Get Your Rear in Gear 5K
Hmmm, my overall reaction to this morning's 5K? Frustration, disappointment, I guess--but not in myself! I ran great! I didn't think the great weather conditions of the Daisy 5K would repeat, but it was very close--it was just as chilly (50F?), and no wind. It rained right before start time, so the course was wet, but that wasn't too big a deal. The course was easier than the Daisy, only one minor hill. Still, I had a hard time thinking I would do as well as I did at the Daisy 5K.
I knew I ran the first mile too fast and would get progressively slower, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to hold back at all. I just can't see myself holding back and trying to run faster later in the race and actually finishing faster. So, I had 6:42 the first mile--still way faster than I expected. I started slowing down, 7:10 the second mile, no big deal. The third mile featured the short uphill, which brought my breathing to one every three steps for the rest of the race. I was starting to struggle.
Now was when I suspected something is wrong. My Garmin has me below 20 minutes and the finish line is in sight! I cross the finish at 20:34, blowing away any previous 5K time in my life. I should be ecstatic at this point, but then I look at the Garmin again and see that the course was only 2.94 miles long! That's about 95% of a 5K. How can I count this? I don't expect race logistics to be perfect, but if there's one thing I insist they get right is that a 5K race should be 5K long! In the age of GPS, there's really no excuse for this. It's really frustrating in that if I extrapolate my 7:18 pace over the last .94 miles, I would've finished in 21:56, which would have been a all-time PR (better than my 22:08 in HS). But because the course was short, I can't count it.
The next two races in the series are 10Ks, and the last race is a 5K in May. I'm sure it'll be a bit warmer then, so it'll be that much harder to improve my 5K time. For now, I have to switch gears and figure out how fast I can run a 10K.
I knew I ran the first mile too fast and would get progressively slower, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to hold back at all. I just can't see myself holding back and trying to run faster later in the race and actually finishing faster. So, I had 6:42 the first mile--still way faster than I expected. I started slowing down, 7:10 the second mile, no big deal. The third mile featured the short uphill, which brought my breathing to one every three steps for the rest of the race. I was starting to struggle.
Now was when I suspected something is wrong. My Garmin has me below 20 minutes and the finish line is in sight! I cross the finish at 20:34, blowing away any previous 5K time in my life. I should be ecstatic at this point, but then I look at the Garmin again and see that the course was only 2.94 miles long! That's about 95% of a 5K. How can I count this? I don't expect race logistics to be perfect, but if there's one thing I insist they get right is that a 5K race should be 5K long! In the age of GPS, there's really no excuse for this. It's really frustrating in that if I extrapolate my 7:18 pace over the last .94 miles, I would've finished in 21:56, which would have been a all-time PR (better than my 22:08 in HS). But because the course was short, I can't count it.
The next two races in the series are 10Ks, and the last race is a 5K in May. I'm sure it'll be a bit warmer then, so it'll be that much harder to improve my 5K time. For now, I have to switch gears and figure out how fast I can run a 10K.
Labels: ARC Sprint Series
posted by PlaysByEar at 11:30 AM
1 Comments:
Damn, that sucks. With the money it costs to run a 5K nowadays, you'd think they'd at least get the distance correct!
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