Short Version:

 Ran the Chicago Warm Your Heart indoor 5k this morning. PR'd with a 22:54 time, finished 4th out of 50 in my AG, 83 out of 1438 overall.

Long Version:

Ok here's the whiny part. Even though it was a PR by 10 seconds, I was really hoping to do a sub 22 run because my last 5k was a year ago, when i ran a 23ish race, and since that time I've really upped my mileage, I'm about 5-10 lbs. lighter, and I ran an 11 mile obstacle race in october. I was also able to run 5k on a treadmill in under 22 one time last summer when I was probably in or near peak condition for my october race.  However, none of this seemed to translate into a significantly better 5k this time around.

If anyone has any insight into this, I'd love to hear it. If you look at my log, except for this week where i deliberately cut back a lot, the previous 2 weeks are pretty typical of how I've been training for the past 3 months or so. What do you think I need to do to get my 5k time faster?

Alright, anyway that's it for the whining . In the larger scheme of things I am very thankful for what God or nature or the universe or just random luck has given me, and I don't take even the ability to run at all for granted. Or the ability to walk or even breathe for that matter.

     Pictures - I don't have any pictures because dw snapped a picture at around mile 1 when I saluted her like a roman hero running in battle. It was a magnificent moment, and she couldn't get the shot focused. She took another shot at the finish line which was really blurry.  Then neither of us thought to take pictures because she was very hungry and wanted to go eat something right away. I love my wife and try to make her as happy as possible so we both agreed to get food asap.

Then also I don't know how/am too cheap to get pictures taken by the event organizers for sale, and I usually look horrible in any of those anyway.

The other thing is that i've never bought racing stuff and wear the same stuff I wore to work out in 10 years ago, and the stuff wasn't stylish then. I basically look like your middle aged gym teacher from middle school who used to call you a pussy if you couldn't climb ropes or something. So not a good look.

    The Race Itself

I love the McCormick Center - it's a big modern complex with great views of the city and the lake Michigan.  Today the outside temp was about 28 or so and getting colder so it was really nice to race  in 68ish temps with no wind and on flat non-icy ground. The energy of all the other runners (it's a fairly big race of 1500-2000 people)  was great and I got really pumped as soon as I merged in with the the other runners

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.

Of course in short time, I tried to run my own pace. I consciously reminded myself to not race other people. I felt like I was moving nicely, but when I got to the 1st mile marker, i was 45 seconds off my goal pace.

Mile 2:

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. DW was somewhere along this stretch to take her ill fated photo attempts. But it was nice to see her and give her that Roman salute.

Mile 3.1:

This is where i had problems. For one thing,  i think the 2nd mile marker was placed short. I say this because according to it, i ran the second mile at a 6:30 mm, which i don't think i did. That would be very fast for me to run even 1 mile alone in, and anyway i don't think i was going that much faster than the 1st mile.

In any case though, I believed the marker at the time, which said i had run 2 miles in 14:09 or so. Sooooo, I thought i was doing really well.

In reality though, since mile 2 was way short, mile 3.1 was way long. I think this threw me off. Also, I kept seeing the finish line where it wasn't, like a mirage 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.

Conclusion: That was my race. Thanks for reading. I felt like you were all there with me during the event, so thank you everyone on this site, even people I've never talked to and some I don't even like. You are all a part of my running, each and every one of you.

I checked the website and it says it's a single loop, so i doubt the course layout posed any challenges. How were you feeling going into the race? What strikes me is the amount of fast running you did earlier this week, and then 2 days off before the race. That would have left me tired and stale. Did you get in a good warmup before the race? I wouldn't really rely on that treadmill run as an indicator, since it was a while ago, and your treadmill could have been off. That said, even though a minute is an eternity in a 5k, I don't think it's unreasonable for a relatively new runner to shave that amount of time off in a year. I would just stay consistent with your training and figure out what works best for you race week. Maybe you were or weren't in sub-22 shape, but I'd just write today off as an off day and learn what you can from it - going into the race and during.

Congrats on the PR.

That's a great time, and a great PR.  I know you were hoping for better, and are probably capable of better.  Having not run a 5K in a year, I think I'd call it "race rust".  It sounds like you were pretty comfortable during the second mile, which is where I'm already pushing pretty hard to maintain.

I'm not the most experienced guy here (true beginner in a beginner's forum), but I think your training has been solid enough to produce gains.  I think your sub-22 will come with race strategy and pushing the pace throughout and depending less on the kick at the end.

Congrats on the PR, even if it wasn't what you wanted. I have to agree that even though you cut back on the miles, that it was just too much quality work for race week. I'm betting your legs were just tired from that. Next time, try running more easy miles, with maybe one interval workout at 5k pace that week.

You DID do good!  Congratulations!   That's a very decent time.  Why it wasn't better, could be due to lots of things, how your body was feeling, nutrition, how rested your legs were, weather- temperature, humidity in the air, wind and what direction it was in, where the race was, altitude, what the course was like.  Racing is uncertain, and has many variables  and we train to overcome as many as we can, but they certainly can't all be controlled.  This may be why (a lot of us any way) many of us always do a little bit of excuse making in our reports.  But its also what makes it an uncertain, interesting contest.

Were they able to straighten out the course this year? I ran it last year and it was pretty much a mouse maze of switchbacks. I wouldn't have minded doing it again but they changed the date and by the time I worked out that there wouldn't be any conflicts with other races the price went too steep in my opinion.

And congrats! I think you did a great job.

Dan, not a whiny RR at all, you just felt disappointed to miss your goal. But personally, I think sometimes it's more important to look at the ranking, age-graded and overall, and realize that a set goal is secondary. Your ranking was most impressive and that says a lot about the speed you have now. If you race a few more 5ks soon, I'm you will get your goal. Congratulations on an excellent performance! And I think you should recreate the Roman salute for us and ask your kind wife to take a picture. That would be awesome! :-)

Did you sweep the leg? I told you to sweep the leg...