Race Report: Bay 5km

Maybe it is possible to sometimes hype yourself up so much to do something that you actually dig yourself into a hole by making that accomplishment seam like some mythical far fetched goal. Well that was basically my Sunday wrapped up in a poorly worded statement. I think I made sub 15 seem so glorious in my mind, that I actually somehow psyched myself out. I can't tell you how many things went wrong in this race since it literally seemed doomed from the get-go. I figured sub 15 was possible given my strong showing in workouts leading into the race. Two weeks ago I did 5X1km in 2:58/km avg, with only 90 second rest. Couple days before that was 25X200 in 33ish 2:45/km after a 5k tempo with a very short rest, did 12X400 at pace after a 5k tempo, 6X800 at pace and under, and then 8X600 in 2:55/km avg the wednesday before the race which was especially motivating since for some reason I just hate 600s, no problem with 400s or 800s, but 600s seem to beat me up from the inside out and doing them successfully for really the first time ever the wednesday before the race gave me a whirlwind of confidence. While all these hard workouts among others (like a 10k tempo in mid 33) were in the bank arriving in Hamilton Sunday morning, for the first time in months my mind started thinking about something else than the clock, and that was the weather. It was cold, and incredibly windy with wind gusting close to 50km/hr. I figured I would need to hammer the back half of the race where I would at least have help from the wind, but was incredibly nervous for the first half were it would be uphill York Blvd's hill and into the wind. One thing I will say is that despite competition being better at big races, I'm really not a big fan of them. Just like how I don't like downtown Toronto, or downtown Hamilton for that matter, I don't like the chaos that surrounds the start line of big races. Unlike small races where I can warmup in peace and quite and think about nothing but my game plan, rehearsing over and over in my mind the feelings I will encounter while out on course, and my plan of action for various course segments, then toss my warmups aside seconds before the gun, in big races people are walking across right in front of me while I'm warming up, and you usually need to start lining up and tossing your warmups well before the gun because it is difficult to connect with whomever is holding your stuff moments before the race. This race was no different, not saying that I didn't warmup well or anything but standing at the start line for 8 minutes without moving right before the gun since the race for some reason started late didn't help. After the delay the gun sounded and we were off, and within about 5 seconds my mind was once again wandering. Pressed start on my watch but nothing happened, pressed start again and again and still nothing. No joke the first 30 seconds or so of the race I had my head down looking at my watch, running fast still, but not really paying attention to what was around me or going on. Once I finally got the watch to start the four leaders were up well in front of me pushing the early pace, and I knew not even a quarter mile into the race that I was in trouble. The leaders were probably a good 10 seconds ahead if not more, and around me a group of 6 guys was forming and now we were turning onto York heading right into the stiff wind and uphill. I had two choices, get stuck in behind this group and draft my way up the hill and then try to close hard in the second half or try to bridge the gap between the two groups on my own into the wind and uphill. I decided to stay with the second group but quickly realized this was the wrong decision. Not entirely sure how fast the first kilometre was since my watch was started late, but based on where my watch beeped obviously after the actual 1km mark it was probably in the 3:07 range (my watch said 3:08 but it had missed the first few hundred meters which are usually quite fast). I felt like I was jogging with this group and initially had thought wow I must be feeling really good right now since the pace felt really comfortable, but instead it was actually because we were going very slow. I had to leave this group and surge up to one straggler who had fallen off the lead pack. I got him relatively quickly, and soon realize he was also going quite slow. I said out loud to him at this point, "Let's work together here to catch the leader well ahead by now," but obviously he didn't really know what that meant. I intended on him tucking in behind me for a bit to shield from the wind and draft while I push the pace hard, then he could come in front of me well I take a rest bite in behind him. Instead though he stayed on my right shoulder, and I started getting annoyed since this wasn't helping anyone. Suffice to say my mind was wandering and not even thinking about sub 15 anymore. Honestly, I just lost my focus right from the gun and the watch fiasco and struggled to regain my focus. I had built this race and going sub 15 up and this epic thing and yet it went by so quickly. Before I knew it had 1 km to go, and was wishing I could take a mulligan on this one. I tried going hard that last kilometres but still just like the rest of the race despite my body feeling fine, and feeling like jogging, I couldn't seem to get out of fourth gear. Don't know what it was, maybe I was just so demoralized by the first kilometre since I knew for sub 15 it would take a near perfectly executed race. Anyways strolled across the line in 15:46, about 50 seconds off my predicted time, in fact slower than the 10k pace that I was intending on going for the Yonge St. 10k April 19th. Wasn't even out of breathe at the end, just incredibly disappointed and confused at what had just happened. How could I run so slow, with my body feeling so good - for the time being at least.

