Is there a general rule of thumb in converting a hilly course to an equivalent time on a flat course?
I raced a hilly 5k this morning in 19:12. The total elevation gained and lost was around 340 feet. The start and the finish was in the same place so the net elevation was zero.
It had 3 small hills in total, each with around 100 feet of elevation. The rest of the course was undulating.
What would be an equivalent time on a flat course?
I'm in the middle of HM training with a race coming up in 5 weeks. I'm trying to figure out if sub 1:20 is still a realistic target or not.
This 5k race was also on tired legs. I did a 90mins long run as a long warm up (and also part of the HM training) just before jumping into the race.
Just for a bit of context, my current PRs are:
Marathon: 2:56 April 2022
HM: 1:26 March 2022 in a tune up race to the full marathon; didn't taper and only at 95% effort
5k: 18:30 December 2021 (soft PR, could have gone sub 18 during my marathon training in 2022)