Sometimes you go down and then you go up. It’s not a straight line all the time. – Lopez Lomong
This is a dual race report because I’m feeling lazy. 😛
Races: Shea’s Chase 5K (11/2/2019), Greensboro 5K (11/23/19)
Goal: 24ish minutes, top 3 age group
Gear: The usual, Oiselle, Altra shoes, Garmin watch, naked running band
Gut: No issues… thankfully! My Nuun hydration definitely helps with that 🙂
Weather: For Shea’s, a little chilly but sunny, felt perfect once I started. For Greensboro 5K, cold and rainy, but was a bit too hot in pants.
Pre-Race: Dropped off kids at childwatch before Shea’s / Met up with my Oiselle Volee teammates before GSO:
Also watched the kids’ race, which I always love!
Race: Pushed hard at both races. Shea’s ended up better, but had no kick at the end. Greensboro, I felt like I had a monkey on my back. I got cramps in my back and I just couldn’t push. I haven’t been training right, I knew, but still I have this desire to feel strong and fast. Seeing my teammates near mile 3 was the only thing that kept me going. What a huge boost of encouragement, seeing them and hearing them cheer for me! Thank you Becca and Rachel!!
Results: Shea’s was a 24:05, which was 2nd of 45 age group. I missed first place (in fact, ran behind her for much of the race, leap-frogging several times) by 7 seconds, but I just couldn’t push any harder.
At the Greensboro 5K, I was 2nd of 16 with a 25:21, a time that makes me wince a little. Feels like I’m moving backwards! ☹ More on this below.
Recommend: I recommend both of these. I have more detailed comments from my 2015 Shea’s Chase 5K race report though the location has changed to Revolution Mills. I will continue to run this race if possible, to support the Mental Health association of Greensboro.
The Greensboro 5K was new this year, and the culmination of 7 races put on by the wonderful Trivium Racing. It featured a great custom long sleeve shirt, great snacks and drinks, and good crowd support. Downside was a hilly, twisty course!
I was starting to really get discouraged with my times from the second half of this year, then I realized that I have been training for the 400 meter sprint (still am—one week day to go!). I’m also running the 60m and 200m dash, at my first indoor track meet.
I also just realized—and I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner—I have basically been skipping my long runs since April! When I looked back through my training log, I have only run longer than 6 miles a handful of times since April (while doing Brad Hudson’s 5K plan). I’ve been trying to take a look at my training as if I was a coach. I think I train hard enough, but I definitely have omitted long, slow distance runs, mostly because I either 1) run them too hard, then feel completely gassed the rest of the day, or 2) get GI distress, and feel completely awful the rest of the day. Or sometimes both! (Or, running too hard is CAUSING, or exacerbating, the GI distress). So I am committing to long runs on Sundays—bringing back “Sunday Runday!”
For 2020, I know I want to have a fast 5K time, and maybe later in the year move up in distance to the 10K or even half marathon, depending on how these long runs go!
I will have a separate goals post soon.
Trivium Race series = complete 🙂
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