The title of this blog really says it all!

Marathon runners will especially get it. 5Ks are brutal. If you run them to the best of your ability, you’re in for 3.1 miles of chest thumping, heart pumping pain. Every time I run one, I am like, “the hell with this, this hurts so bad, let’s stick with longer races from here on out, please.” 

And yet, I keep signing up for them– mostly because friends want to run them and want me to do them, too, or because I’m traveling somewhere and I want to do a new race and a 5K is all I can find. This is especially true in the summer. 

Case in point: Next month, I am running two 5Ks, one in Lewes, Delaware on July 9 when I’m on vacation and one on my 43rd birthday on July 28. The birthday 5K is on a track, my first time ever racing on a track. It’s called the Twilight 5000 and it takes place in D.C. and is sponsored by the running apparel company Tracksmith. Even though I love to hate 5Ks, I couldn’t resist the idea of taking on a new challenge on my birthday! 

And I decided to actually do some targeted training for it. I’ve written before about how I really only follow plans for marathon training and just kind of wing it for the other distances. However, I ran a 5K on Memorial Day weekend in my hometown in Pennsylvania and was severely humbled. I was actually supposed to run a half marathon instead that weekend, the Old Turnpike Half on an abandoned portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. But then I started reading race recaps that talked about how rough the surface of the road was and I thought the risk of me tripping and falling and injuring myself was way too great. 

I saw there was a 5K happening back home in honor of the longtime former track and field coach at my high school. I didn’t run in high school, but remembered Coach Snider well and figured I’d sign up. The race finished on the high school football field, and I thought it would be so fun to be on the field for the first time since I’d twirled a flag at football halftime shows 25 years ago! 

Objectively, I did well. My time of 21:19 was far from my best, but I was 6th female and 2nd in my age group. However, I hadn’t done any speedwork since before Boston and I really felt it. I went out way too fast with some speedy cross country stars who were half my age and wanted to quit after the first mile. 

It was a total crash and burn. So I decided to pull out a 5K plan from Pfitzinger’s Faster Road Racing, which has plans for distances from the 5K to the half marathon. I generally don’t do targeted speedwork unless it’s part of a training plan, mostly because even after all my years of running, I really don’t know WTF I am doing with speedwork. I need a coach or a plan to guide me. 

The plan is surprisingly challenging. I say surprisingly because the mileage is low– I peak at 40 miles per week. Over the last few years, I’ve really increased my mileage during marathon training and even hit 70 miles per week during Chicago training. So 40 seems like NBD, and most of the weeks are in the 33-37 mile range. The long runs range from 8 to 10 miles, though I am running quite a few weekday runs that are in the 7-8 mile range. 

But the speed sessions are tough. For example, this week my speed day was 9 miles with 3 x 1,000 meter repeats, followed by 3 x 800 meter repeats, at 3K to 5K pace. Woof. Last week it was 8 miles with 7 x 600 meter repeats, followed by a 400 meter repeat, at 3K to 5K pace. Gag. I also have days where I am doing a few rounds of 150 meter sprints as part of a 7 or 8 miler. Those are actually kind of fun. But the track workouts are legit kicking my ass and I’m just glad we’ve been having our coolest June in many years. Most mornings it’s been in the 60s and it’s such a welcome change from the typical Chesapeake Bay summer heat and humidity! 

I am excited to see where the plan takes me. I have my first race since Memorial Day coming up on the Fourth of July, the Arbutus Firecracker 10K. I’ve heard it’s a hot and hilly beast and I don’t really know what to expect, time-wise. Then the 5K in Lewes 5 days later, then the Twilight 5000 at the end of July. In an ideal world, I’d love to break 20 minutes at the Twilight 5000. I’ve only done that once before and it was coming off my training for Chicago, when I was in the absolute best shape of my life. 

The one thing going for me is that the Twilight 5000 apparently has pacers, so I’ll be less likely to fly and die if I can stick with a 20 minute pacer and then pull ahead during the last lap. All I can do is try!