My goal leading into the race was to get a new 5k PR. Workouts have been going pretty well, and I set my previous PR last year at the same meet while doing a 10k road race in the morning, so I was confident I could at least take a couple seconds off. This also marked the first time Chass, Rob and I have all run the same race, so it was nice to warm up with both of them.
After the gun went off, I was really happy that the pace felt easy - sometimes you get into a race and it feels like a sprint the first lap. I figured out why when we hit the 200 meter mark: I was going really, really slow. I picked it up and tucked in behind Chass and the leading UIW runner for a little while, until I sensed the pace was going too fast for me. I came through 800 meters in about 2:24, at which point two Trinity runners passed me, and I tucked in behind them.
Winning races is easy if you’re significantly faster than your competition, but this is very rarely the case for me, other than in super low key road races. So when I’m outmatched, or at least evenly matched, I try to race as smart as possible. In this case, that meant latching on to anyone going the same pace as me and avoiding the wind that was kicking up (not hard, just enough to hurt a bit) around the track. From 800m to 3500m, I was content to run whatever pace necessary to stay tucked in and wait for the racing to really begin during the last mile of the race. Many of these laps varied by a couple seconds as the pace slowed and sped back up, but it’s better to stay attached and competitive than to get obsessed with hitting a certain lap split.
By 3k I had moved up from 5th place to 2nd, and I knew I just had to wait for the pace to slow slightly to make a move. I’ve never had much in the way of closing speed, so for me the only solution is a long, grinding drive to the finish. The only trick when you make a move like that is that if anyone manages to latch onto you, then the tactic is pretty much useless - they’ll just draft and wait until the final 200 and blow by you. But when it’s a little windy, and you can get separation from your competitors, then everybody’s in the same boat - they have to face the wind just as much as you do.
So with 1500 meters to go, I moved into the lead and tried to separate myself. I knew the pace had slowed a little bit, so it’s not like everyone else was feeling great anyway. Within a few strides I could see I’d gotten a couple steps of space, so I just tried to maintain as best I could, and save a little bit of energy in case anyone caught back up and I needed a desperate last lap kick. No one ever came back, so I waited until the last 400, ran as fast as I could (67 is about as quick as I’ve ever closed a longer race), and got the win and a new PR of 15:02. It’s not an incredible time by any stretch, but it makes me really excited about the marathon in a few months.
For all those interested in the video of the race just click HERE
I’m going to attempt to do a series of posts documenting the different types of workouts that Em and I are doing this Spring as we prepare for different race distances: her for a prolonged race season at everything from 1500 to 10k, me for a brief period of 5k-10k racing followed by a buildup to Grandma’s marathon in June. This past week, a rarity occurred: we both did the same workout on the same day. You might think this would happen more often, but Emily and I are very different runners, so our workouts tend to diverge a bit. Anyway, the workout was this: 8x600 run at roughly goal 5k pace, with 400 recovery after each one run at what I would term a “strong aerobic pace”.
The goal of the workout is to serve as a transition from one training staple to another - the first being early season threshold-type work, the second being mid-season race pace intervals. Running 600s at 5k pace is not terribly challenging in and of itself, especially with a recovery interval that isn’t too much shorter, but by pushing the rest down, we can turn this session into a mix of race specificity and general conditioning. There was an excellent article done a few months ago in Running Times, by Steve Magness, which addresses this same subject. For a more scientifically oriented view of why such workouts work, I can’t do the topic more justice.
But on to specifics. Emily did the workout, which is a total of 8k in distance, in 29:49. Her 600s ranged from 1:57 to 2:00, averaging around 1:59. Her recoveries were all right around 1:44 to 1:45 for 400, so about 7 minute per mile pace. Here’s a little workout video I made of it:
We can take two things from this: 1. She was able to get in 4800 meters of quality work at her 5k PR pace (16:33). 2. She was able to get in 8000 meters of total running at sub 6 minute pace. Now if you told me either one of these individually was the outcome of a workout, I would say, “Great! Sounds like we got some good work in!” But the beauty of the alternation workout is that we were able to get both in simultaneously. As I said, these workouts are a bridge from one type of training to another. We might be coming from workouts like a 10 mile progressive run, or a 6 mile tempo run, which while great, don’t by themselves allow someone to race a great 5k. To do that, we want to move towards workouts like 6x1k or 4x1600 at 5k race pace, but when it’s still February, and you want to compete well into April, May, and beyond, jumping into truly difficult interval training means sacrificing something else. With mixed workouts like the alternation session above, you don’t have to.
