Final (Different and SUCCESSFUL) Long Run Before a 5K
>> Monday, May 23, 2022
I think I'm racing the Brian Kraft 5K in a week. It's a team circuit race, and it's ALWAYS a speedy race.
Knowing I'd be racing in a week, I went out for a different long run this morning. For the last 2 years or so, I've been doing the same sort of long run: 5-6 miles "at pace" in the middle of a 10-12 miler. That style of long run has helped keep me injury-free as the changing of paces seems to help my body, but I don't know if it's great for my training. I've started wondering if I should be "mixing it up" more instead of just doing those 5-6 miles at 6:30-6:00 pace. I've also been wondering if that partially explains my less-than-stellar performance at the Get in Gear 10K three weeks ago.
So today I did a "normal" 10+ mile long run, but instead of 6 miles a bit faster in the middle, I made them more "snappy" and did a faster 3 miles. It wasn't going to be at 5K race pace, but I hoped it was noticably faster than the 6:10s-6:20s I've been posting lately. I warmed up for 2.5 miles (the norm), then picked it up for a 1/2 mile, and finally ran a bit harder for 3 miles from mile 3 to 6. I did my pretty normal 5 mile out-and-back route:
Half mile splits, so I ran harder from split 6 to 12.
And maybe most importantly, my heart rate stayed in check and didn't do anything weird:
The 3 faster miles are very visible, but no EXTREME spike like at my last race.
NO time in Zone 5, whereas at the 10K I spent 15 mins (or 41% of the race) in Zone 5!
I don't have any big goals for the 5K, but I'll be back with a few pre-race thoughts later this week.
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5 comments:
I really wonder whether your performance at that 10k a few weeks ago was weather-related (and probably HR-affected, based on your graphs) more than anything. Does the humidity affect you? This early in the spring for y'all up north, I imagine that you're used to running in much colder, drier weather than that super rainy morning. Even a few degrees difference in the dew point could slow your pace by at least several seconds (if not more)--and then compounded with the HR jump, that'd be enough to result in the race you ran, regardless of fitness. For example, I am about 20-30 seconds slower per mile in summer here in Memphis than I am in the winter, for the same effort. The humidity can be intense.
Also my sister is moving to Rochester to work at Mayo! So I'd like to do a big Minneapolis race sometime. Any ones in particular you'd suggest?
Audrey, that could be a good point! I don't mind running in the rain, but maybe it does affect me. I've never noticed that humidity affects me, but maybe it does. Thanks!
And what sort of race are you interested in? Twin Cities in Motion puts on GREAT races, and their 10 Mile (same day as marathon weekend in early Oct) is a favorite. My wife will say the TC Marathon is great as well!
Definitely not a full...I have done one and that is enough for me! Probably something in the 10k to half marathon range, so that I can have something to train for. The marathon weekend in early October would be good, especially with the 10 mile option!
And preferably something in a cooler time of year (about 30-50 degrees at the start), not super cold (because I don't have the gear for that...the coldest race I've ever done was 22 at the start with no wind) and not warm (because I can get any kind of warm race I want down here).
Family and I have enjoyed the "Minneapolis Halloween Half" which has a 13.1 and a 10K. OBVIOUSLY the TC 10 Mile is great! And I liked the "Moustache Run" this past November as well which had a half and I think a 5K.
Fab, thank you so much for the recs!
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