There's something about the Plaza 10K!

The short:
Mother Nature didn't want the Plaza 10K runners to have it easy this year, so she gave us 71 degrees with thunderstorms in the area and a dew point of 68.  Historically I haven't raced well in these conditions, so I lined up ready to give it my all and to be thankful for whatever that was, without any specific time or pace expectations.  I ran by effort and ignored my watch, and although I had an idea where I was at since the race had a course clock at the 5K mark, I was thrilled to see the finishing clock in the 36s as I came down the final stretch.  My official time of 36:52 is 18 seconds off my PR, which I ran in 56 degrees on the same course last year, but it almost felt like a PR because it was much faster than I thought I would run in the weather we had.  It is by far the best I've raced anything in temperatures over 70, and it felt so good after a disappointing 5K in similar conditions the previous weekend.

My official results are here, and my Strava activity of the race can be seen here.

I remembered not to stop my watch for once!

On my drive to the race, Psalm 23 popped into my head

The long:
I had a hard time getting pumped up for this race because of the forecast.  I was still feeling discouraged from the Brookhaven 5K, and the weather conditions were shaping up to be nearly identical for this race.  I thought my fitness was there, but I didn't feel good about showing it in crap weather - plus optimism and denial hadn't worked the previous weekend!

I was at this race solo, so this was my race day pic!

However, as always I got excited when I got in the race environment and began warming up.  This race is very competitive, so as usual one of my goals was to place as high as I could.  My other goals were to get the best out of myself that day, and to not be afraid to hurt.

The race started and I settled into the effort level that felt maintainable for 6.2 miles.  Several women went out ahead of me, and I began setting my eyes on the ponytail closest to me and working towards it.  I latched onto men here and there to help pull me up to the next ponytail.  I passed Chander, who I ran most of Grandma's Marathon with, shortly after the mile mark and encouraged her to work her way up with me.  The familiar course was comforting, although I caught myself thinking, "I remember how much cooler it was last year" a few times.

Mid-race focus

I was nearing a woman and feeling strong when we passed the 5K clock in 18:24.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to breathe a sign of relief, since the pace felt hard but it also felt do-able, whereas the previous week I'd been nearly dead after racing a flatter 5K in 18:23.  That gave me a nice boost and I accelerated past that women, encouraging her to work with me to catch the two ponytails ahead of us.

A couple of my male pace buddies around mile 4

After that point I worked with a couple of men for the second half of the race.  The effort was hard but I kept telling myself just to stay with them; they would get me in the 36s.  Although I didn't have a time goal when I started the race, I sure had one after I saw my 5K course split, and that was to run something starting with a 36!  I knew that wouldn't be an easy task, because the final 2 miles of this course have a lot of uphill and I've always positive split on it.  Also, my coach told me that humidity affects us most in the second half of a race, which seems like a good explanation for why I positive split everything in the summer even though in general I consider myself a good negative splitter...

I started to hurt really bad with 1.5 miles to go, but I was gaining slightly on a ponytail about 30 seconds ahead and wouldn't let myself give up, just in case!  Running near the men helped a lot, but as they sprinted in the final 0.2 I didn't have much left to give - by that point I also knew that I wasn't going to move up or get caught in my female position.  As I came down the final stretch, I saw that I was going to make it in the 36s and broke out in a smile!

I remembered to not stop my watch right at the
line in hopes of getting good finishing photos!

The woman who won my age group was from Flagstaff, AZ

Post-race, I ran an 8 mile cool down with great company, which has become tradition for this Sunday race that always coincides with marathon training (probably because I am always marathon training, bahaha!)!  I felt pretty good on the slow cool down until we climbed a massive steep hill in the final mile, in search of Sharon's car...

The race took about 8 photos of us finishing our cool down, hah!

The more I reflected on my race, the better I felt about it.  The woman who won the race last year in 34:36 ran 35:24 this time for second place, and she is in top shape preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon.  Another fast female who ran 35:09 last year finished in 36:09 this year.  I finished in front of a women I've never beat before, who ran 36:10 last year and 37:27 this time.  Thinking about it that way, I felt that being 18 seconds slower than my 2018 time was perhaps equivalent to a 30-40 second PR, and this was sure a better checkpoint than my race the weekend before!

Pretty happy with these grade-adjusted paces except for mile 6 and the final 0.24 -
those show I didn't have much left to give!

I wish mile 4 was instead mile 6

I wrote about my Plaza 2018 race here and my Plaza 2017 race here.  Clearly I need to keep running this race every year, because I have never come away thinking it could have gone any better.  I'm thankful I returned for the Plaza 10K magic in 2019.

Psalm 23:1:  The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want...  23:6:  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

My course 5K splits were 18:24 and 18:27!

Post-race brunch company

Hahaha!

August Cravings

Another month of food!  I probably need to work on my food photo staging...

Roasted garden veggies abounded this month - this plate has roasted tomatoes, yellow squash, and spaghetti squash, along with a baked sweet potato and cottage cheese.

Another nutrient-dense plate (golden potatoes, eggplant, spaghetti squash, sweet and sour tuna).

And one more (sweet potato with pecans, yellow and zucchni squash, spaghetti squash, salmon).

I started putting almond butter in my oatmeal this month, and I can see why people love this!  However, portion control is an impossibility ("1/4 of the jar per oatmeal bowl? - sure!")

The Price Chopper salad bar served me well when traveling!  There are greens under there, but this was one substantial salad (the only kind I like for a meal).

I am a fan of Quest protein powder; I found several packages of single serving 12-packs on a major clearance sale and snatched them all up.

More roasted garden goodness - the only things on this plate that aren't homegrown are the seasonings, olive oil, and egg (Jon is interested in getting chickens, though...).

My take out container tipped sideways, but this blackened salmon from Cheddars was really good (also on a work trip).

I started craving salads while traveling for work, possibly because it was incredibly hot outside (I did one of my second runs in a 108* heat index at 5:30 p.m.).

Also a good salad on a work trip, but this one was not enough food!

Envy apples are really tasty.

Our homegrown apples were small but tasty.  I forgot to take photos of them until I'd cut up the very last one.

Mini-bells from the garden make a great snack.

I like all of these flavors, but probably the white chocolate raspberry the best.

Brunch is always winning in our family.  Albani's pancake was Mickey Mouse shaped, but I didn't get a photo quickly enough.  My dish was a veggie skillet: hash browns topped with veggies and two eggs.

 

More food shots of meals on the road.
Again, brunch is always winning.

Thai is also always winning.

Pad Thai at the OKC zoo!

Some like to eat shoelaces.

For the first time I had butter pecan buttercream and watermelon buttercream (also on a work trip)!  I don't eat desserts often but when I do I make it count. :-)

And my sad food news for August:  the gel that I've used for during-marathon fuel for over 10 years has been discontinued!  I'm thankful I realized this now; I pulled out a couple to use on a 20 mile workout and noticed I was almost out so decided to order another box.  I couldn't find any boxes anywhere online, but did find 15 singles available so purchased those.  My preferred variety has caffeine, but I also purchased numerous singles without caffeine, as well as a Second Surge gel made by the same company to see if I like those.  I'll have enough to get me through another couple of marathons, but then I am going to have to switch (cue tears).

Brookhaven 5K: Fitness & optimism don't always = PR, & disappointed doesn't mean upset

For the first time in years, I was very excited to race a 5K!  The Brookhaven Run in Norman, Oklahoma seemed to be my best chance around for a fast one:  it was a flat course, it was very competitive, and I'd been running faster speed workouts this summer than I'd done since high school.  I thought this would be my chance to have a real 5K PR in the 17s (versus having run in the 17s only as part of a 10K, unofficially).  My main objective for the race was to run something starting with a 17, but my coach thought I was in shape to run under 17:30, which became my A goal.  I also wanted to get in there and compete in the competitive women's field.

Pushing it

My week leading up to the race was far from ideal; it was one of the most stressful work weeks I've ever had, and I lost a lot of sleep due to an event that occurred on Monday that snowballed into issues every subsequent day.  Travel to the race also wasn't ideal; we arrived at our hotel to find out they had no water and didn't know when it would be back on, so we found a different hotel.  My parents were joining us for the race and weekend get away, and their RV brakes went out when they parked at packet pick up.  With these snafus I didn't eat dinner the night before the race until about 9:00 p.m., after becoming quite hangry (advice: don't try to call hotels.com to make sure you don't get charged for a reservation when extremely hungry!), and I also didn't eat enough at that point.  At times I'm pretty good at denying all problems and continuing to be optimistic about a race no matter what, so I chose blissful ignorance and decided I could still PR on Saturday morning..."because it's only a 5K."

When I woke up at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday to see the dew point of 70 degrees and temperature of 71 degrees, I continued to choose optimism.  Although historically I really suffer when the dew point is 70+, I decided that since it was "only a 5K", I'd be fine.

When we arrived at the race site, we found my parent's broken down RV in the finish chute (I am not kidding, but at least it was near the food and drinks instead of impeding the course).  I found the elite athlete check-in, and as I was getting my number I heard a man saying "This is Sarah Kiptoo, your overall female winner and soon-to-be Oklahoma state record holder" to one of the race organizers as an introduction.  That was a pretty bold statement, but I think it was pretty easy to assume she would win overall female, and there was a very nice financial incentive for anyone who broke the record, so I am sure that is why she came to the race (she is a professional who I believe trains in New Mexico).  I got a peak at the list of the elite female field, which was pretty intimidating, but I hoped it would pull me to a fast time!

With Albani & my mom pre-race

Despite suffocating in the humidity on my warm-up, I still told myself I'd be fine in the weather ("just a 5K").  I ran most of the course to warm up, did some drills and strides, and jumped in the elite corral.  The race did some detailed call-outs for some elite entrants.  In addition to Sarah Kiptoo, Brooks Beasts professional runner Hannah Fields was also in the field, plus about 5 others ladies with a lot of running credentials attached to their names.

At 8:00 a.m. (which seemed like mid-day to this 5:00 a.m. runner!), we were off!  The course was very crowded initially, and it was by far the thickest field I've ever run in during a 5K, which was mostly nice but resulted in more weaving than I'd have liked, particularly as some of the high school boys who went out very hard fell off.  The course had clocks at every 1K, and I knew to run 17:30 I would need to run 3:30 kilometers, or for 17:55 I would need 3:35.  I was solely focused on effort - at sustaining what felt maintainable for a 5K - but I knew I'd end up doing the math at every clock I saw so I wanted to be prepared.  I passed the first clock in around 3:36, which I figured was perfect to start.  I heard my watch beep so I knew when I hit the mile but didn't look at my split until after the race (it was 5:48).  My 2K was 7:12ish, so my pace was consistent.  I was hurting pretty bad at halfway, but I just kept thinking about how my coach said that it was supposed to hurt really bad from 1.5-2.5, and I kept pressing towards runners ahead of me, passing a couple of women and several men, all of whom were apparently slowing worse than me.

Final stretch

I thought my stride looked good at least!

I can't remember my 3K split, but I knew I was going to need a negative split to break 18 at that point.  My Garmin split for mile 2 was 5:48.  A man passed me around that time and I told myself to go with him, which helped me keep my turnover going to some degree.  The 4K came in 14:45, and then I knew my sub-18 had slipped away; I couldn't run the final K in 3:14 or under (I just don't have that kind of speed, nor did I have enough left in the tank).  I tried to press as hard as I could anyway, focusing on a woman in front of me and trying to catch her, but I had to hold back disappointment about not breaking 18.

Spoiler: that guy out-kicked me

I finished in 18:23 (official results are here), with a 5:15 pace final 0.15 (the course was certified but I couldn't run the tangents in the crowd - and for comparison, my Garmin read 26.20 in Grandma's Marathon!).  I was 6th overall female and I had ladies in my sights who I hadn't been close to before.  Our bib numbers were our rankings in the field, and later Albani asked me, "How did they know what order people were going to finish in??" since female bibs 1-2-3-4-5 finished in that order, and I think it was similar for the men.  I was happy about my placing and mostly happy with my race execution, but I was disappointed that my time was so far off what we thought I had in me, and that my 10K PR is still a faster pace than my official 5K PR.  I have also run pretty close to this 5K time for the final 5K in half marathons and during tempo runs.

Top 7 women

The upsides are that this is my fastest certified 5K ever (I have run 18:16-18:19 three times but none were certified courses), and this is faster than any 5K I ran in high school or college, at age 38!  My coach did a couple humidity calculators for me and said she thought the conditions added about 20 seconds/mile, or a minute to my race time, showing that I was in sub-17:30 shape (I also did the math on 5% from this humidity calculator).  Although I don't like anyone to miss their goals, I felt better that Sarah Kiptoo missed her goal by over a minute (she ran 16:31, trying for the 15:28 state record).  But, calculations and comparisons don't get you a PR or the confidence that comes with one.

My times in training tell me that my training is working, but I'd hoped to have a race to confirm it - but I am fortunate that I'll have a couple more tries before The Big One (Indy Monumental Marathon).  I also think back to October 2018 through March 2019 when I would have given almost anything to run a 5K like this, or to run a 5K at all.  I promised myself during my fall injury that I would never get so caught up in performances again, but that is admittedly easier said than done.  I want to be thankful - so I am aiming to continue with my sometimes blissfully ignorant optimism!

Plus you can't be upset if you did your best, and I did.  It took me about 25 years of running to learn that you can't bully yourself into performing or force anything on race days!

I would have been somewhat happier
if mile 3 had been 5:48.3, haha!

Any day I'm healthy enough to toe the line is one I'm thankful for, and I feel better about my training overall than I feel about this race.  I also trust that I'm where God wants me to be, so onto the next!

Reviewing August

August 2019 in Review
Total mileage for the month:  375.8 - new monthly mileage PR!

• July 29-Aug. 4:  84.5
• August 5-11:  87.3
• August 12-18:  96.0 - new weekly mileage PR!
• August 19-25:  88.1
• August 26-Sep. 1:  69.2 - scheduled cut-back week

Races:

• August 31:  Brookhaven 5K in 18:23 [splits of 5:48, 5:48, 5:59 (5:15 kick)] for 6th female.  Although not the time I was aiming for, Sarah Kiptoo came to the race to break the Oklahoma state 5K record (which came with a very nice $$ bonus) but came up 1:04 short on the warm humid morning, and Brooks Beast professional runner Hannah Fields was 3rd in 17:48, which made me feel better.  I never race well when the dew point is over 70!  Although a slower pace than my 10K PR, it was the fastest I've run in a certified road 5K (I've run 18:16-18:19 three times but on courses that were not certified), so it could have been worse!

Post-race

 Workouts:

• August 1:  2 x 3 miles "moderate" (heart rate 150, no higher than 155), with 1:00 between during an 8 mile run.  I hesitate to call this a workout, but it's faster than easy pace (although not hard, which I suppose is why it's called moderate, haha!).  My mile splits were 7:19, 6:58, 7:01, 6:51, 6:57, 6:50 and I averaged right at 150, peaking at 156.  The first mile was mostly up incline, which was why it was slower at the same HR.  I used to run 6:5X all of the time and call it easy because I can hold a conversation just fine at that pace, but I'm learning more about the different HR zones and just because a pace is slower than tempo and you can talk doesn't mean it is truly easy!
• August 5:  12 x 30 sec hill repeats with wog (walk/jog) down the hill recoveries, within an 11 mile run.  I continue to be amazed at how much my legs can burn from such a short time period of hard running!  My grade-adjusted paces were 5:21, 5:02, 4:41, 5:05, 5:07, 5:18, 4:54, 4:51, 4:54, 4:49, 4:58, 5:03.  A good title for this workout would be "the longest 30 seconds of your life", but I can tell hills are making me stronger.
• August 9:  5 x 1200 m in 4:09, 4:15, 4:19, 4:21, 4:23 with 3:00 recoveries (3 warm up with strides + drills, 2 cool down).  My target time was sub-4:10, which was insane ambitious.  Although my splits showed a solid regression, I was actually very excited about it because 1) I hit the insane target time for one rep, 2) I've developed enough speed to actually be able to start out too fast and fade on speed work (I used to be unable to get out too fast if I tried!), and 3) I split 2:46 and 2:47 for the 800 m splits on the first two reps, and I haven't run an 800 m in the 2:40s since high school!  I used to be really reaching to run an 800 m in the mid to low 2:50s, even though I've run a 10K at 5:50.  I also used to get pretty down on myself for not hitting my target times, but during this workout I embraced giving 100% of what I had that day and knowing that I was getting the benefits from it even if my times weren't as fast as they "should" be.  It was 72* and 98% humidity, which isn't ideal, but we have those conditions pretty much every morning during the summer so it was nothing unexpected.  Rebecca ran these with me and with no planning we ended up complimenting each other super well; she would get out faster and I'd be trailing for the first half of the rep, then I'd pull around her around the 600 mark and have a stronger second half.  Always better together!
• August 13:  3 x (600 m, 30 sec, 600 m, 30 sec, 600 m) with 3:00 between sets (3.2 warm up, 3.6 cool down) in 2:07, 2:06, 2:08, 2:08, 2:08, 2:10, 2:11, 2:11, 2:11. This workout was in The Dew Point of Death (75*, air temp 78*) so I knew I'd need to adjust expectations and was happy enough with how it turned out.  I was also out of town for work and ran on a track I'd never been to before that was about 10 minutes from my hotel, without my usual track work buddy.  I've realized that I really struggle with negative splitting anything when it's humid out - as evidenced by my splits on every workout this month.  Also, I would never have written a workout for myself that only had 30 seconds of recovery...ironically on August 5, those 30" hill repeats were the longest 30" ever, and during this workout the recoveries were the shortest 30" of my life.
• August 15:  8 mile wave tempo alternating 0.5 at tempo and 0.5 at MGP in paces of 5:56, 6:15, 5:55, 6:15, 6:04, 6:11, 6:03, 6:19, 6:05, 6:27, 5:58, 6:27, 6:08, 6:23, 6:21, 5:58 - 6:10 average for all 8 (2.3 warm up, 2.2 cool down).  I have wanted to run a workout like this ever since I saw others running them on Strava, and I have given similar tempos to friends to do when I've helped them with training schedules, so I was really excited when I saw it on my schedule.  It was sure a lot harder than running 8 miles at a steady 6:10 pace, that's for sure!  The weather was on my side for this one, at 64*/dew point 63*, but I still faded some towards the end, and from 7.0-7.5 could not get back down to tempo pace - but after a straight mile at 6:22 I was able to kick it back to tempo for the final 0.5.  This workout reminded me that one reason I love tempos and long races is because I get in a rhythm and stay there, which was not the case for this workout.
• August 20:  3 x (800 m, 40 sec, 400 m, 40 sec, 800 m) with 3:00 between sets in 2:51, 1:22, 2:50 / 2:50, 1:22, 2:50 / 2:52, 1:24, 2:53 (3.1 warm up with strides + drills, 3.6 cool down).  It was "only" 73*, dew point 71* for this workout, and Rebecca and Scotty helped push me during it.  Although I wished I could have kept the final set at 2:50/1:22, I was pleased with these results because they are much faster than I used to run 400s and 800s, with very little recovery within the sets.  I've started looking forward to track workouts - they used to be my least favorite, but seeing improvements in my speed this summer has been very rewarding!
• August 24:  5 warm up, 4 at 6:25 (actual 6:22, 6:22, 6:19, 6:21), 4:00 recovery, 3 at 6:20 (actual 6:20, 6:14, 6:14), 3:00 recovery, 2 at 6:10 (actual 6:09, 6:05), 2:00 recovery, 1 at sub-6:00 (actual 5:55), 4ish cool down to 20.3 miles.  I love workouts like this and it did not disappoint!  I felt really strong, although I had to push to get that final mile under 6.  Rebecca ran the warm up and 4 mile tempo with me, and it was 66 degrees, which almost felt cold.  This was my best-fueled workout of the month, as I had Generation Ucan and nuun energy before, and nuun energy and an Accel gel during.
• August 27:  5 x 1000 m with 3:00 walking recoveries + 4 x 200 m with 200 m jogging recoveries in 3:33, 3:34, 3:39, 3:42, 3:41 / 0:39, 0:40, 0:40, 0:41 (3.5 warm up with strides + drills, 3.1 cool down).  This was just not my day!  I had a very stressful day at work the day before and woke up with a headache after getting minimal sleep the night before.  If I hadn't been racing on Saturday I'd have bumped this workout back a day, but I just did the best I could with what I had!  I ran this one solo, which is always much harder for me on track work, and it was 71*, dew point 70*.
• Doubles:  August 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 27, 29
• Strides: August 7, 30, and at least a couple before all workouts and races.
• Strength work:  Weekly totals of 2:26, 2:08, 2:00, 2:27, 0:58
• Yoga:  Weekly totals of 1:05, 1:00, 1:10, 0:34, 0:30
• Favorite workout:  The August 15 wave tempo, since I've wanted to try one for so long!  August 20's track workout was a close second though...and you guessed it, I counted the August 24 workout as my favorite long run.

Post-run tree pose

Happy people who nailed 800s & 400s during a heat advisory

Rainy run

Long Runs:

• August 3:  17.1 miles (7:30).  Another enjoyable easy long run!  Kristen and Rebecca ran this with me (Kristen all 17 and Rebecca 15), and it flew by.  I was supposed to keep my heart rate under 132 for the first half, and was close at about 135 (which meant around 7:40 pace); then for the second half I was allowed to go up to 145 and maintained about 142 (which meant about 7:20 pace).  Heart rate is so interesting!  It was 72 degrees and 100% humidity, much like every summer morning in Missouri, and I have no shame running with a Fuel Belt on easy long runs so that I can drink along the way.
• August 10:  18.2 miles (7:16).  I felt a lot better than I expected on this run, which is always a nice surprise!  I'd run a track workout the day before and it was HUMID, but it was smooth for the most part (I did get hungry at the end!).  I let Kristen set the pace because she had specific pace goals and mine was just "easy", we talked the whole way, and the miles passed quickly.
• August 17:  20.3 miles easy (7:49).  I was glad this one was easy by feel - my legs were quite tired en route to my weekly mileage PR for the week, in addition to the August 13 track workout and August 15 tempo, not to mention work travel and getting up at 4:30 a.m. 4 days this week.  I mention all of those things because I sure felt them during this run, oy.  I ran most of the mileage with Rebecca and Casey, which was awesome as always and I'm glad no one was pushing the pace.
• August 24:  20.3 mile workout, described above.  Oddly enough I think this was easier than the easy 20 the week before.
• August 31:  12.2 miles with the Brookhaven 5K (yes, I did a 6 mile cool down, oy), and then I had 15 miles on September 1.
• Favorite long run:  August 24!

After my favorite long run!

Running highlights/thoughts/randomness:

• Humidity is the poor man's altitude training!  I really don't mind training in it, but I loathe racing in it.  I look to information like this for comfort, but what really feels good is when times drop in the fall!
• I enjoyed this post on an Audience of One. 
• This, which was linked in the Fast Women newsletter this month.  My favorite sentence:  "The race is simply each of you seeking your absolute best with the help of each other."

How we feel about a dew point of 76*

Life highlights/randomness: 

• The first weekend of the month included back to school shopping.
• The second weekend we attended a wedding.
• Albani started 6th grade! 
• I also started school - teaching again as an adjunct at Missouri State.
• We went to Silver Dollar City with family the third weekend.  Since this is a running blog I also have to point out that I ran 20 miles before the excursions. #poortiming
• The last weekend of the month we went to the Oklahoma City area for a Labor Day getaway and so I could run the Brookhaven 5K (Friday and Saturday in this adventure were in August, while Sunday and Monday were in September, so more photos are coming in next month's post...).

After middle school orientation

Wedding-ready

1st day of 6th grade!

Traditional pick-up photo - Albani unhappy about
my sweatiness (her bus comes at 6:45 a.m.!)

Traditional Bandit photo

Ready for our day at Silver Dollar City

Quick photo after they took the one they wanted to sell us

Tired baby

Soaking wet children

My first day of school!

Myriad Botanical Gardens

Henry Overhoaster Mansion

Myriad Botanical Gardens

 Books:

• Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor 
• Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Meb for Mortals by Meb Keflezighi
• The Joy Project by Tony Reinke
• Night by Elie Wiesel
• Lottery by Patricia Wood
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• What Made Maddy Run by Kate Fagan

Theme of the month:

Summer of speed - because did you see all those track workouts I did?  Plus I raced a 5K - enough said.