Road Apple 5K- Race Day!!

I had several goals for the first race of the year.  The first goal was to get myself back in 5K shape (aka- I could run the whole thing without stopping for a break).  This goal was accomplished. 

My second goal was to finish with a better time than last year. The time to beat was 34 minutes.  Yes, that is slow but that was our first race and we HATED running.  This goal was also accomplished. 

My third goal was to finish at or under 30 minutes.  I still don't really know what my 'official' time is, but according to my watch it should be about 30 minutes and 30 seconds.  If I was hard on myself, I would probably be disappointed that it was a little over my goal, but I actually feel good about this time.

The race is a flat paved trail and raises money to benefit the 'Rails to Trails'.  The trail, which we run on near our house, is a converted railroad.  Half of it is to be used for running and biking and the other side is for horses and buggies (because we live in Amish country)..... hence the name 'Road Apple 5K'.

The race started at 8 AM.  There were probably 60 runners.  When they started the race, I could tell right away that this one was going to be difficult for me.  My shins were burning and it was a little humid out. There were other's in the race that I knew so I focused on them as we started the race.  I tried keep up with them, however, after the first mile, I started to struggle.  I'm pretty sure that the first mile was a speed record for me.  The time keeper at the first mile marker barked out 8:40 as I crossed.  I looked down at my heart rate monitor and my heart rate was in the 180s (that's high for me).  I knew that I could not keep up this pace, but I tried. 

At the turn around point, as I was coming back to the finish line, I hit a HUGE wall.  I didn't even feel like I had the choice but to slow down.  I wanted to try to get my heart rate back to the 160-170s.  As I slowed down, people started to pass me and that was frustrating.  I tried to pick my pace back up, but my body wouldn't let me.

The only issue I have with this race, other than having to share with the buggies and dodging horse do-do, is that the home-stretch seems so long.  Obviously, this isn't the race's fault, but it seems like a never ending left turn.  You can never really see too far ahead as the trail gradually turns.  About the time you think you are close to the finish line, you really aren't.  I compare it to having to pee really bad and the toilet is so close but seems so far away.  It's always worse as you get closer to the finish line.  I just wanted to suffering to stop.

As the finish line drew closer, I did try to sprint to the finish.  That didn't work.  It's probably best that it didn't.  I'm sure my legs would have probably given out and I would have fallen on my face. 

All in all, I think this race went ok.  I definitely did better than Julie and I did last year.  Hopefully, Julie will be able to run with me in some of the upcoming 5Ks this summer.  It definitely is lonely running by myself and it does help to have someone there to push me.  It would also be nice if my shin splints would go away.  If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.  It felt great to achieve some of the goals I had for myself.  We/I will be running more races soon and hopefully achieving more of our goals.

Day #4- Thursday- 2 Days until Race

Because of the weather, my plan had to be altered today.  I woke up at 5:30 am and looked out the window to see it raining.  So I went back to bed and slept in a bit.

I had thought about going on a run after work today, but it's just too hot to run outside. So I took Teddy for a bike ride.  The best part about this, other than picturing Teddy on the front of my bike in his basket, is that I did not work my shins.  Hopefully this helps my shin splints a bit. 

I was not planning on running tomorrow (Friday) but I think I am anyways (weather permitting).  I plan on running at a slower speed and going only half the distance. 

Day #3- Wednesday -3 Days until the Race

Julie is out of town on business, so this morning I had to be a big boy and wake myself up without any help. I half-way succeeded. My alarm rang promptly at 5:30. However, I laid in bed for at least 10-15 more minutes before getting up. There was never any doubt in my head that I was going to get up, but I was hoping that a miracle would happen and I would instantly hate laying in bed. That didn’t happen, but I got up and ran anyways.



The run this morning was definitely better than yesterday, but still a little rough. Monday’s run was the best this week, but ever since I have struggled. This morning I kept thinking to myself ‘why in the world are you listening to classical music while you are running?’. For some reason, classical wasn’t doing it for me today. I stuck to it but I couldn’t find a good song to motivate me. So, maybe that is why today was a little rough?


I also have a hard time focusing on my pace when there are tons of little bunnies on the side or middle of the trail that won’t move. One spot in particular, I ran into two bunnies. I don’t know if they were boyfriend and girlfriend or just friends or friends with benefits or neighbors or whatever, but they were sticking awfully close to each other and parked themselves right on the middle of the trail (in my path). As I got closer, I figured they would move but they didn’t. It’s not so much that I am scared of the bunnies, I just don’t want to get up to them and they jump in front of me and/or I smash their pretty little bunny faces (which probably wouldn’t happen, but it made me giggle as that thought crossed my mind this morning). These two bunnies would not move. So here I am in the middle of the trail clapping my hands and flailing my arms and shouting for them to get out of my way as I am jogging closer to them. I was probably a step away from making rabbit pancakes. They moved but they didn’t scurry off. It was more of a ‘I’ll move only because you look fat and would probably inflict some pain, but I’m not happy about it’. I hope nobody was watching.


Anyways…. I hit two walls this morning. Once half way and again about ¾ finished. My main motivation this morning was to finish under 30 minutes. When I hit the second wall, I really slowed down. My legs were heavy and I was really sucking air. I only allowed myself to slow down for about 30 yards and then I kicked it back into high gear. I ended up finishing in under 30 minutes. That run was a success, but I didn’t feel as good as I would have liked.


The plan for the rest of the week is to run again on Thursday morning and then take Friday off. Originally, I was going to run on Friday too, but since my shins have been burning on my runs, it might benefit me to take a day of rest.

