A Balance, Redefined

I actually got over 7hrs of sleep last night! It was nice that the race didn’t start until 10am. I was very nervous about the race today. My legs felt heavy in the morning, the mileage this week was higher again and I was tired. When I got to the race Sasha, Ted, and Steve were there. Sasha gave me my team jacket and I went to get my number. I had a brisk 4 mile warm-up (Avg. 6:59 HR174) with three 50m pickups, each ending at about 5:20 pace. I finished this warm-up with James. During this time I planned that I would like to try and average 5:20 for the race with my main goal of doing anything under 17. I told this to Ted and he more or less seemed on board. There were some fast guys there I knew and a few I didn’t. In addition to the team members BJ was there and ended up winning. People lined up by mile one more or less how they finished. I felt like I was holding back a little during this time but hit the mile right on pace in 5:20. After the 180° turnaround I noticed that Albert (A Wasatch Athletics runner I’ve done a few workouts with) ahead of me was slowing a little and a second guy I didn’t know as well. I wanted to try and catch both. For mile two I slowed a little to 5:25. At this point I started to reel in Albert. With about a half to quarter mile to go I finally caught him but I couldn’t catch the other guy. The third mile was in 5:28. It felt much harder than the first mile but I should have put in a little more. Ended up finishing 6^th in a 16:53 by the Garmin for 3.13 with an Avg. of 5:23 HR 185. Overall I am very happy with the performance. I ran my 8^th fastest 5K ever and felt very strong doing so. I’m sure I have more in me and look forward to my upcoming races. I did an immediate 3 mi cooldown, half with my neighbor Mike and half with the team. Then after a little chatting with everyone I did another 4 mi cooldown on my own before heading into work. It was nice getting to talk with many of the team members. I haven’t had a chance to run with many of them more than once or twice in the past and it is good to get to know them face-to-face. For the cooldowns Avg. 7:52 HR 146