2020: short tests, track laps and longer runs

Updated 10 Oct 2026

Running notebook · Running record · Personal bests · Race history

2015–2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023–2025 · 2026

The summer records centre on two and five kilometres. By September I was mixing paces on the NSA track. In November, many recorded outings were eight to ten kilometres; December includes a twenty-kilometre run. The year connects the childhood park races with the more deliberate, repeated workouts of 2021.

The summer marks

The listed paces are calculated from the reported marks, not the full-upload summaries. These are contemporaneous reported marks, with their original scope retained. The title of a run can describe a timed portion inside a larger recording. The archive does not preserve the segment boundaries or timing method for all four, so I keep the claimed times beside the recording summaries rather than scaling one into the other.

Other running was more playful. Two entries on 8 August mention beach terrain; the later one adds ten kilograms of extra load. Those conditions belong to those outings, rather than to a standard pace comparison.

September: changing pace on the NSA track

I recorded these sessions as laps of a nominal 300 m small track. The faster blocks alternated with slower running, rather than standing rests. The historical labels were tempo, endurance and VO₂max; they describe how I classified the work, not measured oxygen uptake or lactate turnover.

The listed lap counts correspond to nominal totals of 3.6, 5.4, 5.4 and 6.3 km. The three 5K claims therefore concern portions of longer mixed-pace sessions. Their exact boundaries and timing method have not been recovered.

Distance qualification. A March 2021 post in my export questions whether this small track was really 300 m per lap, or closer to 293–294 m; a later comment suggested 295 m. Neither establishes a corrected length. I retain the nominal distances I used at the time; these sessions should not be treated as verified 5000 m races. The independently recorded South Park 18:16 remains my 5 km race personal best.

The end of September was interrupted. A 28 September entry is titled “First run after a small injury.” It records the return without preserving a diagnosis or the exact beginning of the interruption.

11 October — the Sofia short-distance race

44:27, the official gun and chip time, aged 17. The event’s results list the short race as 10 km, with 25th in the men’s classification, bib 3068. That is about 4:27/km using the results’ 10 km label. My activity was titled “Sofia marathon 31/1042”; that title’s placing should not replace the organizer’s men’s classification.

The contemporary activity description reports repeated stops because of stomach and chest pain. Looking back, I remembered following the leading woman, dropping away when my stomach hurt, then finding enough strength for a strong final sprint. The memory and the activity note describe a difficult race; neither changes the official time.

I ran the same remembered route again in 2021. Those editions started around Battenberg Square on the yellow paving. My earlier Orlov Most start belongs to the 2017 race.

The short-course labels differ between editions: 10 km in 2020, 10.5 km in 2021. The full and half marathons’ certification does not establish the exact length of the separate short course. I keep the organizer’s edition-specific label, without turning the comparison into a certified 10,000 m personal best.

Sources: official 2020 results and my activity.

November–December: more time on the road

In November, the archive contains repeated outings around eight kilometres. December’s entries include 15.00 km on the 4th, 20.00 km on the 5th and 16.01 km on the 16th. These distances describe recorded outings, not measured courses. The month also contains very easy running and a note about feeling extremely bad; it was not a uniform sequence of hard sessions.

These moving paces use the exported recorded distances. The selected December outings have exported elevation-gain estimates around 48–73 m; they are estimates, not surveyed ascent. I leave the 15 December GPS-based pace out because the distance is disputed.

The 15 December description divides the run into 8 km at 5:23/km, then 6.3 km at 4:20/km. I keep that reported 14.3 km alongside the unreliable GPS summary. The extra decimal places in a device’s distance do not settle which description is right.

30 December — a reported 2 km in 7:15

The activity title records “2K PR — 7:15” — 3:37.5/km over the reported 2 km — inside a 5.64 km outing. This is an older reported mark that I had not included in the first version of my running history. Its exact segment boundaries and measurement method remain unestablished.

The result belongs beside, rather than in place of, the continuous track 2000 m in 7:16.67 on 27 September 2026. The one-second difference does not make them equivalent tests six years apart.