Podium 5k: I smashed my previous road 5k race best – how?
Luke Howard, TriNation founder and Podcast Host gives an insight on how he smashed his previous road 5K race best!
I ran my fastest road 5km ever at a race in the Lancashire village of Barrowford on the night of Saturday 3 April 2021 having run the Podium 5k ‘Sub-14.30’ Race, in a time of 14:23. I smashed my previous road 5km best of 15:27 which was set – pre-lock down – at the Self Transcendence 5K (Inc Scottish Championships) in Edinburgh in 2019, by a baffling 1 minute 4 seconds. Now the most perplexing question – how?
Well, firstly it shows that we can move to another level and perform better than we think by stretching the limits in our life. Before we start breaking down this enigma a quick pause to consider what a quantum leap crossing the line in 14:23 was for me. To break it down, it’s about 2.51min/km pace for 5km meaning at no point was I falling behind target. This figure might not mean much when viewed on its own but when you compare it to the average runner, it’s absurd. According to Runners World the average 5k finish time in the UK (a Parkrun distance) is 33:54 minutes.
An important factor is that taking a break from racing during the lock-down did not involve doing nothing. Far from it. In fact, it was an opportunity for me to energise myself and grow in other areas and also provided the chance to cross-train in zones that didn’t put pressure on parts of my body that required rest. That said, after what felt like a lifetime without racing, I was about to set foot into unknown territory, a sub-14:30 road 5k race, full of trepidation. My apprehension did not ease as I witnessed in the penultimate race Olympian and Scottish elite triathlete Beth Potter break the Womens British and World road 5k (unofficial) in an astonishing time of 14:41. By this point I was under no illusion that the athletes in my race will have kept themselves in top form during the lock-down as it started to dawn on me that there was going to be some seriously impressive performance in the Mens A race.
Beth Potter tells the TriNation Podcast crew: I’m running better now than when I was a runner” Listen here:
Correct Course & Weather Conditions
Podium 5K, Barrowford was an ideal location for the race not just for its almost completely flat terrain – the event being run around a large tarmac track. It also had the weather conditions of early spring that are conducive to running fast. On the evening of Easter Saturday, the conditions were ideal for running. It was a clear, dry evening with excellent air quality and temperatures and humidity staying low – the run started at 8.00pm to capitalise on the conditions. A temperature of around 8 Celsius made a fair benchmark for perfect road 5K running conditions.
Competition
Why would I put pressure on myself by entering a sub 14:30 race that I have never achieved or been near that time. Well, i was initially booked for the Men’s B race when a place become available in the Men’s A race so I took it, having the mind-set that said, ‘I can do this’. I wanted to be pushed all the way so needed a race where top athletes would drag me around the course. The Podium 5k promised fast times due to the red-hot line up. Podium 5K had assembled a stellar field with lead entries for the men’s race that included two premier running athletes in Tom Mortimer who has represented GB on the track at the U20 Europeans and the World Championships both in the 5000m and another GB athlete and one of the top 5k runners in the country Phil Sesseman. Neither disappointed as it came down to a two-man shoot-out between Mortimer and Sesseman, both dipping under 13:40, but Mortimer taking it at the line.
There was a foray of triathletes in this elite men’s road race all vying for 5k PB’s and all capable of sub-14:00 times on their day. I was not mixing it with any old triathletes, these guys were Olympians Jonny Brownlee and Gordon Benson; Commonwealth Games athlete Grant Sheldon together fellow Scot and EUT European Cup triathlete Cameron Main. Super League triathlete Chris Perham was also racing as well as Welsh triathlon starlet Osian Perrin, who holds the U17 Welsh 3000m record and at the finish of the Mens sub-14.30 race become the Welsh U20 road 5K record holder.
From the outset I knew not to make the most common mistake of running out too fast – it happens a lot in racing – as I knew my limits. Pushing myself means pacing myself. I knew the distance and the time I needed to beat viz. 14:30, this was my target pace and all I had to do was stick to it. No heroics! The lesson learnt from this race is that I can radically improve my performance through correct pacing. From now on I shall step back from the ‘perform at any cost’ approach and put pacing at the core of my training.
Full-results here: Podium 5k ‘Sub-14.30’ Race
Preparation & efficiency enhancing shoes
During the lock-down everything on running forums appeared to be about the new Super Running Shoes and how disadvantaged you would be if you did not run in a pair. My thoughts were throughout running history innovation is what has made running champions shoes better than their predecessor. I still remember when I first took up triathlon that running shoes had been locked in a very different arms race (or foot race). As part of a “barefoot” running craze, brands had focused on featherlight shoes with barely-there soles. Times have changed and we either adapt or stagnate. So, on that basis, I went and brought myself a pair of Nike Vaporfly Next%.
Now the claim is that the Nike Vaporfly Next% clears your path to record-breaking speed with a lighter design and faster feel than before. I prefer to tone that down a little in that it provides more cushioning underfoot and reduced weight up top. The result is a generous energy return, more comfort with an extra spring in your step. Is that not what a top quality running shoe is meant to provide?
Some may believe that by purchasing these running shoes I am buying “free time”, my bank manager tells me otherwise! In answer to whether these super running shoes are the reason for my PB, I can only answer that it is not the running shoes that win races it’s the runner inside them that does. The results from the Podium 5k race indicates there were PB’s for some and not for others, as would be expected in any race. And yet, from what I could tell, all the athletes in the race appeared to have on a pair of new brand super shoes, so clearly these running shoes are not the panacea for guaranteed PB’s – that take’s hard work and a lot of training.
Too often little account is to taken on the amount of training an elite athlete does. My weekly training schedule, as a triathlete, generally consists of six swims, four bike rides and five-six runs with a couple of core body work session – totalling around 25 hours – which is a lot more than your average running enthusiast. Training at Stirling University Performance Triathlon Centre, Andrew Woodroffe, Head Coach, structure’s my weekly key sessions to fit into the bigger picture of where I am wanting to head and where I am now. Andrew Woodroffe establishes a base line as the foundation for the year to come and then proceeds to move onto the phases of training dependent on my race calendar. Over the weeks and months of training Andrew is building layers of intensity control for improvement in my performance. It’s working!
Read up on Andrew Woodroffe’s thoughts in TriNations Coaches Corner: ‘New Goals – How to remain on task, love the process and keep moving forward‘.
Mind-set
Until Easter Saturday, my road 5k run was languishing in the mid-point of 15:30, so what made me think I could run a sub-14:30 race. We’ll all athletes grapple with self-doubt regardless of the confidence they elude and I have come to realise that if you overthink, you underperform, which well may be a reason why triathlon is peppered with so many athletes who don’t reach their full potential. Our mind and body are intertwined; we are wired to think we need to consistently be better, putting pressure on ourselves and our performance and then our confidence is knocked for six when we don’t win or reach our personal best. The key to a better performance is to develop the ultimate mind-set to drive peak performance. The mind-set needs to be as sharp and as focused as our physical attributes in order to find the key to better performance and ongoing success.
This is just an insight into my first race and performance of 2021 – I did not make history or break any world records like Beth Potter, nonetheless I strove to be my gold medal self in the knowledge that on the night my good was going to be good enough. In a nutshell, I was not going to let anything ruin the moment and I cast any negative thinking to one side. The outcome – I achieved my goal! I had pushed the boundaries of what I once thought was impossible. Now it’s all systems go for a sub-14:00.
Finally, my thanks to the organisers at Podium 5k for what must be countless hours of preparation in order to put on a great race day and to Running Live for a great live stream.
