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Washington Heights 5k

Date: Sunday, March 1, 2020
Time: 23:32 (7:35 pace)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3145230802

Today I ran the NYRR Washington Heights Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5k. One more race down for 9+1 for the 2021 NYC Marathon 2021!

Frankly, I had only signed up because it was the first Club Points race of the year, so I thought it would be a fun event even though I’m not fast enough to score for my team. However, after a disappointing performance at the NYRR Al Gordon 4 Miler in Prospect Park last week (30:37 time, 7:40 pace, no race report), I decided to go for a 5k PR at this race, and my coach was supportive of this.

This was a PR by 32 seconds, and I suspect it will be my last easy 5k PR. By this, I mean that I have only done 5k events when I was recovering from injury and unable to complete longer distances, and therefore also “racing” at lower levels of fitness. I believe future 5k PRs will require me to actually train properly and prepare/race smartly (or to choose flatter courses).

Just to put this in one place, my 5k times:

My goal for this race had been 7:30 pace. While I didn’t quite accomplish that, it was a hilly, very crowded course (there were two times when I was very blocked by people in front of me and forced to slow to near-jog before circling widely) and so below freezing I could barely feel my toes. It’s a hard line to draw between “making excuses” and “understanding limitations” but in this case, I do think the conditions just weren’t favorable.

I tried a couple of new things with this race. Since the start time was 9 am (compared to the usual 7-8 am), I actually had time to eat some proper food, a piece of toast with honey (in fact, I spilled honey on a throw blanket and had to rush to start laundry before I left). I also raced in the New Balance 1400s for the first time, which definitely takes a small but noticeable toll on my knees/shins; I’ll need to commit to more consistent strength work if I want to keep wearing these shoes. I think the Vaporfly Next% isn’t that effective on me, and while I love my Pegasus Turbo, they are nearing end of life and the Turbo 2 just doesn’t feel as great.

Training-wise, I’ve been getting in more structured speed workouts via my running coach and going to my running club’s group workouts. It’s only been 1.5 months, which is probably too soon for any major improvements, but simply hitting paces has been a big confidence-booster, and even though I was definitely jogging up the last hill at > 9:00 pace today, I’m sure the hill repeats have helped as well.

Finally, one thing I’ll remember fondly about today is the spontaneous conversations with strangers about running! On the way up, my train was full of runners headed to the race, and the man seated next to me struck up a conversation; he runs with a competitive club in the city, and we had a great conversation about the Trials yesterday, the local running scene, and today’s race. While in line at Starbucks after the race, I chatted with the woman in front of me, who runs with Oiselle and is signed up for several of the same races I am this year (NYRR as well as the Chicago Marathon!). Finally, on the subway back home, a young boy was wearing a bib from the Rising NYRR race, and his father told me he used to work at Coogan’s (the restaurant near the Armory that’s a popular post-race spot). So many friendly people and fun conversations!