Ah...the monkey on my back...trying to go sub-30:00 on a standalone 5K race... I've been trying for awhile, but it just hasn't happened! My first chance for this year came today, at the Spring Trio 5K race.
I actually had 20K on the schedule so I figured I would run a nice and easy 5K, race my 5K, then go out and finish off the last 10K. I seem to race better on tired legs so this seemed like it might be a good strategy. I drove out to Eau Claire and got going at 9 am. I wanted to keep my pace above a 10:00 mile. I had plenty of racing to do later and I didn't want to waste my speed quite yet! I ran the 5K...finished in 31:45...then made my way to the start of the race. I picked up my timing chip, hit the bathrooms and found a few of my teammates who were racing . My parents were signed up for the 5K as well.
There was a 5K, 10K and a 15K race and we all started at the same time. It was slightly congested for the first few minutes but pretty soon things spaced out. I settled into a pace where I felt like I was pushing it, but that I thought I could still sustain. I hit the turnaround for the 5K before I knew it. We had to climb up an overpass to a bridge and the effort up the bridge caused something in my stomach to knot up. I ran along the bridge, and back down a hill to get back on the pathway and passed the one water stop. I ran past it. I didn't feel like I needed it, I didn't want to slow down to drink, and I didn't know what my stomach would think of it. At this point the pathway was pretty empty of racers. I wasn't sure how many people were racing the 5K but I didn't see a lot of people ahead of me. From here on out it was flat to the finish and I just wanted to sustain things. I turned the corner and put in the final kick to the finish...
When I woke up this morning for some reason I had the time of 27:55 come into my head. I figured if I could run somewhere around a 27 or 28 minute 5K that would make me pretty happy.
The final results?
I'm blown away by my time! I never figured that I'd be able to run it this fast! And fourth in my age group too? I wasn't really a contender for 3rd place since the lady ahead of me beat me by 1:23...
I hung out and cheered my teammates and my folks in. Everyone raced really well! My parents even placed in their age group! Talk about a good day for the Runner Leana family.
My teammate Tracy raced the 10K in just under 45 minutes (and she placed third in her age group!), then she had another 10K to run as well. Even though our paces don't really match up she offered to run together and having the company made the run fly by. I knew we were running at a pretty fast pace (for me) but I didn't want to look down at the Garmin to confirm that. I thought knowing would start to affect me mentally and that I wouldn't be able to hold up for the full 10K. We wound up running the 10K route that Tracy had just raced. The water stop at the turnaround had been taken down, but there were still cups and an open bottle of water. We hadn't counted on the morning heating up quite so much so we stopped and grabbed some water since we weren't carrying any. As we hit the back half of the 10K we got a bit more silent, but I never thought about slowing down.
We hit the finish line and I stopped the Garmin. 10K in 58:10. That's practically race pace for me! This taught me that I could sustain a fast pace over a long distance and that I could run strong on tired legs. I've had trouble mastering the art of the negative split on a 10K and this taught me to place a bit more faith in my legs and to keep pushing no matter what. So a huge thanks to Tracy for running with me!!
I met up with my folks for lunch, then came home and had an easy recovery spin on the trainer for just over 30 minutes. It is amazing how much that easy recovery spin helps to keep the legs loose!
I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!
I actually had 20K on the schedule so I figured I would run a nice and easy 5K, race my 5K, then go out and finish off the last 10K. I seem to race better on tired legs so this seemed like it might be a good strategy. I drove out to Eau Claire and got going at 9 am. I wanted to keep my pace above a 10:00 mile. I had plenty of racing to do later and I didn't want to waste my speed quite yet! I ran the 5K...finished in 31:45...then made my way to the start of the race. I picked up my timing chip, hit the bathrooms and found a few of my teammates who were racing . My parents were signed up for the 5K as well.
There was a 5K, 10K and a 15K race and we all started at the same time. It was slightly congested for the first few minutes but pretty soon things spaced out. I settled into a pace where I felt like I was pushing it, but that I thought I could still sustain. I hit the turnaround for the 5K before I knew it. We had to climb up an overpass to a bridge and the effort up the bridge caused something in my stomach to knot up. I ran along the bridge, and back down a hill to get back on the pathway and passed the one water stop. I ran past it. I didn't feel like I needed it, I didn't want to slow down to drink, and I didn't know what my stomach would think of it. At this point the pathway was pretty empty of racers. I wasn't sure how many people were racing the 5K but I didn't see a lot of people ahead of me. From here on out it was flat to the finish and I just wanted to sustain things. I turned the corner and put in the final kick to the finish...
