Yesterday I ran my 4th 5k, which if you don't know is 3.1 miles. I ran 1 5k race in 2019, 2 in 2021 and now this one in 2022. While I have made SOME improvements, I have also had some setbacks. Read below for my full story and my upcoming blog on this topic.
In 2019, my trainer thought it would be good for me to set a goal, try to attain it. That goal was to run a 5K race in September of that year.
I ended up running the race in 33 minutes. I had only trained for this race for maybe 2-3 months prior to running this as well. For a first timer, that's pretty good!
My second and third races were in 2021 (thanks to COVID). However, while running my second race, I had a strange pain occur in my side that I could not shake. I ended up walking most of that 5k. My time ended up being around 40 minutes. Defeated after this one but ready to get better as well.
My third race I ran, but about .75 miles in, I ended up with that terrible pain in my stomach again. This pain did not happen at all during my training so I was determined to run this whole thing without pain. So I continued on. I ended that race, running half bent over, and in just about 31 minutes. I was ecstatic! I beat my 2019 race time, and in pain! I hit a new Personal Record and accomplished what I was set to do. However, 1 hurdle I was unable to jump over was beating my trainer. He still had me by 2 minutes.
Fast forward to yesterday, September 10, 2022. I ran the same race again for the 3rd time. I was determined to beat my time from the year before, beat my trainer, and not have any pain doing it. I ended up finishing the race in 32 minutes. This year, I trained a bit differently for the race, and ran the same way I trained. Instead of just running the entire thing, I ran it by sprinting. I would sprint hard, then jog, then walk. Then sprint hard again, jog, then walk. I also had a 12 pound weighted vest on.
Now while I'm super stoked that I was able to race again, and I did better than my leading weeks of training showed, I still wasn't happy with my time. The weeks leading up to the race, I was running slow. I felt sluggish and heavy. Times of 36, and 35 minutes each run. I wanted my race time to be under 31 minutes.
During the race, I ran my first mile under 9 minutes. Now that sounds slow, sure. But I am happy that I continuously can get my mile run time down. During my training for this race, it was always at around 9:30. Getting this time down by more than 30 seconds is a great accomplishment for me, and I know that I will only continue to get better.
I am definitely bummed that I was unable to accomplish beating my coach, and beating my time from last year.
However, I have made several improvements such as my running form, my mile time, and even getting my run times down from just a week ago.
I also need to look at the time I gave myself to train for this race. Which wasn't a lot or obviously enough. I began really training for this at the end of August. That's only a few short weeks to prepare. I now know that I need to train more in advance for races like this.
I have goals I want to accomplish for my next race. I want to win! I want my mile time down, I want the race time down, and I want to beat my coach.
I didn't write this to get praise for running or to show you how slow I am at running. This is to show you that I am an arrow.
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