever going to manage a marathon in the morning. At the end of this first mile I glanced at my watch for the penultimate time, seeing that I’d done it in 06:06 – six seconds slower than what I’d seen as the worst-case scenario. It wasn’t looking promising.
I used this to try and push on after my pace had dropped to 6:43min/mile and for most of the second mile I managed to average close to the 06:00min/mile pace I’d wanted. It was tough going, but I couldn’t make up for the slow start to the second mile and finished this second one even slower. I didn’t look at my watch but after being overtaken by a couple of people I realised that my pace must have dropped. In actual fact I’d managed to slow by another six seconds, and I was now starting to struggle.
Over the next mile my thoughts were focused on having walked last year and missing my goal by a couple of seconds. This year I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to keep running no matter what as I knew I wouldn’t be happy with my time if I’d walked any of it. It was a constant battle, but something of a relief when I saw the “4K” sign, and the first glimpse of the MK Dons stadium in the distance.
I saw the point where I’d started walking last year and ran straight passed it – I wasn’t going to walk this time. Eventually the route turned right into the entrance of the stadium, and another runner passed me. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 18:43. It was just over ten seconds slower than what I’d wanted to finish in, but I thought maybe if I could get up to speed quickly I might just sneak in at under 19:00 and complete the first of my goals for the year.
I got up to 4:00 min/mile pace as quickly as I could and soon overtook the runner that had passed me moments before. I wasn’t sure how long I could hold the pace for, but the finish was not only in sight, it was fast approaching so I just had to hold on that little bit longer.
When I crossed the line I looked straight at my watch and saw that I’d just missed sub-19:00 again. For the second year running. This year though I was two seconds slower at 19:03. A few seconds later I received an SMS confirming my official time as the same. This put me in position 44 of 1,569 overall finishers (first 2.8%). This also equated to being the 42nd male, and 25th in my age category.
It was a shame as I thought this was the one goal I could beat this year, but I couldn’t. I’ll need to work harder and try to get that sub-19 time at a parkrun later in the year. Someone I know on Twitter raised a good point – perhaps I’ve reached a plateau. It’s entirely possible, but as Bruce Lee apparently once said:
There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.
What this means is that I’ll need to figure out how to push past this – I really want to get that sub-19 time. To start with I’ll try just working harder and trying to get a few faster mid-week training runs in every two weeks. At the minute they’re slower than I could manage so perhaps picking the pace up on those may help. I’m also considering beginning a run streak on the lead-up to Race to the King and Race to the Stones, but I may try one parkrun before that. Just in case.
After the race I did a slow cool down run back to my car ready for the one hour drive home to try and relax before another day of running.