Posts Tagged ‘Fab 5k’

This past weekend’s Shamrock Half Marathon brought to an end the best 12 months of racing so far. After coming back from injury, I have pushed myself to tough, but attainable, goals. I can’t wait to get to what’s ahead, but I think this span of time deserves some reflection.

I have set PRs in all the traditional racing distances since last April. Here’s a look at them and how much I improved from the previous PR.

10k

The flatness of the Monuement Avenue 10k in Richmond has been very friendly to me. Last year in April I went out and unexpectedly ran 48:08, a 3-second improvement from two years before.

I was tempted to sign up this year and go for another PR, but the proximity to Shamrock and my other current running plans put this event off.

I’ve never put much emphasis on 10ks, but I think right now I could do some damage to this PR on the right course.

5k

When I went to Ohio for the July 4th weekend, I had one goal for this race: PR. A flat 5k? I had to knock it out.

And I did, beating my previous 5k time by 31 seconds, running 22:10. Then, surprisingly, less than 2 months later I knocked another 18 seconds off, hitting 21:52 in a mostly flat Fab 5k.

I would love to get even faster at this distance, but I’m not sure when the next opportunity will come.

Marathon

I don’t really look at my 3:56 in Baltimore as a PR — I look at it as all the pieces finally coming together to run the marathon I wanted to run. It took a lot of lessons learned from two previous attempts for this to work.

All that said, it was a more than 14-minute PR in that distance, beating my time from Richmond in 2007.

Half marathon

And, of course, all this ends with Sunday’s race in Virginia Beach. My time of 1:40:48 is a PR by 2:04. Of all these PRs, this is the most important to me — this is the distance I love and will be the distance I continue to tackle for a while.

Last night I passed last year’s running miles and now stand at more than 1,012 for the year. In just a few days I’ll pass my consecutive running days streak — Saturday will be the record-setting day. It’s a fitting way to end the year full of personal records. Here’s a look:

• It started in April with a 3-second PR in the 10k at the Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond. You may recall this was my No. 1 racing moment of the year in my post the other day.
• In July I had one goal — a PR in the Stars and Stripes 5k in Howland, Ohio. Mission accomplished by 31 seconds.
• A few weeks later, I dug deep and found a PR in the Percival’s Island 5 Miler, the fourth time I’ve done that race. I knocked 12 seconds off my PR from 2007.
• It wasn’t a personal record in the distance, but I did set a course record by more than 4 minutes on the “new” course of the Lynchburg Half Marathon in August.
• A week after that I set a new bar in the 5k in the Fab 5k, knocking off another 18 seconds off my PR.
• Perhaps the biggest PR came in the Baltimore Marathon. I never really talked about how much improvement I made in that distance, but my 3:56:17 finish was more than 16 minutes better than my first attempt at that distance in 2007.
• The final record of the year came with a course record a few weeks ago in the Peaks of Otter Christmas Classic in which I knocked off more than a minute and a half of my time from 2009.

This may sound confusing, but to me it makes sense — some of my top racing moments of 2011 may not show up in a later post with top running moments of the year, or some of these moments may rank differently. The Baltimore Marathon, for example, was definitely one of the biggest highlights for me — ever — but from a racing perspective, it’s not my No. 1 moment of the year. Read on …

5. Trail race + age group award + running with my son
In May I was very humbled by running the Mountain Junkies Trail Nut 10k trail race in Bedford. That experience was one that reminded me how challenging running on multiple surfaces really is.

This race was made special in that I was 2nd in my age group and my son wanted to run with me after – a perfect way to cool down. Winning a free pair of Injinji socks added to that great day.

4. Sub 7-minute final mile, Percival’s Island 5-Miler
The fact that I set a PR in this race is not the reason this is here – the final mile of that race is. As I think back to that day, I’m still not sure why I couldn’t pick up the pace in the first four miles, nor do I know where I found the motivation to have one of the best miles ever in a race. I do know, though, that it’s worth this list.

3. PR in the Baltimore Marathon
Here’s where this list gets tricky. Coming back this year after an injury and running in the marathon may very well be my best running highlight this year (that’s for another list before the end of the year), but when it comes to racing, it’s not what stands out as the best moment.

Here’s why: as I near the finish of 8 years of running, I have to think about where I started and where I am now. When it comes to racing, the marathon is not where my roots stand. Yes, it is very important to me that I ran 26.2 miles and was not injured afterward, but as I allow hindsight to tell the story, the Baltimore Marathon was not the best racing highlight of my year. Considering that I ran 13 races this year (also a PR), No. 3 isn’t so bad.

2. Destroying my 5k PR
In July I set out for a PR in the 5k at a race in Ohio. It was the first time in a while that I’ve approached a 5k with a “PR or go home” mentality. While I did set a PR that day, the next month I once again set my PR in a 5k (the Fab 5k, another Mountain Junkies race) with a time of 21:52. I have shaved 49 second off my 5k PR this year — more than 16 seconds per mile.

1. Getting back to the start line
Nearly 5 months after being injured after the Richmond Marathon, I went back to the River City for my first race of the year – the Monument Avenue 10k. Not only was getting to the start line a huge deal, I also managed to get a PR by 3 seconds with a well-executed negative split. There’s no doubt in my mind that day was my greatest race moment this year.