The only downside: these workouts are really, really hard if you do them correctly. They don’t have the lactic burn of race specific type sessions, but they require a lot of toughness to continue running quickly when you’re really starting to get tired. Running 5:59 minute pace for Emily, or 5:27 pace for me, is an entirely different thing when you’re alternating between 5:20 and 7:00 pace, or 4:50 and 6:35 pace, respectively. But if it was an easy workout, it probably wouldn’t work nearly as well, would it?
Last weekend I ran my first 3,000 meter race in three years. The end result surprised me (to say the least) and also was a warm welcome to the 2012 racing season. 9:41.44 was my official time, good enough for 5th place. In 2009, at the same meet, I finished 6th with a 10:04 3k. That's right, the competition has gotten tougher, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The race started slow, 79 for the first 400m, and people were stumbling all over the place. I was a little annoyed prior to the race because they had me starting behind the first line of girls instead of doing a staggered start, but I came to find out it put me in near perfect position, right in the inside lane. I stayed there until 200 meters to go : )
The starting line! Little ol' Emily is tucked away in the second row of lane 1.
The lead group started picking up the pace and soon I found myself running a 75 here, 76 there. I didn't realize the change in pace at the time, I just wanted to stay in contact with the chase pack. The three other girls I was running with changed leads periodically, but my plan was to run as fast as I could for as long as I could without using a lot of extra effort and losing my inside position. I fell off from my group for a couple of laps in the middle, but I was able to catch back up. The race went by so quickly and it's one of the reasons why I LOVE indoor and the 3,000!! I felt like a little mini race car hugging the turns and stepping on the gas when it was time to go. 2,800m into the race, I used the "Loeffler Kick" and ended up going from 8th to 5th within the last 200 meters with a saucy 35 second last lap. 5th through 8th place all finished within one and half seconds of each other. I was roughly five seconds back from 4th, and the winner, Becky Wade, came in at 9:29! Splits were also pretty saucy, 4:49 for the first 1500 meters and 4:51 for the last, or in terms of kilometers, 3:13.94, 3:14.36, 3:13.14.
A lap or two into the race
I had no idea what my time was until I looked down at my watch post race. I couldn't believe it. I had gotten a couple of splits throughout the race, but I stink at math (it's one of the reasons I married Jer, he's a walking calculator); I just knew that anything below 40 was good. The goal going into the race was simply to run close to my outdoor 3,000m personal best, 9:53. We thought on a great day high 9:40's, especially because the only speed work I got in prior to racing was an Aussie quarters workout and some hill sprints, but both were only a week or so before the race. Needless to say when I saw a 9:41 on my watch I couldn't stop smiling. It was a great race, with a great finish for me.
Jer got the race on tape, which you can view HERE.
I'm in the lime green sports bra and pig tails. It's a little blurry, mainly from technical difficulties, but also from an excited camera man.
Funny thing is I came so close to not even starting the race because of a tight IT band from some hill sprints a couple days prior. It was super tight on the morning shakeout and even tighter on the warm-up. The last thing I wanted to do was have it tighten up so bad that it'd cause more harm than good during the race, but I did a couple strides and decided to jump in.
Anyways, lots of exciting things to come this season! I finally got up to 90 miles this week with some great quality workouts. First off was a 5 mile tempo Wednesday morning, at 6:12 pace, and then 4 x 200m's in the evening, hitting 31's and 32's for some speed, and finally a 3 x 3 mile workout today, working down from 6:30 to 6:00 pace this morning. Next race up is a local 5k that is being put on by a special friend, Ceci from www.iaapweb.com, and my next track race will be at my alma mater, Trinity University, at the end of February.
