Sunrise 5k race report!
Located in Sunrise, FL (west of Ft Lauderdale) this was a good location for me to grab a race before we go on our cruise for spring break, and was originally planned to keep me running after MW. Last year I quit running after completing Dopey for a few months and had some winter-related mental health challenges. When I found this race, I was originally planning on running the half, but the course looks awful (tons out out-and-backs that you repeat 2x) and I figured it wasn’t really fair to DS2 to make him sit there and wait for another 2+ hours for me to finish and then be a mess for the first couple days of the cruise.
So! Up at 4:30am for breakfast and getting dressed to we could be out the door by 5:10. DS2 accidentally shut his alarm off and I woke him up at 4:50
. It was about a 20min drive over, giving us plenty of time to use the bathrooms at the park, and for DS to go through his warmup routine. The 5k starts at 6:30, and the HM starts at 6:35 (but is routed so most of the 5k runners are through before overtaking the slower 5k runners.) Things were clearly marked, although it starts before the sun comes up and there are no lights along the road. DS wore my noxgear vest with the chest light since he would be running significantly faster than me. It wasn’t super necessary, but was helpful.
I decided to go a bit harder for pace at the beginning and see how long it lasted. I ran 60/20 intervals, and finished mile 1 in 10:49. Woohoo! And then the heat/humidity started setting in. It was 70 degrees, 70 degree dew point, and 96% humidity.
I dialed my intervals back to 45/30 for mile 2 and finished that in 12:21. And then I pulled the plug because I felt not-great. I may have had a few adult beverages yesterday, and combined with the marked lack of sleep in the last 2 days, I was getting light headed between intervals. Finished in 38:10, and considering my lack of current conditioning, I’m ok with that.
This does give me somewhat of a starting point for POT training. I can hit the pace I need, now can I hit it for 2+ hours? I think I’m going to go for it on the POT training, but definitely have exit points if I’m not seeing/feeling any improvements, or if the schedule just isn’t going to be reasonable. I do want to see how my body responds to speedwork.