5K Race Report: Quest for the perfect 5K continues...

You know the feeling the day after a race:  your legs are so freaking sore but you don't even care because you know you gave the race your all and the soreness is just a reminder of the great accomplishment you made the day before. Well, I didn't get to experience that awesome soreness after my 5K this weekend.  In fact, my muscles felt better the day after the race than they did the day before it.  I had a little flare up in my piriformis in the days preceding and the morning of the race, but the day after the race it seemed all better!  It is quite a frustrating feeling to not be the least bit sore the day after a race.  It means that for some reason or another, you did not or were not able to physically push yourself to your limits on race day. 

Bryan Station Defender Classic 5K race report: 

My support crew, braving the nasty weather to cheer me on!  Ernie, me, Tyler, Mom, and Dad. 

The forecast for race morning was cold, rain, and wind.  Not exactly 'getting you pumped to race' weather.  I had already paid for the race and the pancake breakfast afterwords, and I really wanted my parents to meet some of my running buddies who would be competing in or spectating the race, so there was no backing out of this one.  The forecast held true on race morning and I just dealt with it. 

I did an easy pace 1.4 mile warm up before the race.  I didn't use to warm up before 5K races, but recently  learned that warming up is especially important for persons with asthma, and it is a good idea in general to prevent injury and get your body ready to race. 

The start line of the race.

My plan was to (for once) not go out to fast my first mile, and hope to negative split each mile of the race. I took the first mile out very conservatively (7:16 pace).  Typically I run my first mile around 6:45 pace and then pay for it during the second mile. I held a very comfortable pace while dodging puddles of rain water and weaving in and out of kids who went out too fast and were already walking.

There were a few hills during mile 2. The hills weren't very long or steep, and due to the out-and-back nature of the course, whatever you went up, you got to go down, so that was nice.  At one point during mile 2 I had the thought that I should start picking up my pace, but my very next thought was "that might hurt, and I don't feel like hurting quite yet." That attitude earned me a slower (7:39 pace) split for mile 2 (not the negative split I was planning on).  Woops. Although my second mile was slower than my first, I was gaining on the two females in front of me during mile 2.

There were several out and back sections of the course, so it was easy to tell what place I was throughout the race: 3rd female.   Near the beginning of mile 3, I passed the female who was in second place at that time, and enjoyed that for all of about 15 strides.  She caught up with me shortly after I passed her, we exchanged a couple "good jobs" and then she took off to catch the lead female.  I never got close to that woman again, but did continue to gain on the other female in front of me (who happened to be one of my training buddies and good friends).  My plan was to catch and pass my friend in the second half of mile 3.  So, midway of mile 3, when I finally decided I was willing to put forth the hurt necessary to catch my friend, I picked up the pace.  Approximately 30 seconds after I picked up my pace, however, I started to gag. Yes, gag (the kind where your entire body convulses and there's a good chance you're about to puke) it's a common symptom of an asthma episode for me during hard exercise when my asthma isn't under control.  The harder I tried to push myself, the more I gagged.  I was forced to slow my pace and finish the best I could.  Mile 3 split was a 7:43.

I placed 3rd female overall, with a time of 23:00 (7:24 pace) which is 2 seconds slower than my 5K PR.  I'm frustrated.  I know, without a doubt that I am capable of running a sub-22 minute 5K at this time, and if I would have done that this weekend I would have won the race.  I would have loved to have won for the sheer fact that my parents were there.  They have always supported me so much (even driving up from North Carolina at least once a month during my collegiate swimming to cheer for me at meets) and I like doing well for them.  I'm sure they thought 3rd place was great and they are proud of me, but I would have liked to have done better for them. 

