This is a Test. No Problem. (Run Geek Run 8K Report)

This morning I ran the Run! Geek! Run! 8K in Washington DC. With my marathon just two weeks away, I wanted to do a tune-up race in cooler weather to see where my fitness level was and "practice" the race mentality.

Goals
I had three levels of goals for this race.

• My "A" goal was a 36:15. 
• My "B" goal was a PR (faster than 36:45). 
• I also had a "stretch" goal, which was sub-36:00. I wasn't sure if I could make that happen, but I thought it might be possible.

Race Week
My mileage this week was very low. Prior to the race I had run a grand total of 14.2 miles. This wasn't because of my taper but because my right quad was sore from last Saturday's 20 miler. It was a chain reaction of not enough recovery post-half marathon and then doing 20 miles on dead legs. As a result, this week suffered because I didn't want to pull or strain anything so close to the marathon. I was even worried about aggravating it through pool running. I did go pool running twice, though, and swam a total of 2200 yards.

Naturally, I was worried about my right quad being recovered enough. I rigorously foam rolled, stretched and massaged it, which I think aggravated the situation even more. When I woke up this morning my quad was a bit tender to the touch, but it felt okay walking on. I told myself I would pull off the course and walk to the finish if I felt any quad pain at all during the race.

Pre-race
On race morning, I continued in my new tradition of half a bagel with peanut butter about 2 hours before the race. I drank plenty of water and Pedialyte, and I had hydrated with Coconut water the day before.

Greg was not running the race because he didn't want to sacrifice his last opportunity for a long run. He's been struggling with Plantar Fasciitis throughout this training cycle, and speed work aggravates it more than anything. Therefore, I had my own cheering section.

I really wish that the race website had indicated that the parking was metered. I've run races in West Potomac park in the past, but it's always been on a Sunday when meter fees aren't required. There was a two hour time limit (and we got there at 7:00am for an 8:00am start) and we had no way of getting change. Thankfully, they have this system where you can pay by phone using your credit card and they put your license plate on file as having paid. Greg was nice enough to figure that out while I ran about 3/4 mile to the race site to get my bib.

I got my bib and warmed up a bit more pre-race. I even did drills! It wasn't long before they were calling runners to the start line.

Strategy
I always think it's important to have a race strategy. Mine was to go out at a pace of 7:15 and try to maintain it. If I felt like I could pick up the pace later in the race, then I would. I'll admit this was aggressive of me, given that my pace for my 5K PR is a 7:10. But based on my track workouts I thought it was definitely within my grasp. I had been training all summer in hot weather and this was my first actual run where it would be cool, so I had no idea how much faster I would be. It was about 56 degrees and overcast.

I also think having a mantra to repeat when times get tough is important. Earlier this week, I remembered two mantras that lead to some hefty PRs: "It's just temporary" (for a marathon) and "It does matter" (for a 10K). But coming up with the mantra in advance doesn't work. It has to be something that just comes to you during the race and that you stick with. This has always been the case with my mantras.

Mile 1: 7:13
I naturally shot out too fast (like a 6:45 pace) and had to find a good balance to yield my desired 7:15 split for mile 1. I eventually found my perfect pace and realized that it felt decent. It was a good effort, but it felt like something I could maintain for five miles. I told myself this race was a test of my mental strength. I knew I could maintain this pace for the entire race, I just had to stick with it and not allow myself to succumb to negativity. I told myself this pace was "no problem" for me.

Mile 2: 7:15

I tried to not look at my Garmin very much in this mile. I told myself to run with my core muscles (thank you planks!) stay relaxed and just maintain. I kept repeating to myself: "This is a test." And then immediately answering back "No problem", almost like military style.

Mile 3: 7:12
I didn't intend to speed up here, but I did-- ever so slightly. I felt strong. Once I reached the halfway point I told myself that all I had to do was to repeat what I just did. I could do that again. No problem!

Mile 4: 7:11
I was really starting to feel like I was in a race now. Miles 1-3 were tough, but not "race tough". Now it was race tough but I just focused on running with my core, looking straight ahead and picking off runners. I passed about 5-6 people this mile, most of them guys! "This is a test. No problem." I just repeated it over and over and over like a soundtrack and it soooo worked.

Mile 5: 7:01 (7:06 pace)

This guy wouldn't give me my personal space. :-(

I looked down at my Garmin about 1/4 mile in, and it said 7:22. I was not happy with this, but I knew I'd have a final kick to compensate for it. By the time the Garmin said 4.6, the pace was down to 7:17, and it just wasn't good enough for me. I told myself to start my final kick now. It was less than an 800 on a track, I do really well at those, it would be over soon, just go for it. So with 0.36 miles left to go, finish line in sight, I gunned it. As my coach said, acceleration should be gradual, so I gradually sped up until I was at my final sprint. I averaged a 7:06 pace for that last mile (or rather 0.96 of a mile). This means that I must have been running in the 6's for that last bit, and my Garmin data confirmed that. Looking at the "player" the paces read 6:56, 6:46, 6:40, 6:25, 6:11 for that last stretch.

