June 4, 2011

Fight for Air 5K

We ran a local 5K close to home this morning. A last hard workout / tune-up race before Utah Valley next weekend. As the May Summary I posted the other day shows, our training has been going well. I had a feeling that sub-15 (me) and sub-17 (Andrea) was a definite possibility. Turned out that was exactly the case... I ran 14:47 for the win, and Andrea ran 16:52 (winning the women's race and actually finishing 2nd overall, beating all the other guys!).

I'm not surprised at all that we ran so well, but its still a nice confidence booster! I think we both felt even stronger than we did in the 10K last weekend. One week until the culmination of our spring seasons!

Full race reports... no pictures from the race, as far as I know...

The Fight For Air 5k race was very close to my condo, so it was nice to wake up and not have to drive more than a couple miles. I did a nice warm-up and included some hard efforts to get my legs ready to race fast. The number of people was much smaller than I had thought, and the start wasn't the most official (a guy starting his watch as the official time with no real start line).

Anyway, the first 1.5 miles was super fast - I have never actually done an aided course and it was actually pretty nice! I came through the first mile at 5:05. PR for the mile :o) The 1.5-2 mile was flat to slightly uphill so I was getting back on a normal pace. I felt strong through 2 miles with a time 10:35. PR for the 2 mile! The race was in Sugarhouse at this point, on the stretch that I run 4-5x a week and am very comfortable running. Jake and I marked half miles on the course yesterday, and that also helped me through the 2.5 and 3 miles. I was excited to go through the finish in 16:52! I actually hit the 3.1 mark at about 16:40 with the extra 90 meters as just bonus (the course was definitely long). I didn't think I was in sub-17 5k shape, but the 250 ft of downhill definitely helped.

I felt great during and after the race with a 3 mile cooldown. Today was a confidence booster for the UVHM next week! That is the race that Jake and I have both been building up for and it should be interesting to see what we can do.
Last tune-up before UVM... the race started at Tanner Park and finished in Sugarhouse. Got a much better warmup than before the 10K last weekend. The first 1.5 miles of the course had a net drop, then it was pretty much flat the rest of the way. Definitely a nice, fast course (although it was also definitely long... we measured it twice, and both times it was about 90 meters long).

My primary competition was Andrea, so I didn't have anyone with me right from the start. I came through the first mile in 4:29... whew!... haven't run that fast since some track races in DC 3 year ago... kept cruising on the second mile, which I hit in 4:38 (9:08 at 2 miles). At this point my focus shifted to making sure I didn't do anything to hurt myself (I've had a slight groin pull that I'm hoping doesn't act up in the marathon next weekend), so I took the pedal off the gas a bit in the third mile (5:10). I had a ton of half-marathon runners to catch in the last stretch, and came through in 14:47.

Pretty happy with how good I felt today. So far I think I am getting the taper right :-)

2 comments:

  1. Wow, you guys are killing it! Get down to sea level this fall, you've both - quite clearly - got a shot at the trials. Can't wait to see what you do next weekend.

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  2. Thanks Nick! We do plan to run a sea-level marathon this fall. At this point we are thinking more 2016 in terms of the OTQ... our improvement curve (especially Andrea's!) has been exponential in the past 6 months. I feel like I have a good training plan laid out for us... maintaining consistency and staying injury free are the main things. Things will fall into place as we continue to put it in the work and race more. This Saturday is going to be exciting!

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