Roxymama's 5k to Marathon, Time to Collect Another Castle


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Burbank Frosty 5k 1/13/18 Race Recap


Caution: Longwinded Intro

I didn’t have 5k or 10ks really on my radar for my 2018 racing season. I had sort of an idea that I’d rather do one of two things with this new year…either get a little faster at the shorter distances or continue to work on the longer distances and maybe as a by-product just gain fitness anyways. I decided on the latter and so all two of my real A races for this year are 13.1 or 26.2 miles.

However I decided having a 5k in Jan wouldn’t be such a bad thing because I needed a carrot to keep my backside moving in Nov/Dec until it was real half training time again. Because when it is cold, I like to sit on couches, under several blankets, and eat cookies. I talked with “Da Coach” and he made me a mini cycle to get me to this 5k and then my half training starts essentially right after (that’s like really soon, guys!!!) I got hit by a doozy of a cold a few weeks ago…it was so much coughing and phlegm and I just don’t even want to think of it so that I avoid summoning it back. And so we kind of had to stop and re-start and this became a lot shorter of a mini-cycle. So I definitely knew going into this that although I have the ability to run at my top fitness…my top fitness just maybe will not make it’s debut until later in the year…and we’d just see what happens. Billy told me to not to worry about easing into a pace, just GO and keep GOING and see what happens essentially. In my head I was telling myself that 5ks are short and they can suck if you are pushing hard, but they get over quick, right, so embrace the suck?



Ok, so there’s another reason I wanted to run a 5k in January. And y’all could probably guess it without me even needing to admit to it.

My goal #2 on my life running bucket list is to get an age group award in a race with more than 10 people in my division. And it’d be silly not to admit that I basically look at past year results whenever I see a local races and I immediately check out my division. Coupled with January…not everyone is trained yet…not everyone wants to run in the cold…

Last year 3rd place was 28:50 something and I thought…hmmmm….what if?

Of course we all know that 15 other women with like paces could have seen that and asked themselves the same question and shown up.

Goal #1 (they aren’t in exact order by preference, it just is the first one I wrote down) is a 26:XX 5k and 1B is 25:XX. I kinda already had a gut feeling I wasn’t going to be gunning for that today…my x800’s at race pace was fairly hard just a few weeks ago so I think I need more training time to hit those for a full 3.1.



Ok so back to the actual RACE DAY!



I hadn’t laid anything out the night before because it was a 9am start and I think my brain was trying to give me every “out” to decide not to go to the race. I stalled a lot in the morning. I spent a lot of time saying I’d get dressed in 5 minutes. Finally I talked myself into gearing up. And my new awesome warm fleece-lined Nike tights had a washing machine pod’s plastic melted to the inside of the thigh…noooooooo whyyyyy??? Plan B, my less warm crazy pants. Plus a long sleeve + a pullover + my tink fuzzy half jacket + hats and gloves, etc. It didn’t feel like enough…one test run down my driveway and I was regretting my decision to think about running outside. It was 8 degrees and real feel was sub 0. I zipped my pullover up over my nose. I came back in the house to stall again (it was getting really close to me being late) and hubby said loudly “WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?” The voice of reason…well, maybe “runner reason.”

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I arrived and thankfully the packet pickup was in a heated rec. center right next to the finish line. I would have sat in my car with the heat on if that wasn’t the case. They only had hot chocolate and coffee and no water (which was fine because I already had my last water and bathroom break) but I had say no to the coffee temptation. I got a free medium long sleeve cotton shirt and shoved it in between my pullover and jacket (so that’s 4 top layers for those who are counting.) There was a pretty big crowd by the time we got about 10 min from start. Lots of people darting out to warm up and darting back in with completely red faces…me included. My warmup ended up being laps back to a space heater in the main doorway. I was sharing this strategy with a woman “maybe my age” with Poland pants on who looked serious business. There was also a giant Frosty mascot that waved to me everytime I jogged back inside.



Ok, so one block walk to the start. Still three minutes to go…omg my bones are freezing…I’ve lost my feet….where are my feet? Slow jog to keep warm…nope too windy over here. Jog in place jog in place…where are my feet? Line up about four rows behind Poland…she looks about 4 rows faster than me. Line up next to Hot Chocolate hoodie woman…she looks my speed. 3,2,1…GO



Mile 1:

Adrenaline and I’m off faster than I think I should have. It felt too easy until it didn’t anymore about half mile in? I was running about as blind as one could. No sticker, but just not being a watch watcher. Lead pack pulled way away really fast. Lots of high school cross country looking kids so I knew that would happen. But then the whole rest of the first mile was a game of chomp and be chomped while things shook out. Boston jacket lady came by with a group of kids, all boys and one girl, probably 10 year olds? I counted maybe 8-9 women ahead of me (though with all the layers it was honestly hard to tell.)

There was a 1 mile walk as well, so now from this point on it was just the runners. Props to all those people walking in this weather…blech!

8:26 – hey okay…my fastest mile ever. In race PR!



