If you remember from last year, The Jailbreak Marathon 5k was a race that has become a "regular" on my race schedule. This year was the 7th running of this local, small town race and the 3rd time for me. It is put on by The Waushara County Crime Stoppers and the Waushara County Sheriff's Office. Not only do they hold a 5k race, but also a half marathon, full marathon, and a 1 mile kids fun run. By far, the 5k is their most popular event. In addition to the 4 events, they also hold what is called the Bloodhound Challenge. This is what they consider a "race within the race." This is not an additional event, but an additional event which coincides with the 5k run. The Bloodhound Challenge is a competition for law enforcement personnel. All that is needed to do, is notify the race officials the morning of the race, that you'd like to participate in the Bloodhound Challenge and they will mark down your bib number. I have been fortunate enough to take the Bloodhound Challenge title the past two years in a row. It has become an expectation that I show up on race day to defend my title - especially within my own department. At last year's Jailbreak 5k, I was lucky enough to take first overall on my way to my second Bloodhound title. My goals going into the race were to finish with a time around 17:30 (5:38/mile pace). No doubt, it was an ambitious goal. Especially considering my 5k personal record came at last years race with a time of 17:49, but I would be happy with anything under 17:49.
Training Plan
Just like my last race report, I had not specifically trained for this race at all. I was simply running it to support the race and to run as the previous year's winner of the Bloodhound Challenge. My training plan is totally centered on one specific goal - running a sub 3 hour marathon at the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon on May 18th. The only workout I made adjustments to leading up to the 5k was my weekly mile repeats workout. Instead of doing 6x1 mile sprints, I did brick intervals. I started with a 2 mile warm up and did 3 sets of 15 minutes on an indoor cycle followed with a single mile sprint on a treadmill around a 5:50-6:00/mile. After my 3 sets, I did an easy mile cool down. Other than that adjustment, my training schedule was my typical marathon training week. On Saturday I did my weekly long run, this week was a 24 mile run. On Tuesday, I did my weekly Marathon Goal Pace workout. I started with a two mile warm up and then did 3 sets of 4 miles all at my goal race pace of 6:50/mile pace. I then finished with a 2 mile cool down. I was scheduled to swim for an hour on Friday morning, but was unable to make it to the pool due to being held over at work until nearly 11am which made for a 13 hour shift (10pm-11am).
Day/Night Before
As I just got done saying, I was held over from my Thursday night shift until 11am on Friday morning. So, instead of getting in my morning swim, I opted to just go home and get ready for work Friday night and ready for the race on Saturday and get some sleep. Friday night was a busy night at work, but I was lucky and got out on time. I ate my usual packed food during work that night. After work, I got changed and got on the road to head to
Wautoma. I drank a cup of coffee along with some green tea on the way there. Surprisingly, I was feeling pretty awake and alert for working the night before.
Getting to the Start Line
I ended up getting to Wautoma around 7:30am, an hour and a half before the start of the race. So, needless to say, I was plenty early. I picked up my bib and race packet, which consisted of a water bottle and a really nice long sleeve t-shirt, along with your typical pamphlets for other area races. I had bib number 394. After getting my goodie bag, I headed right back to my car to stay in the warmth. It was a cool spring morning, with temperatures around 38* and a strong North wind. Not knowing exactly what the morning would feel like when I packed my clothes, all I had to wear was my short (short short) running shorts and a dry-wicking t-shirt. I did not pack gloves, or an optional long sleeve t-shirt. I stayed in my warm car while the marathon and half marathon started (8:00am and 8:30am, respectively). At 8:00 I ate my Hammer Bar to top off my glycogen stores since I had not eaten since 4:30am while at work. Around 8:15 I took, my
Race Caps Supreme,
Mito Caps, and
Anti-Fatigue Caps. Around 8:25 I headed out into the brisk morning air to start my warm up. My warm up was pretty simple, I just ran around a large country sized "block" and did some dynamic stretching after the first mile and ended with about 3/4 mile of strides. After my warm up was complete, I made a quick stop at the car to ditch my warm up jacket and put on my race bib and make my way to the start line.
