Sunday, June 08, 2014

Race report: Moon in June 5K

I don't avoid many things in running -- running in rain, -20C or tempo runs. One thing I've successfully avoided for four years was a 5K race.

I have done one since 2010 and haven't full out raced one for five years. Since I'm in the final weeks of off season, I looked at doing this race to see where my fitness was and also see where all the gains this year have taken me.

My goal was to target 3:50s to 3:55s, sort of in the pace we were doing for faster intervals during the training season. The race is in Burlington and I had last run it in 2008, and this year it was a bigger event, more runners for sure. I went down with Lee and Julie and milled around, saw Emma, but mostly I was wondering what the day would bring.

Funnily enough, I was not as nervous about this as my hard workouts. I knew that if I were to run a hard 5K on the edge, the whole thing would feel like a good effort.



It was a 9 p.m. start and it was okay temperature -- not cool, but also not humid/hot.

1K
Lined up near the front, paced with Lee, and we didn't start out too fast and be sucked into the vaccuum that is a race start. Within half a kilometre, we were paced well, with very little jockeying after that point. The pace felt like work, but I kept up this kilometre.

1 3:41.8

2K
Tried to stay consistent. Listening to my breathing, it seemed like I was in an okay place. It was twilight. Really tried to concentrate but I was not used to this speed, which I'd pretty much avoided for the past six weeks. I had run a few kilometres at 3:55 a few days earlier and it felt good, better than tonight. I wondered if the beers before/during/after the Jays game Friday were coming back to haunt me, or the very bad sleep I've had the past week. Nevermind, I had more to go.

2 3:53.4

3K
Really tried to focus on getting well past the half way mark. Felt like I was racing. I was not redlining but I wasn't totally comfortable. A few days ago, I bought new lightweight shoes, but opted to wear my now-clunky Asics. I could really feel it tonight. They felt like bricks. But even though I wasn't racing, I could see who was ahead of me. Lee I pushed to continue on and he did. Wanted to get to the next kilometre marker.

3 3:51.5

4K
I knew that the fourth kilometre would be a challenging one -- so once I hit 3K, I knew I had done almost two miles of a three mile course. I used that to push me through, but I wasn't feeling comfortable. The stride was not as controlled as I'd like and my breathing told me I wasn't quite the fitness I was six weeks ago. Hold on, I thought. Get to the final kilometre

4 3:55.7

5K
So yeah, I didn't think the final kilometre would get me, but it did in a way. I thought a few times how comfortable it would be to start walking. I felt overheated, and also that I was near redlining. My allergies were getting to my head. I tried pushing once I hit the 4K mark but I didn't feel like I had my legs. It was an odd feeling, not having the both the body and the mind not cooperate. In my head, I knew that I could bear another 4 minutes, but not today. I did slow and saw that I did lose seconds here. I knew I had to push it to make it under 20 and in the end, I had enough buffer to make it under.

5 4:09.7
6 :17.9

So the final time was 19:49, which is my fourth fastest 5K out of 9, but I got under the 20 minute mark. It's where I wanted to be and in the end, if this is where I'm starting off the summer training cycle, I really don't have much to complain about.

I like the Moon in June a lot -- it's a local race, great vibe, not too big and it's on a Saturday night which allows for beer drinking right after. Not a bad end to my off season.

Final time: 19:49

4 comments:

Patrick said...

Congrats on another solid result. Good way to start off the summer race season.

Emma said...

Great result, Kenny! It's an enjoyable race, although the start time is definitely not my favourite.

I can't wait to see what your next training cycle looks like!

Sam said...

Wow Kenny. Amazing work. Sorry that I didn't get down to cheer you guys on, probably that would have made you run faster I'm sure. LOL Congrats on the well earned post race beers.

Robin said...

Congrats on the sub 20 5K that's super impressive. Nice work.