A few Fridays ago I did a night 5km for fun with Salty. It was a money race so we figured best case we go out get in a hard run and come home with some money. Worst case we have fun with the track start and finishing under the lights with a bunch of HS XC kids. I figured I would go out conservative and just stay behind whoever was in first and then see how I felt towards the end and if I had a kick. But we showed up and the weather was actually cool from the storms that had just rolled through and that little spark ignited with the maybe you could actually run fast tonight thought at the back of my mind. Salty had similar thoughts, but I pretty much gave up on that during the extremely sluggish warm up that revealed though it was cooler it was still muggy as heck.
But Salty found a few pennies and insisted this was a good sign, and we returned from the warm up to a rainbow before changing into our racing flats and heading to the track.
Got in the strides and then lined up on the track with a ton of young HS runners. I had no clue what the course would be like. We started on the track and it looked to me like we would run 100 meters before making a sharp right out of the track onto the road. Turns out we actually ran a lap first and placing ourselves on the left side of the track worked out well. Went out smooth and was content to settle in with the boys around me until about 100 meters when I saw a local gal ahead of me and my competitive nature got the best of me and I decided to push to take the lead early and hopefully hold it.
Despite upping the pace I was having fun. They were playing Beyonce's Single Ladies and as we exited the track I danced a little after seeing a boy ahead jamming. I settled in with a few guys. I heard a spectator ask where all the women were as I passed. I shouted "right here" and joked with the guy next to me that I realized I had short hair but I thought the sports bra gave me away. Despite joking around a bit and being careful over the few speed bumps in the first mile we reached the mile split in 5:26. Whoa :) Not sure if they were in the right place, but I felt good so I just rolled with it.
I did my best to pull up with a few guys and pass who I could over the next mile. Early in the second mile I got boxed in by two young guys and after getting kicked a few times I finally asked for some space and they both split wide and I pulled ahead of them. Feeling bad for my "bossiness" I encouraged them to stick with me, but they fell off.
The second mile was on streets and a bike path of sorts, not perfectly flat but no real hills. I took water at the aid station and passed the second mile in 5:55. I knew based on the 2 mile split that sub 18 was possible so I focused on my form and relaxing. But clearly I had slowed way down. I did my best the next mile to pick up the effort as I knew if I ran another slow split both Salty and KG were capable of catching me.
The next mile you head into the woods on a bike path and by then it was dark. A few small rollers in here and I worked on catching some boys but was careful not to slip as it was a bit damp on the path. Somewhere in here was a turn and I risked one glance back and noted I had a pretty good gap on the ladies and felt comfortable I had first in the bag as long as I didn't let up.
As we headed back towards the track we had to cross one road and unfortunately the volunteers controlling traffic did not have much power over the antsy drivers and they shouted at me and the guy next to me to "watch out for the car", so we swerved wide and I joked with the guy next to me asking if it would be rude if I had replied "Isn't that your job?". I let the guy next to me pull ahead as we headed onto the track. I didn't notice the clock on the score board until I had a little over 100 meters to go. Poor math skills told me I might be able to eek out a PR and I hammered in, but it was a bit too far and I settled for a 17:53 win. The guy I was with at the car crossing ran 17:43. I should have gone with him! I was working hard, but I definitely did not lay everything I had out there. Granted the goal was to have fun and I did, but that little spark was saying, told you so!
Looking at the results I must have been a nice target for the few guys behind me, I don't know how I didn't notice the 3 or so guys that must have been breathing down my neck at the line.
Like Johnnycake I basically just ran my race at the effort that felt appropriate. It worked out well, but next race I need to get out of safe territory and really push some boundaries. This would have been a perfect opportunity to do that and I just didn't see that until after it was over. So I am getting amped up to really lay it on the line next race which is Perfect 10 miler. I think it will be a good race to really go for it and since Johnnycake and Friday Night Lights were solid I don't need the race to be a confirmation of fitness, I can risk a blow up. I know where I am at based on those races and my workouts. I am going to take a chance at Perfect 10 and see if I can't find that extra gear and really step it up. So screw the pace charts and predictors, Perfect 10 it is time to see what these legs are made of. Goal is to run sub 6 for as long as I can and try to break 60 or leave it all on the line trying to.
Showing posts with label 5k. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5k. Show all posts
Hyde Park Blast Elite 5k
Wasn't planning on another race until the 4th but last week I mentioned to my friend that we were heading to Cinci this weekend and she remembered that the Hyde Park Blast was this weekend. So I looked it up and emailed my way into the elite 5k. Crazy fun event run on the cycling criterium course. The course is a bit shy of a mile and we would run it about 3 and 3/4 times. Making it fun for spectators and fun for runners with crazy cheers the entire route.
I was a little under prepared on the supplies front. Half way to Cinci I realized I had only brought Nike Frees and my Nike Zoom Streaks, no trainers. And I didn't have a warm up/cool down outfit. While the morning was super cool and beautiful by race time it was around 75 and I was a bit warm. After the sweaty warm up I threw some ice in my shirt and went to find the start line with 10 other ladies. (And some speedy boys)
Thankfully before the race I figured out one of the girls was a regular 17:50 gal so I knew I would have some company. The normal field around my range I was anticipating to be there wasn't, so I was really glad I found out that not every gal in the field was a sub 17 gal before hand :)
I knew who 5 of the gals were and all of them usually race much faster than me so unless they went out at my pace I was glad to know who I could really race to push myself, not who I would be chasing the whole time. Top 6 got money so there was certainly some incentive, and that was clear from the start as a pack of 8 sprinted ahead of me. I did my best to sit in right behind PB and was aware that the girl I thought I would work with was behind me. I ditched the watch for the race and purely was running on feel and trying to be competitive. As we started into the first loop and made our first left on our way up the small hill that we would run 4 times another gal went by putting me in 9th, she said good job and I told her the same. As we neared the top of the hill there was a line of kids with their hands all out for high fives. I thought what the hell, if you aren't having fun with this what the heck was the point? So I slapped some hands and was rewarded with "We like that girl."
We made a sharp right turn and sharp right to head back down the hill. I watched PBs fast feet fly down the pavement and did my best to cover the ground lightly and quick. At the bottom another sharp right turn and back into the sun as we head straight towards the finish arch which signifies we have 3 more loops to go. PB starts to pull away from me and I am doing my best to get in a groove and push. After the arch we make our way around our sharp "hairpin" turn and head back towards the hill. My friends and husband were here and I got a nice boost from their cheering. Just before the hill someone is calling out mile splits and we go through in around 5:38 which I am happy with given the effort.
In the next loop I slowly made my way back up to PB and wished her luck as I passed moving into 8th place. Second time through the hill not quite as energetic so no high fives but a peace sign and a smile for the kids. It is becoming clear to the spectators back here that we are no longer in the race for first and they are a bit less enthusiastic. But as we make our way back down the hill to the main drag spectators are going crazy with lots of cheer for Karen and Kerry, who must be right on my heels.
Karen passes me before making the hairpin turn and I tell myself to work with her and let her drag me for a bit. She is the girl I was told regularly runs 17:50s so I know I can't afford to fall back from her. I am parched and seriously tempted to grab water from my husband, but I don't and I instead keep pushing. I stick to Karen like glue, but it definitely is not easy. Third time up the hill the kids get a glimmer of a smile as I am running out of steam. We hit the 2 mile mark and I can't tell if the guy is saying 11:39 or 11:49, either way it is clear this mile with the hill hit twice is a bit slower despite running hard.
Closing in on one loop to go and I am committed to trying to pick up the effort. I have a tendency of holding something back for the last 200 meters or so and this time I did not want to do that, I wanted to run hard start to finish. I was pretty confident I was not going to be able to pass Karen but as I passed my friends cheering again I willed myself to up the effort a bit more. We got to the hill and I managed to pull even with her and tell her good job. I ran as hard as I could down the hill trying to create a gap. When we reached the bottom I essentially sprinted as hard as I could the rest of the race. Still hearing cheers for Karen I knew I needed to hammer hard, who knew what kind of kick she had. We weren't gaining any ground on the girl in front of us, so we were essentially in a race against each other, and I knew PB was always a threat for a fast finish too. The announcers were reading off the winners times and each successive girl who crossed the line, listening to the times it was clear sub 18 was probably out but I ran as hard as I could regardless. Crossed the line in 8th place and saw the clock at 18:11. Official time 18:14. Hardest I have ever run a 5k, clearly not the fastest, but definitely the hardest :)
I'm really happy with the effort. I know I could not have eeked out any faster last night. And I was glad Karen was there to work with as I would have run slower by myself for sure. Despite being pretty far behind the next girl I was closer to the top 5 girls than I have been in previous races so I consider it an improvement in my racing skills. There weren't as many girls in the race as last year, I think a few of them opted for the 4 mile run in the morning instead; opting to be the lead girls rather than the girls in the elite race making the lead elite girls look good. But I am more than happy to make those ladies look good if it gets my best race effort out of myself. It was great to really push myself last night and find that my inner racer is still in there and was ready to come out and play. It feels great when you run a race and leave it all out there regardless of place or time.
I think my speed is probably still a little behind where I was last year at this time, but that is hard to say since these past two 5ks were night races and kind of warm, not sure if I could have run faster with cooler conditions in the morning. The course was tough for me, but it was a nice challenge and clearly what goes up must come down so it isn't like you had one monster climb with no downhill return. I'll be glad to go back to morning races now though! Trying to plan meals for the day to make sure your stomach is ok and energy is good as well as not wasting energy is not much fun. Especially when hanging with friends who you'd like to be doing active things with :)
The event was an absolute Blast, no pun intended. The cycle races were really exciting to watch, I have no idea how they make those turns without crashing! The whole run you could hear the announcers giving stats about each of the runners as they ran by. It was a super fun atmosphere. I am very glad I am in a position to be able to take part in this type of event. And I am super grateful to the organizers for allowing me to participate. Next year I will have to make sure I get some more impressive stats for them to say something about me though :) It was pretty funny to hear them rattling off stats about each of the ladies and as I went by they just hearing my name.
My friends and husband were the best cheering for me each loop and keeping me amped! Thanks guys!
I was a little under prepared on the supplies front. Half way to Cinci I realized I had only brought Nike Frees and my Nike Zoom Streaks, no trainers. And I didn't have a warm up/cool down outfit. While the morning was super cool and beautiful by race time it was around 75 and I was a bit warm. After the sweaty warm up I threw some ice in my shirt and went to find the start line with 10 other ladies. (And some speedy boys)
Thankfully before the race I figured out one of the girls was a regular 17:50 gal so I knew I would have some company. The normal field around my range I was anticipating to be there wasn't, so I was really glad I found out that not every gal in the field was a sub 17 gal before hand :)
I knew who 5 of the gals were and all of them usually race much faster than me so unless they went out at my pace I was glad to know who I could really race to push myself, not who I would be chasing the whole time. Top 6 got money so there was certainly some incentive, and that was clear from the start as a pack of 8 sprinted ahead of me. I did my best to sit in right behind PB and was aware that the girl I thought I would work with was behind me. I ditched the watch for the race and purely was running on feel and trying to be competitive. As we started into the first loop and made our first left on our way up the small hill that we would run 4 times another gal went by putting me in 9th, she said good job and I told her the same. As we neared the top of the hill there was a line of kids with their hands all out for high fives. I thought what the hell, if you aren't having fun with this what the heck was the point? So I slapped some hands and was rewarded with "We like that girl."
We made a sharp right turn and sharp right to head back down the hill. I watched PBs fast feet fly down the pavement and did my best to cover the ground lightly and quick. At the bottom another sharp right turn and back into the sun as we head straight towards the finish arch which signifies we have 3 more loops to go. PB starts to pull away from me and I am doing my best to get in a groove and push. After the arch we make our way around our sharp "hairpin" turn and head back towards the hill. My friends and husband were here and I got a nice boost from their cheering. Just before the hill someone is calling out mile splits and we go through in around 5:38 which I am happy with given the effort.
In the next loop I slowly made my way back up to PB and wished her luck as I passed moving into 8th place. Second time through the hill not quite as energetic so no high fives but a peace sign and a smile for the kids. It is becoming clear to the spectators back here that we are no longer in the race for first and they are a bit less enthusiastic. But as we make our way back down the hill to the main drag spectators are going crazy with lots of cheer for Karen and Kerry, who must be right on my heels.
Karen passes me before making the hairpin turn and I tell myself to work with her and let her drag me for a bit. She is the girl I was told regularly runs 17:50s so I know I can't afford to fall back from her. I am parched and seriously tempted to grab water from my husband, but I don't and I instead keep pushing. I stick to Karen like glue, but it definitely is not easy. Third time up the hill the kids get a glimmer of a smile as I am running out of steam. We hit the 2 mile mark and I can't tell if the guy is saying 11:39 or 11:49, either way it is clear this mile with the hill hit twice is a bit slower despite running hard.
Closing in on one loop to go and I am committed to trying to pick up the effort. I have a tendency of holding something back for the last 200 meters or so and this time I did not want to do that, I wanted to run hard start to finish. I was pretty confident I was not going to be able to pass Karen but as I passed my friends cheering again I willed myself to up the effort a bit more. We got to the hill and I managed to pull even with her and tell her good job. I ran as hard as I could down the hill trying to create a gap. When we reached the bottom I essentially sprinted as hard as I could the rest of the race. Still hearing cheers for Karen I knew I needed to hammer hard, who knew what kind of kick she had. We weren't gaining any ground on the girl in front of us, so we were essentially in a race against each other, and I knew PB was always a threat for a fast finish too. The announcers were reading off the winners times and each successive girl who crossed the line, listening to the times it was clear sub 18 was probably out but I ran as hard as I could regardless. Crossed the line in 8th place and saw the clock at 18:11. Official time 18:14. Hardest I have ever run a 5k, clearly not the fastest, but definitely the hardest :)
I'm really happy with the effort. I know I could not have eeked out any faster last night. And I was glad Karen was there to work with as I would have run slower by myself for sure. Despite being pretty far behind the next girl I was closer to the top 5 girls than I have been in previous races so I consider it an improvement in my racing skills. There weren't as many girls in the race as last year, I think a few of them opted for the 4 mile run in the morning instead; opting to be the lead girls rather than the girls in the elite race making the lead elite girls look good. But I am more than happy to make those ladies look good if it gets my best race effort out of myself. It was great to really push myself last night and find that my inner racer is still in there and was ready to come out and play. It feels great when you run a race and leave it all out there regardless of place or time.
I think my speed is probably still a little behind where I was last year at this time, but that is hard to say since these past two 5ks were night races and kind of warm, not sure if I could have run faster with cooler conditions in the morning. The course was tough for me, but it was a nice challenge and clearly what goes up must come down so it isn't like you had one monster climb with no downhill return. I'll be glad to go back to morning races now though! Trying to plan meals for the day to make sure your stomach is ok and energy is good as well as not wasting energy is not much fun. Especially when hanging with friends who you'd like to be doing active things with :)
The event was an absolute Blast, no pun intended. The cycle races were really exciting to watch, I have no idea how they make those turns without crashing! The whole run you could hear the announcers giving stats about each of the runners as they ran by. It was a super fun atmosphere. I am very glad I am in a position to be able to take part in this type of event. And I am super grateful to the organizers for allowing me to participate. Next year I will have to make sure I get some more impressive stats for them to say something about me though :) It was pretty funny to hear them rattling off stats about each of the ladies and as I went by they just hearing my name.My friends and husband were the best cheering for me each loop and keeping me amped! Thanks guys!
