On my warm up I ran a few sprints up the hill, also some flat sprinting. I was predicting a time between 20:45-21:00, but I noticed the course was set up where I would have to run the hill twice. I saw Yong and he said he could forget about getting under 18:00 because of that.
I started out slow, real slow. I was near the back, but as usual after 1/2 mile I started going a little faster, and others began slowing down. I could hear the heavy breathing as I passed, their fatigue already setting in. I found a comfort zone and stayed there until the end of the first loop. I felt strong as I went up the hill just before starting the 2nd loop, and crossed the half way mark in 11:15. I realized I would end up running 22 and change, but that was fine with me. I was feeling great and did not feel the need to go above the 85% effort level I was expending.
If one of my season's goals was to run a 5k in a certain time, I would have to accustom myself to getting out of my comfort level and again learn how to run at 90-95% effort for 10-15 continuous minutes. But since the 5k distance is not important to me this year I look at the race as I do a longer one - find an appropriate comfort level for the distance, and remain there. Running is more enjoyable at 85%, at 95% it is a painful struggle. Sometimes I feel the mood to reach out and run at max level for an extended time segment (5-15 minutes), but this season I have been content to push my heart rate above average, but not too high, just enough to get into moderate speed fitness, but not where I will be getting close to PR times.
The 2nd loop went as expected, my endurance is strong so I did not get fatigued, I kept chugging along feeling happy and breathing moderately. I picked it up in the last 500m and sprinted the final 200m to cross in 22:05, for a slight negative split.
I saw Yong soon after I finished and he said he ran 19:05, well off his goal of running sub 18. He ran 18:15 on the 4th of July, so we both added close to a minute from that day. Even though the temperature was cool, the two hills must have been enough to slow us down.
While 22:05 is one of the slowest 5k's I have run, I am strangely happy with the race. I guess I have reached a point in my running life where time is not as important as how good I feel during the run. There is nothing better than having energy, health, and strong legs on any given day. Even in a race environment the effort and feel trump time.
