Love 2 Run 5K Race

Completed my first race off of the break and into week 9 of the training calendar.

The weather today was perfect! My friend Tim and I ran the Love2Run 5K around the Charles River this morning. Course was flat with wet leaves and over 320 runners.

My right foot has been bothering me a bit (Broke it running the Boston Marathon last year) so I wanted to take it easy on it. If when I woke it did not feel the way I wanted, I was going to pull out of the race. It's still so early in the year, why chance it?

I was curious to see what I could do today. My coach Jesse has had me in low heart rate zones for over eight weeks. The pace has been slow and I have been focusing on form, and weights for a while now. No speed work at all!

The race goal today by the coach was to average a 7:30 min/mile and sub-23 minutes for the 3.1 miles. I was to get into that pace and try to hold on. I started the race at the front, but hung back after the gun because there were a lot of slow runners in front, and there were wet leaves over pot holes and I could not see where my feet were landing. I quickly ran into a 5:30 min/ mile at first glance of my watch. The cold air made my lungs tight and I laid back a little to see what pace the front pack was doing. I was able to stay with them by 4 seconds and could taste a little blood as my lungs were not warmed up, and my training runs have been more slow.

I was fluid and ran well। I was reeling in the front pack and made a mistake of not looking at my watch enough. My goals was to run faster by the second part of the race. I looked at my watch at mile, 2.1 with very little course left to complete. By then, I kicked faster to try to take over a couple of runners in front.

Finished at a 6:45 min/mile and 21:10, 28th place, 3rd in my Age Group। I know I can hold a much faster pace and my foot held up well and I टूक extra precaution of an ice-bath and compression. Onto the pool in the morning for three 800 Time Trials, and a full increased schedule of training this week after a reformation week.