Firecracker 5K: Fired up for a downpour

This morning, I ran my 4th Firecracker 5K in the Reston Town Center. I've registered for this race every year since it started in 2010, but I've only been able to race 4 of them.

History
2010-- 23:21 (3rd place AG)
2011-- 22:41
2012-- (mono - ran it very easy because I thought I was recovering)
2013-- Injured
2014-- 22:54

There are three holiday races that I like to run every year as part of a tradition. It's a fun way to celebrate a holiday with Greg, and it's also nice to compare year-over-year performance. This Firecracker 5K, the Turkey Trot 5K, and the Ringing In Hope 10K on New Year's eve are the three that I always run, provided that I am not injured.

This is the first time I've ever trained specifically for a 5K. Usually my training revolves around marathons and half marathons. I might spend 4-5 weeks dedicated to shorter stuff, but usually no longer than that. You'll see my progression of results across multiple races at the bottom of this post.

Relatively low mileage, no tempo runs, lots of interval work

Before the Race
I went into this race pretty relaxed. I've been doing short races regularly so it's not like putting all my "eggs" in one basket. I know that some races will go really well, and others won't. That's just the nature of the sport. All signs, however, pointed to this race going well. I was well rested, my recent workouts had been strong, and I had no lingering soreness anywhere.

Greg (who has just begun the long journey back into running after breaking his ankle in March) once

End of mile 1

again came with me to the race to cheer me on and take photos. We arrived at the race, and walked around for a little while until it was time to start my warm up.

I warmed up for about 12 minutes (cut short due to an unexpected bathroom trip) and felt decent. It was 69 degrees with 100% humidity and very light rain. For a summer race with an 8:00am start, we could have been dealing with much hotter conditions, so I consider this good weather for the time of year.

My goal was a course PR, but I also would have loved to break 22:00. I knew that breaking 22:00 on a hilly course in 69-degree humid weather would be HUGE, but I felt like it was within my reach. My fastest 5K in warm weather (above 60 degrees) was a 22:24 back in 2012 before I got mono.

As I approached the start, I saw quite a few of my friends from Capital Area Runners. A lot of people come out for this race, and there were nearly 2,000 total finishers. It's always a competitive field-- except for that first year when I won an age group award!

Mile 1: 6:57
Having run this race multiple times in the past, I knew that the first and last miles were uphill, and the middle mile was downhill. I decided to just run by feel, making sure I didn't blow all my energy on that first mile. Everything felt pretty good, and the first mile went by quickly. I was pleased to see a 6:57, knowing that my second mile would almost certainly be faster.

Mile 2: 6:45
The sky opened up and it suddenly started to rain very heavily. I had brought a hat to keep the water off of my face, but I left it with Greg because it wasn't raining at the start line. It was challenging to focus on pushing hard when water kept getting in my eyes. This resulted in my looking down, which I know isn't ideal, but it was the only way I could see without wiping my eyes constantly.

Gunning for the finish

Mile 3: 7:10
Now it was time to really work hard and remember all the training I had done. I glanced down at my Garmin at the beginning of the mile and saw an average 6:53 pace for the first two miles. That's a faster pace than my all-time PR of 21:29! I knew that if I just pushed really hard I'd be able to break 22:00. I felt stronger than I ever have at the end of this race, but that last hill was so long! I increased my effort substantially, but my pace still dropped.

Last 0.16: 7:10 pace
I kind of don't trust my Garmin here. I had a really fast finishing kick, which felt like 6:20 or something. But, there were a lot of tall building around and with only 0.16 of a mile, there wasn't a lot of time for the Garmin to self-correct. I bolted for the finish line and was so happy to be done!

I watched some of my friends come in, found Greg and chatted with my friends for a bit. It was pouring heavily so I cooled down and didn't even stay for the awards. I was pretty sure I didn't win an age group award, simply because it was such a large competitive field.

Garmin time and pace: 22:03, 3.16 miles, 6:58 pace
Official time: 22:05
Placing: 5 out of 133 in my age group (35-39), which puts me in the top 3.75%!

Lately, the official time hasn't been matching up with when I start and stop my watch. I know I hit the button exactly when I cross the start, and almost immediately after I finish. But for my past 3 races, the official time has been a few seconds slower than my Garmin time.

Progress
Focusing on shorter, faster workouts has definitely resulted in faster times. Comparing this race to the Fair Oaks Ambulance Chase 5K that I ran on May 23 in much cooler, less humid weather, I see huge gains. My Garmin pace and official time were extremely close, and yet today's race was 13 degrees hotter, in a downpour with 100% humidity.

Comparing this race to Angel Kisses from May 10, the weather was similar (although it didn't rain at Angel Kisses) and the course was similar. Yet I ran 34 seconds faster today, shaving off over 10 seconds per mile!

Race, Date	Weather	Course	Garmin Dist.	Garmin Pace	Official Time
BEST Kids, 4/18	62, sunny, low humidity	Flat	3.12	7:14	22:31
Angel Kisses, 5/10	69, overcast, very humid	Hills	3.16	7:11	22:39
Fair Oaks, 5/23	56, sunny, low humidity	Hills	3.17	6:57	22:00
Firecracker, 7/4	69, heavy rain, humid	Hills	3.16	6:58	22:05

While I didn't get my desired sub-22:00 officially, my pace was the equivalent of that, and I set a course PR by 36 seconds, and a "warm weather PR" by 19 seconds. Now it just needs to cool down so I can start crushing those "overall" PRs!

Running isn't always flattering. . . 

Firecracker 5K: An Over-Analyzed Race Report

This morning, my husband and I ran the Firecracker 5K in Reston, VA. It was about 76 degrees and very humid, but thankfully there was plenty of cloud cover. I was extremely grateful for the cloud cover, and this race further confirms that the sun is my real enemy. Last weekend I bonked during a sunny race, even though both the humidity and temperature were lower. Yes, that was a 10K, but I felt about 10 times worse at that race, not twice as worse.

Preparations
I realize this was only a 5K, but I decided to take hydration very seriously. I've been reading a lot about NuuN and other electrolyte tablets, but it turns out that they all have Sorbitol in them, a sugar alcohol which I am allergic to. So instead, I pre-hydrated with Pedialyte. No fake sugars. If it's safe for babies, then it should be safe for me. Another hydration issue that I have is drinking too much on race morning. In the past, I have always drunk plenty of water the day before the race and maybe just a few cups on race morning. This is because I have a tendency to "leak" while putting out a hard effort, even if I use the porta potty right before the race. (Sorry if this is TMI!)

There were two obstacles that I thought might prevent me from running this race, or force me to DNF: my stomach and my calf. I'll start with the stomach. Without getting too graphic, let's just say that starting yesterday evening, I had frequent trips to the bathroom. And those continued into this morning. It was probably something I ate that didn't agree with me, but my stomach was not feeling good at all. On the way to the race, we drove though a neighborhood where all the street names were "Dairy" this and "Dairy" that, and it just made me feel nauseous. I used the porta-potty twice pre-race and hoped for the best. And thankfully, my stomach was fine during the race.

Now onto my calf. On Saturday, I noticed that whenever I stood up and started walking, my calf was really tight. I stretched it and massaged it, but it simply wouldn't loosen. Yesterday it was even worse. Those first few steps would be painful, but the more I walked around the better it felt. I stretched it and used a warm towel to try and get it to loosen. I think what helped the most, though, was the CEP compression sleeves I bought last winter. I wore the right one around the house all day yesterday and I slept in it. When I woke up, the calf didn't hurt as much, but it was still noticeably tight.

I warmed up wearing the CEP compression sleeves and my calf felt decent. And luckily during the race I couldn't feel it being an issue at all. Dodged bullet number 2.

