On Sunday, I officially became a master's athlete at the age of 35. Despite my improvement year-on-year since starting triathlon in 2009, I haven't been able to hit the times I know I can run. For instance, I ran 15:46 min for 5km in December 2019, and I've never been able to run faster since. Similarly, I ran a 2:39 marathon in 2018 and only ran (ran-walked 😏) 2:37 this year.
So, why am I not progressing as I should?
Ultrarunning and poor performances
Some say that ultrarunning slows you down, but I disagree. However, it does limit your chances to train for other races. Since my 5km track race in 2019, I haven't had the opportunity to train specifically for a 5km. I did a bit of 3km training one summer and ran 8:54, which would have put me on track to beat my 5km personal best. The same goes for the 32min 10km I ran in 2021. But I've always been training for the next ultra or marathon, so I never got the chance to train for or participate in "fast" races. Additionally, Covid wiped out almost two years of racing.
Despite training for many marathons, I haven't been able to improve my time much because I messed up most of them. In fact, I only improved my time from 2:39 in the two marathons I used as training for ultramarathons! I put so much emphasis on "the time" that I made bad training or racing choices, despite knowing better! Listen to last year's marathon recap for an insight into how I ruined my race.
As you may know, I started this blog because I put ultrarunning on hold to run fast. While I don't believe my times reflect significant athletic progress, I know I'm physically much fitter than I was a few years ago. Over the next couple of years, before it's too late, I want to achieve performances that I can be proud of. Specifically, I want to run a sub-15 min 5km, sub-30 min 10km, sub-1:10 half, and a 2:20 something marathon. A massive motivator for me to hit these times is so that my son has a bit of work to do to beat his old man should he ever want to pursue running.