Sat, May 4, 2019 - 11K - 01:00:00
11K IKEA and Back with Timed 5K (24:30)
In order to give my off-season summer training a boost this year, I decided to sign up for the upcoming Potsdam Half Marathon on June 2nd which my friend Thorsten will be running, and spend a month training in order to try to run the race with him at his speed. Last year he ran a 01:53:41, which is an average 5:23 kilometer pace, which means to stay up with him I would have to run four back-to-back 5K runs at 26:56. So my goal this month will be to get my 5K time as low as possible, perhaps doing 2 or 3 timed back-to-back 5Ks at some point as well.  
 
Getting out the door out around noon, it was surprisingly cool but good running weather, and on my 5K timed run, I was able to get a decent 24:30, a good start, hopefully I can get it down to 23:30 by race day. I remember running the Potsdam Half Marathon in 2016, also at the beginning of June, and it being extremely sunny and hot and the course not being exactly flat, I couldn't run faster than a 02:23:58, but I think I was a bit out of shape that summer. This February in the Sevilla Marathon, my half marathon split was 02:03:45 so hopefully even with some hills and extra sun, I can run at least 10 minutes faster knowing I'm not going to run another half marathon afterward.