New 5K PR & Learning Lessons

It's funny how easy it is to overdo something. You feel good so you push harder, until one day you get a dose of "Oh crap, I hope I'm not going to regret this".

Since Memorial Day 2014, I had started a run streak. I ran at least a mile a day every day. It was going great. Initially my goal was to complete the 40 day challenge from Runners World. The challenge ran from Memorial Day to Independence Day. I enjoyed the challenge, and ended up continuing it after the 40 days.

I did not know how long I would streak for. I began to think 100 days would be a good goal, and even thought about a one year running streak. Problem is, I knew I was getting into marathon training, and I was not sure how my body was going to handle all the extra miles. So I figured I would just play it by ear.

I was feeling strong. I had built my long run up to 15 miles. I was still streaking daily and had added some PiYo into the mix.

Then I made a stupid decision. I was scheduled to run 16 miles (for the first time), 15 miles being the most I had done up to that point. So I decided I would run 13 miles, and then run a 5k race. I felt good during the 13 mile run. So when I arrived at the 5k race a half hour after completing my run, I decided I felt good enough to actually try to PR this race.

I ran the race strong. I felt good. In the last stretch I came across a boy who seemed to be struggling. I told him we were almost there, and he was able to pick his pace back up. Then I had the brilliant idea to tell him I'd race him to the finish... Yep, I sprinted my butt off trying to beat this 13 year old looking boy that was probably 20 years younger than me, and who had not ran 13 miles before this race. Brilliant idea! He beat me by seconds, and it was fun. I ended up earning a new PR of 25:23 :)

For the rest of the day I felt great. I felt kinda badass even. That is until Sunday morning. I woke up to my right heel hurting. And upon Googling my symptoms (never a great idea), I came to the conclusion that I must have plantar fasciitis, and all my races for the rest of the year were in jeopardy.

I was really worried about having a bad injury that would take me out for the season. So I decided to walk my mile for the streak, even though up until this point I had ran at least a mile everyday.

I woke up Monday to it still hurting, and decided to not run that day and to end my streak all together. I ended up going to see a physical therapist, who determined it was not plantar fasciitis. Thank God! I had just over done it and have tight calves. She did some laser treatments to my foot and gave me some stretches to do before and after every run. She said I needed to be better about stretching.

Luckily everything worked out, and I have been running pain free for over three weeks now. So moral of the story, listen to your body and your trainer. My goal right now is to complete my first marathon, not risk injury on last minute 5k PR's.

Does running fry brain cells?

RIP Run streak! I made it 90 days of running at least a mile each day.

New 5K PR!

I started running a bit last March. I ran the UNC ZTA Franklin 5K. It was the first time ever that I had run a 5K without walking. I ran it in 31:08. I was so proud of myself and something in me clicked that said "You CAN run".

Since then I ran a 5K pushing my daughter in the jogging stroller and have done some non timed color runs. So when I signed up for the Tuxedo Trot 5K I wanted to push myself to set a PR. I knew I would PR for my race time because I have been consistently running sub 30 minute 5Ks since I started half marathon training last year. I also knew I was getting faster at the distance from the tempo runs and progressions runs I had been doing for my Raleigh Rock N' Roll Half training with RunnerDude's Fitness. So I knew I should not have a problem getting my time under 30 minutes. Now the question was how low could I get it. I secretly wanted to finish around 25-26 minutes.

That weekend my brother and his wife were in town visiting us and they also signed up to do the 5K. My husband decided not to do the 5K so he could take pictures and watch our 2 year old daughter. He also was going to help our daughter run her first "Kids' Fun Run".

So we got up early the morning of the race. I was excited. It was nice to race a smaller distance. The weight of 3.1 miles is so different than 13.1.  There is such a different strategy as well. With a half marathon you gotta make sure you pace yourself so that you can finish the distance. Of course you have to do the same for a 5K but it is very different. The total time commitment is a whole lot less for a 5K.

I'm usually pretty nervous before a race. I was surprised to find that I did not feel nervous for this one. I just kept pretending like it was a group tempo run without the warm up and cool down miles.

