Today I participated in the work sponsored National Employee Health and Fitness Day 5K. I turned in an OK time for me at 31:29, but I was really surprised at how fast the average employee was. I knew the runners would be fast and the top 10 certainly were running sub 24. However I did not expect to be in the back of the pack of fitness enthusiasts who decided to come out for the 5K.
The biggest surprise was a colleague of mine who ran 21:49 to turn in one of the faster times. At one time I considered this individual a peer who was in shape, but I would not have considered fast. Over the past 6 months I have seen him drop a lot of weight and recently we discussed his training. He includes a weekly long run of 90 minutes and does a lot of interval training. On the treadmill this amounts to 5 minute warm-up, 60 seconds on, 90 seconds recover with progressively faster mph settings.
Speed is certainly not my friend. However, I feel compelled to establish a deep running base before doing any speed work. I am throwing that reservation out the window and will certainly include 30 to 60 second pick-ups on my outdoor runs and will try the treadmill regiment when the weather is sketchy.
On a side note my average heart rate was 164 which in on par with my last 5K average heart rate of 165. However, my training runs usually involved average heart rates in the mid 140’s.
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