When I woke up this morning for some reason I had the time of 27:55 come into my head. I figured if I could run somewhere around a 27 or 28 minute 5K that would make me pretty happy.
The final results?
Net Time: 26:46.0
Gun Time: 27:03.2
Females 30 - 39: 4 out of 12
Overall: 15 out of 53
Gun Time: 27:03.2
Females 30 - 39: 4 out of 12
Overall: 15 out of 53
I'm blown away by my time! I never figured that I'd be able to run it this fast! And fourth in my age group too? I wasn't really a contender for 3rd place since the lady ahead of me beat me by 1:23...
I hung out and cheered my teammates and my folks in. Everyone raced really well! My parents even placed in their age group! Talk about a good day for the Runner Leana family.
My teammate Tracy raced the 10K in just under 45 minutes (and she placed third in her age group!), then she had another 10K to run as well. Even though our paces don't really match up she offered to run together and having the company made the run fly by. I knew we were running at a pretty fast pace (for me) but I didn't want to look down at the Garmin to confirm that. I thought knowing would start to affect me mentally and that I wouldn't be able to hold up for the full 10K. We wound up running the 10K route that Tracy had just raced. The water stop at the turnaround had been taken down, but there were still cups and an open bottle of water. We hadn't counted on the morning heating up quite so much so we stopped and grabbed some water since we weren't carrying any. As we hit the back half of the 10K we got a bit more silent, but I never thought about slowing down.
We hit the finish line and I stopped the Garmin. 10K in 58:10. That's practically race pace for me! This taught me that I could sustain a fast pace over a long distance and that I could run strong on tired legs. I've had trouble mastering the art of the negative split on a 10K and this taught me to place a bit more faith in my legs and to keep pushing no matter what. So a huge thanks to Tracy for running with me!!
I met up with my folks for lunch, then came home and had an easy recovery spin on the trainer for just over 30 minutes. It is amazing how much that easy recovery spin helps to keep the legs loose!
I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!
24 comments:
Great job on the race and the following 10K sounds like you had an amazing weekend!
Way to go Leana! Nice new PR!
Holy cow - you completely obliterated your 5K time. Serious congrats! Awesome, totally awesome!
Nice job!
Fantastic work! The way you are going, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point you make top 3 in your age category! Keep up the great work!
Woo Hoo! Awesome time,congrats on blowing away your previous PB!
That's a huge PB!! Way to go!! And a stellar 10km run after the race too...wow. That's kick ass!
Dang, girl! That's a speedy 5K!! Congratulations :)
WHOO HOO!!!!! Knew you could, and congrats to your parents too! Awesome!
That's fabulous!!! Congrats on both the 5k and the 10k run, what a great day all around. :)
Awesome job! Getting a PR is such a great thing and I"m glad you finally achieved your goal!
That rocks, congratulations! You have to be thrilled with that. PRs are always goood.
CONGRATS!!! Wow, nothing like blowing away your previous PR!! Awesome job ;D ;D
YOU DID IT!
Congratulations on the huge 5K PR... in the middle of a 20K run as well! Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Wow! That's impressive. Congrats on the new PR.
CONGRATULATIONS on a great race and pr! Woo-hoo! Amazing what the body can do...especially when you dream it and believe it! Way to go. Nice 10k as well - awesome! :)
Hey - I noticed that you're signed up for Lake Stevens... me too! Hopefully I'll get a chance to say HI over the weekend!
That monkey has a headache after that butt whoopin! Way to go!!
Uh, oh, you can run faster than you thought!
Not a bad thing at all. I'm glad to read a race report with a happy ending, believe me.
Just watch out for that urge to speed up, it's the dark side, I know, I live there!
Anyway, a good day for Team L. Nice job.
seriously all of the cross training and major workouts your are doing must have helped! You really blew away your time!
TERRRRIFIC!!
That training you're doing really seems to be paying off. And I love how you ran your PR and still managed to get in all the miles for the 20K too!
Great job Leana! I agree that all of the training that you are doing has conditioned you well to sustain fast paces over multiple races in the same day...LOL
You're redefining the interval workout. So when will we see all 4 distances in the same day?? (5k, 10k, half & full)
congrats!
awesome!!! congrats on a huge pr and majorly breaking the 30:00 barrier.
congrats are also in order for actually going out and finishing another 10k afterwards. i always say i will run a little after (just about) every race and then... i somehow manage to not get back out for those miles ;)
congratsssssssss!!!! so awesome :)
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