A great day for a 5K: Race recap of Teterboro 5K

I had the absolute best 5K this past Saturday morning.

First of all, the race was taking place at Teterboro airport. Teterboro is a private little airport where mostly private jets land. The best thing about Teterboro is it's about 2 miles from my house so it was an easy race to get to! ;-)

This was the race that I signed up for to run alongside my Moms In Motion running group. I have to admit I was a little wary of this one. I'm pretty much a big baby when it comes to running in the heat and the idea of running the end of July on an unshaded runway, had me sweating all summer at the thought of it.

Moms In Motion 

But the weather Gods were on our side. The weather was about as comfortable as you can get for this time of year and that was a huge relief!

I arrived and quickly found some of my sisters in pink. We were all excited! Most of the MIMs were lining up for their very first 5K - there's something so special about the first one and I was thrilled for them. I knew they were going to feel changed/hooked/proud/inspired when they crossed the finish line and I was so happy to be there.

I also had my own goals in mind. Since the summer had been so warm I wasn't planning on PR'ing this race. I figured I'd run at a comfortable pace and see what happens. With the weather cooperating, I decided that coasting along wouldn't cut it. I was going to go for a PR.

Previously, my last 'official' 5K I ran a 9'17 mi (28:48) and I was really proud of that. That goal was to come in under 30 mins.

Then, a few weeks ago, during a training 5K with MIMs coach Dana I ran a 9'07 (in 28:16 or so). That was fast for me and I was gasping.

So my goal for this race was to do a 9 min mile. That was it and I was going for it.

Luckily, I had a fellow MIM at my side, Kerry. She's the speedster of the group and the one I'm always chasing to keep up with. She (unfortunately) had a bum ankle but it evened the playing field a bit and we decided to pace each other. She still ran like hell and I ran to keep up. She said that I pushed her too because there were times she wanted to keep up with me! We made a good team.

I didn't wear my Garmin. I've learned that when it comes to short races, being able to keep looking at my time/speed just messes with my mind. I'd rather just run as hard as I can for 3 miles and let the chips fall where they may.

Poor Kerry learned what a crazy freak I am. I have this embarrassing thing that happens -- it's like running tourettes. I can't control the dramatic huffing, puffing, groaning and moaning and panting that happens when I'm running at 100% during a 5K. (Poor Dana learned about this unfortunate "condition" during our training run too…) Kerry was cracking up half the time at my dramatics - so that was good. It's the drama queen in me. I can't just run, everyone has to know I'm suffering. Whatever gets ya thru I guess.

So how'd I do? WELL 99% of you probably know since I've been talking about it all over Facebook and dailymile and to whoever will listen but I hit my goal and beyond. A HUGE PR for me:

26:46 / 8:37 / 14 out of 54 in age group 

Yippppppeeee - WHAT! 8:37!? I mean that's a whole 30 seconds faster than my last training run 5K full effort! Holy. Crap. I remember when I once dreamed of being able to run an avg. 10 min mile for a 5K.

crossing the finish line to victory -
yep, I'm as pink as my shirt!

Every 5k I run, i stop to marvel at how far I've come. I know I've said it before but I can't get over that my first 5K in 2010 took me close to 40 minutes and an avg. of more than a 13 min. mile to complete. It's really true that you can improve if you keep going.

And speaking of great races. Our Coach Dana, placed 2nd in her age group and ran her 5K in 21:29!! Holy fastness. She's amazing. We were all so proud and excited for her.

Yay Coach Dana!! 

I'm also super proud of my friend Kathy who also crossed the finish line this past Saturday - I know there were many of Saturday morning where she was cursing me for "dragging her" to join but she did great and even told me she's signing up again for fall :-) See you there Kathy!!

XO

Jen

Great day for a 5K

Tomorrow I'll write a full race recap but for right now - I will tell you that I had a fabulous 5K PR today!

So I hate to do it but I resurrected good 'ol Sheen for the occasion.

Now if the Jets win and my son goes to sleep promptly at 8PM my day will be 100% perfect… That'll really feed the winning addiction… but even without a win and an easy bed time - I'm on cloud nine -

Will tell ya all about it tomorrow!

Stay tuned and happy Sunday :)

XO

Jen

Slow Your Roll, Yo

I'm gonna feel like this guy after my 5k YIPPEE!

