Race Report: Virtual Peachtree Road Race

Previous PR: 47:53 (5/6/2017)

Goals: 55:00ish
Result: 49:37

Training:
Nope. None of that up in here. lol. I've been keeping 25-30mpw for awhile, with tempo Sundays, but no trackwork. I'm also halfway through an 8-week lifting program. My diet's been ho-hum, and I had a week of sickness less than two weeks ago. 

Pre-Race:
Kid birthday/Thanksgiving madness, and lots of wine the day before meant that I was just happy to be out running. My oldest had asked to accompany me for "Peachtree", so I knew I was going to be pushing about 80+ pounds of weight. Originally, I'd wanted to do the greenway, but the previous days' rain/storms meant there was a good chance I'd encounter down trees or flooding... so I opted for the river. 

I haven't raced with a stroller in... a very long time. I also hadn't, until this week, really thought about doing a real "race" Peachtree. Ultimately, I decided I wasn't going to race it, but just wanted to give it more effort than I would a normal run, to make it feel "more like a race". I figured somewhere around the 54-56min mark would be a good estimate, but definitely didn't have a goal in mind. 


Race:
I think this was the worst start to a race I've ever had. It was low 60s with 100% humidity, so I opted for a sports bra alone (well, and shorts, obv). Since I wanted my bib to be prominent, to feel a sense of camaraderie with any other virtual P-tree-ers we might see, this meant I was pretty darn cold to start. I got my stroller and kid ready, explaining "Mommy's racing today, so we're not stopping for snacks. You keep the snacks you brought in your stroller pocket and just feed yourself at our normal landmarks." 

Our normal parking spot didn't give me a good ONB route (it would've been about a mile short). I wanted an easy ONB, so I parked a little further down the path. I think I kind of thought about warming up for a mile, and then going into it... but then ended up just kind of taking off... from a dead, cold start. No stretching. No warm-up. No thought about drinking water, etc. Just GO. 

Then I realized within the first half mile that I was freaking flying. Sooo, guess we're racing right off the bat, eh? 

Mile 1: 7:55

Hot damn. I'm running sub-8s with a stroller. That'll be a great fast 5K, and then I can slow it down a bit.

Mile 2: 7:59

Oh, hey.. this is still feeling good? 

Mile 3: 8:05

Had to slow down a little along the boardwalk section, due to lots of people and lots of turns. Also, kid started talking to me here, so we had a bit of conversation.

5K mark: 24:59

Sooo, that's a sub-25 with the stroller. Do that again, and you've got yourself a sub-50 10K-- something you've only ever done twice, with some serious effort (Flying Pig, Sizzler). Guess that means I'm just close enough to not be able to give up...

Mile 4: 8:04

Had to open a pack of teething biscuits for the kid at the turn-around, but still felt pretty good. Thinking back, I actually feel like this race was really similar to my current 10K PR at Flying Pig. It was an effort to keep the pace, but not unsustainable.

Mile 5: 8:13

Things got a little harder here. I had to tell my kid "Mommy can't talk right now-- we'll discuss when I'm done with the race". Still, I knew in my head that I was just on the edge of a sub-50 with a stroller, and was not going to let that go gently.

Mile 6: 7:43

This entire mile was a mental game. If you can just keep yourself under 8, you've got it. Under 8:00? Of course I can do that. 

Kick: 6:53/mi

I finished in 49:37, and was SO freaking proud of myself. 

pace graph

Reflections:

• If I can do this with a stroller on a whim, what am I capable of with training and the right mindset? :D 
• Also, clearly, as multiple teammates have pointed out to me, I do best when I don't think about my race much ahead of time and don't psych myself out. Heh. 
• I did Peachtree with this munchkin in my belly several years ago, today in the stroller, and hope to do it again with him at my side when he ages in several years from now. That's really cool 

Race Report: Wonder Woman 5K

Previous PR: 22:18 (2/1/20)
Goal: 25ish? 
Result: 25:09

Motivation: My show chorus (Song of Atlanta Show Chorus) has been preparing for our international contest. As part of that effort, we've been focusing on personal stamina/endurance. Since it's more fun to get out with friends than go out alone, we picked a fun-sounding, female-empowering race to do together, the inaugural Atlanta Wonder Woman 5K/10K. 

A 5K didn't really fit into my spring training plans, but I figured I could do the race in place of one of my tempo workouts for my mile training plan.

...and then COVID-19 came, turning the race virtual, and derailing my mile plans.

I didn't run with my mask, but it made a fun picture while I was waiting for my grocery pickup afterwards

Training: I've just come off an eight-week strength training program (LIIFT4), that worked out really well. I dropped inches (and a little weight), and feel a ton better in my skin. During the program, I maintained ~30mi per week, with a long run of 10 each Saturday, but no speedwork, progression runs, etc.  Just mileage. 

Pre-Race: Yesterday, I did another "easy 10" with my family, then spent the day outside, working on a carpentry project, and enjoying some drinks and pizza. This morning, I slept in until 6:30am and then had to scramble a bit when I realized we had a 7am-8am grocery pick-up window, and I needed to get out ASAP if I was going to run before the heat and still make it to Kroger. Needless to say, I didn't set myself up for a goal race. 

I've done one "virtual race" before, and it wasn't really well-executed. It was more of a "hey, let's kind of push the pace" day than a race. Today, I decided I'd put on my "race bib", and actually execute something more similar to what I'd do if this were a real race day. 




Race: I parked at the greenway entrance closest to Kroger, did a half mile warm-up jog, and then stopped for a moment to stretch, update my watch (hoping the GPS actually worked today), and set some intentions (Enjoy being able to push yourself) for the run. 

...and then I took off. 

The first mile felt gooooooood. I haven't pushed hard in forever, and it was really empowering to feel my body settle into that faster gear. I felt proud to be running along the greenway, arms pumping, with my race bib on my chest (silly how something like that can motivate you). 

For the rest of the "race", I just focused on my breathing, enjoying the push. I had no idea how fast I was going. Since my GPS watch had had some issues with distance recently, I'd decided to run about 3.5mi total, and manually lap it at each major path intersection, so I could go back and verify distance later. Even if my watch said something funky, I'd have the duration and a measurable distance. This meant that I didn't have my normal mile splits to rely on, though. It ended up working in my favor, I think, because all I could do was run. 

kind of a weird pace graph?
it almost looks like I knew where the 5K mark was and slacked a bit until my final kick

Reflections:
I finished around 25:09, which it more of a "tempo pace" for me than a "race pace". Still, considering how little I actually prepared for this race (and how little I've been pushing the pace for the past 8+ weeks), I'm pretty pleased. 

Bonus: I made it to Kroger with 2min to spare on my grocery pick-up window ;) 

I really liked this whole "virtual race" thing, and think I'll try to do another 5K (or, gulp, maybe even that mile I've been pining away for) sometime this summer. Maybe I'll even train for the next one... lol