Mile 2:

Realizing I’ve started clenching my shoulders and my arms, I’m not warming up as much as I wanted to. My lower half is so cold and my upper half feels too heavy. I’m not loosening up like normal. I’m COLD. I can only feel the front balls of my feet and no toes. And there is some wind now. No excuses, Boston jacket and younger girl I can still see. I can still see a ton of guys (so many more guys in my eye sight) but I know there lots of women with bibs at the start so in my mind they are all on my heals. I don’t look back the whole race. Only guys pass me during this mile. My nose is draining down my throat, I am becoming a phlegm machine and I’ve now done maybe 4 gross spit rockets. Some gets on me, some goes more successfully off to the side. I hope I don’t spit on anyone behind me. I have no music…my phone has freezed off. I keep pushing.

9:14 – welp not my best…but the only way to the finish is by running…soooo…let’s keep going



Mile 3:

New goal…27:59…let’s just see if I can? Hey where’d Boston jacket lady go? She’s gone now...but the younger girl is falling behind. She’s with her brother/her friend/her teammate? And he’s watching out for her. She’s walking and he’s urging her to run again. I’m getting closer and HE’S BOXING ME OUT FOR HER!!!! I can’t pass them to save my life and it’s cracking me up. They can’t be more than 10 and they are strategically shifting all over this two lane open road to keep me from passing. It’s distracting me honestly from how cold I am and I start to get a second wind. I just stay in my lane and let them be and they eventually let me through and I put on my version of a surge.

We turned a corner and the finish line all of a sudden was right there and my watch dinged for mile 3. That snuck up on me!

Mile 3 – 9:19 – welp not surprised…but I had been already picking up my pace at that point and I saw I was at 8:30 pace again and so I just hung on. The clock was ticking at 27:XX but subbing 27 was a teeny bit out of reach. My muscles were pretty tight and I didn’t do a crazy sprint.

My last .1 mile was exactly 8:30 pace so that’s good to know.



Final time: 28:06 per Gamin, 28:07 official



My second best 5k race time. Boston jacket lady was yelling for me and Frosty was dancing for me, so that was nice. My young competitors came across not too long after me and Boston lady was clearly her coach and I said “they made me earn passing them; they are gonna be good racers” and she smiled and said how competitive they can get. Once back inside the rec center my glasses fogged up and the skin on my thighs began to burn from defrosting (y’all know that feeling?) I had a very cold butt

They were serving Olive garden spaghetti and breadsticks but I just grabbed a banana and muffin. My phone was still ice cold and dead. I noticed the awards were only 1st and 2nd place and the age groups for adults were for every 10 years not 5. I was pretty sure there were at least 2 30-39 year olds ahead of me but I just didn’t want to leave yet just in case. So I waited around.

They posted about 4 long pages of names on a wall and said they still had people out on the course so they’d wait to do awards until after last person crossed. I snuck up and found my name on the first page…and found my time and my age and the number 1. And my heart fell through my lungs into my stomach and then rushed back into my head. Tons of people were swarming so I sat back in one of the chairs and just sort of buzzed internally.

Phone was still dead and felt like a block of ice. I asked the lady behind me if I could text my husband from her phone and she was really nice about it. I said “Hey, I’m still here but my phone froze, I think I just won my division” and he responded “yay”

After a bit I walked over and checked again every Female name above mine and sure enough they were younger or older than me. OMG.

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And then I got to participate in my first awards ceremony!!! I was all by myself and my phone was dead and the nice lady said “hey, do you want me to take your picture and text it to your husband” She was probably my mom’s age and her husband got silver in his division. In fact I recognized him because he had on a tye-dye shirt and was up ahead of me at a pretty steady distance for a good chunk of the race. So it was at least like I had a de-facto little family there.

Fun facts…the young girl that I was racing got 1st place in 9-14.
(That's her in this pic to the left)
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Fun facts…Poland pants won 20-29 and finished in 24 something.

Fun facts…Boston lady finished first in her 40-49 and must have really put the rockets on in the last mile because she really gained a ton of pace!!!

Fun facts…hot Chocolate jacket lady came in second in my age group.

I got my pic with Frosty. And I won a raffle prize of $10 Rita’s Italian Ice gift cards. Well, ok!



My phone warmed up as I was driving home. I walked in my backdoor and my husband has music blaring and started announcing me over the karaoke machine like we were at a 1990’s Bulls game. And kiddo was yelling for me. I guess they had practiced this. Was pretty great.

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Stats

Overall 33rd place of 112 (runners only, walkers were unchipped and made up maybe another 150+ people?)

Female 7th place of 53

30-39 1st of 11 (IT COUNTS….MORE THAN 10!)



Takeaways – I realize I probably would have gotten 1st just by running my best even if my best wasn’t quite as good, because 2nd place was 30:27. BUT I showed up and I tried my best and I kept myself going when my body wanted to quit so bad from being basically numb from the cold. So every time I say “yeah but” about my award…I remind myself of the local races where 3rd place was 28:XX and I just dreamed of being those women. And now it’s finally me!!!



Ok, so now it can be warm again so I can run like a normal human and not a lugie-spitting frost-monster!