Speed Phase Week 4 and Ohio City Run and Crawl
Goals:
Total Mileage 60 - 65.
Monday: Easy.
Tuesday: Track.
Wednesday and Friday: easy miles @ 7:20 or slower. 6 x 30 sec @ 5:30 pace on Friday
Thursday: Tempo run, 7 miles @ 6:30
Weekend:
11 miles @ 7:00
14 miles @ 7:25
Throw in a race on one of the weekend days but get in the mileage.
How it played out:
67 miles, 7 runs, Friday off (Cedar Point), 2 swims 2400 meters, and a much needed massage Sunday post run.
Ended up going a little long on Saturday with a morning shakeout and strides before the night race getting in 14 for the day instead of eleven and not averaging anywhere close to 7:00. Oh well!
Sunday I did get in 7:25 pace but it was ugly. Hot and not enough sleep made me a running zombie!
Coach wanted us to jump into a low key local race this weekend before we get into the real racing scene here soon. Two weeks ago I would have dreaded this as I clearly just wasn't feeling up to snuff yet, but after Tuesdays successful track workout I was looking forward to it. Since I was going to Cedar Point Friday I decided a night race Saturday would be good, time to get in a nap Saturday, and good practice for next weekends Hyde Park Blast which is also in the evening. There was a small race in Ohio City to be followed by a bar crawl. Sounded like fun to me! Unfortunately when I got there I realized I knew literally only two people in the entire race (later spotted 3 more friends, but didn't locate them after the race). Bummer! I was looking forward to the post run bar crawl as much as the race so I was hoping to see a few more familiar faces!
Warmed up really easy (It was hot and I was sweaty!) with one of the guys I knew, we did part of the course and while there were a lot of turns it was flat and partially shaded so I knew it should be relatively fast. The course appeared to be legit, which is always a big question mark at smaller local road races. After the warm up I changed into my speedy green Second Sole outfit and Nike Zoom Streaks for a few strides before heading over to the start to get in my legs swings.
Looked like there were at least a few guys around my pace so I wouldn't be completely alone which was nice. I wasn't sure what pace I could hold but I figured if the legs felt good 17:50ish to 18:20ish was the likely result. I decided to try using 1 km splits on the garmin targeting 3:30 to 3:32. I figured a small low key race was the place to try new things!
I got caught off guard by the start, the announcer got out "ready" and "set" and while I was waiting for "Go" there was a ringing of some bells and I was not ready for that so got off with a bit of a delay. Sorry to those behind me! I did my best to just sit in a pack of guys as we maneuvered a bunch of turns in the first mile. I got pulled out a bit too fast in 3:23 for the first km. Ooops! I was behind one of the guys I knew who runs about my pace and somewhere during that first mile the other guy I knew tried to sneak by. I called him out as he pulled ahead quickly. He paced himself much better than I did that first mile! Mile split was somewhere around 5:40 which was right on target.
Someone was playing a radio in their yard for us and got Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" in my head so the rest of the race was ran to that cadence. Unfortunately with the fast start my pace was already dropping and the second km was in 3:37. Average was right on target, but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to pick it back up. In retrospect using the km targets threw me off, my poor mid race math skills do not allow me to properly calculate finishing times even in the best of scenarios and using the km targets once they got off my math skills really got messed up. I know at some point I was thinking I'd be lucky to run 18:30 even though I hit the 2 mile somewhere around 11:30. I went back and forth with a few of the guys in the second and third mile. 3rd km was 3:40 and I was not doing a good job of upping the effort to get back on pace.
Getting a little hot I was working hard and my breathing was heavy! I did my best to relax my arms, but forgot all about using my mental tricks and was really just in survival mode. I kept waiting for the 4th km split telling myself just 2.5 laps around the track after that! It seemed like eternity before that split finally arrive in 3:45, ouch! The guys I was with were pulling a few steps ahead of me here and I really tried to focus on staying with them. But I certainly could have been more motivated. Finally we got back near the finish and around all the crazy turns, the 3 mile split guy called out 17:17 and I realized if I hammered I could still break 18, so I finally got my butt in gear and moved, but unfortunately I don't think that was the 3 mile mark as I came in a little over 18. Not sure when I stopped my watch but I had 18:07. The race gave me 18:04.89, I'll take the 3 seconds :) So 5:50 pace instead of the 5:40 I would have liked to see, but it was a good hard effort and a good reminder to myself that 5km races are hard and they aren't meant to feel good. I need to remember that next week and come to the line prepared to suffer!
I stayed at the finish and cheered for the next 15 or so girls that came in before heading out for the cool down. I probably should have run this a little faster, but I was content to jog around and chat while running the course backwards and cheering. It was fun to see all the other people racing and walking in such a fun part of the city.
Added bonus I met some new people and had a blast touring a few of the bars I have not had the pleasure of checking out yet. Ohio City was hopping! My 1st place medal even scored me a few free drinks which is always fun (of course I paid for them a bit Sunday morning!). Though I felt a bit ridiculous touring the bars in my racing shorts and tech tee no one seemed to mind the stinky spunky girl with the faux hawk.
Total Mileage 60 - 65.
Monday: Easy.
Tuesday: Track.
Wednesday and Friday: easy miles @ 7:20 or slower. 6 x 30 sec @ 5:30 pace on Friday
Thursday: Tempo run, 7 miles @ 6:30
Weekend:
11 miles @ 7:00
14 miles @ 7:25
Throw in a race on one of the weekend days but get in the mileage.
How it played out:
67 miles, 7 runs, Friday off (Cedar Point), 2 swims 2400 meters, and a much needed massage Sunday post run.
Ended up going a little long on Saturday with a morning shakeout and strides before the night race getting in 14 for the day instead of eleven and not averaging anywhere close to 7:00. Oh well!
Sunday I did get in 7:25 pace but it was ugly. Hot and not enough sleep made me a running zombie!
Coach wanted us to jump into a low key local race this weekend before we get into the real racing scene here soon. Two weeks ago I would have dreaded this as I clearly just wasn't feeling up to snuff yet, but after Tuesdays successful track workout I was looking forward to it. Since I was going to Cedar Point Friday I decided a night race Saturday would be good, time to get in a nap Saturday, and good practice for next weekends Hyde Park Blast which is also in the evening. There was a small race in Ohio City to be followed by a bar crawl. Sounded like fun to me! Unfortunately when I got there I realized I knew literally only two people in the entire race (later spotted 3 more friends, but didn't locate them after the race). Bummer! I was looking forward to the post run bar crawl as much as the race so I was hoping to see a few more familiar faces!
Warmed up really easy (It was hot and I was sweaty!) with one of the guys I knew, we did part of the course and while there were a lot of turns it was flat and partially shaded so I knew it should be relatively fast. The course appeared to be legit, which is always a big question mark at smaller local road races. After the warm up I changed into my speedy green Second Sole outfit and Nike Zoom Streaks for a few strides before heading over to the start to get in my legs swings.
Looked like there were at least a few guys around my pace so I wouldn't be completely alone which was nice. I wasn't sure what pace I could hold but I figured if the legs felt good 17:50ish to 18:20ish was the likely result. I decided to try using 1 km splits on the garmin targeting 3:30 to 3:32. I figured a small low key race was the place to try new things!
I got caught off guard by the start, the announcer got out "ready" and "set" and while I was waiting for "Go" there was a ringing of some bells and I was not ready for that so got off with a bit of a delay. Sorry to those behind me! I did my best to just sit in a pack of guys as we maneuvered a bunch of turns in the first mile. I got pulled out a bit too fast in 3:23 for the first km. Ooops! I was behind one of the guys I knew who runs about my pace and somewhere during that first mile the other guy I knew tried to sneak by. I called him out as he pulled ahead quickly. He paced himself much better than I did that first mile! Mile split was somewhere around 5:40 which was right on target.
Someone was playing a radio in their yard for us and got Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" in my head so the rest of the race was ran to that cadence. Unfortunately with the fast start my pace was already dropping and the second km was in 3:37. Average was right on target, but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to pick it back up. In retrospect using the km targets threw me off, my poor mid race math skills do not allow me to properly calculate finishing times even in the best of scenarios and using the km targets once they got off my math skills really got messed up. I know at some point I was thinking I'd be lucky to run 18:30 even though I hit the 2 mile somewhere around 11:30. I went back and forth with a few of the guys in the second and third mile. 3rd km was 3:40 and I was not doing a good job of upping the effort to get back on pace.
Getting a little hot I was working hard and my breathing was heavy! I did my best to relax my arms, but forgot all about using my mental tricks and was really just in survival mode. I kept waiting for the 4th km split telling myself just 2.5 laps around the track after that! It seemed like eternity before that split finally arrive in 3:45, ouch! The guys I was with were pulling a few steps ahead of me here and I really tried to focus on staying with them. But I certainly could have been more motivated. Finally we got back near the finish and around all the crazy turns, the 3 mile split guy called out 17:17 and I realized if I hammered I could still break 18, so I finally got my butt in gear and moved, but unfortunately I don't think that was the 3 mile mark as I came in a little over 18. Not sure when I stopped my watch but I had 18:07. The race gave me 18:04.89, I'll take the 3 seconds :) So 5:50 pace instead of the 5:40 I would have liked to see, but it was a good hard effort and a good reminder to myself that 5km races are hard and they aren't meant to feel good. I need to remember that next week and come to the line prepared to suffer!
I stayed at the finish and cheered for the next 15 or so girls that came in before heading out for the cool down. I probably should have run this a little faster, but I was content to jog around and chat while running the course backwards and cheering. It was fun to see all the other people racing and walking in such a fun part of the city.
Added bonus I met some new people and had a blast touring a few of the bars I have not had the pleasure of checking out yet. Ohio City was hopping! My 1st place medal even scored me a few free drinks which is always fun (of course I paid for them a bit Sunday morning!). Though I felt a bit ridiculous touring the bars in my racing shorts and tech tee no one seemed to mind the stinky spunky girl with the faux hawk.
Kent State Tune Up 5k Race Report
Well this morning was another opportunity to test my racing skills and get in the mix with some ladies of similar abilities. I managed to meet some of my goals today, but others were not met. Overall I am pleased with my effort, slightly disappointed with the resulting time, but glad I sucked it up and ran the race. (Previously in the week I was heavily leaning towards skipping this one and either running a road 5k or focusing on training, but coach insisted this was important as it would help me mentally and help to develop speed.)
As predicted once the race started there was a small pack that took off around 17 minute pace and then a second pack of us around 5:34 at the mile. I did my best to settle in with this group as the effort felt right and I also told myself to relax and be patient and not to make any moves. This lasted for a few laps, and then I decided we had to pick it up a bit as the girl leading the pack was not holding the pace. I moved to the front of my little pack and pulled for a few laps until another gal traded leads with me for a few laps before the 2 mile. Around the 2 mile a CRC runner I know (PB) decided to up the ante and took the lead of our group, unfortunately I just couldn't find that gear to go with them and I lost my pack. We started lapping other runners at this point. I never heard the 2 mile split, but I had heard shouts of 17:30ish finish pace, and I was doing my best to run by feel and really wasn't aware of what the splits my coach calling out meant for my finish time. I knew I wasn't keeping up with the two gals in front of me, but I felt like I was running hard. I was confident I was working harder than I had at Akron. The last two laps I really tried to dig in and make sure I felt like I was giving everything I had. My legs were getting the same feeling they do at the end of a really hard track workout so I was confident I was really racing my hardest. Finished the last lap and looked up at the board to see 17:50.22. Not at all what I was expecting given the effort, and given how I felt about my race.
In retrospect perhaps I should have sat back longer and tried harder not to pull the pack I was in, maybe I worked harder than I should of in the second mile causing the fall off in the third mile, but I am not sure it would have made a difference. I think once I lost contact I was just working at the same effort but unfortunately losing a few seconds each lap without someone to gear off of. It is also possible I didn't work hard enough to find that next gear as I am aware that PB has run much faster 5ks than me and perhaps I limited myself knowing that she has better speed than me and knowing she was capable of running under 17:20, perhaps when she made that move I should have pretended she was someone else I can keep up with and tried harder to force the pace.
I'm a little conflicted with the result since I feel like I really ran a better race than Akron, but the result was the same. Perhaps that just means that my current 5k fitness really is 17:50ish, and that is all the speed I have. But perhaps it means I need to take a different approach in the 5k next time to get a better result. The 5 ladies ahead of me all have better speed than me and have all run better short races than me. I was super stoked to come in 6th place given the field. I just wish I could have upped the ante a bit that third mile and come a little closer to 17:35.
I have to remember that I only do 2 or 3 5ks a year and that now that I am getting faster it is not going to be as easy to improve my times in these short races without doing any real specific speed training. A 17:50 rut/plateau really isn't such a bad place to be after all :) It is just tough as running these races makes me want to work harder to improve these times and see if I can be faster, but they aren't really my goal right now. So I feel like each race that I don't improve is a "missed opportunity."
To end on some positive notes. No more 5ks for awhile and no more indoor racing, woohoo! My training buddy smoked the track today running another PR in 17:09 and coming in 2nd! I now have run three 5ks under 18:00 solidifying my faith in my current speed and knowing that these aren't some fluke. I came in 6th in a solid field of female runners from Ohio. I'm really happy with the effort I put in this morning. Added bonus I got to cheer for one of my trail running friends as he ran his first indoor 5k, and catch up with some of my ultra buddies who I miss dearly.
As predicted once the race started there was a small pack that took off around 17 minute pace and then a second pack of us around 5:34 at the mile. I did my best to settle in with this group as the effort felt right and I also told myself to relax and be patient and not to make any moves. This lasted for a few laps, and then I decided we had to pick it up a bit as the girl leading the pack was not holding the pace. I moved to the front of my little pack and pulled for a few laps until another gal traded leads with me for a few laps before the 2 mile. Around the 2 mile a CRC runner I know (PB) decided to up the ante and took the lead of our group, unfortunately I just couldn't find that gear to go with them and I lost my pack. We started lapping other runners at this point. I never heard the 2 mile split, but I had heard shouts of 17:30ish finish pace, and I was doing my best to run by feel and really wasn't aware of what the splits my coach calling out meant for my finish time. I knew I wasn't keeping up with the two gals in front of me, but I felt like I was running hard. I was confident I was working harder than I had at Akron. The last two laps I really tried to dig in and make sure I felt like I was giving everything I had. My legs were getting the same feeling they do at the end of a really hard track workout so I was confident I was really racing my hardest. Finished the last lap and looked up at the board to see 17:50.22. Not at all what I was expecting given the effort, and given how I felt about my race.
In retrospect perhaps I should have sat back longer and tried harder not to pull the pack I was in, maybe I worked harder than I should of in the second mile causing the fall off in the third mile, but I am not sure it would have made a difference. I think once I lost contact I was just working at the same effort but unfortunately losing a few seconds each lap without someone to gear off of. It is also possible I didn't work hard enough to find that next gear as I am aware that PB has run much faster 5ks than me and perhaps I limited myself knowing that she has better speed than me and knowing she was capable of running under 17:20, perhaps when she made that move I should have pretended she was someone else I can keep up with and tried harder to force the pace.
