Well, I used my pacer, Terry, at the Rotary Shamrock Shuffle 5K in McHenry yesterday,

and have a new PR of 23:54! That is 57 seconds off of my old 5K PR of 24:51 (from July of 2009)! Woo hoo!

Terry is a friend of mine from the Grayslake Running Club. I cannot thank Terry enough for coming out early on Sunday morning (on the first day of Daylight Savings Time, and after a night that included a few drinks, no less) to pace me! Thanks Terry!

As you can see from the photo above, we started right at the start line. It was a small race (somewhere between 100-200 people) and not chip timed. I felt like I started too far back at the Frosty Footrace and wasn’t going to make that mistake twice (I also remembered to double-knot my shoelaces)!

Terry had worked out a plan for us to hit just below 24:00. We would start out fast, get our adrenaline going, then try to take it easy the second mile, and finish strong.

Mile 1 – 7:24 – Well, we sure went out fast! After I got used to the pace, and got up some small hills, I felt good.

Mile 2 – 7:42 – I got in to the swing of things and felt comfortable at this pace. I was thanking volunteers and cheering on other runners who passed us (only a few) and runners coming back from the out and back. My legs felt kind of heavy, but it was no big deal. I commented to Terry on how good I felt.

Mile 3 – 7:59 – This was when my brain said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” and my stomach said “WHOA, I DON’T THINK SO!” My stomach started to twist and cramp (I ate too much the night before). Terry stayed a bit ahead of me to keep me going. He was awesome and motivating, saying things like “Remember when Pre ran with that foot injury?” (we had just watched Without Limits together) and “Only 4 minutes left!,” “You can do this! Use your inner mantra.” Terry really helped me keep going, especially thinking about only having four minutes left to run, as opposed to a distance! Again, thanks Terry!

Mile 3.1 – 00:54 (7:59 pace) – Despite my desire to sprint out the finish, I could only muster an 8:00mm effort! But I still got my PR!

Garmin stats here (notes: it was in the high 20s, and we ran a warm-up mile at 8:17 pace).

Here’s Terry encouraging me at the finish:

Smiling because I knew I was going to make my goal (click to make larger):

Excited about the clock time (again, click to make larger):

I’m still not sure on my final time, but it was probably 23:54!

Yay, we did it!

Of course, we stuck around for awards, and I got second place in my age group (20-29) – the icing on the cake!

What a great (early) start to the day. I kind of thought I was done racing 5Ks after Frosty, but this one made me feel confident and strong! I have a few coming up that are just for fun, but I may try to race a few more this summer or next winter. I just love the cold weather races.

Thanks AGAIN to Terry! And a HUGE thanks to Steven, who got up super early and waited around before the race for an hour, during the race, and after the race for another hour, AND took all of these photos. He is so supportive of my running and I really do appreciate it. And I do miss running with you, Steven!

Confession: we took a two hour nap after the race! That lost hour really affects me. And I did take my “pre-game” nap the day before the race (picture below). Ha ha ha.

And one more time: Yay!

My next race is the Fools 5K on April 2nd. This is the week of the Rotary Shamrock Shuffle (5K) on March 13th.

Day 505 | March 7, 2011: 5 m run (mile repeats)

After reading about Mica and Erin‘s mile repeats I felt inspired to try them for the first time!

I did a .5-mile warm-up (@6.5mph/9:14mm), then three mile repeats (@7.5mph/8:00mm each) with 2:00 minutes of recovery (@6.5mph/9:14mm) between, then a 1-mile+ cool-down (@6.5mph/9:14mm). The workout felt good – not too taxing. I definitely felt more tired as the mile repeats progressed, but it was manageable. I hope this is a sign I may PR at my 5K on the 13th (Sunday)!

Distance: 5.0 | Time: 42:31 | Incline: 1.0

Day 506 | March 8, 2011: strength

Steven and I did Level 2 of The 30 Day Shred. It’s still kicking my butt. Whenever we do Level 2, about halfway through we both comment on how we can feel the sweat dripping down our faces. It’s intense!

Day 507 | March 9, 2011: cross

Originally I was going to run, but I am a bit sick of the treadmill! To the recumbent bike I went…

I was reading the April issue of SELF and there is a great article in there about a woman who feels like she needs to hid her binge eating from her husband. Check it out here.

Recumbent Bike Time: 45:00 | Distance: 7.49 | Set on “Manual,” Resistance Level 5.0

Day 508 | March 10, 2011: strength class + 6.15 m run

In the evening I attended my second Essential Fitness strength class with seven other Grayslake Running Club (GRC) Members. Whoa. It was an intense 45-minute workout. Some of the same moves as last week, but a lot more plank-ups (or whatever they are called – when you go up and down from one arm to the other in plank). I need to work on plank and my push-ups!

A few people were teasing me during the workout, because they knew I was meeting a few other GRC people afterward for a run, and would probably be exhausted. But two people from the class came and ran a mile (one woman who hadn’t run in 10 months because of plantar fasciitis – it was her first run back!) with us! And I didn’t feel too awful while running, but I definitely didn’t feel my best. I was happy I had three other people there to distract me during the remaining 5 miles!

Distance: 6.15 | Temp: 35° |  Time: 57:57 | Avg Pace: 9:25 | 1: 10:13 | 2: 9:31 | 3: 9:11 | 4: 8:54 | 5: 9:17 | 6: 9:27 | 7: 1:20

Day 509 | March 11, 2011: 15.1 m run

I just was not in the mood for this run. I was mentally tired. I ran 3 loops through my neighborhood. I tried to enjoy the warmth and sun (upper 40s!) and zone out to podcasts.

It went okay. But I kept having little burps from lunch and my chest/throat hurt. And some weird callous on my left foot is bothering me – it’s right where I land from supinating so bad.

But the good news is that the pace was slow and easy. I felt like I could have gone 5 more miles, and actually considered it!

The other good news is that I used this run to start to test out some new headphones I received to review – and guess what? I will have two pairs to give away! Watch for a review and giveaway to come!

Run stats: I wore my orchid Asics Cumulus 12s. I started with capris, and long-sleeved wicking top. At mile 5, I grabbed gloves and a jacket and wore them for the rest of the run. I stopped at the house at mile 5 and 10 to take GUs (chocolate then vanilla) and drink water (about 18 oz overall). The second time I stopped, I checked my phone and had a urgent messaged about a sick family member, so I stopped for longer than I intended!

Distance: 15.1 | Start Temp: 47° |  End Temp: 40° | Time: 2:28:43 | Avg Pace: 9:50 | 1: 9:35 | 2: 9:34 | 3: 9:54 | 4: 9:56 | 5: 10:01 | 6: 9:53 | 7: 9:52 | 8: 10:03 | 9: 9:52 | 10: 10:15 | 11: 9:38 | 12: 9:44 | 13: 9:39 | 14: 9:48 | 15: 9:51 | 16: 1:00

Day 510 | March 12, 2011: yoga

Oops, have you noticed the lack of yoga in the last few training reports? Not cool! I did the Yoga Works Beginners DVD in the morning, and the stretching felt really good.

Hmm, when do you think Jen will invite me to a yoga class again? Ha ha!

Day 511 | March 13, 2011: 1 mile warm-up and 5K

In the morning I ran a one mile warm-up then the Rotary Shamrock 5K Shuffle with my friend Terry from the GRC. Full report to come tomorrow!

Week Summary: 30.35 miles

Another good week of running. And kind of with the support exercises. I am looking forward to next week being a more low key week.

When I woke on Saturday up my ankle was bothering me (on the inside, below the bone) – in the same spot it ached for a few months after the marathon. I talked to a friend with a medical background, and he thought it is an irritated tendon (maybe start of tendinitis?), since I compress my ankle when I land on the outside of my foot. I gotta ice and massage that ankle!

Link to share: In a few issues back of Runner’s World, there was a great piece by Peter Sagal about how running helped his lose weight, but he is terrified of gaining it back. It’s a great, quick read, you can find here. It really got me thinking about how obsessed runners are with weight, and sometimes, healthy eating.

Tomorrow I am running a local 5K, and one of the Grayslake Running Club members offered to come pace me, and help me PR.

Hells to the yeah. A 5K PR for me would be an easy conversational run for him. Count me in!

Is that cheating though – purposefully having someone pace you to run a 5K?

The Guy in the white shirt is a pacer
Photo Credit: Greg Kellerman

In my mind, having one specific faster person pace you for 5K seems a bit different than following a pace group for a half marathon or a full marathon, or running with someone with the intent to push each other to a goal time.  But, elite marathoners sometimes have pacers at their races (check out a Runner’s World thread discussing it here) – someone to keep them on track and block some of the wind. Of course, their goal is to win entire races, not necessarily PR at the recreational level (like me).

But one of the benefits of running with other people is that it makes you run faster. And in the end, it’s your legs that run the whole race. So I think pacers are okay.

But what do you guys think about pacers?