The Garmin 5k Training Plan Running Journals – Week 3

Well, well, well, we are onto week 3 of the plan already!

This week sees the introduction of some hill repeats and I finally get to wear my new running shoes oh yeahhh.

This post will detail the Garmin 5k training plan from the Garmin Connect app where I’ll be putting it through its paces (pun intended).

PS. The furthest distance I have run prior to this plan is a half marathon so the 5k distance isn’t a total stranger to me, I’m just a LOT out of practice when it comes to running, following injury.

Week 3 | Monday – Time Trial!

0.5 mile warm up — 5 minutes time trial run — 0.50 mile cool down
DNF!
Difficulty for me —> None, just sort of angry really

I set out this morning with a spring in my step all ready to see just how much I’d improved since the first run 2 weeks ago!

I’d planned the route out perfectly so that there were no hills and I was going to smash the first benchmark run…

Except… I’d decided that a short run for around 3 minutes at an easy pace would ease me into the 5 minute time trial section.

I was confused by the directions ‘other – lap press button’ but assumed it would be very self explanatory when the alert sounded and I was confident that I knew which button was ‘lap’.

After running what I felt was an adequate amount, I pressed the lap button…. and it took me back to the front screen and I couldn’t see the workout screen any more.

Weird. I pressed it again after double checking I was pressing the right button. Same thing happened.

I pressed this button over and over and over again and the same thing happened. It didn’t make sense!! I also pressed every other button just in case I’d mistaken it. And still nothing.

I do subscribe to the saying ‘all the gear, no idea’ so I was convinced I was doing something wrong.

I had to stop the workout eventually as I’d been standing around for more than 5 minutes trying to work out what the heck was going on with my watch!

My original plan was to run the time trial and move onto the next run on the program (it would only appear once I’d completed the time trial so didn’t know what the other runs were this week) but I’d wasted so much time I had to head back home with my tail between my legs.

It felt like a total disaster of a run and I was so disappointed. On my walk of shame back home I Googled it and apparently your lap button can be switched to ‘off’.

While I felt like this was unlikely as I’d never changed those sorts of settings on my watch before, I headed over to the settings and sure enough my lap button was OFF!

Wow! So please, if you’re following this plan, make sure your lap button is turned ON.

I’d then lost the opportunity to do that time trial and I didn’t complete the workout and was mortified that this run had ‘room to grow’ underneath it. No fair. This Garmin plan isn’t playing fair.

So I spent the rest of the morning in a sulk but managed to pick myself up and find some determination to run again this afternoon.

After all, I’d only actually walked around a mile and jogged for about 2 minutes!

Week 3 | Monday – Run #8 – Easy Run

2 minute warm up — 3 mile run @ 11:09-11:39 — 2 minute cool down
3.2 miles | 36 minutes | 10:53/ mile average pace (running)
Difficulty for me —> Hard

Each mile and pace:-
Mile 1 – 10:19 pace
Mile 2 – 10:56 pace
Mile 3 – 11:25 pace

After my time trial disaster this morning I was sure I could get back on track and make myself feel better by doing this easy run later in the evening.

For some reason my watch had just given up telling me whether I was within the desired pacing zone or not so I had to switch between the pacing screen and the activity screen (such a shame I can’t arrange them next to each other or that pacing is on the same screen!).

I didn’t feel great before I went out, I felt quite hungry even though I’d eaten plenty and a little bit groggy.

My first mistake of this run was going down my favourite lane to run, which feels great on my feet because it’s gravel, because it’s also a lot of other people’s favourite place to go too!

That also means lots of social distancing stops. I’m not a fan of pausing my watch but also can’t see how I’d ‘make up’ the time unless I did.

I really had to dig deep on this run to stay at the right pace and by the third mile I was absolutely drained and wanted it to be over.

I’ve never had ringing in my ears, like I did when I got home, before which was quite unnerving.

Perhaps today should be a bit of a write off day, even though it was mildly successful. I’m glad I got the run done I’d just hoped I’d feel a bit more comfortable doing it.

So once I’d completed the time trial the week’s workouts appeared in the planner so I took a look at what the next ones were.

