Last night I ran the Tracksmith Twilight 5000 in Washington DC. Normally I run 5Ks in the morning on the road, and I refer to them as "5Ks". This was a 5000 meter race on the track at night. It bore little resemblance to the 5K I know and love, even though the distance was the same.
Why I Registered
I was a pacer for this race back in 2022 and I really enjoyed it. The idea of racing a 5K on the track at night in the summer was completely unappealing to me, but I figured it would be fun to help someone else. After pacing it, though, I got the itch to run it myself. I was even signed up to run it either last year or the year before (I don't remember) but it was cancelled due to the weather.
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| Pacing the 25:00 group in 2022 |
This race is run in "heats" of about 20-35 runners each. This avoids there being too many people on the track at once. Each heat has a different starting time. The faster the heat, the later the start time. Runners are assigned a heat based on their self-predicted finish time. I was placed in the 19:30-20:20 group. Having just run a time of 21:04 two weeks ago, I was really nervous about this. Realistically I thought the best I could hope for would be 20:30, which meant I might be the last finisher in my heat.
I could have emailed them to switch to the next slower heat, but I decided not to. I figured if I was going to challenge myself, I might as well go for it and see what would happen. I am typically pretty conservative with my race goals, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to be more aggressive.
Race day eating and activities
I had no idea what to do with myself all day. I didn't want to do anything too strenuous, but I also didn't want to sit around and do nothing but get nervous. I decided I would spend some time making a different kind of Instagram video, explaining my pacing strategy.
In this video, I discussed how I would be using my Garmin as a stopwatch, not a GPS device, to pace myself. I would use the lap button and lap myself every 400m. My goal would be to run around 1:35-1:36 per lap and keep up with the 20:00 pacer. I had it all planned out and I visualized myself hitting that lap button and nailing those splits, just like I did when I paced the 25:00 group back in 2022.
Eating wise, I had a normal breakfast: Nova lox, a bagel, and a banana. For lunch I had rice pilaf, almond butter pretzels, and more nova lox. For dinner I had an English muffin with almond butter and a banana. I wanted to keep it pretty light. I ate my dinner at 4:30 for a 7:40 race start. I figured that would be plenty of time to digest the food. I felt like I had kept the food really light, but consumed enough calories so I wouldn't be in an energy deficit.
I started to feel nervous right before we left the house with that "I have to go to the bathroom" sensation that never quite materialized. For morning races, usually I can empty everything out in advance.
Other things I did yesterday to distract myself included playing the piano and unpacking my CD collection from the moving boxes and organizing them by date, but without looking at the dates. My CD collection is like the sound track to my life from ages 15-30 so I remember the order they go in.
Before the Race
We left the house at 5:30 for a 7:40 start. Even though I live much closer to Washington DC than I used to, it still took us 45 minutes to get there because this race was on the other side of the city, closer to Maryland.
We arrived, parked and made it to bib pickup an hour before race start. Tracksmith was promoting their new Eliot Racer shoe which meant runners had the opportunity to test them out. They encouraged me to take a lap around the track in them, and I did. WOW - did I fall in love with this shoe. So soft and bouncy, very similar to my beloved adidas Adios Pro 2 but with even more bounce. These have the potential to be my new favorite shoe.
However, I currently have the many different carbon fiber plated shoes and I cannot justify the purchase of another one: Brooks Hyperion Elite 4 PB, Adios Pro 2, NB SuperComp Pacer, ASICS Metaspeed Sky, ASICS Metaspeed Edge, Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro, Saucony Endorphin Pro 4, and Nike Alphafly.
I ran this 5000m race in my Nike Alphaflys. I had tested them out during two track workouts and they felt very fast with a lot of forward propulsion. I liked the Achilles-friendly 8mm drop and the fact that my feet weren't overwhelmed with cushion. I find the ASICS Metaspeed Sky to be too soft and the Saucony Endorphin Pro to be too firm, so the Alphafly was the perfect middle ground. I also really love the New Balance SC Pacer for short races, but I wanted to give the Alphafly a shot!
I changed back into my Nikes and ran a few more laps in the outermost lane of the track to warm up. I made multiple trips to the porta potty but not much was happening. 15 minutes before the race started I had a caffeinated Maurten gel. I debated having caffeine so late in the day and I knew it would bother my sleep, but I still did it. I figured I would be up late anyway, and lack of sleep would be worth it for the performance boost of caffeine.
Weather
It was seasonably cool for May 31st. It was only 65 degrees, not humid (in fact, quite dry) and windy. If you were just standing around and not in a sunny spot, it felt cold. Greg wore jeans and a jacket. I warmed up in shorts and a lightweight jacket. 65 degrees is not exactly cool, but that wind was serious. On my personal weather scale I give this a 7 out of 10: somewhat favorable. With the sun having gone down below the buildings, the wind and the low humidity, the temperature was quite good. But the 16-18 mph sustained wind with heavier gusts made for a brutal 200m stretch! I am also thankful that it wasn't raining. We had quite the thunderstorm with hail earlier in the day!
