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Summer Is For 5ks

After focusing most of the winter and spring on base fitness geared towards the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, I'm now making the transition to more shorter and faster work focusing around running a quality 5k. This is the first time in a while (maybe since college) that I'm really making a concerted effort to train high-intensity VO2max/5k specific fitness. After last summer's disappointing race in June/July, I'm really looking forward to redeeming myself. Here's what's already happened and what's on tap:

Lou Cox 5k
Monday, May 26 - Memorial Day, Dayton, OH.
14:33, 3rd place.
Whoa. Not really expecting this. Huge road 5k PR (old one was 14:45 at this same race three years ago), and fastest time I've run since college. Ran very even, consistent splits, and maybe even a bit negative for the last mile. It was one of those races where I didn't feel all that much pop in my legs warming up, but once we got a mile in, I was able to find a good groove and pass plenty of people. I beat one Kenyan (but lost to the other two) and came home with $200, so I can't complain there. Now I'm really excited to see how the rest of the summer goes.

Music City Distance Carnival Invitational 5000m
Saturday, June 7 - Nashville, TN
First 5k on the track (heck, first track race) in three years, so this one is really exciting. The field is stacked with 14-low and sub-14 runners, so I've got no excuse not to run fast. But really, I'm excited to hang out with some friends and have fun racing on the track for the first time in a while. Actually, I'm about to start driving down there once this is posted.

Hyde Park Blast Elite 5k
Saturday, June 28, Cincinnati, OH
This is the one that's really been motivating me for he past year. It's a four-loop course in front of streets lined with people; that's not even mentioning that it's very much a hometown race for me (I grew up four miles away from the course, went college two miles away, and currently live one mile away). Not that many people there beyond family and friends will actually know me, but I want to represent the local crowd against top regional and international runners. Running 15:39 and being completely out of the race last year, I feel like I let them all down. Looking forward to making up for that disappointment from last year.

I may or may not do another race on July 4th, but we'll see. Anyway, that's it for now.
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