Heat Advisory 5k, Miles from Mentor Time Trial Edition

Over the years, I've learned that my first 5k of the season usually falls short of expectations. I've often been unhappy with my first 5k, then went on to run a faster pace in a 10k a couple of weeks later. When I've raced two 5ks, the second has generally gone significantly better than the first. I'm not the only one who feels this way, so I decided to organize a 5k time trial for my running buddies on July 23 before we tackle a 5k race in August. I figured it would be a good rust buster, plus we like to do weird things like run 3.1 miles really hard around a cemetery at 6 a.m. during a heat advisory!

Pre-run pic

I estimated that I could run about 18:35, basing my guess on thinking I could run a smidge under 6:00 pace (6:00 pace is 18:39). The course we selected is a flat square that is approximately 1 mile that we do workouts on. It has no traffic because it's the road around the perimeter of a cemetery, which also seemed fitting since 5ks are kind of like death, right? Our plan was to run 3 laps plus however much farther was needed to hit 3.11. I programmed my watch to take 1k splits so it would beep when I hit 5k and I wouldn't need to look at it.

Starting line

We had 7 participants: Colin, Austin, Rebecca, Casey, David, Amy, and me. Christian (coming back from injury) and Elise (pregnant) were our race officials, and Austin's mom also spectated. Our starting line was a crack in the pavement that we also use for starting workouts! Really it all felt just like a workout, but I tried to amp myself up to run hard, after my 1600 m time trial debacle the previous week [the short: I ran it like a mile repeat, not like a time trial or race - then had a great 5 x 800 m workout afterward]. I was pretty discouraged from that 1600 m, mostly because I didn't push myself or make it hurt; I finished feeling like I could do it again x 4 after a 2-3 minute jog. I did learn that I have no idea how to race a mile! I hoped to run a solid 5k time, but mostly I wanted to work hard and finish knowing that I gave it my best on the day. While 5ks aren't my forte, I think I mostly know how to race one.

From the start, Colin was in front as expected, followed closely by Austin and then Rebecca. Casey was on Rebecca's heels and I stayed relatively close behind her. I didn't want to take the fly and die approach, and running with either of them at that point felt like it was a little too much, so I let them go and did my own thing. I saw Casey pass Rebecca around the mile mark, and I could tell I was gaining. I passed Rebecca around the halfway point and set my sights on Casey, but she looked really strong and I felt about average, not bad but not great.

Starting the third mile I was really working but I tried to keep the pedal on the gas. Casey had a GI emergency and stepped behind a tree briefly, at which point I passed her. I've run plenty of workouts with her when this has occurred and was well-aware that she'd jump right back in and likely run faster than she had been, so I kept telling myself not to let up because "she's coming!". I was able to maintain the lead through the end but only by a few seconds, and of course her moving time was less than mine. I told her she should count her moving time as her time trial time, but she told me I should take the female win, so I accepted that even though I never thought of this as a race. My time was 18:32.

Rebecca came in shortly after us followed by David and Amy, and we all ran several more miles (10 on the day for me). Elise set up a sprinkler in her yard, about a mile from the course, and gave us popsicles on our cool down.

Cool down

#jumpingjuly - kind of

I ended up appreciating knowing my 1k splits because they showed me where I need to push more, which to no one's surprise is the 3rd and 4th kilometers (see below). I am not sure how it took me 2 seconds to stop my watch after it beeped 5k, but with it set up this way I can see that on the time and subtract it accordingly. It's just a Garmin time anyway - we considered doing this on the track to have a perfect 5k, but ended up voting and road won by 1 vote.

Splits

I'm planning to race a certified 5k next month, and it's likely it will also be in a heat advisory, so this was good preparation! I ran this one better than I've run most first 5ks of a season, I think because I bombed my 1600 m the week before - similarly in summer 2020 I bombed a 2 mile time trial then had a great 5k time trial. So my lesson moving forward is: schedule a meaningless time trial for my first short race of a season! That seems very reasonable, and lucky for me I have a group of similarly crazy people who are always willing to do things like this.

Elise & Estes