Beginners and Beyond

12

Blow away 5k RR (Read 82 times)


Dad on the run.

    I decided to run this race on pretty much a spur of the moment. My cousin text me the week of the race and asked if I wanted to run it with him and I agreed. I was hoping to go into this race and beat my previous PR of 25:45, I didn't have my hopes to high as I haven't gotten very many good runs in lately. Also I was still feeling some leg fatigue from my leg workout from Wed morning, both in my glutes and my quads.

     

    I stopped and picked up my race packet Friday evening after I got off work and I was really impressed with the shirt that I received. For such a small run the shirt is probably the nicest I have gotten yet, I don't have any pics of it to share at the moment but will try to get one and post.

     

    My wife and I decided that we were going to have a date night Friday night and ate at a yummy steak house followed by going to the movies afterwards. We didn't get home and in bed until after 1am and got up at 6am to get ready for the race.

     

    We arrived at the race at 7am and I met up with my cousin and we just walked around for awhile talking to some people that he knew. Around 7:30 we decided to go out for a warm up and get the legs stretched out. I was thinking since its just a warmup I would hang with him until we were done and walked over to the start line. This was a really small race as you can see by the pics.

     

     

    Here was our pacers

     

    The race started and I kicked way to hard starting off, I looked down at my watch and was about .2 miles in and holding a 6:55, oops. I backed it down and was still running faster than I needed for a PR, by this point I was a little winded and needing to catch my breath but it was too late, here came the hill. The hill wasn't very long but it was steep and short and by the time I made it to the top my glutes were burning and my quads were tired, from this point on the whole race just spiraled down for me, I was tired, my legs were sore and tired and I just couldn't get my breathing right, I knew after the first mile I wasn't going to set a new PR so I just kept pushing myself along trying not to completely drop the ball. At about the 2.5 mile mark my leg started hurting and it was all I could keep from doing to not just stop and walk the rest of the way to the finish line, I picked up my pace just enough so that the pain was tolerable and sounded like Wheezy from Toy Story as I pushed myself toward the finish line. I hit the 3 mile mark and refused to hit the 27 min mark so I pushed with what gas I had left and crossed the finish line with a 6:54 pace for the last .1

     

     

    My cousin finished much quicker than me and grabbed 2nd in his AG and 9th out of 176 runner.

     

    A couple of cool floater pics of random people

     

     

    my cousin

     

    and of course the speedy stroller guy

     

    And after the race pic. ignore the comment up top about not having a pic of the shirt. He put his on after the race...

     

    Now in case you were all wondering I finished 2 / 6 in my age group so I got me a medal, yay! I'ts kinda bitter sweet because I don't feel that I ran well enough to deserve an award but at the same time its pretty cool to actually win something. I also won a give-a-away prize, 2 free tickets to Pump it Up. They have big blow up stuff, moon walk, slides, obstacle courses and the adults get to play as well. Should make for a fun day with DD Smile. The wife would play to but she's preggo.

     

    I made several noob mistakes that hindered my performance...

    1. Not enough sleep

    2. Felt very lethargic from the mass amount of food I ate Friday night

    3. Started out way to fast

    4. Should have thought about how my workout Wed would affect my running Saturday.

     

    All in all I enjoyed this race. The course was great, pretty flat except the one hill in the beginning. I will definitely add this race to my line up next year and look forward to running it again.

    Chasing the sub 20 5K.

    hog4life


      Jimmy, you did very well considering the circumstances. Did I over look it? What was your time?


      Dad on the run.

        26:29 according to the results.

        Chasing the sub 20 5K.

          Congrats on the AG placement, Jimmy.

           

          The small races can be fun, good stuff.

          scottydawg


          Barking Mad To Run

            Dang, Jimmy, you did great!  Even tired after a long evening, you are still about twice as fast as me, lol.

             

            Congrats on the medal and congrats to your cousin too!

             

            Nice report and nice photos.

            "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt

            LRB


              Not too blown away by your effort huh?  ;-)

               

              I like to be in a tight grouping time-wise with any three events during a given year, and it looks like you were not that far off (44 seconds) so not too bad when you look at it that way.


              SheCan

                Congratulations!!!!  Considering everything -- that last workout, lack of sleep, and everything else, you did surprisingly well.   Wooohooo@ getting AG metal.  Pretty sweet getting tickets to Pump it Up also, how fun.  Congrats to your cousin on his AG, too.

                Cherie

                "We do not become the people who this world needs simply by turning our backs on anyone we don’t like, trust, or deem healthy enough to be in our presence. "  ---- Shasta Nelson


                Hip Redux

                  Dude, I would have been a ZOMBIE with that amount of sleep and you were that close to your PR?  Damn.  Nice work, even if you felt like hell!

                   

                  HobbitLegs


                  elevenses

                    Congrats on sticking with it and getting an award. Small races are great like that. That stroller dude IS speedy!

                    Zelanie


                      Nice job, Jimmy!  Once the leg thing comes together you are going to be super fast!

                      Gustav1


                      Fear is a Liar

                        Jimmy - you put out a solid effort especially since you' ve been struggling with the ITB issues.

                        I'm so vegetarian I don't even eat animal crackers!

                        Docket_Rocket


                          Great job on the AG placement.

                          Damaris

                           

                          As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

                          Fundraising Page

                          Awood_Runner


                          Smaller By The Day

                            Congrats on the ag award.  I'm not sure what your warmup looks like, but here is something that you might want to try.  Toward the end of your warmup, run 2-3 minutes at 5k effort.  Don't check your pace until you're toward the end of the 2-3 minutes.  This will give you a feel for where you're at that day, and make that pace fresh in your mind.  Because it's during a warmup you won't be caught up in a crowd, and should get an honest assessment.  Give yourself 15 minutes or so to recover before start.  This will make the start more like that second work bout in an interval workout, when you tend to find your groove quicker.  If it feels right in the first couple of minutes of the race, don't look at your watch.  You may surprise yourself.  If it doesn't feel right, take a peak and see how far off you are.

                            Improvements

                            Weight 100 pounds lost

                            5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)

                            10K 48:59 April 2013

                            HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013

                            MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013

                            tracilynn


                              Good job despite ITB crap. Hope the time off cures it. You've got some Speed. Like the toy story reference ha!

                              ~~~~~~~

                              Traci

                               

                              Love the Half


                                Congrats on the ag award.  I'm not sure what your warmup looks like, but here is something that you might want to try.  Toward the end of your warmup, run 2-3 minutes at 5k effort.  Don't check your pace until you're toward the end of the 2-3 minutes.  This will give you a feel for where you're at that day, and make that pace fresh in your mind.  Because it's during a warmup you won't be caught up in a crowd, and should get an honest assessment.  Give yourself 15 minutes or so to recover before start.  This will make the start more like that second work bout in an interval workout, when you tend to find your groove quicker.  If it feels right in the first couple of minutes of the race, don't look at your watch.  You may surprise yourself.  If it doesn't feel right, take a peak and see how far off you are.

                                 

                                I agree with every word of that except for the 15 minutes to recover.  If I recovered for that long, I'd start to stiffen.  I'm best with about 5 minutes of recovery on a cooler day or 7-8 minutes on a warmer day.  I do realize though that it's an individual thing.

                                Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                                Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                                Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                                12