5K In Less Than 20

Raced my second 5K on Saturday morning.  My only goal for the run was to try and go under 20 minutes.  I didn’t go in with a particular strategy, other than trying to keep all my splits under 6:26.  Unlike most everything else, I tried not to overthink this.  Run fast, try not to puke.

The race itself is an interesting affair.  They are in the process of building a toll road through our town, which is being opened in phases.  Just prior to opening a section last year they ran a 5k on the road, with profits going to MADD.  This year they did the same thing, only they ran in the new section set to open next week.  So, although this was the second of these events, each one is a once-only race unless you’re planning to play some human Frogger.

The course was a straight line out-and-back with more hills than you’d expect on a highway.  I started out with a group of 6, and slowly folks started dropping back until there were 3 of us around the turnaround, when technically I was dropping back as well.  The first mile felt good, but I went out a little too fast.  The second mile was tough, but it was cool to make the turn and be running the opposite direction of the whole field, who were all very supportive and cheering for the leaders while they were running.  The last 1.1 miles was pretty tough, and I was tasting my granola bar for the last half-mile or so, but I managed to keep all my food where it belonged. 

Net result - 19:40:

3rd overall of 375, 1st in age group.  Here are the splits:

Got a nice hockey-puck/paperweight/boat-anchor for finishing first in my age group:

I really enjoyed the race, and like the all-out racing aspect of a 5k, but I’m still more interested in the longer distances and testing my mind as well as my legs.  I might throw in a 5K now and then just to mix things up, but I don’t think I’ll make a habit of these.  I guess my next goal would be to run one with an average pace below 6:00, but that will take some serious speedwork, which isn’t part of my Ultra training plan.  Maybe next Spring.

After the 5K on Saturday I drove directly to a local trail and did another 16 miles with a friend  to hit my training target for the day.  The long run was ugly.  The race took a lot more out of me than I thought, and it was hot and humid by the time we started the long run.  Just more confirmation that early-morning running is my friend.  Also, woke up all kinds of sore in my quads and calves Sunday morning, which I think is a result of the sprinting rather than the distance running.  Good sore, but sore nonetheless.

Back in Track

Made a rare appearance at an actual track this morning for my training run.  The group that I ran a relay with back in the Spring does a regular track interval workout on Wednesday mornings, and for the first time this morning I didn't have some sort of conflict and was able to join them.  I'm running my second 5k this Saturday, and I'd like to try and go sub 20-minutes, but haven't been doing speedwork as part of my Ultra training and didn't really have a feel for my potential to blow-up if I tried to go out fast.

The results were moderately encouraging.  The workout was a 1-mile warmup, 10x400m intervals with 200m recovery between, and 1-mile cooldown.  I generally felt good throughout, and was able to do the last 2 400s at sub 6-min-mile pace, which is really pushing it for me.  Here's the data:

So .... in terms of the 5k this weekend, I'm confident enough to roll the dice and shoot for a 6:15/mile or faster pace, still with the real possibility of a spectacular flameout at the end.  That's part of the fun of a 5k though, right?

Tapering Towards Ultra

I’m in the midst of my taper for my upcoming 50k that looms a mere 9 days away.  I don’t find that I get terribly moody during a taper, I mostly get bored.  I’m so used to allocating time for running and cross-training that I just feel like there are holes in my day.  I even got up at 4:15 this morning to do a short run before an early work call, and because it was raining outside I went back to sleep and will do the run this evening.  It just didn't seem worth all the stretching and getting soaking wet for a short run.  That’s something I would NEVER do during the meat of a training plan.  Taper lazy more than taper madness for me.

I’m still not sure exactly what I’m feeling about this race.  Training has gone very well, and I feel good about my fitness.  I’m looking forward to my first run ever beyond 26.2 miles.  I’m just not sure about the whole beach/tide thing after my practice runs a few weeks back.  I’m mostly just hoping for good weather, and we’ll all just deal with whatever Neptune throws our way on the shores of the Atlantic.  I’m definitely looking forward to some good (bad) food after the race and a beer or three to celebrate.

They finally posted the times from the 5k I ran on Friday.  I finished in 2^nd place with a time of 20:27.

