This Sunday I’ll be running my sixth race of 2014 and my second 5k of the year – the BA5k in South Jersey. This 5k is an annual race to honor the memory of one of my sister-in-law’s high school classmates who passed away from an undiagnosed heart arrhythmia at the age of 21.
Having walked this race in 2010, 2011, and 2012, I know that the course is super flat and great for pushing myself towards another speedy finish time. Given how busy life has been this week though (on both Monday and Wednesday I was out of the house for nearly 14 hours straight, and I still haven’t fully caught up on sleep from my sister-in-law’s bachelorette party on Saturday), I’m a tad worried about pushing my body to achieve another 5k PR after setting my current PR at the Jaguar 5k two weeks ago. I’m certainly going to try my best, but deep down, I’m a bit worried about what my body will be able to do.
With that said, I’m still setting high goals for this race, and come Sunday morning I’ll see what my body is capable of.
Goal A – Finish the race in under 31:07 (10:02 pace) – my current treadmill PR
Goal B – Finish the race in under 31:40 (10:12 pace) – my current race PR from the Jaguar 5k
Goal C – Finish the race in under 31:51 (10:15 pace)
QOTD: How do you approach goal setting for races when you’re worried about pushing your body too hard?
If I feel like it’s “just not gonna happen”, then I turn it around and make it more of a fun day – lots of pics, goofing around with other runners, and just plain being silly. At some point, with all the races we do, we have to take a step back and make just enjoying it the priority, instead of always shooting for a PR. That being said, good luck!🙂
Good point, Kimberley. We’ll see how I feel Sunday morning and I’ll make a final decision then about whether to pace myself or treat it as more of a fun run.
I try to run what I feel. I suck at training plans and constantly push too hard too fast with too much. So I tend to “race” with little to no training. But even when I finally do stay healthy enough to train for a race, I hope I remember to run smart and listen to my body
Listening to your body is oh so important.
I make sure to listen to my body. If it feels like a good day then I go for it. But if my body is screaming and I know a PR isn’t going to happen then I slow down and just enjoy the race. I take tons of pictures and have fun!
Depending on how I feel Sunday morning, that might be this weekend’s approach.
Make it a fun/training run! There’s always another 5K, no point in getting injured and pushing your next PR further away. Good luck!
Good point, especially since I’ll need to run an extra mile after the race in order to get in my full four miles that my training plan is calling for this weekend.
Good luck this weekend!! You’re going to do great!
I had to modify my original marathon goal due to injury and losing training time. The key is listening to how your body is feeling and push however hard (or not hard) you think you can.
Listening to your body is by far the best advice I’ve ever heard and continue to follow.
Good luck with your race Kathryn! I completely understand how you are feeling – with work being so crazy this week I do not feel as ready for my half next weekend. I may update my goals for next week to “keeping an even pace” or “negative split the last half”.
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