I’ve got my first hill repeats this week which should be fun and oh yes, a 7 MILE RUN!!

Why on earth would week 3 of a 5k plan have a 7 mile run? I can’t remember the last time I ran 7 miles, it was definitely before I was injured in September last year.

I feel like it would be a terrible idea to try and go out for a 7 mile run so early on, so I deleted that run.

It’s almost like the two 6 mile runs last week and this 7 mile run are just ‘filler’ runs. All of the others are called ‘hill repeats’, ‘easy run’, ‘speed repeats’ but these super long runs are just called ‘run’.

I can’t imagine they’re taking much away from my running plan and my progress, I’d rather fill the ‘run’ days with a strength training or cross training session instead.

That’s 3 runs that I’ve deleted off so far! I’m just wondering how many miles they’ll go up to! 10? 15??

I completely understand that building up stamina will help your shorter runs but you’ve gotta build-up to this not dive in headfirst.

Week 3 | Tuesday – Rest Day/ Walk

It occurred to me that I hadn’t managed to get any PBs since my first run on this plan. That seemed strange to me as I knew I’d gone out and run at least a 5k so that should have been my fastest one yet AND I’d reset all of my records so I should have at least one or two!

When I checked my Garmin, all of my personal best times had been re-uploaded onto my watch, presumably from the Connect app when I’m syncing my watch daily.

How frustrating! Now I’ll have to remember to check it each time I go out! That was the whole point in deleting my old records to see my progress as I followed the plan along

2.53 miles | 48 minutes (walking)

Went out this evening for a walk to a ‘hill’ to see how suitable / long it would be for Friday’s hill repeats.

I’m not sure it’s going to be quite long enough but it will just have to do, it’s challenging enough to try and walk up it sometimes let alone run up it… several times!

It is a pretty route though so I’m hoping that will help spur me on…?

Week 3 | Wednesday – Run #9 – Speed Repeats

1 mile warm up — 3 minute run @ 8:39-9:09, 3 minute recovery x 5 — 1 mile cool down
4.58 miles | 1hr | 8:39/ mile average pace (running)
Difficulty for me —> Hard

Run paces:-
Speed 1 – 8:50 pace
Speed 2 – 8:36 pace (too fast)
Speed 3 – 8:21 pace (way too faster)
Speed 4 – 8:48 pace
Speed 5 – 8:44 pace

Unrelated to the actual run, I saw so many bunnies this morning! They were so cute!

This was the same run as last week but it didn’t feel any easier, but I didn’t expect it to to be honest.

Had the same pacing issues as I usually do. Is it normal to shout at your Garmin ‘there’s no way I’m doing 11-something pace’ while trying to catch my breath…? No, just me then.

There was a little bit of wind in one direction so I was cursing the weather half way and loving it the other half.

I’m still managing to hold on to my injury-free legs but I for sure need to step up my foam rolling and strength training!

Week 3 | Thursday – Rest day

A promising day that turned into a bit of a disaster!

Went out for a little walk after work and ended up going a little up a grass verge with my right foot and I got a shooting pain across my foot.

I stopped for a second and it seemed to be ok but every time my foot went at any sort of angle I got a sharp pain.

When I got home I iced it straight away, did tons of stretches, foam rolling and foot strengthening exercises.

There was no pain while I was doing these but it felt a little tender around my foot.

On the Garmin 5k plan tomorrow is a hill repeat run for around 4 miles so I think that’s off the table unfortunately.

I’m hoping that after a good rest overnight I’ll be able to swap my runs around and do my easy run tomorrow instead.

This has really set my confidence back a lot that I’ll be able to get through this injury free. I wasn’t even running and the grass verge was tiny!

I’ve been trying to ‘look after myself’ in between running but obviously I’m not doing enough. Time to look up some foot rehab exercises I think.

Although there’s a little tiny part of me that hopes it’s not just in my head. One psychosomatic injury is more than enough for me thank

Week 3 | Friday – Run #10 – Easy Run

2 minute warm up — 2 mile @ 11:09:-11:39 — 2 minute cool down
2.23 miles | 25 minutes | 10:46/ mile average pace (running)
Difficulty for me —> Hard

Plot twist: I didn’t think I was going to be able to run this morning after my awful foot pain yesterday but I managed to get out of the door and remained pretty much injury free!

