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!
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Cool down |
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| #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.
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| 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.
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| Elise & Estes |
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