Thanks @DopeyBadger for the mini-cycle and the pep-talk the day before. I didn’t hit your predicted time but I know that’s not a fail...it’s just another carrot to work towards. And I got down to speed pace without looking more than a couple times and a 1 mile PR! So that’s something to write home about, right? And thanks @roxyhubby for getting me out the door and the fun victory celly.
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So awesome!! Love the play by play. There is something so inately funny being beat/strategized by children! I would have been laughing too. This is just such a fantastic start to your 2018 training year!
 
Great recap as always. Could feel like I was there. Congrats on that 1st place, you earned it!

I’m getting closer and HE’S BOXING ME OUT FOR HER!!!! I can’t pass them to save my life and it’s cracking me up. They can’t be more than 10 and they are strategically shifting all over this two lane open road to keep me from passing.

Totally dealt with that before from the younger runners. Always so crafty...

Thanks @DopeyBadger for the mini-cycle and the pep-talk the day before. I didn’t hit your predicted time but I know that’s not a fail...

Happy to help. I would have been a little surprised (but I know to never count you out) if you had gotten down to that time on the training plan but that's merely because this was a really short cycle and was never really the goal of the plan. Just know under the right conditions, you can run that pace.
 
So awesome!! Love the play by play. There is something so inately funny being beat/strategized by children! I would have been laughing too. This is just such a fantastic start to your 2018 training year!

I kind of know I'm a mom because I was internally rooting for her to come back and pass me again.
Girl Power, right? :)

Great recap as always. Could feel like I was there. Congrats on that 1st place, you earned it!



Totally dealt with that before from the younger runners. Always so crafty...



Happy to help. I would have been a little surprised (but I know to never count you out) if you had gotten down to that time on the training plan but that's merely because this was a really short cycle and was never really the goal of the plan. Just know under the right conditions, you can run that pace.

I think you knew that I knew that you knew that I knew that pace was a bit rich for me at this very moment in time. But it's about confidence of just running hard to try to get there even if you know "there" isn't quite "there" yet. Super clear answer, right? :)
 


think you knew that I knew that you knew that I knew that pace was a bit rich for me at this very moment in time. But it's about confidence of just running hard to try to get there even if you know "there" isn't quite "there" yet. Super clear answer, right? :)

:thumbsup2 I get ya!
 
Tink jacket and crazy pants - your outfit is on point. :tinker:

No “yeah buts” about it - congrats on your awesome, well-earned victory! :yay:
 
Tink jacket and crazy pants - your outfit is on point. :tinker:

No “yeah buts” about it - congrats on your awesome, well-earned victory! :yay:

Thanks Internet Ariel! I'll keep trying not to "yeah, but."

Love reading about the race! My phone froze while walking my dog yesterday -- is it summer yet?

I wish it were!!! Poor doggies with these temps, I bet they wish it were summer too!!!
 
Monday Update 1/15/18: Half Marathon Training Begins!

Just a quick update since I typed a dissertation on my 5k race recap. My half marathon training officially starts this week. Although @FFigawi once pointed out that we’re technically always training. My end goal is a half PR at the Naperville Women’s HM on 4/22 and we are now 14 weeks away. With an added attempt at an 8k PR ten weeks in.

If the week goes as planned I’m looking at 26.2 total miles. Isn’t that a nice number?

Monday 1/15: OFF and It’s my Birthday! (Shameless plug)
Tuesday 1/16: 4 mi EA , 11:34 pace
Wed 1/17: 5 mi @ EB, 10:48 pace
Thur 1/18: 1 mi WU (12:18 pace), 8x.5mi @ Tempo (9:16 pace) w/ 1 min RI @ WU + .5 mi CD – this is new tempo format for me but I like the looks of it. And Tempo is slower than speed…I’ll keep reminding myself of that.
Fri 1/19: off
Sat 1/20: 5mi @ EB, 10:48 pace
Sun 1/21: 6mi @ LR, 10:25 pace

Can anyone tell what’s new about half training? I’ll give you a dancing banana if you can guess.
 
Oh, your 1st place in your age group definitely counts! About the only time I will earn first place in my age division if it's comprised exclusively of me. And even then I still might not take first place in my age division.
 
Oh, your 1st place in your age group definitely counts! About the only time I will earn first place in my age division if it's comprised exclusively of me. And even then I still might not take first place in my age division.

Haha, Well they say it's really only ourselves who can beat us...
 
First congrats and a great race recap. I know what is different about your training plan

you are running 5 days a week now! Yay

I too am training for half at Disney in April 22. Not for first choice to try and PR but want to give it a go. Hopefully get a good corral. Finally back from Disney and happy I only have 6 pounds to lose before then.
 
First congrats and a great race recap. I know what is different about your training plan

you are running 5 days a week now! Yay

I too am training for half at Disney in April 22. Not for first choice to try and PR but want to give it a go. Hopefully get a good corral. Finally back from Disney and happy I only have 6 pounds to lose before then.

:banana:

My brain didn't realize that Dark Side is the same day as my local half marathon. That's fun! Well we can run together...without actually really running together.
 

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