=PR= Race Series: Run with Dad (minus the dad) 5K Recap

I've known for a few weeks that I had a 5K PR waiting inside of my, but needed to get a race to find it. This weekend Tom and I each ran in the =PR= Run with Dad 5K at South Lakes high school. I woke up that day not as excited to run it as I was to run the 10K a few weeks ago. The 5K isn't my most favorite race. But fortunately, I didn't let that hinder me and was able to finish with a new PR for the day.

We arrived around 7 to get our bib and then went on our own ways to warm up. It's funny - people often ask if we run together. The answer is rarely. Tom's so much faster than I am, and I am so stuck in my ways. I warm up the same way each time and begin to freak out when it starts to go differently. I am so independent and need freedom to go on my own.

I felt great on the warm up: I got in 14 minutes of running before drills, and knew my body felt awake and ready. We met up again on the starting line, 5 minutes before the race, and found ourselves starting a little bit back. Everyone was ready to go and lined up before we had gotten there and it seemed impossible to get up front.

The start was a little chaotic. We ran 300m on the track at the high school before veering off and into the woods. It was slow, and there were a ton of people in front of us that didn't need to be right on the starting line. I jumped up with other PR running ladies, recognizing a few and knowing I wanted to be with them for the start.

I ran my first 10K last year at this school and was expecting to run a course very similar and was surprised to find us going onto the bike path in the woods. Rather than the open roads with little turning, we found hairpin turn after hairpin turn, as well as a constant variation in elevation. Instead of focusing on my body and on my pace I was constantly worrying about the people around me, making sure I didn't take a face plant as I turned a corner, and mentally battling how the course reminded me of some high school and college courses I had run.

There was a lot of passing during the first mile. Being a Father's day run, there were a lot of younger kids and teenagers that were running. These runners also went out with a very nice mile split, only to drop off in the second mile. I kept my sites on another PR team member right in front of me, not knowing who she was, but recognizing that she was a strong runner. My goal was to stay with her as long as possible. Little did I realize that she was definitely the first place woman of the race.

Mile 1: 5:56

Good. I met my goal mark for the first mile. Last year this split would have freaked me out completely. However, after hitting sub 5:50's on runs in the spring, I knew this was OK. My only problem came with keeping this momentum in mile 2, my weakest mile. This was the mile I struggled the most in trying to stay in the present, rather than having flash backs to races in college when we ran a similar course at St. Mike's. 

Mile 2: 6:22

As I passed the marker and saw 12:18, I knew I had slowed, but couldn't do the math in my head. At this point, I was strictly running on feeling. I had only looked down at my watch twice. I knew if I wanted to break 19:00 that it would be close. So I tried to push harder. 

5Ks, while much shorter than a marathon, take much more focus and a higher pain tolerance. They also require that the runner do some actual SPEED workouts before racing. I haven't done speed in weeks. 

Everything was going great until I came out of the woods for the last time. I had just over a quarter of a mile left to run and made the mistake of looking down at my watch as I went up a hill. In that instance I began to dry heave. Ugh, not this again. I held it in, and kept up the pace. But it happened again. I had no choice but to slow down for a few seconds to stop it. Slowing worked, but my momentum was gone. While I love that there was a camera crew at this race to take free race photos, I hated that they would have been able to catch my lowest moment on film. I was also not ready to loose my breakfast while on the track, now knowing that I was the second place female after a man yelled it in the woods.

As I turned the corner I heard my name being called by the MC, then heard Tom's voice as he cheered me on. He knew my goal was low 19's, and based on his voice, I knew that I had to work hard to get there. 

Final Time: 19:18

New PR

Second place female

I'll take that PR, but I'm not done. As soon as I finished I was ready to sign up for another, faster race! I need to break 19. I never thought I would have that as my goal, but I know it's in me. I just need to get on a track for a few weeks.

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I have been enjoying the opportunities that the PR Race team has given me this spring. I love being more involved in races and feeling like there is a purpose to my training. It's also been great to meet other runners on the team. A few of us went for a cool down run afterward and we discovered that two of us had lived in Vermont and had competed against the same runners in high school!

This race was also put on by PR Running. For the runners, there is a ton to offer: awesome tech t-shirts with registration, a lunchbox (for Father's day), a master of ceremony that was made for the job and makes it fun, food at the finish line, and terrific prizes that include gift certificates to be used at their store. I got $75 for second place, which means I can pick up some nice sneaks in a few weeks!

PR Running Birthday Bash 5K Recap

I love supporting local running stores, even though they may have higher prices. Down here in DC there are a few "chains" of local running stores and I visit PR Running quite frequently. The staff are great, and the store is close by.

