I can't be completely certain when it crossed my mind that I might be able to do a 5k in less than 20 minutes, but it was likely 9 or 10 years ago. I had turned to dailymile, a website where athletes can add friends, post their workouts and leave comments and encouragement for each other, to keep track of my miles and learn more about how to train. I noted some very speedy girls I admired were shooting for a sub 20 5k and I thought that sounded like something I should work towards.
The seed was planted, but while I did the occasional 5k race, I was ALWAYS training for longer races. In 2009 I started running year-round for the first time and did my first half marathon. In 2010, my first marathon. Then in 2011, my first ultras. It wasn't until 2015 that I decided to specifically train with sub-20 in mind. I was moving to Oklahoma for my internship and wouldn't have mountains or elevation to train for ultras, nor time to train for even a road marathon. Ada, the town I lived in, was also only at 1000 feet of elevation, vs the 5000 feet of Fort Collins. It was game on.
I started off with a 5k in Denver right before I moved in May to get a baseline. 23:31, though I got side stitches during that race, an ailment that has plagued me for YEARS and if not completely ruined, at least hindered the majority of my road races. Less than a month later, early June in Oklahoma (so 4000 feet lower), I ran exactly a minute faster, 22:31. 2 weeks later in late June I shaved another minute off, running 21:30. July was stagnant. I ran 3 races that month, but one was VERY hilly (and hot), I got side stitches at another, and the third race was run in sweltering 90 degree heat + humidity. I was actually happy to run a 21:29 there.
In August I only did one race, on my 32nd birthday, and finally dropped below 21 minutes with a 20:50 after getting caught in congestion the first half mile. Late September I thought I was going to see my goal through, but only managed a 20:36. I won the race, but I was disappointed. I thought I had been ready. In October the weather was finally starting to cool, but side stitches at the HITS Running Festival in Oklahoma City caused a 21:39. I tried to be optimistic. "6:49 pace even with having to drastically slow down. You're making progress." But I was discouraged. I spent all summer waking up early to "beat the heat," sometimes at 4:30a.m. just to drive to the lumpy track the next town over surrounded by woods with no lights where I would occasionally almost punt an armadillo waddling onto the track while I did repeat after repeat after repeat... All before a full day of work (which not only was I not being paid for, but I was PAYING to be there) and school. I lost weight, I cross trained, I ran in heat, rain, wind, I tried racing with music (not my norm)... I was exhausted. And it felt like I would never hit my goal, even though my times on the track were improving. I'll never forget my excitement when I ran 6:26, 6:14, then 6:12 during a 3 x 1 mile workout. A couple times I tried switching up strategies- doing a jogging recovery instead of walking, adding more long runs, etc. I read blogs, watched YouTube videos with sub-20 training advice. I dragged some of the people I worked with up out to a hill by the college at 6am to do hill repeats with me every Thursday for MONTHS. And I still had 36 seconds to shed from my time.
Determined not to give up after the HITS 5k, knowing I could do better, I drove to Texas to run a 5k called That Dam Lake Texoma. This race had 2 turns and 10 feet of climbing. It was 57 degrees with 77% humidity, a dream compared to summer. I did my warmup and when the race started, I felt great. First mile, 6:23. Second mile, 6:28. That's okay Ellen, go, go. Third mile, 6:27. I started my sprint to the finish and averaged 5:22 pace during that stretch. Unfortunately, the course was 3.21 miles (a 5k is 3.1) and despite averaging a 6:22 pace, I rolled in with a new PR of only 20:30. I couldn't be disappointed. I finally did it, I finally dropped below the 6:23 pace required to run a sub-20 5k (I think it's actually a 6:26 pace, but almost every USATF certified 5k I've done is about 3.13-3.14 miles by my watch, so I always plan on that)! One of the guys racing came over to tell me I was one hell of a runner. I was on a cloud- but during that drive back to Ada the cloud turned a little gray. I knew it wasn't good enough. I had to keep trying for my official sub-20. Maybe it would have been different if it had been 20:00 or even 20:05. But 20:30? No.
