5k race report

Did a 5 km race this morning. Basically did not come close to the 20min I was aiming for. Finished in 20:53 which is still slower than the unofficial PR or 20:48 that I set in the first 5k of a 15km race. Damn! Course wasn't as hilly as I thought though there were a few very small 5m hills or so with a steep grade. I basically went out too fast as I tend to do. They didn't have km markers and I didn't wear any speed sensing device so I basically had to run by feel which is usually a disaster for me. Prior to the start, I met up with a Running Mania forumite, Ray, who I recognized and chatted with him a bit. According to his race report, his garmin splits were 3:47, 4:08, 4:11, 4:14 and 4:05.

There was a very small field so i basically started right at the front. The race started and the faster guys zoom out ahead, I headed out at what I thought was a comfortable pace. Since I was ahead of Ray, this pace would end up being faster than 3:47/km pace which was way too fast. Shortly after the 1 km mark we make a turn off a bridge and I glanced back to see that I had built up about a 10-15m lead on Ray which probably means that I had probably done 3:40 pace or so. From that point on, it was just a matter of trying to hold on. I hit the turnaround at 10:07 (6:31 pace) which doesn't look too bad. Ray had caught up to me right at the turn around and then passed me. I just tried to hold on but was fading pretty bad. The second half I did in 10:46 which is 6:56 pace, my LT pace.

Max HR that I hit was 187 in the first half and 189 in the second half right at the end. Averaged 186 during the second half. Will have to work on getting this higher. I think I have to work on my VO2Max as I think I hit my ventilating limit. I just couldn't push any harder though my legs felt fine. I averaged 6:43 pace for the whole 5k which is what I was kinda looking to do in the 10k in a week and a half. I hope that this was just a bad running day.

So not quite what I was hoping for. Will try again for a sub 20min 5k this summer. There's another 5k next Saturday, but that's going to be 3 days before the 10k I'm doing on July 1st so that's probably not the best race to do. There's a 5k, the Saturday after that, but it would mean only a 4 day recovery from the 10k race. Not sure if that's a good idea either.

oh yeah, the race actually is in a nice setting. Waterfront trail with a bit into the forest. Some small hills to keep you honest and it was good weather. The finish line was a bit disorganized as it really wan't a "race". It was more of a fun run since they didn't record the finish times and therefore don't have official results. Would have liked to see markers on the course though.