John,

 

Great report and photos. Nice race.

There's something about your naked, alluring feet...creamy...smooth...yet masculine....

have you ever thought about foot modeling?

 

--Jimmy

5k Race Results

 

Distance:  3.05

Time:  21:57

Pace:  7:12

 

Mile Marker, Pace, AveHR, %HRmax(186)

0.55  (6:51)  160  86%
1.37  (7:14)  173  93%
2.37  (7:18)  176  94%
3.05  (7:16)  178  95%

 

This is the first time I have broken 22 minutes for a 5k race, but the coarse was slightly short.  This was the most even paced race I have ever run.  This is the best I have ever felt running a 5k race up to this point.

 

I just finished a base season of about 12 weeks of 25 miles per week with an 8 mile long run all below MAF.  I am trying a different strategy this race season and I think it is working.  I decided to really limit speed work.  I have still not really done any, except for some striders that are so short in duration that I have been able to keep HR below MAF.

 

I finally have gotten it through my thick head (thanks Jimmy) that it is volume (and the long run) that is much more important than the speed work.  I now realize that the long run is much more imporantant than the tempo run if you are only doing 25 miles per week.  I read somewhere that you should not even think about speed work unless you are over 25 miles per week.

 

If I run a 5k race every 2 or 3 weeks, I am thinking that is all I need for speed work.  I also experienced something that I was surprised at during this race.  The striders really helped.  I had no trouble with speed.  I did not struggle with it at all.  In this race, I was able to run at a higher HR than in the past, so I think this indicates that my LT is at a good point, and I think that this is more evidence to me that you can improve your LT with a long run.  I had the impression that I needed to do tempo runs for that.

Great race, Run! You're getting healthy, strong, and fit!

Don't always trust the Garmin on distance in a race. It can easily be .05 short.

 

Keep going!

--Jimmy

Garmin time 1:25:10 for 9.82 miles. I have never known ATC courses to be short. There courses are normally USATF-certified. Predicted time 1:26:20. Clock time 1:25:08 for 10 miles. I am taking the ATC time and distance. Pace of 8:26 was the plan. First mile 7:55.Way too fast. Mile2 adjust to 8:29. Started checking heart monitor.Wanted to stay at 157-162 bmp. Water at 2.8 miles. 3 miles 8:29. Pace still felt a little fast. Decided to slow down in order not to crash and burn. Powerade  At 4.86 miles took 2 cups. Course was easy / moderate. No major hills. A couple of long inclines on a double loop. 5/10 mile race. Mile 8 was a struggle. I was passed by about 10 runners at this point. My goal now was to finish.  Shock to see mile 9 pace of 8:35. Finish line was up a long moderate hill. When I could see the clock it read 1:24. Knew  if i gave it one last gasp I would beat my goal time.Happy and surprised with the time.

 

Interval	1 Mi	7:55.77	7:55.77	7:56	169	182
Interval	1 Mi	8:29.05	16:24.82	8:30	164	171
Interval	1 Mi	8:26.7	24:51.52	8:27	165	172
Interval	1 Mi	8:36.74	33:28.26	8:37	166	171
Interval	1 Mi	8:53.06	42:21.32	8:54	167	172
Interval	1 Mi	8:56.73	51:18.05	8:57	170	176
Interval	1 Mi	8:53.28	1:00:11.33	8:54	172	176
Interval	1 Mi	9:27.89	1:09:39.22	9:28	167	173
Interval	1 Mi	8:35.22	1:18:14.44	8:36	173	178
Interval	0.82 Mi	6:56.18	1:25:10.62	8:28	179	184

Clay,

Great race and great improvements so far. I think I mentioned this before, but the Garmins are definitely not 100% accurate. I don't think I have ever had a race where the garmin distance matches the race distance stated. 

Congrats again on a great race.

I had a terrible race today. Was planning on going sub 1:25 for a half, but it was pouring and the course was extremely hilly. I came in at 1:31:30 which is about 5 minutes slower than my PR. Have a marathon in a month and was hoping to BQ at 3:10, this kind of knocked down my confidence. Guess we will have to wait and see how that goes. 

Got a little lazy with the Maff tests, and was doing lots of Triathlon training (mostly aerobic in the water since I can't swim well) so I'm guilty of not doing a maff test in a few months. My Maff training pace in August were 8:30 - 9 pace, in the heat and all the other biking and swimming I was doing. And now with the weather cooling off, I'm closer to high 7's and low 8's.

Well done, Clay. I see you based the goal time with the McMillan calculator using your 10k time from 2 months ago. Looks like you are gaining some endurance. That first mile probably took a little out of you. But that is a good sign in terms of how well you are progressing. If you would have started 8:50, maybe you would have been a minute better--who knows. Do you keep track of your quarter mile splits in the first mile?

 

Let's say you want to hit 8:28 in the second mile, and start with an 8:52, you can do something like this:

 

.25mi... 2:20

.5mi.....2:15

.75.......2:10

1mi......2:07 (2:07 is 8:28 pace)

 

Something like that. You try to get your mile 2 pace in the last quarter.

Congrats. You're doing great.

 

--Jimmy

 Good idea. Will do it for my half next month.

 

bzaganjo

 

 

 

 It was raining and hilly. I agree with jimmy. Your marathon appears doable.

Great race, way to go!