Notes
Splits: 37.3, 34.7, 35.1, 35.2, 35.3, 35.4, 33.7, 31.4. Really happy with today. EIU John Croft Invite. Shake-out at 9, got some breakfast (eggs and toast), drove to Eastern, got an americano, got a quality shake-out in. Found out that I was in the slow heat when I got there (meh news), but I was in it with Henry (good news). The 2nd heat was very spread out and had a handful of people over 4:40, so I was a little beleaguered about entering the slow heat, but knew my race plan and just focused on executing.
The race went out slow. All these guys were trying to run like 4:50 or something - I dunno, and so we boxed up quick, threw some bows, got a small cut. Henry took the lead on the second lap. I kinda just chilled, but was frustrated, so I made sure that I was toward the front. By 800, I felt relaxed, I was on Henry's shoulder (we hit 2:23 abouts). I passed him on the next lap and just picked it up from there. I never felt like I really surged hard. I was just accelerating speed through the last 600 and I knew with 200 to go that I had it locked up. I still ran quick (31) and finished well about 3-4 seconds up on Henry.
I am really happy with where I am at in my training. Going into this, I did not want to look at this as a big race I was going to get hyped up for. I wanted to view it as just another workout, a checkpoint in my training, and run/execute my plan. I was perfectly paced for the 800 (my 200's are showing their consistenciy with the four straight 35s). That is a little too quick for what I want to do for 3K, but the consistency is a good sign. I'm also very satisfied with my speed at the end of the race. I have done nothing faster than my 200's in practice (which only finish in 31-32). I'm not really worried about speed, but it was nice knowing that I definitely had another gear if I had needed it. I think in a race with more consistent splits, I would have been low 4:30s, but I'm not going to speculate too much. Very happy with today, but there is a lot of work to be done in the next month.
Update: the time was a lie, I ran one second faster, dreams come true