I haven't run too many 5K's, and I have yet to 'master' the 5K race distance.  My problem before has always been going out too fast and then bonking during mile two or three.  My problem this weekend was my breathing.  It may seem like that is an 'uncontrollable' factor, but I'm educated enough to know that a person with asthma should not experience symptoms if their asthma is properly managed.  While I did take my inhalers and warm up the morning of the race, I neglected to take allergy medication.  I have also suspected that I need to be on a higher dose of medication during allergy season, but I haven't made the effort to schedule a doctor appointment to make that happen.  Not only is it unsafe for a person with asthma to race or otherwise physically exert themselves without having their asthma under control, I cannot expect to reach my full potential if I cannot breathe! 

Another race, another lesson learned.  I'll succeed in my 'Quest for the perfect 5K' one of thees days!

Creating Motivation

Motivation isn't something you just go out and find, you have to create your own. 

During a conversation today with a (out of shape) co-worker who was explaining to me how lazy, and therefore overweight she has become I had a major realization.  It dawned on me that to the 'outsider' it seems like everything about exercise comes easy to athletes.  To the 'outsider' it appears as though those who are fit posses some strong, innate desire to exercise regularly, as if it's a gene that some humans get and others don't.  The moment I had that realization, I felt the need to inform my co-worker that I struggle with motivating myself to exercise.  I could tell by the look on her face she was completely shocked to hear me say that.  I explained to her that I have figured out a set of motivational tactics that works for me, and I rely on those heavily to keep me doing what I do on a regular basis.  Motivation varies for each individual, and everyone needs to figure out what it is that motivates them. 

I'm looking forward to following a training plan again (starting next week).  Having a race to train for is the best motivational factor for me.  Due to finances, schedule, or other factors, I don't always have a race to train for, however.  It is during those times I must figure out how else to motivate myself to exercise.

For the past eight months, I have not followed a training plan, and I've gone through several rough patches as far as motivation is concerned.  I have only completed two triathlon seasons thus far, but I already see a pattern of 'post-triathlon season blues' forming.  I get such an incredible 'high' from triathlon training and racing, that after the last tri race of the season, my motivation crashes.  While I have had many ebbs in motivation over the past eight months, I managed to keep in pretty good shape heading into my third triathlon season.  Without a race to train for (aka my motivation to exercise) I had to pull from my 'motivational tactics file' a lot this Winter to find the motivation to run. 

Here were my main sources of motivation to run this Winter: 

My dog:  I used my best gal pal, Ruby, as motivation several times this winter.  In November I vowed that I was going to be a major wuss about running in the cold this Winter (after being scarred from so many marathon training runs in the brutal cold last Winter) and  I stuck true to that vow.  That meant not running outside in the mornings with my running buddies.  It's hard for me to get motivated to A) run by myself, and B) run after work.  I know running makes Ruby extremely happy, so I'd muster up the motivation after a long day of work to take her out on a run, just to see that smile on her elongated schnoz.

Happy Ruby, post run. 

Burning Calories: Never until this Winter have I used 'burning calories' as any sort of motivation to exercise.  Running (and biking and swimming) has never been about burning calories for me.  I exercise because it makes me happy, and I know it is healthy.  I set out on several runs this past Winter with the goal just to burn calories. When I am following a training plan, every workout has a purpose and is done with a certain pre-determined goal pace, but since I wasn't  training for anything in particular this Winter, I didn't have that 'focus' to drive my motivation to run.  Although this isn't typically like me, I have to admit, it was a relief to know that if I wasn't happy with the pace of a run, at least I could know that I burned calories and would have 'that much less' weight to carry on my swims/ bikes/ runs in triathlon races this year. 

My Happy Pill/ Stress Relief: Sometimes when I'm feeling unmotivated I just have to remind myself how happy and de-stressed I will be during and after the workout is over.  I have never regretted doing a workout, but many times I have regretted skipping one. Skipping a workout is a 'double whammie':  you don't get that happy high one can gain only from a great workout, and you are left with regret for not having done the workout.



