Another 5k in the books and a new baseline started!

It was a fun day, although even though it was earlier than in previous years, it was still pretty warm. Humidity was pretty high as well. As one of my buddies that runs marathons said, “nobody is going to be a PR in this weather.”

The humidity was no joke, someone passed out near the 2 mile marker and an ambulance was called. My Mom said she saw a news report and the guy had to have a defibrillator used on him. That’s some scary stuff!

Something to keep an eye on, the outside middle of both of my feet really hurt afterward. I don’t know if that means my form slipped as I fatigued, or if I need to tighten/loosen my shoes. But they were tender for a while, so something to note and maybe ask the trainers about.

I do deem the 5k a success and I did complete my goal of finishing the 5k without getting angry at myself.

Thankfully, my friend Gina ran it with me. Now, I was hesitant about that because whenever I’ve been joined by others in these pics, usually we all do our own thing and meet up at the finish line. Which I’m pretty cool with.

The one exception was with the Hot Chocolate race when my buddy Will ran with me, and it was a good time.

Running Buddy

Aside from that one time with Will, I’ve never had a running buddy, and that sort of gave me anxiety going into this one. Because of how self conscious I am about my current fitness level (or lack thereof), I felt that I would be holding Gina back.

Luckily, she (as Will was) is a great supportive friend. She’s also training for a marathon coming up in January, so she did to me many of the things the more experienced runners do for her in their running groups.

Namely, she talked the whole time. Which I usually just suffer through it, but in the end it really did help get the mind off the pain of running. Then when she could tell I’m slowing she’d say, “let’s keep going until that tree, then we can walk” or when walking say, “at the guy with the flag, let’s go again for a while?”

No doubt, without her, I would have walked a LOT more than I did, so that’s something to keep in mind in the future. I just have to get over my insecurities in my head and be open to people trying to be supportive knowing they won’t judge.

Here’s a couple more pics, one of me and Gina after completing the race, then another after we met up with my buds Brian and Sean.

New Baseline

So, all-in-all, it went pretty much expected considering my current weight, fitness level, and the conditions of the day. My new baseline for a 5k based off this race is a total time of 54:11, or a pace of 17:27.

Which is pretty darn slow, but then again, I’m still at the fitness level where small differences add up to larger times.

Going from a 3mph pace to 4mph means going from 20 minute miles to 15 minute miles or roughly a 60 minute 5k to a 45 minute 5k. While improving from 6mph to 7mph would mean 10 minute miles to 8:30 minutes per mile or 30 minute 5k to a 25:30 5k.

So a 15 minute improvement vs a 1:30 minute improvement, despite both improving by a mile per hour.

So, even taking into the past, my best time at the Costume Clash was right at 45 minutes, my pace here was still less than a mile per hour slower. Considering the weight gain and current lowered stamina, that’s not bad at all.

Onto The Next One

Since I was so cocky back in the day when registering these races, my next one is the Stan’s Donuts 5k, coming up just 3 weeks away. I’m already behind because a whole week has passed since the Bears 5k and I haven’t worked out once.

I know, disappointing.

Day of, I was hurting immediately after. On the drive home my feet were barking, namely the aforementioned outsides of the middle of the feet, then maybe a little in the calves.

When I went to the store for lunch, I couldn’t stop sweating, so my heart rate must have still been up. Even in the meat aisles where you’re surrounded by refrigerators, I just couldn’t stop sweating. Definitely laid on the couch in front of the AC unit for a while after I got home.

A couple hours later I thought, “hey, I’m feeling great, not sore at all, I bet I could work out tomorrow if I wanted to, but should rest.”

Later that night, I missed the table when setting down my water glass and it shattered everywhere. So guess mentally I was still drained.

So, the rest day turned into two, then turned into the workweek. Then I visited home and we all know how lazy I get when visiting out in the burbs. But I signed up for tomorrow and I’ll at least get into somewhat shape to have a respectable performance in 3 weeks!

New Motivators

If there’s something I’ve learned from all this, it’s that my previous motivators aren’t working anymore, or at least right now.

I mentioned a few weeks back about how looking good or general overall health improvement for some reason doesn’t motivate me. Or if it does, it’s in a general freakout moment and really is short lived.

Losing weight to look good for an upcoming wedding has not only not worked, but often times backfired.

What has been motivating me are these races, and tapping into my competitive spirit and wanting to beat previous times and whatnot. But for some reason, that’s not even a motivator anymore.

So I think I really need to do some soul searching and figure out why I’ve fallen out of “the mode” and find some new motivators, or at least reconnect myself so that my motivators work again.

This has seeped into my personal and professional life though, as I’ve noted in this journal, the lethargy and lack of motivation overall is plaguing me in all aspect of life. So I need to find the root of that and I feel everything else will start falling into place.

Perhaps if I just start forcing myself to do it, do a fake it til you make it approach, then things will get there. Maybe I’m due for another hell week type frequency.

That’ll be my homework the next few weeks, on top of tightening nutrition and working out more to get this upcoming 5k rolling!