15.5 & Phillies Charity 5K Race Recap

I was dreading 15.5 all day.  I'm usually finished by 7 am, but since our gym was doing a Friday Night Lights event, I had all day to contemplate the workout.

It took the pros 7 minutes and change.  I knew it was going to take me at least twice that time.  I figured I had to do the workout Rx because I knew I could, but the 65 lbs thrusters were going to be heavy!  I was right.  They felt heavy from the first one during warm up.  I kept looking around beforehand hoping one of my coaches would notice the panic on my face and tell me I should scale it (which was 45 lbs), but that didn't happen.

The workout started and I took my time on the rower.  All the advice I had read beforehand told me to pace myself rowing and save it all for the thrusters.  It probably didn't matter... the thrusters felt heavy immediately and chipping away the 27 was challenging.  The rest of the workout was pretty much a blur of trying to catch my breath on the rower and pushing through the pain on the thrusters.  My legs were burning and I was sucking wind.

During the WOD I just kept thinking of this mantra that I read earlier that day in a 15.5 mental performance tips post: I love getting to the dark place, because I know that's where the magic happens.  I'm not really sure anybody loves getting to the dark place, but I knew I was in it and knew it wouldn't end until I finished all the work.  All I can say is thank God for my CrossFit family.  I was seriously struggling, but everyone kept cheering me on and encouraging me and it helped so much!  I loved the energy in the gym all night!

Thanks for all the great photos Kate :)

16 minutes and 12 seconds later, I crashed onto the floor so happy that it was over!  15.5 was honestly one of the hardest workouts I've ever done in my life.  It was the perfect end to a mentally and physically challenging 2015 Open!  Like I said before, the Open took me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to accomplish things I didn't think were possible!  It was a great experience and while I'm glad it's over, I'll definitely be signing up next year.

Usually I'm not sore from CF until the next day, but my legs were really hurting immediately afterwards.  We all went out to a local sports bar for dinner, but when I got home I quickly popped some ibuprofen and covered my thighs in icyhot.  I woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble getting back to sleep because my legs were just aching.  When I woke up in the morning, it hurt to walk.  Between that and the 30 degree temps outside, I really contemplated trying to convince Dave to just skip the race.

But I knew I'd hate myself and I'd never be able to wear the nice tech T race shirt because I would just feel like a big liar in it lol.

We left our house around 6:30 am.  There was no traffic, so we cruised down 76 and parked a little after 7.  It was cold, so we hung out in the car until 7:30.  The race was very well organized.  They had a ton of porta pottys so I didn't have to wait in a long line, which is a race day win!  The announcements were loud and clear, so we knew what was going on and where to line up.  We settled in between the 9 and 10 min/mi pace markers and did some stretching.  Did I mention my legs were sore?

At 8 am, the race started and we were off!  The beginning was a little crowded.  It's always a little bit of scramble trying to dodge people and get into the groove.  My quads were on fire immediately and as we passed some people walking during the first mile, I was thinking that it would've felt pretty good (and also that I hate when people suck at lining up based on their pace).  We ran past the Fanatic and soon we were in FDR park and headed into mile 2.

The path was a bit more narrow in the park, but the further we got into the race, the less everyone was trying to pass.  At the halfway point, they were handing out water, but I knew if I stopped at all, I wasn't going to get my legs to begin again.  I realized we had been following a couple for a little while, so I made it my goal to stay with them.  I tried to zone out and just concentrate on them.  My legs felt awful and I was definitely winded.  I was so cold before the race began but now I was wishing I could ditch some of my layers.  I just kept thinking this will all be over soon enough.

We finished mile 2 and soon we were leaving the park.  As we headed back onto Broad Street, I could hear the announcer at the finish line.  As we rounded the corner, the finish line was in view!  We left our pacing couple behind and started to push.  Right after we finished mile 3, I saw a guy go off to the side and thought that's weird we're so close... until he started tossing his cookies.  The last little bit of the race was so tough, that 0.1 felt so long.

Crossing the finish line was the sweetest relief!  Our official time was 30:06.  While I didn't have any goals for this race other than to just survive, Dave wanted to finish in under 30 minutes.  My running app said we ran 3.22 miles (instead of 3.1), so I'm still counting it as a win!  We both only did 2 training runs beforehand and our legs were smoked already, so I was quite impressed with our performance.

Negative splits, for the win!  We grabbed our medals, some water, bananas, and soft pretzels, and made our way to the field entrance for our cool down lap around the warning track.  It was pretty neat being down on the field!

We snapped some pics and took in the sights, but soon I was cold and ready to get out of there.  We hobbled up the stairs out of the stadium (cruel!) and headed to the car.  We grabbed some cheesesteaks (at 9 am, breakfast of champions lol) and headed home!

Now it's Tuesday (Happy Birthday Mom <3) and it still hurts to walk!  Hopefully my legs will feel normal at some point this week....