So the trend of running continues as I did the Nike 5K here in Raleigh yesterday.  This was another race that was part of the Second Empire Grand Prix series and having finished it Ive now done the required three races.  Ill still be doing the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 8K which is the last of the races since I wont be leaving town.  For the Nike 5K I set a PR (Personal Record) of 23:18 gun time and 23:07 chip time and 89th out of 236.  The race was pretty hilly and the first mile was a steep downhill section which put my first mile split at 7:01, which I was suprised by.  And yet again my heart rate monitor popped off, but this time I immediately ripped it off and carried it.  After I did that though the uphills kicked in and I felt like I was about to die.  I hadnt realized just how dependent I had become on the monitor but when its gone I feel like Im dieing which is probably completely mental.  I did the second mile split in 7:48 and I could feel myself slowing the whole way, I was even getting passed by one or two people which irritated me.

I hit a big wall after that because the whole course seemed as if it were a gradual uphill climb after that steep downhill start.  I wanted to quit pretty bad, more badly than I remember wanting to before but I latched on to a runner and paced the rest of the way in.  If I had been smarter I would’ve realized going down that hill meant going up that steep hill to the finish and I turned onto the road hating life.  I was passed at the bottom of the hill by a group of four and I though about kicking it to the finish but knew Id burn out too soon.  I let the group get about 10 feet ahead by the half of the hill and could hear the finish so said screw it and took off, which really meant a couple steps faster.  Either way I got past that group and saw one more runner I could catch before finishing so pushed myself too far yet again to the end but did manage to catch that last runner.

It did help that Ive been reading more about running, preparing, stretching, etc.  This race I did my normal set of stretches then did a warm up run as well as another set of stretches after warming up.  I read that a one degree celcius change in your muscle temp is a 13% increase in effeciency.  I made sure to eat in the morning as well which definitely helped in the long run, no pun intended.  We’ll see if the trend continues for the next couple races.  I have been following a training program for the past three weeks and that may be one reason for improvement but I havent seen much time improvement in the training runs.  I think the downhill mile is what set the record more than preparation this time around.

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