Notes
3000m track race
Result: 10:54 (unofficial)
My first time racing 3000m, so no matter what it was an automatic PR. I decided last minute to just try for sub-11 minutes, since I had no idea what to try for. Turns out this is slower than my 5k equivalent says I should run, but my 5k is slower than what my 10k equivalent says I should run. I think I'm seeing a pattern here: I'm better at longer distances. Or, my minor injury may have detrained me a bit…EDIT: Daniels' Running Calculator actually has me much closer to my equivalent race times than McMillan's does.
Anyway, the race itself. I did a couple miles of warmup, and timed it pretty much spot on so I would arrive back at the track and be able to watch a couple 800 elite races before I raced. But then it was announced that the elite 3000m would be changed to go before the open 3000m. This meant an extra 30 minutes that I didn't time for and by the time my race was about to be up, my muscles were cold. The 3000m elite race was really great to watch, especially the women's.
I re-warmed up with some jogging and then some strides, and we all got ready to go. There were 16 of us, so the line was tight, and they lined us up in an order which was not organized very well. I was on the very inside, then there were a couple slow looking people, then a faster person, and it went on like this. So when the gun went off I was RIGHT in front. Oh god the pressure was intense. I took my first 200 WAY too fast. It was in 37 seconds, whereas I needed to be in the 44 second range. At 400m I was still too fast with a 82 split. I needed to slow down. I let a couple people pass (I think I came in 4th, so 3 people passed) and got into a rhythm. From there I negative splitted the entire race like a pro. With around 4 laps to go I noticed I was just about 4 seconds too slow to make sub-11, but I knew I would be ok with my finish. I continued negative splitting and finished strong, with the last 200m in 40s.
Here are my splits:
1:22.51
1:29.87
1:29.48
1:28.35
1:28.43
1:28.27
1:27.33
0:40.91
So I think I either need to not get injured in minor ways, or I need to work a bit on my shorter distances. Oh well, that's what fall will be for. I'm feeling healthy enough to start...the Summer of Malmo!!