I'm a little conflicted with the result since I feel like I really ran a better race than Akron, but the result was the same. Perhaps that just means that my current 5k fitness really is 17:50ish, and that is all the speed I have. But perhaps it means I need to take a different approach in the 5k next time to get a better result. The 5 ladies ahead of me all have better speed than me and have all run better short races than me. I was super stoked to come in 6th place given the field. I just wish I could have upped the ante a bit that third mile and come a little closer to 17:35.
I have to remember that I only do 2 or 3 5ks a year and that now that I am getting faster it is not going to be as easy to improve my times in these short races without doing any real specific speed training. A 17:50 rut/plateau really isn't such a bad place to be after all :) It is just tough as running these races makes me want to work harder to improve these times and see if I can be faster, but they aren't really my goal right now. So I feel like each race that I don't improve is a "missed opportunity."
To end on some positive notes. No more 5ks for awhile and no more indoor racing, woohoo! My training buddy smoked the track today running another PR in 17:09 and coming in 2nd! I now have run three 5ks under 18:00 solidifying my faith in my current speed and knowing that these aren't some fluke. I came in 6th in a solid field of female runners from Ohio. I'm really happy with the effort I put in this morning. Added bonus I got to cheer for one of my trail running friends as he ran his first indoor 5k, and catch up with some of my ultra buddies who I miss dearly.
5k
Tomorrow I am racing another indoor 5k. Like last year I am headed to the Kent State Tune Up. Hopefully unlike last year it will be a good experience. With my primary focus being the marathon it is really difficult to get amped up for these shorter indoor races. Firstly while I like track in theory, racing on the track is not usually pleasant for me. Sure if I get a good result I will be stoked, but the experience is stressful at best, humiliating at worst.
The rational part of my brain knows that at the end of the day no one really cares what I run at this race but me. No matter what I run my family will still love me, my friends will still say I did great, and the result really doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. The irrational part of my brain feels like this huge spotlight is on me and the pressure is on to do something spectacular. Digging through my very short list of recent 5k experiences I am confident that even on a bad day I will not run like I did last year here. But that list also leaves me with little confidence in a huge breakthrough tomorrow, which is obviously what the goal is toeing the line with a bunch of other speedy chicks. Why else would I be torturing myself? :)
The heat sheets came out last night and I did some research to try and get a feel for who else would be gunning for similar goals to me. It is really hard to say, but it looks like there will be 3 super speedy chicks under 17:15 and then about 9 of us with a potential to run between 17:20 and 17:50. I definitely think I can run better than I did at Akron with a more even effort. I'll just have to see how it plays out based on what the field does.
So the mental goals for tomorrow:
1) Stop being a headcase and just run. I feel like on the track there is so much micro management going on in my head. Hearing splits every minute and trying to up my effort every lap gets a bit overwhelming. I want to try and just let go tomorrow, find a pack that I can tag onto and just run.
2) Don't let preconceived notions of where I should be based on past experiences dictate who I run with. Trust my instincts and run with a group that feels "right."
3) If I want to PR I need to obviously pay a bit of attention to pace. I'd like to be through the 2 mile between 11 and 11:20 to give myself a shot at a PR. But I want the mental effort to get there to be minimized. I shouldn't start really suffering until that last mile. Just relax and let the pace happen.
4) Stop holding back. The marathoner in me has this reserve that I just can't seem to tap into until I mentally decide I can survive the rest of the race. If I don't feel like I am running at my limit that last mile, then I am not pushing hard enough. I need to try and break through this mental barrier if I want to see a big jump in my time.
5) Don't get stuck pulling a group. I am so used to my road race mentality of leading when I can and doing my own thing, I have a really hard time tucking in and following others. Track races just don't work like that and I need to learn to relax and settle in and wait until later in the race to pull myself.
Time Goals:
In an ideal world it would be a huge confidence booster if I was under 17:20 for this race. I have absolutely no idea if that is even feasible though and that is a pie in the sky "A" goal.
Realistic Goals:
B) 17:35
C) PR (17:47 or better)
Wish me luck :)
The rational part of my brain knows that at the end of the day no one really cares what I run at this race but me. No matter what I run my family will still love me, my friends will still say I did great, and the result really doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. The irrational part of my brain feels like this huge spotlight is on me and the pressure is on to do something spectacular. Digging through my very short list of recent 5k experiences I am confident that even on a bad day I will not run like I did last year here. But that list also leaves me with little confidence in a huge breakthrough tomorrow, which is obviously what the goal is toeing the line with a bunch of other speedy chicks. Why else would I be torturing myself? :)
The heat sheets came out last night and I did some research to try and get a feel for who else would be gunning for similar goals to me. It is really hard to say, but it looks like there will be 3 super speedy chicks under 17:15 and then about 9 of us with a potential to run between 17:20 and 17:50. I definitely think I can run better than I did at Akron with a more even effort. I'll just have to see how it plays out based on what the field does.
So the mental goals for tomorrow:
1) Stop being a headcase and just run. I feel like on the track there is so much micro management going on in my head. Hearing splits every minute and trying to up my effort every lap gets a bit overwhelming. I want to try and just let go tomorrow, find a pack that I can tag onto and just run.
2) Don't let preconceived notions of where I should be based on past experiences dictate who I run with. Trust my instincts and run with a group that feels "right."
3) If I want to PR I need to obviously pay a bit of attention to pace. I'd like to be through the 2 mile between 11 and 11:20 to give myself a shot at a PR. But I want the mental effort to get there to be minimized. I shouldn't start really suffering until that last mile. Just relax and let the pace happen.
4) Stop holding back. The marathoner in me has this reserve that I just can't seem to tap into until I mentally decide I can survive the rest of the race. If I don't feel like I am running at my limit that last mile, then I am not pushing hard enough. I need to try and break through this mental barrier if I want to see a big jump in my time.
5) Don't get stuck pulling a group. I am so used to my road race mentality of leading when I can and doing my own thing, I have a really hard time tucking in and following others. Track races just don't work like that and I need to learn to relax and settle in and wait until later in the race to pull myself.
Time Goals:
In an ideal world it would be a huge confidence booster if I was under 17:20 for this race. I have absolutely no idea if that is even feasible though and that is a pie in the sky "A" goal.
Realistic Goals:
B) 17:35
C) PR (17:47 or better)
Wish me luck :)
Round the Roo 5k Report
Jim Chaney certainly puts on a good event. It is so nice when a race event management company is ran by someone that actually cares about racing and the runners.
Race day and results and video are already up on the internet.
Instant gratification :) Every runner can get behind that. (Videos in posts below)
Had a good race this morning. Perhaps not the best executed race, but any time you miss a PR by a few seconds I don't think you can complain. Especially when you do it on an indoor track in January on no real speed training since the fall. I'll take it :)
Round the Roo was basically a road race 5k, but instead of running it outside it was run inside at Akron University's track. 300 meters. 3 heats of 30 people. For the seriously fast this was probably an issue as they were having to lap quite a few runners multiple times, but for most of us I think it worked out pretty well.
Good first mile right on my training partners heels at 5:34. Goal was 5:40 pace, so a little quick, but seemed ok at the time. Started to fall off my little pack as we got lapped the first time by the race leader just after the mile. Lap splits started going from 1:02, to 1:03, to 1:04. Wasn't feeling too hot but trying to keep my head in the game. Came through the 2 mile in 11:19. Slowing down a bit here in 5:45. Now if I could just get back down to 5:40 pace we'd be good. Unfortunately the splits started going to 1:05 now and no matter what I told myself or my efforts to up my effort I just couldn't get those splits back to 1:03. Held on to be the second female across the line but missed my best 5k by about a second crossing in 17:48.
Today's event was age graded to make things more interesting. Our friend BB who is 60 this year ran 21:10 which age grades her heads and heels over the rest of us. So she snagged 1st female, another quick masters female running 18:59 age graded 2nd while my training buddy who ran a new PR at 17:25 finished 3rd and I finished 4th. Lots of other running pals from SERC and Second Sole kicked butt and it was a fun way to spend the morning.
Would have liked to have shaved some time off that PR this morning, but given I have been a little unsure of my speed right now it is nice to know that at a minimum it is still at the same level it was last summer. I am struggling with these shorter races, it is really hard to know if when I start to fall off after the mile if it is because I just went out too fast, or if I am just not willing to suffer more to reach a higher goal right now. The latter half of these races I feel like perhaps no matter the pace I will feel like I am struggling, just not sure if there is some mental wherewithal I can untap to break through that barrier, or if it is actually physical and not mental. Good thing I want to be a marathoner and not a track star I guess :)
Race day and results and video are already up on the internet.
Instant gratification :) Every runner can get behind that. (Videos in posts below)
Had a good race this morning. Perhaps not the best executed race, but any time you miss a PR by a few seconds I don't think you can complain. Especially when you do it on an indoor track in January on no real speed training since the fall. I'll take it :)
Round the Roo was basically a road race 5k, but instead of running it outside it was run inside at Akron University's track. 300 meters. 3 heats of 30 people. For the seriously fast this was probably an issue as they were having to lap quite a few runners multiple times, but for most of us I think it worked out pretty well.
Good first mile right on my training partners heels at 5:34. Goal was 5:40 pace, so a little quick, but seemed ok at the time. Started to fall off my little pack as we got lapped the first time by the race leader just after the mile. Lap splits started going from 1:02, to 1:03, to 1:04. Wasn't feeling too hot but trying to keep my head in the game. Came through the 2 mile in 11:19. Slowing down a bit here in 5:45. Now if I could just get back down to 5:40 pace we'd be good. Unfortunately the splits started going to 1:05 now and no matter what I told myself or my efforts to up my effort I just couldn't get those splits back to 1:03. Held on to be the second female across the line but missed my best 5k by about a second crossing in 17:48.
Today's event was age graded to make things more interesting. Our friend BB who is 60 this year ran 21:10 which age grades her heads and heels over the rest of us. So she snagged 1st female, another quick masters female running 18:59 age graded 2nd while my training buddy who ran a new PR at 17:25 finished 3rd and I finished 4th. Lots of other running pals from SERC and Second Sole kicked butt and it was a fun way to spend the morning.
Would have liked to have shaved some time off that PR this morning, but given I have been a little unsure of my speed right now it is nice to know that at a minimum it is still at the same level it was last summer. I am struggling with these shorter races, it is really hard to know if when I start to fall off after the mile if it is because I just went out too fast, or if I am just not willing to suffer more to reach a higher goal right now. The latter half of these races I feel like perhaps no matter the pace I will feel like I am struggling, just not sure if there is some mental wherewithal I can untap to break through that barrier, or if it is actually physical and not mental. Good thing I want to be a marathoner and not a track star I guess :)
Aurora 5K
Like most road racers I laced up the shoes this morning to get in a July 4th 5k. Coach was not on board with doing another key race so there was no taper, we were just training through it. Despite that I wanted to shave at least one second off Flag Day and get a sub 18 5k to my name before we start ramping up the mileage for the marathon this fall. I won't be doing another 5k until at least November so I really hoped I'd be able to step it up a notch and come in under 18.
Holy crap was I nervous this morning. Despite knowing this was just a 5k and that even if I did poorly it didn't matter I was keyed up. I felt like I was going to vomit the whole ride there despite my husband trying his best to distract me. Once outside the car in the fresh air I felt a bit better. But still a bit nervous as I went through my pre race warm up rituals. Finally at the line I started to calm down a bit.
I decided to go sans watch today. I had a really bad race here last year(and a less than stellar tempo this week) and I am sure half of it was running so hard the first mile and having an awful split despite of it. My goal today was to run aggressively and keep my head in the race the whole way. I had hoped at least one consistent mid 17 5k gal would be there but unfortunately she was out of town. Thankfully though SG who lives locally and runs the race every year is a solid low to mid 17 runner here and I made it my goal to stick to him like glue until I couldn't hold on anymore. He warned me before the race he might not run that quickly today so I took that into account as we rolled out the first mile. The pace felt too easy and I pushed a bit ahead of him as he scolded my to stay calm, that the guys just ahead of us were going to go out in low 5s and we would pass many of them in the 3rd mile. I cooled off a little bit but aware as a female runner jumped ahead I didn't pull off the gas enough to let her gap me by much.
Before the mile marker we passed her and as the timer shouted out 5:37 SG informed me the actual mile was a bit further on and we were more like 5:45. Fine by me although a little more cushion would have been a mental boost 5:45 would get me what I needed. I wanted to hit the 2 mile at 11:24 to know I had it "in the bag" so I worked the next mile and pulled a bit ahead of SG as we passed a group of four younger guys who went out too fast. Hit the 2 mile split at about 11:32 and knew I needed to get to work. I took water at the stop and dumped it over my head as I pushed. It felt like I was fading a bit but I just tried to hammer and relax my upper body as coach instructed from the sidelines.
SG passed me and the people who had come out to cheer were all cheering for him as he is a local and known well. I did my best to stay close to him but he is a high mileage guy and just plain fast and I couldn't quite hold onto him. One more young guy from the Solon area reeled me back in during the last half mile. I started to get a stitch below my ribs and just tried to will and breathe it away, no time for pain right now, I knew it was going to be close. Without the watch I had no real concept of how much further it was, the last stretch all looks the same. As I cruised over the last small hill I realized this was it and started to hammer as hard as I could. I could see the clock at 17:25 ish and mentally thought it has to be less than 100 meters to the finish I know I can run 100 meters in 19 seconds just push push push! Passed the clock at 17:50 and the mats were just a few steps beyond so I am assuming around 17:52 will be the official time *update: official time says 17:46.9 but I am pretty sure they switched me with the kid who beat me and I should be 17:50.1* Hopefully I raced through over those 3 mats, I had assumed the clock was the finish, but post race noticed the mats were actually a few steps beyond. I really have no idea what happened after that clock I was just glad to get that sub 18 and be the first female across the line!
I made the mistake of sitting down to try and get my chip off and my right hip flexor locked up on me, can we say painful? I think maybe just too much caffeine (coffee and a gel) mixed with not the right balance of electrolytes and water because my left bicep also cramped up. Walking around a bit seemed to loosen it up so hopefully just a fluke. Super stoked to meet another goal, hopefully I am solidly over the bad race slump for awhile. The main goal is obviously Columbus so let's just hope I haven't used up all my good race mojo on these short races :)
Hope everyone has a great 4th!
Holy crap was I nervous this morning. Despite knowing this was just a 5k and that even if I did poorly it didn't matter I was keyed up. I felt like I was going to vomit the whole ride there despite my husband trying his best to distract me. Once outside the car in the fresh air I felt a bit better. But still a bit nervous as I went through my pre race warm up rituals. Finally at the line I started to calm down a bit.