Day 2- Tuesday- 4 Days until the Race

This was a bad morning for running. Firstly, we forgot to set our alarms so instead of starting our run at 5:30, we ended up starting at 6:10. I could only get about ¼ of my normal run in so that I could get home and be ready for work. It’s probably a blessing in disguise because my shins were killing me this morning. I had problems with them earlier this spring, but they haven’t really bothered me much as of late. So maybe an easy day will help them heal. Plus, this morning was a bit muggy. Usually the mornings feel brisk, almost to the point where it’s chilly, but this morning it was almost as bad as running in the afternoon. It didn’t take long to break a sweat.

Mostly I jogged at a slower rate as I talked with Julie, but I was able to get a little interval training in. I broke away from her a couple of times in a sprint. I can run a full 5K, but I have a little problem with stamina when I pick up my speed. I know that I am not going to fix that problem by the race this week, but this is the main thing I have been working on since I have started training. I need to be able to maintain a faster pace without hitting those ‘walls’. Yesterday was a good day for this, but this morning I could feel myself getting really tired… and it was only a short distance that I ran.


Tomorrow morning is going to be rough for me. Julie is going to be out of town and that means that I won’t have her to push me out of bed when I don’t want to get up. It will be a true test of my willpower.

Day 1- Race Week

It’s race week for us. And by us, I mean me. Julie will be ‘ineligible’ for this race. So I’m preparing for our ‘Daytona 500’. Obviously this is just another 5K but it is the first race of the year for ‘us’. And, instead of car door handles, I have love handles. I also doubt we will make Sportscenter. But it’s very exciting to be running the first race of the year. This week I am going to take you through my ‘preparations’ up to the race. Again, it’s only a 3.1 mile race and we have been running that distance daily on our runs, so there really isn’t much prep to be done.



We love having races on our schedule because it gives us something to train for. It isn’t running just to run. I have set 2 goals for myself on this race. The first goal is to beat our time from last year, which was our first race ever. My second goal is to run it under 30 minutes. If I achieve the second goal, I will have achieved both goals.


Monday-

We woke up this morning at 5:30. Julie didn’t want to go, and thusly it convinced me that I didn’t want to go, but alas we went after realizing that it would only suck for a little bit until we were fully awake. I did some minor stretching before we went out the door, and that seemed to wake me up a bit. Because Julie has to run a little slower, I spent the first ¼ mile running with her as my warm-up. Once we hit the trail, I peeled off. I usually listen to something with some beat to it to keep me motivated (between pop and rock) but this morning I decided to go with classical. This is a whole other blog post, but it really helped me relax and focus on my run. I probably ran at a 10 minute/mile pace this morning. I can’t figure out if my heart rate monitor has a stopwatch or not, so I am not for sure how fast I was going. I usually hit a couple of walls when I am running at a faster rate, but this morning I only hit one wall with about ½ mile left. I slowed a bit but picked my pace back up once my heart rate came down. Even though it was chilly when we started, I was dripping with sweat when it was over. It felt great. Tomorrow we plan on running again first thing in the morning.

Morning Runs

Have you ever gotten home from work and dreaded going out for a run? Having to come home and cook dinner and do other ‘chores’ around the house, a lot of times we don’t feel like going for a run. As a matter of fact, most of my excuses for not running come from just being worn out from the day and just wanting to relax a little bit. I think we have found the solution. This isn’t ground breaking or earth shattering, but it’s new to us. We have been getting up to run early in the morning.



Obviously this is going to take a little more will-power than making yourself run in the afternoon/evening. I also need to go to bed earlier than usual, and that is difficult for me since I am a bit of a night owl. When that buzzer rings at 5:30 am, it makes us angry, but we make ourselves get up anyways. It’s all worth it once you get up.


Let’s look at some advantages to running in the morning….


1. Especially in the summer, it is usually a lot cooler. Last summer we would run right after work and some days it was in the 90’s. That is pure torture. The brisk morning air is refreshing, which makes running a TON easier.


2. It’s done. You don’t have to plan your evening around your run. You now have all night after work to do whatever you feel. We hate when we get home and have to do yard work, cook dinner, clean the house, and do whatever…. there isn’t time to run. By the time we are done with everything, it’s time for bed. With our running done in the morning, we can come home and work on our ‘chores’ and also have time to relax.


3. It’s easier to run in the morning. I speak only for myself here. We wear heart rate monitors when we run so that we know when we are in the ‘zone’. In the afternoons/evening it doesn’t take much for me to get my heart rate up. In the mornings I have to sprint to get it up and I have way more stamina. I’m not a doctor, but I assume that is true because I haven’t had a long stressful day and/or eaten yet. It’s probably easier for your heart to respond to your morning workout than your end of the day workout. It just feels like you can get more of a workout in the morning than when you are dragging in the evening.


4. It changes our whole outlook on the rest of the day. We feel great about getting that workout done in the morning. Knowing we did something good for our bodies also brightens the spirit. It’s almost counter-intuitive. You would think that a workout would make you tired for the rest of the day. But for us, it almost charges our batteries and gives us more energy for the rest of our day.


5. I’m not much of a morning person. I don’t like to talk to people in the morning. However, my job requires that I do so. A lot of times in the morning I really have to fake it. When I run, I obviously struggle with the first couple of minutes but by the time I am done, I am wide awake and ready to go. It almost transforms me into a morning person (which sounds horrible because I hate morning people).


6. Summer/spring mornings are beautiful. The other morning, the sky was a pinkish purple color. The birds were all chirping and rabbits were frolicking on the trail as we ran by (ok… that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point). When we sleep in, we really do miss the most beautiful part of the day.


Running in the morning does take some serious determination to get out of your warm comfy bed, but in the end it really is worth it. If you are having a hard time running in the evening, try it in the morning.

Sock Winner

In a random drawing of all eligible entrants... Congrats to Jayne.  You are the new owner of Drymax Socks!!!  Your socks will be sent to you shortly.