Sun, Feb 12, 2012 - 24K - 03:45:00
Three cold, timed IKEA 5Ks
I saw that my brother Pete ran a 5K race this weekend in 22:11 in 22°F (-5°C) temperatures, which I found to be very fast especially for that temperature, and since it is just as cold here, I decided to see how fast I could run 5K in this temperature in the middle of winter. So I took off on a 5K warm-up out to my 5K IKEA loop that I used to run back in 2008-2009 in the summer after work. The route looked much different that how I remembered it, now in icy conditions, I remember back then running past a beautiful lake, but today kids were playing hockey on it. 
 
I got to the cold starting line, set my stopwatch, and then gave it my best, ran as hard as I could around the familiar route, didn't feel particularly powerful and on the long Priesterweg stretch there was a lot of slippage since it was packed snow, a nice memory was on that stretch though, Jason Jollins on the head phones, breathing hard freezing cold air, and the sun shining through the clouds and reflecting on the snowy landscape so bright, I had to squint so I could barely see, eyes watering from the sun and freezing air, but it didn't matter since the route is straight as an arrow for almost 2K, all senses on full, a nice running experience! 
 
When I got to the last corner I was just over 21:00 so I knew this wasn't my fastest time, but ran the last stretch hard to finish with a 24:14. Renergized with some trail mix, put in a fun podcast of a couple of French gamers and ran off for two more 5Ks and a warm down. Good to have been out there again in the cold, my anticipation for spring growing, and now only 61 days till Paris! 
 
5K - warm up 
5K - 24:14 
5K - 26:48 
5K - 29:13 
4K - warm down 
 
 
 
 
 
the starting corner, at the Malzfabrik: 
 
the Bauhaus builder, wishing you a good run: 
 
the starting line: 
 
IKEA construction forced slight detour, adjusted accordingly for 5K route: 
 
through the business district: 
 
 
towards the autobahn: 
 
coming up on the switchbacks: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
last turn, should be as far under 21:00 as possible: 
 
the final stretch: 
 
finished: 
 
 
 
the warm down: 
 
and the road back home: