No, that's not sweat...(Tory Row 5K RR)

I PR'd today in the 5K.  I hit my goal of 27:xx (at least by my Garmin) with a 27:38.  I also peed myself.

The race was at Harvard Square starting at 9 am.  I was very glad today was cooler than it was a week or two ago, as that's a little late to start a summer race.  It was also gray and drizzly at the start so I was chilly in my tank and shorts.

I tried something new for this race - running a mile to warmup before the start.  I wish I could say that it had a positive impact on my performance but I don't think it did. I don't think it had a negative impact, just neutral.  A full mile might be a little much for me on the mental side - getting myself too hyped up before the actual race.

I got to the race which had a good amount of people - probably 2-300.  My garmin was ready, my iPod was not.  I was trying to get to a playlist for my prior 5K but everything was so wet that the circle thing wasn't working.  Finally got it set just as we were about to start.

The start was the standard - air horn goes off, people start walking as everybody gets jammed crossing the start.  I kick myself out and go all out - Mile 1: 8:44.  Things seem to be going okay, course is relatively flat.

Then the hills come.  There were three hills to climb in the course and I swear to God that even though we were on a loop course it never felt like we got to go down any hills - not fair!  I pushed myself up those hills best I could although I definitely admit I felt my motivation lagging a bit when I faced the third hill.

Ran past the water stop, and shortly after that I started to feel like I needed to pee.  Still about a mile and a half to go, I thought I could maybe make it.  Nope.  Immediately after I started feeling it and even thought about stopping to borrow a bathroom (we were in a residential area), the pee started.  And this wasn't a trickle - it was a flow.  I have no idea how the people around me reacted.  I just kept going.

Mile 2: 9:05.  A little tough mentally (especially in the second half with thoroughly wet shorts).

I could see that I was on track for a PR.  I wanted it, wanted to prove to myself I could do it.  I didn't have the drive to really pick it up but I did think I could hold on for the next 1.1 miles.  There was a tall guy next to me that I tried to hold on to and pass but didn't, but it was definitely a good motivating factor.

Mile 3: 8:47.   Just a little more, if I could hold on, I would PR.  I picked it up just a little, and that last .1 was 8:13.  Not a full sprint, but pretty nice.

I crossed the finish line and unlaced the chip on my shoe.  I had made the mistake of lacing it too high on my shoe and the edge cut into the top of my ankle.  I didn't hang around for my banana or free beer and just started walking back to where my car was. Thank goodness I had parked at my gym; I borrowed a towel to put underneath me when I got home.

How do I feel with this PR?  Good...I guess?  I don't know, maybe the focus on the pee part has got me a little out of it.  I will say that I pushed myself hard on this.  I crossed the finish line with very little left in the tank.  This one felt almost miraculous to pull out, which makes me think too hard about what my next 5K will be.  Will I succeed as well?  Given the conditions for this one, I think I will.

Yeah, I'll remember that one (Run to Remember RR)

So, I ran the Run to Remember. The short version is - I definitely did not hit my goal.  I basically blew up - went too fast at the start, ended up with last mile as the slowest mile, and although it might have looked  like I was okay when I crossed the finish line, inside my mind I wasn't.  But - I think that I have some good lessons that came out of this race.

First lesson - Run like I trained.  I started out with a slower mile than my goal, which I expected - 10:24.  Next mile - 9:15.  Danger, danger!  What was happening in my mind was I saw that first mile and my brain went stupid and said "Ohmigod - that's too slow.  SPEED UP SPEED UP".  What I really should have reminded myself of was those training runs where I naturally started out slowly and then GRADUALLY sped up.  I also had multiple 10-14 mile runs where I practiced pushing those last 1-2 miles, so I know that I can pick up a lot at the end.  All that flew out of my brain in the midst of this frantic need to be FAST FAST FAST way too early in the race.

Second lesson - Adjust to race conditions.  I mentioned in my last post that the summer heat was starting to come on.  I had been running in those conditions for the past couple days.  I wasn't fully adjusted, I believe.  It's a few days later and I feel more comfortable to push the pace, but that day?  Wasn't there.  It especially ties in with the above - I need to remember that even though I'm not feeling the heat yet, it will heat up as I get further into the race.  Slow it down now so that I'm not as uncomfortable later in the race.  Plus - take the water.  I took more than I'm used to and was okay, but I think that skipping the first couple water stops was a bad idea.  I've also pretty good now at running through the stops and doing the top squeeze, drink, toss, so no time loss.

Third lesson - Plan for the race, not just the goal.  For shorter races like 5Ks it's easier to grab a pace and just try to hold on.  Not effective for 10 miles, half marathons, marathon. Those longer races I need to get my mind to a place where I have different comfort levels at different points in the race; easier at the beginning to get adjusted, pick up the pace mid-race, all out (as much as possible) at the end.   I need to learn this lesson now, before I crash and burn in my first marathon.

I will say that even though I'm not happy with my result (2:20:42), I still enjoyed the race.  It was a good size race - ~8,000 people - but I didn't feel exceedingly crowded, although there was never a time where I was alone on the course.  I did like the course because it really made me realize how close areas in Boston are to each other.  The course ran from World Trade Center down by Seaport all the way up to  Harvard square.  Along the way it ran past Government center area and a nice bit along the Charles river.  The finisher medal was fun, the t-shirt although not a tech shirt is fairly nice if a bit boring.  Overall I came out of the experience wanting to run it again next year.

What's interesting about the whole experience is it really did make me see that I'm at a point where just crossing the line isn't a miracle and that every time I put effort in I will PR.  I have to race smart, and I really hope with my next half marathon (BAA in October) I will be ready to get the PR I am looking for.  I just have to pull this page back up the day before and remind myself what this race taught me.

Well, that was...okay (Half of Quincy RR)

Half of Quincy is in the books.  And although I did PR, and hit exactly halfway between my B and C goals, it doesn't feel very good.

Let's start with the day before.  I was feeling good that day, very excited to be running.  I had a lovely lunch of a leftover half meatball sub and was feeling good.  At night I had a lighter meal - english muffins, one with PB, one with butter, green beans, and a yogurt.  Then I had a serving of chocolate.  Then another.  Only two servings, but that second serving was out of mental desire not true hunger.  It happens, but this time it happened when I was already feeling a bit overfull. 

So - off to bed feeling vaguely queasy.  Slept well, which is good, but it also helped that I had slept well the night before.  Woke up - still feeling a little off from the sugar overdose.  Got up, toasted my bagel, PB'd it, and was out the door on time.  I will pause here to say that on the days that I don't want to do my long runs it's really the bagel that gets me out the door.  Not so much the fueling (which it does), but the mental thing - "ate the bagel - let's go run!".

Drove down to Quincy to a gorgeous, sunny morning.  It was in the forties but I knew it was going to warm up so I was in a long sleeve tech shirt and shorts.  The shirt was from the Tufts Women's 10K from last year, and it was really funny how many other women I saw wearing the same shirt! 

Lined up for the bathroom (of course), and as I was waiting a woman wearing a jacket that said Security came over to the line and tapped the woman in front of me, me(!), and the two women behind me.  She said "Come with me.".   I was mentally like - "What did I do?".  She walked us over to the other side of the hall (we were in a high school), and unlocked another bathroom!  She said since it was only four stalls she wanted to manage the number of people going in....

Did some more stretches, lined up for the bathroom again, got in just in time, and lined up outside.  It was interesting because this was the first year that this half also was doing a 5K.  They both started at the same time and lined up at the same place, but the 5K people were splitting off to the left while we went straight.  I do wonder how well it went in terms of traffic management. I didn't see any issues, but I might do a check to find out what people's experiences were.

Started out feeling...ehn.  Not fast like the 10 mile race, more like just running was an effort.  I fought from the start and it didn't get any better.

And as a note - never believe a race director when they say the course is "mostly flat".  Mostly flat.  Like I'm mostly Nicole Kidman.

The run itself was mostly uneventful.  I did have a mini cheering section in my cousin and her boyfriend.  They were at mile 4.  What's awesome is that I had started out wearing gloves because of the chill, but by mile 4 I was so hot that even though I had taken them off and tucked them into the front of my shorts I even felt hot with them being there.  Just as I was thinking that I saw my cousin ahead of me; she was cheering, I veered over towards her, and tossed my gloves.  She caught them.  Good thing - wouldn't want to lost 67 cent gloves that I had multiple pairs of at home!

