Love 'em or Leave 'em 5k Race report - 2/13/2010

Bob ran Love 'em or Leave 'em 5k - 2/13/2010.
I did not feel very good in the morning, ate breakfast late, Marcy suggested I not run, but I did anyway. Did not feel well running:
Time was 18:19 (5:55 pace)
mile 1:5:44 - legs felt great, no problem
mile 2: 5:59 - legs still felt fine, but I wanted to go to back to sleep
mile 3: 5:59 - felt like I was stuck in 3rd gear - didnt hurt, but couldnt go
last .11 0.39
I was 18:00 on a slower course in Nov....but my mileage has been less.
What I learned: dont race if you feel like crap, especially a low key 5k that doesnt mean anything. I think the frustrating thing is that my legs actually felt really good....

Kent Christmas Days 10k 12/12/09

Kent Christmas Days 10k 12/12/09
Overall: flat - out and back. It sucked running through 10k runners still going out, then 5 K runners going out and back....path/ road just not wide enough. I bumped into quite a few people, probably cost 15~20 sec....also not able to run tangents on lots of curves.

37:27 (6:01 pace) -

Mile 1: 5:45
Mile 2: 5:59
Mile 3: 6:03
Mile 4: 5:59
Mile 5: 6:09 (traffic)
Mile 6: 5:54
Mile 6.22: 1:38 (gps measures .30)

garmin had the race at 6.3 miles - 5:57 pace. I feel like I ran better than the time shows - I felt a lot better than salmon days race in oct....and my legs feel very recovered on Monday after the Saturday race.

Greenlake Gobble 5k 11/22/09

Bob ran Greenlake Gobble 5k 11/22/09
18:02 (5:48 pace)
mile 1 5:41
mile 2 5:51
mile 3 5:53
last .11 0:33
Felt pretty good, could have run tangents better the last mile.

Salmon Days 10k 2009

Bob ran the Salmon Days 10k on 10/4/09
37:48, 6:04 m/m
15th place overall, 2nd in age group
mile 1: 6:00
mile 2: 5:57
mile 3: 6:06 (slight uphill)
mile 4: 6:03 (uphill to downhill)
mile 5: 6:03
mile 6: 6:01
mile 6.22: 1:38 (gps measures .28)
Plan was to go out for 3 miles @ 6 m/m pace, then pick it up. I was not able to pick up pace.
Hope for sub 6 m/m pace, but was not to be.

Ran last year in 39:07, so was happy with 1min 20sec improvement

Seattle Rock N Roll Half 2009 in pictures

Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon 6/27/09

Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon 6/27/09

Bob - 1 h 24:44 (6:28 m/m)
Placed 62/15,500...kind of a lot of people


PR by 1 min 37 sec , wanted to be under 1h:25, so i met that goal, but hoped I would have been faster.

Got dropped off w/ Ann and Dennis on 130th ave s about .25 mile from the start, sweet!

Miles 1~6.2: goal was to start a 6:35 pace, ran to that 5k split 20:33, 10K split 41:00. Uphill from mile 4 to 5 was a bit slow (6:45), but I didnt want to go too hard at this point. Downhill miles 5 to 6 was easy to get the time back (6:09).
Miles 6 to 9: ran 6:29 pace. goal was to run 6:20 to 6:25 pace, but this just did not seem comforatble. a bit suprised by the little hill at mile 8 or so.
Mile 10: uphill onto I-90 express lanes then slight uphill for about 1/2 mile, 6:40. Got passed by the lead marathon guys who were running at 5:09 pace - motorcycles, veiwing VIP flatbed, TV camera truck. they were flying. saw them go through their halfway point at 1:07
Mile 11~finish: 6:07 pace. downhill, except for the uphill on 2nd ave. steep downhill onto columbia hurt. dont think i could have run this section faster.

Overall, fast course, temp stayed cool which was nice.

2009 Nordstroms Beat the Bridge

Bob ran 2009 Nordstroms Beat the Bridge on 5/17/09.
Start was delayed 5 minutes or so...they moved the timing mats and had pretty much everything unplugged. This did not bode well for getting a "net" time. Wished I had brought some water at this point. Ran into the guys that has beaten my by 10 sec at the Pumkin Push 5K and 50 sec at the Issiquah Salmon Days 10K.

Mile 1: 5:53 - I tried to hold back. Ran with the guy that always beats me.

Mile 2: 6:02 - still ran w the guy that beats me. 6 m/m pace felt a bit tougher, pretty much flat or downhill at this point. drank a sip of water, not needed, but i felt thirsty.

Mile 3: 6:09 - Over the university bridge for the first .4 was uphill. I was running 6:17 pace and worried I was slowing. At the top of the hill caught up with 5th place woman and said hi. paced off of her and ended up running 6:03 pace for the rest of the mile. I was wishing the race was over at 4 miles at this point. I think i poured water on my head as well.

Mile 4: 5:58 - still pacing off of 5th place woman. pretty flat. the turn around on the way to uvillage seem to take forever to get to. at the turn i saw i had about 10 seconds on the guy who always beats me. we gave each other the thumbs up.

Mile 5 (.97) 5:32 (5:42 m/m) - this mile hurt - like holding your hand over a candle hurts. still pacing off of 5th place woman - she was after the norstroms gift card for the top 5, we got passed by 1 guy with 1/2 mile to go. i expected the stadium entry to be right around the corner, but saw the turn 150 yards further up - at this point the guy that always beats me passes me...ah!!! i had no response, kept pushing as hard as i could and ended up 10 seconds back from him...lost a lot in the last .2 but did not get passed by anyone else. i was done...

overall 55th pl male/ 8th in AG M35~39

no chip time. clock time 29:39 (5:58 m/m) so met my goal of sub 6 minute mile pace, but barely. Chip time probably nets 29:35 or so (that is what i had on the watch which is 5:57 m/m....pretty much the same)

I am pleased with sub 6 pace with tired legs from the previous couple weeks training. I thought pacing was pretty good - even paced considering small hill at mile 3.
Lessons learned:
1) I would bring throw away water container to the start next time though.
2) Shorter races need more interval training than i am doing for the goal race of rock'n roll half marathon on 6/28.