I say for the time being since after the race during my cool down, where I spend the majority of the time angrily talking to myself, I felt some tightness in my right hip (in the fall it was my left hip). I thought it was probably just some usual post-race soreness, and brushed it aside. Drove back to Thornhill in silence, angry, and then even more angry when I realized halfway back that I had in fact won the 20-24 age group, and would've won a prize. Now even though I didn't feel like I deserved a prize, I still thought well if someone gave me some gift card and some apparel or something it might make me feel a little better. I was so upset when I got back I wanted to do a workout, since I really didn't feel the race took a lot out of me, and it's what I've been doing for the last year or so after shorter races. But three intervals in that tightness/pain/cramping feeling returned to my right hip, and cut the workout short. Jogged back home, ice bathed and thought that was the end of it. Monday the hip was sore in the morning, but throughout the day it felt better and better, and by 6 when I started my run it was fine. The first little bit of the run it felt sore, but nothing crazy. Halfway in it started feeling marginally better but then the last 6-7k was agonizingly painful, and had to stop a couple times to stretch it which didn't seem to help. That night it was brutally painful to palpation, and on stretch, and then in the morning the familiar feeling that I had experienced in the fall was back. I was struggling to weight bear on the right leg, and couldn't go up the stairs leading with my right. So taking the day off running, and thoughts of the fall's injury are flooding through my mind. Is this going to be another 3.5 month injury like the last one. Originally I was even planning and about to sign up on Sunday for the Jordan 5km to give sub 15 another go, but now my mind is thinking will I even be running the Yonge St 10, or the Scotiabank Ottawa Half Marathon. I cannot afford another injury, and really it was only in March that I finally stopped feeling the discomfort in my left hip. So even though I was running in December, it was really like 6 months before I think I completely healed. Feel's like Deja vu after last year Around the Bay had me on the sideline and unable to compete in the spring race I had signed up and paid for.