The Race
Normally I break my race reports into a mile-by-mile recap, but that is not how I experienced this race. The whole thing was one big blur of "the same" and after the first mile I had no idea how many laps I had run because I wasn't even thinking about that.
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| I'm wearing the race briefs! |
There were about 20-25 people in my heat. There was a 19:30 pacer and a 20:00 pacer. My friend Sergio was running, and I often find myself running very close to him in races. He wanted to run 20:00 as well so I told myself I would tuck in behind him and the pacer. I didn't really think I was in 20:00 shape, but I was going to go for it anyway. Who knows, maybe being in a pack would make me faster!
We all lined up close to the start. I started in lane 1 (innermost lane) about three rows back. I could have been closer to the front if I started in a further lane.
Oh how easy it felt that first lap! I felt so good that I was actually vying for position and wanting to be closer to the pacer! I had all the confidence in the world after lap 1 because I believed that pace to be totally sustainable. It was hard running on the track with so many other runners close by. Everyone wanted to be in lane 1, running at the exact same pace. There was only one point where I rubbed elbows with another runner but I somehow managed to keep my own space the rest of the time.
I knew that Greg would have 12 opportunities to cheer for me and take photos and videos. I figured he would be moving around and I didn't know where or when to expect him.
The first four laps were a dream! Here are my official splits, which start at 200m and then go every 400m.:
200 46.63
400 1:36.78
400 1:36.55
400 1:35.24
400 1:36.13
That's 1.12 miles of perfect execution! Shortly after that, my pack started to get ahead of me. It was weird because I was maintaining my effort level, but I was trailing behind. So I upped the effort. I really didn't
want to lose the pack because I needed them to block the wind. But no matter how much I pushed, they got farther and farther ahead.
At this point I stopped focusing on my pace and how many laps I had run and I did everything I could to keep going. I developed a tight cramp in my upper abdomen. I am not sure if this was from pushing too hard in the beginning, from eating a larger meal than I normally would have, or maybe the caffeinated gel just "sitting" there. Whatever the cause, it got pretty gnarly.
I did not feel good or strong or fast. I felt like I was slogging away at a very slow pace. Everything felt heavy, the wind felt like a massive obstacle and the stomach pain was intense. And that's really all I have to report about the second two miles! I didn't count laps, but thankfully the football stadium scoreboard showed the official race time. I figured I would stop when that big clock got to be around 21 minutes. Yes, I had the same clock on my Garmin but I couldn't even bring myself to look at that.
It was a blur of pushing hard, looking at the big clock and feeling the pain in my upper abdomen. I was also running completely alone and I was hoping there was at least one person behind me so I wouldn't be the last finisher.
The final 200m was a tailwind so I sprinted as hard as I could and I almost caught the guy in front of me. He beat me by 3 seconds and had previously been much farther ahead. More splits:
1:43.06
1:44.87
1:44.61
1:44.57
1:46.38
1:44.48
1:43.89
I was running slower than my half marathon pace for the last mile!
My official time was 21:02. This was surprising to me because I had expected to be closer to 22:00, but I
guess I had a fast first mile to pad the rest of the race with. I the official race result, they group by age and gender I placed 2nd in my age group out of only 5 women. I am thinking these evening track races are more for the younger crowd! The fastest woman in my age group ran 20:55 so I wasn't too far behind.
After the Race
The next heat began almost immediately after ours was finished. Greg and I hung out for a bit and chatted with Sergio and a few other runners. We all agreed that the wind made this one tough. My nose was burning and running and I was sneezing my head off. This happens when I run really hard in low humidity. My nasal passage gets dry and irritated. The cramp went away about five minutes after finishing.
Greg and I left the meet and had dinner at a local diner. I got chicken and waffles - a great combination of protein and carbs.
Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
This one was really hard. Much harder than anticipated. I was happy that my time was 2 seconds faster than my 5K time from two weeks ago, but I had to expend way more effort to do it.
I knew 20:00 was an unrealistic goal, but sometimes you have to challenge yourself and just try and see what happens. I almost never do that, so it was a great experience to do it. I am pretty sure I could have run a faster time (maybe 20:45) if I started out slower and didn't crash and burn, but I took a risk.
This race has motivated me to get back to where I was last summer. Last summer I ran a time of 20:28 at the hilly Firecracker 5K. I was consistently running speed workouts, lifting weights, and paying attention to my nutrition. For the past two months, the move has been front and center and taking care of myself has suffered. I haven't been focused on my nutrition, taking supplements, doing strength training, getting quality sleep, etc.
Now that we are all settled in our new time it's time to get back to my normal fitness and wellness routine. I am proud of myself for getting out there and being aggressive even though it meant a painful and sluggish second half. It was a fun event and it has lit the fire in me to get back into my training groove.
