I’m taking the PFT for the first next week and I run a 23 min 5k, if I could cut 3 mins off my run…that would almost be a perfect score. someday… 3 years ago

With no previous running in the past 6 years, I went from 5k to 26.2 in 30 weeks by fanatically sticking to all my scheduled runs. The Chicago 2007 Marathon was supposed to have been my day to put it all together but things did not go so smoothly. I did however cover the distance and therefore a “finisher”. I now look for better 5K times as I establish step one for 2008 marathon. 5 years ago

Running on the treadmill at the gym has helped me better assess my running, and to realise how I can improve. I realise that I’ve really just sort of been trundling along, and not extending myself. I can (and intend to) run faster and farther than I have been doing. I’m working on improving my pace, and I’m hoping that my the end of July I’ll have achieved this goal. 5 years ago

Haven’t been keeping up with tracking my goals on this site lately (too busy trying to achieve them, if that makes any sense). I’ve been running regularly for the past few months; I’ve been pleased by my commitment and the fact that I’m sticking to my routine and my daily targets. I’ve seen a good deal of improvement in my running, and I am definitely running faster than I was when I set this goal. So I suspect that I may have achieved this one, but I haven’t run the measures 5K route that I know, so I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll use my run this coming Sunday as a chance to check my progress. 6 years ago

My interval training is really working! I did a regular thirty minute run last week and noticed that even though I wasn’t really pushing myself to do so, I was running considerably faster than I used to. For a 30-minute run I have six milestones (more like half-mile stones, really) that I use to gauge my pace, and I hit every single one of them at least 30 seconds early. By the last marker, I was 2 whole minutes ahead of my old, normal pace.

Did intervals again today. It was a real struggle, I nearly gave up after only a minute of running. But I buckled down and stuck with it, and finished my route in 26:33. More than a minute off my personal best of 25:16, but still a sub-10 minute mile pace (around 9.8), which is what I’m aiming for right now. Plus, considering how crappy I felt when I started to run today, I am very pleased with myself for just being persistent and finishing my run. 6 years ago

Since the 5K, I’ve been doing interval runs/fartleks to improve my speed. Today I did a normal run along my regular route. My benchmark time for that route is 30 minutes. Today I finished in 25:59. That works out to roughly a 9.6 minute mile; 4 weeks ago, when I did the 5K, I was doing an 11.3 minutes mile. So I’m doing pretty well, I think. I’m aiming for a 9 minute mile, so still a bit further to go, but I am really pleased with my progress so far. I think that when I can consistently and comfortably do 30 minutes at 9.5 pace, I’ll try the 5K route again and see how I do. 6 years ago

This year of running is about working on speed. I can run faster than I do now (couldn’t possibly run any slower!), and I know that the reason I don’t is because I’m just not pushing myself enough. Time to change that! 6 years ago