Thank goodness. I thought it was going to be over by week 4!

I thought it was probably a good a time as any to run in my new trainers as I knew they’d be nice and spongy to run in and they didn’t disappoint.

One foot is definitely slightly bigger than the other though and my left toes were a little too close to the top but it wasn’t uncomfortable at all, I have a feeling I’ll be able to break them in a little bit.

Just wondering when these ‘easy’ runs are going to start actually feeling easy??

I definitely have trouble keeping to the pace on the plan though, not because I’m a much better runner but I don’t want to fall behind on the pace.

The plan is lots of rehab on my feet to try and get them in top shape for running. At the moment, everything else feels pretty good. My foot actually feels pretty good when I’m actually running it’s just when I stop that it starts to hurt.

I know what you’re thinking, keep running right!

Caroline Jordan has some really great videos on YouTube for foot rehab so I did both ‘Foot and Ankle Strengthening’ and ‘Best Exercises for you Feet’ followed by Yoga by Adriene ‘Yoga for the Feet’.

My intention is to do each of these videos and a yoga session every day.

Week 3 | Saturday – Rest Day/ Workout

When I stepped out of bed this morning, my feet and legs felt great! I can’t remember a time when it didn’t hurt to put my feet to the floor!

Did the stretches I do yesterday perform little miracles on my legs and feet…??

I felt so good today in fact, that I decided to do an old Pump It Up Beach Body workout which was fun. I was mostly interested in the easy cardio section and a little bit of strength training.

Week 3 | Sunday – Run #11 – Hill Repeats

1 mile warm up — 0.25 mile uphill + 0.25 downhill + 1 minute recovery x 6 — 1 mile cool down
5.06 miles | 1hr 18 minutes | 10:53/ mile average pace (running)
Difficulty for me —> Hard

I’m glad I made this decision to do this run on the weekend, when I had more time, rather than a weekday morning as it ended up being a pretty lengthy run!

Made sure I had breakfast today before I went out because I had a feeling this run was going to be pretty tough.

What I didn’t bank on is quite how hot it was going to be… the weather has been a bit hit and miss these past couple of weeks, which is disappointing after we’ve had such nice weather consistently for around a month.

It was cloudy when I left home and pretty much stayed that way but gosh it was really muggy.

The hill was the best thing I could find in the area that was around a mile a way so it was pretty consistently steep but tended to level off a little right at the top.

I’m not gonna lie, it was a little bit awkward running past the same people over and over again. One guy said ‘extra punishment is it’ after I’d run up the hill, down the hill and back up again!

It sure feels like punishment that’s for sure! While it was hard it didn’t feel terribly hard but I had to have a moan…

Why is it, that the wind decided today was the time to blow down the hill… every run back up the hill was met with a nice breeze which made it so much more difficult.

Just for once, could it please be with me when I’m running and not against me… who do I need to speak to about this?

WEEK 3 SUMMARY

The wind has finally decided to join in here in England and what better time than when I’m doing hill repeats. Eugh.

Apart from the disaster time trial this week (which I’m gutted I didn’t get a chance to run again) this week has had some pretty great run.

I just need to try and keep this foot / ankle niggle at bay so that I can keep running!

We still seem to be getting a super long run on this 5k plan and I’m just deleting those, I don’t think they have any place on the plan at the moment.

V02 Max = 40
5K Race Prediction Time = 25:55 (this is hilarious)

Records: – None! How is this possible??

WEEK 3 RUNS
Time Trial – let’s not talk about it
Easy run – 3.2 miles @ 11:09-11:39
Speed repeats – 3 min @ 8:39-9:09 | 3 min recovery x 5
Easy run – 2.23 miles @ 11:09-11:39
Hill Repeats – 5.06 miles – 0.25 uphill – 0.25 downhill x 6

WEEK 3 MILES
Total time –> 3hrs 36mins
Total distance –> 15.93 miles
Total run time –> 1hr 48mins
Total run distance –> 10.07 miles