CAC 5k Race Report

Ok, I know this is a little late. I was waiting for the official results to get posted online before I wrote this but I see that's not happening so here we go. Firstly, my motivation for this race was two-fold.

1. My son wanted to run it, he seems to want to be a runner this year and who am I to stop that desire, lol. I can think of a lot worse hobbies for him to have and hey it's nice having some company once in a while on my runs.
   
2. This event was to raise money for a very worthy cause in my community, the Child Advocacy Council, they are a great bunch of people who really get out there and support children from abusive homes.

The course was completely off road in fields, on trails and gravel drive. There was not a flat footing to be had not to mention the hills. All in all a very brutal course. I spent the first half of the race socializing with friends and neighbors (which was kind of fun for a change) and the second half just surviving. I'm not sure what exactly happened to me this race but you'd have thought it was the first race I'd ever run. Maybe I didn't take it serious. I know my training in the past week or two had slacked off a bit but come on it was only a darn 5k. Needless to say my time was horrific even by my standards. I self clocked in at about 29 min 30 sec but never saw an official time. (thus the reason I was waiting for the online posting) I will say this, I had fun and saw a lot of local people I don't get to see too often so that was good. It is also good for a turtles soul to run in small races. This was a race with only 50 or 60 people and somehow even at my turtle pace I got 3rd in my age group. My 13 year old son managed a 24 minute 5k on this brutal course. That impressed the heck out of dad. His continued growth in running is great for a dad to witness. It's fun to take him to these races and have him woop my butt. It was even more fun in this race because I could watch him run quite a bit of it due to the layout. He looked so cool, composed and like he was having the time of his life. What more could a proud parent ask for.

Ok, now for the self reflection. Drinking beer with my bother in law the night before a race is NOT the right way to carb load! Not a mistake I will be making anymore. Too much cotton mouth the first couple of miles. I am not a runner, I run best when I run consistantly. I have always had my best races when I come in with my regular 3-4 days a week of running. Not high volume but I have to have some volume. I know this impacted me as I hardly ran last week before the race. My third reflection was I need to focus, focus, focus. Socializing and watching others is fun but it is no way to "run" a race. I need to either be there to race or be there to watch. This includes pre-race mental prep. My best races have always started with the proper internal mental prep and focus.

Goals for this weeks 5k/10k
a) decide 5k or 10k, I am leaning toward the 10k only to get the longer run in. If I do the 5k I will be trying for a PB because this is a fast fast course.
b) run at least 2 more times between now Saturday
c) once the registration process is done and my son is set, get my head in order and mentally go through my race plan one last time.
d) get rest and proper nutrition the night before the race, such an easily overlooked piece of the puzzle.

and last but not least, I can have all the fun and socialization I want AFTER the race but treat this for what it is, a RACE!

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Here we go....

As I sit here I have just realized that the season kicks into high gear now. I have officially registered now for the Motor City Triathlon, Olympic Distance, in Detroit on June 15th. (Happy Fathers day to me). In the next 2 weeks I am running a cross country 5k this weekend and a flat, fast 5k next weekend. Then, the week after that is my first triathlon of the year. Holy cow!! Time to kick the training up a notch I guess. I am planning on doing the Interlochen Triathlon again this year although I'm bumping up to the Olympic distance there as well and 3 weeks after that is the Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Half Ironman in Benton Harbor. I am planning on training through Motor City and Interlochen with no taper. I am just using those events as race practice for Steelhead. I am a firm believer that you truly learn to race by racing. You can practice transitions, you can practice nutritional strategy, you can practice pacing but until your adrenaline is pumping and your competitive instincts are boiling you just don't know how you'll react, adapt or overcome. You learn those traits toeing the line, looking fellow competitors in the eye and finding out just what you are made of.

As the season gets going now, I'll try and be a bit more diligent again about keeping this blog up. I'll try and talk more about my training and goals. I'll make sure I post my race reports as well as an internal evaluation of each races effort. I go through this race evaluation after each race to realign future race goals and strategy or even change my training focus if needed. I feel it is important to do this while the race is fresh in your mind. I have been teaching my son to do this after each of his 5k's and I can already see him starting to race smarter as well. I'll also try and post some more equipment reviews shortly. I have a new swim suit on order from TYR, I've never tried their brand of suit so this will be interesting.

So, I guess that is all for the moment. Check back soon for this weekends 5k race report.

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