Notes
Fifth Season 8k in Cedar Rapids
26:33 for 8th place
5:19, 5:31, 5:28, 5:11, 5:12 pace
1st 4k: 13:30
2nd 4k: 13:03
Pretty average race for me I think. Going in I thought sub-26 would be a really good day given the conditions and course. Temps were in the low to mid 70s, it was a bit humid, and the course is kinda rolling. I knew it would be really important for me to not get out too hard the 1st mile, as that bit me in the ass hard when I ran this race last in 2018
Gun went off and I settled in right about 5:20 pace which is what I was hoping for the 1st mile. Was in probably 15th place at the mile, mile 2 was mostly a steady uphill so the pace slowed a bit but I picked off a couple guys even with slowing. The 3rd mile was downhill to a 180 turn then back up after the turn. At the turn I think I counted I was in 11th place, and was right at 13:30 on the clock. I knew at that point I wouldn't break 26 but I was feeling decent at that point and figured I still had a negative split in me for the 2nd half
Just before the 3 mile split there was a slight right hand turn and I got into the gutter a bit and rolled my right ankle. It didn't feel very good the rest of the race and is sore post race but I don't think it affected my race at all. Shortly after the 3 mile split we started going down hill again and I knew it was time to really try to push the pace and take advantage of the downhill. I made my last pass of the race at probably 3.5 miles and based on how far ahead of me 7th place was I didn't expect to make any more passes after that point. Started feeling pretty gassed shortly after hitting the mile 4 split, we were running back up a slight hill and was getting a little concerned I had cooked myself too much in the 4th mile but luckily the last .4 miles are a slight downhill so after hitting the top of the hill I was able to get the pace going again for the last couple minutes
I ran 10 seconds slower today than I did for Shamrock back in March. But Shamrock's course is much easier and the temps were in the 30s that day vs mid 70s today, I think today's effort was a lot stronger than my run at Shamrock, so I am confident that I am making good progress and moving in the right direction. Part of why I wanted to run this race is that I feel like my racing skills and instincts have gotten stale and need to be sharpened up again, so I think mission accomplished there. While I am feeling decently fit, I don't feel very race fit. I can run a slower pace for a long time, but running any sort of faster pace is a struggle. For example in my 45 min steady state a couple weeks back and in my broken 8 mile workout last week I ran mid-5:30s pace, so I figured I would be able to go faster than 5:20 pace today but that didn't happen. Granted, the weekend in Chicago was definitely not conducive to racing well on a Tuesday. So there are a few factors going into that. Regardless, I can't be too upset about this and its a step in the right direction