Old , Ugly and slow
First good time and race.
But i agree you are doing to much hard runs.
4 in a row the week of the race.
You need to do more easy runs
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
Mile 1 I decided i would try to be the worst of the best and pace myself to be at the back of the 6/7 mm crowd. I figured that most of them would start out too fast and that if I hung out behind them, I'd be at the right pace to start. Mile 2 was nice. I felt strong. I think i was passing people and no one or almost no one was passing me. I waved to a few spectators and they cheered. ... But it was nice to see her and give her that Roman salute. Mile 3.1: ...of some type, causing me to kick prematurely, only to realize that i needed to slow down again. This happened more than once i think. As a result, I was pretty winded approaching the finish. Still I was able to finish strong with a very strong kick the last .1 miles or so.
I decided i would try to be the worst of the best and pace myself to be at the back of the 6/7 mm crowd. I figured that most of them would start out too fast and that if I hung out behind them, I'd be at the right pace to start.
Mile 2 was nice. I felt strong. I think i was passing people and no one or almost no one was passing me. I waved to a few spectators and they cheered. ... But it was nice to see her and give her that Roman salute.
Mile 3.1:
...of some type, causing me to kick prematurely, only to realize that i needed to slow down again. This happened more than once i think. As a result, I was pretty winded approaching the finish. Still I was able to finish strong with a very strong kick the last .1 miles or so.
Please don't take this as a mean critique... but you don't know how to race a 5k. You should always position yourself to the front of your goal pace, knowing that you're going to be dodging some dumbasses who line up too far to the front anyway. In a 5k, you should be so focused that you aren't waving to spectators or looking for your spouse. If you could kick prematurely, more than once, and still kick at the end, you were never actually running at your real 5k pace.
A well-run 5k is near even splits with the last .1-.2 miles feeling like you just want to freakin' die. My best 5ks leave me dry heaving at the end. That's racing a 5k. Your race report doesn't read like you raced a 5k. It reads like you ran it hard. There is a difference.
Congrats on the PR, though! I believe you left some time out there...
be curious; not judgmental
Thanks to EVERYONE for the kind words, advice and critique. I appreciate everyone telling me I did well anyway, You guys are great.
What I think I understand now, based on what you all have told me, it my major mistake was the way i trained last week. mj5 and others actually advised me not to do it, and i did sort of follow that advice, but not closely enough. I also will take MrMatt's critique under advisement. I would actually prefer to believe that my mistake was how i ran the race and/or prepped for it, because it would mean that my time (lack of improvement) was not a reflection of my ability or condition, and the things you say MrMatt, are things that can be more easily remedied.
Probably my biggest fear is I didn't improve because I'm 52 and my body has begun to decline and has cancelled out my training. But I don't think this is true, i am pretty sure i am in way better shape than i was a year ago.
Jamezilla: there is a possibility that the distance was off and that I actually DID run the distance significantly faster than last year. Based on the fact that 1) they changed the course this year 2)the median time for this race was about 3 minutes slower than last year 3) my standing in this race was in the overall top 5.8% and last year, with the same time was the top 10% and 4) i did cyberstalk other runners and found that their time for this race was slow for them, it's a reasonable possibility that the course was long. But i don't want to take that to be true because if it isn't then it only serves as an excuse when what i really need to do is just work on improving.
EDIT: The course is still full of twists and hairpin turns. They advertise it as a single loop, but it is a very convoluted single loop if it is one. Still, at my level of running, I don't think it slowed me down significantly. Maybe for the people running a 16 ish race, yeah.
No more marathons
A well-run 5k is near even splits with the last .1-.2 miles feeling like you just want to freakin' die. My best 5ks leave me dry heaving at the end. That's racing a 5k. Your race report doesn't read like you raced a 5k. It reads like you ran it hard. There is a difference. Congrats on the PR, though! I believe you left some time out there...
