5K PR (again)

The joys of starting out a training program are many. The best one must the 5K PR at each attempt. Today, my good buddy Dan and I ran the Kines 5K. With three weeks to go to the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon, I am trying to practice running in crowds (not my favorite). And I really wanted to beat my time from last week (26:05). Learning from last week's mistakes, I did not forget my asthma inhaler (still was wheezing and coughing but I think it helped), I did not have a supersized breakfast (just mildly so) and I warmed up (for five minutes).

The course starts with a looooong downhill, followed by a mild uphill with a few steep parts thrown in for fun and ends with a slow downhill.I don't know what my splits were (I got my brand new Garmin 405cx in the mail yesterday and practiced/tested it yesterday on a short run, but miserably failed to get it going at the start of the race...) but I think I slowed down a lot on the last mile, I was completely done. I was a bit disappointed that I did not have anything left in me for a final sprint. A few people ran past me on the last 0.2 miles and I could just not follow. But I think 4+ hours of training the day before kinda did me in. Maybe at the next attempt I will ease up the day before. I still bettered my time by an entire minute (actually 59 seconds but 1 minute sounds better) and finished in 25:06. I would have been even more excited to win one of the road ID vouchers at the raffle, but I can't have it all :-)

Even though I put in a very good week that included 120+ miles on the bike (of which 48 outside at a good pace) and 8,000 yds in the pool, I failed miserably (again) at the long run. I think a mild norovirus struck early today. I managed the 5K despite some "discomfort" but I could not imagine running for 2 hours... So yes, I failed again at the most important workout of the week. As of next week, I am moving my long run to Friday or Monday, first thing in the day. Nah.