Greg and I warmed up for one mile, stretched a lot and then lined up at the start line. It looked like there were a lot of really fast runners there. The entire =PR= racing team and then just a bunch of people who looked super speedy. Last year I placed third in my age group but it looked like that would not be happening again. Greg and I situated ourselves about 15 feet back from the start line, but of course there was still plenty of weaving in the first mile to pass these folks.

Strategy
I read my blog post from last year's race and remembered that the second mile was mainly downhill, and that the last half mile of the race was all uphill and felt torturous. My plan was to run the first mile at my goal pace, speed up for the second mile because of the downhill and then see what I could do in the final mile. On Friday, I spoke with my friend Dash about my strategy, and she suggested that I "enjoy" mile 2 instead of going all out so that I had more left for mile 3. I took her advice.

The Race
The race started, and there were a ton of people to weave through. I really hate weaving during the first mile of a 5K because it makes your distance longer and wastes energy, but I had no choice. As I said, I really think I lined myself up close enough to the front so that this shouldn't have been an issue. But of course, it was. I settled into what felt like 5K effort and logged a 7:12 for the first mile.

Now for the fun part. I wanted to "enjoy" this mile while staying strong and still pushing. I was still passing a bunch of runners during this mile and no one was passing me. I ended up averaging a 7:03 pace. I originally thought I should aim for a 6:50 during that mile, but I thought the effort level was appropriate so I didn't worry.

Now for the tough part. Mile 3. As I went into this mile, I remembered how hard it was last year and I was prepared for the worst. And of course, my "leaking" problem began. I drank too much pre-race and apparently my porta potty trips didn't matter. This was embarrassing, but there was nothing I could do about it so I just kept running the race. As I approached the final hill, I remember my husband saying last year that he actually sped up for the hill, and I thought I had enough in me to do the same. I didn't speed up, but I pushed a lot harder and ended up with a 7:20 average pace, which I was very happy with, especially compared to last year. Another thing that made me happy was that I passed quite a few people on that final hill, including the one girl who I had my eye on from the beginning as wanting to beat.

I glanced down at my Garmin and thought I could come in under 22:40 and so I really gunned it at the end, passing three more women in the final stretch.  I Averaged a 6:23 pace as I sprinted toward the finish. I was super excited when I looked at my Garmin and realized I ran a 22:39. But then bummed when I looked at the official results, and it was 22:41. Just a two-second difference, but I worked so hard for that sub 22:40!

I placed 5 out of 89 women in my Age Group

I placed 35 out of 447 women overall. (I said it was a highly competitive race!)

The top 10 women all finished in under 20 minutes. And even more amazing, the top 30 women all finished in under 22 minutes. What a field of strong runners! 

Analysis
Going into the race, my goal was to beat my Lawyer's Have Heart time from 4 weeks ago (thus setting a new "hot weather" PR), but my B goal was to go sub 23:00. Both goals were accomplished.

Mile	Firecracker 2011	Firecracker 2010	Lawyers 2011
1	7:12	7:30	7:20
2	7:03	7:06	7:27
3	7:20	7:43	7:22
Last Bit	6:23 for 0.16 mile	7:23 for 0.14 mile	5:59 for 0.1 mile
Time	22:41	23:21	22:43

I'm excited because I'm in much better shape than I was last year at this time, and I am fairly certain that if today's race was cooler I would have set an overall distance PR. According to my Garmin, I ran 3.16 miles at an average 7:10 pace, which is my PR pace. I blame the weaving. :-) I'm happy that I beat my Lawyer's Have Heart time. Officially, it's faster by only 2 seconds, but this was a hillier course and my Garmin showed me as running more distance so I consider it a more significant difference. Yes, I over analyze my times quite a bit.

Aside from the incontinence in mile 3, this race went really well. No digestive issues or calf problems, and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out afterwards. Now it's time for some 4th of July fun!