Measured 5k Road Race in 15:55.3, PR!
Splits: 3:00-3:13-3:16-3:23-3:02
Big milestone finally reached. First k in 3:00 was very easy, then I settled into my pace and started struggling in the solo race. At k3 I was only running 3:20/k anymore, then fell back to even 3:25/k. I just tried to hold on, but had given up on sub 16 at that point. Then, at k4 I realized I only need a 3:07 last k for sub 16 and started gradually accelerating. With a last 400 in 64 (34-30) I gave everything I had and crossed the line in 15:55! Was lying on the floor afterwards and had to dry heave/vomit for a few min but was fine after.
2nd place, winner was a 15-year old kid setting a national youth record in 14:49.
While this is a decent end for the season, I was hoping for a bigger improvement than 15s in 12 months but you can't always get what you want. I trained really hard for 10 months and barely improved, also getting some sicknesses/injuries throughout that always caused setbacks. The last 6 weeks I was more relaxed, added strength sessions and ate better and finally seem to improve again at a good rate.
This marks the end of my season and this thread. I will do a base phase now and enter some XC races and indoor track races (options are 800, 1500 and 3000). I was hoping to update my CV pace to 3:15/k, but my aerobic fitness/stamina is definitely lacking, so I think 3:20/k for k's, 3:25/k for miles and 3:30-3:35/k for tempos are appropriate paces. I can't run the 15:55 equivalent in a 10k (3:18/k), and the 15:55 was also powered by anaerobic energy with a strong first and last k saving the time.