Notes
Wartburg Invite 3k. Nutmeg and I were in the 3k with a full heat of Wartburg guys. They had an assistant coach pacing them to ~4:40 through the mile so it was nice to know I wouldn't have to do any work. After how bad my last 3k felt I wasn't even sure I wanted to go through in 4:40. So I got off the line well and positioned myself in 5th or 6th on the rail. After about two laps (~71) a gap started to show up between the top 3 and the rest of the pack. At this point the start felt kind of fast and I didn't really feel like bridging the gap so I just stuck where I was. Through the mile I had a few guys go around me to the front of our pack but only one Mt. Mercy guy actually left broke away to the front pack. I started feeling really good after the first half mile and was thinking about going up to the front group but kept thinking about my rough last couple of finishes. So I say a little longer and right after we hit the mile (~4:45) I started to move. I made it around my pack pretty quickly and then had two guys a ways ahead to work on. I was rolling pretty well at the 2k (~5:57) and knew I would catch the next two soon. I was eyeing up the leader as well but he had broken away and seemed to be running really well so I knew he would have to falter a bit for me to catch him. I caught the other 2 with 2 to go and tried to hammer down after the leader but it wasn't going to matter. I was just racing the clock the last couple of laps. I was bringing the leader back but he had to big of a lead for it to matter. When I hit the bell I made sure to really take off on the last lap and push all the way through it. I've been disappointed in my finish the last 2 weeks and really wanted to prove I could close well. I don't think anyone had a split but I think I can safely say it was a 30 because it felt really good.
It ended up being 4.5 seconds off my PR and I felt like I ran it very conservatively. Which pretty much just tells me I should have a much better PR at this distance. I feel like I ran really smart and am happy with playing it safe this week. However, if I could have had a better race in my first 3k I would have been up with the leaders the entire way and could have probably had a good chance to PR in a race with a pacer.
So basically I have been able to draft in two races this year and have felt great and I have led two races this year and felt terrible. Clearly leading isn't my strength although I would still rather lead than have the race go out slow. Overall this race gave me a lot of confidence back though and I'm hoping I can find a last chance meet to run the mile at.