PS: Photo cred goes out to Lauren Smith's mom, for grabbing some of the awesomeness that went on that day!
So in case you couldn't tell from the previous post, I'm pretty excited about our upcoming indoor 3,000m race this Saturday at the University of Houston. It's only going to be the fourth indoor race I've ever done (first for Jer) and the first time I've raced on an indoor track since 2009! Granted I still have yet to race on a banked track, but I'm super pumped.
They put the heat sheets up for the race last night and luckily Amy and I made into the fast heat (out of 3)! 41 girls signed up for this thing. Not bad. Half of our heat is comprised of unattached ladies, with most of them being from Rogue Elite, based out of Austin, along with the top-seeded runner, Betzy Jimenez, who used to run for UT. The collegiate athletes are primarily UT girls, who made it to DI Nationals in cross country this year, along with some Rice girls, which include recent All-American, Becky Wade. Needless to say the field will be STACKED! EEEK! I know there will be amazing times posted just based on the number of high caliber athletes entered.
Training has also been looking pretty decent. Over the course of the last 12 days I've raced a 5k in 17:24, did an 8-mile steady run at 6:25 pace, did an alternating 400/200 workout where I basically fartleked my way to an 18:25 5k, did a 10-mile progressive run averaging 6:21 pace with the first mile being at 6:58 and the last 5:42, and lastly 10xhill sprints. I've been in the low 80's for mileage too, finally getting to a normal level again despite being sick for an entire week and random little aches before that. Woot.
Fun fact: exactly three years ago to this Saturday I raced the 3000m at the same meet and came in sixth behind a swarm of Rice girls with a 10:04. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of shape I'm in for what is arguably my favorite track distance!
The start list and results can be found HERE for all those interested! Chass and Jer are in the second of three heats for the men's 3,000m.
I leave you with some pictures from my first indoor race...
Start line!
The crazy awesome Rice pack I got to latch onto for most of the race
Last weekend was a really exciting one for us. It was filled with lots and lots of running related activities of course. Our original plan was to head down to Houston to race the indoor mile(Em)/5k(Jer) on Friday and then watch the US Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday morning. The plans altered a little as we were still getting over our awful week long sickness that started New Year's weekend. While we were still coughing up gross mucus the week leading up to this one we figured running in a dry indoor race probably wasn't the best plan. We found out that are our teammates Rob and Caitlin were planning on running the 5k in conjunction with the Houston Half Marathon/Marathon on Sunday morning and decided to hop in that instead.
The Trials were absolutely amazing! Jer did a great job of finding the perfect spots to watch both the men's and women's race so we got to see each group roughly 7-8 times each. We had doubts about going to Houston right before we left on Friday, but I'm glad we stuck with our plan because it was sooooo much fun to watch. It was crazy knowing that girls so far back from the lead pack were still on sub 6:00min pace! In any other race they'd be much much slower, but getting to watch such a high quality race was very inspirational and of course made us look at the overall placings much differently compared to it being an ordinary race.
Hall and Keflezighi
Flanagan, Davila, and Goucher
We knew a good chunk of people racing too. A handful of D3 alums from across the nation that we had competed with in college took to the streets and did quite well. Ricky Flynn was in the South region with us and ended up finishing his FIRST marathon with a 2:13, 12th OVERALL. Lauren Philbrook, who I had the opportunity to race against quite a few times at DIII Nationals had an amazing PR and finished with a 2:39, for 39th place overall! We knew some other women racing, Wendy Terris and Melissa Rittenhouse both kicking butt and taking names! And of course those that we've never actually met, but feel like we've known them forever since we read their running logs...the Ordway brothers.
