32 male, in best shape of my life currently and have been following Pfitz 18/70 for Chicago on October 8th. Have averaged about 65 miles/week the last 6 weeks and have hit all the key runs in the plan. Best run has been a 21 mile LR with 14 miles at MP (5:58 average) a week ago. I also ran a 10k 'hard tempo' solo a couple days ago as a tune up race and averaged 5:30 pace and felt good. I'm hoping to go 2:35-2:38 at Chicago (not 100% sure of exact goal yet, trying to decide on it next week)
Anyways, on to the question: I want to run a 5k next week and see if I can PR...My old 5k PR (from 2017) is 16:16 and I'm pretty confident I can go sub 16. I was on/off running the last couple years and really just got back into the swing of things in 2022. So, wondering if people think racing the 5k a week out is a horrible idea, or if it won't affect the marathon negatively? I feel pretty strong overall and my training has been consistent. I realize this probably isn't the ideal thing to do, but my reasoning here is that the Pfitz plan has a workout of 3x1600m @ 5k pace scheduled for 10 days out from goal marathon...so if that's already on my schedule anyways, am I really doing that much more 'damage' or anything 'worse' by just running a straight 5k hard 7 days out instead? Would appreciate any thoughts either way