AM: 7 miles.
PM: 8 miles.
An interesting and frank conversation with Quint at lunch, which really started a couple days ago at track with Lee. In a nutshell, both guys have told me they think my races this winter are underperformances.
The thinking is that I race too conservatively, not really finding another gear beyond what I have established in workouts. The workouts I did that were most specific to my races this winter were:
- 10k: 3x2 miles, averaged ~5:21. Couple weeks later averaged 5:21 in a 10k.
- 15k: 5 mile tempo, averaged ~5:28. My 15k pace was 5:28.
- 1/2: 2 weeks out ran 8 miles @ 5:35, averaged 5:36 for 13.1
If anything, my serious track workouts are more skewed, where I run sub 5:00 pace for most repeats. That said, my best distance is probably 5k, so shorter reps are more a strength than say, marathon pace.
I'm a little divided. On one hand, I'd love to think that with some minor tweaks I could be running at a higher level. I do think there is plenty to think about in terms of what they're saying.
On the other hand, I'm comfortable with my approach, which is pretty good at predicting what will happen, and arriving at incremental improvments. I guess the question is whether I'm artificially limiting myself, or am I just dialed in to what I can reasonably do?
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