How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Run for the Health of It 5k

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Location:

Eugene,OR,USA

Member Since:

Nov 09, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

  • 5k PR - 18:48 (7/04/08)
  • 8K PR - 33:46 (5/19/07, on trails)
  • 10k PR - I have not run a competitive 10K yet.
  • 12K PR - 50:10 (8/09/08)
  • 15K PR - 1:04:52 (3/22/08)
  • Marathon - Have run 1 trail marathon, (Grand Island) 3:55 (July 2007)
  • Ultra Marathons -
  • Farmdale 33.5 miles, 10/08 - 6:08
  • Riddle Run 28 Miles, 01/09 - 5:35 (run in 2-3 inches of snow)
  • Devil's Lake 50k, 07/09 - 6:22
  • Howl at the Moon 8 hour, 08/09 - 39.98 miles
  • North Country Trail Run 50 miles, 09/09 - 9:44
  • Farmdale 32 miles, 10/09 - 5:45
  • McNotAgain 30 Miles, 10/09 - 5:50
  • Red Rock Canyon Half, Las Vegas, 06/12 - 2:15


Short-Term Running Goals:

Keep running in the winter - 1st year in Eugene - fun!

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep on Keeping on..

Personal:

Moved to Eugene in Autumn, 2012 - Track city USA!

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Run for the Health of It 5k (3.1 Miles) 00:19:13, Place overall: 5, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.000.003.100.0012.10

Weather – 36 degrees, cloudy, windy. Rain/snow.

Woke to poor racing weather, but since it was expected, it did not bother me, I put away thoughts of time and focused on battling the elements.

The previous night I felt my nervous excitement reach levels that were perhaps too high strung. I plugged into my iPod and listened to a 19:40 piece by Philip Glass, and I ran a 5k in my head as I listened to the music while laying in bed. I felt pretty spent after this mental exercise, so I went into my study and meditated for a few minutes. Before falling asleep I read a good book on 5k/10k training, but this seemed to bring the nervous tension back. I dozed off and slept deeply for 8 hours.

I ran to the race site, which happened to be the midpoint (2.5 miles) of my route to the Zendo. I tried to monitor my energy level as I ran, I did not feel good, but I did not feel bad either. Snow/Rain was falling, making the streets bright and smooth, it felt refreshing to gaze at the long lines of car lamps reflected in the river-like asphalt. I felt like I was going too slow, and wondered why. Perhaps it was the weight of jacket, 3 shirts, hat, gloves, and sweats? When I got to the registration tent I turned around and realized I had been running into a stiff wind during the entire jog, which made me feel better about my speed and neutral feelings. I went inside the hospital (Christie Clinic was the race sponsor) and pinned my number and warmed up a bit. I took a 5k race map and headed outdoors to run a bit of the course. I came across a schoolyard and did 4 x 75M accelerations. They felt fast, and I was starting to feel good. The final mile of the course is a straight shot to the finish, with the wind at my back. I ran about 400M at race pace, my confidence gaining with each stride.

