Carmel Road Racing Group

Lindsey’s CRRG 5K Report

OutForARunAdmin — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 14:11:00 +0000

Ok, so I haven’t raced a 5K since the Big Ten Hoops Day 5k…. in 2009. That’s right 2009. It was when I was training for my second marathon and I had run 20 miles the day prior. Needless to say, the PR was outdated and just not even for real anymore. I’ve been so ready to update it for a long time. That race was pre “Out for a Run” days, so there is no race report to look back on. But what I do know is my time was 20:55, and I ran the race at 6:44 pace. This is around the pace (give or take 5 seconds… I’ll be happy if I stay within 5 seconds of that range, up or down) I hope to run the Indy Women’s half in on Saturday. Yikes!

The Carmel Road Racing Group is an event management company that I’ve been working with a bit and when Todd presented the idea of this Thursday Night 5K series for $10 a race- I thought it was a fantastic idea. A chipped 5K that doesn’t mess with your Saturday morning long run and for that price? Why wouldn’t people be into it? So there were two races in August and there is one more Thursday, September 19th.

Marshall duties kept me home for the first of the series, but I was able to run the second one last Thursday and was excited to brush up the 5K PR. I’m not too keen on waiting the entire day to run a race, but whatevs. I went to the gym in the AM and ran 3 miles easy and then before the race warmed up about 2 miles with Glenn.

Keep in mind, this is a small race, (79 people ran) but Glenn won the last one and wanted to win this one. Looking at the times for the first one, I figured I could win for the women too, depending on who showed up. It wasn’t what I really cared about though, I really just wanted that new time.

When I was signing people in, Sarah Overpeck, (who I found out is super speedy) registered and I figured she’d probably take the win after a little chit chat when she told me she was running the Indy Women’s half as a training run and would prob run somewhere between 1:25-1:30. So at that point, I decided to make it my goal to hang with her as best as possible. When we talked prior to the race, she said she has recently found our blog- if you are reading- HI SARAH!

Another person running was Dan, who does speed work on Wednesdays with us. He and I are pretty equal in our pace, when we are both present at speed work, we run together, so I was happy to have him there to help give me a plan of where I should be in the race. I knew running with him would be a realistic pace for me.

Here’s the start! The shirtless guy in front of me is Glenn. Too close. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

The race breakdown:

About 30 seconds after we took off, I looked up and realized Glenn was only about 10 steps ahead of me and made a conscious decision to settle down… I was in over my head if I was that close to him and needed to slow down.

I let Sarah take off in front of me once we settled into the mile and ran with Dan through the first mile. After the first mile, Dan sped up and was running with Sarah for the majority of the rest of the race. I had them in a pretty close distance but stayed back. I kept wondering if I had it in me mentally more than anything to move in, but stayed back where I was “comfortable”. I gained a little bit in the last mile, but didn’t have it my head to want it enough to push in and pass.

Here are my Splits:

Mile 1- 5:58
Mile 2- 6:15
Mile 3- 6:23

Results Here

Average pace: 6:14 (thanks to that 5:58- err actually not thanks to… probably would have been quicker if that first mile would have been slower and the other two faster)

I went out too fast. I should have went out at 6:10 or so and tried harder to be consistent. When I saw 5:58 on my watch, I knew that wasn’t manageable for the whole race. BUT, I haven’t raced a 5K in soooo long and my speed work indicates that I should probably have been able to hold closer to 6:05-6:10 pace. I just need to race smarter.

Somewhere around mile 1.5 probably. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

I gave up a little bit mentally somewhere around 1.75-2.75. It wasn’t totally giving up mentally, but I wasn’t fighting very hard. I was able to pick it up a bit at the very end, but know I could and should have pushed that last mile in closer to 6:10-6:15 pace. I honestly just wanted to be done though. Also, I remember looking at my watch somewhere around 14 minutes thinking- oh good Glenn is still out here suffering and I bet he is working a lot harder than me. He usually does.

Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

Now- after some good internet stalking I see that Sarah is a very good runner, with a sub three marathon under her belt. She was doing this run as a workout (as was I) but I’m sure she’s got a much speedier 5K in her too. I was happy to have someone to keep me motivated during the run.

