Today I ran my first 5K - 12.5 laps around the run-down middle school track. Up until now I had run 2 miles, 3 miles and darn close to 5 miles, but never the exact distance of a race. I was just curious and pleased with the result. A week or two ago I couldn't hold an 8 minute pace on the track and that worried me. I really didn't know what to expect so I just went out planning to react to what my body gave me.
It went well. The first lap was right at 2 minutes and I just tried to hold that pace with a strong final two laps. I found that each successive lap was probably near 1:57 without any conscious effort of my own. I crossed the mile mark at 7:50 something. I don't remember my-two mile time but it was on pace with that. I felt good the whole way through.
3.1 miles - 24:21 (7:51/mile)
As far as running hills goes, I can say from experience that running fast downhill does not make up for time lost running slowly uphill. Your time will be faster on a flat course. From a scientific standpoint it seems to me that the gravitational potential energy gained by running uphill would have to all be converted to kinetic energy on the down-side of the hill to even out. This doesn't happen because each time your foot hits the ground while running downhill you slow yourself a little bit. But there is some physiology involved too and that's your neck of the woods.
Recommendation: Try mapping out a 5-mile course and run that hard for a week or two. When you go back to the 3.2 miler it will feel really short and you'll feel like you could sprint it. I've definitely noticed a boost in my running having added some extra miles to my workouts.
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