Shanty 2 Shorts 5k recap

I'm still on cloud nine from absolutely crushing my 5k goals.

Goal: 21:41 (6:59 avg pace)
Stretch goal: 21:09 (70% age graded)

Actual result: 21:02.7  (6:47 avg pace)

Shanty 2 Shorts trophies

Leading up to the race I was really nervous that I was not going to see any improvement. I still have a number of half finished posts worrying about how the 5k effort intervals absolutely killed me or lamenting the fact that I missed two weeks of training in April. There was a whole lot of doubt swirling around my head. I decided not to post anything, because, in spite of the worrying, I occasionally would have a moment of clarity and realize that my training, while not perfect, was leaps and bounds ahead of where I was last spring. I wanted to toe the line feeling confident, not anxious, so I forced myself to focus on the positive. Reading and rereading the comments left on my blog was the perfect confidence boost leading up to the race. Thank you all so much!

Shanty 2 Short's is a small race in northern Michigan that runs from Shanty Creek Resort to Short's Brewing Company. There is a 5k and 10k option. This was the 4th annual race and the race has been growing each year (though it is still a very small race, ~200 runners). This is the third year that Mr. Shoe and I ran the 5k. This was also the third year that I set a new 5k PR with this race. I'm including an elevation chart for the race, you'll see why it is very PR friendly.

Gravity enhanced.

The race did not start until 10:00 AM which meant we were able to sleep in before the race. Due to the size of the race, we did not head to packet pickup until 9:00. There was plenty of time to get our bibs, warm up, and stretch before the race started. The temperature was perfect for a race - low 50s and overcast, almost no wind and no humidity.

After a quick course overview from the race director we were off and running! I tried to focus on running my own race and not blowing it by starting way too fast. Once my pace settled in, there were only a handful of men in front of me. I won the race last year, so I was hoping this was a sign that I would be able to defend my title.

I was running along next to a guy who was setting the perfect pace (red shirt guy) when I felt something flopping around on my right foot. I looked down and swore. My shoe was untied. I forgot to double knot them. It was less than a mile into the race and I had to stop on the shoulder of the road to tie my shoe. So much anger! About 8 people flew past me, but I was relieved to see that they were all men. 

When I started running again I tried to slowly work my way up through that group of men. I didn't want to sprint to catch up, but I didn't want to lose the group either. At the one mile point, a glance at my watch confirmed that I was on track for keeping the pace sub 7. During the downhill (the first 1.8 miles of the race) I managed to pass all but 1 of the guys (blue shirt guy) who had passed me.

When the course leveled out, my goal was to hold my pace steady AND hold my place. One guy (grey shirt) passed me shortly after the course leveled out, but I held on and did not let him get too far ahead. At the two mile point I was still on track for sub 7 miles. Once you round the final turn in the race, there is only 0.55 miles remaining. I knew when I rounded this corner that I was on track for my 21:30 goal. I didn't want my pace to fall during this final stretch, so my goal was so start reeling in the two guys in front of me. 

My final kick felt pretty strong and I reclaimed my position in front of grey shirt guy. At this point everything was starting to hurt, even my arms wanted to give out. But I pressed on, trying to catch blue shirt guy. I actually got pretty close, but when he saw me gaining on him, he really kicked the pace up. He ended up finishing just 2 seconds ahead of me. When I crossed the line, I could not believe that I had taken a minute off of my PR and I was stoked to be the top woman finisher! Including men, I was the 4th finisher overall. 

I don't know how I look so relaxed.

Mr. Shoe was running this race as well, but he hasn't been doing much running this spring. I knew it wouldn't be a PR attempt for him, but I figured he would be finishing around 28 minutes. I had just told my father in law (who was taking photos for us) this, when I looked down the straightaway and saw him coming. He ended up finishing in 25:10, just about 2 minutes slower than his PR. Which is quite impressive considering he has run maybe 10 times since the Disney Princess Half Marathon.

We headed into Short's Brewing Company for the awards ceremony, lunch, and a few celebratory beers (excellent Michigan craft beer!). The atmosphere in the brewery after the race was awesome. We ended up seeing a few runners that we had sat next to last year at the after party, and they congratulated me on my repeat win. This is such a fun race that I am already thinking about running it again next year. Small race, PR friendly, beer at the finish, what's not to love?

I have so many thoughts about what did/didn't work in my training, what I might try differently next time, and what this means for my up coming races this season, but I am going to save it for a different post (this one is already long enough for a pretty short race!).

5k training = DONE!

Here's hoping the 2015 Shanty 2 Short's is also a success!

