There are plusses and minuses to the way I run. One of the plusses…I’m a very good pacer. I can run pretty much the same pace for every mile run. While this is great for races like marathons, this is bad for shorter races like 5 milers. One of the minuses…I have to start slow in races and build up to pace. Again, this is great for marathons, but very bad for shorter races.
Yesterday I met my friends (Mary, Helen, Andrea, Dave and myself) for the Upper Arlington Memorial Day 5 Miler. I run this race every year in celebration as this was the first race I ran. We all started in the corral together. When the gun went off, Andrea quickly dashed to the front, Dave stayed behind a little, and Mary, Helen, and I took off at a fast pace. It was too fast of a pace for me. I hit the first mile at 7:40 and fell behind. I just can’t start a race that quickly! My second mile was 7:23, but that’s deceiving as it is mostly downhill. The girls were still in sight. At mile three I was really starting to hurt, 7:59. And in mile four I just fell apart, walking twice. WALKING! IN A 5 MILE RACE! Even still, my 4th mile was 8:31. Once I hit one mile to go, I just did what I could to get through. My last mile was a 7:50. I finished in 39:28, which got me fifth in my age group. Helen got 2nd in the 30-34 age group; Andrea got 3rd in the 30-34 age group, and Mary got 2nd in the 25-29 age group. Dave ran a 41:XX and set a PR.
In 2005 I ran this race and kicked its butt with a 36:49. That same year I was training for this very same half Ironman I’m currently training for. My training back then was different, though, as I only did about 1 bike a week, followed all my swimming plans, and was still running 30 miles a week. Now I’m doing a little more varied training with 3-4 runs, bikes, and swims a week. I’m not even running 20 miles a week, though. I need to be doing more running and I haven’t the foggiest how I’m supposed to be doing it. The schedule is crazy! Tomorrow I am supposed to do 3 workouts! How am I supposed to fit that into a normal day?!
I am tired of writing race reports saying how disappointed I am. But I am disappointed. I want to be faster. I want to be a totally badass runner and triathlete. What more can I do?
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4 comments:
Meredith, I think the secret comes in your last paragraph. Do you want to be faster, or do you want to be a triathlete? You are doing a TON of training, and its focus is not on becoming a faster runner at shorter distances. If that's really want you want, you could/should focus on that, and I know you'd be successful. But the training plan you're on right now isn't dedicated to that.
That's another reason why I don't like the Lifeline half. I am never at a good point in training to do well, so I get discouraged. There's good reason why training plans have target races: all the training builds to optimize at that time. So long as we do different races with completely different goals, we're in a way sabotaging our efforts...
Stop losing to women named "Dwight", for one. :)
Nice job! I think you're just built for longer races. My wife is the same as you, and she hates 5Ks but loves anything over a half marathon.
No, no. DESPISE the 5K. In fact, last year I ran only one and I think the year before that I didn't run any.
My preferred race is the half marathon, although I've probably run more marathons than half marathons.
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