I’m still surprised by my time and pace, and I think I could push it and go sub 20-minutes if I sign up for another one.  Depending on how recovery goes after next weekend maybe I’ll shoot for that sometime this Summer.  Haven’t really given a lot of thought to my running plans after this race.  Hopefully they don’t involve any doctors or PT.  That would be another first for me.

From Next-to-Last to Next-to-First

Surprised, to say the least.

That pretty well captures my reaction to my first attempt at racing a 5k on Friday night.  The only other time I did a 5K was a run/walk with my son last year, where I finished in 217th place out of 218 participants.  I though at least I could build on that finish.

I felt pretty sure I could hold around a 7:00 mile pace for the whole race, and I knew that based on last year’s results that would give me a shot at a good finishing place.  When we lined up for the start I saw a couple guys that looked pretty serious, with the tell-tale shaved legs to go with the fact that they were actually toeing the starting line, so I figured I’d try and stay close to them for pacing.  They went out fast – honestly too fast for me, but we all got left in the dust by a kid that blazed out of the start and never looked back.  I figured he would burn out after a couple of miles, but he never slowed down.  I think he might still be running.

After about a mile I was feeling pretty good, and was moving along in 5^th place.  After mile 2 I was in 3^rd place, but really only running with one other runner since turbo-boy was so far ahead we couldn’t even see him.  The guy in second was actually the husband of a woman my wife works with, who just randomly happened to be at the same race.  This guy has done multiple Ironmans, marathons, a 50-mile Ultra, and just did his first 100-mile Ultra a couple months ago.  Super nice, super down-to-Earth guy, but when I saw him at the start I figured he was going to eat everyone alive.  On a hill around mile 2 I caught up to him and passed him, and still felt pretty good.  The whole course was surprisingly hilly.  For some reason I assumed it would be much flatter.

The last 1.1 miles I tried to push the pace and hoped I wouldn’t flame out.  By the time I crossed the line the kid that won had already changed his clothes, eaten his dinner, and was doing his homework, but I still felt good and completely surprised that I held the pace I did.  I was so surprised that it took at least a minute before my brain turned from pudding back into a functioning organ and I realized that I hadn’t stopped my watch at the finish.  Thus my finish time was …  ?????.  No idea.  Nothing posted online yet, and I also didn’t think to ask anyone after taking full advantage of the free post-race beers.  All I have are the splits for miles 1-3:

Now the focus shifts back to my first 50k in less than 2 weeks.  At this point I just hope that I stay healthy for the next 12 days, that the weather cooperates, and that the high tide on race day doesn’t force us to run in the water too much.  I’d like to have some skin left on my feet by the time I reach the finish.  More importantly, I’m planning all the assorted food I’ll be eating after the race that I haven’t had in the three months since I decided to lose some weight before the race.  Mmmmm … pizza.

Another Running First - Racing a 5K

Looks like tonight will mark another first in my progression as a runner … racing a 5k.  I got an email a couple days back from one of my relay teammates with a link to a charity race tonight for Juvenile Diabetes, and since there amazingly aren't any conflicts with one of my kids’ activities, I’m going to give it a go.  The fact that the race entry fee includes two beers and dinner after the race may have had something to do with the decision … but I’ll go the altruistic route and say it’s all about the charity.

Technically this will be the second 5k that I have ‘run’, but the first was a very different experience.  Last year my son decided he wanted to try a 5k, so we signed up for one and ran it together.  We actually mostly walked it together, but it was a lot of fun, and the fact that it was his idea was awesome.  We finished next-to-last, and next-to-next-to-last, and I’ve never been happier with a result.

Since the run with my son was chip-timed, technically my 5k PR is 52:51, which I’m fairly confident means I’ll get a new PR tonight.  I really have no idea what kind of strategy or pace to use for a 5k.  I’m pretty sure I can hang somewhere around a 7:00 mile for 3.1 miles, so I figure I’ll just go out and try to settle into a 7:00 pace and see how I feel.  Bottom line it’s for a good cause, and no matter how much I might flail during the race they’re still going to feed me, so it should be a good time.

