Father’s Day 5 Mile Race Report 6/20/10

I failed to provide a race report of my last race, the Healthy Kidney 10k (5/15/10).  Here it is in a nutshell…It was a club race, so I wanted to help the team.  I hadn’t been training very intensely, about 15 miles/week.  All of the training being medium pace runs, not workouts.  I had also been doing a bit of cycling, about 30 miles/week.  My goal was to do my best, hopefully break 40 minutes, but not racing a 10k distance since December, I didn’t really know what to expect.  During the warm up my “meniscus” knee was hurting.  It was a pain that I was familiar with, as my knee acted up from time to time “pre MRI”.  The pain is fairly intense and lasts for a couple days, but then goes away as quickly as it appears.  Maybe something inside get out of place or off track.  Anyhow, it was doing this “thing” during my warmup and I was questioning my ability to compete.  I started the race and seriously comtemplated dropping out in the first mile, but the pain dissipated and I was able to finish with splits of 6:17/6:16/6:11/6:52/6:16/6:20/1:23.  Very pleased with the result, especially since I was very near my time of a year ago with much less training this time around.

The Father’s Day 5 Mile was again a club race in which the times of the top 5 runners of each club are added to determine the club rank and points for this race.  A couple key players for Brooklyn were unavailable, so I knew I would be counted on to perform well.  My training leading up to this race has increased slightly.  I increased my longest week to 20 and had a couple lengthy bike rides of 22 and 32 miles.  I’ve been hitting the weights once a week as well to keep overall fitness in check.

The forecast was hot and humid.  I was hoping a forecasted overnight storm would reduce the humidity but, as usual, the weatherman was wrong.  No rain, humidity stayed.  It was pushing 80* at the starting line with 80% humidity.  The other issue was my ankle.  I must have tweeked it at work the night before or something.  I don’t know, but there was a sharp pain on the inside of my right ankle bone.  It lasted for maybe 20-30 strides then seemed to go away, as if to loosen up.  But, then after stopping to stretch and running again, it was back, and then went away.  Strange.  Of course I was still going to run.

I realize that to get faster and more fit, I need to increase my mileage and start doing some workout, so I ran a 20 minute tempo on the Thursday prior to the race, I also lifted lightly on Friday, Saturday I rested.  The 20 min. tempo went well, I was 6:24/6:38 for the first 2 miles and then had no marker for the last part, but maintained pace.  I was confident going into the race.

Knowing it would be hot, I started hydrating the night before and took an sodium-electrolyte tablet in the morning.  I continued to hydrate up to the start.  A funny thing happened on my warmup.  After I got my number and checked my bag, I headed out for a 10 minute warmup, 5 minutes out, turn around and come back, which would leave me 20 minutes to stretch and get to the start line.  I still don’t know where I missed a turn but I must have let my mind wander and I started looking around saw that no one warming up had numbers on.  It was just recreational runner out for a Sunday jog.  I found a race official and asked where the start was, and she said “the other side of the park”.  Maybe I have magical transporting powers that I’m unaware of 🙂  I still had 12 minutes until the start, but I felt panicked none the less.  I ended up running more and faster than I had planned and was sweating like a fountain in the start corral.  I made it with plenty of time to spare.

The starting horn sounded and 5200 runners were on their way.  A guy to my immediate left went down hard in the first 200 meters when someone clipped his ankle.  It sounded painful and was glad it wasn’t me.  I always make a point to run “big” in the beggining of these crowded races.  A lot of runners of so anxious and reckless to speed through the crowd at the start, I keep my elbows out and run almost as if I’m on ice, knowing the possibility is there for being jostled off balance.

This 5 mile course differs from the Central Park 10k course in that they cut out 1 big hill, the rest of the course is the same, constant rolling hills.  I was out in 6:23, felt comfortable, the next mile was 6:15, maybe a little quick for the heat, but a majority was downhill.  My third mile was 6:32, going back up some hills and starting to feel the heat effect a bit more.  My focus in the last to miles was to continue to be engaged with the runners around me and run with and pass them.  Sometimes my mind wanders in the middle of races and my pace suffers.  My final 2 miles were 6:32 and 6:31.  And although the pace was slower than my 10k last month I think I was more competitive for the conditions.  Ended up 217th, 3rd on the club.

BRRC team results

You can find the finishing video of all runners here, courtesy of ABC-7

You can see me at 11:42-12:01 of the first video, finishing with the 3rd overall female.

Next race is NYRR Sprint Triathlon on August 1st.  Maybe a tune up race before then, we’ll see.