2005 Groundhog 5k report

I was curious how Groundhog would go for me seeing that I have dramatically increased my mileage and cut out all speed training, running everything at about 8:00+ pace. I was expecting that I might run it around 18:36 or 6:00 pace, maybe even slower as my concearn was that by training slow I might end up racing slow…

First mile I tried to pace myself but at the first mile marker I was told “5:05″. Since it had felt pretty easy, I was certain the first mile must have been short. Sure enough, the second mile which I felt I ran around the same pace was 6:07. At some point around the second mile marker the eventual female winner began to pass me. I’m pretty sure it was the same girl that had passed me in the first night 5k down in Columbia, only down there she had passed me in the first mile. Since I still felt pretty strong I picked up my pace and went back ahead of her a ways. Probably around 2 or 3 minutes later I began to slow down from too much lactic acid and she passed me for good this time…

Ended up running 17:51 which I am very happy with, especially for this early in the season. Once I lose my extra 10lbs and start incorporating some speed work back into my training, I expect my times to drop considerably. This time served to validate my current training approach, I’m expecting great things this season.