An impromptu practice 5K

I set out to do my normal 4 mi trail run this morning. As I started running, I realized I hadn't done any speedwork in awhile so I decided to do a tempo run where I would do a one mile warm-up, then 2 miles at a 5K pace (whatever that is as it's been awhile), and then a one mile cool down.

So I did the first mile and then proceeded to speed up. I didn't really check my pace while I was running but just checked on my heart rate which was steadily increasing. I was pumping my arms more, watching my breathing more, and was pushing myself along.

Unfortunately, I didn't pace myself very well because I ended up having to take a recovery jog after that mile because my heart rate was super high. So since my tempo run idea had gone out the window, I decided to change it up. For mile 3, I did a bit of a recovery jog for a half mile and then sped up again for the second half of the mile.

Then I realized to go for a 5K just to see what my pace would be like. So once I hit mile 3, I kept going that extra 0.1 mile. And since I was sprinting at that point, it felt like forever to get that last bit in.

Anyway, here are the splits:

1 - 10:02
2 - 8:56
3 - 9:56
0.1 - 0:49 (8:21 pace)

Total: 3.1 miles, 29:43, 9:36 pace

Well, that's not *too* bad. I might do a 5K this weekend so it's good to know where my pace is at these days. Of course, I wouldn't be running any 5K in this manner with such a roller coaster of pace and heart rates!

And I did record my fastest time for the mile on this run (at least for the last two years), so yay for that.