Unfortunately, that was it for me in 2015. I did another 5k in November, but it was extremely hilly. 21:07. I did set a massive PR in the half marathon at the Route 66, which felt amazing and left me wondering if my training had actually been half marathon-specific rather than 5k-specific. In December I found out I got into Hardrock (the biggest shock of my life), and in February I finished up my internship and moved to California. After I passed the RD exam I found a job in Santa Fe, New Mexico, etc. etc. Life happened and the 5k goal would have to be put on hold.
Which brings us to now! Late 2018. Since I finally am a bit more stable, and because I have no idea how to train for sub-20 living at 7000 feet, I was able to reach out to an acquaintance who coaches for McKirdy Trained who just happened to have a spot open! Switching to roads and a coach was hard at first, relinquishing control and all that, but it did not take long to really love the support and not having to even think about what to do in workouts to hit this goal.
I went home for the holidays and made my brother do a 5k with me in Oakland that I knew would be a tester since coach Heather and I hadn't been working together very long yet. With a tiny bit of a cold I ran a 20:54. I think to hit this goal I'll need to be making attempts as close to sea level as possible, which means making Lilly do a 5k with me when I visit her in Portland, and possibly driving to El Paso, Las Cruces, and maybe even flying home or somewhere interesting for attempts. Let's just hope it doesn't take 10 tries to get that pace again...
2019
After 6 weeks of hard training, I decided to travel to Las Cruces for a 5k on Super Bowl Sunday. The race was at about 4200 feet, so a little lower than even Albuquerque, however it had some good rolling hills. I was a bit anxious the week before, and got side stitches on my run the day before the race, which meant side stitches on race day too. 21:26, a very frustrating outcome. I did get 5th female and won $50, which helped pay for the hotel, but it still was so disappointing to travel all that way and do a lower mileage week for nothing. This is the first time I've started to wonder if anxiety is causing bowel issues and the side stitches, so I'll be working on seeing if there's anything I can do to chill out prior to my next race...
I spent the rest of the month working hard, running more miles a week than I ever have during marathon training, and ran a 6:30 mile on the track, my 2nd fastest up here at elevation. After some weirdly slow track workouts, Heather suggested that I might be iron deficient. I started incorporating high iron foods into my diet and avoiding things that can hinder iron absorption for about a week before getting my blood work done. The results came back very close to being low, so it is likely that I was anemic for lord knows how long. I started taking an iron supplement and quickly could feel a difference. |
For St Patty's day I was in Portland, OR visiting one of my best friends, Lilly and her husband Jamey (and their dog Murray). I decided to do the very expensive Shamrock Run even though it had 160 feet of elevation gain in the first 1.7 miles. The website boasts that the race only has one turn, but it has one hairpin turn and 4 more turns around a block, which did slow me down some because people hadn't spread out yet. I ran exactly 1 minute faster than in Las Cruces, 20:26, which is an official PR of 4 seconds. Because I knew the course was difficult and I wouldn't go sub-20, I was really happy with that time! I developed a little bit of a side stitch when on the downhill, but I don't think it slowed me down at all, I was able to run through it. I often get them on hills. On that last downhill mile I ran my first ever sub-6 min mile.
Next up was a smallish 5k while I was visiting New Orleans in early April. I was expecting a lot at this race, and my nerves caused me to miss 2 runs the week beforehand due to side stitching. The weather forecast looked horrendous (hot and humid, not exactly what I had trained in) so I tried to convince myself this would just be another test run.
Sure enough, race morning was 97% humidity and around 71 degrees. I wanted to follow all of Heather's suggestions for staying cool, but I just couldn't run in only a sports bra with my shorts. I seriously considered it, but I knew I would spend the whole race stressing about how I looked rather than concentrating on the task at hand.
After my warmup I went to use the porta potty, and I was so sticky from the humidity that I could barely put my shorts back on! After the kids did a half mile race, we lined up for the national anthem and we were off!
On my warm-up run, I realized that the course was not going to be as flat as I anticipated. We had to go up and down a fairly sizable bridge twice. As we ran up it the first time, I passed some people, but let me be clear- I was not racing anybody but that clock. Looking at previous results, a sub-20 wouldn't even get me in the top 10 for women, so placement was not even on my radar.
