The last 5k, my race of choice, was in April, a local race, and I did okay for how much training I was doing. I ran a 28:44, not great by any means for what I should be running but like I blogged before I am coming off some injuries that made my normal training difficult. My fastest 5k time this year was in March at the Hanson's 5k where I ran a 27:50, some great progress at the time. I'll get back to my 5k later.
Since my last 5k in April I still have been racing: I did a 8k in May, the NCTR was in June, and I did a duathlon and the GLR in July. So I have been doing a fare amount of training and racing. Mid summer is usually the drop off of my 5k racing when the relays and more endurance racing starts. But, now that all the relays are over I am going to concentrate on getting my 5k time down before winter starts and my training slows to maintenance training.
Here is a look back at the past few major races I've completed.
The first was NCTR a drunken weekend with the friends that starts summer off with some adult sodas, good friends and some good running. I've only had one really great NCTR relay three years ago the rest have been hard runs that kick my butt into gear and remind me that GLR is a month away and my training needs to improve. I died on the first leg which was a 7.2 miler trail run. I ran it in about an one hour and forty minutes. Just miserable. After that long run tripping through the woods my back was shot and in pain. I was down for a nap in one of the cars and after that I felt a bit better and finished the day with a 3.5 miler that was slow but not to bad. This was not a great start to my running for the summer.
The next big race was my first duathlon. A first annual local race that was a 5k run, 20k bike and then a 5k run to finish. I ran the first 5k easy and relaxed, I have never done such a race before so I didn't want to die. I ended up running a lady into the ground that was trying to race the first 5k. She kept attacking and because I was running easy it wasn't to hard to control the pace and keep ahead. My first 5k was run in 30:22. Then the bike came up. I rode strong and for such an insane ride with huge uphill climbs I didn't die or get beat down by the ride. I've realized that I am a strong rider just not a brave rider. I could have taken a few down hills with a bit more bravado than I did. But I finished the ride in 01:02:27, which is close to how long it takes me to ride around 14-16 miles with traffic stops so the hills didn't slow me down to bad. The last 5k was hard. I past a few people but the last mile was just me trying to maintain my pace. I was glad to finish the last 5k at 35:45 with a 02:08:34 overall time. I was proud of myself for accomplishing my first duathlon and finished in a realistic time. I am hoping to compete in more duathlons if I can find ones that use Mountain Bikes, not a big Road Biker yet.
The last race report is for the GLR our yearly three-day drunken running fest. Lots of memories and funny stories from this year. A great time. My first run of day one was a 5.2 mile trail run. Good trails and I ran it easy at 01:03. My second run of day one was horrible a 5 mile trail run on overgrown sandy horse trails. Took me 01:17 to suffer through that run. Day two was a bit better I ran my first run a 5.4 mile trail run in 01:04 so I was on the same pace as the day before and it was cool to run the same run again after running it for my first GLR first leg six year ago. Then the mess comes out. I started drinking after my first leg and didn't stop. Ran my second leg a 3.5 mile trail run in 50 minutes of drunken stumbling running through the woods. Don't recommend running distance runs wasted. Day three I only had one run which I killed. It was a 5.5 mile run on two tracks, dirt and country roads. I ran it at a ten-minute pace finished the leg in 57:20. This is when I really realized that trail running sucks for me. I can't stride out like I can on roads. I had a great year this year. Oh, and between five drinks and five little helpers we drank ten cases of beer. So, yea, we had some fun.
So, back to 5k's. After all this crazy running I am really looking forward to running a 5k this Saturday and hopefully setting a new PR (Personal Record) that I am proud of. Got a week of rest last week, new shoes this week and starting to hit some good running. Hopefully I will hit a low 26 min or a high 25 min time. That would make me happy.
