This morning I ran a road race: with way more training and a better plan. The races were night and day so different. (Think it might be my first road 5K! Since in 2017 I've done 3 10ks, a trail 5k and a 4k)
My first race last year was HARD. I had wanted to go sub 24 in the race. However, it was a hilly trail race that was closer to 3.3 or 3.5 miles. I didn't train right. I thought that if I ran 10-12 miles a week that I would do amazing. In hindsight, I didn't train right.
Today's race was different.
I had a goal: Run sub 23 for this race. (I've run close to this pace for the first half of 10ks, so it was a realistic goal). The course was flat and the temperature was great for the race (55 degrees. It said it was 100% humidity but I didn't notice it)
My goal pacing was about 7:20. But 7:30s would be okay for pacing. My goal was even splits and to NOT go out too fast like I normally do.
Mile 1: 7:28
A little slow, but fine. Chased a few people down who went out too fast.
A teenager passed me. She was breathing HARD and I knew she wasn't going to last.
I was thinking about running as easy as I could while running close to the right pace. I was concentrating on my breathing—taking deep breaths. That teenager passing me reinforced this (deep breaths, not shallow).
Mile 2: 7:29
Passed that teenager a few guys. Would have liked a faster pace but there was no one around me.
Mile 3: 7:20
I passed another guy and closed the gap with the lead woman. (The guy I passed told me to go get her.) And I tried.
The last .2 of the race I kicked it in. And finished 3 seconds behind her. In retrospect I should have kicked it in about 15 seconds earlier. But I didn't know how much I had left.
I thought I finished in 24:40. That's what the time clock said and when I stopped my Garmin. My print out said 24:44. Which is still right on goal pace.
My watch measured 3.08 at the finish (other people's Garmins said 3.1), so I ran a little extra so Strava would register 3.1.
I wasn't super tired after that effort. I ran a mile cool down. And bascially kicked myself for not running 7:20s. I think I could run 20 seconds faster at least if I had someone to push me. Maybe I'll find another race soon.
How is this race different than last year:
• More miles. I run around 25 miles a week. (I did take a good amount of time off in July and I've been back for a month.)
• Training: I didn't train so much for this race (Decided on Friday to run it) but I know what a training plan is and my training doesn't look that much different than a training plan for a 5k. I run 5 days a week, with increasingly longer long runs on the weekends and speed work during the week, and easy runs of just mileage. In fact, after these three miles, I wasn't even tired. After my 8 mile runs, 3 fast miles is easy peasy.
• Pacing: I know what that is now! I'm learning. My pacing was even with my last mile the fastest! I could have gone a hair harder, but I know that now and I can be patient to gradually drop my time.
• I finished that 2016 race in a little over 30 minutes. I was 7+ minutes faster today (Could I have run 4 miles in last year's 3 mile time?) It was easy. I was even. I ran a smarter race and I trained right. That's the difference a year makes: 30:09 ->22:44.
Race prep: I didn't do a lot of race prep for this race. I knew I was roughly doing what I should to train. I tried to eat a little cleaner the two days before the race. I did healthy carbs—lots of noodles. I also drank a ton of water Sunday before the Monday morning race. I got up at 5:30 for the 7:30 a.m. race. Was out the door at 6:45, got there at 7, which was enough time to sign-in, walk around, stretch, and get nervous. (Races are weird when you go by yourself and don't know anyone there.) Also I dressed right for the weather: crops and a short sleeve. Was happy with the choice.
Race review: This was a cute little race. It was in Crawford, a town I never go to. But it was 20 minutes from my house—the same distance as the other side of Athens. There was parking by a Baptist church and an indoor area for registration and indoor bathrooms. Yay.
The course is flat. It's on roads that aren't closed, but I only saw 2 cars on it during the race and they seemed patient enough. It's an out and back, so you can see the people behind you. There aren't too many turns. The weather couldn't have been better.
Prizes: Long sleeve T-shirts came with the registration. For Prizes, they didn't do medals. That gave off painted railroad stakes. The overall winners got fancy plaques. The stakes were for age group awards. I guess the stake is a unique prize.
I'd do this race again. I liked the course. It was pretty low-key. A few more people in the race would have helped pace me, but that's okay. There's also an 11k after the 5k so a lot of people did both. Maybe for next year?
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