Tried a little north loop time trial in the woods today - good mental toughness run. Start of the north loop is 2 miles into the run and I had planned to work the first quarter mile, cruise the 2nd quarter and work the final stretch of the 0.8 mile section. Went well right up until about 200 meters to go when I felt pretty rough. Pretty sure it was Keith Brantly in a presentation at a XC meet where he talked about his coach telling him that if you reach a tough spot in a run, that is the time to throw in a surge... the result will either finish you off, and you will know you weren't ready for that pace or its just not your day, or, you will be reenergized to finish strong. Well, I tried digging a bit deeper to see if I could work through it and, sure enough, it was a difficult but satisfying run - 4:51 - one second faster than the last time I ran the north loop hard. Walked about 100 meters after that and then jogged the last mile back to the car. |