Race Report: Kentlands 5K, September 1, 2018

I ran the Kentlands 5K this morning in 19:48, which was good enough for 3rd place female.

I'm not terribly happy with this race - while I know I'm not in great 5K shape right now, I'm in better shape than this.  I think the issue this morning was that my physical fitness exceeded my mental fitness.  More on that later.

This is the fourth or fifth time I've done this race, though the last time I ran it was several years back.  It's a very fast course that never feels fast when you run it.  It rolls with several lengthy downhills and a sustained uphill in the third mile.  Though it's not a flat course, the placement of the hills (especially the long downhills) make for fast times - this was my 5K PR course for a long time.

***

I jogged the course once with my friend Jenn as a warm-up, and then did an extended stride (about 90 seconds) at tempo pace plus a few drills and a shorter stride.  I would have liked to have done a bit more, but I misjudged stuff and started my warm-up just a bit too late.  Then we lined up and were off.

Like always, a lot of runners surged off of the line.  I hung back a bit and eased into a controlled fast pace.  I spotted Jenn and another woman ahead of me, and I settled in just a bit behind them, with my intent to hold that effort until I got near the top of the hill in the third mile - at which point I'd empty the tank and hammer home.

Also like always, people started coming back to me as early as half a mile in.  I held my rhythm, taking advantage of the downhills where I could without overextending myself, and passed person after person.  As I watched ahead, I saw Jenn pulling away more, but the woman Jenn had been running with was fading.  Just before we hit the big climb, I passed fading-woman.  As I passed, I noted her gasping breaths and knew that she was done.

By that point, Jenn was too far ahead for me to have a reasonable chance of chasing her down in the last mile (it turned out there was another woman ahead of Jenn that I wasn't aware of).  I focused on the guys around me, trying to balance reeling them in with not overextending myself on the climb (which was every bit as long as I remembered).

Then we were turning for the long downhill to the finish.  I picked off two more men, and then I had nothing but a long open road ahead of me.  Time to hammer home.  But I didn't.  I ran decently hard to the finish, but it wasn't my best effort.  I simply didn't have the motivation/killer instinct/whatever to run harder today.  

I'd like to blame it on not having anyone right in front of me to chase, but I think it was mostly my reluctance to embrace the pain of a well-raced 5K.

I'm annoyed and also a bit embarrassed about my lack of fire this morning.  However, I'm clearly not so mortified that I won't blog about it.  Nor am I all that surprised.  I seem to need to race at least once a month or so to stay race sharp, and it's been a bit longer than that.

So...while I'm frustrated and bit angry at myself, I'm also really really glad I raced this morning.  I obviously needed this, and hopefully I'll do a bit better next weekend at the Fifth Avenue Mile because I raced this morning.

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Splits were:

Mile 1: 6:20
Mile 2: 6:23
Last 1.11 - 7:05 (6:23 pace)

So....a very evenly paced hard tempo.  Except for the fact that I was, y'know, racing....

***

Other notes:

• Jenn ended up winning the women's race, and my teammate Matt was second in the men's race, so it was a good day all around.
• The weather was a bit sticky - temp of 72, DP of 71.  So not great weather.  On the other hand, it's always this way for this race.  And I've run faster 5Ks in worse conditions.  Heck, of the three 5Ks I've done this year, this was the best weather I've had.
• Got to the race around 7:15 for the 8:30 start.  I think that was just a bit too short for me to have the relaxed, unrushed warm-up I like.
• Wore my Takumi Sens today.  In retrospect I should have gone with the Adios.  My footstrike varies depending on how fast I run, and I need to be running close to 6 flat pace for the Takumi Sens to feel good.