The Chicago Bears 5k has passed, and I consider it very much a success!

The weather cooperated, it was just an overall beautiful day, and really just solidified this event as my favorite race by far!

Let’s break down how the day went!

Breaking Down The Numbers

As I stated before, my goals have always remained the same:

1. PR – My previous PR was at Hot Chocolate this past October was 48:18. Today was 2 minutes 2 seconds better than that!
2. Run the Entire Way – This actually didn’t happen this time, I got caught up in the moment and went faster than the pace I trained at and had to take a couple walk breaks. Considering the time, I’m okay with this.
3. The elusive 45 minute 5k time – I’m slowly inching closer to this goal. 45, you better watch out!

I wish they gave my mile splits, I really wonder how quickly I was running the first two miles before I slowed down. I should have turned on MapMyWalk, that’s something to learn in the future. More numbers means more information to break down and more to learn.

Overall Thoughts

All things considered, this is the best I’ve ever felt after a race. I’m stiff, I’m going to be sore tomorrow, I definitely need to ice the Achilles for a couple days, but nothing outside what I’d expect from a hard workout. That really makes me happy!

Comparing 2016 to 2017

This may not be a valid comparison, because last year’s Bears 5k was so hot (about 20 degrees hotter!) which led to dehydration cramps and my poorest race performance of the 5 I’ve done now.

But I like to be introspective and dramatic, so let’s compare the two races!

2016: 50:50, an average pace of 16:22

2017: 46:46, an average pace of 14:54

In a year’s time, having a 4:04 time increase, or 1:28 minute/mile pace increase!

Also, what’s very apparent from the picture above, I’m leaner this year. Officially I weigh 10 lbs less than last year, but I’d be willing to say the body composition is better than the net weight would show.

Thinking about the ups and downs over the past year, the yo-yo weight. It’s good to be seeing some actual visible change with momentum currently on the right side. This morning I weighed in at 278.2 lbs. Which is the least I have weighed since I gained back all the weight after the weight loss challenge. (Wow, that was a mouth full and hope that made sense)

Overall, very positive stuff!

Lessons Learned/What to Improve

• I usually have pre-race jitters the night before, and I’ve had problems with insomnia in the past, but last night was worse than usual. To top it off, there were people setting off fireworks at 1:00am! I was probably running off 3-4 hours of sleep!
• Starting long runs outside a month out was good, I need to do it more though to really get a feel for pace. I honestly felt like I was doing the same “by feel” pace I was training at, but adrenaline pushed me faster.
• Taming my competitive spirit, confidence in the pace will hopefully let me stick to the plan. My last run outside 4 days ago I did 3.5 miles in 50 minutes with me passing the 5k mark at around 44 minutes.
  • I knew I was doing this at the time, my breathing was deeper than it was during training. Also, my mouth got really dry and it never did on the longer runs. I knew I was going faster than I should have, but chose to ignore it. Need to be better with strategy next time!
• The walkers strike again! Not as bad as Hot Chocolate, namely because this race had 1/10th the participants. While I kept up the competitive pace, while all the other less trained athletes ran out of endurance, from mile 2 onward was pretty much zig-zagging between people.
  • Not to mention having to go around people taking selfies and stuff. Which, again, not everyone has the same goals as me so I can’t get mad about that. It’s actually cool seeing some of the families doing a run together.
  • That being said, that’s more incentive to increase my pace. The more I increase my pace, the less this will be an issue. Plain and simple, the solution lies in my control!
• Finally to add, my final run was Tuesday and the race was Saturday because my Achilles was slightly inflamed. Luckily it didn’t hurt really, but I could visibly see it swollen, so I took the extra days to heal.
  • I’ll admit, knowing this made me error on the side of stopping when I started getting really tired vs pushing through. I even felt I held back on the final sprint onto the field. I kicked it up a gear, but didn’t go all out.
  • I’m taking this as a BIG positive btw, listen to my body and preserve my body!

Finally, for the sake of transparency. I’ll end with a very unflattering picture they snapped of me. It was at around the 2.75 mile marker when I was angry at myself for taking a walk break and gearing up to start jogging again. I’m not all smiles after all, but I am for sure working hard!

In the end, very good day. Another friend that ran the race today also PR’ed and the 3rd in our group had a better than expected run despite deciding to join us just a couple weeks ago, and therefore didn’t train much!

Time to keep this momentum going. I have another 5k in a month, will 45 be taken down? We shall see!

 

Bonus Thoughts From the Next Day

• I mentioned that this is the best I felt post race. I feel fatigued, but not really sore, perhaps a little stiff. That’s pretty awesome,
• I’m confident enough that I just signed up to go to the gym tomorrow. Ideally I would go Tuesday instead of tomorrow, but I may be busy with work the following couple of days and I’d rather take an easy day tomorrow than not work out an additional 3-4 days.
• Running races very much has a strategy to it, that’s an unexpected challenge.
  • The challenge is kind of welcome, however, you know me and keeping track of stats and analyzing everything under a microscope.
  • Plus, it’s almost like a game, trying to figure out the system.
  • Moving forward, my friend that runs many races suggested to start out slower, even though that’ll mean people will pass me. If I’m feeling good, I can always kick up the pace.
    • This is also a mental hack, because “slow” may likely be the pace you trained at, but just compensating for adrenaline. And kicking up the pace is simply compensating for fatigue during the race!