Marathon Training for the 5k?

Time: 115:01
Distance: 16.42

W/u: 20:07 for 2.50 miles
W/o: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, minutes at 5:00 pace. Switch to 4:50 pace on second 5 min. Rest?
Actual: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 mins. All at 5:00 pace. Rest varied between 200m and 500m
C/d: 22:27 for 2.40 miles

I somehow got talked into meeting up with Paul, Spada, Billy and Brian at PDS this morning. I loved the company but the hour was atrocious. We started our respective workouts at 6:00 am. We were running hard on the track at 6:00 am. That means my warm up started around 5:30 am which means I got out of be at 4:30 am. Why did I agree to this again?

I warmed up from Providence Day School down Sardis where I ran into Paul Mainwaring. We ran back to the track together and found the rest of the crew doing strides on the track. It was still dark when I changed into my racing flats and made one last check on my phone to make sure I had the workout correct.

Paul and Spada were doing 8 x 400 meters with 200 walk recovery in order to get some turnover work. Brian and Bill were running 12 x 400 meters with 200 jog recovery. My hope was to latch on to either group during my session of varying minutes.

Splits:
3:03.51 for .62 miles - I almost ran 1,000 meters to start off a little fast
(1:23 for .13 miles) - I jogged back over to the start line
4:03.07 for .80 miles - I made it just over 3 laps running about 5:00 pace
(1:49 for .19 miles) - Jogged roughly 300m back to the start line
5:03.30 for .99 miles - Ran a full mile but the watch doesn't record so accurately on the turns of the track
(2:27 for .25 miles) - Jogged a full 400 meters nice and slow. Start to add up how much this workout is...
6:02.78 for 1.21 miles - Ran about 100 meters shy of 2,000 meters. Pace is still right on 5:00 pace
(3:26 for .31 miles) - Realize that this will be 46 minutes of hard running
7:01.12 for 1.39 miles - Stayed relax through the mile in 5:03, finished with running about 2,300 meters
(3:57 for .37 miles) - Jogged 600 meters recovery
6:01.10 for 1.19 miles - Ran tough but the pace is starting to get hard to hit
(4:23 for .33 miles) - Had to "lose" some weight in the bushes, jogged about 500 meters recovery
5:02.83 for 1.01 miles - Was supposed to run 4:50 but was locked in to 5:00 pace
(2:56 for .25 miles) - Jogged a full lap recovery
4:01.33 for .80 miles - Made it about 1,300 meters and was through 3 laps in 3:46
(2:30 for .20 miles) - 300 meters recovery, ready to be finished, looking forward to some faster repeats
3:01.80 for .61 miles - About 1,000 meters of hard running, started to get some fluidity back
(1:58 for .14 miles) - About a 200 meter recovery, trying to focus for the final two repeats
2:01.28 for .41 miles - Ran 700 meters going through 400m in 71-72
(1:04 for .08 miles) - Short recovery to start line
1:06.53 for 400 meters - Felt like running a full lap to get a "real" split, happy with the leg speed, glad to be done

From start to finish this workout to 72:27 and I covered roughly 11.52 miles. Of the 72 minutes, 46 of them were run at 5:00 to 5:05 pace or faster. Talk about a long workout. I didn't add up the total time until the recovery laps after the first 5 minutes of hard running. I only then learned that it would be over 9 miles of running at 5:00 pace! I'm glad I didn't know that going into the workout because I would have been intimated.

It was a little depressing to see mid-workout that everyone was getting ready to leave and I was only on the top of the ladder. I had about 90 seconds left of running when I spotted Paul, Billy and Brian walking off to cool down. I still had to come all the way back down from there. I was pleased at how I approached the workout and that not finishing the effort didn't creep into my head.

I would have like to have changed gears on the second 5 minute interval more, but I was just locked into that pace. A lot of the early intervals have me running a few seconds over the prescribed time and that's because I couldn't see my watch. The Garmin's light is difficult to use when it's so humid out and the touch bezel doesn't register all the time.

Very pleased at where this workout puts me. I think I could go out and run a very fast marathon/half-marathon and still have the speed to pull off a fast 5k.