I got up this morning thinking I would run my first 5k since July, 2008. I finished that race in 19:11, which was a fast time for me. Since then I have focused exclusively on long trail races and building up my endurance. Whatever speed I possess has laid for the most part dormant and unused for the past 15 months. The past 2 months I have begun to mix in some speed workouts, mostly 1000m hard interval loops on trails.
My current fitness level is still on the high end for energy, endurance, with speed gaining ground. Unfortunately the racing season in this area is coming to a close, there are not any long distance events to participate in, and all of the trail races are finished. All that remains are small road races, so even though I have no practice in those, it is better than wasting good performances in training runs.
On my jog over to the park my seasonal allergies had congested my lungs, so I was having trouble breathing. On top of that my energy level felt low. Not a good way to feel going into a 5k, where the entire race is run near maximum effort. I was huffing at 8:30 pace, how was I going to tolerate cruising at 6:20?
From experience I know that after running a couple of hard intervals the lung congestion improves, so before registering for the race I went into the woods and did 2 x 1000m hard loops. After the second loop I was breathing better, probably 85% capacity, compared to 50% when I started. My energy level was still low, however, and even though my thigh soreness from last weeks race was gone, my legs felt sluggish.
Because of this I decided against registering for the race. I could not justify spending $20 for a 20 minute race in which I was going to feel like crud. As I was doing some strength exercises on the monkey bars I got the idea that I would run half the race as a bandit. I had never run a race without registering and paying, but I recalled reading blogs of runners who did this when they wanted to run part of a race (usually a half marathon or longer) and then drop out midway or near the end. It being a small race, I decided the organizers would not care, but I did question if it was ethical to participate without paying. But my love of running trumped my ethical uneasiness and I lined up at the very back of the running pack a minute before the race started.
My plan was to run the first mile, and then drop soon after. I wanted to see if I could hit a good 5k pace when I was not feeling my best. When the race started I felt like I was running somewhat fast, but I made no progress on catching the runners who were ahead of me. As I watched an overweight female who was not very graceful pull away from me during the first 400m I wondered if I had been overestimating my running pace during my 1000m intervals. I was guessing I was hitting a 6:30-6:40 pace, but in reality maybe I was running slower.
After the first quarter mile I increased my pace just a notch and found that while I was starting to go a little faster, a lot of runners were starting to slow down. The overweight girl was now laboring and I passed her easily, along with many others. I saw Audrey I. ahead of me, who is the top female masters 5k runner in the area, and I began to close in on her. I was feeling pretty good, although my breathing was heavier than it should have been because of the asthma, and my legs were slightly clunky due to not being fully recovered. At the half mile mark I got to within 20m of Audrey but could not close the gap. She was picking up the pace, and I could not match it.
I passed more runners and wondered about my mile time. As we got to the mile marker someone was calling out the split and I crossed in 6:14, which surprised me, because that is right where I should have been for a 19:30 or better effort. Audrey usually runs a 5k in 20:30-21:30, so she was on her way to a great race, running the first mile in 6:10. I ran for another 500m and then got off the course, jogging about 400m until I left the park.
Given the way I was feeling, I probably would have slowed to a 6:30 mile for #2, and then slowed further to 6:45 for #3, giving me an approximate 20 minute finish. I would have been happy with that time, considering how out of practice I am for short races. | 