It's been a mostly good couple of weeks of training since my last post, and I'm starting to feel like things are coming together. I've had a few good races, and the next couple of weeks will be the last tough ones before I start to back down for the marathon. After my 121-mile week, I had a week to recover before Johnny's Runnin' o' the Green. Despite still feeling a bit tired on race day, I felt that I could pull out a solid race and possibly another PR for 5 miles. Unfortunately, the weather had something to say about it, as it usually does; the somewhat strong winds made for a tough race. The race started out into what seemed like a headwind, turned around after 2.5 miles, yet still seemed to be in a headwind for the second half of the race. It was one of those days on which it felt like the wind was coming at me no matter which way I turned. I finished the race in 26:47; it wasn't a PR, but it was a good effort considering the conditions. With a few exceptions, times were rough for everyone. Roadkill Racing had a strong showing overall, though, putting three runners in the top ten.
Next on my agenda was to head down south to my alma mater for the Juniata Invitational. I planned to challenge myself with a little bit of "speed" and attempt the 5K and the 3K at the meet. I never really did many double races in college, with the exception of the occasional 1500/800 double, and I never really learned how to recover between efforts either. For a small invitational with only a few teams, two events meant not a whole lot of recovery time between the races. I tried this double at this meet two years ago, but I decided not to look back at my times until after the meet so that I wouldn't psych myself out. My goal was to run a PR or near-PR in the 5K then see what happened in the 3K. I was even more hopeful when I found out that two runners from Susquehanna University (our main rival) who have gone well under 15:30 were seeded in the race. Race day came, and I was hoping for clear skies, warmer weather, and little wind. At least I got the clear skies and warmer weather.
The 5K started at noon. I was hoping to be through the first mile in 4:55-5:00 and go from there. Right from the start, I tucked in behind the Susquehanna runners, and we were through the first lap in 74. Perfect. At that point, however, they did something unexpected: they slowed down! Confused, I kept going at almost the same pace, and by the time I was through the mile in 5:01, I had a solid 50 meter lead. As the race progressed, I started to slow down; the energy used to fight a strong wind on the back stretch was more than what was saved when the wind was at my back. I finished the race first in 15:56, with the Susquehanna runners about 15 seconds behind. After they finished, they slowed down a little and continued on to run a workout (allegedly another two miles at 10K pace). That explained a lot.
After a delicious lunch with my family, it was time to get back to work for the 3K. The race started around 3:45, effectively giving me about 3.5 hours between the hard efforts. Due to the combination of numerous factors, including the persistent wind, the fatigue from the earlier race and the training, and just the lack of speedwork in my training in general, I just could not find that higher gear to run fast in this race. I still ended up in third with a time of 9:24. It was a solid day of work. I looked back at my times from this invitational two years ago: 16:37 and 9:27. This at least gave me confidence that I am a faster runner than two years ago.
Next up for me is the Spring Forward Distance Run 15K. It should be a decent fitness assessment and good tune-up for the marathon. I say "decent" as I'm not really doing any sort of mini-taper for the race, just a shorter run the day before (with the goal of still hitting 100+ miles for the week). Thus, I won't be completely rested, and it will be a good test of how much I can push. With warmer weather on the way, hopefully I can get a good race or workout or two in before the marathon!
No comments:
Post a Comment