Notes
Terrier Invitational, 1 mile race! In the 12th of 20 sections (fast to slow), seeded at my PR of 4:27. By this morning I had realllly talked myself into thinking that I wasn't gonna race well and then I was in over my head, but rationally I told myself that I ran 4:35 a few weeks ago and everyone was gonna seed aggressively at BU so I would be okay. I guess I was really shaken up about last week's race even though, again, I know rationally that I didn't race well last weekend due to external factors. Not THRILLED with this race by any means, but I'm pleased with it - a confidence restorer. I only ran a second faster than my first mile of the season, and finished 10th/12 in my heat, but I feel good about this race - my fitness is in a good spot, my will to compete is fine, I just screwed myself in this one.
Pretty typical start, ended up near the back... and there I remained the whole race. Wasted SO much energy trying to make moves / cut in and out / running out in lane 2, but nothing to show for it. I honestly wasn't really paying attention to splits at all this race, just competing and hanging onto the back of the group, and I wasn't feeling like I was struggling just to hang on (like I'd feared I would) - I felt great, but just couldn't move up. The pack was pretty dense, not much separation for most of the race so there was nothing opening up on the rail. By halfway I knew that I wanted to get up near the front but I didn't commit to any moves to do so - the one time I really tried to move up hard on the outside (600 to go) I got tied up in a shove match with a UML guy and I just tucked back into the back. Multiple times during the race I had to chop my stride short because someone cut out in front of me trying to get around. I felt GOOD with 400 to go, I was in the back of the pack (but it was pretty tight) and I was telling myself that I could win the heat. I think I tried to make one last move on the back straightaway but didn't get anywhere really and didn't have much of a kick on the last lap like I would have liked, guess I was all surged out. Just needed more confidence in this race, at some point after halfway I needed to make a strong move to the front and see what happened from there. Ah well, as I said, still a confidence boost. Up in the air whether I want to race the mile or 3k at Dartmouth, I've got the scent of a good mile on my nose now but I think that I may be better off racing a 3k at Dartmouth and then running a final mile at Harvard in a few weeks for a potential PR. I have a hard time believing that I am in much better mile shape than 3k shape, I just need some competition to keep me mentally engaged.