Carlsbad 5000

Four years ago at my first Carlsbad 5000 I set my road 5k PR in 14:54. I was only one year out of college and it was to be expected. The last three Carlsbad races have had a recurring theme of me going out way too hard, 4:35-4:40 for the first mile, and blowing up on the last two miles. There is always great competition there, and I always tell myself to take it easy on mile one, but adrenaline seems to get the better of me. I haven't really been in anywhere near this fit for a couple years. Based on recent workouts and minus about 10 lbs, I figured I could handle the fast pace, but wanted to be cautious nonetheless--nothing faster than 4:45.

Start -I'm on the left

I finally took a relatively easy day yesterday, running 5.5 miles on the Irvine Lake Mud Run course, minus the obstacles, then cheering on Heather, Angela, Mike. The course is much better than last year, so if you read this, Paul Rudman, nice work, but still a ways to go to match Pendleton. I woke up extra early this morning to do a shakeout run and jogged down to the Newport Dunes to watch the Newport Beach Triathlon at 7 a.m. Then Heather and Angela (good job on back-to-back races!) and I drove down to Carlsbad. The weather in Carlsbad was perfect, 60 and cloudy, with some wind. I made a stupid mistake of debuting my new Saucony Grid A3 racing flats, and left the Asics in the car--stupid. The A3's are extremely light at 6 ounces, but were slipping off my heal a bit so I had to make the shoes extra tight and go no socks. Good news is they should get me through Alcatraz, bad news is I got blisters.

I had a great 3-mile warm-up and felt very springy. After then 1/2 mile jog to the start from the Cal Coast tent, I took my place in the corral only to have them hold us an extra 10 minutes while we waiting for the Amtrak Oceanliner train to cross. This happens every year so I should know better by now. After about 7 minutes of standing and shaking out my legs I just sat down to conserve energy, which ended up prompting the entire front line to sit. After the train passed we had about 10 seconds to stand up and get the blood flowing before we started.

Five seconds after the gun went off there were about 25 people in front of me, including Bill Walton on a custom gigantor road bike. I stayed calm and didn't move up until we turned south(left) onto Carlsbad Drive. At the 1/2 mile I was in 7th, but perfectly boxed in behind four people to block the headwind. I stayed in this position through the mile (4:46! perfect) to the turnaround at 1.4. I came out of the box about 50 yards before the turn and took extremely wide approach, which worked perfectly because when spun around I had moved effortlessly from 7th into 4th. There was a small incline after the turn and my momentum and a tailwind carried me alone into 3rd, with nobody joining me. I tried to go with the two guys in front of me but couldn't ease my way up there and didn't want to blow up with 1.5 to go. With the tailwind pushing me north I cruised the next 800 meters through 2 miles in 9:33 (4:47!) and felt great. This was my second fastest two mile split ever on the roads (9:27 en route to 14:54) so I used a small adrenaline boost, courtesy of my 2 mile split and the crowd,to try and pick up the pace and catch the guys in front of me. Not much good happened over the last 800 meters.

1st mile1.5 miles Starting to string out...

Just passed 2 miles

At the 2.5 mile turnaround, two guys blew by me and I couldn't stay with them. One more passed me before the left turn toward home on Carlsbad Village Drive--an entirely downhill stretch--but my internal monologue couldn't pick me up, and I struggled down hill to the finish, giving up two more places and crossing the line in a very satisfactory 15:20 (5:10 last mile), good for 8th place.

15:20 is my second fastest time ever on this course. It's great progress from the 15:50 rut I've been stuck in the last couple years, a byproduct of not much training. I still think I left 10-15 seconds on the course, especially struggling downhill the last 200 meters. Still I had a great race, executed the race plan I wanted, but just couldn't finish it. This will come with more strength from added mileage and swimming.

I walked back to the Cal Coast tent, high-fiving Bill Walton along the way, and cooled down about 2 miles. Then we watched Eliud Kipchoge run 13:11 to win the Elite men's race, and headed home. Now all eyes move towards Alcatraz in three weeks. Time to get back on the bike.