Saturday, August 12, 2017

Day 3,877: Vinings Down Hill 5K

Rocking a sleeveless Team BEEF shirt for the first time for this race!
It's been two years since I ran my current 5K PR in the Vinings Down Hill 5K. I'd been eagerly awaiting this race, in part to have a good 5K qualifying time for Group A of the Peachtree Road Race.

But I also needed to be realistic -- I hadn't done any meaningful speedwork in three weeks, although this meant I was entering the race fresh, right?

I drove up to the Overlook parking deck about an hour before the race started. It was very easy to find parking and I was able to use the restrooms and get a short warmup before the race started. When I was waiting for the race to start, I was very sweaty, a testament to the humidity of this race.

When the race started I wanted to make sure that I did not run too fast like I did in the first mile of last month's Westside Beltline 5K. So I held back lots and made sure I ran strong up the hill that's at the first half mile of the course. My first mile time was 6:55.

I had enough energy to attack the next hill that comes at 1.06 miles. After this my pace started to slow down to about 7:20/7:30/mile. I noticed this after glancing at my watch but there wasn't much I could do about it. My data shows my cadence fell apart at 1.41 miles and I didn't run under a 7-minute-mile pace until well after the last hill had cleared at about 1.88 miles. Mile 2 was 7:11.

I ran at under 7-minute-mile pace until Mile 2.54 and started to slow my pace at the last set of gradual rises before the turn to the Lovett School. Once turned, even though the section is briefly downhill, I ran at about a 7:30/mile pace pretty much to the finish. (Mile 3 was 7:07).

I finished in 22:12, which was not really a time that I was expecting, although this time is a good starting point for what I need to do going into the fall and winter. Thankfully there are races ahead and I can submit my 1:39:20 half marathon time from May 28 for Group A consideration.

Time: 7:59 a.m.
Temp: 73 degrees
Gear: Technical shirt, sleeveless (Team BEEF), Mizuno shorts, cep compression socks, Newton Gravity V.

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