Last week PR Running posted about their Birthday Bash 5K on Facebook. The stores are celebrating 10 years of business and just opened a new store in Fairfax, VA. To celebrate, they were holding a 5K and inviting along sponsors to offer activities, food, and music for the 5K participants. Essentially, they were hosting one big birthday bash!

Somehow I was itching to run a 5K. I also like birthday parties. This seemed like a great race to sign up for and I didn't even have to bribe Tom into doing it with me. He was all for it!

We picked up our bibs on Saturday because I was bored. Tom opted for a $10 gift certificate to the running store and I opted for their vintage t-shirt. It's light weight and seems like it'll be a comfy-lounge-around kind of shirt.

We explored the area nearby and stopped at Potbelly's for lunch. The inner grandma in me got a tuna melt for lunch. I have a coworker (who may be reading, sorry J!) who would walk away from me if I ordered this sandwich. But I swear these are my go-to pre-race lunch meals. I've had them the day before marathons and run awesome times the next day. So I decided to go with it this time around. For some reason I just love them!

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The race was set to start at 8:00 am on Sunday. Without the traffic we were able to make it there in 30 minutes, use the bathrooms, and do a 2 mile warm up and drills and strides. Does anyone else do drills and strides before races? I swear by them. The idea behind them makes so much sense to me and they allow me to get my legs going!

 That pretty much sums up our thoughts pre-race :)

Lining up is always a tough decision for me. I want to be near the front, but not AT the front. I always try to spot my competition but in reality I know absolutely nothing about runners down here. In Vermont I almost always had some idea of who I should be near.

There were a lot of ladies that looks FAST that morning. They had the typical runner's body or they were sporting racing singlets from running groups they're part of. I seriously thought I was going to be blown away and they'd fly past me in the fist mile. So I listened around me at their conversations, to try to get an idea. I heard one woman give another woman a compliment, saying "Oh, you're fast! I've seen you before". That was good to know. I also heard another woman in front of me say "I've never run faster than a 23:00". That's when I scooted up a few rows. I wanted a clean start and did not want to have to run around people.

What did I learn from lining up at this start? 1) Just like books, don't judge runners by their cover and 2) Don't be afraid to be up there. And by up there, like the second row. I actually do belong there even if I think I don't.

Can you spot Tom?
Source

It was a cloudy but humid morning. The gun went off and we were out. Immediately I spotted the woman in the black sports bra that had received the compliment earlier. She was in front with another woman in red. Right in front of me was a younger blonde, who ended up being pretty young (16-20 y/o age group). I stayed with the blonde while the other women pulled slightly ahead.

Made it to the first mile in 6:14.

I was OK with that. And surprised by how easy it felt. But I knew the worse was to come.

At this point in the race we had been and were still going up a slight incline. I decided to pass the blonde and found myself in third place. Wait, was I really in third? I kept looking ahead for the other women, but there weren't others. I battled through the rest of the race with two other men. We kept switching on and off. I'd lead, they'd lead. They'd blow past me, I'd eventually catch up. On and on.

Made it through mile 2 in 6:28.

I went out too fast for the first mile. At this point I was thinking about how awesome it was to be more than half way done my race. How crazy it is to compare a 5k to a half marathon. The 5K was going by so fast!

I kept waiting for the fourth place woman to sneak up to me. I had no clue where she was and refused to look back. I wanted to finish third but was totally expecting to be beaten. The further along I got on the course, the harder I knew I had to work to maintain my spot.

Tom doesn't run race. He floats races!  His feet are never touching the ground in photos. 

Around mile 2.5 my arms started to hurt. I don't even remember how my legs felt. I know I was breathing heavy because of the humidity, sweating a ton, and feeling those arms. I also started to get dizzy - probably thanks to the heat.  We made it past our last incline/hill and made our way back to the finish.

Mile 3 was 6:29. 

Those two men that I had been battling with definitely beat me. But I hung on to third for women and got it by a fair amount. 

Source

Overall time: 20:14

3rd female

1st in age group

26th our of 701 Runners

I wasn't near my PR and still didn't break 20 minutes, but I was happy with that time considering the amount time I took off this spring and the fact that I'm training for a marathon instead of a 5K. 

The post race celebrations were a lot of fun. We got free cupcakes. Now that's my kind of race! There was a ton of post-race runner food (bananas, granola bars, etc.) and Popsicles. A co-worker of mine was running the photo booth, Powerbar was giving away samples of their products, and the shoe companies were there (all but Asics - why Asics?!) to show off their shoes.

 

They had an award ceremony that I'll admit I was quieted excited for, because we were getting trophies! When do small races ever give out trophies? NEVER! Tom got one for being first in his age category (whoo-hoo!), and I got one for being third overall. His is bigger than mine - not fair! I kept complaining about that the whole time (#firstworldproblem). I also got a $50 gift certificate to PR Running which will be so helpful when I need a new pair of running shoes.

