Ran my first official 5K road race of 2012 on Saturday, after nearly jogging 2-3-4-5 miles every few days since early February on my own (gaining stamina, breathing, etc., down / training for 1.5 mile Air Force annual fitness test). Ran the Feet on the Street 5K in Bowling Green, Ohio - south of Toledo. Upper 60s with cloudy skies to start, with a threat of rain, but the rain held off until Saturday evening. Definitely in the low to mid 70s by end of race with rising humidity.
I had run 3.5 miles at an area park Friday the 13th, and wasn't sure how fast I could recover to run a 5K - even after eating a "good" pre-race dinner of Sweet and Sour Pork combination with a Bud Lite. Pre-race breakfast consisted of my normal faire - oatmeal with skim milk and fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and a cup of joe, and some water. Wasn't totally sure of running the 5K even after rising from bed at 6:15am, some 2 hours before race start.
Surprised myself in running a personal best 28:11. I last ran a 5K, the Turkey Trot, in November 2011, and ran it in about 33 minutes in 37 F, windy and cloudy conditions. So, a 5-minute improvement. I ran 4 5Ks in 2011 in an average of 31 minutes. Averaged about 9:03 a mile this time out, which shocked me because I have been running about 9:30 / 10:00 a mile on my Tower of Terror 10-miler training runs. And technically Saturday was my 3-miler training day.
The only bad thing is that I have a nagging strain in my right calf. It seems to switch from my left to my right leg. I had felt a twinge after Friday's 3.50 mile run and definitely felt some discomfort before the 5K race. The strain reared its head around the 1.5-mile mark on the flat out and back, but I didn't stop. Didn't run Sunday and won't run Monday either until late Tuesday (forecasted 99 on Tuesday), as per the Tower 10-miler training outline says.
The calf strain comes into play after I take my mind off, or my mind wanders while listening to my music, and then BAM!, I feel it. A pull, and my stride is tight the rest of the way. Recently the strain has showed up at the end of the run.
I am in need of some new running shoes, but last I check in May the treads appeared to be okay. I was not a distance runner in 2011, well if you count training for a 1.5-mile fitness run for the Air Force fitness test, and running no more than 1 or 2 or 2.50 miles for the first-half of 2011. But I am a budding distance runner in 2012. Maybe it's that I stopped cross-training and strength training with Tony Horton and P90X, while I have started the 10-miler training program at the end of May.
Maybe a good P90X X-Stretch and YogaX or KenpoX or Core Synergestics or Shoulders / Biceps / Triceps are in order in the next few days - get me back into working out on the off-running days.
No worries though! I got on and after the reservation system not working with IE, I fired up Mozilla Firefox and it worked! Got everything we wanted. Today is a rest day for me also and then tomorrow is the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run in Philly!
