Matthew's Running: Thanksgiving Day 5K- Weekly Log: November 25 to December 1

Tried a challenging double of racing a 50K Saturday and coming back Thursday to do a 5K turkey trot. This served a double purpose of getting to check out San Diego, which I had wanted to get to for a while given the proximity to Los Angeles. Spoiler alert: I was still pretty beat from the 50K and did not run well. I won't have a separate recap so this post will serve as the race report for this one.

Monday: 4 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

Griffith flat loop from railroad. Surprisingly little soreness from the 50K (considering my legs felt tired for the entire second half), but legs still felt lifeless and had zero pop. Just dragging along the heavy legs. Definitely very far from 5K ready.

Tuesday: 5 Miles- Pasadena, CA

Rose bowl loop. Felt much better than Monday and started to think maybe I could run a decent race. Did some hard strides to try to wake the legs up for 5K pace in two days.

Wednesday: 3 Miles- San Diego, CA

Took the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from LA to San Diego in the morning. Really nice train, perhaps better than the NE regional. Downside of the early arrival is I can't just check into the hotel mid-morning. First took the light rail system a few stops north and then ubered over to the bib pick-up spot. It was a little inconvenient but nearly impossible to do race morning given I'd be running from the hotel and no bag drop (I'd need my phone/ID to check in, and nowhere to put it while racing).

Got some lunch, and took the light rail back into downtown. Light rail was clean but there were a lot of characters out including a guy yelling gibberish and also pulled out a pocket knife occasionally and poked his shoe with it. Back in downtown, I walked to the USS Midway which I had wanted to see for a while. It took a few hours to see the whole thing and it was pretty awesome and extensive. I knew this was bad race preparation but I didn't care all that much about this race and exploring San Diego was more important to me. Had to walk a mile back to the hotel as well.

Went for my pre-race run quickly and felt extremely flat on a cement route with tired legs from all the walking. Definitely much lower confidence than Tuesday.

Thursday: 8 Miles- San Diego, CA

Race day. I believe the race was supposed to start at 7:15. So did my standard wake up 3 hours out and eat. Went for 2 OAB at 5:50, had a little time to kill when I got back, then changed into race gear and headed over to the start. I had a first-time dilemma of running to the race from my hotel, but not having a bag check option. So I didn't have a car to stash my things in but I also couldn't rely on stashing my essential items (warm-ups, room key, phone, etc.) in the gear check either. It was warm enough I could run over in race gear, but I wasn't sure what to do with my room key. Normally I'd put them in my pocket but I hadn't anticipated this issue and my shorts with the pocket were soaking wet from using the hot tub. Ended up hiding it in some dirt in front of the hotel which worked just fine.

Good conditions with 56 and low wind. Felt pretty good on warm-up and even strides. Lined up and got ready to go, except the race didn't start on time - 7 minutes late! Gun went off and I went out pretty hard, keeping even with the other leaders. I felt off instantly and just super heavy. Hanging with the lead pack felt really difficult through half a mile and I struggled to maintain contact through the full mile, getting gapped sometimes before reattaching myself. Definitely a day where things were going to feel rough, but maybe I could gut it out and break 16?

Made it through the mile in 5:05 and got gapped which obviously was not a good sign. Held my pace through 2K before a complete breakdown where I faded as bad to 5:30s at some points. One straggler caught and passed me, but was close enough that I had something to focus on. Struggled my way to a 16:27 for 8th, managing a small kick but not a good close overall.

Not going to do much of a race analysis here. A few quick points- 16:27 is BAD. Not going to deny this was a horrible performance. But it comes with the qualifier that I ran the 50K 5 days before. I was not recovered at all and clearly this wasn't a good decision to do the race. A bit of a screw up on my part as I was pretty consistent this season, not having a bad performance until now. I think I need to implement a new rule in my racing - not racing the week after a 50K as Loon Mountain went poorly last year as well.

Checked off the San Diego Zoo after - impressive, but crowded. Enjoyed the train back with hardly any people on it.