Evansville YMCA 5k

Race Day

Pre-race: It seemed like I slept pretty well last night, about 7 1/2 hours, but I don't feel very energetic. I'd kind of rather like to just go back to sleep for a couple hours.

Forecast@6:30am for 8am: sunny, 76/79, 76%, NNW@4.

6:25 a.m. actual: sunny, 78/81, 88%, NW@7.

I decided to eat my normal breakfast before heading down to Evansville. This is a change from races past.

Post-race: Woohoo! I hit my 30:30 "b" goal for the race and set a PR! I'm a little surprised considering the heat & humidity which was worse than last year. I came in 409 out of 794 at 30:18 which is a 9:45 pace. Woohoo! I had to walk a short bit at the water stop as well as for a minute at about the 2.5 mile point. Bummer. Right at the end, the last 10 or 20 yards or so, some other woman was sprinting up to pass me. Well, I couldn't let that happen. I came in ahead of her, but they gave us the same time.  Oh yeah, my ankle. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, outside of the heat, I felt pretty darn good.

The top five female times in my age group were from 22:55 to 24:15. At least I beat all the walkers this year. I also came in faster than the 85 year old guy (31:43) who beat me last year in both the 5k & 10k. It's the small things. I hope I'm running when I'm 85. I'd win the age group then. Ha! The oldest female runner today was only 67.

Last year, my time was 31:50. Based on this race, getting under 30:00 shouldn't be too hard. I'll have to find another 5k to do. The YMCA 10k is September 6th, the half marathon October 12th. My long term goal for this distance is sub-24:00. I don't know if I'll be able to make that or not. Age is working against me.

Time: 8:00 a.m.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 30:18

Pace: 9:45

Splits: mile 1 - 9:29.7, mile 2 - 9:32.2, last 1.1 miles - 11:16 [about 10:24 for the 3rd mile].

HR: max 193, average 177. 

@start: 81°F(actual)/87°F (heat index), 82%, haze, NNW@7.

Here's a handy heat index calculator.

Food

Breakfast: blueberries, strawberries, banana, 1/2 oz almonds.

Post-race Chow: fruit salad - watermelon, cantaloupe, pears, grapes, peaches, strawberries, blackberries.

Morning Snack: Almond Joy (.6 oz bar).

Lunch: steamed summer squash & zucchini, corn on the cob, edamame, Almond Joy (.6 oz bar).

Afternoon Snack: Almond Joy (.6 oz bar).

Supper: Whole wheat pita stuffed with hummus, diced bell pepper & onion, mixed baby greens; carrots; celery.

Evening Snack: n/a

Calories for the day: 1448 -  66% carbohydrates, 11% protein, 23% fat.

Calcium: 561 mg

Sodium: 988 mg

Obviously, today is "as a reward for the race performance, eat Almond Joy without feeling guilty about it" day. Yes!