Two PRs in a Week?? - Jump To It 5k

Mark and I are at a point in our 5k training now where we need to run "B" races every other week now until Race Day (June 20th).   So last Saturday we went up to White Bear Lake for the Jump To It 5k.  Course looked nice and flat, fit well on our schedule and was reasonably priced.

It was friggin' cold for May 8th.  The start line temperature was somewhere in the 40s so neither of us had any idea how that was going to affect our performance.   We did a good warm up around the block a fwe times and lined up.  10k and 5k runners started at the same time so the start area was pretty crowded.   Both courses were around the block and then an out and back.  Mark and I both new we had to try to be consistent and not over or under run our first mile.   Well at mile 1 I was supposed to be shooting for just under 8:00 min/mile and  I was at 7:08 min/mile.   Shit....  All I could think was that I was going to be burned up by the last mile and that I already screwed up.   But I tried to keep moving in the range of 90-95% of what I had in me.  I was a lot further towards the front of the pack than I'm used to so that was kind of cool.  

 "Hey...maybe with this race being small I could place in my age division?"

Then as I was nearing the turn around I saw Mark already on his way back.   Wait a minute....there was NO one in front of him.  He was leading the 5k!  90% of everyone in front of me/us were running the 10k.  I got to the turn around and was turning the corner at 2nd place female. 

"What the???  Nah this won't last, some speedy will fly by me soon."

I was exhausted and didn't know what I had left in me but I was always in sight of the first place female.  A guy that I passed even yelled to me "First place female is just ahead, go get her!"  That was cool to actually be in a place to be chasing first place but I knew she was way too far ahead and I was way too low on gas to catch her.

I came back to the finish and we had to round the damn block again and I made a peek behind me.  3rd place female was at least a block length behind me and I had very little left for a burst to the finish so I just tried to keep as consistent.   Flew through the finish line with my HR at 196 at 23:51.

"Holy crap!  I just pulled another new PR and finished as second place female.  Seriously?"

Ok, here's the proof....

Mark was the overall winner which he was VERY happy with on top of managing his goal time for the day. 

(You kicked tail Honey! <3)

Notice the female that beat me got EXACTLY what my goal is for the Irvin 5k so visually I could see where I want to get and how much farther ahead that was.

"Yikes....."

The total field was only 107 people that ran the 5k so our chances were pretty good but neither of us ever thought we'd come to this race and win our age groups.  

"Yeah it's a tiny race but we are SO putting that on the calendar next year ;)"

We hung around to claim our 1st place medals and take a picture by the finish.  We also got to see most of the speed demons doing the 10k finish at faster paces than we finished our 5ks.  The 10k was obviously the "main event" which is what gave us our opening to place high in the 5k.   I beat my old 5k PR by 15 seconds with an overall HR average of 188.   So putting the medal aside, I was very happy we came and did what we set out to do time-wise.  Next "B" race (tune-up) is in another two weeks and my goal for that one is going to need to be like 23:40 so we'll see if I can get there by then.


So last Sunday I PR'd at the half marathon and this weekend I PR'd at the 5k.  Not a bad week :)  But now it's on to see if I can make it 3 PRs in 12 days....

Mark and I have the TC 1-mile this Thursday.   This is such a fun, arse-kicking race.   The one and only time you pay money to go flat out for less than 10 minutes, feel like death and get a t-shirt :-P   (Well and also get into the lottery for the TC 10 mile.)  This one is also fun in the fact that the people going to win it go last so you actually get to watch them run in.   The male winner last year broke 4 minutes and went home for I think $25k.  Not bad for 4 minutes of work ;)