Minneapolis, MN 4/26/25
Well here’s 8 weeks of following a 5k specific workout schedule about to pour out on to the road. I loaded a plan into Final Surge, selected a goal time of 18:45 and followed the guidance. Two times per week I ran fast, then I chose to do more miles easy or longer than prescribed. The plan called for 40 miles per week, but most of my weeks were over that.
Minnehaha Falls Park was the race site. The Get in Gear event is considered a Rite of Spring for the Minnesota area families and the local running community. Anne Carroll said this was her first 10k in the late 1980s, Christina Rooney said she had not only participated in this race but went to college near the park. The park had a nice view of Minnehaha Falls, a waterway that fed into the Mississippi River. The river was along the east side of the 5k course. It was visible if you wanted to see it, but I didn’t catch many views of it in the race.
We rode to the park on a school bus, this was transportation organized by the RRCA National Convention. I learned most people from the conference did the 10k, some were in the half marathon, and a few like myself in the 5k. I had run the Rising Sun 5k in late Feb and thought with training I could come in under 19 minutes. My previous best 5k was 2014 at Race For The Cure, where I finished in 19:07.
The morning weather had me warmly dressed in a singlet, shorts, two long sleeve shirts, a lululemon windproof jacket, arm sleeves and gloves. The temp when I arrived at the park was 38 degrees. The sun was rising and it was supposed to warm to 43 by the time I finished which would be a little before 9 am. Upon arriving at the park, I ran one mile out on the 5k course and one mile back. This way, the only part I didn’t see was the middle 1/2 mile out and back. I stopped for a forest-like restroom break, saw some crew boats practicing on the river, and went back to the start liine area. Prior to lining up in the corral, I did six 200-300 meter strides. I decided upon seeing all of the Minnesotans dressed like it was summer, that I could run with just singlet and shorts and no gloves. Be brave, Dave, you lived up north! It was the right choice.
I started near the front of the corrals among the 6 minute per mile group. The course didn’t have “hills,” but some glances at my watch showed a pace 15 seconds too fast, other spots showed me going too slow. I gather the entire race had an elevation change of about 65-75 feet, really only a single climb of the Blue Heron Bridge. I never felt like I was chugging up a hill. I ran the tangents on the slightly curvy road for the first mile. There were more people near me and ahead of me than I thought. Slowly I’d pass a few of them that went out too fast. My first mile was 6:07. This was about as slow as I could hope to go and still finish under 19 minutes. I kept going and soon saw the lead runner and guide cyclist coming back at me. That was good news, the turnaround must be close!
I wasn’t looking at my watch, except for hearing the mile checkpoint BEEPS, so I didn’t know how far along I was or what my heart rate was at. I saw a white A-frame sign in the middle of the road that read “Turnaround.” No timing mat, just that sign. In the distance, I saw people running ahead on the same road, so when I got to the sign and was told by an older male volunteer to run around it, that was a good surprise. I was already heading back!
Now I had less people ahead of me. One tall guy passed me and then continued ahead. I kept watching a girl ahead dressed in a very bright neon yellow top with a similar colored ribbon woven into each of her pigtails. I was slowly gaining ground on her, but not with a specific purpose. I hit the second mile and my watch read 6:17, now I was surprised to see I was already slowing in the second mile. My limited 5k history is to run a great first mile on or ahead of pace, do an “ok” second mile then I would fade after the 2.5 mile point and then I’d slow for the finishing 3/4 of a mile. For this race, there wasn’t a breeze, I heard some cheers from the runners coming at me heading towards their turnaround, so there were no excuses. I was breathing hard but not “crisis” mode yet. I continued running as straight of a line as I could, seeing different landmarks I noticed on the warmup run. “There’s the overpass, here are the houses I passed.” Then just one cross street manned by police and it was up a small rise to the 3rd mile sign. I came in with a 6:12 for that mile. I saw I was now almost next to the brightly dressed girl, who according to the runners cheering on the other side, was second female in the race. I decided to open up with whatever breath I had left to pass her. I may have to chew on my tongue I remember thinking, but once I pass her – it will probably incite her to chase and try to get me before the finish. I have to press hard. I ran the final piece of it and finished in 19:29.
I had improved since the February 5k race, but still I was 10 seconds per mile off getting the goal time. I was happy because I had really improved, and knowing that for the training, I was so near my limit just hitting the paces and stopping to breath during intervals, this was a good result. What it really means is that I am now back to the usual 5k performance speed and time I had before receiving any of the Covid booster shots necessary for Boston 2021, Boston 2022 and Berlin 2022. That’s a good result!
I plan to still incorporate speed runs in training for May, then hopefully have an idea as to which late summer race I can complete, either Sydney or Erie, PA. It’s fun, and it will help me.
-dm
drun4fun 