Saturday, March 24, 2012

Whoa! (or was it short?)

Ran a small 5k this morning, put on by UW La Crosse. Perfect conditions and, as it turned out, competition.

I led out the first half mile or so and was then passed by a young, tall runner. I later learned his name is Nathaniel and he is 19. Those young bucks are always full of energy; sometimes they are a little low on strategy. Nathaniel let me draft off him until around two miles. I did put in little surges to let him know that I wouldn't mind leading for a while, but he sped up with me, so we would run shoulder to shoulder for a little while. This often happens with younger runners, so I was happy just drafting off him.

At 2 miles, i put in a couple of surges and got a little gap. I decided to go for it, and the gap increased to about 15 seconds by the finish.

My time? 15::55! A 4-second PR.

But I have to be honest. Three weeks ago, I felt like I was peaking, and I am sure I ran around PR pace on a course that was long. This time, I have trained hard and ran 20 hilly miles Thursday, so by no means did I expect to PR today. I felt good, but not smoking fast, while warming up. I do think this course was a little short, unfortunately.

The good news is that a friend of mine will try ot get me into a couple of open track races. Maybe I could hit a perfect 15:45 5000 pack.

The Girl has had a million aches and pains since Syllamo. I don't know if it was her race itself that did it, or the 100+ mile weeks leading up to it, but her body needed a break. She has been biking and swimming a lot and is starting to feel better, so my sense is that she will bounce back soon.

3 comments:

PiccolaPineCone said...

i thought i heard a chorus of heavenly angels yesterday morning. first sub-16, yippee!
...and seriously, you and SLG have got to stop questioning the length of every course (at least not when it is in your favour). just enjoy the rewards of your training!

SteveQ said...

I never broke 16 after I turned 30, so I guess I get to pass the baton to you now and let you run with it. Sometimes, you can have fun with the youngest runners; I once destroyed one by asking "Do you breathe every step, or every other step?" - he'd never thought about it and suddenly found he couldn't keep any breathing rhythm at all!

healthy with hypothyroidism said...

Enjoyed the read. Good stuff. I'm not 16, but I do run like one...poor strategy.