I didn’t hit my goal of a sub-35:00 5K on last Friday’s run, but last night I did it. I changed several things, so it’s hard to say which had the most impact, and which had little or no impact. But here’s what was different:

• No phone weighing me down
• I got a Garmin Forerunner 965. This allowed me to not lose time unlocking my phone in the dark. It also enabled better visibly for my stats, so I could see how fast I was going downhill, and try to keep the pace from slowing too much. I could see when I was dragging (especially as I approached the 2 mile mark) and pick up the pace.
• I uploaded a Spotify playlist to my Garmin, with songs specifically selected with running in mind, rather than random every eclectic thing I’ve ever liked on YouTube Music. This focused list made it easier to run harder, and let me not lose time to skipping or rearranging songs (and more phone unlocking).
• Because I was thinking about high knee workouts last time, I tried harder to use my hamstrings when I started going slow.
• I stretched deeper and longer before my run, and I didn’t do an upper body workout the night before.

Here’s my stats:

• 3.1 miles
• 34:50, more than 9 minutes less than four runs ago
• Average pace was 11:14
• Top pace in last 0.1 was 4’36”
  • My last 0.1 mile overall was slower than it should have been because I tried to see what my instantaneous pace was while running

I’ll probably bring my phone next time, as I like being able to reflect on my run (viz. make these post-run posts) during my cool down walk home, I like being able to take pictures on my run, and it looks like I can’t control the Spotify playlist from my Garmin while in the middle of an activity. I also can’t get messages from Live Tracking if I’m sharing a feed without my phone.