I decided to go sans watch today. I had a really bad race here last year(and a less than stellar tempo this week) and I am sure half of it was running so hard the first mile and having an awful split despite of it. My goal today was to run aggressively and keep my head in the race the whole way. I had hoped at least one consistent mid 17 5k gal would be there but unfortunately she was out of town. Thankfully though SG who lives locally and runs the race every year is a solid low to mid 17 runner here and I made it my goal to stick to him like glue until I couldn't hold on anymore. He warned me before the race he might not run that quickly today so I took that into account as we rolled out the first mile. The pace felt too easy and I pushed a bit ahead of him as he scolded my to stay calm, that the guys just ahead of us were going to go out in low 5s and we would pass many of them in the 3rd mile. I cooled off a little bit but aware as a female runner jumped ahead I didn't pull off the gas enough to let her gap me by much.
Before the mile marker we passed her and as the timer shouted out 5:37 SG informed me the actual mile was a bit further on and we were more like 5:45. Fine by me although a little more cushion would have been a mental boost 5:45 would get me what I needed. I wanted to hit the 2 mile at 11:24 to know I had it "in the bag" so I worked the next mile and pulled a bit ahead of SG as we passed a group of four younger guys who went out too fast. Hit the 2 mile split at about 11:32 and knew I needed to get to work. I took water at the stop and dumped it over my head as I pushed. It felt like I was fading a bit but I just tried to hammer and relax my upper body as coach instructed from the sidelines.
SG passed me and the people who had come out to cheer were all cheering for him as he is a local and known well. I did my best to stay close to him but he is a high mileage guy and just plain fast and I couldn't quite hold onto him. One more young guy from the Solon area reeled me back in during the last half mile. I started to get a stitch below my ribs and just tried to will and breathe it away, no time for pain right now, I knew it was going to be close. Without the watch I had no real concept of how much further it was, the last stretch all looks the same. As I cruised over the last small hill I realized this was it and started to hammer as hard as I could. I could see the clock at 17:25 ish and mentally thought it has to be less than 100 meters to the finish I know I can run 100 meters in 19 seconds just push push push! Passed the clock at 17:50 and the mats were just a few steps beyond so I am assuming around 17:52 will be the official time *update: official time says 17:46.9 but I am pretty sure they switched me with the kid who beat me and I should be 17:50.1* Hopefully I raced through over those 3 mats, I had assumed the clock was the finish, but post race noticed the mats were actually a few steps beyond. I really have no idea what happened after that clock I was just glad to get that sub 18 and be the first female across the line!
I made the mistake of sitting down to try and get my chip off and my right hip flexor locked up on me, can we say painful? I think maybe just too much caffeine (coffee and a gel) mixed with not the right balance of electrolytes and water because my left bicep also cramped up. Walking around a bit seemed to loosen it up so hopefully just a fluke. Super stoked to meet another goal, hopefully I am solidly over the bad race slump for awhile. The main goal is obviously Columbus so let's just hope I haven't used up all my good race mojo on these short races :)
Hope everyone has a great 4th!
Flag Day 5k 2010
Continuing with the summer trend of races I headed out to the Flag Day 5k last week with high hopes of crushing my 5k PR. Since no road 5k is created equal and who knows if they are ever actually a legit 5k these PRs always come with an asterisk, but last year I ran the 5k here in 18:56 and I was hoping to drop a minute off that time based on the recent 10ks and Blossom. That would be around 5:45 pace which seemed doable based on a comparison of last years track paces versus this year.
One itsy difference, last year I just raced the Cleveland Half and this 5k, this year I've done three races leading up to this in 4 weeks and I can tell I am a bit ragged. Didn't take too much downtime after the marathon and I am about ready for a little reprieve before ramping it up for Columbus.
Despite all that I felt pretty solid during the warm up and was feeling confident. It's a fast downhill start with just one turn in the first mile. Stuck to NC like glue and chugged through the first mile in around 5:34 (note my time trial mile last year on the track was 5:35) right on target with 5:30s like coach recommended.
NC pulled away from me as we made our way up the first hill towards a hair pin turn. It's nice because you can see those in front of and behind you here. Gave a little cheer and wave to my girls, but not much energy to expound on enthusiasm as I made my way back downhill trying to keep close to NC. This mile is always slow for me and I was making a conscious effort to push. Lost a little focus when I thought I heard my husband cheering for me but dug in and pushed after that. I wanted to hit the 2 mile by 11:30 to ensure a possibility of sub 18 and was right on target around 11:26 with a 5:53 mile here. Chugged a water and headed towards the next hill. My husband was actually cheering here and I heard "pick it up" but he claims he was telling me to "keep it up." I guess we hear what we think we should be hearing at this point in the race, not reality :)
I was with a couple of guys here and cheers were to stick with that girl! Guess it is good to be a motivator, but not sure that's what they wanted to hear :) I lost one on the uphill but stayed with the other and gapped him once we hit the woods. I felt like I significantly upped my effort this mile but the numbers beg to differ, it is winding and through the woods so it's hard to really make up lost time, but with the downhill finish I was sure I could squeak out 17:50 something. Raced down the hill closing on the guy in front of me and heard the tell tale "push and you can break 18" for a guy behind me, I dug deeper and watched as that dumb clock clicked from 17:59 to 18:00 as I crossed the line and ran into the guy in front of me in the chute.
One measly second! Obviously I was not content with the time, but it was a good effort for me. A 56 second improvement over last years performance so I can't complain! NC was a good clip ahead of me at 17:40 and JO as usual crushed the field with a 17:10. I'm getting really good at coming in 3rd at this race :)
2009 18:56
2008 19:34
Next race I should suck it up and stay with NC for longer, maybe if I had held on for 1.5 or 2 miles I could have gotten under 18 (or maybe I would have blown up). I need to start taking some chances if I want to keep improving this summer. The first 5k of the season is always tough, you aren't really sure what pace your lungs and legs can handle, and with a few bad 5ks since last summer I am sure subconsciously I just wanted a solid performance and didn't want to have a blow up. Well solid performance achieved, now next race let's push a bit harder and see if we can find that fine line of a peak performance!
One itsy difference, last year I just raced the Cleveland Half and this 5k, this year I've done three races leading up to this in 4 weeks and I can tell I am a bit ragged. Didn't take too much downtime after the marathon and I am about ready for a little reprieve before ramping it up for Columbus.
Despite all that I felt pretty solid during the warm up and was feeling confident. It's a fast downhill start with just one turn in the first mile. Stuck to NC like glue and chugged through the first mile in around 5:34 (note my time trial mile last year on the track was 5:35) right on target with 5:30s like coach recommended.
NC pulled away from me as we made our way up the first hill towards a hair pin turn. It's nice because you can see those in front of and behind you here. Gave a little cheer and wave to my girls, but not much energy to expound on enthusiasm as I made my way back downhill trying to keep close to NC. This mile is always slow for me and I was making a conscious effort to push. Lost a little focus when I thought I heard my husband cheering for me but dug in and pushed after that. I wanted to hit the 2 mile by 11:30 to ensure a possibility of sub 18 and was right on target around 11:26 with a 5:53 mile here. Chugged a water and headed towards the next hill. My husband was actually cheering here and I heard "pick it up" but he claims he was telling me to "keep it up." I guess we hear what we think we should be hearing at this point in the race, not reality :)
I was with a couple of guys here and cheers were to stick with that girl! Guess it is good to be a motivator, but not sure that's what they wanted to hear :) I lost one on the uphill but stayed with the other and gapped him once we hit the woods. I felt like I significantly upped my effort this mile but the numbers beg to differ, it is winding and through the woods so it's hard to really make up lost time, but with the downhill finish I was sure I could squeak out 17:50 something. Raced down the hill closing on the guy in front of me and heard the tell tale "push and you can break 18" for a guy behind me, I dug deeper and watched as that dumb clock clicked from 17:59 to 18:00 as I crossed the line and ran into the guy in front of me in the chute.
One measly second! Obviously I was not content with the time, but it was a good effort for me. A 56 second improvement over last years performance so I can't complain! NC was a good clip ahead of me at 17:40 and JO as usual crushed the field with a 17:10. I'm getting really good at coming in 3rd at this race :)
2009 18:56
2008 19:34
Next race I should suck it up and stay with NC for longer, maybe if I had held on for 1.5 or 2 miles I could have gotten under 18 (or maybe I would have blown up). I need to start taking some chances if I want to keep improving this summer. The first 5k of the season is always tough, you aren't really sure what pace your lungs and legs can handle, and with a few bad 5ks since last summer I am sure subconsciously I just wanted a solid performance and didn't want to have a blow up. Well solid performance achieved, now next race let's push a bit harder and see if we can find that fine line of a peak performance!
Flag Day 5K Race Report
Last night was the Flag Day 5k. Unlike the Cleveland half coaches orders were to race, this wasn't a run or workout, it was time to get down to business. We had a goal of sub 19 and I was supposed to try and run 6 minute pace which would be an 18:40. Despite running better than that pace at my track workout last week I was still nervous. 6 flat sounds a lot more intimidating than 6:07 (which would be an 18:59). My PR race (19:23) was back in December 2007 at Reindeer 5K, a pancake flat perfect weather kind of day. Flag Day 5k is not flat, has lots of turns, and it's usually hot and humid!
Picked up Iron G and headed out to Mentor. We got there early and picked up our packets then it was off to warm up. Did about 20 minutes with 4*30 seconds strides at the end. Finished up around 6:50 and changed into my race shoes. Salty and Evie were all pep chatting away, I was mostly nerves. Since I hadn't run at lunch like usual I was a bottle of energy ready to explode. I knew I was physically capable of the goal, but 5ks are hard and I wasn't sure how it would play out or feel. Thought we had timed the warm up well but things got off to a later start and we stood around at the start line until almost 7:10. I tried to keep "warm" (I was drenched in sweat after the warm up, temps were good around 70 but it was humid!) bouncing around and noted Salty was all calm no jitters.
Finally the anthem and the start. We had lined up just behind the leaders since this is not a chip race. The race goes down hill right away around a large curve. I took it out and tried to focus on how it feels on the track. My turnover felt good and once we reached the bottom of the hill I heard my husband cheer, I gave a wave and then it was back to focusing. I focused in on my breathing and tried to keep it in every two steps and out every two. That seemed to help my rhythm and I felt good as we made our first turn. Salty was on my shoulder the whole way and I was glad for some company. It seems like I am always in no mans land and other than her and a few men who had obviously shot out too fast we were in a gap behind the leaders. My previous PR mostly resulted from me staying on the shoulder of JP (good racer and great at pacing 5k appropriately), last night I knew I would have to rely on my own pacing and racing insticts to get the time I wanted, I wasn't going to get a free drafting ride this time around.
Heard cheers from Iron G and Evie through here as we made our way back towards the area we started. I had told Salty before the race we would likely be dueling for 2nd and 3rd (1st gal is a consistent low 17 and high 16 5k runner) and it looked like that was how it would play out. We hit the mile marker and the split called out was 5:48 which was right on target for me if I ran the course similarly to the past (The first mile here I am always about 20-30 second faster than what I will run the 2nd and 3rd miles). I held a thumbs up to show Salty I was pleased and we were doing well.
We climbed our first hill as the male leader Fred Kieser made his way back down it on course record pace. My hill skillz are lacking lately but I felt pretty good climbing up. Just churning and waiting for the hairpin turn that will take us back downhill. I mused what Salty must be thinking when she saw my old lady hairpin turn skillz, let's just say I don't corner well. Again get to see our friends coming up hill as we head back down and cheer. I felt strong and I felt like I was pushing. I tend to slack the second mile and I was making a conscious effort to not slow down and keep pushing.
I could feel Salty falling a bit back from me and thought that meant I was doing well with the pace. As we made a sharp right and hit the 2 mile water stop I was dismayed to here SG calling out 12+ splits. I really thought I was doing well with the pace and that I would hit this under 12. At first I thought maybe he was lying to get me going but alas I saw the finish line clock and that it was the truth. Hit the second mile in 12:07.
Some quick mental math as I passed my husband cheering again (listening for him to cheer for Salty hoping she was hanging tough). I knew I needed to step it up to clinch sub 19. Another sharp right and then a left as we push uphill into the woods. We were gaining on a man here and I pushed to pass him on the hill only for him to sprint ahead. Salty caught me towards the top of the climb (girl has been working the hills!) and I tried to go with her but knew I would have to save the push for the top and the descent, my legs were starting to feel tapped on the climb and I knew I needed to get a second wind to push.
I let Salty and the man pull a bit ahead as we reached the top of the hill and turned to start our descent. Got a grip on myself and convinced myself if it hurt I had to push harder and go faster. Started to close the gap as we finally got back to where we had started the race and curved down the final hill. I honestly can't tell you if I caught that guy or not. I assume I must have passed him in the final stretch because of where I ended up in the shoot but I was focused on one thing and one thing only, the clock.
I had promised myself before the race I would not stare at the damn clock as I came into the finish. Too many times I have watched as that clock rolled over my goal. But alas I just can't help myself. I pushed as hard as I could and watched in fear as 18:50 went by, 18:51, 18:52, push push push, 18:53, 18:54, 18:55, 18:56 Done. Literally ran into Salty in the shoot and looked at my watch to see 18:56. Sub 19 achieved. Took a few minutes to retrieve my breath and then I was ready to cool down with Salty.
We cheered in our friends Barb (New PR 21:14 at age 58!) and Iron G, Evie kicked some butt placing 1st in Ag with baby in tow. It was a great night, Fred Kieser broke his own record. Salty and I both got our desired sub 19s. Barb Pr'ed and Evie had fun and kicked butt. Iron G duked it out with a grunter and won, and was an awesome cheerleader even from the race course.
I can't lie I wish that second mile would have gone better. But I am super stoked to have broken 19. It is hard to believe that just over a year ago I was on cloud nine to break 20 (You would be too if it took you eleven years from a 20:03 to finally get sub 20!). The first 5k back is always tough for me, it is just hard to nail a 5k. I am glad it is out of the way and hopefully this is an indicator of more PRs to come this year!
Picked up Iron G and headed out to Mentor. We got there early and picked up our packets then it was off to warm up. Did about 20 minutes with 4*30 seconds strides at the end. Finished up around 6:50 and changed into my race shoes. Salty and Evie were all pep chatting away, I was mostly nerves. Since I hadn't run at lunch like usual I was a bottle of energy ready to explode. I knew I was physically capable of the goal, but 5ks are hard and I wasn't sure how it would play out or feel. Thought we had timed the warm up well but things got off to a later start and we stood around at the start line until almost 7:10. I tried to keep "warm" (I was drenched in sweat after the warm up, temps were good around 70 but it was humid!) bouncing around and noted Salty was all calm no jitters.
Finally the anthem and the start. We had lined up just behind the leaders since this is not a chip race. The race goes down hill right away around a large curve. I took it out and tried to focus on how it feels on the track. My turnover felt good and once we reached the bottom of the hill I heard my husband cheer, I gave a wave and then it was back to focusing. I focused in on my breathing and tried to keep it in every two steps and out every two. That seemed to help my rhythm and I felt good as we made our first turn. Salty was on my shoulder the whole way and I was glad for some company. It seems like I am always in no mans land and other than her and a few men who had obviously shot out too fast we were in a gap behind the leaders. My previous PR mostly resulted from me staying on the shoulder of JP (good racer and great at pacing 5k appropriately), last night I knew I would have to rely on my own pacing and racing insticts to get the time I wanted, I wasn't going to get a free drafting ride this time around.
