5k Race Recap 9/22/24: First Ever Overall Win!

Got my first ever Overall win in a local 5k today!

I know winning a local 5k is not impressive, but I don’t care what it is; winning anything is fun.

I ran 17:23, BUT I'm pretty sure it was a bit short.

My Apple Watch said 3 miles, which converts to 18:02 for a 5k.

Even though it’s nowhere near my goal of sub 17:00, I’m really happy with this, here’s why:

Stats

First off, here’s some stats:

Average pace was 5:49.

Average HR was 163.

Splits were 5:41, 5:44, and 5:59.

Bodyweight: 183

Pre-Race Meal:

1 Chobani S’mores Yogurt

3 Apple Cinnamon Rice Cakes

3 Graham Cracker Sheets

8g Peanut Butter

552cal 16P 13F 96C

I ate this around 7:45am and race time was 10am.

Warm-up

9:20am: 10 min run, started at 9:00 pace and slowly increased to 6:30 pace for the last 30 seconds.

9:30: kids dash with the 3-year-old

9:40: 5 minutes of dynamic warm-up stuff

9:45: 3x 15-20 second strides with jog between

9:57: 1x 15 second stride

Recap 

The purpose of this race was to see where I was at and to do a hard but not maximal effort.

At the start line it didn’t look like anyone was obviously a really good runner.

It’s usually pretty easy to tell.

I didn’t see any supershoes and no one had that look that they were obviously going to smoke me.

6 of them started out quick; after about 20 seconds, I looked down and saw a 5:15 pace, so I slowed down to ~5:40.

They got ahead, but I knew it was way too fast for them.

Over the next 4 minutes, I passed all but 1 of them just by staying at 5:40 pace.

I wasn’t speeding up; they were just slowing down.

One kid was still 10-20m in front, but I resisted the urge to speed up to pass him and just kept cruising, pretty confident he’d come back to me, and he did.

I passed him somewhere around mile 1.

I purposely sped up 5-10m before I passed and for 15 seconds after to discourage him from going with me.

It worked. 😂

My plan was to do my first mile in 5:40-5:45 and adjust from there.

I did exactly that and felt great, so I kept going at that pace.

Still felt pretty good after mile 2 and was fully confident I could keep that pace up for the rest of the race, if not go a bit faster.

I was pretty far ahead at that point and decided not to kill myself in the last mile, so I eased up just a bit.

Running 15-20 seconds faster wasn’t worth the negative effects it would have on recovery.

Plus, I wanted to fully enjoy winning🤣.

And I certainly did.

Winning anything makes it more fun.

What It Means 

Based on how I felt (and some other factors), I’m very confident I’m right around 17:40 shape right now, likely no faster than 17:30.

My plan is to make my first real attempt at sub-17:00 in 5 weeks on October 26^th.

I will also run an 8k on October 12^th or a 5k on October 13^th.

Based on today and my training for the past seven weeks, I think I have a very good chance of accomplishing my goal.

Recent Training

If you've been following along, you know I've had some injury issues lately and haven't been able to run as much or as hard as I would like.

In the past 7 weeks, I haven’t done any running faster than 6:05 pace, and 95%+ of my running has been 7:30 pace or slower (and 90%+ of that has been 8:00/mi or slower).

I only did 2 threshold workouts, 3x1 mile with 1:00 rest at 6:15-6:25 pace and 6:05-6:15 pace.

And my longest run in the past 2 months is ~5 miles.

My highest mileage week was 18, and all other weeks were 10-16.

In short, I’m still very undertrained.

I’m also 5 weeks into a pretty aggressive cut.

These aren’t excuses; these are just some of the factors I’m considering when realistically estimating my chances of running sub 17:00 within 5 weeks.

Also, over the next 5 weeks, I will:

-Lose another 5-8 pounds

-Do more hard-running

These are the two main reasons I think I will be able to run sub-17:00 by the end of October.

1200# Total

Now, totaling 1200# within a week of that is a whole different story.

At this point, I honestly have no idea if that will happen.

With the weight loss and how messed up my lower back has been the past 3 weeks, I think there’s a pretty good chance I won’t be able to total 1200# by then.

I think I’ll probably end up closer to 1,150#, but I’m not giving up on it.

6 weeks is a long time, and there is definitely a chance I’ll be able to do it.