Thursday, June 03, 2010

Astros 5K Race Recap

I went into the Astros 5K this past weekend shooting for sub 19 minutes and expecting measurable improvement over the 5K I did in Tomball in early April. Yeah Tomball was cooler and a flatter course but still, when I've done a 5K in the mid to high 19s it's always been on the way down to faster times. But this past weekend showed that I've made no improvement at all. Either that or I had a bad day, which I don't usually have on race days.

I hit the first mile in 6:13 and knew I was in trouble at that point. That's not an auspicious beginning to a sub 19. It wasn't likely that I was going to get faster in mile two and three so I just held on the best I could. Miles two and three were probably around 6:25. I finished in 19:46, ten seconds slower than my 5K in Tomball. But I must admit that my training hadn't been going very well leading into the race. I've had a rough few weeks, with many training runs cut short due to fatigue, lack of will, breathing issues, etc. I haven't done enough consistent speedwork either so I shouldn't have expected much.

I did manage to win my age group though, which is really just a statement about all the fast 45-49 year old guys who didn't show up (thank God). That was good for four field box seats to an Astros game of my choice, and a pair of Asics from Academy. But as with most runners, it was small consolation. I know I didn't have a good race, so while I'm grateful for the awards, I'm not proud of my effort.

This week though I've had a good couple of runs to go along with two easy run days. On Tuesday night I did 10.37 at an overall pace of 7:25, but the first five miles were at a 7:11 pace, and I also did about .75 miles somewhere around mile seven at about a 6:10 pace. I walked a bit to recover from that which impacted the overall pace number. And tonight I did 9.50 at an overall pace of 7:30. Most of that was with Anthony, one of the new guys I met two weeks ago. He's going to make a nice addition to the (invitation only) Brian, Steve and Lance Sugar Land running club. I'll try to get in some miles in the morning before work then a long run of 16 on Saturday morning with Brian.

No more 5Ks until July. I'd better be under 19 by then or I quit!