As I approached the finish line, I noticed that the clock was reading 35:xx and that motivated me to give it all I had to cross before the clock struck 36.

My official time was a 35:53 at an average pace of 7:13. I placed 2nd in my Age Group (30-39).

This is a PR by 52 seconds, and I met my stretch goal!

Age Group Award

Afterwards, there wasn't too much time to hang around because of the parking meter situation. I started my cooldown and then ran my friend in who finished her fastest race ever! We needed to get back to the car, but I thought I might have won an age group award. I looked at the results sheet and I was second in my age group. Greg went back to the car while I stayed to get my award. It was this really cool bobble head thing!

Takeaways
My cute bobble head award!  Oh, and I guess more importantly that it's really important to have confidence,  stick with a strategy, and be mentally tough.

This is my "fastest" race ever when compared to my other PRs. If you were to translate all of my PRs to their equivalent 10K time, this race would yield the fastest result. It bodes well for my fitness level and it was a nice confidence-boost pre-marathon.

Patriot's Cup Corporate Challenge 8K

This morning I ran the Patriot's Cup Corporate Challenge 8K race in Fairfax. I had never heard of this race until my husband brought it to my attention. It's a race to benefit The Arc, which is an organization that helps individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Large corporations sponsor the event and form teams. Greg works at Lockheed Martin and they are very competitive about this race. Lockheed Martin had three teams with 5-8 people each. Two men's teams and a women's team.

My goal was a 36:45, which was predicted by the McMillan calculator from my 5K race last weekend. But I would have been happy with anything under 37 minutes.

Greg and I got to the race, took a team picture with his co-workers and then did a 1.5 mile warmup on the course. The course was fairly hilly. I would call it "rolling hills" for most of the race with a few larger ones tossed in there. There weren't any flat stretches. After the warmup, we lined up at the start line. The weather was surprisingly nice. It was overcast and 57 degrees. I think the overcast sky made all the difference because sunny and 55 can be tough on me.

Miles 1-2
These miles were smooth sailing. There were definitely hills, but I stuck to my tried-and-true strategy of even effort: flying on the downhills and running conservatively on the uphills. Mile 1 was 7:23, Mile 2 was 7:24. I was running very close to a woman who I thought I recognized from last week's 5K. In the 5K I remember running close to her for the first mile and then passing her. I wasn't positive it was the same woman, but it looked a lot like her.

Miles 3-4
This was the toughest part of the race. Both Greg and I had mile 3 as the slowest mile. 7:45 in my case. There was just this big long section of hill that didn't seem to end. I ended up passing the woman who I had been running behind, but I continued to hear her, so I know she must be close.  I was able to redeem myself slightly in the 4th mile (7:35) but I couldn't take full advantage of the downhill because I was trying to recover from all the previous uphills.

Last 0.97
There was a nice downhill for the first half of this mile and I was cruising along at a 7:15. But then, there was this really long uphill stretch that just really got me. I felt like I was crawling up the hill. I knew I was so close to the finish line, but I just couldn't make myself go any faster. According to my Garmin, my pace for the last mile was 7:26, but the Garmin also had the course measured slightly shorter than an 8K. But because the large majority of courses are longer than my Garmin distance (making my official pace slower than Garmin) I'm perfectly fine accepting a slightly faster pace than Garmin for this race.

Winning first place in age group 30-39.

My finish time was 36:46, and I won my age group!  I was the 7th overall female (not sure how many total there were). My Lockheed Martin Women's team won first place for the women's division. Greg ran a 34:31-- he's gotten so fast lately!

I also got to talk to the woman who I had been running near, and she won her age group (40-49). It turns out that she was the same woman from Crystal City and that she was running 4 races this weekend. Yes, 4 races in one weekend. WOW!!!!

My analysis of this race was that my "Garmin" pace was slower than I would have liked although my "official" pace was right on target. However, I was basing my goal off of a 5K that wasn't nearly as hilly as this course. So given all of that, I am very happy with my performance. I ran hard and got in a fantastic speed workout. This is a PR by about 3 minutes, but the last time I ran an 8K that wasn't in ridiculously hot weather was 2007.

In terms of coming back from my stress fractures, my longest run to date has been 9 miles (I've done two of those), and this race wraps up my highest mileage week post-injury at 27.  I'm also still swimming, pool running, and using the elliptical.