Kinda disappointed with today's race. Missed both of my goals, if only just, and I didn't feel like I was able to give everything I wanted to in the race. Tomorrow I will do better in the 3000m. The race started off with a lot of jostling for position - basically four laps were spent trying to stick in the front of the pack, not going down, and not getting to boxed in. Yuk. One Idaho girl went out crazy, but nobody gave chase and she died pretty quickly. Eventually I ended up in a good spot, just on the back of the lead pack of about seven runners. About 2k into the race, Kim started picking up the pace so the pack started spreading out. That was where I wimped out the first time - just didn't keep in good enough contact with the pack when they picked up the pace, so I ended up back by almost 50 meters after a couple laps, but just stayed there for the rest of the race basically. My resolve was further weakened when around 3k, my hamstring started cramping up and didn't really loosen up the rest of the race. Anyway, I just tried to stick to my pace and finish strong and I did ok. The last couple of laps were confusing with all the girls being lapped, so I didn't know to try and pass with authority for the finish. Turns out all the girls I passed in the last lap were being lapped. So I just got my 6th place finish and a pretty slow time. Kim won though, she's pretty great. (K2 416.5) (F spike 35.9)
|