Notes
BU Mini Meet #2 w/ Shannon! Not the same rousing RPI turnout as last year, alas. Ran the mile, mostly to try out my new Vic Elites - had pretty low expectations. Haven't really touched mile pace at all in quite some time, in a pretty solid block of marathon training, and been sick all week (congested + sore throat) and didn't feel much better this morning. My only real confidence booster was that I had surprised myself at this meet last year... seeded myself at 4:39, which I thought was a pretty fair guess, hoping to run mid 4:30s. Told myself on the warmup that I was for sure in better shape than last year, just maybe not better mile shape. Just wanted to stay calm and be competitive in my heat and figured I would be alright.
I needn't have worried! Race went out slow for the first lap, but everyone seemed to realize right away and pick it up on lap 2. I felt unexpectedly fine coming through 409 in 70, Steve was giving me splits and I was breezing through 33s after the first lap. Told myself to wait until 1k to take the lead, then got antsy and went for it just before 800m. Got some separation just running the same pace, had a good rhythm and knew the race was short, never doubted that I was gonna have a good one after the second lap really. I think I was a little tentative on the 2nd to last lap (let up a bit), then had an o.k. kick but still got nabbed on the final straight - bummer!
Great race, very happy with it, my prerace assessment of my fitness was totally correct other than that it turns out that not touching mile pace didn't matter much. Really need to make sure that I keep my primary focus on the marathon training, but I'm tempted to do another indoor race or two (without moving away from the marathon training) - I feel like PRs are in reach at mile/3k/5k. Pushing LR to Monday due to the race + late NYE show, so weekly mileage for this week and the next will be a little screwy.
Splits courtesy of Caleb:
37.2
33.4 (70.6)
33.4
67.9 (2:52)
33.5 (3:25)
34.2 (3:59.9)
31.7 (4:31.6)
Caffeinated