Friday, June 10, 2011

1K time trial

This morning I was up early and pleasantly surprised to find a chill in the air when I stepped out the door. (12C/54F). It felt amazing, but I immediately thought, 'Shoot, now I can't blame the heat on a slow time trial.' ;) I've been feeling sluggish all week and wasn't expecting anything spectacular.

I had plugged some of my recent race results into McMillan to get some predictions:

5K 21:34 ... 3:40.1
10K 43:08 ... 3:31.9
Half Marathon 1:42:22 ... 3:46.0
Marathon 3:37:18 ... 3:58.0

I didn't put a whole lot of weight on those projections since I achieved those times when I was in excellent racing shape; 4 weeks post-marathon I am probably recovered, but definitely not fit. I've been feeling slooooow lately, but I still wanted to see what I could do and give myself a bench mark for comparison later in the season.

Yesterday some of you guessed what my time might be - thanks for your predictions!

Laura - 3:15-3:30
Deb - 3:57
Amanda - 3:28.45
J - 3:49

One of you was exactly right!

I had a lot of "how far is a K anyway? I only know miles!" comments; 1K = 0.621371192 miles. Now you know. :)

I drove to the park for an extended warm-up before heading over to the track to get to work. I encountered these pesky geese along the way and immediately thought of the Seattle girls who are not the biggest fans of our Canadian geese who like to hang out in WA. I only received a few hisses as I stepped gingerly through this danger zone. These birds can be feisty!



Once I made it over to the track, I procrastinated snapped a couple of pictures before starting another warm-up - I ran 5 laps with a moderate sprint for the last 100m of each.




I stopped again to ditch the iPod (so I would hear the beep once the torture time trial was over), sipped some water and jogged slowly to my 'starting line' on the opposite side of the track.



Originally I was unsure whether I should have a running start or not, but decided it would be more authentic to start from a stop. After procrastinating lingering for another few seconds, I eventually willed myself to take a deep breath and his START.

Do you know how long a kilometre is??? (0.621371192 miles) After completing half a lap and knowing I had two full laps to go, I was pretty sure I was going to die. I hated that first full lap and hit a mental block where I felt myself slowing down slightly. I snapped out of it for the final lap, telling myself I only had to suffer for about a minute and a half (which seemed like forever). I pushed as hard as I could after rounding the final bend onto the straightaway. My lungs were screaming and I probably sounded like a tractor; actually, I felt like a bit of a tractor too - rumbling along with anything but grace. It wasn't pretty.

But I finally heard the beep.


3:49.27


It's not where I'd like to be, but about what I expected. It's my fastest ever recorded kilometre and I know there's lots of room for improvement. I will get that down to 3:3X by the end of the season.

39 comments:

ShutUpandRun said...

:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is me giving you a huge thumbs up on a job well done. I look at your PR times and I am always so impressed. Can you write a post on how you got so fast???

TMB @ RACING WITH BABES said...

Nice job! Just thinking about running that fast makes my legs hurt!

Anonymous said...

niiiice! i think u r speedy! you should try this every month or something during your marathon training to see how u do.

happy friday!

Teamarcia said...

Great job! I'll take your 'unfit' time any day!

Meg said...

Heck yeah you'll get to 3:3X! Beginners nerves. You need to get used to track running to rock it. I bet if you had a straight stretch you would be even faster.

Keep it up!

Jen said...

WOOHOO! You are one speedy lady! Nice work. I think it's a great idea to do a time trial and benchmark your progress.

Jen said...

WOOHOO! You are one speedy lady! Nice work. I think it's a great idea to do a time trial and benchmark your progress.

Johann said...

That is really good, well done! I'll be honest, I thought you would do a 4:05, so great job!

Laura said...

If I EVER saw the number 3 on my garmin in front of any pace I was running...I'd probably pass out.
Congrats! See? The Kenyan in you is right.there.

Denise said...

nice work, speedy!!! now can you do it for a mile so your peeps in the US understand exactly how fast you are?

No Longer Using said...

WOW! J has you all figured out!!! :) this was a clif hanger post :)

Anonymous said...

