Race Report: By George 5K, February 11, 2023

 I ran the By George 5K today, finishing in a time of 21:56 by my watch.

This race was a rust-buster - my first race back after the Houston Marathon, and also a chance to see how I raced on Rytary.  It's a small old-school-type race - an accurate 5K distance, but no mile markers and timing done by a combination of a "clicker" held by a race official and a tag on the race bib that is torn off in the finishing chute.  

It was chilly (38 degrees) and pretty windy this morning, which resulted in a low turnout (about 50 runners total for the 5K). I debated what to wear, and went with a long sleeve t-shirt and tights, which felt like the right choice.

I did my standard warm-up of 15-20 minutes easy running, then 3:00 at marathon-to-half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort, and 4x30 seconds at mile effort.  Then I did relaxed strides to keep my legs limber until we lined up.  I noted the wind was from the north.  The race itself was an out-and-back on a "U" shaped route, meaning a tailwind for the first mile, a mix of head and tailwind for the second mile, and a headwind for the third mile.

***

The gun went off, and I stayed off to the side while trying to establish my stride.  Once I'd had that settled, I looked ahead, and saw a number of runners that I could reel in.  There was a strong tailwind, which made me feel a bit less stable, and I also found that I couldn't push too hard without losing the stability of my gait.  So I did what I could, and tried to conserve energy to spend once I had a head wind.

After the first mile, we hit the turn at the southern tip of Hains Point, and the headwind hit.    Normally I would have dreaded it, but I felt a lot more stable with it, and used it as an opportunity to reel a few runners in.

It wasn't too long until we hit the turnaround cone to return.  The tailwind was equally strong, and I had to back off on the effort a bit to stabilize my stride.  I held that rhythm until we once again ran around the tip of Hains Point and back into the headwind.    At that point, feeling secure in my stride once again, I hit the gas.  

I could see the third and second place women ahead of me.  Third place was close, second fairly far ahead.  I passed third fairly easily, and steadily pulled towards second place, but ran out of real estate before I could pass her, finishing about 8 seconds behind her.

Splits were:

Mile 1: 7:12
Mile 2: 7:03
Mile 3: 6:49
Last bit: 0:52

So yes, the mile into the strong headwind was 23 seconds faster than the mile with the strong tailwind....

I'm both frustrated and happy with this race.  I got my rust buster out of the way, so that was good.  And I'm definitely handling running with others so much better than I used to.  At the same time, I'm not "fixed" yet.

My gait issues have improved substantially with the Rytary.  My hips are much better, and the issue is primarily in my toes - whenever my balance feels challenged (gusts of wind) or I try to surge to pass someone my toes curl and clench, which in turn makes it hard to run.   As soon as I start really trying, my toes and feet clench and I run slower.  So....in order to run my fastest, I have to try to run fast but not try TOO hard to run fast.

I'm already working on this with PT - I just need to keep working on it and practicing keeping my toes relaxed while running hard workouts.

Other notes:

• Left my house at around 6:40 am, which was perfect for the 7:50 am start.
• I tapered for this 5K like I normally do, but my legs felt a bit stiff.  I wonder if, just like the marathon, I'm now better off doing a little bit more before the race.