Today I entered a small 5K that had cash awards and some fast runners (juding by last year's results). I thought that after crushing that workout on Tuesday and feeling so strong and consistent in these last few weeks that I was in shape for a serious 5K PR. I was wrong.
We started the race and it felt really easy. I stayed with the GRC guy until 1.5 miles and he really took off at that point. I don't think the mile markers were accurate but if they were it really wouldn't surprise me based on how I always make the same damn mistake every time and go out too fast. It was a bit downhill going out. The turn around was a sharp turn where I had to stop completely and speed back up going up a small hill. At this point GRC guy was way ahead and I was running by myself (what else is new?) I pushed hard but could not go any faster. Just pushing and pushing with no response from the legs--obviously they aren't used to this anaerobic shock (without a jog rest in between). I saw the clock go from 15:50s to 16:00 and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get there. I crossed in 16:05. My other two female teammates ran 16:37 and 17:02-WOW!
It was a good race, I was 2nd and won 100 bucks. It was also disappointing to once again over estimate my abilities and feel so far off. I've been running a lot more and dedicating more of my life to running and being more healthy but I'm not running any faster at 5K than when I was doing 40-50 a week and partying--not to mention nowhere near my 10K PR despite much more running. What's the point of pool running and running 30 miles more a week if my PR in 2012 was 16:06 and I'm running 16:05 now? Of course I had an achilles injury. I'm hoping my efforts will proove fruitful in the long run but it's getting frustrating. I really want that 15:30. Seriously it ticks me off. With that said my endurance and long distance capacity has greatly expanded but my ability to run faster than 10K pace for more than 10 minutes at a pop has really faltered. I either need to run more 5K races or target more 5K specific training in my workouts.
The important thing was that I had fun with some of my running friends. Going to put in a solid week next week, get another 5K in on the 2nd and go after that sub 33:00 on November 9th. Running is hard but so is life. I'm not going to give up now.
Results.
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