Tomorrow I'm racing a 5K and I have every intention of running as fast as I can - right up to the point of feeling like puking. (Hellz yeah! How did I ever get to the point in my life that something like that even sounds like fun?)

Anyway -

Today, after having a crappy Weight Watcher weigh-in (up 2.8!) Yikes… (Still under goal but still…) I decided I needed to get a little extra run in today for at least a little calorie burn.

I decided not to aim for miles but rather for minutes. I decided to aim for a light pace. I wanted to slow my roll and save most of my weekend effort for tomorrow. I tried. I failed. I thought the minute vs mile thing would help. Yet I still ran around my average speed of about 10:40 per mile - I was trying to run more like an 11min mi. 10:40 is still pretty speedy for me. My best 5K is around a ten minute mile. Every time I would try to slow down it felt like I was dragging, practically walking. The crisp air and sunny skies begged for me to pick up the pace. 

While I wasn't running my hardest, balls-to-the-wall and it was only a 3.5 mile jaunt - I still think there is something to the whole question of why it's so hard to slow down. I mean there was a time in my life where I would have preferred to run slow that pushing myself to run fast just sucked.

I don't know.

Who woulda thunk this could be such an issue?

But selective and strategic slowing down is (from what I understand) crucial to running success - especially in long distances.  We all saw what happened to Mary Keitany who decided she wasn't going to slow her roll at the beginning of the ING NYC marathon. It was her race to lose and she did. The commentators frittered about her way fast start and indeed it was her undoing.

no slow roll here

And the commentators were right but I don't think there's a runner out there that didn't understand Mary's heart.

Now, I don't think my whopping 10:40 3 mile run today is going to affect my race tomorrow one way or another - and I don't think this was so super fast or anything. Just brought up some interesting observations about trying to find the right balance between speed and distance.

If you want to run faster, you've got to run faster :) So there's obviously 'right' training times for speed work too.

What about you? Do you find it tough to slow down? Do you ever train at a slower speed? Have you ever faced this issue in a half or full marathon? Has running too fast ever bit you in the ass? 

Inquiring minds.

Have a great Saturday!!

XO

Jen

Hooray for another 5K! PR post

Well, as many of you guys recommended nothing beats the marathon blues better than getting hammered on cheap tequila another race!

Luckily, I had another one on the books - a 5K with my husband (his first!) after he decided to start to get into shape and gave me the best mother's day ever by saying he'd sign up for one.

The day started off pretty good - My sister-in-law stayed the night so she could be here first thing in the morning to watch our 3 1/2 year old while Momma and Dadda ran.

We were a little frazzled trying to get out. I could tell Marty was nervous he seemed a little edgy and when we got out of the car I noticed he put his shorts on backwards! (teehee)

He ran off to the boys room to get the shorts right and I quickly found our friend Amanda.

She and her family recently moved here from Texas and we've become friends. She mentioned to me a while back that she wanted to run a 5K someday so when we signed up for this I enlisted her too. She's a natural at this running thing and finished in a very impressive 27:45 (8:56 mi.) Wow!

Amanda and Marty - (shorts fixed)

We grabbed our bibs and some water and made our way to the start line. The horn sounded and we were off. I was running like the wind. In the back of my mind a voice was saying "slow down, save some for later" but the other part of my mind was giving the "slow down" part the finger and I put the pedal to the medal. 

It was a tight path and it was tough to get thru the throngs of people. It was a smaller, local race and it wasn't the easiest to maneuver but I did the best I could and aside from cramped quarters - this is the park I do all my long runs in and its beautiful.

As I'm running I feel like I'm working hard but I'm pretty nervous that I'm not going to beat my previous time of 10:19. (That 10:19 felt fast to me) My last few runs (even the short ones) have come in at over 11 min. miles and I don't have much confidence until we near the one mile mark. There was no clock but a woman yelling out times… Wait Wha!? Did she just say "9:18" at the one mile mark!? No f'in way. Oh it is on. 

It's not easy but this is what we train for. This is the time to show up. So I kept plugging. And telling myself to "suck it up" and found a comfortable mantra in: Your mind is strong and your body capable. I thought of all my bloggy friends cheering me on and I just kept moving. 