110th of 111 Males In My First 5k ... The Perfect Race

Prior to Saturday morning, I had never run any sort of race other than a Marathon.  Didn’t run track in high school.  Never managed to sign up for a 5k, or a 10k, or any flavor of metric racing.  Nothing against the metric system … I loves me some Canada … just never made it happen before I started marathon training, and hadn’t worked it into my training plans despite my best intentions.

I had visions of my first 5k being a stunning discovery of my inner Prefontaine – tearing through the course with fabulous short shorts … a blur of sideburns and  70’s mustache.  Unleashing my inner racer, versus my inner survivor that emerges by the time I've dragged myself 26.2 miles from the start of what seemed like a good idea at the time.  My first 5k did not exactly align with this vision.  It was much, much better.

Those that subject themselves to my blog on a regular basis will recall the virtual 5k that my son and I completed a couple weeks back.  From that experience my son expressed an interest in running a real-life 5k, and on Saturday that became a reality at the DennysChallenge 5k.

Contrary to its name, the DennysChallenge did not involve copious amounts of bacon.  No Maple Bacon Sundaes.  No bacon of any kind.  Not even a stray pig.  Really a missed opportunity to find out if in fact everything is better with bacon.

Actually, the race is a memorial race for a man named Denny who lost his fight with melanoma in 2009, and near the end of his life challenged everyone in the room to a fifty mile race.  Last year there were 132 runners.  This year there were 221.  The event was very well organized and everyone seemed to have a good time.  Kind of a cool feature was awarding prizes to the first 16 finishers, since they collectively covered the 50 miles that Denny had challenged his friends and family to race.

The boy and I got up bright and early, and did some pre-race fueling together – bagel with peanut butter and honey.  I stretched and he teetered on the edge of awake and asleep, we got decked out in our matching shirts, sweatbands, and disoriented early-morning expressions, and off we headed to the race.  We checked in, chatted up anybody who would listen, and soon we were off.

We started out running, which lasted about 3 minutes, then we alternated walking and running for the first mile.  Fair to say my son is not a natural athlete with a  great deal of stamina, so by the end of the first mile he was already hurting.  There weren’t a lot of volunteers on the course, but the cool thing is that every one of them called him out by number shouting encouragement and telling him how great he was doing and what a good thing he was doing supporting the cause.  He got a little embarrassed with the attention, but it gave him a little shot of energy every time it happened, which was so great to experience.

Mile 2 was actually surprisingly hilly, so the running decreased and the walking increased.  He apologized once for going so slow, and I explained that it wasn’t about where we finished, it was about being there helping fund the fight against cancer, and about the two of us doing something together that was good for us and for others.  That really sunk in, because he didn’t complain or apologize again.

Mile 3.1 was mostly walking, and unfortunately we were far enough behind that we didn’t really see any other people, which I think would have helped keep his spirits up.  My wife and daughter were waiting near the finish taking pictures and cheering, so we ran the last .2 miles to the finish line.  Our finish time was around 52 minutes, but the best part of the finish was him telling me how much fun he had, and that when he gets older he’d like to do a Half Marathon.  It makes me proud to know that he probably wouldn’t even know about Half and Full Marathons if I hadn’t started training for and running them, so my example is fueling a interest in my kids.  That’s better fuel for my training than any Gu could ever provide.

Overall a great way to spend a Saturday morning, and next time out we’ll be going to get three matching shirts, since my daughter wants to be a part of the action now.  Happy Dad.

17 Weeks of Semper Fi

With the first step of a humid, mid-tempo, fairly unremarkable 10 mile run on Sunday, my training for the Marine Corps Marathon is officially underway.  I am so looking forward to both the race itself and the many weeks of training.  With so many stressful variables swirling around in my life right now, running is one of the few things where I feel I am in control.  Injuries may come along that knock me down for a bit, but I make the plan, I execute against the plan, and I drag myself across the start and finish lines on October 30^th.

