February 5k Recap

I mentioned last week that I was switching my planned 8 mile race for a 5k. I'm really glad I did, since the 8 mile race got postponed till next week. If I was depending on that for my February race I would have been out of luck. I now have the option of running two races in March- the 8 mile and a 5k, both of which I'm registered for. We'll see what the weather's like next weekend before I commit to the 8 mile race. It would still be a good tune-up for the half, but I don't know that I want to do it if the temps are as low as they were on Saturday or if the ground is muddy and sloppy.

Back to Saturday's 5k. This was a small fundraiser organized by the cross country and track teams of the local university, and the majority of the runners were college students. The girls were all wearing black running tights and dark jackets and actually have runner's bodies (I don't). There were 2 or 3 ladies older than me, but everyone else was almost half my age (eek- what a thought!).

While I had on black running tights too, I also had a silver sparkle skirt and a bright pink jacket :) The skirt is a new one that I purchased to be part of my half marathon outfit. I made my last one, and it was way easier to just buy one on etsy. The pink jacket is my Christmas present from the kiddos- Sunshine picked it out for me.

The temps were in the low 20's, which wasn't quite as problematic as I'd expected. The last snow we received was early Thursday morning, so the roads and sidewalks were clear and dry. Decent running conditions, if a bit (ok, more than a bit) cold. Once we started running it wasn't too bad though.

The first mile pretty much sucked- cold air, two weeks of minimal training, and still recovering from a cold all combined to make my legs feel tired and sluggish and my chest feel heavy and tight. Even on the treadmill the first mile always sucks, so I wasn't caught off guard. It just sucked in a different way. The rest of the race I felt a lot better, but I did struggle a bit with the hills in the second mile.

I've been slacking off on my hill work and speed work in favor of my long runs, and it was obvious. I've got five weeks till the half and I think I'll be focusing more on my hills and speed while backing off a bit on the length of my long runs.

One thing I noticed: my lungs felt ok right up until I got into the car and started breathing the slightly warmer air. Then my "cold air" cough started up. I think it's interesting that it didn't actually start till the warmer air mixed with the colder air. Not a connection I'd made before.

3.02 miles in 33:55, overall pace of 11:14 min/mile
mile 1: 10:56 min
mile 2: 12:17 min
mile 3: 10:30 min

I'm happy with my time. 33:55 is only 30 seconds slower than my January 5k and faster than all but one of my 5ks from last year. Even accounting for the race being a little short I still finished in a very good time. If I'd kept a consistent 11:14 min/mile pace I would have finished 3.1 miles in 34:49, which is still faster than all but three of last year's 5ks. And I did this while 20 weeks pregnant. So yay me! Guess all that mileage really is paying off. My half marathon pace needs to be 13:39 or faster, so even allowing for a slower pace over a longer distance I should be ok. And the temperatures should also be a lot better five weeks from now.

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The week's workouts:
Mon- treadmill walk
Tues- busy and needed a rest
Wed- treadmill walk
Thurs- treadmill run
Fri- treadmill walk
Sat- February 5k race ("long" run)

My total mileage was 10.25 miles. I'm still recovering from my cold, so I took it easy and didn't try to do too much and my "long" run was only 3 miles. While I want to improve my workouts, I also don't want to be so worn out that I don't have energy to do anything else like continue healing. It's a fine line to balance.

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One more thought about my January and February races: my January race was on the 1st, and my February race was on the 28th, which means they were two months apart. While that gave me a nice long period to increase my mileage, I do think it's a bit too long between races. Most of the time they're only 3 or 4 weeks apart, not 8.