And here's how it worked out:

Jennifer Roe 38F 30:01.72  9:39 63/143 F30-39:15/31 50.37 

Woohooooo!! 9:39! I didn't think it was possible from me. 

I am so fricken happy to see that. and I was 2 seconds away from 

being under 30 mins. 

Damn. I'm putting that on the to do list for next time! :)

As I wiped the sweat away and tried not to pass out from the effort, 

I remembered that Marty was on the way. So I excitedly waited for him.

Yay! Go Marty. (Yes my camera sucks)

I was so happy to see him. He ran it in 35:22 which is awesome for his first race. My first race? 40:57 at a 13:12 pace!

Then to make things even sweeter, we decided to stick around for the raffle and to see the winners. Well, wouldn't you know it, out of 360 runners - my husband won the freakin raffle! We never win anything. This was as exciting as winning the lottery and I drew a ton of stares with my hooting and hollering for Marty - he won $120 gift certificate to my FAVORITE running store - Road Runner!

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

So all in all it was a fabulous day of running and a great Father's Day to boot.

A family that runs together :)

I hope you all had a lovely day - now on to figuring out the next race!

XO

Jen

Best Mother's Day Ever! New race

It's only 10:15 AM and so far this is turning out to be a great Mother's Day.

Gift #1: I awoke to a beautiful day - blue skies and sunshine for miles.

Gift #2: I make my way to the kitchen to find my two favorite guys all smiles and standing around the most beautiful bouquet of flowers.  (There was a Mother's Day balloon that was included but my son was dying to play with it so it's floating around here someplace!)  :)

Gifte #3: My 3 year-old somehow knew to get me a gift card for iTunes to start loading up my iPod for the big upcoming marathon!

But here's the biggest and best gift of them all. My husband who hasn't been so physically active has decided to take a big step. This morning he found a 5K training program and decided he wanted to start training for a 5K! So we found a 5K six weeks out for June 19 which lands us on FATHER'S DAY and together - we'll run my husband's FIRST 5K!!  I'm so excited that he's committing to a healthy path and I think he's going to rock it!

So this is what we're running and by coincidence this 5K takes place where I do most of my long runs - it's a beautiful park and the perfect place to 5K.

I am one happy Momma today.

Side note: I was supposed to do my long run today 18 miles. But decided to wake up way early tomorrow and knock it out in the wee early morning. The park is going to be jammed-packed today and I really didn't want to spend hours away from the family on Mother's Day. So today it will be the park, playing, maybe a little BBQ and I couldn't be more excited for a perfect day.

I'm looking forward to the big  challenge tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day!

XO
Jen

5K Race day -hooray!

Me and Nik getting ready to run our best times!

Doing the happy dance, I ran a 5K today... My oh my, how far we've come.

My first 5K in March, I ran in 40:57...

My second 5K in May, I ran in about 36:00...

Today I ran a PR (that's running speak for personal record ;) and did it in 32:00 flat!  I'm so excited! It works out to a 10:19 mile and is nearly nine minutes faster since the first time.

I'm not going to lie, I pushed myself, I came out of the box running as fast I could, I no longer have the goal to merely finish, I want to run the best I can. With the finish line in sight and an eye that I could do it in 32, I picked up the pace and ran like I was being chased by the boogie man, I ran and ran hard to that finish line - my heart was pounding I was breathing way too hard but i don't care - I was soooo happy to have that time that it was worth the potential to pass out. (which I didn't) I walked it off, grabbed a bottle of water and regained composure.

What's remarkable to me is how much my body is getting better about running.  I have virtually no hip pain anymore (knock on wood)... I remember having to ice down knees, hips, and ankles after my first 5K, none of that is necessary now. I didn't even feel sore after my 8 miles the other day. I'm not saying that to brag but because it's amazing on how far you can go if you really keep at it.

Today my goal was to do it in 33mins... I would've been happy with an 11min mile. It was cool running a race and not being passed by, by everyone and actually doing some of the "passing" by myself!

Yay, Jeff! WAY TO GO with your bad self!

Also very cool - I ran with friends Nicole and Jeff - Jeff placed 2nd place in his age division - HOW COOL!

And Nicole also set a PR (29 mins/30 secs?) Nik, if I'm wrong, let me know... She came in fourth in her division!!  So great :)

XO

Jen