+1
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
Mommy Dearest
I'm 52 and my body has begun to decline
errrrr nooooooo
Running for 9 months.
5k - 30:24
10k - 1:15
Yeah, 52 isn't the point of decline unless you maximized your potential earlier. I know a guy who hit his first sub5 mile at 52... he had a tough time tackling marathons, though... he ran well, but never was able to build the endurance to balance his speed. You've got more PRs. It's all about training and execution. If you want it; you'll get it.
I totally agree matt and RWPartisan. I was just hoping it wasn't the reason for anything. But yeah, i like LoveTheHalf's idea about everyone has 15 years of hard running in them, or something like that. Not sure I got 15 years but i do have some prs in me for sure
Hey matt btw next race i flip DW the bird as i pass and just keep running like hell
You'd better be fast... and able to keep running past the finish line!
I'll have to be ready to run, dodge and duck for cover. But I will have incorporated that into my training through the judicious practice of some cross-fit exercises.
Nice race and time.
namter ur body is definitely not declining....rawr!!
Barking Mad To Run
No insights, cuz you are way speedier than I am!
Congrats on your race and the PR!
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
delicate flower
Congrats on the PR, Namtor! Really solid time.
Far be it for me to shell out advice, but as far as why you didn't run faster, have you run a steady dose of speed workouts? You said you've upped your mileage, but it seems to me that if you want to run faster, you've got to teach your legs how to run faster. Your endurance is probably sky high, but that won't help your legs move faster. I spent all of 2012 running lots of miles without doing speedwork, while at the same time chasing an elusive 5K PR. I didn't get that PR until after I spent November doing twice-a-week speed runs. 50 miles of moderate pace runs didn't get me a 5K PR, but changing 10-15 of those miles into speed workouts did the trick in no time. Bummer I got hurt skiing because I was excited to see what three more months of that would do to my spring 5K's.
Just asking...keep in mind there is a 92% chance I have no idea what the hell I am talking about.
<3
Chief Unicorn Officer
Congrats on the PR, Namtor! Really solid time. Far be it for me to shell out advice, but as far as why you didn't run faster, have you run a steady dose of speed workouts? You said you've upped your mileage, but it seems to me that if you want to run faster, you've got to teach your legs how to run faster. Your endurance is probably sky high, but that won't help your legs move faster. I spent all of 2012 running lots of miles without doing speedwork, while at the same time chasing an elusive 5K PR. I didn't get that PR until after I spent November doing twice-a-week speed runs. 50 miles of moderate pace runs didn't get me a 5K PR, but changing 10-15 of those miles into speed workouts did the trick in no time. Bummer I got hurt skiing because I was excited to see what three more months of that would do to my spring 5K's. Just asking...keep in mind there is a 92% chance I have no idea what the hell I am talking about.
Namtor's log indicates three tempo runs and an interval workout in 4 of 6 days prior to the race!
Just gotta spread the speed out a little bit more. Because yes...speedwork is goodness. And doesn't it feel fun to go fast?!? You'll get it, once you find the sweet spot of timing your workouts and spreading them out appropriately for you. I can really appreciate the drive to do speedwork...many people don't want to or think it's too hard.
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
Namtor's log indicates three tempo runs and an interval workout in 4 of 6 days prior to the race! Just gotta spread the speed out a little bit more. Because yes...speedwork is goodness. And doesn't it feel fun to go fast?!? You'll get it, once you find the sweet spot of timing your workouts and spreading them out appropriately for you. I can really appreciate the drive to do speedwork...many people don't want to or think it's too hard.
You did warn me, and I did less than i wanted to last week as a result, but yeah. probably too much.
It's hard though for me to run easy . I find myself always turning my runs, even the long ones, into fartleks (god i hate saying that). But I'm going to have to consciously force myself to do easy distance runs. It seems like the fastest people (like you) do that. And I did it myself once or twice and it was so amazing and felt so great to do.