All about that pace.

Way to go Mike! Definitely the fettuccine.

More fettuccine, less water. Support the rabid :)

Congrats on the PR. May there be many more this year.

Great job on the PR!

Congrats on the PR!

Holy Fastness!!! Great job on the race and a PR to start the year off. I can not think of a better way to start the year than that. YOU ARE BACK!!!

Great picture, very handsome/beautiful family. Your hair is not so red anymore?!?

Back in black err, um gray? I am pretty fast for a grandpa huh?

Wow you are FAST! Great job!I love the family of runners photo!

LOL! I'm glad YOU said that RT. I had to bite my tongue.

Unbelievably fast, grandpa or not.

Congratulations on a PR, and a solid sub-20:00!

Thanks for posting the picture! Great shot of everyone looking cheerful and healthy! Congratulations on your race!

I was just looking at my splits from the turkey trot and they are more similar to this race than I remembered. I went out pretty fast, slowed down a little on mile 2, picked it back up in mile 3(but still not as fast as mile 1), then had a really good kick for the last .1

If I have enough left in the tank for that kick, should I be pushing a little harder through mile 2 and 3?

Nice work!

It is never a bad idea to try to push for longer at the end of a race instead of saving for the kick. But often it is not possible due to the lack of the specific fitness. Usually, the more time and the more miles you run, the better able you are to have a long kick at the end of a race. As you get out of shape, the kick becomes shorter and more pronounced. Aside from that, specific speed work - long intervals with short rest, can help build that type of endurance.

Do I appear to be getting out of shape? I was happy with the kick and thinking that I should have put more effort into the rest of the race. I felt much more relaxed across the middle of this race than my last 5k PR.

The term "out of shape" is relative. In my terminology, "out of shape" means "aerobic potential far away from being maxed out". So with this definition, almost everybody is "out of shape" most of the time. The good news is that you are getting PRs while having symptoms of being "out of shape". Which means that you should be able to run a 5 K around 18:00 once more fully in shape.

In your opinion, what would be the ideal pacing/splits for a 19:34 5k?

I guess what I was really wondering is if I could have run "smarter" and finished faster at my current fitness level.

Mike:

If you could have run faster, it would have been marginal. Your pacing was reasonable.

Here is what I am talking about, though. Suppose you have two guys. One has been running 80 miles a week for 5 years. The other is you. You race a 5 K, and finish within seconds of each other. His splits would be pretty much the same as yours, except his kick will be no faster than 5:50 pace.

Why? Because the years of aerobic development took him to the point where he runs his 5 K not that far away from his all out sprint. When you have only 0.1 of a mile left, the lack of oxygen supply to the muscles and their capability to use it is not as much of a limiting factor. You can borrow, and go into oxygen debt with no consequences that will affect your time. For him this does not matter, because his muscles and nervous system just cannot do a whole lot better than he is already doing, with or without oxygen. For you it makes a world of difference because all of a sudden you can run at your true neuromuscular capability without having to worry if there is enough oxygen to support it.

The good news is that this allows you to show your true neuromuscular capability, and we can see how fast you'll be able to go once the aerobic support has been built.

Thanks Sasha - The second part of that wasn't exactly what I was fishing for, but it is very helpful. The more I understand about my performance, the better equipped I am to improve it.