Since this year’s winter weight gain and running hiatus, I’ve struggled to run through the 5k distance barrier. When I took up running a year or so ago, I’d never run more than 5k in my adult life. When I started, I found that I managed 10k without too much extra trouble and was able to inch upwards until my LSR was 14-15k without too much trouble – and ultimately delivered my 2h9 half marathon time. Not record breaking by any means, but for me it was quite an accomplishment.

Anyway, the last week has seen two very different 10k runs as I begin to knock down the psychological distance barrier. The first, a tech-free run, saw me complete my 10k in 65 minutes – substantially slower than my previous efforts. My benchmark has always been 30 minute 5ks – so a 60 minute 10k is the thing to beat.

Today, I managed it, crossing the 10k mark at 59m20s – not massively speedy but hopefully the beginning of a return to form, and a whole load better than my previous effort. It was Runkeeper supported and I guess having a voice tell me my current pace does put effective pressure on me to up the ante…

Anyway, will continue to keep up the pressure on myself and see where I end up. I’ve not had the stones to enter another half-marathon yet – it’s difficult to be sure I can manage it with my extra weight and without having yet put in the time to build up to the distances I’d need – but we’ll see how we go.

Thoughts go out to the injured Sensei-Paul, who I’m seeing next week and will no doubt discuss running with for all of our edification.

Hopefully I’ll be able to churn out a > 10k run in the next week or so…