TO 5K OR NOT 5K, THAT IS THE QUESTION
/You know that really isn’t the question! We should 5k! Or you should 5k if you want to 5k! What on earth am I rambling about? I did a 5k over the weekend. I do many 5k’s. This past weekend I did a 5k as part of the Juneteenth Celebration. It was held over at Daytona’s Esplanade Park on Beach Street. What a beautiful park! The organizers did a great job of putting this 5k on. For those that may be living under a non-activity rock, a 5k is a 3.1-mile footrace.
It was hot! It was hot as ......... What can you do? It’s June. It’s Florida. It was 8 o’clock in the morning. The sun happened to be standing up and there was not a cloud in the sky. Why did I choose to 5k on this day? Well, why not? Wait, I just said why not. But it was worth it. I mean there were times when I wondered if there were enough people around to handle me if I keeled over, but I didn’t! Thankfully.
I do many 5k’s. I like them in a sick sort of way. They challenge me. I used to run them much faster. Now I don’t! But they challenge me because they are hard. No matter how much I remind myself to pace it, I still always reach a point where I want to quit. Quitting is relative. I can outright quit and find the fastest way back to my car; I can walk, (not on purpose but walking with a screw it mindset), and I can drastically slow down and just find a way to finish. The last one isn’t really quitting, but it is quitting some. If I am not attempting to do my best, it is sort of a quit. Naturally, it’s the most benign quit... All of these are versions of quitting.
I do 5k’s to fight the level of quitting that I will feel. I know I will reach my point and I try to train myself to not quit at any level of those. I read and read often that we should do the hard things. We get soft if we don’t challenge ourselves. This is one way I practice doing hard things. Running a 5k or any foot race at my best is HARD! I can get the age group accolade here or there, and I’m sure there was a time when that mattered more than it should. But now my goal is more intrinsic. I want to see how I’ll do under pressure. I want to make it hard. Can I deal with it? I don’t know. I get to see it each time.
As I was running this particular 5k my brain was off in the direction of thinking of podcasts or writing ideas. That’s how I entertain myself as I am trying not to quit. In this race, I was listening to the Rolling Stones latest album, still marveling how in their 80’s those dudes didn’t quit. I saw them in concert a couple of weeks ago and was blown away at how well they move on stage! They are 80! I thought they were done when I graduated college over 30 years ago! As much as the Stones were keeping me running, I was still preoccupied with looking around to come up with content. I’m not sure if I looked for the content but the content found me.
This is what I noticed. I would guess everyone is there to challenge themselves. I mean who really wants to run around a park in a figure 8 course when it feels like we’re running in hell, and the devil turned the heater on? Yes, it felt like that! Did I mention how bad it sucked? I bet you’re wondering if I quit. Well, kind of. I went with quit #3 which I don’t know if it was a conscious choice. But around mile 2 I let the ego go and I realized I was not going to hit my goal pace and I wasn't even going to try to anymore. Let’s just run this mother in. Don’t judge me! At least I have some writing to entertain you with.
Yes, there were many people there. That’s a wonderful thing. People were running to celebrate the holiday and just running! Both great. But man, many people do some dumb things. And I don’t know if they know it! But I want people to continue to run these things, and we all have a much better shot at running them if we don’t do silly things.
First and foremost, pace! There used to be a time when I could get up front and let it rip the first mile and hold it. If I was passed it was because I got passed by a faster, more experienced runner. Now, that’s not an option. I may get closer to the front to avoid getting into a scrum with ten to eleven-year-olds whose parents decided to ignore the warnings of the race director. Typically, the kids will all line up in front like it’s a 100-yard dash. They will sprint roughly 100 yards and make a dead stop in the middle of the street causing a backup on the road that will rival I-4 during rush hour.
These days, I end up very midpack. And what I notice in midpack is that people don’t have the experience of the front of the packers and they make a lot of tactical errors! It’s funny, in a way. When people blog now, they are more or less writing a short research paper. My understanding of blogging years ago was that I was writing a diary on a certain topic that I was going to make public. Naturally there must be some editing or it may make zero sense and you also might see how crazy the writer is. In this case, me. So, there will be some editing, but too much editing takes away from the authenticity. When we start writing for effect we begin to lose the mojo. And, most importantly when I blog, I’m not drawing any conclusions. I’m adding my thoughts. These might be educated and experienced thoughts, but they also can be and almost certainly are biased. And they flat out can be wrong! Sue me!
I notice entertaining things as a midpacker. Early in the year I was running a 5k with someone I coach. It was the Matanzas 5k in Saint Augustine and it was still cold! This runner is far faster than I am. And she was just coming back from an injury, so she was going to run it at my pace. Midway through the 5k I asked her if she now realized what I had to deal with “back here”! I know that sounds extremely judgmental, but she said “yes!” What did we deal with? People that had zero clue how to pace. They would sprint and walk, sprint and walk. Who cares? I do! It’s distracting. And guess when they choose sprint? Yup, right when we run up on them. You’ll get a sideways look and boom! My thoughts, and sadly sometimes my outside voice goes “dude or dudette, I'm not racing you!” I mean, I am because I’m signed up, but I'm not! I’m just trying to hold my pace. I have a good idea as to what my pace should be based on my level of fitness, the terrain, and the weather. If it’s a flat course, cool, and I’ve been training, I should be near my best pace. And years of training and racing dictate where that is. If it’s hot, off road, and hilly, I still have an idea. And I know it’s not where my best pace would be.
Do others understand their pace? What part of them thinks that sprinting all out and walking is ideal? Let me give you a little science here. There is such a thing called oxygen debt. This means that our body thrives at a steady rate. This is when we are at our best aerobically. We are bringing in Oxygen and getting rid of Carbon Dioxide at an equal level. It also occurs at the same time as producing lactic acid and ridding the body of lactic acid at the same rate. We are in great balance! When we go at a pace our body cannot maintain, we go anaerobic. When we do that there are no free lunches! It will come back. It will come back! And now any enjoyment you may have had running turns into you wishing a car would run you over and end this race because you don’t want to quit. Don’t laugh. I have felt that though and others I have trained with have reported back the same feeling. Remember above where I said some editing is necessary?
Oxygen debt tells us that the body must be repaid in ATP, “energy currency” of the cell. So, the body will slow us down until the equal pace has been restored. Sadly, it is now going to be slower than your anticipated race pace and not even. Get it? What I’m saying is it does not pay to sprint and walk! I’m not talking about when people run/walk at a scheduled interval. That is a good strategy to maintain pace. (although for the love of God will you please move to the right when you decide it’s time to go on your walk interval?). It’s like you are hammering down I-4 and Betty blue hair decides it is time to hit her brakes at 70 MPH because she must get over in 7.4 miles. Anyhow, the sprinting I'm referring to is when you are going way faster than your goal. Here is a great rule of thumb. What is your average pace for a 5k? Don’t try to run faster than that. Run at it or just below it. That is your pace! Adjust based on conditions. Will it improve? Yup! If you learn to pace right and you are training correctly. I’m always surprised (but why am I surprised?) when I see people that tell me their goal pace or typical goal pace is a 10-minute mile and they start out at an 8-minute mile. What the hell are you doing bro? Do you think that you are suddenly a different person? Are you dumb or arrogant, or clueless? I say the latter. I think people are so worried about other people that they get caught up in it and can’t focus on themselves.
Next! Also, when we are in the mid-pack areas, and along the same lines of pace, the people that go out like they are suddenly Steve Prefontaine start with a fury. Don’t even get me going on the kids again. Ok, wait, let me rant on the kids. Parents, they don’t want to be here. Ok? Get it? How do I know? I was ten once. I would have called HRS if there was such a thing when I was ten if my parents tried to get me to run 3.1 miles on a Saturday morning when Scooby Doo was on, and I had waited for it all flipping week. Did you want to be there at ten? No. Liar! We parents are trying to be “good parents.” We think we are setting a good example. We think we are trying to get our kids to have physical discipline. We aren’t doing any of those things. If the kids watch us make healthy choices, there is a good chance that they will make that same choice one day when it’s time. If we force them before it’s time, there is a good chance they will hate you.
Next, if you do force these poor bullied kids into doing a 5k because your neighbor, Alice, has her perfect little children there every week, keep in mind they may do it, but they hate it. And they are going to hate it more and you stand there and yell at them to run! I love that! I’ll finally catch up to one of these little kids and he or she is walking with the extremely disappointed Dad with the classic Dad bod, and I’ll hear “run, don’t let that old guy run by you.” Thanks, buddy. Look, they don’t want to be there to begin with and if they do, you make it suck and they’ll not only hate running they’ll hate you.
Back to the start. Pace! How do I know you aren’t going to hold your pace? A very good clue is when it’s a spring/summer day in Florida and you are wearing the race shirt, tights, and you have a hydra pack on your back. Bro, it’s a 5k. There will be water and even if there isn’t, if you are smart, you’ll be fine. Ok, there will be water on the course. This is the look of I’m doing my first 5k or I’m new to this. Great! But ask for some advice. You don’t need to dress like it’s 50 degrees. Notice experienced runners will often run shirtless at 50 degrees because they know it will warm up. They know their body will warm up. Why? They have experience. You may not run shirtless and ladies, you can’t! And many men, you shouldn’t! But you don’t have to wear a cotton shirt, tights, and even a long sleeve t-shirt in a spring/summer 5k. It says you don’t know. In this case, ignorance is a defense. But this also tells me/us that you are not experienced. So why are you now trying to keep up with the top ten people in the first 100 yards? That’s how I know. And then they slowly or most of the time quickly come springing BACK to center. Only to end up walking. Why? Why put yourself through that? PACE. If you have never run a 5k before, tell yourself your goal is to finish it and not have to slow down or stop. What is wrong with that?
Finally, as I was walking back in this joyous 5k where it was 100 degrees and Ellen was claiming it was 200% humidity, I saw a fellow who was finishing the 5k. He was now walking at a pace that I was walking as I was cooling down and going back for my friends. Now, I have a lot of experience, so I was making sure that I was not being a jerk and getting in people’s way. I’m aware and typically on my best behavior at this point in the race (because the torture is over). I looked at the young man and said, “you will feel a lot cooler if you take off your ball cap.” I explained that heat rises. He said thanks and took off the hat. He looked at me and said, “I already feel cooler.” He then went on to explain that it was his first 5k. I told him I understood and made a comment about how the important thing was the holiday (it being the Juneteenth) and as a black American he really appreciated that and stated, “yes sir that is right!”
So, what did I learn? Many people don't know. They just don’t. And running events can be such a great hobby. I have really enjoyed them for different reasons through the decades. It's something we can do for a long time. And it’s something that can improve someone's health. More people are going to stick to an exercise program if a hobby is involved. People simply want to be taught. Where is the instruction book? I mean there are some, but most don’t want to investigate that. I can't blame them, but us more experienced runners can attest. Now, it’s important how we do it. I have been known to be a jerk and disguise myself as “helping” when I simply wanted this space invader to get out of my stratosphere. But again, this is a blog!
Running can be a beautiful thing. How can we go to these events and have our best time? Or simply not hate it so much that we refuse to go back? There are ways! Did this help? It helped me!
Rob Maxwell