Tomorrow I'll be running the Run for the Trees 5K for the 3rd time. I set my current 5K PR at this race last year, and I'm going back for a rematch tomorrow :) I stupidly did a new circuit workout on Monday and have been sore since; fearing I may have pulled something on my right inner thigh, I skipped yesterday's run. The soreness (and bruise like pain on my thigh) seems to be mostly gone now with resting the last 2 days, so I still have high hopes that I'll do well tomorrow.
Below are my lofty goals for this race.
Below are my lofty goals for this race.
- Bike to start -- the race start is about 6 miles away near Cady Way Park, so we plan to bike there as a warm up. I am not looking forward to biking back after pushing hard on the run, but it should be a good cool down if I take it easy and allow myself plenty of time to recover before heading home.
- PR -- This is my main goal, to finish under 33:12, which was my time at this race last year.
- Finish in 32:30 -- This would be an average pace of 10:30 min/mile and I think its doable since it's only 42 seconds faster than last year. I may be able to pull that off on my improved endurance alone.
- Finish in 31 minutes -- This is my pie in the sky goal, which would mean an average pace of the coveted 10 min/mile. I would be ecstatic if I finished anywhere near this, but I am not going to beat myself up if I don't. I do think this is doable if I push really hard and leave it all out there, so I'm going to do my best.
- Run using 3:1 intervals - Even though I can cover the distance without walking, I am at least 2 minutes slower. So I plan to run using 3:1 intervals (last year I used 5:1 intervals). I may extend the run intervals during the last mile, but will likely just run faster. Using 2:1 intervals worked great for a PR at my last 10k a few weeks ago, so it's worth a shot for this 5k.
Well, there you have it. I'll be sure to post a race report tomorrow night and let you know how I did. Wish me luck!
