Athlete Race Recap: Bound for the Hounds Ultra, Lights on the Lake 5K, & Harborside 5K

Three different Full Circle Endurance athletes used races as training events this past weekend!  Each of these athletes has an A-Goal that they are building toward, and they decided to use these events as supported training days enroute to those goals.

When thoughtfully incorporated, races used as supported training workouts can be beneficial and provide a lot of insight about how the athlete is progressing toward their “bigger” A-Goal.  Racing too frequently can actually impair an athlete’s ability to execute a race plan at an A-Race, so races as training events should be used wisely.  All three athletes this week used these races for exactly this purpose: To support their goals for their A-Races.

• Bound for the Hounds 6-Hour Ultra - Shortsville, New York
• Lights on the Lake 5K - Syracuse, New York
• Harborside 5K - Newburyport, Massachusetts

Bound for the Hounds Ultra - Shortsville, New York

On Saturday, November 20, 2021, Leslie Smith used the Bound for the Hounds 6-Hour Ultra as a way to tackle her planned long training run for the week.  Another bonus to doing this was that she participated in the race with a friend, which served as some extra motivation for the day!

Leslie encountered some adversity during the race, but as mentioned earlier, this is actually a good thing, as it provides us with valuable information about how best to proceed forward to Leslie’s A-Race.  If something is not quite right, we would MUCH rather learn about it in training than on race day.  Learning about this now helps Leslie and I navigate the training we plan as her A-Race gets closer and gives Leslie a higher probability of hitting her goal at her A-Race.  Truly, a win-win! :)

Well done, Leslie!

Lights on the Lake 5K - Syracuse, New York

On Sunday, November 21, 2021, Lisa Crockford rose VERY early for a local 5K - the Lights on the Lake 5K.  The reason for such an early race start?  This race takes runners through Onondaga Lake Park, which hosts the annual Lights on the Lake drive-through holiday light display.  Darkness is essential to this being the intended festive race experience for the athletes running it.

Lisa and I have been working on building up her running speed, and we had some specific goals for this race in terms of how we wanted to execute it.  These goals were related to the execution of the race, not necessarily the time-based outcome of the race.  

I’m so pleased to say that Lisa executed the plan to a T and that this bodes VERY well for her upcoming 5K that we’re aiming for a fast time at!  And, as it so happens, the Lights on the Lake 5K was one of the fastest 5Ks that Lisa has run in quite a bit.  It’s always great when a plan comes together. :)

Well done, Lisa!

Harborside 5K - Newburyport, Massachusetts

On Sunday, November 21, 2021, Sarah Grundy ran the Harborside 5K in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Sarah, like so many of you reading this, is very competitive with herself.  Thus, using a race as a supported training day is actually a very real challenge for her (as it likely is for many of you ;) ) because she always wants to give 100% of her effort when she races.

The plan for this 5K was NOT to give 100%.  Based on where Sarah is in her training plan for her A-Race, a race effort at 100% right now timing-wise could impair her ability to execute other workouts in her plan that are designed to help her achieve her goal at her A-Race.  Thus, the plan for this 5K was to run it EASY.

I’m so proud of Sarah, as she did run this race as planned!  Sometimes, being tough isn’t about going as hard as we can.  Sometimes, being tough is doing the hard thing, and sometimes that hard thing is going easy.  Sarah showed true toughness by sticking to this plan for this race.

Well done, Sarah!