This article was originally posted by Charlene at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

My week does not end until Sunday but I already got all my workouts in for the week and with a 8 or 10 mile easy run tomorrow I will be up over 60 miles for the week.

I had a good tempo run on Monday, a fast finish 15 miler in 80 degree temps on Wednesday, and a race on Saturday. The 5k was a last minute decision. It was one of those little town races that are more of a charity walk anyway. The course was flat and traffic free and it’s only drawback was about 13 turns which is a tad bit excessive for a 5k. It ended up to be an almost solo effort with the 1st place man almost a minute ahead of me and the 2nd place man over a minute behind me. The 1st half I felt great and was wondering if I would accomplish great things. I cannot say I felt bad the second half but a tad bit unmotivated to push to the limit. I have this fear that I will crash and burn and that fear can hold me back from really taking off. This is a good fear to have in a half marathon but not a good fear during a 5k. I also misjudged how many blocks I had left near the end due to all the turns and ended up closer to the finish line than I wanted to be before starting to kick. But anyway I finished in 19:06 which is an alright time for me for a 5k. I always prefer to be under 19 but as long as I am under 19:20 I am happy. My PR is 18:44 for 5k. I have ran this PR 3 different times over the past 5 years. I am quite optimistic that this will be the summer that I finally lower that PR. I have a fast 5k in June and another in July and I think that those will be very good places to attempt to push myself to the limit.

Just 2 weeks until Green Bay and I admit that my only plan is to latch on to whatever pace my rhythm falls into that morning. Hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise. Like when you have to force yourself to slow down at the start as the "way too fast pace" feels too easy and you settle in right where you want to be. This would be much better than when you start out right at goal pace and it feels hard already. I am kind of hoping to just stay within the 6:40s.

This article was originally posted by Andrew A. at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Yesterday, I donned my BTC racing kit for the first time — first race this year and first race since October ’12 — for the Boulder Distance Classic 5K. Overall, training had seemed to be going well, though it had admittedly been diminished the past few weeks. Regardless, I was excited to finally get to race and the weather was getting really nice. My race execution was what I had planned: get out to an aggressive start and cruise through the first mile, pick it up for the second mile, and then push hard in the third mile. However, that plan left me with a finish that was not at all satisfactory, even given the slow nature of the race course: 35th overall in 18:57. I laid it all out there, showed up and ran the best I could on the day. I make no excuses, yet I am wondering about what reasons might be holding me back from racing faster. First would be the aforementioned flimsiness of my recent training. The structure itself is sound, it could just use more volume, which I will be correcting. I am also reminded of the ancillary strength training I have not yet implemented. Aside from those details, I have been feeling significantly low in energy lately (including the morning of the race) and in reading a NYT article today that mentioned symptoms of sleep disorder it occurred to me to start being more disciplined in getting sleep. The other possibility (which lack of sleep would lead to) is adrenal fatigue, so I will also be cutting out coffee and alcohol for the next few weeks to see how that helps. The good news is that I am confident in both pinpointing clear issues and knowing steps to take to work on eradicating them. It was also good to be around the team at a race, there was a really good group energy there to keep my mind off my disappointment. The great news is that two guys I coach had really good races, plus I now have photos of me racing in my new club uni!

http://acountrecourant.blogspot.com/2013/04/clues-lessons.html

This article was originally posted by Ed at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

My reports are not nearly as good as Ryan’s are but here goes.

I made sure to get to the race early – I like being very early so I can be relaxed. After getting my race packet I went back to my car and ditched my warmer clothing. The weather was very nice and the winds very light – I was happy with the weather conditions. I pinned my bib on (glad I brought my own pins as they only provided two) and the turned on my Garmin to go for a 2 mile warm-up run.

I ran at about an 8-8:15 minute per mile pace for the warm up and was sure to run the final half mile of the race to end my warm-up. I noticed they were setting up timing pads at the start/ finish line and I checked my bib. There was no chip! I went to the check-in area and they directed me to a spot behind day-of registration where they were handing out the timing chips. (I wish he told me that when he gave me my packet at check-in.)

I strapped the chip to my ankel and did some light stretching. As race tiome drew near I did a few strides at about 10 MPH – just a bit faster than I planned on racing. I lined up near the front and had the usual flashy dressed folks that looked like big time runners but I knew they were not – but that didn’t stop them from lining up at the front. They started counting down to the start from 10 but said go on what would have been five. Not cute buddy!

I jockeyed around the wanna bes and the "I led for 2 seconds" people and found a nice place to lock in my pace. I kept checking my Garmin (bad habit and bad to do) but I would catch the pace dropping a bit and I would push it a bit to stay in the 9.5 MPH range or better. I held well through the first two miles passing a couple people here and there.

Right around the two mile mark some guy pulled up right next to me and was very close – I mean close! Like in my personal space close. I shaded right a bit and he followed – I slowed a tiny bit and he did as well. I turned my head slightly towards him and then kicked about a block before a turn. I gave it a pretty good kick thinking I would leave this guy with a hint of stay away from me. As I went into the turn I looked and saw the guy had fallen WAY behind. Mission accomplished but at what price?

I had planned on trying to pass as many people as possible in this last mile and then give it my all for the last quarter mile. There were not to many people ahead of me but I worked my way up on one guy but he was fading becuase the guy ahead of him was pulling away from him (but not me.) I passed him with very little race course remaining and was about 10-15 seconds behind the next guy. I started pushing it very hard trying like mad to catch the guy in front of me but needed another 30 feet to do it.

He got me by 4 seconds – dang it! I might have been able to gain those seconds earlier in the course but I don’t know. I worked very hard for this one. 11th overall and 3rd in my age group at a 6:15 pace. Not too bad for an April race!