Dan and Sarah somewhere in the middle- probably around mile 2. I’m creepin in the back, mostly holding on, thinking about chasing down. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

Finishing it up! Dan was hurting- he’s going to kill his time on the next one for sure. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

Conclusion:

A good warm up is key to success in a short distance race like this. I’m glad we did 2 miles prior.
Trying to negative split a 5K might be more discipline and harder work than negative splitting a distance race. Control that first mile!!
I want to break 19:00 in this distance, not sure when, but it will by my next goal for the distance.
I kind of like the idea of working on the 5K PR.
The mental game for a 5K is completely different than the mental game for a half or full marathon. I already knew that, but haven’t put it to action in such a long time.
The CRRG Merrell 5K Series is pretty awesome. And you should run the next one.

CRRG Summer Series 5K #2 – Another try

GlennHein — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 11:00:00 +0000

The 2^nd of the CRRG 5K Summer Series was Thursday and I ran it again. If you read my last post…you know how I felt about the 1st 5k…it was not fun. I didn’t enjoy it. It was 3.1 miles of suffering if you ask me. I am much more comfortable in a Half-Marathon/Marathon setting then I am in a 5K setting. With that being said, I was kind of looking forward to racing the distance again. Maybe because we don’t race them that much or what but I wanted to take another shot at it…I was tired the last time I raced it and it sucked so I really kind of wanted to give it another shot plus its a great way to get some work and a nice break from marathon training.

Lindsey and I arrived to the Monon Center pretty early so she could help set up and get people registered. I did a lot of hanging out, tweeting, facebooking, Instagraming, etc. You know the usual stuff to keep me distracted while I killed time. The last race, Lindsey couldn’t make it but this one she could…so she was also going to be racing.

About 25 minutes before the start, we headed out to warm up about 2 miles or so with some strides to walk up the system and get things moving. I ran her along the first part of the course, I know it from last time but the first part involves a bunch of turns and what not so getting out on the course again was a good remainder. It’s a fair course…not overly fast…to race on. I enjoy it.

Before we knew it was show time! We headed out to the start line. This time around the field had grown by about 25 people or so with a couple of high school kids lined up in front. I wasn’t worried about them but knew they would take it out fast so I had to fight the natural urge to follow and let them fall off.

I did a good job, compared to last time, of trying to control my pace a little at the start…but it was still quick. Travis (took 2^nd last time…good runner), Choy (another good runner. Looking to run 1:22 next week and getting married), and myself settled into a pack behind the lead high schooler. Around the 1K, I ran up on the high school kid and sat behind him for a second to see if he was for real. He was not. He dropped his pace the second I came up…I moved on. So here I am again in the lead, early. Blah. I was hoping for a pack or some sort of rabbit to chase to help me push the pace…but it looks like I’m the rabbit. Mile 1 was about 5:27. Travis and I ran together onto the left hand turn to head north on the Monon. We had a good move going. I’m not sure at what point we lost Choy but we did.

Off the front. Any semblance of a group is ripping apart.

This point in the race, is kind of no-man’s land in my opinion. You are about 50% done and you have to tell yourself to keep pushing. I slowed a bit as we cam up to make the right hand turn onto 116^th but kept pushing the pace the best I could. I started to open up a little gab so I kept going. As we came to mile 2, the gap increased so I was feeling good about another win. Mile 2 5:39…just about the same time I ran mile 2 in the 5K two weeks ago. Blah.

Mile 3 has you run back down the trail to the Monon, with a couple of small turns and a slight incline up to the Monon. This is where the wheels kind of came of last race. I really struggle the last K to the finish line so I wanted to try and finish strong…covering the last .12 in 46 seconds (slow…per mile pace of 6:23) the first go round. I had Todd, the race director, leading me out on the bike, so I just stayed on him the best I could and pushed toward the end trying to finish well and improve on my first performance. As I rounded the corner to the Monon, I could see the finishing chute and the clock, I knew a PR was coming just not sure how much of one. Keep pushing. Pain Face. Go! I was able to cover the last .12 in 37 seconds (per mile pace of 5:08) this time compared to 46 the first time…so hello. I keep mentioning the .12 because both times I’ve ran it has been 3.12 miles on my watch…so the last kick was been equivalent both times.

Pain Face. 17:30 I’ll take it…for now.

Crossed the finish line in 17:30. I’ll take it. A 10 second PR…not too bad.

PR’s all around for Lindsey and I. Easy to PR when you don’t race the distance very often.