Heard cheers from Iron G and Evie through here as we made our way back towards the area we started. I had told Salty before the race we would likely be dueling for 2nd and 3rd (1st gal is a consistent low 17 and high 16 5k runner) and it looked like that was how it would play out. We hit the mile marker and the split called out was 5:48 which was right on target for me if I ran the course similarly to the past (The first mile here I am always about 20-30 second faster than what I will run the 2nd and 3rd miles). I held a thumbs up to show Salty I was pleased and we were doing well.
We climbed our first hill as the male leader Fred Kieser made his way back down it on course record pace. My hill skillz are lacking lately but I felt pretty good climbing up. Just churning and waiting for the hairpin turn that will take us back downhill. I mused what Salty must be thinking when she saw my old lady hairpin turn skillz, let's just say I don't corner well. Again get to see our friends coming up hill as we head back down and cheer. I felt strong and I felt like I was pushing. I tend to slack the second mile and I was making a conscious effort to not slow down and keep pushing.
I could feel Salty falling a bit back from me and thought that meant I was doing well with the pace. As we made a sharp right and hit the 2 mile water stop I was dismayed to here SG calling out 12+ splits. I really thought I was doing well with the pace and that I would hit this under 12. At first I thought maybe he was lying to get me going but alas I saw the finish line clock and that it was the truth. Hit the second mile in 12:07.
Some quick mental math as I passed my husband cheering again (listening for him to cheer for Salty hoping she was hanging tough). I knew I needed to step it up to clinch sub 19. Another sharp right and then a left as we push uphill into the woods. We were gaining on a man here and I pushed to pass him on the hill only for him to sprint ahead. Salty caught me towards the top of the climb (girl has been working the hills!) and I tried to go with her but knew I would have to save the push for the top and the descent, my legs were starting to feel tapped on the climb and I knew I needed to get a second wind to push.
I let Salty and the man pull a bit ahead as we reached the top of the hill and turned to start our descent. Got a grip on myself and convinced myself if it hurt I had to push harder and go faster. Started to close the gap as we finally got back to where we had started the race and curved down the final hill. I honestly can't tell you if I caught that guy or not. I assume I must have passed him in the final stretch because of where I ended up in the shoot but I was focused on one thing and one thing only, the clock.
I had promised myself before the race I would not stare at the damn clock as I came into the finish. Too many times I have watched as that clock rolled over my goal. But alas I just can't help myself. I pushed as hard as I could and watched in fear as 18:50 went by, 18:51, 18:52, push push push, 18:53, 18:54, 18:55, 18:56 Done. Literally ran into Salty in the shoot and looked at my watch to see 18:56. Sub 19 achieved. Took a few minutes to retrieve my breath and then I was ready to cool down with Salty.
We cheered in our friends Barb (New PR 21:14 at age 58!) and Iron G, Evie kicked some butt placing 1st in Ag with baby in tow. It was a great night, Fred Kieser broke his own record. Salty and I both got our desired sub 19s. Barb Pr'ed and Evie had fun and kicked butt. Iron G duked it out with a grunter and won, and was an awesome cheerleader even from the race course.
I can't lie I wish that second mile would have gone better. But I am super stoked to have broken 19. It is hard to believe that just over a year ago I was on cloud nine to break 20 (You would be too if it took you eleven years from a 20:03 to finally get sub 20!). The first 5k back is always tough for me, it is just hard to nail a 5k. I am glad it is out of the way and hopefully this is an indicator of more PRs to come this year!
Aurora Labor Day 5k Race Report
Monday morning I decided to take advantage of the holiday and get in another race despite waking up and wanting to stay in bed.
The Aurora Labor Day 5k is a small little race run in Aurora Ohio at Sunny Lake Park. The park has a nice 1.75 mile loop which the course is run on. They have a 1 mile and a 5k and since it was only $2 more to do both races I decided on arrival that I would do the one mile as my time trial before doing the 5k. The race was mostly for kids so I felt somewhat guilty lining up for it but also knew it was an easy way to get in my time trial and then I could get it over with. So I decided to do the race and just not let them take my bib so I wouldn't count in the results. All I wanted was to know how fast I could run 1 mile :)
The one mile was an out and back so one hairpin turn which isn't so easy as you get older :) I lined up on the outside in the grass so I wouldn't get in any ones way and took off and pulled ahead with one other young gentleman. I wasn't really sure how a mile effort should feel so I just ran hard :) The kid fell back from me just before the turn around and I encouraged him to stay with me. He picked it up and got around the hairpin turn much more efficiently than me. I looked at my watch and saw 2:53. Leave it to me to try and do math while running I had no clue what that meant pace wise. On the way back I cheered on a few of the young girls and tried to stay as close to the kid in front of me. I came across in 5:47 and was pretty happy with that. I would have liked to have run 5:35-5:40 but considering the hairpin turn and the fact that I had run 17 miles the day before I think I am calling it close enough!
Moving onward I needed to do a quick "cool down" before the 5k which started 30 minutes after the one mile. I went out to get ready and saw runners already walking over to the start. Freaking out I headed back to my car to put back on my trainers and get to the start, only to wait because everyone had headed over too early.
We finally started the 5k and I tried to stay with Greg but I just had no oomph left in my legs after the 1 mile. I was content to hold onto 1st place and just stay as consistent as I could. Since the loop is 1.75 miles we do it almost twice, starting and ending in a different location. The path is winding and there is on small hill. No place to really get into a groove, but not a slow course by any means. First mile was 6:22. I realized I wasn't going to break any records but upped the effort as I didn't want to go over 20. The second mile I struggled to pass a small group of guys. I was gaining on them but once they realized I was a female they all upped their effort and boxed me out. I just tried to push the pace so that I wouldn't fall into their slower pace, if they wanted to stay ahead of me I wanted them to have to push to do it. Second mile was 6:16. The last mile like the first had the small hill in it and I have proven not to be exceptional on hills this year. Between that and having raced a mile before the 5k I just couldn't turn it on and came through the third mile in 6:30 although I did drop most of the guys who were with me. I did find enough in me to push hard to the finish and actually go under 38 this time in 32 seconds for a 19:40.
Neither result was quite what I hoped for but I had fun racing and pushing my limits a bit. My knee was a bit ragged but it survived and I took home the overall female win. My friend Barb took second female and the SERC guys who were there placed first and second male so it was a good day for the club!
Next up Punxsy 50K Report!
The Aurora Labor Day 5k is a small little race run in Aurora Ohio at Sunny Lake Park. The park has a nice 1.75 mile loop which the course is run on. They have a 1 mile and a 5k and since it was only $2 more to do both races I decided on arrival that I would do the one mile as my time trial before doing the 5k. The race was mostly for kids so I felt somewhat guilty lining up for it but also knew it was an easy way to get in my time trial and then I could get it over with. So I decided to do the race and just not let them take my bib so I wouldn't count in the results. All I wanted was to know how fast I could run 1 mile :)
The one mile was an out and back so one hairpin turn which isn't so easy as you get older :) I lined up on the outside in the grass so I wouldn't get in any ones way and took off and pulled ahead with one other young gentleman. I wasn't really sure how a mile effort should feel so I just ran hard :) The kid fell back from me just before the turn around and I encouraged him to stay with me. He picked it up and got around the hairpin turn much more efficiently than me. I looked at my watch and saw 2:53. Leave it to me to try and do math while running I had no clue what that meant pace wise. On the way back I cheered on a few of the young girls and tried to stay as close to the kid in front of me. I came across in 5:47 and was pretty happy with that. I would have liked to have run 5:35-5:40 but considering the hairpin turn and the fact that I had run 17 miles the day before I think I am calling it close enough!
Moving onward I needed to do a quick "cool down" before the 5k which started 30 minutes after the one mile. I went out to get ready and saw runners already walking over to the start. Freaking out I headed back to my car to put back on my trainers and get to the start, only to wait because everyone had headed over too early.
We finally started the 5k and I tried to stay with Greg but I just had no oomph left in my legs after the 1 mile. I was content to hold onto 1st place and just stay as consistent as I could. Since the loop is 1.75 miles we do it almost twice, starting and ending in a different location. The path is winding and there is on small hill. No place to really get into a groove, but not a slow course by any means. First mile was 6:22. I realized I wasn't going to break any records but upped the effort as I didn't want to go over 20. The second mile I struggled to pass a small group of guys. I was gaining on them but once they realized I was a female they all upped their effort and boxed me out. I just tried to push the pace so that I wouldn't fall into their slower pace, if they wanted to stay ahead of me I wanted them to have to push to do it. Second mile was 6:16. The last mile like the first had the small hill in it and I have proven not to be exceptional on hills this year. Between that and having raced a mile before the 5k I just couldn't turn it on and came through the third mile in 6:30 although I did drop most of the guys who were with me. I did find enough in me to push hard to the finish and actually go under 38 this time in 32 seconds for a 19:40.
Neither result was quite what I hoped for but I had fun racing and pushing my limits a bit. My knee was a bit ragged but it survived and I took home the overall female win. My friend Barb took second female and the SERC guys who were there placed first and second male so it was a good day for the club!
Next up Punxsy 50K Report!
2008 NERC XC Series Race 3
So way the heck back on August 19th I ran the third race in the NERC fall XC series. With a 20:18 and 19:57 the two weeks before I was ready to drop that a bit more and see how fast I could go on this course. I wanted to target my pace between 6:07 (18:59) and 6:14 (19:23) and see if I could run faster than my PR, maybe go sub 19 if I had a brilliant night. Unfortunately I got out of work late and ran into some traffic so I got to the race without much time to spare. I had to "warm-up" by jogging to the restroom and sign in and do about 2 strides before throwing on my flats and tossing my warm ups in the car. JK was on the line so I knew a win was out of the question. I just wanted to see if I could run faster than last week despite the lack of a real warm up.
Once again the race starts and the high schoolers go out like bullets. I don't pay attention to any of that at least until I am in the woods where I start to take down the girls (and a lot of boys) one by one. I wanted to be in front of a particular girl before the mile since the two previous weeks I had passed her a little after the mile I figured I would be about on target pace if I ran through the mile a hair ahead fo her. Mission acheived as I came through the mile a hair fast at 6:00. There was another female just behind me who looked to be my age and seemed strong so I tried not to let up over the next mile. JK was likely already over a minute ahead of us by the mile marker, girl is fast! So it was a race for second.
I wasn't feeling stellar but I felt like I could hold onto the same pace as I had last week for the last two miles and knew that would get me in around 19:30. I heard David cheer for me a bit before the 2 mile and was surprised he got out of work in time to catch me, I waved but apparently it didn't look like a wave and he didn't know I had heard him. Gotta work on being able to smile even when running at all out effort. I was extremely grateful that he was there even if I couldn't show it, it meant a lot to me that he got out of work early just to see me race. Mile 2 was just a hair shy of last week and was 6:29. I knew I had to dig in if I wanted to get a fast last mile and hold onto that 19:30.
I didn't hear the other girl behind me and that gave me hope that I would definitely come in second. Given that I had run that mile almost 30 seconds slower and she wasn't with me I knew she had dropped off the pace more than I had and I wasn't planning on dropping anymore. The advantage of running this all three weeks is by the third you know where to expend your energy. I took advantage of the slight decline and the flat section of the last mile before heading up the last quarter mile dreaded hill stretch. I didn't feel stellar on the hill but still strong enough to come through 3 at 6:24.
And I kicked it in to yet another 38 second finish. Apparently that is my limit. I think All 6 times I have run this race 38 has been my fastest kick at the end. I never was great at that even in high school. That brought me in at 19:32 and 2nd female. JK ran a blazing 17:14. Nothing like having a serving of humble pie despite running your best time on a course :) I was really pleased with my effort and the result, especially considering that I didn't get in a real warm up. This is only 11 seconds off my PR at Reindeer Run which is a super fast course so I have high hopes that I can get even faster on the roads :)
My husbands college buddies happened to be at the park so while he chatted with them I got in a nice cool down with EH and B. It was downright chilly by the time we did the awards, bizzare how August was actually nicer than September has been so far. The weather this year for the series was absolutely perfect, reminds me of why I was always so in love with cross country. I guess this is the closest I can come to getting those days back for now though and I am happy to take it, even if I am the old lady at the start line ;)
Once again the race starts and the high schoolers go out like bullets. I don't pay attention to any of that at least until I am in the woods where I start to take down the girls (and a lot of boys) one by one. I wanted to be in front of a particular girl before the mile since the two previous weeks I had passed her a little after the mile I figured I would be about on target pace if I ran through the mile a hair ahead fo her. Mission acheived as I came through the mile a hair fast at 6:00. There was another female just behind me who looked to be my age and seemed strong so I tried not to let up over the next mile. JK was likely already over a minute ahead of us by the mile marker, girl is fast! So it was a race for second.
I wasn't feeling stellar but I felt like I could hold onto the same pace as I had last week for the last two miles and knew that would get me in around 19:30. I heard David cheer for me a bit before the 2 mile and was surprised he got out of work in time to catch me, I waved but apparently it didn't look like a wave and he didn't know I had heard him. Gotta work on being able to smile even when running at all out effort. I was extremely grateful that he was there even if I couldn't show it, it meant a lot to me that he got out of work early just to see me race. Mile 2 was just a hair shy of last week and was 6:29. I knew I had to dig in if I wanted to get a fast last mile and hold onto that 19:30.
I didn't hear the other girl behind me and that gave me hope that I would definitely come in second. Given that I had run that mile almost 30 seconds slower and she wasn't with me I knew she had dropped off the pace more than I had and I wasn't planning on dropping anymore. The advantage of running this all three weeks is by the third you know where to expend your energy. I took advantage of the slight decline and the flat section of the last mile before heading up the last quarter mile dreaded hill stretch. I didn't feel stellar on the hill but still strong enough to come through 3 at 6:24.
And I kicked it in to yet another 38 second finish. Apparently that is my limit. I think All 6 times I have run this race 38 has been my fastest kick at the end. I never was great at that even in high school. That brought me in at 19:32 and 2nd female. JK ran a blazing 17:14. Nothing like having a serving of humble pie despite running your best time on a course :) I was really pleased with my effort and the result, especially considering that I didn't get in a real warm up. This is only 11 seconds off my PR at Reindeer Run which is a super fast course so I have high hopes that I can get even faster on the roads :)
My husbands college buddies happened to be at the park so while he chatted with them I got in a nice cool down with EH and B. It was downright chilly by the time we did the awards, bizzare how August was actually nicer than September has been so far. The weather this year for the series was absolutely perfect, reminds me of why I was always so in love with cross country. I guess this is the closest I can come to getting those days back for now though and I am happy to take it, even if I am the old lady at the start line ;)
2008 NERC XC Series Race 2
Last week I continued in my efforts to try and get a sub 20 on a 5k cross county course. Having run 20:18 the week before and knowing that last year I got faster every race my hopes were high that I could finally get a 10 year monkey off my back and go sub 20 on a cross course (don't ask me why but I truly don't feel sub 20 "counts" until I do it on a cross course. Mostly because in high school that was all I had run, and I know I can't compare road times to my high school cross times, and I had run 20:03 my sophomore year at states but never broke that barrier.) This race series is awesome because I can go out and test myself on a cross course, for next to nothing, and sort of relive those days of high school when I was racing every week, most weeks more than once a week. Marathon training really doesn't leave much room to race short stuff every week so I am excited this series falls at a time when I can afford to take my focus off endurance and play with my speed a bit.
