Notes
Merrimack Sparkler 5k. My goal with this race was low to flat 16. After the track TT, I was thinking I could do at least 16:20. I aimed a bit higher with this one, to see what would happen. My strategy was to go out at 5:10 pace and see if I could hold on.
The race opened with a lap on the track which really helped to dial in the pace. 77 first 400, that should be pretty much right on. However, even though it felt like I was holding pace, by the time I got to the first mile my watch chimed 5:33. When I saw that I said "screw that" and sped up as much as I could to make up ground. Better but still off for the second mile, 5:21. I had really dug deep for that second mile, and I held onto the momentum for the third. I knew when I reached the main road I'd have between a half and three-quarters mile left so I used that as motivation to keep grinding. When I reached the main road I really started pouring it on.
I had been going back and forth with another person for the whole race. We talked before the race started and had similar goals so we were pushing each other the entire time. When we got onto the short stretch on the main road, I surged and got around him for the turn onto the second side road. At that time I was back in second place and really needed to hang on. I kept grinding and making sure I kept the other guy buried behind me. Passed the 3 mile mark, got onto the track and had a strong last 100 meters. Held on for a definitive second.
This was a really honest race effort for me. I left it all out there and felt good about that. And compared to the track 5k, this was slightly faster on a very-fast-for-a-road-race but still slower-than-a-track course. I didn't get my goal but I'm still happy with the result.
A couple things stand out to me after this race: 1) I think I am still having trouble dialing in speed. It seemed I had trouble getting up to the pace I wanted, even though I'm capable of it. And 2) I'm surprised I'm able to run this fast at all. My training has been pretty decent but still inconsistent and not ideal. So to have this speed is a welcome surprise. I think it also shows I have a lot of potential at my present state. If I can just get my consistency down and really start to add in consistent workouts, I can probably get back to sub-16 in not too too much time.