HOLY CRAP! Brentwood Kickin' Cancer 5k Race Report

5Ks AND MY PRE-MARATHON LIFE
In my pre-marathon life, I was a 5k racer. However, I was never good enough to be competitive despite very serious training efforts; I never won any age group awards for my 20-21 minute performances. Still, I trained quite hard for these 5ks, and took pride in really hammering out 1, if not 2 brutal speedwork sessions per week. Since I wasn't marathoning, I never ran above 45 miles per week, and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn't cut out to be a fast 5k runner, since all the books say that the 5k is a VO2-dependent race, and that unfortunately, VO2 maxxes out after a few years of hard training, with miniscule gains afterwards. I have been running hard since high school, so I am well past any theoretical hope of big gains. After over 20+ attempts to convincingly break 20 minutes over an 8 year period ending a year and a half ago, I felt that the literature was likely correct on this phenomena, and that 20:00 was probably my genetic VO2 max limit. I really developed a chip on my shoulder about the 5k; it got to be a real downer to repeatedly finish between 20:00 and 20:30, over and over again, with no improvement despite what I thought were some heroic training efforts.

I haven't raced another 5k since beginning marathon training over a year ago. I've maintained sprint intensity, but the big change in training has been the large increase in overall mileage (literally doubled) in the past 6 months thanks to the Pfitzinger Advanced Marathoning 70mpw program. Those big miles have really helped at all distances, and during my last 10k in July during marathon taper, I surprised myself by equaling my 5k PR at the halfway point and then finishing the entire 10k at my 5k PR pace (39:53 final time.) That race made me know that I had it in me for a new 5K PR - the question was, however, by how much? My realistic goal was 19:25, based roughly on the McMillan calculators, but I know that these calculators can be overly ambitious, especially with my lack of VO2 training. I had concluded decisively that there was not way I could attempt a sub 19 this early in the game, and set my stretch goal as sub 19:20.

PREPARING FOR THE RACE
Training has been going very well over the past 2 months. I'm on Pfitizinger 18/70 cycle #2, and shooting for an ambitious 3:10 at Houston come January. My overall training paces have definitely picked up, and I'm running long runs pretty hard. Things were going well enough that I decided to enter a 5k this week, and signed up 3 days before the race, which is very unusual for me - I usually plan my race schedules weeks ahead. However, with the good weather and good health, plus the fact that the race started only half a mile from my apartment (sweet!), I felt that the time was ripe to settle my old score with the 20:00 5k barrier.

The race was the Brentwood Kickin' Cancer 5k, down and back up San Vicente Ave in Los Angeles, a beautiful, tree lined street. The course is fast, with 1.5 miles out on a very mild incline, with only one hairpin turnaround, then straight back 1.5 miles on a mild decline. I was excited, but a bit anxious about this race - I had done no VO2-specific training for the past 3 months, and actually hit my first training wall 3 days ago, where my legs simply didn't want to go faster than 9:00/mile. I have been dragging over the past 3 days, and was still dragging the morning of the race. (My 73 miles this week before the race probably didn't help much either.)

A few hundred people showed up for this well-organized, corporate sponsored charity race. Last year, the leader won with a 15:25, so it was a fast field as well. Beautiful, but warm day today, with a 75 degree start with sun and no shade, making it feel like 80. I lined up near the very front of the pack, which is the first time I've ever done so in a race. Normally, I'm very self-conscious of not starting way in front, feeling that it is too pretentious for someone of my caliber, but for this race, with all my training, I felt that I actually deserved to be up in the front group with the first 20-30 runners. I wasn't nervous, but it was interesting to look around up front and see all the "fast" runners whom you could tell by their racing flats, or track-club tanks.

