I quickly got back to work after a disappointing result at this year's Boston Marathon. I still managed a 2:56 but I was not feeling it from the start. I definitely wanted to be in the low 2:40s there. I ran a solid half marathon (1:19) in Providence four weeks after Boston. I came in 7th overall and won my age group. I then ran a 5k the following week and put up a less than ideal 18:03. This is well off my PR, which I was poised to break. I went out too fast in this race (5:12) with the early leaders and faded the last two miles. This race had a more humbling effect on me. I cannot show up to races and expect good things to just happen. Last week I put in two quality workouts. The first was a 5 x 3:00 workout with equal recovery on the roads. I felt great during this workout and was running fast throughout the repetitions. That was on Wednesday night. On Friday morning, I went to my old high school track (with my coach) to be paced through a 5k. The plan was to run consistent 5:30 miles and finish in the low 17:00 range. I stayed on pace through 1.5 miles and fell off by about 200m or so at the end and finished in 17:40. This was not an entirely encouraging effort, as it is still off my road PR. I was running a little tired from Wednesday's workout, but I still wanted to be faster. This workout, however, was good in indicating an area I need to work on. I need to work on running fast late in 5k races. I need to be able to come through 2 miles in 11:00 or under and still feel reasonably good. This is something I will begin to work on improving this summer.
On Wednesday of last week, I ran an all-out track mile. This is something I rarely do and something that awakens my nerves. In practice, I feel comfortable doing workouts. I complete them, hit my goal paces, and leave them feeling strong. When it comes to racing, I get nervous. Right now, it has a lot to do with running into the unknown. I am trying to run times I have never run before. Whether the training indicates I can run a certain time or not, I need to be confident that I have what it takes to reach a time. As of late, I have looked at my training and thinking I should be much farther along in racing. This is different from knowing you can set a new PR in a given event. I need to put the fun back into racing and be excited for an opportunity to run fast. I need to be confident in myself and know I have what it takes to finish a race strong because it will hurt. This brings me back to Wednesday. Before the track mile, my coach asked me if I was excited to try and break 5:00. I sort of shrugged and did not show much emotion. My response should have been something like: YES! LET'S DO THIS. Instead I stayed calm, which is fine, but went to the start line lacking some confidence. I was to be paced by my coach through the mile, running a steady 75 seconds for each lap and then kicking at the end. I put on my track spikes and we lined up at the mile mark to ensure we would be going 1609.34 meters. Then we took off. We rolled through the first lap hitting it exactly in 75 with the little add-on 9 meters. Another one of our club's coach was reading us our splits as well. I was not looking at my watch during the mile, but stayed tucked in and focused behind my coach. The second lap was another 75. We were right on pace through halfway. The third lap is often a difficult lap in the mile. I did my best to hang on and prepare for the final lap. I heard Hunter (that's one of our club coaches who was there) yell out 3:47 when we went through 1200m. It would take under a 73 last lap to break 5:00. After going through the first 200m on the final lap, my coach moved into lane 2 and told me to give it everything I had left. I kicked and I kicked hard. I flew around the curve and hit the homestretch. My arms were pumping furiously as I sprinted to the line. When I crossed the line I hit my watch and looked up. It read 4:57 and I let out a little bit of a yell. Yes, I showed some emotion. It was probably more out of relief than anything else but I was pumped. I do not train for short distances but I still want to get faster at them and see some improvement. I got that on Wednesday. I executed a time trial excellently and broke the 5:00 mark. This will give me a confidence boost moving forward and get me excited to race my next time out. I am confident I can break 17:00 in the 5k and I will take my shot in another week.
For now, I am up working and training in Vermont. I'm sitting at 2000 feet of altitude and hope this gives the smallest boost to my training. I have plenty of hills and mountains to climb. After reaching a new milestone in the mile, I hope I can continue to find success on the roads this summer. I know the training I do this summer will provide big dividends in the fall when I line up for the Chicago Marathon. I know I will be confident, and excited, to run my best come fall.
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