Notes
In the last three weeks my mileage has been spotty but getting there .... 43, 28 (missed my Sunday long run) and 50mpw. Have run 4 interval sessions (ranging from 200 to 600m repeats), one set of tempo repeats and two races (2.75 miles and a 10K). The rest was easy running.
Yesterday's race was the 10K on a slow course (hilly, in Golden Gate park in SF) in 41:21. I ran all but the last two miles mostly on my own.
I was in 13th place heading into the last two miles and passed #12 at about 4.68 miles. How do I know this? He was several strides ahead of me and I looked at my watch to see how far to go and saw 5.45. I thought now's the time to go HARD and get this guy so I did. I passed him and tried to go a little harder even to make sure he had no ideas on passing me back. Glanced back at my watch and now it read 5.36! Holy hell, I was looking at pace, not distance! ( No I didn't run any 5:40 miles, this was a downhill section) I had just kicked hard and the actual distance was 4.68 miles! I thought I was done for but I dialed it back down and somehow didn't lose too much (and that guy didn't pass me back). Next was #11. Pulled up next to him at about 5.5 miles and we exchanged some pleasantries and I though surely he would beat me in the end but abruptly he fell off the pace and I was now about 5 or 6 strides back from #10. Unfortunately he turned on the afterburners for the last .1 or so and pulled away to make sure I didn't catch him. Definitely good racing.