Social Time: There are some close friends of mine that, due to our crazy schedules, the only way we see one another some weeks (or months) is by running together.  We both need to get our run in for the day, so it makes sense to combine our limited time into a 'social run'. (A social run is a run in which the pace is easy enough for the runners to carry on a conversation).  Before I started following a strict training plan a couple years ago, I had no qualmls with doing 'social runs', but over the past couple years I followed a plan in which each of my (3) runs a week had to be very fast paced (no time for social runs).  No one needs motivation to get out and socialize with their best friends, and since I took the past eight months off of that stringent training plan, I was able to motivate myself to do several runs (some 10 miles or more) for the sole purpose of socializing with my buddies. 


A 'social run' I did recently.  10.5 miles for the sole purpose of spending time with some of my running buddies!

I know every one of us is capable of coming up with a different excuse, day after day to not exercise, but you only need to figure out a few good motivators that work for you in order to overcome those excuses.  What are YOUR motivators? 

Personal Records, and beyond..

I went on a bike ride a couple weekends ago with a new cycling buddy I met at the ‘Women’s Ride Day’ on March 18.  When she asked me if I was doing the Half- Marathon coming up in Lexington here’s how the conversation went:

Me: “No, I will never do that race because it is too hilly and I know I can’t PR on it...  You know what local race I do love, though, is the Bluegrass 10,000 because I have always PR’d at that race!” 

New Cycling Buddy: “So let me get this straight: every race you do has to be a PR?”

Me: “Yes, I prefer it that way..It doesn’t always happen that way, but that’s how I prefer it. I realize the day will come when I no longer PR, but I haven’t yet thought through what I’m going to do or how I’m going to handle myself at that point.” 

After a run or bike ride, I often reflect on conversations held during training because in the middle of training it can be difficult to process thoughts (in fact, during a hard run, it can be difficult to even process words).  So, I thought about that conversation after the ride.  It didn’t take me but a few days to think through how I will handle that day when I accept (after several attempts, I am sure) the fact that my body is no longer capable of producing Personal Record performances.   If my life plays out how I currently expect it to, by that time, I’ll probably be more concerned about what my kids are accomplishing than what I am not.  Even then, I expect there to be a part of me that is sad and nostalgic.  I imagine the first thing I will do is find an Age Equivalent Running Results Chart, or this handy online calculator and plug in my numbers to see what my time equates to if I were of ‘prime running age’! 

This will pacify me for some time, and every race report of mine thereafter will include two times: my actual time, and my computed ‘prime age’ time.  Probably no one but myself will care about my computed time, but it will be the one I personally claim.  I predict I will become so familiar (some may call it obsessed) with the conversions that it will get to the point where I will know immediately upon finishing a race, what my converted time is (and will probably report it as that when a running buddy asks me my time at the finish line party). 

What will happen, though, when these ‘converted times’ don’t satisfy me anymore?  Then what?  Quit running?  I hope not!  Find something new within running to focus on? I hope so!   Maybe I’ll become a trail runner (doubtful, I’m too clumsy even at 29 to handle many trails).  Perhaps I’ll give marathon racing an honest effort because I’ll have more slow twitch muscle fibers by then (we’ll see).. My best guess is that I’ll find my focus where my running mentor Ernie found his: in helping and supporting newer runners. 

I am still at a selfish point in my life.  I say this not because I act or speak selfishly, but because at this point in my life I am responsible for no one but myself.  I don’t yet have the responsibility of raising a child or taking care of an elderly parent.  I believe I will be completely capable of taking on such selfless roles in my life, but for now I’m enjoying being selfish while I can.  Currently, every race I participate in is my race; every training run is done at the time of day, and at the speed I want to run.  Life will happen, and before I know it, ‘I’ will be a word seldom used in my vocabulary.  My training schedule and races will be worked around my family’s schedule, and I’ll be too tired to give every training run my very best effort.  My kids will grow up, leaving me with that need to nurture, and my prime running years will be behind me. 

I have always had the heart and mind of a competitor, but I honestly hope the day will come when it no longer matters to me how fast I am; when even the age conversion calculator means nothing to me, and PR’s will be forgotten (or embellished…because if I am still running at 70, I should be entitled to ‘remember’ the past however I choose)!

How will you/ do you handle letting go of Personal Records ?