And I failed, miserably, finishing in 19:33.

Today marked the first time that I was able to run the actual course for a warm up.  I did 1.5 easy miles, a half mile at a bit slower than tempo pace (6:58), and 3 strides for a total of 2.7 miles.

While warming up, as I approached the mile 1 aid station, the lady there said "Oh shit!", then ran to the water table while frantically screaming for the other volunteers who were unloading the truck.  I yelled "No, no, no, no.  I'm just warming up", and sister girl just about fainted from relief!

Three things became evident during my warm up; my Garmin was all over the place, it was hot (temp of 77), and the steady stiff breeze that initially felt great when I walked out of my front door, would be my Nemesis for the last mile.  I finished my warm up 10 minutes before the start and while standing in a jam packed corral (750 participants), took note that I wasn't really cooling down with the lack of air flow and stagnant air there.

A sub-19:00 is about a 6:07 pace, so my plan was to run no faster than that as a best case scenario, and no slower than a 6:12 worst case.  My splits were:

6:12

6:15

6:18

0:48

For about the first quarter mile of the race, my Garmin showed a 5:50 pace.  I have run at 5:50 for a million laps this year though, and I knew there was no way in hell I was running that fast, so I held firm at what I thought was goal pace intensity.

Indeed, at about the half mile mark, 6:08 popped up and remained for the bulk of the mile.  In my head I thought of my effort, "That's about right".

There were two turns right before the mile 1 marker however, and somehow I dropped four seconds of that pace.  I am still unsure how that happened, as I felt no lag in my effort.

At some point just after mile 1, I began to feel the stress that would roll with me until the finish.  When I checked in at mile 2, I didn't even look at my watch to see the time, I just did not care anymore.  Shit just hurt, everywhere.  I was hot, bothered and wanted nothing more than to stop running.  It was a gut check though, and deep inside I knew it, as I deal with it every week running around that stupid track.

So despite the utter distress I was in, my impromptu goal at that point was to somehow remain in control, and not fall completely apart.

I pride myself on being a strong finisher, but today, I just did not have anything left to give late in the race.  While the wind may have played a minor role in that, I did not even attempt to speed up during mile 3, and was barely able to drop to a 5:58 pace for the last .14 (the course was long).

My thoughts on today's race:

I question whether my warm up was too aggressive given the conditions (21:46 total time).  I only ran at tempo pace for 3:46, but maybe I should have cut that in half and knocked a half mile off of my easy portion?  Damn, I really hate to start second guessing myself, but for those of us who run, that is sort of what we do here.

Talking with some participants afterwards, it was just a tough day to race.  Everyone caught Hell (see what I did there?), from the leaders to the "Back of the pack hacks".  Still, that doesn't make me feel any better.  I remain totally dejected that I was not even in the same state as my goal, let alone zip code.

A cynic would say that it was foolish of me to try to drop 50 seconds off of my 5k time in one fell swoop, and to that I would simply say that I thought (and still think) my training indicates that I should be able to run a 6:07 for 3.1 miles.  I could be wrong however, and would be the first to admit to such if it proves true.

While I use words like failed and dejected, those are in the context of racing and goals.  I am a driven person and a pretty harsh critic of myself, so don't take any of that too literally.

As it is, I dropped 15 seconds off of my 5k time, and scored another top ten (ninth overall).  And with that, I will be right back at the track on Tuesday morning doing what I love to do; run fast.

Peace.

Sounds like a strong effort nonetheless.  Am I reading this right and you PRd?  Congrats on the race.

Keep at it.  You'll get faster and once the temps cool down, you'll be flying more.

I say....

#1.  HEAT

#2.  WARMUP ABOUT 10 minutes too long.

No solution for heat.  I hate it myself and it will kill an otherwise good run.  (The exact reason I'm sitting here now reading this)

But I've come to find that warmups over 10 to 15 minutes tend to be counterproductive.  I will even make my "warmup" longer than 15 minutes if it includes dynamic stretching (leg swings, kicks, skips, etc.) but the running, striding, sprinting portion of it will still never exceed 15 minutes.

My fastest 5k (22:36) included about 12 minutes total running.  That is about the mark (sometimes sooner but rarely ever longer) that my joints, lungs and brain are primed for efficient running.

*I* think that you find a cooler day and cut the priming a bit and sub 19 is yours.

You really are driven.  Congratulations on an amazing time.  I'm not a 5k racer, but it does sound like a bit of an ambitious warm up.  Have you been experimenting with what works best for you?  The warm temps probably did have a bit of an impact on your time also.  Personally, I think you did fantastic.

Pretty solid race for a miserable fail job.  

Well you know those 5K's are a tough beast to figure out.  I'm sure you'll get to that 18: xx soon enough with the way you're going.  Congrats on the new PR, LRB!

High expectations are great, but keep big picture in mind. You still did great and temps were hot.

Good job man.

That was pretty damn impressive for a fail.    Congrats on the 15 second PR.

It's hard to believe the heat didn't play some role.    On a cooler day with a more optimal warm-up, you'll knock some more time off.    I look forward to reading about the next one.

+1 to what LTH said, and

+1 to what Redrum said.

"Warm-up" for a race is somewhat literal;  you ran more of a warm-up for a hot day's race than I run to warm-up when it's 35 F on race day. Plus it takes time and more racing experience at this point to make these incremental improvements.  It took me 14 months from my first sub-20 5k to go sub-19:00. You're a lot younger than I am so you can probably do it sooner, but still it takes some repeated racing practice, even if you have the speed already; and good weather, and having the right competition in the race I find to be the most helpful factor. If you force yourself to hang with someone who is just barely faster than you, or if you're running a few steps ahead of someone who really wants top beat you, then you will most likely run faster.

MTA: I meant to also suggest that you STOP looking at your damn Garmin anywhere in the first 3/4 mile of the race! Your pace at the first 1/4 mile of the race is meaningless and irrelevant, and you really ought to be so totally focused on your running and racing and relaxing and jockying for position if necessary and scoping out the other runners that  it doesn't even occur to you to look at your watch. If you DO have to look at it, at least understand that getting off the line quickly for position is sometimes a necessity in a race and the  pace reflected at a 1/4 mile in does not represent the pace that you should or will cover the first mile in. Once you've gotten away from the starting line and have established a position in  the "peloton" (to borrow a phrase from another sport I like) then you throttle back to cruising speed, and enjoy the rest of mile 1.