Tuesday I got to work early and ate an early lunch then a light dinner around 4. Hopped the bus home and drove over to the cross course. Got there in time for a good warm up. I headed out along the front half of the course thinking it would eventually connect to the back half and I could run the dreaded finish hill but just in time I realized that assumption was wrong and I turned around and made it back just in time for a few strides and a quick change into my trainers while Salty flashed photos before I headed to the start. Me legs felt tapped and I just generally felt tired. My arms were semi trashed from a Monday upper body session and I just wasn't sure how I would perform. Add to that about 4 times the number of runners as the week before and I wasn't sure of my chances at sub 20.
A few minute delay and the gun was off. I don't pay any attention to anything around me the first half mile of this race. The gazillion high schoolers all go out like bats out of hell with many of them dropping the pace before we are even a quarter mile in. But there were so many of these crazies this time around I really couldn't get in my own groove at all. I was boxed in all the way through the first mile. Despite this I was able to move up on most of the female field and by the first mile there were only 3 girls in front of me. First mile was slowish. 6:28, 2 seconds slower than the pace I would need to go sub 20. I gritted my teeth as I knew I would have some work to do to keep that pace.
The second mile of this course is just a bear. I'm not sure what it is but I just can't seem to go as fast as the first mile here usually. I passed by the 3rd and 2nd girls within a few minutes after the 1st mile marker but couldn't see if any other women were in front of me. You run through a field on a bridle type path as you head from the first mile, lots of sun shining down on you and then you head back into the woods where you cover the earlier path you took, a few rollers here, and a steep gravelly downhill before a sharp turn and bridge which are a bit wicked to navigate. You exit the woods and turn onto a paved path directly in the sun. The volunteer here is great and always lets me know what place I am in. He informs me I am second woman and I start to eye the field in front of me, but can't pick out any pony tails.
It is still relatively crowded but it is all guys now. We hit the water stop and I grab water to dump over my head. Apparently I strong armed it a bit as I crushed the Styrofoam splashing water all over. Oops! Salty yells at me that I can catch first. I am pretty sure she is full of it, but I hammer anyways because I know that is what it is going to take to break 20 after the first miles split. After the water stop you are back on the long grass and winding your way around towards the 2nd mile marker. There is a guy who directs traffic as you cross over the park entrance and he always yells out splits. Usually I get very frustrated with him because the times he yells are usually closer to what I want at the 2 mile marker which is still about 30 seconds away. :) He yelled 12 something and I knew that meant I had some work to do. To go 19:59 I wanted to hit 2 at 12:52, I am a bit shy of it, clocking another 6:28. (Which is still my best split on this mile ever)
That means it is time to go to work. The next mile has a slight downhill grade or is flat for the majority, traversing over dirt mixed with foot bridges then you hit the last quarter mile or so and it is a winding uphill to the finish, not steep but long enough to really grind you out. Remembering how burnt out I was on that hill the previous week I knew I needed to find some sort of balance between wasting myself hammering the downhills, but still taking advantage of any extra speed I could grab. A guy commented to me as I went by, "Hey, didn't you win last week?", and I replied that "Yep, I did but this week there is someone way ahead of me" and he told me to "go get her"!
The nice thing about that slow first mile was that I was actually feeling strong this mile and I did just try to catch up to as many people as I could. I never did see a ponytail though as I came to the hill. The hill definitely slowed me down but this time it felt more like running through grass, rather than running through quick sand and I kept pushing knowing it would be close. A high school boys coach was shouting for him just before the 3 mile mark that he would have to push if he wanted to break 20. I wasn't sure how much push I had and it made me nervous! I knew if I could get to mile 3 by 19:20 I had a chance. I pretty consistently run the last .1 of this course in 38 seconds. Of course I look down to see the split and the mile split (6:21) is covering my total time, uggh. So I just hammer as hard as I can. I can hear Salty screaming that I can do it and I watch the dreaded clock and I never see 20 before I cross, which means I've done it, despite seemingly going into slow motion those last few steps. 19:57 and that monkey is finally off my back for good. And I believe that is my first ever negative split 5k!
Quick celebratory photo with Salty before I locate my husband and get in a cool down walk with him then a quick jog with EH, got my 1st age group ribbon (1st was a 16 year old in 19:27 ish) taking 2nd overall female and we headed out to Bakers Square, where I miraculously decided I did not need pie!
Stayed tuned for the final race recap of the series in the next few posts!
Tuesday I got to work early and ate an early lunch then a light dinner around 4. Hopped the bus home and drove over to the cross course. Got there in time for a good warm up. I headed out along the front half of the course thinking it would eventually connect to the back half and I could run the dreaded finish hill but just in time I realized that assumption was wrong and I turned around and made it back just in time for a few strides and a quick change into my trainers while Salty flashed photos before I headed to the start. Me legs felt tapped and I just generally felt tired. My arms were semi trashed from a Monday upper body session and I just wasn't sure how I would perform. Add to that about 4 times the number of runners as the week before and I wasn't sure of my chances at sub 20.
A few minute delay and the gun was off. I don't pay any attention to anything around me the first half mile of this race. The gazillion high schoolers all go out like bats out of hell with many of them dropping the pace before we are even a quarter mile in. But there were so many of these crazies this time around I really couldn't get in my own groove at all. I was boxed in all the way through the first mile. Despite this I was able to move up on most of the female field and by the first mile there were only 3 girls in front of me. First mile was slowish. 6:28, 2 seconds slower than the pace I would need to go sub 20. I gritted my teeth as I knew I would have some work to do to keep that pace.
The second mile of this course is just a bear. I'm not sure what it is but I just can't seem to go as fast as the first mile here usually. I passed by the 3rd and 2nd girls within a few minutes after the 1st mile marker but couldn't see if any other women were in front of me. You run through a field on a bridle type path as you head from the first mile, lots of sun shining down on you and then you head back into the woods where you cover the earlier path you took, a few rollers here, and a steep gravelly downhill before a sharp turn and bridge which are a bit wicked to navigate. You exit the woods and turn onto a paved path directly in the sun. The volunteer here is great and always lets me know what place I am in. He informs me I am second woman and I start to eye the field in front of me, but can't pick out any pony tails.
It is still relatively crowded but it is all guys now. We hit the water stop and I grab water to dump over my head. Apparently I strong armed it a bit as I crushed the Styrofoam splashing water all over. Oops! Salty yells at me that I can catch first. I am pretty sure she is full of it, but I hammer anyways because I know that is what it is going to take to break 20 after the first miles split. After the water stop you are back on the long grass and winding your way around towards the 2nd mile marker. There is a guy who directs traffic as you cross over the park entrance and he always yells out splits. Usually I get very frustrated with him because the times he yells are usually closer to what I want at the 2 mile marker which is still about 30 seconds away. :) He yelled 12 something and I knew that meant I had some work to do. To go 19:59 I wanted to hit 2 at 12:52, I am a bit shy of it, clocking another 6:28. (Which is still my best split on this mile ever)
That means it is time to go to work. The next mile has a slight downhill grade or is flat for the majority, traversing over dirt mixed with foot bridges then you hit the last quarter mile or so and it is a winding uphill to the finish, not steep but long enough to really grind you out. Remembering how burnt out I was on that hill the previous week I knew I needed to find some sort of balance between wasting myself hammering the downhills, but still taking advantage of any extra speed I could grab. A guy commented to me as I went by, "Hey, didn't you win last week?", and I replied that "Yep, I did but this week there is someone way ahead of me" and he told me to "go get her"!
The nice thing about that slow first mile was that I was actually feeling strong this mile and I did just try to catch up to as many people as I could. I never did see a ponytail though as I came to the hill. The hill definitely slowed me down but this time it felt more like running through grass, rather than running through quick sand and I kept pushing knowing it would be close. A high school boys coach was shouting for him just before the 3 mile mark that he would have to push if he wanted to break 20. I wasn't sure how much push I had and it made me nervous! I knew if I could get to mile 3 by 19:20 I had a chance. I pretty consistently run the last .1 of this course in 38 seconds. Of course I look down to see the split and the mile split (6:21) is covering my total time, uggh. So I just hammer as hard as I can. I can hear Salty screaming that I can do it and I watch the dreaded clock and I never see 20 before I cross, which means I've done it, despite seemingly going into slow motion those last few steps. 19:57 and that monkey is finally off my back for good. And I believe that is my first ever negative split 5k!
Quick celebratory photo with Salty before I locate my husband and get in a cool down walk with him then a quick jog with EH, got my 1st age group ribbon (1st was a 16 year old in 19:27 ish) taking 2nd overall female and we headed out to Bakers Square, where I miraculously decided I did not need pie!
Stayed tuned for the final race recap of the series in the next few posts!
NERC 5K Cross Country Series- Race 1
So let's start with most recent events here! Last night I went out to run with some high schoolers. The local Northeast Running Club puts on a small xc series every fall to help xc kids get in shape for their season. For $3 you can't really pass up the chance to tweak your 5k time, good learning experience and fun to see all the young ins go out like bats out of hell then slowly come back to you.
This is a cross country race, I did it all three times last year, first race went horrible last year around 22:31, then the next week 20:46, and third week 20:17. The start is grassy and slightly up hill then you head into the woods across a bridge and onto a short pavement path before heading downhill on a bridle type path and then back up a short steep hill and on your way out to a field. The path here is tiny gravel, and without spikes I am sure you are losing a lot of your effort here. You are on this surface for near a mile before heading back onto the bridle type path and then back to the grass. After mile 2 you head back into the woods and then onto a dirt path mixed with boardwalks. The elevation drops for about a minute before you pop out into a field again before turning and running uphill the final few minutes. AK typical cross country course, a mix of everything.
For the Burning River I was up on Saturday at 8 am and I finally crashed into bed Sunday around 5pm. I slept like the dead until about 9 AM Monday morning. Monday we mostly relaxed, played some disc golf, went to the movies, and I got in a 6 mile trail run. My pace was slow and I realized I was obviously a bit beat still. Yesterday I got caught up on dishes and we played some games, I was yawning a lot but finally a hot cup of tea snapped me out of it and then we headed to an early dinner. Couldn't decide what I wanted and went for a spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza. It was a bit greasier than I anticipated and may not have been the wisest pre-race choice.
My parents decided to stay and watch the race before heading back to Michigan and my hubby came to watch too. I wanted to win and I also wanted to break 20, but it was hot and humid and on my warm up I just felt sluggish so my hopes weren't too high for either goal. Got in about 2 miles and a few 30 second strides with Beth and JA and then headed to the car to change into my flats and took off my short sleeve. I did feel lighter as I rushed to the bathroom and the start. Maybe there is something to this warming up in heavy shoes and wearing warm ups then donning "racing" shoes and stripping thing.
I wore my garmin but decided not to pay attention to it and just run by feel, taking splits manually and turning off the autolap function. Every trail run I have done with the garmin has come up short of the mileage I have expected. Not sure if that means I have just been living in a dream world, or if the garmin struggles in the woods. At the Buckeye 50k, my garmin was over a mile shy of 31, and I know that course is pretty close, so I have my doubts about its accuracy. I think it is close, but I am guessing it struggles with the hills in the woods or something. Last night proved to be no different hitting the first mile my garmin had 0.93. I know that the race director has wheeled this course several times so I just find it hard to believe even one mile would be that short (at the finish a man with and older garmin did have the same distance as me so who knows), if you want accuracy I guess you need to run on a track!
First mile I just tried to keep it even. Didn't really pay attention to any of the girls ahead of me, there was only one I recognized from other local races and I knew I should be able to run with her so I slowly made my way up to her passing the rest of the girls along the way to the first mile. Hit the mile marker at 6:16 which was fine by me, I was targeting anything between 6:07 and 6:26 depending on how I felt. I wanted to give myself a chance at a PR if I was feeling good and sub 20 if I wasn't. (Evil Garmin called this 0.93 and 6:46 pace)
I pulled away from what I assumed were the two lead girls at the mile marker and just did my best to hold pace. My breathing was pretty ragged, seemed like my lungs were burning an awful lot but my legs felt decent so I tried to hold on as best as I could, using any downhills I could, trying to be aggressive. Confirmation that I was the first woman came a little before the 2nd mile marker, I grabbed a cup of water and drank half and dumped the rest on my head as I hear my mom yelling for me and then my husband. I was feeling pretty rough and tried to smile but I don't think I got much of one out. Mile 2 was 6:36 (.97 and 6:50 pace from the evil garmin). 20 seconds slower wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear and I knew sub 20 was going to be rough with the final hill looming.
Over the next mile I did my best to take advantage of the downhills. Not too many runners around so I did my best to catch up to the kid in front of me. I hammered the downgrade here figuring I needed to take advantage of it but as I caught him and said good job he started to pull away and I realized I may have pushed too hard to take advantage of the elevation. We turned to climb the final hill and it felt like I was running through quick sand. Just utterly zapped I knew if any gals caught me it was going to be ugly. Just pushed as hard as I could looking eagerly for the 3 mile mark. Could hear my mom yelling and did my best to look happy but again I don't think that happened. Mile 3 was 6:47 (.97 and 7:00 pace by th evil garmin) and I knew sub 20 was not happening. (Bummer)
Hammered in as I heard David and my dad cheering and watched the clock with a grimace, and then my silly garmin as it flouted that I had only gone 2.95 and still wasn't even close to sub 20. Bah. I was pretty fried, drenched in sweat and my stomach was cramping, likely from the pizza but also probably just from the heat and being so trashed from the weekend. I drank some gatorade and then headed back to cheer for Beth. Stood around trying to get my stomach back in line and chatted with some friends then me and my family did the one mile fun run. I power walked with my mom and we got back in time for the awards. I got a little medal for my efforts (as Beth said my boob was rusted in it) and Beth and JA both got age group awards. Considering the past few weeks and the weekend leading up to this I am pretty happy with the effort. Hopefully next week I will get the sub 20 XC monkey off my back :) If any one has any opinions on the garmins performance on trails I would love to hear them. All I know is that run certainly felt like 3.1 and not 2.95.
Big thanks to my parents and my hubby for coming out to watch. Maybe that was just what I needed to finally win a race this year :)
Pictures and video links here in case you don't feel like scrolling down to the previous post!
NERC XC Finish (Thanks to my hubby for the photos and video!)
NERC XC Photos
This is a cross country race, I did it all three times last year, first race went horrible last year around 22:31, then the next week 20:46, and third week 20:17. The start is grassy and slightly up hill then you head into the woods across a bridge and onto a short pavement path before heading downhill on a bridle type path and then back up a short steep hill and on your way out to a field. The path here is tiny gravel, and without spikes I am sure you are losing a lot of your effort here. You are on this surface for near a mile before heading back onto the bridle type path and then back to the grass. After mile 2 you head back into the woods and then onto a dirt path mixed with boardwalks. The elevation drops for about a minute before you pop out into a field again before turning and running uphill the final few minutes. AK typical cross country course, a mix of everything.
