Running of the Leopards 5K

Yesterday: elliptical

Today:
5K race! First race since last October's horrid 29:56 effort at the 5K Nationals in Kingsport.



Calvin is bugging me to get going… so this will have to be quick!

Warm-up - did 1.4km with some strides around the parking lot. Felt antsy. Right hip a bit irritated from Thursday (piriformis). Weather was about 40F (4C) and breezy, but it was a tailwind for the race. Pretty nice out, actually!

Race: Billed as "The Fastest 5K in Utah" and it probably is :). Nice descent of about 300ft (100m) with just a small uphill in the first mile (in the 2nd km). I felt pretty good initially, but my legs just didn't have the turnover I wanted; probably my fast-twitch muscles are just not there yet. Not surprising. Also, I just didn't have that little extra push I needed - was a bit afraid to go really hard because I don't trust my fitness just yet. I did a nice fast 4th km (5:32, my 2nd fastest) but on the 5th km though I worked harder (see my HR increase! Averaged 169 on 5th km, but max was 174 - working hard!), I didn't go any faster. Admittedly I was slowed down a bit by about 5m of sand on the track entrance and then the fact that the last 300m was flat, on the track.

So - I wasn't as fast as I'd hoped - was hoping to break 28 min on this nice downhill - but it's a good start to my season. Time 28:19, with splits of 5:24 (biggest downhill), 5:56 (the uphill was here), 5:46, 5:32, 5:39. Average HR for the whole race was just 161, so I think there was more room to push there. With time and some fast workouts, this will improve.

Garmin data here.

***

Calvin was just AWESOME this morning in his race. He did a flying fast 24:10. That's really good for a 9-year-old, I think!!! He got 2nd in his age group (under 11) and had a great time. We'll be doing more races together I'm sure!