Things have been quite interesting since the Baltimore 10 Miler. Last week I got 31 miles in on 5 days of running. I ended up sacrificing my 12 miler on Saturday to drive up to New York to satisfy my craving for a Duathlon. I'll give a race report on that soon enough. There was a 5x800m track workout mixed in there too. It had been nearly 3 months since I did any speed work, with only 2 5k races mixed in there. I returned to the same track that "ended" me back in March and proceeded to put up decent splits with 1 lap worth of recovery between each rep:
2:37, 2:37, 2:34, 2:37, 2:37
It may not have been the low 2:30s I was doing on less rest earlier, but it is still pretty strong.
After a couple more days of cycling and running, I participated in a 2 mile track race put on by the Baltimore Road Runners Club. I shocked myself again with a strong evenly paced race, finishing in 10:20 with 5:10 mile splits. It was a race for sure as I battled 3 other runners, all probably about 4 to 6 years younger than me. We ran out in a tight pack. With the 400m track and two turns for every lap, taking the inside can be very important, and makes for interesting pacing decisions.
After the first two laps the top two runners picked up the pace and started to pull away. The other runner in our group ran after them. However, he sounded like he was going into cardiac arrest, so I knew he wouldn't last long. After the 4th lap (there are 8 in this awful race), I knew I needed to focus on laps 5 and 6. I used to run the 3200m in High School track all the time, and I remember how terrible this part of the race was.
I maintained focus as best I could and passed one of the runners who quickly faded out of the picture. As we continued around I was slowly closing the gap on the two lead runners. It was a painstakingly slow process to reel them in, and I really had to strain to keep the pace up. By lap 6, one of them started to fade and I was able to get around to put myself in 2nd. All that stood in my way was one last runner. I kept the jets on and managed to get to his shoulder off the last turn on lap 7. I ran right behind him through the front stretch and was getting ready to pass him on the back. However, once we hit the bell (final) lap, he kicked it into another gear that I just did not have. I was already at what felt like max speed, and he pulled away. I ended up 3 seconds behind him, but nonetheless, very happy with my performance. I also felt like I had a little more in the tank at the end, but my legs just would not move any faster. That rust from the last few months is probably still there!
I may not have my 10k-half marathon racing under control, but this short stuff is still going pretty well!
No comments:
Post a Comment