September 8th, 2024- 7:00AM
Santa Monica, CA
After 3 consecutive marathon seasons, I opted for a fall trail season to have fun and do some cool events in California and the Western US. However, one local race that was left unchecked for me was the Santa Monica Classic. I largely didn't care about the Los Angeles race scene, simply because it wasn't that good and I had crossed off the major one with the Los Angeles marathon. But the Santa Monica Classic had been on my radar since the previous fall, as it fit well as a 10K and was decently competitive. It was exactly what I needed this time last year but unfortunately was the same day as the 5th Avenue Mile which I had already registered for. After struggling to find quality events in the Los Angeles area for the past year and having this one in the back of my head, I signed up for 2024 before I left the area for good.
I was looking forward to doing a 10K. I've had renewed interest in this distance. The 10K had been a disappointing distance for years as I'd always seem to really struggle with it and put up times I wasn't happy with. I broke that streak in California with an okay 33:23 at the Giant 10K, and a strong 33:05 at Will Rogers given the elevation. Not times representative of my abilities given I've gone through half marathon splits faster than that, but at least out of the multiple 34:40s I ran. I had opted for the 10K over the 5K. I only had a few weeks of serious mileage post-SF marathon and thought a hard 5K would be out of my abilities. I've put up several road 15:30s and 15:40s in the past and without any intense workouts recently, I was concerned I would fall short. Whereas the 10K my bests were in the low to mid 33s. Probably wouldn't have enough fitness to PR, but a 33:30 would be a top 3 time for a solid addition for the year at a non-focus race.
I thought 5:25s made sense- I wanted to at least break 34 and set up myself for a 33:30 if it was there. Running 5:25s for 6 miles sounded reasonable, essentially a hard tempo. A big heat wave hit the Los Angeles area race week and Santa Monica, which rarely hits 80s due to being on the Pacific Ocean, was having highs in the low 90s. With a morning start, this would mean a temperature around 75 degrees and humid rather than the typical low 60s usual for that time. Hot, but nothing that isn't seen in a typical New England summer road race and still probably doable. The race organizers clearly didn't agree as they cancelled the 10K entirely. They gave the option of running a 5K at 7:00 or 7:30 (or the ridiculous option of running the 5K out and back twice, and running closer to 6 miles). I wanted nothing to do with hitting back of packers, so I'd be ready for the 7AM start.
However, with the 5K I now had some uncertainty about my ability. 5:25s for a 10K target seemed like a hard, yet sustainable effort that I could cruise at. With a 5K, there was a clear "failure" barrier for me, and that was 16 minutes. Breaking 16 minutes in the first few road 5Ks I did I considered a success, but now after running multiple 15:30s and having super shoes, anything over 16 was unacceptable. 16:00 is around 5:08/5:09 pace. I'd want to go out in 5:05 at least, which meant running quite hard. Anything under 5:10 for me is generally quite uncomfortable and being out of shape means I had no confidence I could actually hold that pace for a sub-16. But I also have run enough decent 5Ks that I knew there was no reason I should be over 16 and I absolutely did not want to see my time start with a 16. So I had some pressure on myself to break 16, even though it was a low key race for me. I thought if I paced it well, and worked really hard I could probably run in the 15:50s. This was sub 16 or bust, and I really wanted to avoid the latter, so I was taking this one quite seriously.
Matt Adams was racing as well, although I didn't see him until mid-race as I never actually coordinated with him. 4AM wakeup felt a little early but I had done it enough times I was used to it. I had picked up my bib the day before, which always makes race day a little easier. Race conditions were 72 degrees, 62% humidity. Not ideal weather, but hardly a concern for a 5K, and of course, pretty ridiculous the organizers felt this was worth cancelling the 10K. Went for my three mile warm-up feeling extremely sluggish and out of it which is never fun. I got over to the line maybe 8 minutes before and it was absolutely packed, which was a little bit of a panic situation as I was worried I'd have to enter all the way from the back and shove my way up. I found a barrier was open about 5 rows back but the crowd was quite dense and after observing some faster guys jump the barrier, I decided this was the better option and got on the front line. I do not understand why some slower athletes think it's a good idea to crowd the front of the start line 30 minutes before the race starts when they aren't even finishing in the top 500. Of course, the better races get around this by enforcing a seeded corral.
At 7:00, when the race was supposed to start, they decided to do their race announcements. Again, not sure why this couldn't have been done 3 minutes prior. They also announced a minute before the race goes off that the faster athletes should go to the front. How is that helpful at this point? I identified several fast looking runners and based off previous years results I'd probably be looking at a finish in the 3rd to 6th range.
Course was an out and back, with 100' of elevation gain, very gradual up going out and down coming back.
We went out fairly controlled actually, a rare 5K start where I didn't blast out. I deferred to the fast looking athletes and joined the lead pack sitting on the guys who I thought were the top contenders. It didn't take long for the pace to feel quite slow, which put me in a difficult position. I wanted to go out in 5:05 and we were slower than that through half mile, plus trending in the wrong direction. Actually close to 5:20 pace at one point, which was remarkable as I almost always go out quite fast and won't see anything above 5:10 pace until mile 2. So a very conservative 5K start for me. These guys looked good and it would be really risky to make a big move to the front. I was seriously considering making a hard move and trying to drop everyone while also getting the pace back on track. This would be a big race to win, and the best way to do so would be stay in the pack and catch everyone by surprise with a really fast last 1K or mile. I rarely am in situations like this where I'm racing in a lead pack and decided to take advantage and stay put. We hit the mile in 5:10 and I mentally noted I'd need a negative split and hard close to break 16.
I was feeling good about position but a little more strained than I'd like, especially considering 5:10 is one of my slowest first miles in a 5K in many years. After another quarter mile, the pace started to feel really hard/bad and I was struggling to hang on. So much for sitting and kicking on these guys. This was a low moment for me. I was really disappointed that I was blowing up off 5:10 pace. If anything, it should be completely manageable for me to hold that pace. I got dropped and was absolutely feeling sorry for myself, mentally thinking I'd be in the 16:20s and really disappointed about that possible result. I was glad I checked my watch as we approached the turnaround, now in 5th place- as it had me at 5:05 pace. I realized I wasn't blowing up, but the leaders indeed had gone out quite conservative and were now strategically ramping it up to break the field. Even feeling terrible and getting dropped, I had still picked it up a bit going uphill. I had renewed enthusiasm and surged after the turnaround to pass back into 4th and hit mile 2 in 5:02.
I was really tired and the rest of the race was one long straightaway. After what felt like a really long time, I checked my watch only to be at 2.2 miles. I decided not to check my watch again until I hit a certain stoplight as checking it frequently would only prolong the mental suffering. My watch had displayed upper 4:50s. I didn't have the energy for mental calculations, but figured if I absolutely hammered the last mile, given the slow start and extra distance in road races I could probably run in the 15:50-15:55 range. I used 3rd place ahead as a target and absolutely gritted it out and hammered as hard as I could. Mile 3 in a 5K is always tough, but I feel like this was more intense than usual. Surprised and quite pleased to cross the finish line in 15:40. More surprised and pleased to realize the clock was off and I actually ran a 2 second road PR of 15:33 with a 4:45 final mile!
This result and having that close in me at this time in training was absolutely shocking. If someone had told pre-race that I would run 15:33, I would not have believed them. I thought absolute best case scenario realistically was a 15:50 and my confidence only went down with feeling like crap on the warm-up, during the race and a slow start. Two things really helped me- the course. Sure, 100' is not a fast course but the OAB format meant hardly any turns or extra distance. Ran very close to 5K here. Secondly was the conservative start, meaning I set up myself to close hard on the downhill portion. I'm so used to holding on for dear life after going out too aggressively that this was not something I expected I was capable of. Trying to catch 3rd place and break 16 also meant I mentally pushed about as much as possible, versus some other races where I've probably let up a little bit due to the suffering and lack of stakes. I really feel I judged and executed this performance to perfection, which rarely happens. There's almost always a wrong move that I feel costs me. Had I decided to hammer into the front at half mile, I likely would have been struggling home, had less people to chase and run 10 seconds slower.
However, getting the tactics right and having good mental toughness was only part of it. At the end of the day, fitness is what matters most. You can't run a PR without being in good, if not great shape. I significantly underestimated my fitness given time off and lack of true training post-San Francisco and am really surprised how well I maintained fitness here. I know the marathon blocks have done a lot for my long term fitness development and strength, but I thought I would have needed to do significantly more work to get that back. Of course, this is mostly a good thing but I also want things to make sense and this performance really didn't.
Overall- really happy with this performance. The rust busters/early season races usually go well for me. but I've never had them match peak performance/late season results before until now. This time with the lack of training, combined with the 100' of elevation on the course suggests I should be capable of 15:20 or faster in a road 5K at the right race. I liked the course, simple and downhill finish. Wide turnaround eliminated the possibility of an awkward cone turnaround. I wasn't happy with the organization of this race at all, from the messy starts, poor announcements, and especially the botched handling of weather-related decisions.
No comments:
Post a Comment