Notes
Celebrate America 5K - Alpharetta, GA. This was my mom's first 5K and more than likely my last running race until the fall as I will be focusing primarily on triathlons for the summer. At 7:00 am, it was already approaching 70° with 86% humidity. The 7:30 am start provided very little relief from the heat although the course did have shady spots and very few hills. I should of nailed it on this fairly flat course but instead just like past summer's, I struggled big time in the heat and humidity.
I started near the back with my mom but was still able to settle in a nice pace and average a 10:08 first mile but after that the heat really started to hit me. The first water stop was around 1.25 so I decided to walk and make sure I got some water but it was warm and didn't really do anything for me. When I tried to start running again, my calves started to cramp up so I had to slow down and add more walk breaks.
There was a 2nd water stop around 2.25 miles which I grabbed a cup to pour over my head and neck to help cool me down but the water was just too warm to provide any cooling affect. From that point on, I was just ready for this run to be over with. I was mentally and physically fatigued and just couldn't get my legs moving very fast. I crossed the finish line in a terrible time (to my standards) of 35:14, way off my goal time of under 32 mins. I grabbed an ice cold bottle of water (props to them having the waters in coolers of ice) and then walked back to find my mom who was around 2.5 miles then walked/ran the rest of the way with her to the finish line.
This was not how I wanted to start my triathlon race week and it's frustrating that I do so poorly when it's hot. I'm going to take it super easy the rest of this week and may only do one more short cycling and running workout (30 mins max).
The one thing I did learn from this race is that morning humidity is FAR worse than evening's warmer temps with lower humidity so I'll be sticking to my evening workouts during the summer time!
Splits = 10:08, 11:30, 12:00, (10:14)