Hanging with some of the Wednesday Morning Speedsters at the Merrell post race party.

We are going to be out of town for the last 5K in the series and I’m kind of bummed about that but we are going to Sonoma, CA with my entire family for the wedding of a close family friend so it will be a great time! I also have my last long run before Chicago when we are out there. I spammed the internet looking for routes and I think I found one thanks to Fleet Feet Sports Santa Rosa. I love the internet! But back to the 5K…maybe I am delusional but I really think I can break 17:00…or at least I want to. I just keep thinking about the 5×1, 6×1 mile repeats or the 7xK repeats that I do…and the splits tell me that I should be able to go faster in the race but it just hasn’t happened yet. Maybe it is putting them back to back to back with no rest that is getting to me. Derek on the Daily Mile…offered some good advice around taking a more active recovery interval between repeats. I usually take 60 seconds of walking/jogging but maybe I should try 2 minutes of more of a run to keep the heart rate up? I don’t know.

I also kind of think if I had a pack or a rabbit to chase, I could push the pace a bit more. I was telling Lindsey last night, on the way home from pizza with Choy and his awesome fiancé, that once I was in the lead, I felt like I let myself slip into this thing I call “comfortable suffering”. I mean I was working and running hard but it fell with in a “pain range” that was comfortable to me. It was a level of suffering that I know and can tolerate pretty easily and if I’m racing I should be pushing the envelope more…you know? Does that make any sense? Maybe I’m crazy…I don’t know.

Either way, chasing 17:00 will have to wait. I have to work to do for Chicago. Here I come!

Questions: Any ideas of how to improve 5K racing? Do you like racing shorter distances while training long? Any good routes in Sonoma to run?

Carmel Road Racing Group Summer Series 5K

GlennHein — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 01:52:00 +0000

It had been a long time since I ran a 5K about four years to be exact. The last 5K I ran was in March 2009. It was the Big Ten Hoops 5K. We were training for some Spring races. Lindsey was going to do Boston and I was going to Kentucky Derby. I ran a 19:35.

Flash forward, 4 years and I was really wanting to run a 5K again. I had planned on running one out in Brownsburg the other weekend but then ended up going to the Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field…so that 5K was out.

Lindsey had told me about the Carmel Road Racing Group 5K Summer Series a couple weeks ago. She is doing some PR work on the side for Todd and CRRG and it seemed like a great idea. $10, a measured course, a chipped time, and an afterparty.

The 1st one was last Thursday @ 6:40. Do you want to hear my race review? It sucked! It was hard. It was humid. My legs hurt. It hurt. I ran a 17:40. I had grand illusions that I would be able to break 17…haha that is funny. I had done a 5×1 mile repeat workout the week earlier nailing the repeats in 5:25 or so I thought sub 17 would be fine. WRONG!!! Running is funny like that. Somedays it works, somedays it does not. Coming into to the race, I had raced Eagle Creek four days earlier and did a nine mile tempo run the day before…so yeah I was in prime racing shape. Not sure what I was thinking there. Apparently I am delusional.

I must say though it is a great series. Cheap, fun course (not fast…but fair), cool swag, beer samples…did I mention cheap?

Here are some pics from me suffering last week. Terry Fletcher from Indiana Trail Running was out taking pics…they are amazing! Hopefully he’ll be out for all the races.

This might be the coolest pic EVER

Race Start. The two guys in matching jersey’s won Lindsey BoMF relay last year. Team Honey Badger

Thinking this won’t be bad

My back looks huge. Clock time was 17:36…my watch said 17:40

Wrong. End of Suffering. Somehow I won.

The next race in the series is next Thursday, August 22nd. I’ll be racing again…and hopefully on fresh…at least fresher legs this time. I am going to take that shot at 17 again. I think I can get it with some good legs.

5Ks are not fun.

Oh and since I did not post this last night….as Lindsey said I could not. Per Blogging 101 you can’t post two in a day. It is our Anniversery today! 5 years! Happy Anniversary Lindsey! Crazy! Awesome. Can’t believe its been 5 years already…we have a kid. We are adults now. I wouldn’t trade the last 5 years for anything! Wonder if she will take me somewhere nice tonight?

Questions: Do you like racing shorter distances? 5K? 10K? What do you think about midweek races? Do you have a series like this near you? Where should we go to dinner?