Testing 1, 3, 5
I had another race this past weekend and I wanted to make it about testing some limits. I had run this same 5K last year, in fact it was my 1st race in L.A. and 1st race in about 5 years.
This time I had 2 objectives:
1. Beat my time from last year after all with a year of training under my belt, I should be faster. plus, now I knew the course
2. See if I could run a fast 5K after a long run which is basically mixing aerobic capacity and anaerobic power.
If you ask most competitive athletes, they tend to fall into 2 distinct camps whether it be running, cycling, swimming, etc.
1. The short distance sprinter group…. these folks are fast and furious but rarely do any long-distance events. For example, you will NEVER see Usain Bolt running a marathon. They have an amazing ANAEROBIC power, high VO2, high CARB burning system and do more strength training.
2. The long-distance marathon, century ride/Tour de France, 10K meter swim folks tend to have a high AEROBIC base, also a high VO2 max, tend to be more fat burning and are not so keen on wgt/strength training as they fear getting bulky.
3. And I wanted to test the idea of running while fasted and low fluid. I did my usual stop eating at 5pm the night before, then just a cup of coffee with butter in AM to get the system going. Which is how I do all my training sessions. HOWEVER, this time I was going to follow tips of Irish marathon legend Shay Lynch 🎓FAIBF , and train empty tank, race on full tank.
Race Day
I ran the 7 miles to the race using a mix of trail and road with a couple very nice hills for bonus points, then for the full tank approach, I had a bottle of IQ MIX Will Nitze electrolytes and a handful of chocolate covered coffee beans. BINGO…electrolytes replaced and fresh sugar.
When the race started, I worked through the crowd, spotted a guy in a red hat way out in front and used him as a pacer rabbit. I finished with a time of 23:06 which beat last year’s 23:42.
Moral of the Story—-it is possible to mix both aerobic and anaerobic training, and do speed work after a long slow run. HOOYAH.
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