Young Life 5K 3.22.09
After running the Shamrock 4 miler Saturday I guess I was still feeling the racing juices because I headed over to Lowes Motor Speedway for the Young Life 5k on Sunday.
Young Life 5k is an event that raises money to send kinds to summer camp. Having three children of my own makes this kind of cause is important to me and one worth my supporting.
Similar to the Shamrock race, I arrived early and went through the normal pre race activities. Also like the Shamrock race I did an extended prerace warm up. That is warming up until I see that my heart rate has dropped a good level.
The race involves two laps around Lowes Motor Speedway and finishes by running backwards up pit road.
I did this race the last 2 years but it was always held in June and at 9 AM so it has always been an extremely hot race.
This time temps were in the 40 at race time and only a slight breeze was blowing. A great day for racing.
The start was delayed by 15 to 20 minutes due to the people backed up getting into the speedway. Anyone entering the speedway has to sign a release form. So you can image there was quite a back log of people at the gate.
It is just another reason to not arrive late for a race, but I digress.
Once the race started, I tried to just settle into a good pace. Because this is an event to raise money for kids, there are hundreds of kids entered. And, they take that first ½ mile out as fast as possible.
I caught up with the two leaders coming off the 4th turn. Rather than pass and risk pushing the pace higher, I was willing to wait. I felt I had maybe one or two more hard surges in me so I wanted to use them at the right times.
Coming off the 2nd turn the track fills up as we catch the tail end of the other runners on their first lap. Thinking this was good time; I surged into the lead and used the people running as picks to open some distance between my self and the other runners.
Coming off the 4th I could see my shadow falling on the infield grass. I couldn’t see anyone close behind me. However, I didn't have that secure feeling yet. I felt that I needed at least one more good push down the front stretch so I throw in another 15 to 20 second surge.
Making the final turn onto pit road, I saw the finish clock. Up to this point, I had no idea how fast that I was running because they don’t call splits on the track and I really didn’t want to look at my watch. The time was still under 17 minutes, but I couldn’t cover the last .1 fast enough. I finished 17:06 which was good enough to win the race.
After race, I did just a very quick warm down and added lots of walking. I have a cap of miles to run for the week and had already gone over it.
Overall, I finished 8th and 1st in two races this weekend and ran a lot faster than I ever expected. Now, it is to reflect on this accomplish and plan the next steps in my training.
Young Life 5k is an event that raises money to send kinds to summer camp. Having three children of my own makes this kind of cause is important to me and one worth my supporting.
Similar to the Shamrock race, I arrived early and went through the normal pre race activities. Also like the Shamrock race I did an extended prerace warm up. That is warming up until I see that my heart rate has dropped a good level.
The race involves two laps around Lowes Motor Speedway and finishes by running backwards up pit road.
I did this race the last 2 years but it was always held in June and at 9 AM so it has always been an extremely hot race.
This time temps were in the 40 at race time and only a slight breeze was blowing. A great day for racing.
The start was delayed by 15 to 20 minutes due to the people backed up getting into the speedway. Anyone entering the speedway has to sign a release form. So you can image there was quite a back log of people at the gate.
It is just another reason to not arrive late for a race, but I digress.
Once the race started, I tried to just settle into a good pace. Because this is an event to raise money for kids, there are hundreds of kids entered. And, they take that first ½ mile out as fast as possible.
I caught up with the two leaders coming off the 4th turn. Rather than pass and risk pushing the pace higher, I was willing to wait. I felt I had maybe one or two more hard surges in me so I wanted to use them at the right times.
Coming off the 2nd turn the track fills up as we catch the tail end of the other runners on their first lap. Thinking this was good time; I surged into the lead and used the people running as picks to open some distance between my self and the other runners.
Coming off the 4th I could see my shadow falling on the infield grass. I couldn’t see anyone close behind me. However, I didn't have that secure feeling yet. I felt that I needed at least one more good push down the front stretch so I throw in another 15 to 20 second surge.
Making the final turn onto pit road, I saw the finish clock. Up to this point, I had no idea how fast that I was running because they don’t call splits on the track and I really didn’t want to look at my watch. The time was still under 17 minutes, but I couldn’t cover the last .1 fast enough. I finished 17:06 which was good enough to win the race.
After race, I did just a very quick warm down and added lots of walking. I have a cap of miles to run for the week and had already gone over it.
Overall, I finished 8th and 1st in two races this weekend and ran a lot faster than I ever expected. Now, it is to reflect on this accomplish and plan the next steps in my training.
Comments
Last weekend turned out pretty well for me.
And yes, the knee feels much better. I hope start getting some good workouts in over the next month.