Unfortunately, as I was running down the bridge, which was right before the turn around, this girl passed me, cut right in front of me, AND SLOWED DOWN. Looking at my paces during this time, I was was running a 6:18 pace, which slowed all the way to a 6:51 pace! I was boxed in behind her and a guy who was hugging the inside lane. Frustrated, I looped wide and went around them while we were turning.
My pace dropped to 7:31 going up the hill, and then back down to 6:01 before the course leveled out again. I was getting spent and after slowing to a 6:31 pace, you can see my pace jump back to 6:03. I had to keep screaming at myself in my head not to give up and to keep pushing forward. I started to get a side stitch, but I could see the finishing arch. It looked a thousand miles away. At 2.7 miles my pace had slowed to 6:45, but I pushed hard, realizing it was going to be close and steadily increased my pace to 4:58 as I was crossing the finish where the guy in charge of timing yelled "20 even!"
20:00
On my warm-up run, I realized that the course was not going to be as flat as I anticipated. We had to go up and down a fairly sizable bridge twice. As we ran up it the first time, I passed some people, but let me be clear- I was not racing anybody but that clock. Looking at previous results, a sub-20 wouldn't even get me in the top 10 for women, so placement was not even on my radar.
Unfortunately, as I was running down the bridge, which was right before the turn around, this girl passed me, cut right in front of me, AND SLOWED DOWN. Looking at my paces during this time, I was was running a 6:18 pace, which slowed all the way to a 6:51 pace! I was boxed in behind her and a guy who was hugging the inside lane. Frustrated, I looped wide and went around them while we were turning.
My pace dropped to 7:31 going up the hill, and then back down to 6:01 before the course leveled out again. I was getting spent and after slowing to a 6:31 pace, you can see my pace jump back to 6:03. I had to keep screaming at myself in my head not to give up and to keep pushing forward. I started to get a side stitch, but I could see the finishing arch. It looked a thousand miles away. At 2.7 miles my pace had slowed to 6:45, but I pushed hard, realizing it was going to be close and steadily increased my pace to 4:58 as I was crossing the finish where the guy in charge of timing yelled "20 even!"
20:00
After feeling zero emotion and getting my backpack from a really nice stranger who watched it for me (people in NOLA are the best!), I took a second to process what had happened, what I had just done.
I WAS pumped. I AM pumped. Heather called me, and when I was telling her about the race, I had forgotten about the lady who cut in front of me. When I realized later that she might have prevented me from hitting my goal, I was a bit crestfallen. The only thing that made me feel better was giving myself a little tough love. "You should have run fast enough so that race tactics wouldn't have even mattered. You'll just have to be faster next time so it won't happen again." The woman finished 30 seconds behind me, by the way.
While I keep thinking about what I could have done to shave ONE SECOND off my time, I really am very happy with 20:00! I thought that to hit sub-20, EVERYTHING would have to be PERFECT. Perfect temps, no wind, flat course, no side stitches, sea level, few turns, and at race weight. So to run so close to my goal on a day with such awful weather, a few pounds heavy on a non-flat course with side stitches makes me feel like maybe I can do this thing after all, and maybe I can even do it closer to home.
While I keep thinking about what I could have done to shave ONE SECOND off my time, I really am very happy with 20:00! I thought that to hit sub-20, EVERYTHING would have to be PERFECT. Perfect temps, no wind, flat course, no side stitches, sea level, few turns, and at race weight. So to run so close to my goal on a day with such awful weather, a few pounds heavy on a non-flat course with side stitches makes me feel like maybe I can do this thing after all, and maybe I can even do it closer to home.
Unfortunately, NOLA was my last chance at my 5k goal for awhile. I'll be pacing Terry for 40 miles at Western States, so I have very little time to jump back on the trails and get in completely different shape. I am going to keep working with coach Heather on both 5k training and ultra training at the same time, but obviously it won't be as 5k specific, and I'm not sure when I'll take the time to try another race. It might not be until late Fall/winter that I get to try again, but gosh darn it I am NOT stopping until I get that official 19:xx!!! I never thought it would be this hard, but I feel like I have unique challenges with those mother effing side stitches. I'm not going to lie, I'm excited for trails just to get a break from stressing about the side stitches.
So, to be continued...
So, to be continued...