As alluded to above there were definitely some hills on this course.  I mentally wasn't feeling them and had to fight to not walk.

I've gotten this far into the race report and haven't mentioned the major problem yet.  My right hamstring/piriformis?   Killing me the entire race.  Literally the entire race.  Luckily it's not the kind of pain that throws off my stride, but it was not fun. 

So even with the oversugaring, painful glutes, overheating (yes - even though it was a light tech shirt I was still hot), I still feel that I gave all that I had that day. 

 My old PR for the half was 2:29:45; this new one is 2:12:00.  So - good.  But just not mentally good.

Holy...! (Black Cat 10 Miler RR)

Quick update - I did not make it streaking through February as planned.  That's okay - I think that the effort got me more comfortable with my legs which is enough for me.

I also got exceeding lazy about posting my goals for my first race of 2012, which was this morning.  So call this a goals and post mortem at the same time.

First of all the race was the Black Cat 20 and 10 miler.  I did the 10 miler; this was my second 10 miler ever. It doesn't seem to be that common a race distance so I don't know how many I'll end up doing.  Randomly I saw someone posting about doing an 8K, and I couldn't even believe that was a distance.  Makes no sense to me.

Anyway, goals.  I was having a hard time getting A/B/C (absolute/probable/stretch goals) because one that I was considering seemed like good practice more than a goal.  What I did have were:

A - PR.  Considering my PR from my prior 10 miler was slower than my current slow run pace, I figured unless I slammed face first into the pavement (sneak peak - I didn't) that I was safe with this.

B - 1:40.  It's a nice round number, exactly 10 minute miles.

C - This is where I ran into trouble.  I was torn between setting a goal of hitting McMillan prediction (1:39:47, based on my last race) and trying to negative split.  I don't think I ended up on a decision, so I really went in with A and B goals only.


So - race.  The race was in Salem, MA, which apparently I only visit to race?  It's not that far away and it's full of historic interest - get on the ball, chick!  Anyway - I was 90% prepared when I got to the race.  The missing %?  My stupid brain which forgot blister band aids that I've been living on recently (new shoes are needed desperately) and my sunglasses.  Luckily I ended up not really needing either.

I got to the race location half an hour early with the expectation that I would do an actual warmup mile or two before the race, instead of taking the first couple miles in the race at a slower pace.  That decision went out the window when I saw that I could wait on line for bathrooms inside instead of using port-a-potties.  Once I was done peeing I did some stretching and went out to the start.

It was a bit chilly but not that bad.  I really didn't hear the start announcement and only knew what was going on when people ahead of me started moving.  I also was very lucky that I kept my eyes on the road, because giant pothole right at the start!

Not much going on during the actual race.  ~mile 2 the voice in my head piped up, right on schedule - "Do you really think you can do this?  Maybe you should slow down.  Walking sounds good.  You're breathing pretty hard...".  Ignored.

Also around mile 2 there was a woman with disturbingly tight shorts ahead of me.  Serious wedgie.  She had incredibly awesome legs but those shorts... I really was glad when I passed her because they were seriously creeping me out.

The description of the course said  - "The only big hill is entering into Marblehead, there are a few other hills on the course but nothing major."  I don't know when they imported Mt Everest to MA, but it must have been right before this race.  It was a big hill alright but I felt good powering up it.  I was also happy that the course was a loop so I got to run down it on the way back.

This was the first race where I didn't walk through the two water stops that I ended up using.  I splashed myself pretty good on the first, did the squeeze sides of cup on the second which worked well.

Mile 8 the voice came back - "You still have two miles to go - maybe you should slow down?  You're going to trip yourself".  Stupid voice!  I don't listen to you!


I wanted to kick it up in the last mile.  I didn't kick it up as much as I have before, but I think that's a good thing?  I didn't leave much on the course?

My result - 1:35:40.  Almost 4 minutes faster than I was going for.  Wow.  Where did that come from?  So goals A and B definitively met, as well as beating McMillan.  Did negative split - first 5 miles were 48:28.

All this makes me excited for my half in two weeks.  I'm gonna bring it!