In running a 5K this weekend, I had two objectives, which I hoped would be congruent. One was to beat my PR of 18:51 (I've come tantalizingly close twice this year). The other goal was to test myself by going out more aggressively in a 5K. I've run 18:53 with a 6:15-ish first mile in my last two 5Ks, which is my 10 mile race pace.
I had several different options for a 5K this morning, including 2 very fast courses in DC. Of course, the problem with both DC races was that each started at 9 am - not ideal for a June race. Other races had slower courses, but would start earlier and be cooler.
After some thought, I went with Kids Run DC. It was a very fast course (pancake flat and a loop) and would be on the banks of the Anacostia River - I hoped that a breeze off the river would keep things cooler despite the late start. And.. a friend was doing the timing and [jokingly] promised me a fast time - how could I refuse?
***
I left my house around 7:15 to drive there - it was only a 15 minute drive, but last time I went to Anacostia for a race, I got lost - I wanted to allow fudge time in case there was a repeat. As it turned out, things worked much better this time around, and I got there around 7:30 - enough time to pick up my bib, chat some, and then warm-up. For my warm-up, I went with 3.5 miles, including two 400m reps at around race effort. Everything felt good.
This was a small race (only about 150 people) but decently competitive on the women's side, including at least one woman, Kerry, with a recent OTQ. Good - I wanted people to chase and hang onto. The bad news was that the sun had come out from behind the clouds, and there was no shade on course. Oh well, it was only 3 miles and change.
At 9:10 am, we lined up and were off (a bit delayed due to some transit issues for some of the participants). Three other women, including Kerry, pulled ahead and I tucked in a bit behind them.
I'll step aside at this point and note: if anyone had asked me about how to pace this race, I would have absolutely told them that when it's hot, it's best to go out very conservative and go for a hard negative split. That said, I chose not to follow my own advice here. I really wanted to experiment with something different and test my own boundaries. And if I was right, I'd have a really great time to show for it.
So...I went out hard. Not "this is crazy" hard - just a bit above my comfort zone, and disregarding any allowance for the heat (again, it was only 3 miles). When we hit the first mile, I felt....not great, but not awful. I pulled ahead of one of the women and a guy, and just focused on my effort and told myself to trust my fitness.
But things got harder in mile 2, with the pack pulling ahead, and by the time my Garmin buzzed a second time (no mile markers, so I used autolap) I was really hurting. And baking. The less said about mile 3, the better. Just...ugly ugly ugly.
(I was passed by a woman during this mile, dropping me to fourth)
Final splits ended up being:
Mile 1: 6:00
Mile 2: 6:06
Mile 3: 6:36
last bit - 43 seconds (6:31 pace).
So...yeah, not my normal pacing job. And kinda painful.
Obviously nobody likes a race that goes asskettle, but I'm not that unhappy with it. Oddly enough, I'm far happier than I would have been with another negative split 18:5x. (though not as happy as I would have been with a big PR).
This is because I really needed and wanted to experiment. To make sure that my preferred race strategy is what works best for me, and wasn't just a comfort zone/rut. And it's been quite a while since I've tried something different in a race.
[to be clear, I don't mean that I haven't been running my races very hard, or that I haven't been leaving it all out there. I have dug very deep in my goal races. But...I do have a standard way of running races - ease into it, hit a steady rhythm, then hammer the last mile. It works very well for me, but it's also my comfort zone. And I needed to challenge that.]
Plus, if I had pulled it off, it would have been a really good time. And I think I might have been able to, if it wasn't quite so hot. I felt like I had the strength to hang on - the heat just did me in.
So...on to the next race. And a return to my preferred negative split style. Though the next time I get a cool 5K, I'll try a hybrid approach where I go out harder, but not THAT hard.
Other notes:
- This race very nicely gave gift cards to the top masters runners; my fourth place finish was also top master, so I got some shwag for my efforts.
- According to Weather Underground, it was 79 degrees by the time the race started. Low humidity, but still hot enough that I really should have dialed back the first mile.
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