Finding my 5K race pace 3 days before a race… I did my first and only 5K race back in Decemeber, 2005. I was nervous, I had about 10 training miles under my belt - most on the treadmill - and only three weeks running. I suffered through it in a respectable 31:24. I remember feeling so burned out with a mile to go. The three friends I ran it with took off and I tried to stay with my wife’s cousin but just couldn’t hang on. I was huffing, I was puffing, I was miserable as I tried desperately to cross the finish line. It felt like an eternity run instead of a measly 5K run. The finish was tough, the start… I felt like this… Yesterday I went out with the intention to beat my personal best 5K time of 26:28 which I did on 9/21/06. Before mile two I was burning up. My chest, my legs, everything! How can anyone get so fast unless they are built physically for speed? As I checked my first mile split, 8:41, I realized I was off pace. I needed to average 8:32 minute miles in order to tie my 5K Personal Best. I had to make up 9 seconds. I picked it up. The run started weird. My ankles felt stiff, my knees were tight, my breathing was labored. I did my long run on Monday evening. A 9 mile run. I took Tuesday off and knew I needed to run Wednesday or my next possible run would be the “Saucony Three Point One” on Saturday. I wanted to do a hard run, then taper with an easy 3 today and/or tomorrow then run all out again on Saturday. Is that proper training for a race? Probably not. Anyway, I picked up the pace. And as I hit the two mile mark I thought I had hit the wall. Thoughts of just slowing down crossed my mind. My 2 mile split: 8:27. I had to do some math. I just made back 5 seconds. I was off a Personal Best by 4 seconds. If I maintained the pace I’d nail it. Barely. So I tried to maintain the pace and sprint the last 10th of a mile. Mile three… I was at 25:34 into the run. I had to sprint. I tried. I really tried. And even at this point I was thinking, “just slow down, there will be other days”. Its weird what your mind tells you when your body is going through a physically challenging test. One tenth of a mile to go, less than a minute to push hard, and your mind is telling you to stop trying? I don’t get it. And even these few seconds you’re thinking, “I’m not going to beat it anyway, so I might as well slow down. Why push it?” I fought the urge to slow down, The last tenth of a mile seemed longer than a tenth of mile. Doesn’t it always? I ran it in 45 seconds. I made a quick calculation in my head as I jogged it off for a cool down. I thought I saw 26:20 on my Garmin just as I hit 3.1 miles… I beat it. Barely, I thought, but I knew I beat it. Officially: 26:19. A personal best by 9 seconds. Splits: Mile 1: 8:41 Mile 2: 8:27 Mile 3: 8:26 Mile 3.1: 0:45 Final: 26:19 – 8:29 min/mile Can I repeat this performance on Saturday? It’ll be tough as I’ll be running on a trail with some ups and downs and uneven ground – I’ve run 2.5 miles on this trail for a Sprint Triathlon before. I’m not looking for a PB on Saturday, but I wanted to know how it would feel to go with an all out effort without hitting a wall and stopping. At least I know what I can do as far as a race pace is concerned. All the 5K races I’ve done this year were to start a Triathlon or to end it, so I have no real idea of what a 5K race pace should be since I’ve only run one 5K race. And there you have it. A 5K personal best training run with two days recovery before a race.