I completed my second 5k of the season today with a Garmin time of 18:22.

My running fitness has experienced a sort of sling-shot effect coming out of winter training and my half marathon two weeks ago.  Since that time my tempo and VO2 max training paces have come with incredible ease, while my easy pace increased damn near 30 seconds the very next run after that race. There was even a point this week where I was running easy in the 7:20's!

In years past I would have fought that but now having a better understanding of stress and adaptation and running easy at effort and not pace I decided to roll with it.

Ironically, today's race was the same event and course that I went sub-20:00 on for the first time last year.  So with that in mind and knowing the course I felt really, really confident this morning that good things could happen today.

It was 41 degrees when I took my warmup run which was 2 miles easy, a half mile at tempo pace (6:39), one 14 second sprint and a brief jog for 3 miles total.

This event had 800+ finishers and last year I entered the corral from the rear and once the race began it took me 2 full minutes to get across the start line.  It then took a half mile to get to clear space to run so this year I entered from the front of the corral and had no such problems.

In my previous two sub-19:00 attempts I ran a 6:10 and 6:08 first mile respectively.  I experienced a pace drop off each time afterwards but I felt those were due to course or conditions more than my fitness so today my plan was to once again pace my first mile at 6:10 or faster.

I found my groove around the half mile point and got settled in where I saw that I was running at a 6:02 clip and man did it feel oh so nonchalant. I could have probably gotten greedy there and ramped it up a bit more but since I was already running faster than my goal pace, I held firm.

Indeed, I checked in at the 1 mile marker at 6:02 without nary a sign of distress.

As is normal with the Garmin at a mile split, my pace dropped quite a bit (this time to 6:20) but I did not fall for that old trick as I may have in the past.  I stayed true to my perceived race pace effort and eventually it righted itself around the 1.5 mile point albeit a bit slower at 6:10.  I was okay with that though as I felt a bit winded so the slower pace made sense as I worked a bit harder to keep things together.

I checked in at mile 2 in 6:09 and could feel the effects of distress begin to pull on me.

When racing at my best I am a strong finisher, so I just kept telling myself to hang in there and something special might happen.  I was passing people the entire race and knew that I was running in the top ten or so.

Due to the course layout I could not see the entire field but did see just one more runner within sight so I concentrated on catching him rather than the increasing pain I was in.

To do this I maintained my effort but increased my cadence and when I caught him he said good job to me.  Out of respect to him I finally spoke during a race and told him to hang in there, I then increased my effort and pressed forward.

Knowing the course is a great benefit, so at around the 2.75 point I increased my effort again.  I was in a ton of distress at this point and could barely hold my head up but rather then slow down, somehow I was able to speed up.

This carried me to the 3 mile mark where amazingly I checked in at 5:57.

When I saw that split I was elated!  I have spent countless hours while training day-dreaming about running a sub-6:00 mile during a 5k and now here I was finally doing it, the feeling was incredible!

I completely forgot about the pain I was in and just floored it towards the timing mat, where by the time I stopped I had run nearly a tenth of a mile past the finish line!

I am besides myself at today's performance, my training is really coming into its own as I am putting it all together in a way that works for me.  I shudder to think of what Daniels has in store for my new training paces however, but I will attack them with the zest and zeal that I did before.

For now I am stuck with my Garmin time as the official results have me running a 17:14!  WTF?  Garmin also shows the course at 3.05 in length but that is of little concern as my splits tell the true story.  I ran my ass off today, there is no doubt about that!

Some side notes:

• This event offers prize money and yes, there were Kenyans there.  Bastards. 
• This was my first race in my DS Racer 10's and man did they perform!  Despite the fact that they check in at under 7 ounces they felt incredibly springy.
• The race began 2 minutes earlier than advertised and I still had my warmup run showing on the Garmin a few seconds before the gun.  I was able to reset it though, phew!

I will update my time when the correction is made officially.

Peace!

5:57!!!! Hoooleeee CRAP! LRB, I am so happy for you. Man, this has to be the best running of your life. That is one kick ass 5k and you are representing for us "old" guys. When I grow up, I want to be like you. I would say celebrate with a few beers but I would not want it to interfere with your training. Outstanding race, LRB, just outstanding.

 

Make no mistake about it, I am getting lit the **** up tonight! 

 

Thanks PAD!

Yeah, I was kidding there. I should have put the little winky thing. 

As my family of 3 was heading to the half marathon, my husband joked with someone coming the other way (who was clearly done with their race) "want to switch places?" It sure looked like you.

Could have been but I could not tell you as I was on cloud billion!  Shit, I took I-94 home and drove 5 miles past my exit before I realized it!  lol

Thanks!  How was your event?  The weather was perfect for a 5k.  Might have gotten a little warm for a half depending on the attire.  There were quite a few people bundled completely up!

I sure hope they get the results fixed soon.  I already have people congratulating me on a time that *I* did not run. 

just an awesome performance rick....congrats on the hard work that is now paying dividends...very happy for you and enjoy your evening

LRB, that is awesome, man.  It is early in the season.  You've got faster races in you.  That's a scary thought.

It is very likely that I will never match your 5K time.  My day is now ruined.

I want to know what your official results and placement are.  Did take home any awards?

Amazing!! The official record has you at 17:14, take that! Then challenge Jay to a race to prove it. 

Whatever your time, what a tremendous day, for all your training to pay off. Did you actually stick around for your first place AG award this time?

And, great to finally meet you!

 (HM results seem to be completely screwed up, as there are about 300 people without finish times, including my daughter, Arg)

 

Yeah apparently they had some problems today. I ran the full, and ran with a guy the entire first 19 before we separated, and later saw him at the finish. However there is no record of him being there, the chip never picked up the start. The results only show ~250 full finishers, and based on bib #'s there were ~400 pre-registered, so not even counting any who signed up at the expo or in the morning. No way there were that many DNF's/DNS's. I would be livid if I BQ'd; fortunately not a problem for me. I can't imagine any way they can fix any of that. It's too bad because that is generally a very well organized race.

I would be livid if I BQ'd; fortunately not a problem for me. I can't imagine any way they can fix any of that. It's too bad because that is generally a very well organized race.

Yeah it was a cluster bomb all the way around.  On the results list near the tent I was an age group winner, on the one where they were passing out awards I was the masters winner.  The only problem with that is they did not know if the masters winner received the big prize that clearly stated "Male Masters winner" , an age group award, or nothing.

When I realized that there might be someone who really ran the 17:14 I declined the big award because he may have been the masters winner.  Now if I find out that he is 25 there will be egg all over my stupid ugly face.  Hmph!  >:-/

It would have been nice to have the big mug if I actually earned but ultimately I could not care less about the award.  I just want my time corrected.  They gave me an age group trinket just to give something I think.