Notes
Coast-to-Coast Challenge! 1mi TTs all over the US.
http://i.imgur.com/6N6ZWkL.jpg
On Thursday (I think?), Jarrett, Rob, and I managed to convince ourselves to each do a solo mile TT today and put some burritos on the line! Gotta find a way to keep training interesting, after all. Suggested burritos even though I knew I'd be most likely to buy them, but still had a lot of fun trash talking and building up hype.
And hey, I'm pretty happy with the result! I didn't know what to expect... I'm not completely out of shape, but aside from a few pickups here and there, I haven't really done anything noteworthy in the speed department in a LONG time, but I also have found that to be overrated too. I had a few reasons why I thought sub 5 was pretty likely... past that I wasn't too sure, but best guess was in the 4:45 to 4:55 window.
Got out the door late and warm up was indeed warm but I tried not to let the doubts creep in...figured I could withstand some heat for a mile, and worst case I could always bail after strides or the first 200 and try in the evening. Did a few strides in trainers, including a timed 100 in 17.5 to get a feel for the pace... dead on. Switched to spikes, same deal, 17.3... felt pretty dialed in and good to go. Still, made sure to start out conservatively to not get carried away like in my Dec attempt. Saw a 38.x passing 209... a little slower than I hoped but nothing to worry about. Picked it up and after seeing 73.x at 400 was a tiny bit worried I may have overcompensated a bit, but again shook it off. Tried to stay comfortable on lap 2 and saw 2:26.x at 809. Was feeling pretty good at this point and felt confident enough to start picking up. Came to 1209 in 3:37.x knowing I had more left so started to kick... quick glance of 4:12 with 200 to go means a last lap of 35/34 for 69. Can't remember the last time I ran under 70, haha!
2:26/2:20 is something I can definitely live with, especially considering I literally haven't run on the track in months and haven't put spikes on in even longer! If I had been a little less conservative to start I might have found another second or two, but that's the whole point of something like this... you don't know where you're at until you do it! And hey, I'd always much negative split and wish I was more aggressive than positive split and wish I was less stupid! I had fun with it and I think it's a little confidence boost too.
And yes, with a 4:40.0 from jrt and a 4:44.8 from Rob, I'll be buying the burritos, but #noragrets. Would have been an interesting h2h race!