Jingle Bell Run

Yesterday I did the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis, which was a 5k.

I hadn’t run a 5k, since the Bret Neylon 5k, where I set my PR of 27:49.

Although I hadn’t really trained for this race (and haven’t ever really trained for a 5k or 10k – just done them as they come along), I was hoping to PR.

The temperature was a balmy 22 degrees when the race started. I don’t do cold. I don’t run outside in less than 40 degree weather, and really only do that to race. I prefer > 50. A bigger issue than the actual temperature was my clothing. Because I don’t like to run in the cold, I don’t really have cold weather running gear. I wore pants my parents bought me 2 years ago – which I found out at about the .25 mile marker were too big. That made for a fun race.

So I didn’t PR. I don’t have a good excuse – maybe the weather, maybe I went out too fast, who knows. I set my Garmin to do 1/4 mile splits (times and corresonding minutes/mile below):

• 2:15 – 9:03
• 2:03 – 8:12
• 2:07 – 8:30
• 2:12 – 8:49
• 2:09 – 8:39
• 2:12 – 8:50
• 2:18 – 9:12
• 2:25 – 9:41
• 2:30 – 10:01
• 2:21  – 9:27
• 2:22 – 9:30
• 2:15 – 9:00
• (last .12) :58 – 8:11

Total time: 28:13 (chip time was actually 28:15).

Overall, I’m still happy with this race because I haven’t been running a ton of miles lately, so I’m glad I’m still maintaining my speed. As I mentioned last week, I’m also starting to up my weekly mileage. The biggest thing I finally did was sat down and worked on my yearly training plan. I know yearly sounds extreme, but this is what’s recommended in the Triathlete’s Training Bible. I haven’t read the whole book yet because I don’t have that much patience, but I really like the idea of planning out the whole year in advance. It’s particularly important for me this year for a couple of reasons: (1) I’m trying to balance half marathon/marathon/triathlon training all at the same time and (2) with the goals I have this year I need to really plan everything out and not wait until the last minute to make a plan. It’s actually been easier for me to do a yearly plan (i.e., races, run and bike mileage highs) than the weekly plan. I always struggle with balancing all three sports during the week. The first thing to go is the swimming, the next had been weight lifting but I’m doing better at that with NROLW, and then biking. I never let the running suffer – which doesn’t show with my triathlon results. I’m hoping to discuss my weekly/yearly plans here soon, once they are more finalized.