Walking to the "start line"

The start of the race was a little strange. We had to walk from where the finish line was to what seemed like a random area on the course that took us about 5 minutes to walk up to. I kept wondering if the race had already started and if I should be running (this was their first year so hopefully next year it will be more clear).  Finally we all came to a stop and they announced that the race would start in X number of minutes. Once they said go everyone started running. I held off starting my Garmin because I am used to first crossing a start sensor to mark the start of the race and starts your time. After a ways I realized there was not one so I started my Garmin a little late. The race had 296 people so it was relatively small. I guess they just started the time right when they said go.

Once I got going I felt really good. I passed a number of other runners. I let myself just go faster than normal hoping I did not burn myself out. I think I still could have gone a little faster. I ran my first mile in 8:12 according to my Garmin (again I did not record 0.1 of the race). The course was a little hilly but not bad at all. I did not really like doing the loop twice because you knew exactly where the hills were and I would dread those spots. At the same time it helped me know where the down hill portions were.

I ran the second mile in 8:38. I still felt good and just hoped I could keep up my pace. The last mile I did in 8:32. I had been running near a father with his 12 year old daughter most of the race. They were really cute. He would ask her periodically if she could give anymore and she would always reply no. Then we were about a quarter mile from the finish and they just all of a sudden turned it on. They beat me by 9 seconds. I was so proud of her. I gave her a high five after the race.

Once I was on the straight away coming into the finish I picked up my pace and sprinted for the finish. My official time was 25:41!!! I came in 41st place out of 296. So I finished in the top 14-15%. I felt awesome and of course started thinking about my next 5K goal of getting under 25 minutes, hehe.

Start of Kids' Fun Run

My brother's wife ran it in 29:51 to get 75th place and my brother finished in 30:37 for 86th place. She was pretty happy to beat my brother. I was glad she did too.

Hannah running her race :)

Then we headed over for my two year old daughter's Kids' Fun Run. It was a little race for kids under 8. They got to run through the Science Center's little Zoo. She was so cute running with my husband. He said she ran really far before stopping. Once they came back into site my husband pointed me out to her and she started running really fast. It was so adorable. Her little tongue hanging out cracked me up.

I'm so happy to be setting a good example for her. More than once before bed she has asked me if we are going to go running tomorrow. I love it! Hopefully some day she will love running and we can run a half marathon together :)

A very Successful race indeed!

Virtual Races

Something really neat I discovered last month is Virtual Races.

What is a Virtual Race?

A virtual race is just like a normal race. There a number of different lengths you can sign up for including 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon. They are great because there is usually a time period you have to finish the race by. So you can do the race when it works for your schedule (weekday, weekend, morning, night, outdoors, treadmill, etc). I've seen some that have you sign up for a marathon but you can take as many runs as you want to total the full marathon. You can even walk them if you chose because there is no actual time limit. I see a lot of people doing them with their kids.

One such race:

Joggermom Cancer Run Virtual Marathon 2013
When: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 1:00 AM - Thursday, October 31, 2013 at 11:30 PM (PDT) 
What: You have the whole month to complete 26.2 miles, there is no need to complete it all in 1 run

Note: I'm signed up for this one and am very excited. I will be logging miles for my training anyway so I might as well have some fun while I'm at it. 


What you get:

• Normally you get a downloadable race bib that you can personalize and printout
• Sometimes a t-shirt
• Usually a finishers medal
• Chances to win fun prizes
• Satisfaction that you are running for different charities
 

The races tend to range in price from $10 to $30. Some you can do for fun but you will not get any goodies or bling. Just a printable bib and you can enter your time.

So far I have completed the Mom's Run This Town Summer Virtual: Running Mad 2013. I absolutely loved the theme and the medal is super cute.

I completed the 5K running with my bean. We had a blast. I printed out the bib and pined it on the jogging stroller. We took pictures of our run and just had fun with it. I can't wait to get my medal and see the final results of all the other racers. I'm also hoping to have won a prize in one of their random drawings.

A great place to find out about all the different virtual races is the Facebook Group Virtual Runs! There are a lot of fun ones out there with really fun themes. Most are for great causes.

So what are you waiting for? Let's virtual race :)