What's with the PRs? Slow down guys, please...

Posted by simon on 1/7/2008 on simon's blog

What's going on guys? We're barely a handful of miles into the New Year and already the PRs are starting. How am I supposed to keep myself reined in for Saturday's Oatmeal 5k?

Jetfuelburner's claiming something like 30 minutes off his 50k time en route to a mud-slogging finish in the Huff 50k, and Runner NYC kind of got a PR in a 5k on January 1.

Actually, my PR for a 5k is so out of sight for me at the moment that I know I'm in no danger of getting anywhere near it; that's not being negative, just realistic. If I can get under 21 minutes, I'll be pleased; under 20 (6:25 pace), VERY pleased. Any faster, very surprised :) It's just that reading the epic race reports stirs my competitive juices...I am really trying NOT to get too wound up for what is just a check-in race, to see what state I'm in, not a test to destruction.

Here's the thing, though: this will be my first time out of the stables for almost 5 months. My focus for the last few months has been long-ish easy running and adrenal repair. And given that it's a pair of healthy adrenals that gives us/me the "juice" to really hammer it, I won't truly know that I've put myself back together until I find myself pushing it to the redline and bits start flying off. No, I must calm down....

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3 comments

baldwyn says:

What? A 21min 5k would be a PR for me :) Your problem is you started too fast, too early in life.

I'm not running a race until Feb. Then, I expect to knock off hours off of my 50k PR :)

by baldwyn on Thu, 2008-01-10 18:37

simon says:

Oh, I wish I HAD started earlier!! No, my PR is only a couple of years old and was done here at altitude. I think my real problem is I have ridiculously high expectations of myself :) Also, I didn't parcel out my effort... in my first year of serious training here in Boulder, for example, I took 11 minutes off the previous year's 10k time... now of course I have nowhere to go with it! What I should have done is aimed to carve off a couple of minutes a year, which would have kept me going for a good while :)

by simon on Thu, 2008-01-10 20:11

Runner NYC says:

Technically, I set a 6-minute PR for 3 miles, but I didn't really count it, because I've only run 2 3-mile races and they were both 3 miles by accident - both were meant to be 5ks.

The results of your recent training run seem to indicate that you've got a good shot at your under 20. I'll be "watching this space" with baited breath!!

Good luck!!

by Runner NYC on Sat, 2008-01-12 00:53