Notes
Just havent felt great since the marathon, a little low on energy and not having that last gear to take it to the next level. James Joyce wasnt a surprise since it was only two weeks out of the marathon and the first hot day of the year. MOMs run was hoping for a bit more pop, but just blew up in the middle. While the hills can be an excuse for a few seconds, it still was nowhere near my PR. My hope was that last week was a fluke and that I could get a good low 16 number today.
Did a preview of the course with Jake and two guys who work with me at D&T who I bumped into at the number pickup. Course didnt look bad at all. Shaded in a lot of places and the only significant hills coming around the 2 mile mark, but looked gentle enough. Decided I would "go for it" today and see if I was back in shape to get a solid effort.
Gun went off and I settled into the top five. Small hill in the first half mile and was able to slide into 4th. Wanted to keep Danforth in contact and roll with him in hopes of working off him to get a fast time. I settled into a 5:09 pace and watched Jake and Unger pull away. Danforth still created a gap on me and I didnt want to risk pushing too much and blowing up. Hit the one mile marker at 5:10, which felt ok.
The second mile features a slight downhil, then an out and back in a small neighborhood with a turnaround at a cone in the middle of the road (not exactly fun for a 5K having to turn such a tight corner). The 2 mile marker is just at the start of the return trip up the hill. Somewhere between the 1 mile marker and around 1.5 miles, my body just imploded and ran out of gas. Eerily similar to MOMs run. Pickleseimer easily slid past me and as much as I wanted to roll with him, I just had nothing in the tank. Depressing.
The gentle hill after the 2 mile marker didnt feel so easy this time around and definitely made an impact on my last mile pace. Hills are usually one of my strengths, but just folded in the way up. The return to the school is relatively flat with one more slighter rolling hill. The finish could not come soon enough as I knew I was gassed. Finally made the turn into the school and began to hear someone pounding and breathing damn loud behind me. Distance between the entrance to the school and the finish line is probably about 1/4 of a mile. This last stretched never seemed to end. I swear the guy behind me was about to pass me for about 90% of the stretch, just waiting for him to put me out of my misery. Finally he passed me with about 50 yards to go. Once again, usually I can kick pretty good at the end of a race, but just had nothing to counter. If anything, was on the verge of vomiting. Stumbled into the finish in 6th place, with a disappointing third mile of 5:39.
When I'm running well, my 5K's usually result in my 1st and 3rd miles being the fastest (course layout will usually impact which one of two is fastest) with the 2nd mile being maybe a few seconds slower. I like to keep my pacing relatively even. As I can see in my results today, it was just a steady collapse during the race. Frustrating. Not sure why I'm struggling so much these days. Didnt feel good at MOMs run, track this week was a struggle, this race was another blowup, and even some of my easier midweek runs arent feeling easy. Dont feel any injuries or pain. Just low energy. Not sure if my body is still recovering from Boston, overworked, still getting aclimated to the heat, or if it's just mental.