For the Burning River I was up on Saturday at 8 am and I finally crashed into bed Sunday around 5pm. I slept like the dead until about 9 AM Monday morning. Monday we mostly relaxed, played some disc golf, went to the movies, and I got in a 6 mile trail run. My pace was slow and I realized I was obviously a bit beat still. Yesterday I got caught up on dishes and we played some games, I was yawning a lot but finally a hot cup of tea snapped me out of it and then we headed to an early dinner. Couldn't decide what I wanted and went for a spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza. It was a bit greasier than I anticipated and may not have been the wisest pre-race choice.
My parents decided to stay and watch the race before heading back to Michigan and my hubby came to watch too. I wanted to win and I also wanted to break 20, but it was hot and humid and on my warm up I just felt sluggish so my hopes weren't too high for either goal. Got in about 2 miles and a few 30 second strides with Beth and JA and then headed to the car to change into my flats and took off my short sleeve. I did feel lighter as I rushed to the bathroom and the start. Maybe there is something to this warming up in heavy shoes and wearing warm ups then donning "racing" shoes and stripping thing.
I wore my garmin but decided not to pay attention to it and just run by feel, taking splits manually and turning off the autolap function. Every trail run I have done with the garmin has come up short of the mileage I have expected. Not sure if that means I have just been living in a dream world, or if the garmin struggles in the woods. At the Buckeye 50k, my garmin was over a mile shy of 31, and I know that course is pretty close, so I have my doubts about its accuracy. I think it is close, but I am guessing it struggles with the hills in the woods or something. Last night proved to be no different hitting the first mile my garmin had 0.93. I know that the race director has wheeled this course several times so I just find it hard to believe even one mile would be that short (at the finish a man with and older garmin did have the same distance as me so who knows), if you want accuracy I guess you need to run on a track!
First mile I just tried to keep it even. Didn't really pay attention to any of the girls ahead of me, there was only one I recognized from other local races and I knew I should be able to run with her so I slowly made my way up to her passing the rest of the girls along the way to the first mile. Hit the mile marker at 6:16 which was fine by me, I was targeting anything between 6:07 and 6:26 depending on how I felt. I wanted to give myself a chance at a PR if I was feeling good and sub 20 if I wasn't. (Evil Garmin called this 0.93 and 6:46 pace)
I pulled away from what I assumed were the two lead girls at the mile marker and just did my best to hold pace. My breathing was pretty ragged, seemed like my lungs were burning an awful lot but my legs felt decent so I tried to hold on as best as I could, using any downhills I could, trying to be aggressive. Confirmation that I was the first woman came a little before the 2nd mile marker, I grabbed a cup of water and drank half and dumped the rest on my head as I hear my mom yelling for me and then my husband. I was feeling pretty rough and tried to smile but I don't think I got much of one out. Mile 2 was 6:36 (.97 and 6:50 pace from the evil garmin). 20 seconds slower wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear and I knew sub 20 was going to be rough with the final hill looming.
Over the next mile I did my best to take advantage of the downhills. Not too many runners around so I did my best to catch up to the kid in front of me. I hammered the downgrade here figuring I needed to take advantage of it but as I caught him and said good job he started to pull away and I realized I may have pushed too hard to take advantage of the elevation. We turned to climb the final hill and it felt like I was running through quick sand. Just utterly zapped I knew if any gals caught me it was going to be ugly. Just pushed as hard as I could looking eagerly for the 3 mile mark. Could hear my mom yelling and did my best to look happy but again I don't think that happened. Mile 3 was 6:47 (.97 and 7:00 pace by th evil garmin) and I knew sub 20 was not happening. (Bummer)
Hammered in as I heard David and my dad cheering and watched the clock with a grimace, and then my silly garmin as it flouted that I had only gone 2.95 and still wasn't even close to sub 20. Bah. I was pretty fried, drenched in sweat and my stomach was cramping, likely from the pizza but also probably just from the heat and being so trashed from the weekend. I drank some gatorade and then headed back to cheer for Beth. Stood around trying to get my stomach back in line and chatted with some friends then me and my family did the one mile fun run. I power walked with my mom and we got back in time for the awards. I got a little medal for my efforts (as Beth said my boob was rusted in it) and Beth and JA both got age group awards. Considering the past few weeks and the weekend leading up to this I am pretty happy with the effort. Hopefully next week I will get the sub 20 XC monkey off my back :) If any one has any opinions on the garmins performance on trails I would love to hear them. All I know is that run certainly felt like 3.1 and not 2.95.
Big thanks to my parents and my hubby for coming out to watch. Maybe that was just what I needed to finally win a race this year :)
Pictures and video links here in case you don't feel like scrolling down to the previous post!
NERC XC Finish (Thanks to my hubby for the photos and video!)
NERC XC Photos
2008 Flag Day 5k
On Tuesday I received an email out of the blue from one of my really good high school friends. MP was an exchange student from Montreal Montreal Sandusky Wednesday and heading back to Montreal Sandusky 
Old Friends Ready to Race
My sights on the clock I watched as a PR and my Mom's Day 5k time passed and I clocked a 19:34 pumping my arms as hard as I could in response to my husbands cheers. I was a bit disappointed not to beat my Mom's Day 5k time as I felt I ran a better race but with the heat, hills, and turns this is probably a slightly slower course. And I was very happy to place 3rd overall and go sub 20 for the 3rd time.
Chatted with my hubby then headed back to pick up MP and Salty but didn't have to wait long as they both came cruising in before I could even get to the hill. MP was crushing it, running about 3 minutes faster than her high school times and Salty was making all baby mommas proud kicking it in and out sprinting 3rd in her age group.
We hung around for the awards and hooted and hollered. Unfortunately Allanjel had a bad night, but I tell you what, chick is fierce and I have no doubt she will be heading for a BQ in Richmond this fall. My friend MP snagged second in age group and I picked up Salty's second in age group plaque for her. A good night for the gals.
Waiting for the Awards
3rd Overall Female (Plaque actually said Male so I had to peel it and trade with the Male 3rd overall!)
2nd in Age group!
Awards are fun!
Then it was off to Baker's Square for dinner and back to Sandusky. A night very well spent!
I am pretty happy with my race. I wasn't exactly 100% focused and I am boosting mileage right now so I can't expect to race extremely well, especially at short distances. I ran over 60 seconds faster than last year (granted last year I was coming off the GMR relay) and I was able to go sub 20 relatively pain free. In the future I want to get the second mile faster, it's something I have always struggled with and it is my new goal to run my second mile much closer to my 1st mile (although at mom's day 5k I did that and died, so we will see). 5ks are rough, go out too fast and you burn out, too slow and there isn't time to make it up. You'd think since I have been doing this for about 12 years I'd have it figured out by now, but I guess that is the thrill of it!
All in all a great night. It was great to catch up with my friend and awesome to share our joint love of running by doing the race. Also cool to share it with all my new Cleveland friends. It was a year ago this race that I first met Salty and I am so excited that we are now close friends. I've got such a great group of girlfriends in Cleveland and I guess seeing MP made me realize that although I have moved far away from most of my high school and college friends I am still blessed with many great relationships, old and new.
So Wednesday afternoon I left work early to go to
Old Friends Ready to Race
I tried to go out relaxed and just latch on to Evie since I knew that last year she ran under 19 here. I figured she would kick my butt but I wanted to try and stay relatively close to hold onto 3rd and hopefully another sub 20. (First girl is a local stud, consistently running sub 17s, I don’t even know what I would do with myself if I was that fast)
First mile was perfect at 6:06. Toying with sub 19 here but the first mile had a large downhill and I knew there were some hairpin turns and uphills to deal with that would probably shoot that down. Got a little complacent the second mile, falling back into my old ways. Fell back a bit from Evie but still pushing. High fived MP and cheered for her and Salty as they came up the hill I was heading down. I think it was around here last year that I missed Salty coming downhill. It felt good to be in her shoes this time around.
Second mile was slower than I intended around 6:26 and I heard my hubby cheering a few seconds too late as I passed and headed into a turn and up the last long hill. During the warm up we ran the hill and it didn't seem too bad, but my legs have just felt tapped lately on the uphills and I could feel the energy drain towards the top as we wound through the woods. Last year I had toyed with this girl through the woods trying to pass her at every attempt but this time around Evie had a good gap on me and there weren't even any men to pass so I just picked up my pace and hammered as best I could. Once again I forgot that we head back into the woods and not straight down the hill but I stepped up the effort trying to close the gap on Evie. Got to the last downhill stretch and I was pushing hard, but felt strong. Evie had too much of a gap on me to catch her and I knew from a glance over my shoulder after mile 2 that there weren't any girls close to me.My sights on the clock I watched as a PR and my Mom's Day 5k time passed and I clocked a 19:34 pumping my arms as hard as I could in response to my husbands cheers. I was a bit disappointed not to beat my Mom's Day 5k time as I felt I ran a better race but with the heat, hills, and turns this is probably a slightly slower course. And I was very happy to place 3rd overall and go sub 20 for the 3rd time.
Chatted with my hubby then headed back to pick up MP and Salty but didn't have to wait long as they both came cruising in before I could even get to the hill. MP was crushing it, running about 3 minutes faster than her high school times and Salty was making all baby mommas proud kicking it in and out sprinting 3rd in her age group.
We hung around for the awards and hooted and hollered. Unfortunately Allanjel had a bad night, but I tell you what, chick is fierce and I have no doubt she will be heading for a BQ in Richmond this fall. My friend MP snagged second in age group and I picked up Salty's second in age group plaque for her. A good night for the gals.
Waiting for the Awards
3rd Overall Female (Plaque actually said Male so I had to peel it and trade with the Male 3rd overall!)
2nd in Age group!
Awards are fun!
Then it was off to Baker's Square for dinner and back to Sandusky. A night very well spent!
I am pretty happy with my race. I wasn't exactly 100% focused and I am boosting mileage right now so I can't expect to race extremely well, especially at short distances. I ran over 60 seconds faster than last year (granted last year I was coming off the GMR relay) and I was able to go sub 20 relatively pain free. In the future I want to get the second mile faster, it's something I have always struggled with and it is my new goal to run my second mile much closer to my 1st mile (although at mom's day 5k I did that and died, so we will see). 5ks are rough, go out too fast and you burn out, too slow and there isn't time to make it up. You'd think since I have been doing this for about 12 years I'd have it figured out by now, but I guess that is the thrill of it!
All in all a great night. It was great to catch up with my friend and awesome to share our joint love of running by doing the race. Also cool to share it with all my new Cleveland friends. It was a year ago this race that I first met Salty and I am so excited that we are now close friends. I've got such a great group of girlfriends in Cleveland and I guess seeing MP made me realize that although I have moved far away from most of my high school and college friends I am still blessed with many great relationships, old and new.
Not Quite a PR-Mom's Day 5K Race Report
Ran a 5k today down in Independence. I had semi high hopes for a PR after such a great race last weekend. Unfortunately for me I didn't do the greatest race prep this week, eating or training wise and I showed up a little chubby and a lot tired to the race this morning.
My A goal was to break 19, B goal to PR, and C goal to break 20.
Well sometimes just like in my calculus class at the Berg you have to be happy with a C.
Got to the race a little later than I would like too, just being lazy and hitting the snooze a few too many times. Got my bib then hit the restrooms then it was off to warm up with my SERC peeps. We did around 20 minutes and I threw in 3*25 second strides towards the end before lining up at the start. I knew a few guys who have been running right around 19 even and figured if I tagged along with them I would have a good shot at my A goal.
A few announcements and we were off. First mile felt fine, definitely putting in a good effort and unsurprisingly hit it in 6:01. It felt hard and it was fast, but I hoped that I could just hold on. I've recently felt that I might be holding something back subconsciously because I am afraid of going too hard, so I wanted to push it today, but I also wanted to run smart. 2nd mile felt even harder and I did my best to cling to JT while I could sense someone on my right shoulder. I was pretty sure it was FD, but thought it may be a local femme running stud TM. I just did my best to keep it even and hold on. Around mile 2 I noted that it was FD on my shoulder but right then TM passed me and shortly after FD moved to follow her. I just didn't have it in me and tried to hold on to JT but soon he too was pulling away from me. Hit mile 2 in 6:02 but didn't have a lot of hope for holding onto that pace for long.
My 20 mile run from Friday night and my week long ice cream binge were coming back to bite me in the ass as I watched the group I had clung to pull away. I did my best to hold on, doing the math for a PR and realizing I would have to run a 6:30 which didn't feel possible. Beating myself up mentally a bit about how it was so "easy" to run 6:35 last week at the start of the Du and how now I was probably not even hitting sub 7. The wind kicked up a bit and I tried to smile as I passed a few friendly SERC faces cheering. But I was suffering. It is amazing how much you can pay in that last mile if you go out too fast in a 5k. To add salt to the wound, I wasn't even close to placing at this race. There were 5 amazing women in front of me and even if I did PR I was still going to come in 6th. With about a half mile to go I looked back to see no one even close. No one there to push me on or to draft off of. I don't know how I do it but many races I end up in this "no mans" zone, mostly because I mentally let go of the runner ahead when I should hold on.
I was giving it my all the last mile today though and there was just no holding. I headed onto the track and made the turn to see the clock clicking past 19:23 with quite a few strides to go. So much for that B goal, but I was happy to come in under 20 again and to know that sub 20 is hopefully going to become the norm for me now instead of an amazing day. Finished in 19:33 for 6th overall female and 2nd in my age group. Stopped to chat with all the phenoms at the finish. 3 gals totally out of my league, 1 still a significant challenge, and one amazing masters who kicked my fanny. Nothing like getting your ass handed to you by someone almost twice your age to humble you.
Met one of my new VR teammates who came in first in our age group and cheered Solar on in to a new PR and 3rd in our age group, then it was off for a quick cool down and chatting and taking some pics at the awards. I definitely wasn't ecstatic with my performance, and I guess I need to get a grip and realize that I should be damn happy about breaking 20 and worry about breaking 19 another day. The problem with getting faster is it never seems to be quite enough. It is like some sick disease!
But I know I did not run the smartest race today and even if I never get faster that is something to improve on. I could have PR'ed today without running two 6 minute miles. All it would have taken is three 6:13s. Instead I aimed too high and came up short because I died on the last mile, just barely eeking out 6:48 pace. Let's hope it is a lesson learned :) I guess that is what makes 5ks so damn tough! Just a hair too fast in the first few miles and you can really pay, too slow and you don't have enough time to make it up.
My A goal was to break 19, B goal to PR, and C goal to break 20.
Well sometimes just like in my calculus class at the Berg you have to be happy with a C.
Got to the race a little later than I would like too, just being lazy and hitting the snooze a few too many times. Got my bib then hit the restrooms then it was off to warm up with my SERC peeps. We did around 20 minutes and I threw in 3*25 second strides towards the end before lining up at the start. I knew a few guys who have been running right around 19 even and figured if I tagged along with them I would have a good shot at my A goal.
A few announcements and we were off. First mile felt fine, definitely putting in a good effort and unsurprisingly hit it in 6:01. It felt hard and it was fast, but I hoped that I could just hold on. I've recently felt that I might be holding something back subconsciously because I am afraid of going too hard, so I wanted to push it today, but I also wanted to run smart. 2nd mile felt even harder and I did my best to cling to JT while I could sense someone on my right shoulder. I was pretty sure it was FD, but thought it may be a local femme running stud TM. I just did my best to keep it even and hold on. Around mile 2 I noted that it was FD on my shoulder but right then TM passed me and shortly after FD moved to follow her. I just didn't have it in me and tried to hold on to JT but soon he too was pulling away from me. Hit mile 2 in 6:02 but didn't have a lot of hope for holding onto that pace for long.
