goals Archives • Paul Jacobson

New running goal as COVID-19 restrictions ease

I paused my Garmin Coach 5K running plan when we were restricted to short distances from home due to COVID-19 restrictions. Now that our restrictions for sport have largely been lifted, I wanted to continue with the running plan. It turns out that you can’t pause a Garmin training plan this long, so I needed to start again.

I initially started the same 5K plan again, and then thought: “Why not just do a 10K plan? I’m already running 5K distances in my workouts.” So I did that, and set a new running goal.

I’m starting my 10K plan today with a goal of running my 10K “race” at the end of July.

I just watched “The Sky Project” about endurance runner Magda Boulet while I waited for my breakfast to settle.

This has become a mini-tradition before my weekend runs, and it’s a little extra inspiration before I start my new plan.

Last week I ran my first timed 5km race as part of the annual Modiin Race. I set myself the goal of running in the 5km race last year when my wife and son competed in last year’s Modiin Race, and I’m pretty proud of myself for achieving my goal.

I started running again towards the end of 2018/beginning of 2019, and was pretty consistent until about April when I stopped running.

Then, as the race approached, I decided to start running again at the beginning of November when the weather started to cool.

My November running log — My November runs

My pace was predictably relatively slow to begin with (I hadn’t done much exercise for months, after all), but I feel like I improved nicely over the following two weeks.

I was hoping to complete the race in under 30 minutes, although I just realised that I based that goal on the assumption that the race course was 5km.

It was actually a little more, so my time was pretty good for my first 5km race in years (I ran a 5km fun run years ago in Johannesburg).

I wouldn’t say that I enjoy running, necessarily, but I do like getting out and exercising. I also enjoy the feeling of progress when I run further without slowing to walk, and the feeling of having accomplished something for myself afterwards.