Interesting Weekend – Beach Ford 5k And A Marathon Training Run

Somewhat last minute (i.e. a couple of hours before the race), I decided to run the All American Beach Ford 5k — a well established event put on by the Kingston Elementary PTA in the Kings Grant subdivision of Virginia Beach. I was planning a Saturday morning 5 or 6 miler anyway, so figured a 5k effort with warm-up/cool down would be a fun alternative to “just another run”.

I arrived in plenty of time, registered, chatted with friends for a while before heading off on a two mile warm up. I timed the warm up to end a few minutes before the event start time, but must have incorrectly read the flyer and ended up having to wait an extra 15 minutes for the race to start. Oh well, judging by the quality field that had assembled on the start line, I wasn’t in with a chance of winning anything anyway!

The 5k course is quite a fast one — Virginia Beach flat with not too many turns and for the most part a good view of the runners ahead of you. The first mile marker was a little off (according to my Garmin anyway) and I think I was in about 12th place with a 5:48 mile split. The rest of the race was all about staying strong and maintaining good form.

I really don’t have any speed in my legs at the moment, so it was more a case of gutting out the distance and minimizing the fade as much as possible. The pic on the left is me in the last tenth of a mile, trying to stay ahead of the fast-finishing guy behind. I look better than I felt!

Despite the fade in the last two miles, I finished in 18:37 (a fraction under 6:00/mile pace) and picked up 3rd in the 40-49 age group. I think I was 9th overall, so not too bad a performance, but definitely plenty of work to do to regain my earlier season speed. Patience, patience, patience…

Sunday morning was long run morning. Thankfully the high humidity of Saturday had gone away and been replaced by cooler temps and a nice breeze. I wasn’t sure how far to run — Ally was planning a 20 miler in her build up to the Richmond Marathon; I figured I’d try for an even paced 15 or 16, with an outside chance of 18 if everything felt good.

I’m still on the fence about Richmond — I’m entered in the marathon but after being out six weeks with the stress fracture am not in any shape to race it. I could run it as a training run in the build up to the Seashore Nature Trail 50K, or I could switch down to the half marathon that takes place on the same morning as the marathon. At least I have some time to decide, so I guess I’ll wait a few more weeks to see how training progresses.

Anyway, back to the Sunday run. Before leaving the house I consumed by usual Sustained Energy liquid breakfast, topped off a spare water bottle to sip on the drive to the park and packed some Recoverite for after the run. I also picked up a Hammer Gel “just in case” I needed it on the run…

Before hitting First Landing State Park, I ran several miles on North Great Neck Road and by the time I’d reached the Visitor Center had logged ten miles. I stopped briefly to grab a drink and chatted briefly to JP and CB who were running some of the Seashore Nature Trail 50K course. Daughter Shannon was also at the Visitor Center – two miles in to her longest run for some time….

Feeling surprisingly good, I headed off down the main trail, thinking about Richmond, the 50K and some other stuff. Before I knew it I’d reached the 64th Street entrance, and with the sun in my eyes nearly bumped into Tim and Paul who were heading up the trail in the other direction. I decided it was a good time for a gel, chatted briefly to Ally who was 9 miles into her run and doing well. After a quick drink, I headed off towards the Narrows to continue the run but soon veered off the trail and thought it best to head back to the main Visitor Center and then back to the car which would give me a total of about 19 or 20 miles.

I think the gel must have kicked in at some point and my pace continued to quicken. My legs felt great and I started to think about extending the long run some more. The moment of truth came at the guard hut on the main entrance road where I could have turned left to run the two miles back to the car — instead I chose the right turn which would snake me back to the Visitor Center and the main Cape Henry Trail.

At this point I had the crazy idea of running 26.2 miles and plotted out a route in my mind that would give me the marathon distance. The last four or five miles went well. I half expected to hit a wall of some sort, but it never came; in fact, my 25th mile was the fastest of the day. I arrived back at the car in good shape, chugged down my Recoverite and stretched.

I’m still no closer to a decision about Richmond, but today was a great confidence booster and an interesting experiment. My foot felt (and still feels) great, and aside from a few aches and pains around the groin/hip area, it doesn’t feel like I just ran a marathon.

Splits from the run can be found at the Garmin Connect web site.

For the record: 26.2 miles — 3:14:40