I am definitely in better shape going into this training plan that I have been for the prior two marathons.  I put together a 19-week base-building plan, and with the exception of one week of no-running to deal with an ankle issue, I stuck to the plan.  I completed 379.29 out of 407 planned miles, and kept up with upper-body lifting 3x weekly, and lifting legs (mostly) weekly.  Most of my nagging injuries (calf, hip, ITBand) have gone into hiding, but I am dealing with some recurrent soreness/tightness with my left groin that I’m monitoring.  Not any true pain, but it’s letting me know that it is not entirely happy.

As for the next 17 weeks, the key will be finding the intersection of what I know I need to do and what I actually put into practice.  For example, I know I need to x-train, particularly with some bike training to hit my quads where running doesn’t seem to do much work for me.  However, I’m doing a lousy job of this so far.  Bad runner …. bad.  I know I need to hit the gym and include core work, and I’ve been really good about doing this as much as 3x a week so far.

Other ‘need to do’ items:

• Need to stretch – before and after runs, and on non-running days
• Need to ice bath after any run longer than a half-marathon
• Need to drop 5 pounds – gotta get more lean – cut down on amount of weight when lifting (and amount of food when eating)
• Need to include more speedwork in my mid-week runs – this was a big positive training for M2
• Need to slow my pace on my long runs
• Need to stay diligent about mid-foot strike form at all speeds
• Need to work more hills into my collection of running paths
• Need to do more long runs without my iPod – no earphones allowed at MCM – pretty sure Marine snipers take you out if you get caught
• Need to continue fine-tuning my hydration/fuel plan – didn’t execute on this terribly well in my last marathon and my stomach wasn’t pleased with me by the end of the race
• Need to sign up for some races between now and MCM – 5k, 10k, Half … something
• Need to get more sleep – I’m very bad about doing this, and I know I need to get better.  Find myself dragging by Thursday afternoon after consecutive days of 5AM runs.

The list goes on and on.  I’m pretty good about most of these things, and I’m pretty good about knowing what I need to do.  It’s all about the execution.

In other news, following the great success of the ‘Sweat Your Thorns Off’ 5k (and the great comments I got – all of which are greatly appreciated), my son and I will be running a real-life 5k this Saturday morning.  We went and got matching C9 Technical shirts at Target last weekend, and he’s been ‘training’ all week.  I don’t think any course records are in jeopardy, but it should be a lot of fun.

Sweating Our Thorns Off - Virtual 5K With My Boy

Sometimes a race doesn’t go as we planned.  Sometimes race day brings unexpected twists.  Sometimes the strategy and goals go out the window.  Usually this is not considered a good thing.  This morning it was a great thing.

For this morning’s ‘Sweat Your Thorns Off’ Virtual 5K, I had planned to give it a real go and see what kind of time I could pull off.  I’ve never run a 5K, so I could combine a strong tempo run with another running first.  As I was finishing my pre-run stretching, I was explaining a virtual-race to my kids.  When I finished explaining, my son asked the last question I would have expected … “Can I run?”.  This is one of those questions that regardless of circumstance or consequence, the answer is simply “Yes”.  Thus, today my son and I did our first Virtual 5K together.  Since I had already printed off my race bib, we made a couple quick adjustments and printed one off for my son.

All smiles prior to any thorn sweating

A quick drink of water and we were off.

Game faces on .... or we need more fiber in our diets

We did not set any land-speed records, and we’re not anticipating any sponsorships based on our results.  The first mile was equal parts run and walk, and the rest was mostly walk with a sprinkling of run thrown in.  The boy was definitely struggling, and around mile 2 I could tell he was regretting his decision to come along, but he never said it out loud, and he kept marching on.  I was having a great time.  Even if there wasn’t a whole lot of running, it was still a ‘run’ with my son, and those are still a rare treat.

I couldn’t talk my daughter in to coming with us, but I have a feeling she’ll come around in the not too distant future.  We put her in charge of race photos, and even let her use the ‘real’ camera, so she was loving life.  She also surprised us by creating a finish-line for us while we were out running.  Boston’s finish line has nothing on ours.

BAA - she is available for finish-line consulting

A great way to start the weekend.  Everything else is just icing on the cake.  A big thank-you to Adam @ 'The Boring Runner' for organizing the race and getting my boy and me out on the road together.