Weather - 70 degrees, cloudy.
A nice day for a race, humid, but I like it that way. I ran ok, not too bad, not too good, just mediocre. I ran the first mile in 6:11, it felt like 6:30, so I had a good start. Don't know the 2 & 3 mile splits, but I obviously slowed a bit. The same thing happened in my last two races - with about 1200m left I shoot past my threshold, which is the way it should be, but I am unable to continue pushing. Today I had to slow down a bit to recover, and the last 800m I could only maintain the pace. It was too bad because I was battling a runner who always beats me. We were even with 800m to go, he put in a small surge but I could not respond. I felt I could have went with him, I had juice in my legs, but I could not will myself to suffer through oxygen debt, so I followed him in, 2 seconds behind.
In each of the last 3 races I could not tolerate anaerobic running during the last mile. Everthing else is clicking - my pace is good, leg strength not a hindrance, breathing fine. After thinking about it I see that I have been working hard with long runs, 5k pace intervals, and hills. I have not been doing any anaerobic specific workouts, so it makes sense that when it comes down to the last mile of a race my mind revolts and tells me to slow down. I guess it is time to get accustomed to running in oxygen debt.
Wednesdays I usually like to join 2nd Wind for track work, but I doubt they will be doing what I need to focus on, so I will work on my own, doing 200m bursts, followed by a 100m jogging rest, repeated until exhaustion. After 4 or 5 of these sessions I should be habituated to end of race pain.
Overall I feel my fitness is good, my body feels fresh and healthy, and my times are still decent when compared to last year. Having found a weakness in my training, it is time to work on it and see how it affects my race results.
Next race is one of my favorites, the Lake Mingo 7.3 mile trail run on June 14. Last year I ran it on dead legs and was still able to place in the top 25. I should be fresh this year, and I have 3 weeks to get some anaerobic sessions in.
#192
z.m. - #105 | 