USATF-Utah Association 5K racewalk

Yesterday: 30 min elliptical with Kelly. I was exhausted; had worked 12 days in a row as of yesterday, and with all the house stuff it was a lot. My boss let me off a couple hr early (he's grateful for all the work I did) but did I rest? Only a little, because I'd promised Calvin I'd take him to the bookstore to get a book he's been wanting. When we got home, I did rest for about 30 min, but then we were off to a 50th birthday party and then the symphony. Whew.

Photos: race finishers, at left. Stevie, me, Shelly, Kathy. Below - judges, volunteers, racers.

Today: I wasn't really at all in the mood to race this morning. I had no energy left to mentally put into a race after all the mental energy expended for work and house stuff this week. So while I raced as hard as I could this morning, I think if I'd been in a better mental space I'd have been able to race harder. My heart rate only averaged 162 for the race, which for me is low for a 5K, though I did push very hard the last 500m and my HR got up to 175 max, which is pretty typical for the end of a 5K. Nancy (who was judging today) said that I looked sluggish at the beginning, but that the 2nd time around the park I looked like I was in my game. But in GOOD news, both Jim (also judging) and Nancy said that my posture looked fantastic. HA! I've been working very hard on that, especially with the recent hamstring issue. My hamstring did bother me a bit today, but it wasn't bad, and I did focus a lot on the form.

So - the race. I started off somewhat conservatively, effort-wise, because I really wanted to make sure I had enough gas in the tank for the full 5K. Good thing I did, because my first km was my fastest at 5:47.5 (each km is marked on this well-measured course). Of course, Liberty Park is NOT completely flat, and actually I do not think it's a fast course because of that. But that's not an excuse. I'm clearly not in my best shape, physically or mentally. My 2nd km was the slowest at 5:57.8, but it also has the most uphill of any of the km on this course, and again, I was trying not to go out too hard. I kept a steady effort on the 3rd km, and with its slight downhill it was a bit faster at 5:53.6. The 4th km I held on and tried to pick it up a bit, but with the slight uphill I only managed 5:56.4. I am proud of the hard effort I put forth on the last km; I wanted to do well, and pulled off a 5:52.7.

Total time 29:28.0. Not great, but considering the last 6 weeks, I'll definitely take it. Good speed work to build towards a 20K race at the end of October in Sacramento.

Oh, and for the record, the weather was awesome for this 8am race. Calm, clear, 8.9C (48F). Shorts and T-shirt; a bit chilly in the hands but otherwise good.

Garmin data here.