Finally, in my last race of the year, I think that I figured out the secret to a good 5K: run it a week after a marathon, five pounds overweight, in a vicious headwind.
Seriously: I did OK -- for me, which was quite unexpected. I entered the race so that I could be part of a weekend that for me usually involves a 20K up & down Paris Mountain, & in order to keep my streak alive of running every single points race or its companion race in the GTC Running Series. I had fourth place locked up anyway, but I wanted those last 10 points to finish with 180 & a perfect turnout. Thus I had initially planned only to run easy, & perhaps to pace some of my wife's running club kids who were looking to finish in around 27 min. But during my EZ post-marathon run in the neighborhood Thursday, I had broken into a few strides & found, to my surprise, that my legs felt pretty good. Then, on race morning, when none of the 27-minute kids showed up, I decided to lace up my new Precisions & simply have some fun within my limits. When the race began, I settled into a 7:30 pace, & felt good. My legs were fine, the weather sufficiently cool, & my breathing great. I slowed a bit in the middle 800 of the last mile, but put on a kick at the end to finish in 23:28 -- my only sub-23:30 5K of the year.
I know -- that doesn't sound so hot; but 5Ks are not my race, & I'm still working to get faster at them. Nearly seven months of base & marathon training have left me with little opportunity to do serious speedwork, so shorter races have taken a back seat, & will continue to do so in the coming weeks as I get ready for a Februray 10-miler. But that's Ok: as long as I can perform respectably in shorter races as I did last week, I won't mind.
On another note, my recovery from this last marathon has been surprisingly good. I felt so good yesterday that I turned my plan EZ run into a Fartlek, & seem to be suffering no ill effects from it today. I took today off from running & went to the gym, but will go back out for an EZ tomorrow & take a semi-long tempo Sat. morning.
