It was a humid, windy and rough one out there. at 4:00 am it was 71 degrees and humid. A Cold front began coming through which caused the wind to kick up. I went into the race feeling fine but it soon became apparent that it was going to be a hard day.
I went out with the pack in 5:40--really slow stuff and then started getting to work. However, the mile markers were way off. after 3 miles I let the pack go since we were running straight into the wind and slightly uphill. I was afraid that if I went with the pack I would ot have enough left. That was a mistake because I proceded to run the entire rest of the race completely alone in the wind, and my nemesis the humidity. On top of that I had too many shot Bloks and my stomach was rebelling and I had to pee.
Unlike the beautiful and cool workout last week which truly showed my current fitness, I feel this race was a sad reflection of where I am at which is mentally draining. The most solid training in my life the past four weeks and I'm off my PR by two+ minutes. It's frustrating. I wasn't the only one. The winning time was two minutes slower than last year, my buddy Greg also ran two minutes slower than last year. It seems the only people who had great times on my team were those whose marathon training is basically over since they are racing Chicago.
I also feel my mental state has a large affect on my ability to believe in myself and thus results in shitty performances. I should have stayed with the pack. They weren't even running that fast but I was afraid and backed off early. I should have just hung on.
I know I'm doing everything correctly but yet another disappointing race performance is enough to really piss you off. I also need new flats. Rome wasn't built in a day and once the weather cooperates and I have a few more monster long runs in me, I'll have my day*. You better believe it.
*That still doesn't mean I'm not kind of ticked at my race today
PM: 1 hr. pool run. I haven't given up yet.
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