When & Where: 9 a.m. Saturday, March 21, Strongsville, Ohio
Results: 22:51 (PR); 4/30 women’s 35-39 age group; 12/138 female entrants
For 2 1/2 years I have been trying to set a new PR at the 5K distance. My old PR from the 2006 Waterway 5K is 23:01, and in the half dozen or so 5K’s I’ve raced since then I’ve finished 23:10ish-23:30ish. It seemed like I could not get through the 23 minute barrier.
In January I ran a 23:08 on a flat course in San Diego and promised myself I would improve my PR in 2009.
I have been training diligently for the Boston Marathon: increasing my weekly mileage into the upper 50s, and doing more hill running than ever before because I actually live somewhere with hilly terrain now. Ten days prior to this race I did one 6 X 800 workout and was encouraged by my interval splits, a few seconds faster than when I was doing them last fall. But other than that, almost every “easy” run has felt anything but – sluggish, fatigued, etc. and my easy pace is almost always a little slower than it was during my last marathon training cycle.
The Strongsville Super Saturday 5K is well attended, with about 450 entrants. The course was described as having a fast 1.5 miles followed by a “challenging hill.” I went into this race with the goal to run hard and not let up on a hilly course as practice for Boston, and to get a good workout in the process.
Temperatures were around 30, with overcast conditions and no wind. I warmed up with about 15 min. easy running and a few short bouts of fast running. My legs felt good and ready to go, but I felt generally tired which I told myself to ignore. I lined up where I thought I should and soon after we were off.
It took a couple minutes to find a groove. In the first few minutes I had all those thoughts of “why do I do this – it’s so hard. I don’t feel like this today blah blah blah.” I wish I never had feelings like this, but I do at quite a few races. I’m not a hyper-competitive athlete, and have discovered I don’t naturally love racing unless I have a strong emotional connection to a particular race. I do love when I overcome “race ambivalence” to have a good day or occasionally PR. Then the feeling of accomplishment, fun, and improvement makes all the mental garbage worthwhile.
Back in Strongsville, we turned onto a road with a slight down grade. That seemed to open up my stride and energize me, so I went with it and quickly felt better. Mile 1 – 7:03 and I felt strong.
We started heading downhill again. For some reason downhill running suits me and I used the descent to naturally and easily speed up. At the bottom of the hill we were at about 10:30. Then the road curved and I could see the “challenging hill” we’d start to climb. I’d run bigger and harder hills, but not in a 5K. I focused on shortening my stride, using my arms more, and pushing myself up. It was steep and I felt pretty bad at the mid-point, a short flat respite. The road curved again and the hill continued, longer but not as steep. I had caught my breath enough to feel better on this part of the hill. Mile 2 came at 14:37 according to the volunteer – my watch had missed the split.
I didn’t feel too bad from the big hill and realized I had a good shot to PR with 8:23 left to run 1.1 miles and still do it. I was encouraged and pushed as strong as I could. The course was still slightly climbing at points, but not bad. It also didn’t feel anywhere as near as miserable as a 5K usually does at this point – more like a hard tempo effort. I focused on keeping my pace as strong as I could.
We made the final turn at about 20:00 and I knew I could get to the finish in less than 3 minutes. I probably even eased up a tiny bit. I was excited to have a good shot at a PR, so these last minutes weren’t as miserable as they usually are – funny how the mental state makes such a huge difference.
I crossed the line smiling at 22:50 by my watch and 22:51 official time. The last 1.1 miles had been 8:09. Not a huge PR, but set on a much more challenging course than my previous.
This was a good encouragement that Boston training is working, and good practice for staying tough on hills. I feel fortunate to be running, and am hopeful of staying healthy for the next weeks to see what happens on April 20.
I’ve heard 60 is the new 40. Whoever said that wasn’t talking about weekly running mileage. This was my first-ever time logging over 60 miles in a training week. Actually, if I went by a Sunday – Saturday calendar, I moved 68 miles closer to Boston in a seven-day period due to shuffling around the long run last weekend.
