Happy Thanksgiving! A few weeks ago I decided that I just had to run this 5k again to see if I could beat my time from last year. I’ve been running up to 5 times a week since Spring so I was pretty confident I could do it. I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning and went for a short .8 mile warmup run to get ready for the main event at 8. My friend Michael picked me up at 7:15 and we headed off to Seekonk. Same course as last year.
Tons of people of all ages and running ability. When the race started I sprinted from the back to get ahead of as many people as I could then kept a steady pace all the way to the end. I really pushed myself to run as fast as I could and resisted the temptation to check my time on the Fitbit until the very end. 29:12!!! Almost a full 5 minutes faster than last year. Woot!
Keri and I have a new routine. For the past month we have been getting up before the crack of dawn at 5:30ish. Up and dressed and out the door before 6. Keri heads off to yoga class and I go for my run. We do this Monday through Friday and then rest on the weekends. My workout is usually done by 6:30 which gives me time to prepare coffee and breakfast for when Keri returns at 7:30. We break our daily 14 hour fast then. The newest addition to our daily routine is intermittent fasting. This was Keri’s idea but I’ve decided to do it as well to keep meal planning simple. From 7:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m. we eat our regular meals as usual. From 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. we’ll only drink water or tea. There’s actually not much reduction in the amount of food we eat. We’re entering our 4th week and I’m down 9 pounds already. Not bad. Of course, we’re not super strict about all this. There have been a couple days where we’ve slept in or have eaten a bit later in the day. These exceptions are usually for things outside of our control like the weather.
Today’s run was a good one. 10:22 minute mile. I’ve been running about 2 miles per day on average with at least one longer run during the week. My current goal is one 5K per week. I’m trying to get my 5k time under 30 minutes. I’m getting close. My last one was 10 days ago and I completed it in 30:59. I’ve plotted out a route that is mostly uphill so I have to work harder to beat that time. I figure it will make running a flat course 5K even easier. My sights are on running the Newman YMCA 5K Turkey Run again this year. My time last year was 34 minutes exactly. Their course is actually a bit shorter than a full 5k so I think my time would have been around 37-38 minutes for the correct distance. If I can get my time under 30 then I’ve definitely made a huge improvement in the last year.