My 20 mile run from Friday night and my week long ice cream binge were coming back to bite me in the ass as I watched the group I had clung to pull away. I did my best to hold on, doing the math for a PR and realizing I would have to run a 6:30 which didn't feel possible. Beating myself up mentally a bit about how it was so "easy" to run 6:35 last week at the start of the Du and how now I was probably not even hitting sub 7. The wind kicked up a bit and I tried to smile as I passed a few friendly SERC faces cheering. But I was suffering. It is amazing how much you can pay in that last mile if you go out too fast in a 5k. To add salt to the wound, I wasn't even close to placing at this race. There were 5 amazing women in front of me and even if I did PR I was still going to come in 6th. With about a half mile to go I looked back to see no one even close. No one there to push me on or to draft off of. I don't know how I do it but many races I end up in this "no mans" zone, mostly because I mentally let go of the runner ahead when I should hold on.
I was giving it my all the last mile today though and there was just no holding. I headed onto the track and made the turn to see the clock clicking past 19:23 with quite a few strides to go. So much for that B goal, but I was happy to come in under 20 again and to know that sub 20 is hopefully going to become the norm for me now instead of an amazing day. Finished in 19:33 for 6th overall female and 2nd in my age group. Stopped to chat with all the phenoms at the finish. 3 gals totally out of my league, 1 still a significant challenge, and one amazing masters who kicked my fanny. Nothing like getting your ass handed to you by someone almost twice your age to humble you.
Met one of my new VR teammates who came in first in our age group and cheered Solar on in to a new PR and 3rd in our age group, then it was off for a quick cool down and chatting and taking some pics at the awards. I definitely wasn't ecstatic with my performance, and I guess I need to get a grip and realize that I should be damn happy about breaking 20 and worry about breaking 19 another day. The problem with getting faster is it never seems to be quite enough. It is like some sick disease!
But I know I did not run the smartest race today and even if I never get faster that is something to improve on. I could have PR'ed today without running two 6 minute miles. All it would have taken is three 6:13s. Instead I aimed too high and came up short because I died on the last mile, just barely eeking out 6:48 pace. Let's hope it is a lesson learned :) I guess that is what makes 5ks so damn tough! Just a hair too fast in the first few miles and you can really pay, too slow and you don't have enough time to make it up.
10%
So I have been doing a lot of thinking about being pretty consistently top 10% of females every race I do. Doesn't seem to matter the distance or even event, tris, ultras, marathons, 5ks you can pretty much bet on me being top 10% exactly in women. I've decided that enough is enough I want to break into the top 10%, enough of being exactly 10!
So with that in mind and a good fartlek workout on Wednesday I signed up for the Reindeer Run 5k in Lakewood this morning. I had no idea what pace I ran on Wednesday but I figured it was decent and if the weather played along I'd give it one more go to achieve sub 20.
Salty picked me up this morning and I was nervous but I felt good. My left hamstring is a bit sore and my quad was a bit out of sorts but considering I ran a 50 mile race two weeks ago I felt pretty good. Got in a good 30 minute warm up with Daisy and Salty and threw in some strides to remind my legs what fast feels like.
It was cold this morning but the sun was shining and there was hardly any wind. I'd been told this was a fast out and back course, no hairpin turns. If I was going to break 20 this was the day to do it. Lined up with Daisy and JP. I wanted to cling to JP as long as possible as she has been consistently running 19:50s this year. Unfortunately she told me beforehand her goal was to cling to Salty who was going for something under 19. Yikes. So I decided I'd just go out and see what happened.
The bell went off and we made our way around a slight curve before the crowd thinned down. JP didn't seem to be too close to Salty so I decided to just stick with her, she is a smart racer and if I could keep on her for 2 miles I'd have a shot at sub 20. I felt pretty good. Breathing was good, none of the residual exhaustion from JFK which I had Wednesday in the later Fartleks. I had Daisy right with me but there was no talking this morning. In a 5k there isn't much room for error.
The first mile seemed to take forever but I just kept my eyes on JP and tried to literally follow her footsteps, keeping my foot strikes in line with hers. No looking at the watch except at the mile markers today. I tried to tune out time and just run strong. First mile 6:14. Sweet. I was happy and wasn't worried that it was about 12 seconds faster than the overall pace I wanted. I knew if I just held onto JP my pace wouldn't falter.
The second mile brings your around the only turn and the sun made it a bit hard to see. The roads were a bit messy here but we navigated it fine. JP and I went back and forth with a gal I knew from Tri swimming here. I just stuck to JP like glue knowing I needed to keep with her through 2 to have a shot at sub 20. Mile 2 6:23.
I did the math and knew that meant I could run a 6:40 my last mile and still go sub 20. That made me extremely happy. The pace still felt good. I had to step it up a notch to hold onto JP. I let her pull a bit ahead but anytime the gap opened up I pulled myself forward to close it. We could still see Salty in the distance so I knew we were doing well. I kept telling myself that 6:40 was very doable. The pace started to feel difficult but I knew I could hold on for one mile. I didn't feel beat and knew I just had to keep my head together. I figured I had slowed down a little bit because the pace felt harder. I assumed the lactic acid was starting to take it's toll.
I was shocked when we came to a man shouting out the 3 mile split and my mile was 6:07. Holy crap I thought. Just hold on and you've done it. It seemed like a long .1 miles and I knew since there was no actual 3 mile marker that I needed to keep pushing in case mile 3 was actually farther ahead. I didn't have much of a kick but I held my pace and tried my best to push a bit harder. I looked up at the clock and saw 19 and what I thought was a 5 and pushed it over the line hoping I had made it. I looked down at my watch 19:28. Holy crap! Ecstatic I gave out a holler.
10 years later and I finally got that 20:03 monkey off my back. It feels damn good. I have no idea if I was in the top 10% but I am so pleased with the day. Official time was 19:23. 5th overall, 1st in age (by 2 seconds!). I had no idea my swim pal was so close. All my gals pr'ed or had exceptional days including age group or overall awards for Salty, JP, Daisy, and JT! It feels so good to go out on a bang like this for the year. PRing in distances from 5K to 50 Miles. Now I just need to take down that half and full marathon next year!
I am so glad Salty convinced me to go out to this race. Thanks girl!
So with that in mind and a good fartlek workout on Wednesday I signed up for the Reindeer Run 5k in Lakewood this morning. I had no idea what pace I ran on Wednesday but I figured it was decent and if the weather played along I'd give it one more go to achieve sub 20.
Salty picked me up this morning and I was nervous but I felt good. My left hamstring is a bit sore and my quad was a bit out of sorts but considering I ran a 50 mile race two weeks ago I felt pretty good. Got in a good 30 minute warm up with Daisy and Salty and threw in some strides to remind my legs what fast feels like.
It was cold this morning but the sun was shining and there was hardly any wind. I'd been told this was a fast out and back course, no hairpin turns. If I was going to break 20 this was the day to do it. Lined up with Daisy and JP. I wanted to cling to JP as long as possible as she has been consistently running 19:50s this year. Unfortunately she told me beforehand her goal was to cling to Salty who was going for something under 19. Yikes. So I decided I'd just go out and see what happened.
The bell went off and we made our way around a slight curve before the crowd thinned down. JP didn't seem to be too close to Salty so I decided to just stick with her, she is a smart racer and if I could keep on her for 2 miles I'd have a shot at sub 20. I felt pretty good. Breathing was good, none of the residual exhaustion from JFK which I had Wednesday in the later Fartleks. I had Daisy right with me but there was no talking this morning. In a 5k there isn't much room for error.
The first mile seemed to take forever but I just kept my eyes on JP and tried to literally follow her footsteps, keeping my foot strikes in line with hers. No looking at the watch except at the mile markers today. I tried to tune out time and just run strong. First mile 6:14. Sweet. I was happy and wasn't worried that it was about 12 seconds faster than the overall pace I wanted. I knew if I just held onto JP my pace wouldn't falter.
The second mile brings your around the only turn and the sun made it a bit hard to see. The roads were a bit messy here but we navigated it fine. JP and I went back and forth with a gal I knew from Tri swimming here. I just stuck to JP like glue knowing I needed to keep with her through 2 to have a shot at sub 20. Mile 2 6:23.
I did the math and knew that meant I could run a 6:40 my last mile and still go sub 20. That made me extremely happy. The pace still felt good. I had to step it up a notch to hold onto JP. I let her pull a bit ahead but anytime the gap opened up I pulled myself forward to close it. We could still see Salty in the distance so I knew we were doing well. I kept telling myself that 6:40 was very doable. The pace started to feel difficult but I knew I could hold on for one mile. I didn't feel beat and knew I just had to keep my head together. I figured I had slowed down a little bit because the pace felt harder. I assumed the lactic acid was starting to take it's toll.
I was shocked when we came to a man shouting out the 3 mile split and my mile was 6:07. Holy crap I thought. Just hold on and you've done it. It seemed like a long .1 miles and I knew since there was no actual 3 mile marker that I needed to keep pushing in case mile 3 was actually farther ahead. I didn't have much of a kick but I held my pace and tried my best to push a bit harder. I looked up at the clock and saw 19 and what I thought was a 5 and pushed it over the line hoping I had made it. I looked down at my watch 19:28. Holy crap! Ecstatic I gave out a holler.
10 years later and I finally got that 20:03 monkey off my back. It feels damn good. I have no idea if I was in the top 10% but I am so pleased with the day. Official time was 19:23. 5th overall, 1st in age (by 2 seconds!). I had no idea my swim pal was so close. All my gals pr'ed or had exceptional days including age group or overall awards for Salty, JP, Daisy, and JT! It feels so good to go out on a bang like this for the year. PRing in distances from 5K to 50 Miles. Now I just need to take down that half and full marathon next year!
I am so glad Salty convinced me to go out to this race. Thanks girl!
Just one more week
Shortly before the 2-mile mark at last weeks 5K (Thanks for the pic B!)
Last night was the third and last race in the NERC series. My goal going in was to shoot for 20:20 and try to win the race depending on who showed up.
I arrived way later than intended due to a "fire drill" at work (not an actual fire, thankfully). Solar Squirrel kindly stopped at Kohl's to pick me up some running socks as I had forgotten those in my morning rush. I presented for work again Monday in Kansas City and was a bit out of it after not arriving home until after midnight Monday night.
I was super late, still hadn't changed, but I did manage to suck down a gel at 5:50 again on the car ride to the race. Not my ideal pre race scenario. I squeezed in a brief 7 minute warm up consisting of jogging around the parking lot, signing up, and changing socks then heading to the start line with AP and Solar. I wanted to show Solar the metal stakes that we had to navigate and looked to my right as we passed all the people lined at the start and muttered something like "oh great" as I recognized the female who had won the Flag Day 5K in 17:02. Hmm yeah not really going to be going for the win with her there. I wonder what she is training for that she would be out at a small race like this on a muggy wet night. Salty had wisely decided racing the 5k in mud and slop wasn't in her best interest. We missed having her there but hopefully her track attempt went well!
So with a briefer than anticipated warm up we lined up towards the front left again and we were off. AP jumped ahead of me this time and I just tried to keep my pace even and not let him get too far ahead. I told him my goal was 6:26 pace. Definitely wouldn't break 20 unless we went for it and since I knew I wasn't racing to win I might as well lay it out and see what I came up with. The race wasn't quite as crowded as last week but I was still dodging high schoolers left and right. I passed the girl I was pretty sure won the race last week and figured my pacing must be pretty good as she ran 20:22 last week. I felt pretty strong and finally broke away from the pack and had room to breathe as we closed in on the first mile. And I heard 5:50 something. Shit I am not supposed to be this close to 6 flat. Nothing I could do about it as I crossed my split was 6:07 and I gritted my teeth and did my best to keep AP in my sights still.
I knew it was only a matter of time before the 6:07 bit me in the ass so I did my best to hold on and run strong. I knew that I needed to cross the 2-mile by 12:52 to have any hopes of breaking 20. I kept even with a few high school boys and as we came out of the woods heard "2nd female." Once again wasn't sure if that made me happy or not. I knew that meant I had to push so as not to lose my place. We passed an older gentleman who they had start early. He is 83 and has run something like 2000 races in his time. I told him good job and the kid next to me asked "Him or me?" I replied "Well both of you" at our pace I guess he didn't hear me and he replied "What was that?" and I told him "That man is 83!" then I let him push ahead. Talking was not going to work last night. We came through the second mile at 12:52. I knew it was a stretch that we would break 20 because I would have to pick up the next mile from the 6:44 I just ran to a 6:26. Not likely as the boardwalks were all damp and slippery and that damn hill was waiting for me at the finish.
But I tucked in and pushed the downs. Almost bit it on the boardwalk and opted to jump off and run through the mud puddles instead. Definitely lost speed here but better than slipping and falling. I kept pushing all the way to the bottom of the hill. I knew the girl who won last week was on my tail as I had heard cries of "go Liz" all along the course from people that weren't talking to me. AP was behind me but calling out that I needed to push. He passed me coming up the hill and urged me on. Despite this being my third week on the course I still have a hard time knowing how much is left until I hit the 3-mile marker. I got peeved as a man told me "19 even" thinking that maybe he was the 3 mile marker and then passing the marker 30 seconds later. When he said 19 even I thought I had a chance to break 20 but I wasn't quite there yet and did my best to pick it up when I finally did hit the 3 mile marker with a 6:47 and finished the last .1 in 38 seconds about 3 seconds ahead of the girl who had won last week. AP definitely helped me up the hill again. Glad I pushed it enough to not get caught.
My effort was good enough for 2nd female overall and 20:17 (watch time). I'd have to look but I believe that's my second fastest 5k ever. Now if they'd just have one more race next week I know I'd break 20 and win ;) I took 4th female in the first week, 3rd last week, and 2nd last night. All 3 races I managed to place 1st in my age group, which is nice.
I knew the course wouldn't be fast last night and the slippery boardwalks definitely slow you down so I am pretty happy with the results. I need to work on going out a bit more conservative obviously because 6:07, 6:44, 6:47 is not the ideal way to run a race, but I think that third mile is deceiving. I do feel like I ran it stronger this week despite it being 4 seconds slower. I just think the dry course last week made it a lot easier.
Unfortunately I don't have another week to give the 5k PR a go as I need to get ready for the Punxy 50K on September 8th and the North Country Trail Marathon the weekend after that. My legs were extremely tight after last night’s race so I think I need to give them a break from the all out 5K efforts and get back on the track. I am happy with the results from the past three weeks. I know if I went to a road race 5K I could break 20 at my current fitness level, I'll just have to be content with that until I get the opportunity to actually get out and do it. I liked this format of having the race three weeks in a row. I think 5Ks are much easier if you are doing them once a week. Randomly throwing in a 5K during marathon training is much tougher than focusing directly on the 5K distance, I think that's why it is easier for high school studs to crank out good times. They are racing at least one 5k every week and their mind and body is more used to the all out effort of a 5k.
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