Monday, June 23, 2014

Dan Patch 5K Recap


Although I was happy that I finished a 5K race in May, I wasn’t terribly happy with my time.  The Dan Patch 5K takes place about 2 miles from my house, so I signed up with the hope that I could finish with a time that would make me proud. 

Also, I decided that I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket and only run the Lake Marion triathlon in August.  I figured that if the weather was bad or if I monkeyed it up good, then this would just be a big summer of disappointment.  So, I also signed up for the Chaska River City Days triathlon in July.  Both are spring distances, we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been splitting my days pretty evenly between run, bike and swimming.  I’ve been trying to push a little faster for the runs. I’ll don’t think I’ll ever be fast.  I think I’m just too big, and I’m scared of busting up my knees with speed training.  Anyhoo, on one training run I hit 7:50 on the first mile out. I paid for it on the rest of the run, but I was pretty happy with where my times were going.

Race day for the Dan Patch was sunny, warm and little wind.  My goal was to break 26 minutes; I had gotten close to that in training runs, but I hadn’t broken through 26.  My 5K race in May was over 32 minutes.

I showed up way too early again, and I ended up sitting, walking around and stretching in the Lifetime Fitness parking lot for about ten minutes (registration and start line were in the parking lot).  I hadn’t had any real pain in training coming into Dan Patch, so I was ready to hit it.

I started at the back of the pack and decided I was going to try to get a fast first mile out.  I passed a lot of the pack in the first quarter mile, and then settled into a pace.  There was a spray paint line on the sidewalk to indicate the one mile mark; it’s anyone’s guess how accurate that was.  By my watch, I hit that mark at 7:40.  That seemed fast, but I was trying to push it.  The race is mostly flat; there is a little uphill on the second mile and a little downhill on the third mile. 

When I got to the third mile, I was tired.  Several people passed me in the last five minutes.  Once I could see the finish line I tried to speed up again, but I didn’t have much left.  As I came around the last turn, I could see that the clock was still in the 25th minute, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.  I slowed a little as I reached the finish line, and I clocked in at 25:43 with an 8:16 pace.

Looking at the posted results, I noticed that two guys finished at 25:44.  I don’t know if they just didn’t catch me, or if they were nice enough not to pass me at the finish line.  I like to think the latter is true, and I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever in that position.  I would have felt pretty rotten if I had been passed right at the finish line.

My first tri is in a month.  I’ll probably pull back on the speed and try to get in some longer work outs.  I’m glad I did this 5K; I doubt I’ll break 26 minutes again this summer.