I cannot believe that we are entering the final week of October. This month marked the end of a training block and the start of my final block for the year. I raced 2 times this month, but largely the month was focused on training hard.
Spooky Sprint 5k
This race was the culmination of a 7 week training block. My goal was to average 9:15/mi marking another step on my road to a new 5k PR. Adam picked me up and we headed to Big Creek plenty early to get our packets and warm up. I started the race really well and came through mile 1 in 9:12. I slowed down a bit heading up the hill on mile 2 and just couldn't pick it back up after that. After hitting the turn around and coming back down the hill my mile 2 split was 9:23. A little off pace and I wanted to be hopeful that I could get that time back in mile 3 but I knew that my legs didn't have it. Mile 3 was a disappointing 9:37 and I finished the race (3.18 miles according to my watch) in 29:55. I was disappointed as it just wasn't my day.
To put things in perspective, this tied for my 4th fastest 5k since I began racing in 2014. I may not have hit my goal, but I continue to progress and get faster. I ran this same course for the Time to Paddy 5k in March and finished that one in a time of 39:03, meaning that I cut 9:08 off my 5k time in the last 7 months. I didn't have a lot of take aways but I really felt like I just wasn't able to recover after the mile 2 hill so maybe I need to include some more hills in my training.
IMT Des Moines Marathon Local 5 5k
It is always a good time racing at the IMT Des Moines Marathon, no matter what race I'm doing (and I've done them all). This year, I chose to race the 5k as I continue to focus on reducing my 5k time. The timing for this race was not ideal for me as it was week 2 of my 7 week training block, so I didn't expect much going in.
Abigail and her friend signed up to volunteer at the race and would be handing out medals for 4 hours. I had 2 friends racing the half marathon and decided that I would take them down with me and just stick around until they were done. We got downtown about 40 minutes before the race and parked on the street about 7 blocks from the start line. After getting the girls checked in, I went to line up in the starting coral. The 5k was scheduled to start at 8:15, right after the full and half marathon but they ended up holding us until 8:45, which was a bit frustrating. I had done my warm up at home and it was very windy and cold while waiting.
I came off the start line much faster than I normally do but quickly settled into a steady pace. I started near the front so I didn't have to weave around many people, which was very nice. Even with that advantage I came through mile 1 in a very disappointing 9:33. The 2nd mile included capital hill and even though I felt good with how I handled it, that split was 9:54. I pushed a little harder on the last mile going 9:16 but with a course that was a little long I wasn't able to keep it under 30 minutes. My official time was 30:11.
After the race I hung around cheering on the other athletes, including Adam and another friend, Jake. I also saw a ton of other people that I know. Even though the race was a bit disappointing for me, I still enjoyed myself.
Wrap Up
Even though my results in October were a little disappointing, I still feel like I'm heading in the right direction. In September I logged 124.15 miles running, 2nd most of all time and this month I'm on track to run even more. This is my 3rd consecutive training block using the Boston Athletic Association 5k program and I have so much confidence in it after all of the success I've seen this year. I'm not sure if I will reach my goal of setting a new 5k PR this year but I'm committed to doing everything that I can to give it my best effort.
