Finally, a 5K PR!!!

Seeing as how I am transitioning from a sprinter running no more than 400m to a longer distance runner. I always thought the 5k race, would be my race. It's short enough for me to keep some speed. I haven't really sprinted since high schoold and my fastest 400m as of late was 1:10, which according to McMillan Running Calculator hsould put me at a 19:48 5k (yeah right, in my dreams). My fastest 5k to date was 26:27 which I ran 4 months ago. I suck at running distance, and I would love to one day achieve a 19:48. I have done numerous 5ks since June and have not PR'd. But finally today I ran a little faster.

My company sponsored a team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. For some reason everyone at work thinks I'm this great super fast runner. I told one person, I run about 4x per week, and he thought that meant I was really fast. I have tried to explain to him many times that I run slow during those 4x per week. Somehow word got out and one of my co-workers (he is an MMA fighter) decided to make a competition out the Race for the Cure. As an MMA fighter, I knew he was way more in shape than I was. I kept trying to talk myself down to anyone who would listen, but for some reason no one would listen and thought it would be some great race between him and I. Yeah...not even close. He finished in 18:52. However, boosted by the little competition I was able to PR! It did have a few more switchbacks than I would have liked because it was all in the parking lot of a hotel, but it was flat! Gotta love flat! I finished in 25:41! Not super fast by any means, but super fast for me. I averaged 8:17/mi! My splits were 8:03 (starting too fast like always) / 8:28 / 8:28 / 6:59 (final .11mi).

The Joy of Racing

I am going to be very sad once this racing season is over because I have really taking this racing thing head on, some might even say obsessed. I have only been consistently running since February and my first race was March 17th. Since then I have ran 10 races and I still have at least 3 more planned for the rest of the year. A lot of people say they run for sanity, health, etc. Is it bad to say that I run to race? Racing is so exciting to me. The competition, the atmosphere, the goal of trying to better myself. I think Oprah Winfrey said it best when she said:

“Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it”

This quote is so true. This is why I love running/racing. How I compete at a race is a direct correlation to how I’ve trained. Unlike in other team sports where you are depending on others, it’s only you. I’m not saying I don’t love team sports (because I do), but there is no one else to blame. If I don’t do well, it’s all on me. I consider myself to be a very independent person, and running is a great independent sport.

On that note of not blaming anyone or anything for my perceived failures, I have yet another race recap to talk about.This past weekend I participated in the Race to Benefit the Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit 5k and 10k. This was the inaugural year for this race, and like most races, I couldn’t resist the allure of a free technical t-shirt and cheap entry fee ($25). This was a very small race with only 162 people doing the 5k and another 79 doing the 10k. I opted for the 5k. Since this run was put on by the Reno Running Company, they were giving away gift certificates for AG winners 3 deep. The course was definitely not flat by any means, so I knew I would most likely not PR, but since it was such a small race, I thought I had a shot at an age group placement. This race started about 15 minutes later than it should have. One of my friends and her husband were running in the race so I lined up with her near the middle back. The race started about 15mins late (better late than never I guess).  The first .75mi was downhill. I should have taken the opportunity to use the downhill and go out really fast, but again my fear of going out too fast got the better of me. My first split was 8:14. The course was a lollipop shape through a neighborhood. It wasn’t pretty or scenic, and like I said previously it was not flat. The next mile was 8:41. Since this was a lollipop course, I would have to go back up that huge downhill in the beginning of the race. It was tougher than it should have been. I struggled the entire way up, but still managed to eke out an 8:44 for the final mile and 7:35 for the last .1mi. My friends husband was already done and relaxing by the time I got to the finish line. This was his first 5k and he still managed to place first in his age group and 12th overall. My results…not so good. I placed 32nd overall and 4th in my AG (for the 4th time, will it ever be my time to get an AG placement). However, upon a closer look I noticed something about the girl in 3rd place.