I'm with Beth (SUAR)!! HUGE high five from me - ignore those PR times and just soak in the "fastest recorded 1K time". This is such a great test to start your training with :) I have no doubt that next month you'll already be closer to that 3:3x...(monthly time trials??).

Happy {almost} Weekend!

Vanessa @ Gourmet Runner said...

Way to go! That's one crazy fast kilometer. Now I'm curious what my time would be. I won't post it though, you would just put me to shame!
:)

Janice {Run Far} said...

You're a freaking rock star. I am to chicken to do any time trials of any distance.

J said...

Great job Marlene on the time trial! You did so well! And I guessed it! You are right on track to keep improving your speed and endurance! Now you know where you are at and can keep working to get better! We actually do a lot of our tempo/interval work in meters/kilometers for my run club and everyone always asks how far 1k or 2k is and I always know!

misszippy said...

Bam! That's awesome and I love your determination to get the time down. Go Marlene!

Mark said...

I so love your enthusiasum and strength! You inspire many people....have a great weekend my friend!

Heidi said...

We have a few large ponds on our property and have SO many Canadian Geese. Very annoying. Crap everywhere and honking at all hours.

Congrats on your time trial. I have complete faith that you'll get into your desired time range.

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

I think that is a great place to start! So glad you got out and did it. A benchmark is a great springboard to motivate you along your training cycle.

Have a great weekend!

kristen said...

Nice work! I have no doubt you'll get into those 3:30s by the end of the season. You're a beast when it comes to putting the work in and getting it done!

Kerrie said...

Woohoo!

I never would've made it. Not with those winged devils in the way. ;)

Peggy said...

Sounds like a great time to me! And I know you can definitely make it to your goal!

Jason said...

Time trials are awesome and scary all at the same time.

We procrastinate b/c we are scared of it then we do it and love it and think it wasn't that bad.

Great job out there.

Char said...

It's pretty fast even if it's not where you want it to be. And you don't want it to super fast right at the start of the cycle anyway - you need some leeway for it to go down.

Felice Devine said...

I'm w/SUAR!! :-)

Nice work, Marlene!! Speedy.

Cynthia said...

Wow! You are amazing :) I see a 4 in front and I freak out!! Keep it up!!!

Unknown said...

ROCK-STAR!

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey

stoppingfordaisies said...

Wow that is awesome! Way to go, I wish I could run that fast!

Richelle said...

Wow, you are so fast! I'm with Beth... I wanna know how you got so speedy! :)

We've got lots of Canadian geese around my neighborhood and they are annoying. Not only do they leave their poop everywhere, several momma geese have hissed at me during my runs.

Courtney @ I CAN DO THIS said...

Awesome! And I have no doubt you'll hit your new goal in no time.

Anne said...

That is rocking fast!!!!

Lindsay said...

nice maurlene! although, that's not a very long workout ;) now string 5 of them together mkay?

we have geese here too. but i don't know what nationality they are. they poop all over the place.

Amy said...

Wow, you are speedy! I get excited if I have a 4 at the front of my pace, and that usually only happens if I'm going down hill! Just got caught up on your blog after 3 weeks of travelling with limited access to internet - good luck with your next round of marathon training - I know you are going to do great!

ajh said...

You are fast but you deserve to be. You work hard at it and put in the time.

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

Wow, speedy! Awesome job :) I was just wondering this morning what a 1K would be because I saw something about a 5K race and then a 1K for kids and I was thinking, hmm what is that in miles? haha

Nicole said...

Marlene=rockstar. whenever i hear your name, rockstar comes to mind. your awesome & i'm so proud of you! :)

Q said...

Way to rock it speedy! Thanks too for suggesting runningroom.com and raceresults.com for race listings, I hadn't even thought of those two, and have added them to my list!

Unknown said...

Fun post, I just love the speed stuff right now! I've been doing it on and off the track and I totally see improvement, can't wait to watch you grow!!

Joanna said...

I'm WAY behind on reading blogs, so I'm getting caught up starting here! I'm about to comment bomb you because of it. :) Awesome time trial! I think we all have a love/hate relationship with screaming lungs.