Monday: 0 Miles
Tuesday: 10 Miles
Tune up workout with Aiden. 2.5 mile warmup, workout was 400/800/400/800/300/300 with target splits of 67/2:22/52 on 2 min recovery. Splits were 67/2:20/66/2:21/50/48. Should have been a pretty easy workout and it felt semi-difficult so I was a little concerned. I was certainly not near death at the end of any rep, but the 400s were slightly faster than target 3K pace and 800s slightly slower and it definitely didn't feel like I could hold that pace for 3K. Short rose (5 mile) cooldown. Difficulty: 3/5.
Wednesday: 10 Miles
Jenkins with Nate with some add-ons to get 10. Felt a bit tight but mostly smooth.
Thursday: 8 Miles
Morning run with Aiden, felt tight and tired. Short Rose into Faculty into some more mileage.
Friday: 8 Miles
Solo Pudding Hill. Felt zero tightness and really strong overall, which I was happy about. Intentionally took it very easy 2 days out from the race and decided to go 8 instead of 10 to play it safe. Some achilles/lower leg discomfort early on the run went away quickly.
Saturday: 5 Miles
Easy Garrity run. Felt pretty good again although the achilles/lower leg hurt a lot more and lasted much longer which was concerning (and honestly came out of nowhere). Did 4x100m strides at target race pace (17s 100m pace/68s 400m pace).
Sunday: 11 Miles
Oatmeal breakfast at Hoco, then took the train down to Boston. Pretty relaxed transport overall, fell asleep on the train. My eye had swelled last week from an allergic reaction, and had felt itchy and slightly swollen in the morning, so I was concerned by the time I raced, my eye would basically be a balloon. Fortunately, this didn't happen. Another relaxed ride on the subway, got to the facility around noon, 3 hours before my race. Expected this to be a somewhat low-key meet, so really surprised to get there and have a massive crowd almost entirely filling the seating. Checked in and sat down, but the unexpected crowds made me really nervous and jittery which was not fun. Got down my lunch, for which I had surprisingly little appetite and then went for a walk to escape the crowds/feelings of anxiety. Did a short shakeout run on the outdoor track, lower leg was extremely painful to the point where I wondered if I could even race. Briefly considered taking the DNS but thought about the time/effort I put in getting here and it seemed like a waste to not even try.
Was able to relax a little, watch some races before 2:00ish when it was time to warm-up. The check-in process was a bit of an abomination as you had to declare for your race and check-in/receive numbers at the table and this was pretty confusing as when I went to declare for my race, the lady just yelled at me "800 and 200!". Upon realizing that she likely meant that for checking in and not declaring, I came back 5 minutes later and declared and this time got the response "Thank you, sir". Not sure I've ever received such a rude and polite response from the same official before, they're usually one or the other.
Went for my warm-up at 2:10, a 2 mile OAB on the bike path. Felt a bit sluggish but leg pain was almost completely gone which was the more concerning factor. Checked in and went to the bathroom for the last time. Got onto the infield during the 200 and put on my spikes during the girls 3K. Had plenty of time to get in dynamics and strides before the races. Soon enough we got our pre-race instruction and toed the line. I was the 7th seed, having seeded myself at 8:40 which I thought was a reasonable estimate.
Upon stepping up to the line, it was pretty tight (20? people in the heat, which is a lot) and I sort of cut off the person next to me. As a result, he stepped slightly over the line and was immediately DQ'd. I felt bad but it was still his fault, so...just kidding, we had to step back and redo the start. I got off really well from the line, a little too well as I found myself in lane 2 towards the very front while everyone else had already formed a single-file line. I was in a position to take over the lead but I didn't want that (and it turns out the #1 seed was just pacing) so I tried to cut into the second position. The guy in second was having none of it, and put his arm out so I couldn't get in and made it pretty clear he wasn't giving up that spot. I tried again for the 3rd spot, that guy gave the same response. I believe I got into 4th, but for whatever reason no one wanted to be behind me and the next guys behind put in a big surge to pass me but only me. It was really strange and I didn't like being pushed continually further back. We went through 200 in 34, then split mostly 35s through the 1K. I was in 6th or 7th place and while the pace was a little slower than I wanted, I wasn't about to make a huge move to the lead to have to lead the race. I felt pretty good and wanted to stay in this group until the last 600 or so.
