Worst Best Run

We went back for a re-run of the Nike 5k training session in Regents Park last night. Both of us felt like seasoned pros this time - all the nerves had vanished - and we even felt cocky enough to skip the embarassing group warmup.

I ended up setting off a little behind the main group as I had to give the forerunner chance to pick up a few satellites. So far I have found the Nike chip to be unreliable at recording run times and I can't stand running without the hope of statistics at the end.

I set off at quite a high pace and was tempted to try and catch a group of girls that were only a little way ahead. There's that competitive edge coming into play again! I caught them at the 1 k mark but I was wheezing while they were chatting comfortably. Having passed them I had to keep the pace up despite feeling sick and breathless and generally pretty damn awful. This time it really did feel like school sports day. My chest was stoving in, it was so hot. My heart rate for the run averaged at 171 and maxed at 179 bpm so you can tell I was pretty uncomfortable.

Click image to enlarge

The route isn't very well signposted and as with last weeks attempt at the same route we all got lost at the 4k point. This time it appears I cut off the final corner which is a shame as it means my total distance was only 4.7k and given that I was running so fast I would have liked a proper 5k benchmark. I came in at 0:31:35 which I think would equate to a 0:33:50 time over the full 5k distance. This is my best pace so far, shame it felt so awful.

Have to confess to recovering with rather too much beer and another bag of chips - sinner!