Beginners and Beyond

12

RR: Will Speck Memorial 5K (Read 45 times)


From the Internet.

    This was a sort-of-impromptu PR attempt - I'd wanted to race a 5K this month to see where I was at after my half marathon and before starting marathon training, but then the first couple weeks of June were full of kitty-related stress and sadness and I wasn't sure I'd be up for racing anything (more specifically I didn't want to spend frivolous money on race registration). After she passed away I needed to distract myself with work and with training, and then I ran a really solid tempo on Tuesday that cemented the idea of gunning for a PR in my mind.

     

    I ran this race last year also, 27:15 on a hot sunny day. The proceeds from the race benefit the Cranston RI high school track programs and the Ronald McDonald House of Providence, which my running club is affiliated with. We have a club tent and lots of participation from club members. The atmosphere is fun - it's a very small race, everyone-knows-everyone type thing, and the course is fairly flat with just a couple of gentle hills. Historically it's always been a hot day, but the weather "cooperated" this year - no thunderstorms, and the downpours made the 70F dewpoint feel much more bearable :P

     

    I didn't sleep all that well this week, didn't hydrate particularly well, and ate too much breakfast before I left the house, so I had some doubts and worries before the race. Hung out with friends for a bit, got in a 2-mile warmup, switched to my racing flats and ran some strides in the parking lot about 10 minutes before the start.

     

    Knowing that there wasn't chip timing, I lined up just a few rows back from the front. Turned out to be a good spot, didn't block anyone and didn't have to weave too much out of the gate. I ran stupid-fast for the first ~0.15 miles, like well below 7:00 pace, before finding a good spot to settle in and get into a rhythm. Mile 1 was easy. 7:24

     

    Mile 2 wasn't as bad as I recalled from previous races - reining back in rather than running the whole first mile too hard must have helped. Just chugging along, started to get harder toward the end. I tried not to look at my watch too much, just staying steady, picking people to follow, passing people who were fading. Amazingly, split for the second mile was also 7:24 - I felt absurdly proud of my pacing when I saw that, haha.

     

    Third mile was where shit got real, as it always does in a 5K. Surging past people, focusing on breathing evenly, I even welcomed the couple of hills that came up since they made the flat and downhills feel so much easier. With half a mile to go I knew I was solidly in PR territory and could even go sub-23:00 if I kept pushing. "How badly do you want this?" on repeat in my head. Saw one of my coaches just outside the entrance to the football field, told me I was looking good. Didn't even look at my split when my watch beeped, it was 7:19. Wheezed my way around the track to the finish line, sucking air and pushing with everything I had, Garmin has me at a 6:15 pace for 0.13 miles and my official time at the timing booth was 22:53.87 - a nearly-43 second PR!

     

    I didn't stick around for awards because this field is usually really fast, but due to the shitty weather and a smaller field than usual I wound up third in 19-29 and would have won a prize, boo for me - next time I'll make sure I didn't win anything before I pack up and leave! :P

     

    This was a nice surprise, I'm super happy that I was able to go solidly sub-23:00 after thinking I'd lost a ton of speed over the winter and spring. The McMillan Prediction Game, which is always hilarious when using a 5K time, gives me equivalent times of 47:34 for 10K, 1:46:02 for half marathon, and 3:43:08 for marathon (massive lol but that makes my goal of sub-4 for my first this fall seem reasonable). Looks like I've got some endurance-building ahead of me!

    bluerun


    Super B****

      Nice race!  Your pacing was perfect, which is hard to do in a 5K.  (For me, anyway.)  Congrats on the PR!!

      chasing the impossible

       

      because i never shut up ... i blog

        Great job, Lauren.  Good luck with the endurance-building.

        tracilynn


          You killed it! Congrats!

          ~~~~~~~

          Traci

           

          JerryInIL


          Return To Racing

            WOW !!!!!

                

            happylily


              Congratulations, Lauren!!!

              PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013

                      Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013

              18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010

              Cyberic


                Sub 23, another milestone. Congrats, Lauren.


                delicate flower

                  The power of kitty was with you.  Great job, Lauren!  That is a nice PR and quite an improvement over last year's time.

                   

                  It makes me sad that you didn't stay for your AG award.  THIS IS WHY WE RACE.

                  <3

                  Half Crazy K 2.0


                    Nice race! Definitely a fast crowd in your area.


                    From the Internet.

                      Thanks guys! Big grin


                      Blue - I'm almost more proud of the pacing than I am of the sub-23 and PR, haha. It's one of those things that I absolutely love to get right.

                       

                      Boon - I KNOW, I'm so disappointed in myself for that! I had to get home to prepare for a Father's Day early afternoon cookout (cook-in, really) and I really didn't think I'd get an award, but if I'd known I would have stayed.

                       

                      HCK - it's ridiculous around here, this race was only 120 people and the top 3 women were all under 20 minutes!

                      onemile


                        Great job! Now, why are you lol'ing at the predictions? I ran a 3:42 when my 5k PR was 22:48.  I suppose my mileage was a little higher but you are definitely wayy under sub-4.


                        From the Internet.

                          Great job! Now, why are you lol'ing at the predictions? I ran a 3:42 when my 5k PR was 22:48.  I suppose my mileage was a little higher but you are definitely wayy under sub-4.

                           

                          Well that's encouraging! To be fair I didn't really think I had a sub-23 5K in me until after the first mile of the race yesterday, and there's definitely plenty of time to adjust my marathon goal before November. I'd only need 9:09 pace for a 4-hour finish and that's been feeling super easy lately - I ran 12 at an easy effort on Thursday morning and overall pace was 9:19, last 9 were ~9:08 average.

                          onemile


                             

                            Well that's encouraging! To be fair I didn't really think I had a sub-23 5K in me until after the first mile of the race yesterday, and there's definitely plenty of time to adjust my marathon goal before November. I'd only need 9:09 pace for a 4-hour finish and that's been feeling super easy lately - I ran 12 at an easy effort on Thursday morning and overall pace was 9:19, last 9 were ~9:08 average.

                             

                            I would recommend training using the paces given to you by McMillan and deciding on GMP when it gets closer.  MP has never felt super easy to me in training.  It feels more like a moderate effort that I have to stay focused to maintain.

                            music_girl117


                              Congratulations on an excellent time and super splits!  That is especially impressive with such a high dewpoint.  Our PR-twinness continues! 

                              PRs:

                              5k - 22:53  (May 2015)

                              10k - 50:00 (unofficial; part of 20k race, March 2015); 50:33 (official; July 2016)

                              HM - 1:48:40  (Apr. 2015)


                              From the Internet.

                                 

                                I would recommend training using the paces given to you by McMillan and deciding on GMP when it gets closer.  MP has never felt super easy to me in training.  It feels more like a moderate effort that I have to stay focused to maintain.

                                 

                                Looks like my current easy/long/tempo paces are all within the range that McMillan gives (albeit at the slower end), so that's a good starting point. I had been figuring that the goalposts would shift a bit once I have most of a training cycle behind me, I have a half marathon 6 weeks out that I might race to make final adjustments to my GMP - if I'm worried that I won't recover well from a race effort when it rolls around, I'll just use it as a supported long run and practice fueling at MP effort.

                                12