THE RACE
With a "GO!" over the loudspeaker, the race was on. We all took off in a big pack, probably near 5:45/mile. I didn't feel fast at all, but I was holding a good pace for the first 200m. I honestly didn't know how to pace this run at all, so my plan was to just run really "uncomfortably hard" the whole way while holding my breathing steady, and planned to try and drop a few runners in the on the decline in the 2nd half. I slowed a bit and found a groove fairly quickly, but it certainly didn't feel fast at all; I actually felt like I was lumbering along, slower than I would have liked, and I would have guessed my pace to be about 6:15/mile, or slower than I had planned. Even worse, I started getting passed, right from the get-go, by about 5-6 runners, and then after half a mile, an entire group of 6 men about my age blew right by, while chatting it up amongst themselves. That was actually pretty depressing.

As I hit the gradual incline at the 1 mile mark, I realized with a sinking feeling that I probably wasn't going fast enough to hit my ideal target of 19:20, yet I couldn't pick it up any more at risk of burning out. As I approached the turnaround, a glance at my watch yielded 9:45. Yikes - I might not even break 20 for this race! I wasn't feeling good at all about this, and probably hit the turnaround at around 9:48.

I'm generally a strong 2nd-half racer, and I love pulling in runners in the final miles. However, this race would be very different. All 8 runners immediately ahead of me had increased their lead substantially on me, and were running in a tight pack. I was completely alone, about 150 meters back, and didn't dare look behind me, as I knew that someone was probably creeping up back there. Things got marginally better as I hit the decline, and I opened up my stride , but I really felt like I was still lumbering along with low leg turnover. Fortunately, my breathing hadn't gotten any worse, and my legs were holding up well without any burning, which was a new experience for me this late in a 5k (marathon legs sure are handy!)

I had lost any sense of pace/time at this point. I was feeling really hot, my head started to hurt, and the pack ahead of me had now opened their lead to about 200 meters on me. I briefly considered DNFing this race with only 600 meters left, but I've never quit a race before, so I quashed that idea fairly quickly. I'd finish this damn thing like it or not!

Finally, the end appeared in sight. It was about 400 meters away, with a slight decline assist. I glanced down at my watch to see how ugly this was going to be, and saw 17:30. Hey wait a minute - that's pretty fast - in fact, that works out to about 19:00, or faster than my stretch goal if I don't slow down!

I never knew that arithmetic could substitute for an adrenaline burst, but that's what that simple addition did for me. It took until the last 400 meters, but finally, the race was ON! I picked up the pace and straightened up the posture, looking strong for the cameras. I was hurting, but not too badly and knew that with 70 mpw of training under my belt, that I could hold the pace until the end. There was nobody to race to the finish, but it didn't matter, as I was cruising in for the PR. In the final straightaway, I knew I had it - and it was pretty exciting. I picked it up even more in the last stretch, and finished strong through the chute, with arms raised high for the cameras. I didn't see my exact finishing time, but it was probably around 18:53.

RESULTS

Willis Huang M32
5k Time 18:50, AG 68.8%
Pace: 6:03/mi
Bib:#407
Overallplace:#10/1196, M30-39:#5

18:50?! HOLY CRAP! That's a 5k PR of over an entire minute for me! In the past, I honestly only dreamed of running a 19:30 5k, but even in my wildest dreams I never believed that I would completely bypass the 19:xx time category and clearly finish in the 18s. Unbelievable. After an entire lifetime of trying, I've finally achieved that 5k goal that I'd been longing for my entire life.

Oddly enough, once again, my clear personal best time in a race was run during a race where I had no definite time goal and no pressure to perform. Same thing happened in my last 10k. Maybe I should be so carefree about my marathons? (Probably not.)


I've learned to believe. Even if everyone and every book says you can't, it's possible if you want it badly enough.

Happy running everyone!


PS - Age group awards were only given to the leader in each 10 year category, so I had absolutely no shot at hardware (15:xx winner) . Can't have everything! I'm also on another overnight call at the hospital with no sleep tonight...

My cheering squad: Comments from RunningTimes Marathon Forums

Link to Official race results