Notes
Feaster Five
Great race today! Went exactly to plan. Quickly settled and found my pace once the gun went off. Into the hill, maintained that comfortable effort. First mile at 5:43, perfect. Goal was 5:40 - 5:45. As the incline lessened through the downtown, I started to press on the gas pedal. Time to work. After that first left it was all keeping the pressure on and trying to squeeze more and more. 5:30 second mile, good. That included some uphill. Things leveled out through the second mile, but the hurt started coming on at the same time. 3rd mile, 5:30. Not good. Need to get faster to get my average down. Continued to be aggressive with turning the dial up. Thankfully 4th mile, with all the downhill, I was able to get a 5:17. Back on track. Man that final mile grind was tough though. Just an endless slightly curving road. I kept pushing and was able to maintain distance with the next guy. Onto the finish hill, got passed by someone who had come up behind me. I put in a surge to pass back, but couldn't hold for long. Had nothing left and got passed back again. Held what I could through the end for a still respectable finish speed.
27:40, just 10 seconds off my goal or 2 seconds per mile off my avg mile goal. I will definitely take it. Today was a great fitness test. This basically matches where I was two years ago. Now I can keep building from here and get back to college level. I can definitely tell I need more base. Those last two miles I think really highlighted my lack of endurance. Hopefully this next 10-12 months can be very similar to my 2017 improvements. Where I started at ~40 mpw, and as I got into 60+ really got back to the same level as college. Then once I get there, onward and upward again.