This wasn't quite the result I hoped for, but I felt like I ran to today's ability.
I drove down to Salem late last night. I was originally going to camp out last night, but I got a late enough start I ended up just getting a room.
The wind was up today. Forecast said 15-25 mph, but it was more like 10-15 on the track. There was a bit of jostling at the start, but it settled in after the first lap, which was a bit slow. A couple guys were nice enough to pick up the pace and break the wind for a few laps, and we reached 1600m in 4:46. My volunteer pacers dropped the pace after that, and we reached 2k in 6:00. The next lap was a 73, so I chose to take over leading from them and move into 2nd. My friend Chip had taken off at his own pace, and he was running well in 1st.
I hit the next lap in 72, but from there it seemed as though the wind eroded my strength. I reached 3k in 9:03 and 3200m in 9:39 (4:53) and was still feeling fine. I felt optimistic I could keep it close enough to kick it in for a shot at the sub-15, but a couple more straights into the wind zapped me. I reached 4k in 12:10 and 4800m in 14:40 (5:01). The finish was into the wind, and I shuffled in a 35 for the last 200m. 3rd place had been dogging me 4 seconds behind, and it looks like he roughly maintained that distance to the finish.
So in windy conditions, running half the race alone, I have to be satisfied with my performance. This was a PR by 10 seconds, however I know I'm in shape for faster. But I was completely spent by the finish, I know that without something changing that was beyond my control (weather or running a faster heat) I couldn't have drawn more out of my body.
And due to Willamette's fantastic timing system, I have a complete set of splits: 36.6 first 200m, then
| 74.1 |
69.7 |
71.3 |
72.4 |
73.5 |
73.7 |
| 72.5 |
73.6 |
75.0 |
75.6 |
76.4 |
70.8 |
| 