There was a point where I made a move around the guy ahead of me, who was starting to let a small gap open up. Less than a lap after I made the pass, the guy surged ahead of me again, only passing me and continued to let the small gap form. I got fed up and eventually made a big move on the backstretch to get into 2nd or 3rdish. The pacer dropped out after a 4:40 opening split, and I got passed by a few people but not the annoying guy before (he finished in 9:13, so I'm not too sure what his plan was). I had felt pretty good up to this point in the race, but suddenly my amount of energy started decreasingly drastically per lap, and by the time we had gotten to 800 to go, I had been dropped by the lead pack, felt terrible, and was running really slow. Went through 2K in 5:51 which was still solid albeit not blazing but felt dead for the rest of the race, finishing up in a 3:01 to wrap-up a 4th place finish in 8:52. Felt like I put a ton of effort in finishing the last lap strong, but could only manage a 34. The top guys ran a negative to break 8:40, while the 3rd place guy similar faded and remained several seconds ahead.
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| #8 awkwardly cutting me off, then finishing in a 9:13. |
Was immediately very disappointed in the race, had expected a time between 8:30-8:45 but I was nowhere near that. The most surprising aspect of it all was that I had nothing at the end. After feeling really strong at the end of most workouts, I had visualized myself finishing strong in the race and even planning on a possible negative split. However, expectations did not equal reality at all as I was absolutely dead when it was time to go, and had zero kick whatsoever. Looking back, considering I felt good before the race, during the first mile, and have felt absolutely physically beat afterwards (sore!), I believe I left everything out there and raced to near my full potential. Given that, I think it was an okay race. I'm disappointed I was a lot slower than expected but there's no way I was in sub-8:40 shape going in.
Was considering racing a 5K at BU Last Chance but after this somewhat underwhelming performance, I don't think I have the fitness to run anything under 15:15 or so and I'd rather not throw myself into a sub-15 race if I'm not ready to break 15.
6 mile cool-down on bike paths, felt tired.
Takeaways/Random Ramblings
-I've run in the 8:50s (including 3200 conversions) 14 times. Because of that, I've run almost every possible time in the 8:50- I've only not run 8:55 and 8:58. For comparison, I've only run in the 8:40s twice. Pretty sick of the running in the 8:50s, would like get into the 8:30s, 8:20s and 8:10s in the future instead. Last 7 3Ks have been in the 8:50s.
-Harvard's indoor track is extremely nice, which surprised me because of the complete lack of meets there, especially when compared to BU and Reggie Lewis, which have meets seemingly every weekend (and high-profile ones too). It's crazy how high the quality of indoor tracks in one city is (Boston) considering the dearth of them (banked) in the entire country. I'm pretty sure NYC is the only other city with more than one banked track (Ocean Breeze and the Armory), so Boston is basically the indoor track capital of the world. On top of that, apparently there's plans to build another banked track in Fenway area. Loved the track, great surface, felt new and bank was the perfect angle. 2nd favorite track behind Armory. The facility, on the other hand, was not the best, seats were pretty old/crappy.
-Lots of HS, club, few unattached or serious college athletes
-Racing on Sunday isn't fun in general, but racing Sunday afternoon is genuinely awful. Saturday felt like a long useless day where I was just waiting to race
-May have wasted some energy trying to get into decent position
Next race should be the first home meet on 4/4. Kinda want to run the New Bedford Half Marathon but probably not the best idea. Will find out Thursday whether I got into Mt. Washington or not and will try to sign up for Beach to Beacon next month. 2020 Race Schedule is posted.
Weekly Total: 52 Miles
YTD Total: 546 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Despite a not very fast result, it was nice to race again. Feel like my running has been missing this aspect, so I'm definitely looking forward to outdoor.
Weekly Lowlight: Workout wasn't great and I definitely don't enjoy the emerging of new pain.
Movies Watched: A Most Violent Year, World Trade Center, Ford v Ferrari
