2024: Starting the Year With a 5K

I slept in this morning, the first day of the new year.  I had planned to get up and do the New Years Day Hobsonville Parkrun 5K, and when I realized that I could literally put on my running shoes and run to the start with a minute or two to spare, I made the decision to do it. Originally, I'd planned to go hard today, but since I had not had time to stretch, I made the decision to run easy...at least for the first couple of miles.  But let me take a step back.  It's 2024 and I haven't written a blog post since July of 2023, when I wrote about my focus on finding my running and swimming speed.  The best laid plans... Literally 5 1/2 months later, after moving 6,000 miles away literally to the other side of the world.  Today was my 8th 5K in 6 1/2 weeks, albeit still fighting some hip and back issues. I've been incredibly consistent, averaging right around 25 minutes and not having attempted to go all out yet.  Looking at my last blog post, I estimated that I was capable of running a 5K in 22-23 minutes.  That's going to be my goal for 2024...I love having a goal.  

Today's 5K was about taking things as they came.  I used my 2 mile warm up run well, averaging ~10 minute/mile pace at a low heart rate. Check.  Since I didn't do anything fast, and the race was literally starting a couple of minutes after I arrived, I decided to start easy, which turned out to be 9 minute pace for the first two miles, my effort did increase during the second mile, but still was within my Z2 heart rate effort.  By the time I finished the first two miles, I felt it was ok to run the last mile hard...not super hard, but hard nevertheless.  I kept under 8 minute/mile pace, considering that my right hip/hamstring insertion was sore yet again (probably from not fully stretching beforehand), I'll take it.  This was the fastest I've run the third mile of the 5K since I began doing this race in November.  

I look back at 2023 only very briefly.  Honestly, it is not a year I plan to remember very much of.  It was filled with stressors, and as usual, I wouldn't change a thing, because now we're in New Zealand an I'm running a local 5K every Saturday morning!  

I still feel that my last Ironman, which was now over a year and a half ago, definitely took its toll.  In yet another reminder that my full Ironman days should be over, I don't believe that my body has let me forget.  My back and hips continue to have issues, although I'm now doing near daily core exercises and stretching.  Hopefully, with time and patience, I won't wake up every morning already stiff and sore.  I'm fortunate that over the past thirty years, I've built a base of fitness that my body can call upon.  Still, it's been humbling to "hit the fall" of a 5K within 1 1/2 miles of the start.  I'm hoping that I can build up some endurance associated with hard efforts that will carry me through in the coming year.  So far, my best time of 24:20 wasn't a typical all out 5K effort.  That's encouraging, insofar as my fastest 5K in the last two years is only about a minute faster.

One of the funnest parts of my journey has been seeing what this 64 year old body is capable of.  Considering that 32 years ago, at the age of 32, I ran my first 5K, and my time then was right around 23 minutes.  Getting back to that time seems to be a reasonable goal right now, and all signs seem to be consistent with my being capable of doing so.  Right now, I'll be targeting June 22nd as my first 5K at the age of 65.  Let's see what I can do then!

I also pulled out my guitar yesterday, for the first time in years.  For a moment, I felt like I was 16 again!  There are a number of things that I need to be doing with my life, not the least of which are doing things that aren't stressful.  It's time.  2024 is here.  I'm ready to embrace it!

Surprise: When I'm 64!

I've often joked in the past year or two that I'm as fit as I've ever been, but have more aches and pains. This has recently taken on a whole new meaning.  I completed my sixteenth, and final (for now), Ironman nearly 15 months ago.  Whether it was the difficulty of the race, or the additive stress of my "work" related efforts over the past year and a half, I felt physically demolished.  Over the past year, I've had hip, back and shoulder pains.  It often takes me an hour of stretching and movement to be able to walk comfortably.  I hadn't been on my bike until a few weeks ago.  I did keep running, albeit, not nearly at the volumes I reached in the past couple of years.  I also finally got back to swimming a few months ago, which, not remarkably, have been helping my shoulders start to feel better.  With my decision to "retire" from the Ironman distance came the natural desire to work on shorter (and faster) efforts.  I'm not doing any specific "training," but continue to focus on doing what I want, when I want.  So, imagine my surprise over the past few weeks as I've "tested" myself out in relation to my run, swim and bike abilities!

While I haven't done a lot of speed specific training, I have worked some shorter, faster efforts into by run and swim "training."  From the run perspective, this culminated last week when we spent the week in San Diego with our grandson.  I was one mile from the UCSD track and couldn't resist going to the track for my workouts.  I've never considered myself to be fast, but have to remember that I was asthmatic as a child and never ran one mile non stop until I was 32!  So, I really don't know what my capabilities were when I was younger.   Also, since I gravitated to longer distance running early in my running "career," I really don't know my speed capability, short of my one sub-20 minute 5K on my 49th birthday.  Ironically, my 5K times over the past thirty years have consistently been in the 22-23 minute range.  

When I lived in Colorado, I did run with a track club and would occasionally find myself running 400m in about 90 seconds.  There was one day, about 15 years ago, that I ran one mile on a track (at sea level, compared to my training at 5K feet), in just under 6 minutes.  My only other sub-6 minute miles (most recently in the last few months) have been aided by downhills.  I went to the UCSD track and did a workout I've been doing on the street close to home.  3 x 200m, 200m, 400m.  I didn't look at my watch and just ran this solidly.  My 200m times were ~43-44 seconds, or a 5:44-5:52/miles pace.  My 400m times were done in 91-93 seconds, or a 6:04-6:12/mile pace. With this background, combined with my daily aches and pains, I took to "testing" myself out on the UCSD track.  Having conferred with my coach, I endeavored to complete a 100m, 400m and 800m track run.  

Here are my results:

100m in 16 seconds

400m in 82 seconds

800m in 3 minutes.

First of all, these three times are internally consistent.  Second, they're literally as fast as I've ever run them!  They correspond to my potential to run a 5K in 22-23 minutes.  Second, compared to other 64 year old runners, while I'm not at the highest level. I'm pretty darn competitive.  The irony is that I've never considered myself to be a fast runner, but somehow at the age of 64, I am!  It makes me wonder what I might have done when I was younger if I'd believed myself capable of running faster.  It also continues to blow me away in relation to my daily aches and pains.  However, it also gives me both confidence and inspiration to persevere in my athletic quests.  

I haven't done a triathlon since the Ironman World Championship in St. George 15 months ago.  I'm signed up to compete in a sprint triathlon in one week.  The distances are the complete opposite of an Ironman. The swim is 1/4 mile (in the ocean). The bike is 8 miles. The run is 2.5 miles.  With this in mind, I've also recently been focused on my swim speed.  I've recently tested myself at 25, 50, 100, and 300 yards.

25 yards in 16 seconds

50 yards in 36 seconds

100 yards in 1:20

500 yards in 8:00

These are also times that I are close to the fastest times I've ever swam.  

I only got on my bike a few times in the last couple of weeks and my power output isn't far off from where it was over a year ago.  

I'm excited to be racing a triathlon again.  Doing a sprint will be both interesting and hard.  I'm sure I'll spend this week continuing to deal with nagging aches and pains in my shoulders, hip and back. But, next weekend I will race.  Looking forward to writing the race report!