Place	Name	City	Bib	Age	Chiptime	Guntime	Pace
1	Lauren Tomory		308	26	20:28	20:29	6:36
2	Eleanor Su	Reno	215	23	23:03	23:05	7:26
3	Hayley George	Witon	119	26	26:52	26:55	8:40
4	Lynsey Day (me)	Reno	104	28	26:48	26:57	8:41

Do you see it? She had a faster gun time than me, but I had the faster chip time. Normally I wouldn’t put up a fuss, but there was a gift certificate to my favorite running store on the line, So I went up to the women who was posting the results and asked her if they were going by gun time or chip time. She wasn’t sure but said I should go talk to the people doing the timing. I went to them, and they said they were pretty sure it was going by chip time. So I told them that my chip time was faster than the girl in 3rd place. They told me to go talk to the race director. I found him and asked him the same question. Chip time, or gun time? He told me they were going by gun time because he didn’t think it was fair that if someone showed up 5 minutes late to the race and crossed the finish line after everyone else should deserve an award. In the nicest way I could I said, “So, even though I was on time for the race and ran the course 4 seconds faster than the girl in 3rd place, but obviously started behind her, I don’t deserve 3rd place in my AG?” He just said that they were trying to be as fair as possible and that awards should be given by who crossed the finish line first. Seriously??? Had I known that, I would have started up at the front. I have to say I feel pretty cheated out of an AG and a gift certificate. I was a good sport and still clapped for her when they called her name.

So, 26:48...not my best, but also not my worst. I guess that is about my average for a 5k. My Garmin put me at a 8:30 pace because it said I went a total of 3.15mi. I honestly don’t think I will be running in their 2nd annual race, but it was still a race, and I still had a great time.

My Transformation into a Reno Runner.

I finally like I can call myself a real Reno runner now, for I have completed the RGJ Journal Jog. It is Reno’s oldest foot race held annually starting in 1968. It’s crazy to think that I only started my running journey in February of this year. Since then, I have entered 9 races and completed 8. All of the races I have done have been 5ks (with the exception of the Reno 10 miler DNF) however, this was an 8k or 4.97mi race. I was super excited to do this race. Every runner in Reno I know has done this race at least once, in fact almost every person I know, runner or not in Reno has ran or walked the race, so I was very happy to become a Journal Jog veteran. Seeing as how my longest race has only been 3.1mi, I had no idea how to approach this race. Normally when I finish a 5k, I am really tired and sometimes even light headed, so I knew I probably should not expect to run the same pace. So, I went to the trusty McMillian running calculator and plugged in my most recent 5k time and boom…it spit out an 8:53 pace for an 8k. My first thought was “yeah right, I will never be able to keep up a sub 9:00 pace for 5mi, but thanks for the laugh.” So I guess I was on my own. This is a scary thought to me. I have a huge fear of starting out way too fast and completely crashing and burning in the end, thus, I have counted on that calculator for everything, whether it be race paces or training paces. But I had no choice but to trust myself.

