Single: If you've been following my blog, since the marathon you've seen I've been a bit of a head case. And today brought in the old saying that competition is 10% physical 90% mental. That being said going into this race I had high expectations. I wanted to break my old PR by at least 31 seconds. The course had been talked up a lot and I felt that with my current fitness level this was realistic, and I still do. I had gotten at least 7-hrs of sleep each of the last two nights so I was feeling rested. However, the mental strain of the week did have me a little more tired than I would have liked. I got to the course while Demetrio was setting up the finish and chatted with him briefly for the first time in a few months. Then headed over to the start. I saw Josh and Megan and did a good warm-up with them, I enjoy their senses of humor and it helped ease me into the race. I did a brief additional warm-up on my own and then headed over to the line. I spoke with Steve A. briefly and told him my main goal was to go all out through the 2-mile and then see what I had left. I shouldn't have put this into words, as we will see. I had prepared myself for this course and new that it was fast. However, it is not as crazy downhill as I was expecting. In fact it isn't even as steep as the FireHouse mile. This does make me more happy about the outcome of this race. Also, the weather was near perfect. Just a little too cool which is great for racing and a great 10-15mph tailwind for nearly the whole first two miles.
The first mile is the fastest and Josh and Megan had warned me not to flip out about the split. So I went out by feel and didn't look at my Garmin until the beep at the mile marker. The thing that did have me flip out a little were the presence of two bloggers I did not know JeffMC and Tyler (Cannonball). They were putting a gap on me quickly but I just kept going by feel. As I would find out later both are 5K "speed demons". In the way back of my mind I wanted to run a "2:30 St. George" equivalent which would be ~15:31 by Sasha science. That would have me at the mile marker in 4:46, I hit 4:44.12 a new mile PR, with only 152 ft of descent. Already in the second mile I was feeling it but I REALLY wanted to hit a sub-10 so I kept to what I told Steve and toughed it out, I hit mile two in 5:08.40 (close to my HS PR) with 138 ft descent and went through the 2-mile mark in 9:52.52 a new 2-mile PR (first time under 10). I don't know if it was the mental strain of knowing how fast I was running or the very light 40ft climb after the turn, but I quickly dwindled. Steve A passed me at this point and I'm still kicking myself for not going with him, I think we would have easily both been under 16 if I had, sorry Steve. I had it physically but mentally I wasn't doing too hot. Also, I was shaking up my innards a bit and was thinking bathroom, bad idea... I looked at the Garmin and I had dwindled to about 5:50 pace. Instead of making me go faster it hurt me more. However there are two quick turns and then you can see the finish. I put it in overdrive and tried to get back to Steve. I managed to drop my pace back down to ~5:10 (showing I was obviously dogging it) but it wasn't enough, I didn't get Steve and I didn't get sub-16 but I did get 16:08.30 for a new 5K PR. I was really impressed with how well Steve ran after the accident and the other bloggers did great. Sasha had a particularly great race considering he was running Ogden this time last week. Overall you can't complain when you set a PR, much less THREE of them. The only thing I'm upset with is I KNOW that my body had a sub-16 in it today but my head kept it from coming out. The good news is that I now know that I can run this pace, aided or not, and I can't wait for the Des 10K!!! After the race I had a good talk with Steve A. Then did a cooldown with the bloggers for a little over a mile then the rest of the cooldown with Bill C and another good conversation. So overall both socially and running wise it was a great day. Mi 4-R2, 7-AA Race Avg. 5:10 (Garmin did get the heart rate monitor to me in time but I didn't set it up right. I would have loved to have known my HR during the first two miles :(...)
Asics
DS-Trainer #1: 210 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 212 / / Saucony Rides #1:
208 / / Saucony Rides #2: 217 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 157
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