Mr. Flynn
Josh and Jason Ordway
Lauren Philbrook
It was the perfect weather for running and watching that morning too! Afterwards Jer and I went to the convention center to sign up for the 5k. The next morning was time to race! The 5k was going off 30 minutes after the marathon, at 7:30am. We met up with Caitlin and Rob at the convention center and chilled out until it was warm-up time. The 5k ran throughout downtown. It was a super flat course, just had a bunch of turns. It was really neat getting to finish at the same line as the OT marathoners along with the Houston Marathon/Half Marathon. I was hoping to hit 17:40, but surprisingly came through in 17:24. I was happy with the time, especially with where my training was at. I didn't catch the first mile marker, but I came through 2 miles in 11:08 and mile 3 in 5:39. I ended up 2nd overall. My stomach was becoming acidic the last half mile and I ended up throwing up all of my breakfast after crossing the finish line. That was gross, but man, it felt so good to go fast again. Jer came in 3rd overall with a time of 15:40. His second fastest road 5k, just like me. Twinzies!! Rob and Caitlin also did amazing! They ran faster than where they left off the past season, so we were all pretty excited. We also ran into our collegiate coach, Lutzy, after the race, so we did a cool down and hung out around downtown Houston after that.
Post race photo with the hubs
If that wasn't enough Jer and I had enough energy to go bowling with his family after the race. It was a fun weekend. Next race up is the UH indoor 3000m on January 28th. I'm getting really excited about it too! The last and only time I raced an indoor 3000m was my senior year of college at UH in 10:03. Goal is to be under that this time around. It's also looking like there will be some really good competition!
Finally things have calmed down just enough to catch up on some lost time! Unfortunately that means rewinding a whole month!! Jer and I spent Thanksgiving day with my family, but first we competed in the SARR Turkey Trot 4 Miler at McAllister park. It was a gorgeous day and luckily they had a HUGE turnout.
Jer trying to convince the kid it's not a good idea to be in the front
And we're off! Yep, I definitely took it out quicker than Jer.
I got to run with two speed demons pretty much the entire 4 miles, Dana Mecke and Emily Dunn. All three of us were coming from different places in our training, but fortunately we were all about the same level on race day. Dana was focusing on base training so she could be ready to kick some butt in the 800/1500 this spring, Miss Dunn was coming back from injury, and I was just coming back from some much needed time off of marathon training. I got second to Dana with a time of 23:29.
During the middle of the race, Dana and Emily are hiding.
Jer was attempting to defend his title from last year, but ended up finishing 3rd to some pretty speedy dudes. He still ran 20:12, which was nearly 50 seconds faster than the previous year, so it's hard for me to feel too sorry for him. Especially considering the fact he ran a marathon just 11 days prior to the Trot de Turkey. It was a really fun morning for both of us.
Blurry Jer
After wards we quickly showered and then headed to my parents house to celebrate Turkey day with the rest of the family. It was a lot of fun. Volleyball, food, football, and more food. It was delicious.
Just part of the awesome spread we had
Volleyball in the background and chit chat on the porch
The cousins on my Dad's side of the family. We're missing a couple too!
Later that evening my cousins decided that we needed some more quality family time so we headed to the bowling ally and got our bowl on!
Typical
Needless to say Thanksgiving day was full of fun and family time...and that wasn't it either! A couple days later we headed out to the farm to spend some time with Jer's family. It was a blast, we even found some old bones!! To be continued... : )
So back in May I hit a little rough patch in my life. Solely because I had no idea what I was going to be doing for a job after May since my internship was ending and we didn't get approval for a new one. LAME. Or so I thought. The post I wrote...When One Door Closes...Break a Window went into detail what my plans were...picking up a camera and getting into the action photography a little more.
Luckily for me things are paying off! Trinity has been hiring me to shoot the majority of their games. I've also made my product available to parents, and other interested parties, on my website (www.daumphotography.com) if they wanted to order prints or merchandise. It's been a really fun past couple of months to say the least.
This week I got some BIG news. D3soccer.com was looking around for a local photographer for all 6 games at the NCAA Men and Women's Championship Tournament and picked ME!!! Not only that, but a couple of schools are also interested in my services. I'm crazy nervous about tomorrow and Saturday, but I've gotten a lot of good opportunities to get practice in and am feeling a lot more comfortable knowing I'll have a second shooter helping me out. 100 billion thanks to Trinity's SID for putting my name out there too ; ) Let's hope I get some good shots!
Here's a little tribute to Trinity's men and women's soccer teams. They've had an amazing year and I'm definitely bummed I won't get to take any action shots of them tomorrow.
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