Normally before every race I wake up about 2 hours before race time and go on a 1mi shakeout run, for whatever reason I decided to skip this run. Also, the entire day before the race I usually take it easy and lounge around all day, however the day before I was moving to a new house and was doing anything but lounging. I also normally go to bed early enough to get a full 8 hours of sleep, and you guessed it, I didn’t go to bed until 12:30 knowing I had to be up by 6 to race. Needless to say, I knew in my heart this wasn’t going to be my race, but I pressed onward.  I parked about a half mile away from the race start and thought I would run to the start line for my warm-up. I was glad to know that even though I was tired and my legs were stiff from moving the day before, that they still worked. By the time I made it to the start, I only had 5mins til the start of the race. I got a quick stretch in and lined up in the 9:00-10:00min pace group. The race started right on time (which I love). The entire time I was running I was trying to judge how I was feeling, too tired? Legs too sore? The entire race went by really fast to me, normally I am staring at my Garmin wanting to know how much further I have to go, but I would have never known I had gone a mile if my watch didn’t beep. First mile beep, I looked down 8:40.Crap, I am going way too fast. Next mile 8:55, ah still too fast, I’m going to have nothing left. Next mile contained a not too fun hill and 9:09. At the end of this mile instead of thinking I was going too fast, I thought, I am not tired enough to actually say I’m racing. In fact I felt about as tired as I would during a quicker paced training run. So I decided to face my fear and pick up the pace a little bit, I could always slow down later. The next 2 miles flew by.  I was pretty shocked. McMillian said my projected pace would be an 8:53/mi and I finished officially with a 8:43/mi but the race was a little longer that an 8k according to my Garmin (5miles on the dot) and it says I did an 8:40/mi pace. I wish I would have realized a little bit sooner that I was running too slowly because I might have even finished it faster!  My official finish time was 43:19. I placed 12/30 in my AG and 169/505. Not too horribly bad, but the last race I did was 8/3/2013 and it was all steeply uphill and I was only 12 seconds off my PR so my last flatish race was back in June. I am really eager to see if I can PR again in a 5k race. The next one I have coming up is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on 10/6. I’m hoping for the best.

Splits: 8:40 / 8:55 / 9:09 / 8:20 / 8:17 Official time 43:19

Playing Catch-up

Long time, no blog. This doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about blogging, I have just been feeling a little ashamed about the way some things have been going recently. The Reno area has been plagued by smoke from wildfires namely the Rim Fire and previously the American Fire for the past month. Most days the air quality has been so bad it was recommended not to go outside, let alone go running outside. And many who know me know that I would rather go deep sea diving in shark infested waters than run on a treadmill. I was worried about the Reno 10 Miler going on during the first week of the American Fire, I even made the decision that if the air quality didn't improve I wouldn't be running the race, which would have been a huge disappointment because I was planning on using this race as a measure of my running fitness and how to pace myself for my half marathon in October. The running gods saw to it that the race should go on. The day of the race, the air quality was deemed "healthy". When I got to the race, I met up with some co-workers who were also running and Karla who offered to pace me. We took the obligatory pre-race picture.

Karla, Katherine, Me, and Logan

The race started right on time (which I love) and it started off great. The first 2.5 miles where uphill, so I thought I would run that part conservatively. My knee really started hurting about 2 miles in. I thought it was just the uphill, so I decided to walk (just for a little bit) until I hit the downhill portion, and it just got worse. Karla cautioned me that I should just take the dreaded DNF instead of making things worse. She told me I might regret stopping now, but not as much as I would regret it later if I kept running. I did decide to stop. Since that race, my knee has been constantly hurting. I am pretty sure it is related to my IT Band, because I seem to possess every symptom.

The week of the race, I ran 26 miles. That was my biggest mileage since then. Because of all the smoke I have been forced to stay indoors. I have tied to substitute running with spinning classes and swimming. For a few days this week, we have had relatively low smoke days, so I have ventured out and ran. I feel like I have lost a lot of my running fitness already. Things are a lot harder than they used to be. :( I have also made the executive decision to not run in the Urban Cow Half Marathon this year. I am incredibly bummed about this. I feel like I have been working so hard to train for this even, but because of the smoke i have missed 4 of my long runs, and I just don't think I will be prepared enough to race. I know I could still finish, but I wanted to finish with a good time.

In the meantime, I have found a new love of swimming. It is very relaxing.

 I took a swimming class my last semester of college and I found it fun and challenging. During that time, I couldn't do more than one lap (2 lengths of the pool of 50m) without stopping, but I have found now that I can do 3 laps (6 lengths or 150m) before I need to take a quick break. Ok, so I'm no Michael Phelps, but that is pretty cool progress. I think I can attribute it to all the running I was doing. Now if only I could find the same love of cycling then I would probably love triathlons, but alas, me and biking are not really on the best of terms. I almost think I would rather run on a treadmill than go on a bike ride. What I'm trying to say is:

Except for this one, because it's just awesome!