3.1 Mile Run
As just about every single other runner out there does, as everyone started lining up at the start line, I began eyeing up everyone to pick out any possible competition. I honestly thought, that there was no one that would be able to hang with me. Yes, I realize that sounds arrogant and conceded, but, that was honestly what I was thinking as I looked around me. At 9:00 sharp, the race started. I started out in front and did my best to hang on and keep the lead the entire race. I was feeling really good right off the bat. After making a few turns we were heading south with the wind at our backs. We were approaching a "T" intersection and I was surprised to hear footsteps which sounded like they were right on my ass. I heard the footsteps the entire race up to this point. I honestly thought, there is no way this dude can hang with me - he is just another dude who is going out way to fast and will undoubtedly blow up around mile 2...if not earlier. As we approached the "T" intersection I looked back and asked if he knew which way we were supposed to go. I was not certain if we were to make a left hand turn or continue straight. Yea, yea, I know....You'd think that with this being my third running of the Jailbreak 5k, you'd think I would know the course. The guy behind me said he had no clue which way to go. I thought we were to go straight. As we got to the intersection, we saw arrows in the road that pointed to the left. There were several arrows, but there were also 2 other races. We continued straight. At this point we had both slowed our pace greatly. We heard a guy behind us yelling "GO LEFT! GO LEFT!" I immediately thought, "OH F____!" We turned around and started back on the correct course. The two of us didn't loose any positions, just time. The two of us had already built a considerable lead over the remainder of the field. I don't know how close or far behind me this dude was before the missed turn, but he was dead even with me at this point. We continued to push each other along the race course, which I lead majority of. As we hit the 2.5 mile mark he made the move that I was unable to counter. He had a gear that I was unable to match. He was about 5 seconds ahead of me at the 3 mile mark. After he initially passed me, my plan was to hang on close enough to hopefully pass him in the last 100-200 yards, hoping he would be running on empty. That ended up not happening. He had a strong push at the end that I was unable to match. I did make up a little bit of ground during the last 100-200 yards, but was just unable to make the final pass. I finished with a time of 17:42.0 and he finished in 17:38.2. I took 2nd overall and first in the Bloodhound Challenge. A result that I was very happy with. Even with a missed turn, I set a new 5k PR by 6 seconds!
Post Race
Unfortunately I was all alone at the race this year. So after the race I chatted with the kid that beat me for a while and then grabbed a couple of bananas and hung out for a while to watch the remainder of the 5k finishers and also was able to watch the first overall half marathon finisher cross the finish line. After about 45 minutes, I grabbed a quick picture with the race director with the Bloodhound Challenge plaque and I was on my way back home to get some sleep as I had to work Saturday night again.
Other Notes
Ok, here is your fair warning. This is going to be my section were I reason with you as to how and why I believe my adjusted 5k time is 17:25 and NOT 17:42.0. With that being said, if you really don't give a shit, feel free to skip over this section and just tell yourself that I'm full of shit. Alrighty...Based on my Garmin data (follow the link above), my total time was 17:41.0, a complete second shorter then my official race time of 17:42.0. My final distance was 3.18 miles with a final average pace of 5:34/mile. Based on the mapping function on Garmin, I figured that the missed turn added 0.06 miles to my race and a total of 23 seconds. Now, the way I came up with these numbers is simply figuring my time and distance were I would have initiated the turn and then figuring the time and distance were I theoretically would have completed the turn, based on my positioning during my missed turn. I figure that it would have most likely taken about 3-5 seconds and about 0.01 miles to complete the distance that was not accounted for meaning I most likely can figure the missed turn cost me about 18-20 seconds - which would leave me with a hypothetical 5k time of 17:22-17:24. To corroborate my hypothesis, here is another way to calculate a hypothetical race time. According to my Garmin I averaged a 5:34/mile pace over the course of the 3.18 distance (including the slowed pace during the missed turn). According to my Garmin data, the total distance covered in 2012 was 3.11 miles and 3.13 miles in 2013. So even using the longer of the two distances (3.13 miles), that would assume I ran an additional 0.05 miles due to the missed turn (exactly what my predicted distance was based on my GPS data). Now, if you assume the average pace of 5:34/mile over the course of the 3.18 miles, and calculate a final race time over the course of 3.13 miles (5:34 x 3.13) would leave a hypothetical race time of 17:25 5k. So based on these two calculated hypothetical race times, I think it is safe to assume that if I had not been a complete dumbass and missed the left hand turn, I would have finished with a race time of 17:25 (or there about). A whole 5 seconds faster then my ambitious race goal of 17:30! Hoo-RAH!
Lessons for Future Events
Nothing new learned here, to be honest. I have gotten into a pretty comfortable routine with 5k's and feel pretty comfortable running them with little to no rest/taper or any specific preparations. I feel comfortable using 5k's as a good tempo workout or speed workout in the middle of a typical training load.
What's Next
As of today (Sunday), there are 20 days until the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. I have one more long and easy run of 20 miles which is tomorrow. I also have a final marathon goal pace workout on May 4th, which will consist of 3 sets of 5 miles done at or below my goal pace of 6:50/mile. I have been consistently running these workouts around the 6:30-6:45/mile pace, leaving me pretty confident with running a sub 3 hour marathon in Green Bay. I am determined and motivated to make my dream a reality this year and will lay it all out there on race day!
