Lessons Learned: 5 Mile Turkey Trot Race Report

The last time when I ran my first race, I vowed to put some of the lessons learned to good use in my next race.  In today's 5 mile Turkey Trot, I put those to good use, but came away with a few new ones:

(1) Running fast is hard:  I had put such pressure on myself to finish in just under a 9 minute pace (finished at 9:17 last time) that I pushed through hard during the first mile . . . probably more than I should have because I finished the first mile in 8.5 minutes and was exhausted after just starting out.

(2) Preparation is key:  Pre-training and prepping makes such a big difference.  Last time, I trained hard and ate nutritiously heading into the race.  This time around, I did not train and ate a bunch of crap (oh yeah, read that as high fat carbs) leading up to the race.  I felt like throwing up the whole way and only made it through on the pure desire to beat my prior pace time.

(3) Your body knows:  After my race, my husband commented on the fact that this race looked like it was harder for me than the last one.  He went on about how I looked like I could have kept running in the prior one and it looked like I could barely keep with the pack in this one.  He was so right.  Keep in mind that this was 1.2 miles shorter than the last one and there were no hills.  This race should have been easy for me . . . BUT, that's exactly what I get for treating my body like garbage for the past few weeks and assuming that this was an "easy" race. 

Good news is that I finished with an 8:45 pace, which is great and exactly what I was shooting for!  Bad news is that I learned a tough lesson today - I am back on my diet and fitness routine with renewed focus and I now know that I cannot take my fitness level for granted . . .

You did great with your pace but I appreciate you sharing the lessons, especially as I ate nearly a dozen Oreos tonight.......I did not count them.  :-(

And keeping in mind I am NOT running so have no allotment for crap in my life.  Sigh.  And I have done so darn well since my fill Wednesday.  Oreos are such a slider food, wow!

Your pace was amazing though, you should be soooooooo proud.  I have a long way to go to catch up with you!!!!  Here's to my crosstraining and rehab and being a better, faster runner..........you are my inspiration!

I hear ya, Kernie.  If there is one thing that I have learned in the past year, it is that certain foods go down way too easy . . . for me, those are chips, nuts, desserts (cake, too), cookies, etc.  I have also learned that if I do not keep up with my running and exercise, the lbs can come back quickly - I am about 5lbs above the top of my maintenance range.  No wonder I was sucking wind on the course!

Um yeah like don't I know it, glad to know you are human too! WHEW I am not the only banded person who is both successful and has a junk food problem!

As long as it's not in the house, I am ok but life brings it into my space.........

Renewed focus is always good.  Congrats on hitting your target time.  I can tell you from experience that 15 pounds is good for adding about 45 seconds per mile to your time.  It's more fun to run fast. ;)