Armed Forces Day 5k - Race Report

Well, after some spotty weather all week, we were blessed with a beautiful day for the race. It was about 60 degrees and sunny, with a nice breeze moving at race time (8 am).

That, unfortunately, was the main highlight of the day, as I made the mistake I absolutely swore I couldn't make and went out too fast. My plan of attack was to be even mile splits, or even negative splits (getting fast over the course of the race), but assuming the rough mile markers I got from the online course maps (there was nothing official out on the course), I blew that possibility out of the water by running the first mile in about 6:50-6:55, which is a good 20 seconds below the 7:10-7:15 pace I was looking to have over the course of the race, and it absolutely cost me in the last half of the race.

Adding to the difficulties was that I had not totally had a good understanding of the course. We started on City Island and did almost a full lap of the island before heading across the Walnut Street walking bridge. At this point, we did a little turn and headed along the river. Looking at the map, I was thinking we were just staying up at the level of the bridge, but we actually dropped down to the lower level via a fairly steep hill. Not a big problem at that point, but it meant that we were going to have to go back up that hill right before the finish, and it also meant there was a similar hill to navigate at the turnaround point about 2 miles into the race. It also put us right down next to the river, into quite a wind tunnel that was blowing into our faces on the way out.

Between the wind in the face and having gone out too fast, my planning of having something in reserve for the last mile just didn't come together, and I was really just trying to hang on. The hill back up onto the bridge pretty much did me in, and the final run back across the bridge was far from triumphant. I did manage a final push to the finish to get in around 24:30, which was a solid 2 minutes below my goal, and I'm pretty that way too fast first mile cost me pretty much all of that time. Granted, 24:30 for a 5k is nothing to be ashamed of in the grand scheme of things, it's still under an 8 minute mile pace, and while the official results are yet to come, I know I finished ahead of significantly more people than I finished behind. That being said, I know I could have done a lot better - by the end of my training cycle I was able to run 3 miles at an 8:10-8:15/mile pace and feel very comfortable throughout, so going well under an 8 minute pace in 5k race shouldn't have been much of a problem - had I done a better job of pacing myself early in the race.

So, that will be a point of emphasis for my next round of training - being able to have a better feel for my pace. The difference between training and a race is that I know my training courses, I have checkpoints all along the way, so if I'm off pace, I know about it within a quarter mile and can make the adjustment. Today, all I had was a rough idea of where each mile was, and so until I got my first reliable time check, I was already in trouble. So, I will probably try to find some less familiar paths to run this time around, and also discipline myself to not look at my watch as much while I'm on my regular paths. I do not think my 22:30 goal was unrealistic for my level of conditioning, despite the fact that I fell 2 minutes short of it - I think the time was more reflective of my lack of experience than anything else.

So, what's up next? I plan to have a slightly easier week this week, perhaps just a couple days where I do some time-trailing at some shorter distances (1 and 2 miles) and then a 4-5 mile run over the weekend, and then I'll reset my training plan with new goals for this time around. At this point, I'm eyeing a couple options for races in late July/early August to be the next one that I'm "officially" training for. There's also a 5k in my hometown on 6/26 that I'm eyeing more seriously after today. It will be squarely in the middle of my training cycle, so I would be looking at it more for getting some more experience at running the distance than for a real barometer of progress - though I would probably be hoping for at least some sort of a PR given my time today.

So, all in all, I was disappointed today, but not disheartened, and very motivated to continue training and learning so that I can improve. I finished, and for the first one, I guess that has to be the primary goal :)