"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Americas 5k Virtual Race - April 27th 2020

Round 2 of the Virtual Race series and I had decided to take it "seriously". I'd been a bit more disciplined about eating and managed to shed between 2 and 3 pounds since the previous week. I'd also run a hard session with 2 x 1k intervals at quicker than race pace - nasty! Also in my favour was the lack of high winds - those had definitely slowed me down on the backstraight in the Africa race.

I was up at Aztec West at around 7.45 for this one as I was working late shifts at the office - I mean in the kitchen, as we're on lockdown for COVID19 still  - and after a short silence I hit the switches on the Garmin and the phone (Strava) and fumbled the phone back into my Spi-Belt as I accelarated down the straight.

It was cooler than the previous race but the still conditions and my better prep (I haven't mentioned the fact that I've been getting in daily yoga sessions and held back massively on the cycling at the weekend) made things feel easier than the week before. Garmin was giving me good readings on the lap pace. I still had to work hard to get down to 3.50/km but there's no such thing as an easy race.

Round the bend the lightness of the headwind was a stark contrast on last week - I was able to keep up the pace. Things fell back a bit on the upslope by the roundabout but I forced myself to stay under 4 minute pace. That pattern carried on and as I was failing on the final lap despite my hardest level of effort I think I paced it about right.

When the finish came around I was determined to run hard through the line in case the Strava app was on around 4.95k and needed a few extra metres but in the end I couldn't do it. When Garmin said I'd done 5k I was done and had to stop.

The splits were very enjoyable - quite  a thrill to see 42 seconds knocked off and a new SB of 19.17. Strava actually said 5k in 19.12 but when you add up the splits they come to 19.17 so I'm sticking with that - not sure why there's a discrepancy?

Best run for some months - pace-wise that is close to my 2 mile pace of last summer.

Question is can I hold on to that pace or even improve it or will it fall apart? Who knows....just got to keep focussing on it and keep trying to improve or sustain. Self-transcendence :)

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