Training for This Race
Again, no specific training, but I have been staying pretty committed with increasing my running volume over the last couple months. I have been up in the 30+ miles per week, which isn't too bad for me, especially when I'm not following a marathon plan. I wanted to keep my running stress relatively low leading up to this race, since I had two races planned this week, one on Thursday and a second on Sunday. So, I ran 8 miles on Sunday, and 6 on Tuesday (not counting the Santa Scamper). I then swam on Monday and Wednesday.Prerace
Again, much like the Freaky 5k, I found myself watching the weather as there was rain in the forecast, the entire week leading up to the race. We had planned on Sarah doing the 2 mile dog jog with the kids and our pups, so we had to be a little more considerate of the weather. The race started at 8am and parking in Downtown Appleton is a huge pain in the butt, so I really wanted to leave around 6:30am to get a decent parking spot around 6:45ish. I woke up around 6:00 and between Sarah and I, we were able to get the kids up and dressed and ready to go by 6:45. The weather forecast was still calling for rain, but just a light drizzle with temperatures in the low to mid 40's. All-in-all, not a bad morning, especially for Thanksgiving in Wisconsin. We ended finding a great parking spot and had some time to spare and just hang out in the car for a while before leaving to head to the start line. I left a little earlier than Sarah to get warmed up. I was able to get a decent warm up in and was feeling pretty good and was feeling confident to have a good race. On a complete side note....the race takes place right on College Av. in Appleton (Downtown). The race start is directly outside the Paper Valley Hotel, which happens to be the same hotel NFL teams stay at when they are in town to play to Packers. The Chicago Bears were spending the night there for their Thanksgiving day match up against the Packers. To kick off the race, the announcer prompted a "GO PACK GO" chant to upset the rival Bears. Evidently this worked as the Bears had called down to complain about the noise.Nutrition Plan
To stay consistent with shorter races, I didn't eat anything before and also didn't plan to take anything during the race. All I took was 2 Hammer Nutrition Anti-Fatigue Caps one hour prior to the start of the race.Equipment
Road ID Elite5 Mile Run
Other than early in the year, all my running races this year had been 5k (3.1 miles). I have become pretty comfortable with running this distance. I really wasn't sure what my strategy was going to be with this race. Mentally, I had the plan to think of it as a 2 mile "warm up" followed by a 5k, that ended up becoming my race plan. It was simple and left room for flexibility. I also knew that there was a steep hill around mile 4 of the race, so I knew I would need to keep some energy in the bank to propel me up the hill without burning out during the final mile.After the race started, I started conservatively and allowed all the foolish runners who like to sprint at the start pass me. After the first right hand turn, I was running comfortably and just kept reminding myself that this was not a 5k, that I had 5 miles ahead of me. The first 2 miles went by and I was feeling really good. My breathing was "in sync" with my pace and heart rate. By this point in the race, most of the guys who went out too fast have faded back to their proper place. I continued to just stay focused on the distance remaining relative to how I was feeling physically. I also just kept on trying to catch up to the running in front of me and passing them.
After passing mile 3, I knew I could start to kick up the pace a tad. Even if my pace did not increase, I know my perceived exertion increased. Right around mile 3.5, you head down a steep hill that runs along a river for about a quarter mile, before heading up the steep hill I mentioned before. Coming down the home stretch I was passed by another guy who had a strong kick, but ultimately, didn't loose a spot as I passed a different guy shortly there after.
The last time I ran this race, the 2 mile walk and the 5 mile run joined together during the last tenth of a mile and finished together under the same finish line. I don't know if they changed that this year, or one of the other two years which I wasn't able to participate, but this year they separated the two finish lines. The 5 mile runners were never on the same course except for the very beginning, but this was never an issue due to a staggered start. In the past the finish line was so cluttered with walkers that the runners had to dodge and run around groups of walkers. Honestly, it wasn't fair to either of the two groups. The runners wanted to finish fast and hard without interruption, while the walkers didn't want to get bumped and brushed by runners. So this change was a no brainer and a great change!
I ended up finishing in 30:39 averaging a 6:08/mile pace. I finished 20th overall and 1st in my age group. This was my 5th (of 8) Turkey Trots. It was also the 3rd race on this course. It was my second best time and my best time on this course. I am extremely happy with my race. I went into this race with a "high end" goal of finishing under 30 minutes. I had a more realistic goal of finishing around 31-32 minutes.
Post Race
After the race, I headed over to the finish line of the 2 mile untimed walk to try and track down Sarah, the girls, and my mom, who all walked together. On my way to their finish line, I grabbed my FREE pumpkin pie (another great reason to run this event), and stopped by the "Runner's Food" table, where I grabbed some doughnut holes and a bottled water. I ended up hanging around the finish line for about 10 minutes. I was started to get a little chilly and decided to walk the course in reverse to find them on the course. I walked all the way to the end of the walkers and didn't find them. I walked all the way back and ended up finding them near the food table. We packed up and headed home to get showered up and ready to make the rounds to all our families to stuff our gullets with Thanksgiving food!What's on Tap
As I write this, I have already done the Noodleini 5k, but taking this one step at a time, I will write this as what was going through my mind after the Turkey Trot. So, the next race I had schedule was the Noodleini 5k on Sunday, just 3 days after the Turkey Trot. I went into this three day stretch with a specific personal goal of NO RUNNING. I wanted to try to avoid any excess stress that just wasn't necessary. On Friday, I felt good, and good enough to go for swim, which I did. Saturday, was a busy day and frankly just too busy to even workout if I wanted to. Lucky for me, because, I was the most sore on Saturday, so I was glad I was too busy to even consider working out.Thanks for reading!
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment