Seroogy's Valentine's 15k - Race Report

Coming off a less than thrilling race in Milwaukee at the Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon at the end of January, I was looking for a redemption-type race. Early on in my planning of my 2015 race season, I was eyeing up a race I have done before - the Seroogy's Valentine's 5k/15k. I did this race about 2 or 3 years ago and had a good time, plus you get free Seroogy's chocolate just for running. The race is held in De Pere, WI, about a 20 minute drive from our house and the weather was supposed to be ideal for an early February race. Taking all that into consideration, plus the fact that I was already off the night before, made it an easy decision to sign up for this race. In the past, I ran the 5k and this time around I wanted to try something different. I wanted to run a distance that I had not yet tried and with that reasoning, I signed up for the 15k opposed to the 5k.

Training for this Race

I did minimal training and zero specific training for this race during the two weeks following the Icebreaker Half Marathon. I did do some basic workouts, but nothing truly specific with the goal of improving my fitness for the Seroogy's Valentine's 15k. I did some pretty easy workouts with 2 indoor cycling workouts, 1 swim workout, and 6 running workouts with the longest being 7 miles on a treadmill. So like I said, no real specific workouts, just some basic lower intensity workouts with hopes of maintaining fitness.

Prerace

The race start time was scheduled for 8:00am, which is great, it would allow me to get an extra hour of sleep compared to a 7:00am start time, which I have grown accustomed to. My goal was to be on the road around 6:00am to give me ample time to officially register for the race and get a thorough warm up in leading up to the race start. I woke up around 5-5:30am and poured myself a cup of coffee, took care of business.  I left shortly after 6:00 and got to Seroogy's Chocolates around 6:45ish.  I was able to register right away and found that I had a ton of time to spare until the 8:00 start time.  Luckily, the church across the street from Seroogy's Chocolates opened it's doors for the runners to stay warm.  I found an empty room there and just chilled for a while until 7:30, when I wanted to start my warm up.  I got in a short and easy warm up, with some easy running with a few short strides thrown in to work on leg turnover.  By 7:50 I started making my way to the start line.

Nutrition Plan

After completely forgetting my nutrition plan during the Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon, I really wanted to be diligent with my nutrition during this event.  It started at about an hour before the race, when I took 2 Race Caps Supreme, 2 Mito Caps, and 2 Anti-Fatigue Caps.  With just 5-10 minutes before the start of the race I took a single Nocciola Hammer Gel just to top off my fuel stores, since I did not take in any nutrients since the night prior.  The Nocciola flavor is seriously the best tasting gel I have ever had, and I have had my share of gels.  My plan during the race was to take a single tab of Energy Surge as needed and rely solely on race course water for hydration - and only if necessary.

Gear/Equipment

New Balance 890v4

New Balance Windblocker Heat Tight

Hammer Cycling Wind Jacket

Garmin 901xt

Miles 0-9.3

Right after the gun went off, I started with what I thought was a conservative pace.  It was difficult to find a good grove since both the 5k and 15k races started together.  So, even though I felt like I was starting slower, based on the lead pack of runners, in fact, I probably started out a little too fast.  I found myself started just below my normal 5k pace.  It took me until the first mile, or so, to settle back into a good pace.  I had a predetermined goal in my mind of finishing in under an hour.  That pace would translate to an average pace of 4:00 per 1k.  I opted to set my Garmin to go off every 1,000m to help me keep an accurate eye on my pace.  I knew if I could keep my pace at or around 4:00 I would set myself up for a successful race.  The two routes split just shortly after the 2 mile mark.  It was at this point were I realized exactly how many people were racing the 5k and how few people were running the 15k - at least relative to the number of runners ahead of me.  The 15k portion of the route was a simple out and back through a local city park.  I continued to just push as hard as I could and tried to keep the uncontrollables out of mind and focus on what I can control.  I shoved out the thoughts of pain, discomfort, and focused on my breathing, my foot plant and toe-off.  It seemed to work well, since I ran pretty steady splits and never really fell off.  I ended up finishing the race in 1:00:06, right were I was hoping to be.  Luckily for me, the course was a tad bit shorter than a full 15k (9.3 miles), it ended up being 9.18 miles according to my Garmin.

Post Race

The post race is probably one of the best parts of this race.  Why?  Simple, free chocolate.  But not just any chocolate...good chocolate.  After a few free samples of Seroogy's Chocolate, I quickly made up my bottle of Hammer Recoverite and then stuck around to see if I was lucky enough to place in my age group.  Unfortunately, the 15k results got completely screwed up - at no fault to the race directors.  A whole group of runners who registered to run the 15k, decided to run the 5k instead and never told anyone.  And since both races were run concurrent to each other, their 5k times registered in with the 15k times.  Sure, it would be pretty obvious at first to sort through the times, but once you get into the 5k walkers (who typically finish in around an hour) it gets a little tricky to decipher who ran which race.  It took literally about an hour after the initial awards ceremony, but it all got sorted out, and I took 3rd in the M30-34 age group and 11th overall.

The Day in Music

What's on Tap

The next race that I am eyeing up isn't until March 15 at the St. Pat's Fun Run in Kimberly, WI.  It has also been a good 2-3 years since I last ran this event, but it is put on by the same company who organized the Seroogy's run.  Plus, the race starts at 9:00am which makes it easy to get to after working the night before.  They again off a 15k option along with the traditional 5k distance, which is tempting.  I found that I really like the 15k distance, as it is still a quick race, but more challenging than both a 5k or 10k.  I think I will play it by ear since I will be working the night prior to the run and will see how I am feeling physically that day before I commit to a 15k race at 9am.

As for my training and such, I have started training with a multisport focus and significantly more intensity.  I have been implementing the principles of the Furman University studied, FIRST Program.  It has been marketed quite a bit by Runner's World Magazine.  FIRST stands for Furman Institute of Running and Sports Training.  Along with Runner's World, the experts of FIRST wrote a book entitled, Run Less, Run Faster.  Now, I haven't ordered the book just yet, but have read up on the program extensively online and bought the app...yes, they even have an app for that.  As I am sure you could have figured the entire philosophy of the FIRST program is to improve your race times after cutting your weekly mileage significantly.  The basic are that you "cut the fluff" out of your current program and do 3 very focused runs each week; a track style workout, a tempo run, and a long run.  Not one of these runs would be classified as "easy."  In fact they are all physically and mentally challenging.  The long runs, which are typically done at a slow and easy pace for me, are now run at a minimum pace 45 seconds faster than pace which I had previously thought was "fast."

I am not following the FIRST program to a "T," which calls for just 3 days of running...NO MORE, NO LESS, and 2 intense cross training days, and then 2 days of rest.  My current program sticks the 3 running workouts, that are specific for a 10k, into a multisport training plan leading up the Neenah Duathlon on May 3rd.  I am currently swimming 3 times a week, and cycling 3 times in a week.  I also threw in 2 other optional run workouts, that are done at an easy cool down pace following either a cycling or pool workout.  So, like I said, I am not exactly following the FIRST program but just using the shorter, high intensity workouts along with my other sports throughout the week.  This fall, I do plan on experimenting with the FIRST program as it's written to train for the Whistle Stop Marathon on October 10th.  I want to really give the FIRST program a fair shot at being successful and want to follow it and their "3 plus 2 plus 2" philosophy (3 days running, 2 cross training days, and 2 off days).  But for now I am focusing on just balancing my life with my multisport training for the upcoming multisport season, which kicks off May 3rd.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!