I don't usually report on my weekly 5K Series unless something unusual happened, such as a new PR or a personal improvement.
Today was Week 6/Day 4 of my Aerobic Base Training - meaning exercisisng within 60-80% of my maximum Heart rate, and it was RACE DAY!!!
My goal was to finish under 27 minutes and to follow my Doctor's instructions - meaning not to exceed 150 bpm during weekly races. I quickly realized that my two goals were not compatible.
At first, I did start jogging and I thought I would be racing along with the back of the pack, which I had no problem with. But then, I recognized in front of me LOTS of runners "from the back" which made me wonder where I was located in the pack. A quick look behind me and there I was... LAST!!!
That couldn't be! OK for taking it easy but not finishing last! Call it stupid pride or ridiculous competitive spirit but I couldn't bare that idea. 150 bpm was obviously not a realistic goal for making the time I wanted for today's race - although it is higher than my usual "in the zone" maximum heart rate...
So, I tuned up my i-Pod up (first time I was racing with music) as well as my speed and I thought... "The heck the Doctor... It is show time!"
Results: I finished in 26:05 minutes. Not my Personal Best of the Series (24:40 minutes) but although I had to slow down in order to try to keep my heart pace under 180 bpm, this is my second best time of the series!
First male won the race in 16:22 minutes and the first female to finish did it in 21:22 minutes. Because there were so many talented male runners last night, she was 49th place out of 123 finishers total. I only counted 23 or 24 women running tonight and the usual fastest female runners were not participating... That certainly explains why I would place 7th in the female group (if there was one) with such a time - fine with me though... eh eh
Anyway, I feel like I didn't do too bad for someone who had a bad start. And looking at the final overall results, that means that I passed 36 runners after I had my "wake-up call"...
I didn't push as far as I would normally do though. I still tried to remain sort of "reasonable" and to not exceed 180 bpm (which is still higher than my Maximum Heart Rate). I held my stride or slowed down when it was necessary, and I did manage pretty well since my average heart rate was 166 bpm (Garmin HRM facts).
But my biggest satisfaction is to have kept a steady pace all along those 5 kilometers - except for the final sprint of course (HR up to 194 bpm - 110% of maximum Heart Rate, which was waaaay too high once again)...
Mile 1 = 8.18 min/mile Avg Pace
Mile 2 = 8.17 min/mile Avg Pace
Mile 3 = 8.18 min/mile Avg Pace
(Motion Based Stats)
That is a HUGE improvement for me, because my running tends to be hectic most of the time. But today for the first time I felt like I was in control! I bet my Doctor is going to disagree with that though...
I will get back to my Aerobic Base Training (60-80%) tomorrow. Today I just got caught in the craziness of racing… 
