I headed downtown early on Sunday morning to make it to my 7:06 Heat at the Carlsbad 5000. I wanted to get there at least an hour early to give the legs a good shakeout as I was feeling a bit of fatigue from Saturday's effort. I ended up running about 7 miles before the race and at least in terms of my muscles, I felt ready to race.

I had no clue how things would net out: This could have been a great race, or a spectacular "Controlled Flight Into Terrain".

I seeded myself in the 7:00 MPM area of the corral. The gun fired and after crossing the start line, I found myself having to pick my way through a crowd of folks who had obviously misjudged their opening pace. Within about 500 meters I found some open ground to run in and this felt more like the first bit of an open water swim than a 5k.

I found my groove in terms of the required intensity for a 5k but had no clue how fast I was running. My plan was to just run by feel and not even look at my watch. I would be using the race clocks to note my mile splits assuming I could remember them.

I hit the first mile at ~6:45 race clock time with no clue where I was in terms of actual mile splits. I was feeling OK and was even able to calm down a bit but then reached for another gear to keep the intensity on.

About this time, I spotted a couple of folks who had their age marked on their calves and when I came along side, I asked if they had done IMCal on Saturday; It turned out they did an Olympic Distance the day before.

I hit mile 2 with the race clock showing ~13:30 so it looked like my pacing was pretty even up to this point. I train all the time on this course and know pretty well where the hills are and took full advantage of the downhills and flats to recover a bit so I could charge the hills when needed; but not impale myself on them and blow up.

As I was heading into the last half of Mile 3, I heard a guy chatting about IMCal and when I got to him, I asked if he ran it this year, and he did. We chatted about our results and we both seemed happy with the outcome, so I wished him well and continue to move through the crowd. (yes, I am not the only one with the wacky notion of running the 5000 the day after Oceanside)

I hit the second of two 180 degree turns on the course and stuck my chin into the final hill of the course. I wanted to hit it hard, but not so hard that I lost my final kick.

As I headed into the final turn I tried to find another gear but did not have much left. I was still a bit dehydrated and fatigued from Saturday and it seemed that my speed at my highest intensity was a bit lower. The final .1 miles is a slight downhill and I kicked through this section but then found an extra bit of speed when the announcer said to hurry up to make it under 21 minutes. (I knew I was well below this point by chip time) I crossed the finish at 20:57, and my watch showed 20:40. It seems like my pace fell off a bit but the toughest hill on the course is in the final mile.

I collected my hardware for finishing in the top 250 (I was 90th) and moved quickly through the finish chute. I had to go over to the start and pick up the waterpups so Watergirl could load up for her heat at 8:00 AM.

I did bump into John (IRFB) and he did awesome. (I will let you read his report when he posts it) I was great to chat with him after the race and I think he will do very well again in Boston.

All in all, I am tickled with the results. I was just over a minute slower then last year but this was my second fastest 5k ever. Given that I ran a Half Ironman the day before, (Including a 1:43:33 Half Marathon Run Leg) I think this tuneup went very well.

I have 3 more months of training left for IMCdA and now I have a clear understanding of my limiters and where to put focus on my training. The good news is that it seems like my run fitness is coming along very well.

My plan is to run the Orange County Marathon on May 1st as another tuneup; and both the HM (From Oceanside) and the 5k (From Carlsbad) times give me some good data to continue my training and set target paces for OCM.

Thanks everyone for your support

I was about 1 minute off from my personal best I set here in 2010. But, I did to a Half Ironman the day before :)