One of the biggest lessons I learned from last year was to not get too caught up in the “most ever” or “best ever” moments. While they’re great and worth celebrating, it’s very easy to lose focus if I dwell on them too much.

Today is one of those moments to celebrate, but I also need to quickly move on. I’ll talk about it now and drink a Magic Hat or two to celebrate, but tomorrow is September and there are still 45 days until the Baltimore Marathon. FOCUS.

So … what’s the big deal?

Today’s tired feeling 3.3-mile run puts me at 134.5 miles for August. It’s the most miles in a month ever, edging out 133 miles in October 2007. I actually fell about 6 miles shy of my goal, as well as not getting to 40 miles last week, but I knew ahead of time those were big miles for me. The 40 will come soon enough though.

Similar to how I felt a month ago, how I got to that number is what is important.

• 7 runs out of 22 were under a 9-minute pace. That’s not quite as good as July, but this month I had a few more shorter and slower (and very important) recovery runs.
• A solid effort in the Lynchburg Half Marathon.
• Breaking 22 minutes in the Fab 5k.
• I ran a mountain.

The finishing field.

Perfect August weather (about 70 with low humidity) + a flat course = a recipe for a great 5k.

Yesterday morning, I saw a post on the Mountain Junkies Facebook page with a map of the Fab 5k race course — very flat with only about 40 feet of elevation gain.

Start of the Fab 5k

While I knew much of this course was off-road — some gravel, dirt and grass — I had the brief thought that I should be able to set a PR.

In the time since my 5k PR in Ohio in July, I’ve continued to push myself and my forced hill training has proven to work in my other flat race — the Percival’s Island 5 Miler. While I wanted to run hard, I tried to push off PR thoughts until I started running.

With more than 400 people running, and a narrow bridge about a half mile into the race, I took off. I glanced at my watch about two-tenths of a mile in to check my pace and a co-worker pushed my wrist down and told me to stop looking at it. I managed to pass quite a few people before the potential bridge jam and then just pushed the pedal harder — 6:45 in the first mile. I didn’t feel like it was too fast, but I knew it would be tough to maintain.

Much of the second mile was on the road — I was feeling good and was able to hit 7:01. In my head I knew that as long as I didn’t fall in a hole I could set a PR, but could I break 22 minutes?

With most of the third mile on grass, and very mentally challenging as I could continuously see the finish line, I kept telling myself to hold it together. Don’t look at the watch. Keep my head up. Go. Just go.

I can see that I'm taking a quick glance at the clock. (The time on the other side was a few seconds off for some reason.)

As I hit mile 3, a younger woman passed me and said something — I think “good job” or “almost there” or something like that.

It was what I needed for a final surge and pass her just before the finish mat and get under 22 minutes for a 5k for the first time ever.

I looked at my Garmin — 21:54. I almost threw up. My official time was 21:52, nearly 20 seconds faster than my PR from July 4. I’ve shaved off nearly 50 seconds off my 5k race time this summer.

I was 83rd out of 402 finishers; 8th in my age group out of 23.

My co-workers also did a great job with one of them running under an 8-minute mile pace for the first time ever.

It was a great day all around that course as more than 30 people had less than a 6-minute mile pace. It’s the type of day that gives me thoughts of getting my 5k time even lower and one day breaking a 7-minute mile pace.

It's great to have some co-workers at a race!

As I look ahead to the next couple of months, this will very likely be the last race until the Baltimore Marathon. As great as I feel about yesterday’s race, today’s long run is a different story. But that’s for another post some other time. This 5k PR is worth celebrating.

Thanks to Sam Rice for all the photos!

Coming off Saturday’s Lynchburg Half Marathon, I’ve been very happy with how my body has reacted.

• I had a nice 2+ mile recovery run with Duke on Sunday morning. It was a good way to cap off a week in which I really pushed myself with four runs in three days mid-week and the race. At 33.2 miles, it was the highest mileage week of the year and just less than 2 miles off my training peak from last year.
• I had a great core session on Monday, which included increasing my reps of squats I’ve been doing. I was worried initially about making that push, but my legs felt great.
• Today I continued my “push” theme and ran 4.7 miles in an 8:30 pace, which included a comfortable 8:19 middle mile. I initially felt like I started too fast, but I was able to maintain a good pace. The second mile, which was the hilliest, was 8:40.

Yesterday marked the two-months-to-go mark until the Baltimore Marathon. Two months? Really? That’s all?

I’m very happy with where I am in my training and the progress I continue to make with distance, speed and less worrying about my knee. The thought is still there quite a bit, but I can’t let it be a big distraction.

Next up in the journey is a big week with a goal of 36 miles this week, which will include a 5k on Saturday — the Fab 5k in Salem, Va. It’s a cross country style race.

While it’s promised to be flat, I’m looking at it as a speed workout. I’m not going to set a specific goal for this one. My long run goal is 16 miles on Sunday.

As I enter the second half of my training, I’m really setting my sites on a “first ever” moment of hitting 40 miles in a few weeks. It’s a distance out there that I’ve never been able to hit.

My previous two marathon attempts had too many things happen, but as of right now I’ve put it on my plan to hit 40 or more a few times before the taper begins. This will be the year it finally happens.