When I was standing at the start line I realized I had left my gloves inside with my sweats and jacket. My hands were already going numb, but with only 2 minutes to race time I stuffed them in my shorts pockets and tried to forget about it. Unlike the last 5K I ran a few weeks ago, I positioned myself near the front, so that I would not have my pace interrupted by slower runners. The horn sounded and I was immediately passed by a throng of runners. For 200M I was passed and passed. I couldn’t believe it when Don from 2nd wind passed me, he ran 24:47 at the Earth Wind and Fire 5k. Either he had done a massive amount of interval training in the past 4 weeks or he was going out over his head. I rechecked my pace, I was fine, actually a bit too strong, so I did not panic, although it did not make me feel confident seeing 30-40 runners surging ahead of me. After 600M I felt my pace pick up, and it was a good thing that I had forgotten my gloves, because the cold feeling in my fingers made me think that I was constantly being slapped in the face, and this caused my nervous energy to stay at a high level. At 800M I was going even faster, and as I began passing the runners who had passed me earlier, I saw they were slowing down. As I passed Don he was talking with another runner, and slowing appreciably. I sometimes wonder about the tactic of surging at the beginning of a race - what purpose does it serve if one slows down permanently after 1000M? At the one mile mark I had passed all the fakers, leaving about 10-12 runners ahead of me. I checked my watch and was hoping to see 6:10-6:15, but instead it read 6:32. This depressed me, I had run the same mile split in the last 5K, where I ran 20:15. Was I headed for another similar effort? With all of the good training I had been through in the past month, that did not seem right, but the split time does not lie. As we made a turn off the long straight, I realized I had once again forgotten to account for the wind. The first mile was kicked directly into the fists of a 15-20mph wind. I felt better after realizing that I ran a 6:32 mile in those conditions. I knew I would soon be turning around and have it at my back. At about 2000M a man pulled up beside me and looked like he was going to pass, but as he took a few steps ahead of me he slowed his pace and we remained equal. Watching him for 50M I realized I should tuck in behind him. He should have gotten behind me, but since he missed his chance, I decided I wasn’t going to miss mine. He did not seem to mind blocking all that wind for me, and I tried to run the pace on autopilot, waiting for the turnaround, which would soon be upon us. I sensed he was trying to shake me because he was slowly increasing the pace, but it was not enough to make me let him go. I was starting to labor a bit but I knew I would soon be feeling very good. We caught a swift moving slender female and we ran in a line of 3. We reached a 100M downhill at the turnaround, so the wind was now at our backs. I thought of the downhill sprints I had worked on in the past few weeks and I let the brakes off, quickly passing the 2 runners I had been following. I was probably running this downhill at 5:30 pace. When it flattened out I slowed a bit, but not too much, the wind was really pushing me along. When I got to the final mile straightaway I started to push the pace. I passed a runner, and saw another about 200M ahead of me. I did not think I would catch him, so I put my head down and started grinding/smoothing the pace. With a half mile to go I surprisingly passed this runner, I seemed to be really moving because he was out of my sight in a heartbeat. I worried that I was going too fast, I still had 800M to go, and I was already in top gear, but I felt in control and it was great having my legs in full stride. With 400M to go I turned my head to see if anyone was making a move on me, but the closest runner was about 100M away. I was safe, but I increased the pace anyways. With about 200M to go I started going anaerobic, but was able to hold my form and had a strong sprint into the chute as the clock clicked 19:13, which meant I had PR’ed by 7 seconds. I was able to recover in 1-2 minutes, and after watching a few runners finish, I took a 1 mile jog. I felt strong on my jog, as if my body was expecting more training. That made me smile.

From the race site I decided to run 1.5 miles to the Zendo, and I meditated for one hour, which calmed my body and mind. I then ran 3 miles back to town, which gave me 12 miles for the day.

#148

z.m. - #62

Comments
From Benn on Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 19:17:45

ALRIGHT BUDDY!!!! Way to go man! haha Dude that is so sweet. You had a sick PR today! :) And I dont know what impresses me more, the PR, or the fact that you did 12 miles on the day :) Way to capitalize on the opportunity with the draft. :) Sick race today :)

From will on Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 21:11:48

Thanks for the comment, Benn. It was a very satisfying race because I was able to go hard the whole distance and not die at the end. Running these days is a lot of fun, I hope I can keep it up...

From Benn on Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 21:40:35

I'm sure that won't be a problem, though you planning on running every day indefinitely? Or is it just for a full year or something? I could never do that!

From will on Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 11:46:53

I started running everyday to help keep me motivated for the winter training. I believed the accumulation of consecutive days would build a momentum that would be hard to break once it got moving. The idea worked, I did not miss any winter days, but I also discovered other benefits of running every day - 1) The body adjusts and begins to crave the daily run. 2) The more running I did, the better my body adapted to the strain 3) Taking easy days is more palatable because I realize no breaks are on the horizon. 4) The confidence gained for competition - I know I probably worked harder than most of my peers.

I am not planning to end my consecutive runs anytime soon. The only thing that would stop me is injury or severe illness.

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