Training: a brisk riverside 5K

Another run from the office today, but given that I've been feeling a bit of an issue in the right knee this week, I decided to make it a short one. There was a time when short meant 3.5km, but short is a 5K these days. Anyway, lacking inspiration, I set off down Grey Street for a run along the quayside up towards Newcastle Business Park.

A decidedly cartoony-looking Newcastle Business Park, courtesy of Google Earth

As soon as I got past the overly-steep Dean Street and onto Side, I was surprised by the fact that my right knee wasn't hurting any more and I actually felt like I could go moderately quickly. 🙂 Sure, I was still heading downhill, but I felt up to a faster run. Cue the next 5km of running at a pace that felt like I was pushing quite a bit. Not quite Blyth Links levels of pushing, but still quite a bit.

I didn't quite catch the first split time, but it was 5 minutes something-or-other. After the next kilometre, the overall time was 10 minutes and... single digit seconds (can't remember exactly). Three kilometres in and I was still in single digit seconds (15 minutes something), but the digit was creeping up. It was at this point that I turned and headed back downstream, hoping that I'd then benefit from the wind (that I'd been fighting) starting to push me in the back. As it happened, the wind was the same speed as me, so things just felt disappointingly still. 😞

Four kilometres in... I don't actually remember, but I think I was starting to bring the seconds back down a bit, so I figured I must've dipped under 5 minutes. Looking ahead, I figured 5 kilometres would probably arrive around about the time I passed under the Metro bridge. At this point, I really wanted to get under 25 minutes, so pushed again. Trouble is, it's easy to judge when to push for the finish at a parkrun, but unless you run with the phone in your hand, watching the metres tick up, on a midweek run, you can't tell when you're about to cross the 'line' or when to kick.

Passing under the Metro bridge, I still hadn't heard Google announce anything. I kept on running a bit expecting it to happen any second... but it didn't. I kicked, without sight or sense of a finish line, and still nothing. Eventually, I got the phone out, slowing myself a little, unlocked it and looked. 5.32km. 🙄

While Google updated its stats at least once since I finished, it remains a time under 25 minutes. GET IN. Latest assessment is 24:58, but the eventual 0.34km overrun was at a 4:27/km pace, so I could've got an even better time had I timed the kick better. It's almost enough to make me want to do another sub-25 parkrun. Almost. 😉

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