Timed 5K - Run Fitness Assessed

This week I really tried to recover better and make the key sessions count. The important session this week was a timed 5K run, which would provide some sort of idea as to my run fitness. The consistent track sessions stopped early March due to the lockdown. So my hopes of building some sped into spring have kind of taken a wrong turn! I used the Whammy Parkrun course for the 5K but amended the route slightly to try and get the flattest route possible! The out and back course is pretty flat anyway but it does have a 600m drag to the turn point. Anyway, although nit totally fresh for this effort I was feeling ok. I had a bit of a blip half way and then picked up the pace towards the end. This made me think I should have pushed harder through the middle part. But a finish time of 18:20 is as fast as I’ve ran for the last 4 years. So I can’t complain. This week I received my NB Fuelcell trainers. Although I didn’t use these for my timed 5k (it was raining!), I did use them for my second run that day. The day’s train I was a broken Duathlon. So later, after the 5K timed, I did a Zwift race followed by a tempo 3k in the NB. Great feelings in these shoes and I’m eager to try them again in a fast paced run. I’ve put some Hickies laces in them for fast transitions. I’ll need to play around with lace positioning but they seem slick to get on as this set up. I really enjoyed the split Duathlon day but it was quite hard on the legs. I had an easy day on Friday, just a recovery spin. Then I ran for 90 min to a 65% HR. This felt ok but again, tired legs. To finish the week I completed the Zwift Week 8 session 4 set - and then carried on to complete 70k in 2:04 bagging the Big Foothills route badge. So extra XP pints means I’m closing in Level 21. Now for a few recovery days.