5K in 26 mins and Mental Toughness

My next race is NYRR Dash to the Finish 5K race, to be held on Nov 2, 2013, the day before the New York City Marathon. Participating in this race will be my 8th race, as part of the NYRR's 9+1 program, before I'll automatically qualify for the 2014 New York City marathon (my first one yet!).

In the realm of 5K, I've ran a good number of races. It used to my favorite race distance. My PR in the race is 28:36: but that was in 2009 and I've never managed to beat that. Note: 2009 might just be one of my most un-healthiest moments in history-- I was in grad school, pigging out often and not in shape. Surprisingly, however, my 5K records in 2013 have been anything but impressive, even though this is the year that I supposedly became more serious about running and racing. Here's my 5K track record this year:

1. Predictions and Resolutions 5K - 30:09
2. Coogan's 5K - 29:25
3. Giant's 5K - 33:39

Here's what typically happens during my 5K runs: I usually start out feeling excited and pumped. After mile 1, I generally feel good. Mile 2 starts and I begins a mental battle with myself that ends with my giving up..."gosh, I still have more than half left! I dont know if I can keep this pace!." Mile 2.5: "I really want to stop...ughh, should I stop? Wait, my ankle is throbbing... guess I should stop..." Mile 3: "I might as well give up, I'll never beat my PR at this rate." End of the race: <defeat>

When it all comes down to it. I think it's all mental toughness--how much adversity I can handle while running a race. Specifically, I need to work on tuning out those around me and focusing on the task of running a consistent pace, i.e. not walking in the middle of the race because of a side cramp or ankle pains. I need to develop the mental toughness to push through pain, self-doubt and all negativity, finishing the race at a level that is near or at my breaking point and physical limitations. This is at least how I would imagine a race should go. It's all about the mental game. 

Parallel to mental toughness is the notion of indomitable motivation, so that I don't lose steam like I tend to do just after mile 2. When I'm out training or running in a race, I should definitely have higher and more defined goals for myself-- this is one of the reasons that I started this blog, so that I can have the space to express what I want to achieve as well as regularly update myself and general readers through my daily training cycles.

I also think that I should develop a better strategy when tackling any race, i.e. how fast I should go out and run the first mile? What pace I should run and at what mile? How many people I should pass along the way? Where to speed up / slow down? I think that if I want to become a serious runner, I should be more methodical and really take the time to think about what I've been doing, training and racing. 

My goal for my next 5K race is to run sub 26 minutes. It's a little bit of a stretch for me, seeing that means running at an 8:30 per mile pace, but I think I can do it. During my training runs, I can easily run at a 9 minute pace, so when I'm racing-- with all the people and adrenaline, there is no reason why I can't run 30 seconds faster!