Believe to Achieve

saucony 5s.  nervous.  time trial day.  not particularly excited at all.   i tried to think positively to wipe out the negative thoughts i get when i get on a track and it's just me and my watch (and two walkers and one runner).  Good ol' stopwatch method.  on your mark julie get so go!!  seriously am i really running the tt now goes thru my mind-- wait i want  a redo...nope no can do.  it is now or never and get it over with already-- 2.6 mile warmup -- 2 to the track in AF, same track of course, two laps around the track.  Brief stretching moment then off i went listening to Journey's Separate Ways song four times-- yup the song lasts about 3.5 laps!!  cool.  although next time i am picking a little more of an adrenaline push song.  this was more of a steady beat.  i love the song.  anyway-- so i am running along and decide  I WAS NOT going to LOOK at my watch until the last two laps.  I couldn't see the watch the first four laps anyway since it was dark.  I was running the trial at 6:45am.  I decided this because honestly I am trying to figure out of "knowing" my splits helps or hinders.  I think if I saw that my first mile was 4 seconds faster than last week I would have freaked out and slowed then I would have also freaked out at mile two to see that I was only 3 seconds ahead of last week and so I think running without looking was better for me since I came in a whopping (sarcasm) 6.5 seconds faster this week.  FOR THAT I AM THANKFUL.  What I need to improve on--- well this week I went out too fast-- if I ran even splits to get 19 minutes I would run every lap at 1:35.   I got to find that tempo and stay with it.  I ran my first lap in 1:30:96!!!  that is my fastest lap since I started the trials in August.  Number two I got to find my gears laps 9-11 and get those numbers at 1:35!!!  AT LEAST I got rid of any 1:38s!!!  Now it is time to get rid of 1:37s!!! Thirdly-- I honestly feel I can break 19 minutes or right on if I ran on a flat road.  But I would need a tool to measure it accurately.  The garmin is not accurate.  If I had worn my garmin it would have told me the distance was 3:03 to 3:06 miles like my previous times I ran the trial with it and TODAY I had to swerve around a guy on the curve of the track-- surely I lost at least a second worrying about making the guy feel bad by passing him.   He looked about five years older than I.   Forth--- how in the heck do olympians do that many laps without tripping?  It is not easy to run lap after lap. VERY boring!!!  Feeling really sorry for any hampsters I have had in my years.  Caged up and only a wheel that goes no where!!!  Fifth-- so I pick it up the last straight away but slow as I near the line....what is UP with that??  I think I lost a second here putting the breaks on too early.  None of that next time.    Here are my splits:  1:30:96, 1:33:91, 1:34:91, 1:36:87 (6:16:65 first mile :D, I am quite sure I would have freaked if I saw my faster first mile), 1:36:52, 1:36:92, 1:37:00, 1:37:33 (6:27:77 for the second mile, see I went out too fast, still no peeking at my watch :D) 1:36:79 (yay faster rather than slower at my weakest spot!!), 1:37:28, 1:37:66, 1:33:15 (as usual I pick it up the last 100 meters-- I need to work on picking it up the last 200 meters!!!!)  for the last mile at 6:24:88 and time trial time of 19:09:30!!!!  6.54 seconds faster.  No fuel, just a couple swigs of gatorade and water before leaving my house.  2.6 mile cooldown- two laps around the track and 2.1 miles home.  Feeling glad I improved even if it was miniscule!!!  Goal next week--- 19:03 or better--- six seconds is all I ask.