Monday
Core/Flexibility

Tuesday
1.88 warm up, 4.07 @ 15k-half pace, 1.88 cool down
7.83 miles total

I'm very happy with how this run turned out! The weather was great for a hard workout, mid-50s with light rain. My half PR pace is 8:06, so my goal was to run right around 7:50-8:00. Average pace for the tempo section was 7:48, the last mile was a bit fast. During the run I could tell I was running harder than usual, but it was never felt like I was struggling to maintain the pace or even breathing. What was surprising was how tired I felt about half way through my cool down.

At seven miles I would have loved to just call it and walk the rest of the way home, but that is when the rain really picked up. I was cold and wet when I got home and ended up skipping stretching/foam rolling in favor of a hot shower. I was rewarded with some really tight hamstrings on Wednesday, so I won't be making that mistake again.

Wednesday
4.7 miles easy

It was 70+ degrees with direct sun for this entire run. I knew between the heat and the tightness from Tuesday that this run was not going to awesome. I didn't want to cut the run short, so I resorted to running 5 minutes and walking 1 minute. Not a great run, but I got it done.

Thursday
5.2 miles easy (9:56 avg pace)

I met up with Ty at 4:00 for an easy 5 miler. This run would have been a lot easier if it hadn't been 80-some degrees. We ended up running much slower than usual. I was hoping to throw in a few strides at the end of this run, but I was just too tired.

I know heat acclimation is not something that just happens overnight, but it is so frustrating to go from running normal one week to completely feeling out of shape on the next run. It looks like the temps are going to drop back into the 60s next week, which will offer some temporary relief from the heat. But, in the long run, it is just going to slow down my heat acclimation. If anyone else is struggling as the temps start to rise, I recommend reading this article on acclimating to heat.

Friday
rest

And that is it! 10 weeks of training complete (or 8 if you take into consideration illness/injury). I'm not sure if I will be able to hit my original goal for Shanty 2 Shorts, but I am fairly confident that I can grab a PR, even if it is just a couple seconds.

And one last thing, best of luck to my sister who is running a 10k tomorrow AND a half marathon on Sunday! Her training has been awesome and she is going to rock both races!

S2S - Week 9

Monday
3.76 miles (8:53 avg pace)

After taking yet another week off, I was so glad to be running again. I didn't want to wait until Tuesday, so I ran on Monday instead. Yay running!!

Tuesday
Strength/Core/Flexibility

I started the workout with my strength training routine, which includes a bit of upper body and a bit of legs. Since I have actually been following through with my plan to strength train once per week, I decided it was time to increase my reps. I could tell that I put in a harder workout than usual; I tried to do some planks after and my arms were complete jello. For my core routine I ended up doing ab ripper x (part of the P90X videos) since it doesn't involve my arms. I finished up the workout by spending about 20 minutes stretching.

Wednesday
4.7 mile progression run (8:46 avg pace)

My run started nice and slow, my first mile was around 9:30. I closed out the run at about 8:10. This run felt great!

Thursday
5.29 miles (9:12 avg pace)

This was kind of a strange day for me. I had a tiring day at work and did not have any motivation to run when I got home. I ended up watching a couple hours of tv and then taking a short nap. When I woke up I decided I would feel better if I at least got in a few miles. I ran to the park close to my house and then hit the trails for a relaxing run through the woods.

Unfortunately my run was interrupted my some stomach issues. Running was making it worse so I stopped my watch and walked back to the entrance of the park. I was so grateful to discover that the bathrooms had finally been opened up for the summer!

Friday
2 miles (not timed)

It was so sunny and gorgeous outside that I absolutely had to go for a run. Mr. Shoe has just started running again (winter running was not his thing!) so I ran part of his run with him. I knew I would be running Saturday and Sunday and didn't want to over do it.

Saturday
10.13 miles (8:49 avg pace)

I was invited by my friend Ty to do a supported group run leaving from a local running store. After the first mile, we kept every mile under 9:00 and managed a solid fast finish. Our last few miles were in the 7:30 range. For a longer run, I usually wouldn't run quite this fast, but even with the faster pace I was able to chat during the run.

Sunday
5.27 miles (9:10 avg pace)

Another run on the trails (this time with no stomach issues!). Mr. Shoe and I drove to the park, ran 3 miles worth of trails, and then I ran 2 miles home while Mr. Shoe drove back. It was 80 degrees and sunny, even though we waited until 6pm to start our run. It's definitely going to take me a while to get used to the hot temperatures again.

Total miles: 31.15

I'm happy with my mileage for the week and the fact that I managed to sneak in a couple of fast miles. After missing so many days in April, I decided it would be smarter to keep the pace easy this week. So no real speed work, just an accidental progression run on Wednesday and fast finish on Saturday.

Next week is race week. I think I'm ready!