The Faster You Run, The Faster You Have to Run Next Time...

After unintentional 5K and half PRs and a much faster-than-expected mile at the tail end of 2016/first day of 2017, I've had to acknowledge that I actually am quite a bit faster than I thought. I need to seriously reconsider my 2017 goals.

I sought guidance from some of our indicator run outputs, Runners World race predictors, and FinalSurge's workout intensity calculator: 

Based on 5K PR:

This is remotely comparable to what I've been doing for 1mi and up

Based on mile PR: 

this is more like what my speedwork paces have been

And just in case there were any doubt about the fact that I'm much better at shorter distances:

athlinks.com

Anyways, all this is just to kind of take stock of where I'm at right now and figure out where to go from here. It's been a crazy ride these past few years of training and getting faster, having a baby and getting slower, and then ramping back up to be in the best shape of my life (all only to have another baby in the next few years and have to do it all over again... but we'll save that rant for another time and place). I look at some of these paces and wonder whose results I'm looking at, because they can't possibly be mine. 

Who IS that?!?

~10 years ago, this girl ran/walked a 5K around a 12min/mi pace and felt like she was dying afterwards
Note the cotton RACE SHIRT, cotton leggings, tennis shoes, and earphones with an iPad armband... hahahahah

After a decade of work, though, those ARE my times. I am a mid-7 5K runner. I am a 6-something miler. I am a marathon mama. (and it's pretty awesome)

The thing about getting faster, though, is you no longer have a feel for what you're capable of and what a "good goal" is. A year ago, I was just trying to break 25min in a 5K. The idea of a 23:xx was inconceivable... but I ran that time... twice. The first time took everything I had, but the second... didn't. So I can go faster than that, but how much faster? 

I'm working with a coach to figure out what a reasonable 5K goal for this year (#Yearofthe5K) is. The idea of aiming for 23:00 or anything faster is intimidating, but then I look at my mile repeats and think, "yeah, maybe I can do that". I know that, eventually, I'm going to hit a wall where speedy results required exponentially more effort, but I don't think I've hit that wall yet... and I can't wait to find out where it is. :) Still, it's pretty scary going into races knowing you're expected to run a "crazy fast" time. Every time I hit one goal, it just means the next one is going to be that much harder... 

Here's to another year of challenging myself, sharing the journey with my training buddies, and loving every minute.