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After taking about a month off from racing during training camp and the preseason, I've gotten back out there with a couple of races over the last few weeks. The first was the Back to Football 5K at the Georgia Dome, my first road race in about a year. The race is put on by the Falcons and the Atlanta Track Club and kicks off the NFL season by finishing at the 50-yard line inside the Dome.

The Back to Football 5K is a race I've done a couple of times, mainly because a bunch of people from work do it and you can't be the guy at the office that runs all the time and not do the 5K that everyone in the office is doing. Plus, I figured a 5K would be a good fitness test to see where I was after some steady running and decent workouts but no racing. Leading up to race day, I'd been averaging around 40 miles per week with a day off mixed in due to travel and/or late nights working with one track workout each week.

The workouts had been decent, nothing spectacular but I figured that 5:00 to 5:10 pace would be doable as long as I didn't go out too fast. Having run the race a couple of times in the past, I had a pretty good idea of the course. It's flat to mildly rolling with a nice downhill into the mile mark, a flat second mile, and a few rollers in the third mile. They did make slight change to the route with the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, forcing an alternate finish from what this race has had in the past.

Starting at Falcons Landing, which is just outside the Dome, the course took us around Phillips Arena (home of the Hawks) and then down through a couple of neighborhoods. The new route featured a shorter run away from the Dome and got us onto Northside drive a little bit earlier. As a result of the change to the first two miles of the course, the race followed Northside all the way up to Ivan Allen before turning into the service entrance for the Dome and running underneath the World Congress Center.

Here's a better look...

Based on the workouts that I've done over the last few weeks, a lot of 5K & 10K pace stuff, I figured that I had a shot at running under 16 minutes, so that was my race plan. Try to go out around 5:10 pace and work the downhill sections. When I got to the start, I was blown away by the number of people there for the race, over 3000 total. Saw a few guys on the line that looked pretty legit, so I was a little nervous when everyone from work was asking me how much I was going to win by, or when my boss told me not to come into the office if I didn't win. I did a few strides and just told myself to relax and run my race. I knew what I was capable of running and I felt like that would at least keep me in contention.

I got out well at the gun but eased back on the throttle a little bit. As I get older, I need to be more mindful of how fast I go out. it makes zero sense for me to go out in 4:50 pace and then come home in 5:30 pace. The law of diminishing returns is for real. Anyway, I settled in at towards the front of the group, running in second or third for the first 400 meters before settling into second. I stayed there for the first half mile before glancing down at my watch and seeing that we were running about 5:20 pace. I felt confident that I could pick it up a little bit, so I eased into the lead just before we started to head downhill toward the mile mark.

The acceleration opened up a little bit of a gap, so I tried to settle into a good rhythm and keep stretching out my lead. I went through the mile around 5:05, perfect. I can't overstate how important the workouts I have been doing were to this race. Having done a bunch of work at 5:00/5:10 pace, I was confident that I would be comfortable running that fast, or at least I thought I would be and sometimes that's all you need.

I split two miles at 10:11, 5:06 for the second mile and that really bolstered my confidence. I also stretched out my lead and really took control of the race by that point. After two miles, I knew that all I had to do was maintain and I'd get the win, but I also knew that I'd have to stay on it if I wanted to get under 16 minutes. As we passed the Georgia Dome on our way up Northside Drive I was still feeling pretty strong, that was amplified with the ensuing downhill, but as I made the short climb up to the service entrance I started to feel the effort.

I took a quick glance back and saw that I had a big enough lead to win the race, but tried to focus on staying in a groove to finish as fast as possible. The service entrance was brutally long and just when it felt like the finish was never going to come, I dipped under the GWCC and made my way up the loading dock. I probably had a little too much fun coming out of the tunnel and into the final 50 meters, but I broke the tape at 15:53. I was pumped to get under 16 minutes, which I'm pretty sure is a 30+ PR for me.

Here's a quick video of my finish. Unfortunately, I didn't save my buddy's snap when he was yelling "First place alert! First place alert!"

Getting the win for @WildEnduranceVT in the Rise Up and Run 5k #RunAllOut pic.twitter.com/s96KwMNZkJ

— Matt Haley (@mattmhaley) September 26, 2016

This is what the race looked like on Strava. I didn't stop my watch for about 15 seconds after the finish. That was one of the first times that I'd gotten to physically break the tape, so I wasn't really sure what to do with myself.

Race #2

The XTERRA Georgia series kicked off with the Harbins Park 10K last weekend. XTERRA has been one of my goals over the last couple of years. It's a fun challenge because the series stretches from September until August (it used to be May), so it's good motivation to try and stay in shape for the entire year.

Harbins Park kicks off the series and generally kicks off the beginning of Fall here in Georgia. I say generally kicks off Fall because by the time I finished the race it was nearly 90 degrees, but the last two years it has been cool and rainy. I've probably recapped this race three times already so I'll keep this one pretty brief. The course follows the hiking path, which is 4-6 feet wide for its entirety. It starts out fast, being mostly downhill for the first 2+ miles. The trail features a decent climb around the half way point, but it's pretty gradual so you just kind of have to grind your way up it. After that it's rolling and net uphill to the finish, which makes for a rough second half.

I need to talk to Ferenc about a longer singlet #croptop

I felt pretty confident going into this race. It's the kind of trail race the suits me well with wide trails and rolling hills that allow me to stay in a rhythm. The trail races I struggle with are the ones that have a lot of punchy climbs or a ton of tight twists and turns. Also anything with monster climbs. I'm not so great that those either. Coming off of the 5K and knowing the course, I felt like I had a good shot to run pretty well.

As is custom at most of these races, everyone let me go right to the front. I wasn't overly excited about that as there were a couple of guys there that I didn't recognize, but sometimes that's the kick in the ass that I need to snap out of 'I just want to cruise through this' mode and into race mode. I had a few guys nipping at my heals for the first half mile or so, which is run on a paved path, but things started to string out a little bit once we hit the trails. There were still two or three guys right on me until we hit the mile, but shortly after that I could feel them start to back off a little. The risk here is going out to fast with the first half being downhill, but I thought if I could get away by the top of the half way climb I'd be able to cruise the second half and get the win. Once I felt them let me go a little bit I decided to push on.

This strategy worked out pretty well. I tried to grind out the rollers really work the flat spots by getting into a good groove. I opened up a nice lead going into the climb and worked on maintaining my effort level to the top. Once I crested the climb, I tried to relax and recover a little bit before I started working my way back up to the finish over the second half. I started to feel the effects of the fast start around the four mile mark and really struggled to hold onto my form. I ended up hanging on for the win, but the last two miles were a real struggle.

As you can seen in the photo above, I was pretty gassed at the finish. I think the combo of a fast start and hotter than usual tempurature took a toll on me. I crossed the line in 36:45, averaging just under six-minute pace. Keeping the average under six was my goal going in and it's always great to be able to get a win. I actually ended up beating a guy from Colombia, so go USA. 

Here's the Strava info...

If you look at the pace analysis, you can see how the fast start changed the end of the race.

My next race won't be for about another month as I've got back to back road games with work, including a week long trip out to Seattle, so I'm missing the next race on the Dirty Spokes calendar. With trips to Denver and Seattle coming up, hopefully I'll get a few fun runs in that are worth writing about, so I'm not just recapping the same races over and over again. I've got a post coming on my recent trip to San Francisco and my impromptu 15 mile excursion to the Golden Gate Bridge soon, I swear.