Blazing Saddles - Disappointing 5k (Read 668 times)

Today was my first 5k as a runner (I've been a racewalker for four years). The race was the Blazing Saddles 5k at White Rock Lake in Dallas, TX. It's a duathlon (run/bike/run) and a 5k, so the 5k field was pretty small (the field was also small because there was a BIG 5k/15k the day before). My goal was to break 24:00, which meant a 7:44 pace. I felt confident about hitting that considering some recent training (I did two miles tempo this week at 7:35 and 7:40). Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and I'm not sure why. My first mile was too fast. I did it in 7:40, but that doesn't reflect that at one point I was on track for 7:18 (according to Garmin) and had to slow it down. So that is probably my problem, going out way too fast. My next mile was 8:04, so I knew I was in trouble as far as my goal was concerned. The third mile was a very disappointing 9:20; I actually had to take some short walk breaks. I just didn't feel like I was getting enough oxygen. I had enough gas left at the end to sprint for about .2 miles; my final .11 miles was in 0:42, a 6:22 pace. Final unofficial time was 25:48. Because the 5k was so small, I actually came in 5th in my age group and got a medal; if I had met my goal I would have come in 2nd or 3rd. Oh well. This was a test race; I just completed week 4 of the 8 week Hal Higdon Advanced 5k program. So I've got four weeks to continue working on my speed and my base. Why, you might ask, did I choose the Advanced 5k program? Good question. Since I had a lot of experience racewalking long distances, I couldn't see dropping back to short easy runs. I felt like the speedwork would give me the challenge I needed. Maybe this wasn't the best decision, but I'm halfway through now and don't want to switch. I'll just keep up the training and see what happens in four weeks at my goal race.

I think that your problem may have been that you consciously slowed down when you realized you were going to fast. During track when i was trying to hit 5:55, that was the death of me. If you go out to fast, you just have to hold it and bear it. You will def. slow down anyway, but if you consciously slow down, you'll just lose what you had. My advice would be to go out like you did and try to fall into your pace, not slow down. They did studies on runners in Columbia and found that going out fast without consciously slowing down resulted in faster times, so you probably benefit anyway. Ill try to find the study, but basically 30% who ran their first split 20 sec faster had a PR

There was an article last runners world about going out 10% faster than target pace that it actually benefits you. That, in a round about way, agrees with sheil's comment about consciously slowing down.

Nice work, Marshall. As I mentioned in another thread, I'm still of the mind that you had a great run considering this is a 5-6 minute PR for you! As others said, you will learn more about strategy that works for you as you do more races. I know you have plenty of experience race-walking - but I'm guessing that things are different enough to have you relearn race strategies in some respects anyway.