Frosty 5k and Training Update

As you already know this past weekend I was competing in the Frosty 5km in Burlington. It is part of the VRpro race series, and the Chilly Half Marathon was also being run, which was won by Reid Coolsaet. Arrived to the race in good time for a good long warmup run, drills, and strides. Other than my back still really bugging me, it was great to breathe the fresh air of the outdoors, not the dry desert air of the indoor track. Before the race I had thought that the competition would be pretty good, but within the first 100m of the race, I knew I would be pushing the pace from the front. The first kilometre went exactly as planned - run a sub 3 to build a little buffer. I was gunning for 15:25 (3:05/km) to act as a tune up for Around the Bay. Second kilometre was perfect as well, running a 3:05. My stride felt pretty good, nice and quick, not crazy long, but a fast cadence. First kilometre averaged 1.75m strides with 192 steps/min, and second k was 1.64m strides with 198 steps/min. Third k was still feeling good, and saw at the turn around that the win was in the bag, but I wasn't here for the win, I was hear to put up a time. Third was 3:05, still 1.64m strides with 198 step/min, so clearly in a good rhythm. Fourth k was a little rough, my left hamstring started tightened up a bit, and a small hill took a little bite out of my legs, but still got through it in 3:08.8, stride length was 1.63m and cadence slowed to 195 steps/min. But refocused and came storming back to run a 3:02 to the finish  peaking at 215 steps/min. Overall time was 15:21 beating my actual PB by 19 seconds from last year. Definitely was a good hard effort, and really took something away from the race. Basically, I strongly believe that running fast obviously takes a tonne of training and hard work, but I think the mental aspect perhaps has even more of an impact. For instance, during the fourth kilometre I could feel my hamstring starting to tighten a little bit, and literally for a tiny instant I could hear a little voice in the back of my head (I think of it like the little Devil on your shoulder) saying the win is in the bag, you don't have to keep pressing, you could slow down, lose this feeling of not being able to breathe, let the hamstring relax, and coast into the finish for the win. But I didn't listen and kept pressing, and really opened it up to the finish. Running fast is about how willing a person is to go down into that dark place and hurt, push through, and when you feel you pace slowing slightly, push harder, and not give in to the temptation. I really do believe in a saying that a great runner on my team mentioned in one of his blog posts that its about how willing someone is to tickle the reaper. If your going to run fast, it will hurt, but you need to understand that the feeling is temporary. You need to withstand that hurt and discomfort for 15 minutes. It is such a new experience, and a new challenge that I'm ready to take on, training for this short speedy stuff compared to the marathon. For example, in the 2013 Scotiabank Marathon, where I set my PB, it hurt absolutely, but a completely different type of hurt. During a marathon during those last 10k or so especially on the stretch on Queen Street on the concrete street car tracks, your body physically hurts. It hurts because, well quite simply you've been running for a awful long time. But during a marathon I never got to the point that my breathing rate became uncontrollably fast, heart rate was red lining, and legs hurting in a completely different way. I think of it like during a marathon the pain is mechanical, whereas during a 5k the pain in metabolic or physiological. The point is I love a challenge and I'm ready to try to red line for 15 minutes in a few weeks.

Today was one of my hardest workout in a really long time. Monday, Tuesday I kept the pace pretty easy (but the mileage was still pretty big) to recover from Sunday since after the race I threw in a broken 1500: 200,300, 400, 600 small but mighty little post-race Alberto Salazar style workout. So today was 3X1mile at 15 minute 5k pace, then a 200m+x amount at the same pace until I started feeling uncomfortable. The 200 was just to make it 5k of work, and wanted to just stay at the pace right until the second I felt the pace starting to dip. The key with this workout, and with any I guess, was the rest period. I kept the recovery jog in between the repeats at 1min. The first one went splendidly at 4:48 for the mile or 2:59/km pace. Then the second mile beat me back, and I got destroyed. I really wasn't anticipated how short the 1 min recovery in between would feel, as in the past doing 6-10 by a mile workouts my rest has been a lot longer in-between, in addition to the pace not being nearly as quick. When my watch starting counting down the seconds to the next repeat I was caught off guard, and my heart rate had only got back down to 162, so I was starting the next repeat already breathing pretty hard, and by about 500-600m I was feeling it. The pace slowed big time, and I ran in at 4:57 or about 3:05/km pace. The third one I tried hard to rally and was able to get back to 4:52, and then ended up adding on 310 meters at 2:58 pace. Overall, I was content with the workout. I was a little upset about the second mile but happy with how I tried to rally back on the third. Still, considering the roads weren't great, and that I was on my own, to get that close to a race effort made the workout a success. With elite 5k training the majority of the workouts are usually 400s or 600s or 800s mostly because to get pumped up enough to hold 5k race pace for mile repeats in a workout on your own is pretty tough. In fact an article I was just reading on elite 5k workouts talked about how though some elites need to get in 3x1mile on a minute rest to feel ready for the race, but that those athletes are very rare. Anyways, so I'm enjoying right now putting a lot of thought into my various workouts trying to make them as specific as possible. On Friday I'll be doing 8x600 in 1:45, and I'm eager to get after it. And I'll see maybe in a couple weeks I can give one more go at the 3X1mile. Below in just a short clip of the race on the weekend (it could be seen in 1080p just change the setting on the bottom right).