Overall, I'd say that this was a great race. They had plenty for the runners before and after. The only thing I could think of that could possibly be changed was that the microphone was not loud enough and I could not hear the woman who was doing the announcing throughout the event. Minor detail though. The course was a rolling loop and there were plenty of volunteers. The timing was easy (chip timing) and they even provide FREE race photos!

After all of this, I can say that I love PR Running even more!

While I'd love to do a few more 5Ks this summer and fall, I know I need to focus on marathon training. Too many races can compromise my ultimate goal, so I have to plan wisely!

NYCM 2013 Training: Week 2 Recap

Apparently when you are off from work for multiple weeks at a time it does something to your brain. 5Ks start to look appealing. And next thing you know, you're lining up to the start of one, asking yourself "What was I thinking?"

Total Weekly Mileage: 36 Miles

Monday: 5 miles at 7:49 pace and arm workout
This was to be an easy run but it was still a little quick. The morning was a tad bit more comfortable than the weekend, making it easier to be out there and run. The mornings have been in the 70s but are always very humid.

Tuesday: 7.43 miles - Track workout with warm-up and cool-down 
I was in for a surprise this morning when I opened my training schedule and saw a track workout on deck. I was just about out the door, thinking I had 6 easy miles, when I decided to double check. That made for some quick thinking and I went to a nearby high school to use their track. Somehow I missed Tom, who had also gone to that high school to do a workout earlier. He was smarter than me and checked out his schedule before going to bed the night before - therefore he got out the door quick and got it over with.

I was supposed to do 12 x 400s. When I saw this workout a few months ago I was excited. I like 400s. But when I saw the workout after forgetting about it, I decided I didn't want to push my body. I feel like I am in a constant balance between pushing it and recovering, especially because of the hamstring injury from this spring. My leg is still not 100% perfect, but it feels better, and it felt decent on the track workout. I am just afraid to push it too far and have to start the recovery all over again. So to be safe, I did 8 400s instead.

Unfortunately, I am not positive where the finish line is on this track and am not sure if my splits are spot on. My goal was to get faster as I went, but clearly my first two were too slow. Like, way too slow.
Splits: 93, 96 (yikes!), 91, 90 91, 89, 90, 88

Would I love to be running faster 400s? Of course. Can I? Yes. I need to get used to pushing my body. But I also don't need to go that fast if the idea is to train for my marathon pace. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not training for a 5K.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 6 miles at 7:46 pace
This seems to be my comfortable pace. I am happy with that. My legs were abnormally stiff this morning but I think it had something to do with the escalator workout I did the night before. See - I hate standing still on the metro escalators, especially if you're at one of the long ones. I try to book it up them as fast as I can. Part for the challenge, and part to beat everyone that's just standing there. I think I made a new PR Wednesday night going up one set up escalators down here, and my legs were feeling it.

Today's run took me through some hills around DC and eventually my legs were loose enough. It's been cloudy every morning down here, which is getting old. Sunshine would be nice for once!

Friday: 5 miles at 7:40 pace and core workout
After all that complaining about cloudy mornings, Mother Nature decided to do something about it.

Rain.

I was drenched from the start but the good news was that it was in the 60s, and was much cooler than I've run in for over a month. I was OK with the break. Once I got home I did a core workout. I am still not consistent enough with my core and arm work.

Saturday: 6 miles at 8:08 pace
Easy day before the 5K. On Thursday I was the crazy one who signed Tom and I up for one - for absolutely no reason. My marathon training schedule said 6 easy miles for today. In the past, I usually ran 4 miles before a 5K, but I went with the training schedule this time. Again, I'm not training for a 5K. I'm training for a marathon. That is 16 weeks away. I know I'm going to be OK with a longer run before a short race.

Sunday: PR Running Birthday Bash 5K - 7 miles with warm-up and cool-down 
Look for a full recap of the race tomorrow. The good news is that it was the fastest I've run since college. I ran a 20:14 and was 3rd overall and 1st in my age group.

Looking Forward
One word: Arms. 
I must make mine stronger. They were hurting in yesterday's 5K. 

This coming week brings another track workout and my first double-digit day of the program. I have a 10 miler lined up for next Sunday. As I look over my mileage from the past two weeks I think of how sad they look - 5 and 6 miles runs. The hard part about starting a program is holding back, knowing that you're going to be building for 16 more weeks, and the weeks will only get tougher and tougher. 

In other news....

I have set a new personal record: I have gone over a month without buying any chocolate or candy. I wanted to eat healthier this summer and somehow I am. You don't even know how bad it was during this school year. People should not be eating chocolate at 5:30 in the morning. Yesterday's race was the first one in a long time that was fueled without chocolate. That's huge news in Dani's world :)