Sat 1/26 - PM 60 minutes incl. 5k in 15:09

An exercise in mild frustration as the personal olympics just didn't quite go as fast as planned. Smooth, even, and slow. Unable from the get-go to maintain the planned rhythm of 36 sec/lap, which I was hoping to maintain through 4k before winding it up for an heroic finish. After a slow early couple of laps with people sorting themselves out I thought I would be able to get it going but when I did try to push it out a bit the effort pushed back and I found by the first km that the upper limit was just slower than the desired 15 minute pace. Once that became obvious I put my head down and gave up on checking time splits other than at each kilometer. Those splits were as follows:

3:02
3:02.5
3:00.5
3:05 ugh
2:58

the core of the frustration stems from the fact that I know in my bones I could have run a faster 5k three weeks ago at the mini-meet had I run the full distance instead of a 3k time trial effort. That day the 36s required far less effort than the 36-points (and occasional 37s) I was hitting today. There was no taper that week, in fact the day before I ran a 90 minute progression that left me pretty damn tired. However that was also the end of a vacation week during which I was sleeping more and better than I have been since.

As it always is the race was populated mainly by clueless collegians, bless their hearts, who went out over their heads and paid for it. With a few exceptions (incl. the other post-collegiates in my section who beat me) I could sense the people ahead of me sagging right around the halfway mark. As such I'm sure I looked like a million bucks moving through the field even as I was slowing down myself on the fourth km. That drag-ass section coincided with being stuck between a group I had just left behind and the stragglers being shed from the group ahead.

The whole experience left me anxious for a shot at redemption. The next scheduled 5k wasn't until New Englands which is also at the end of a vacation week, but given I'll be on the redeye back from CO two nights before I'm not inclined to put my eggs in that basket. As such I'm changing the planned 3k in two weeks at Valentine to a 5k. Changing my bedtime will be more difficult but imperative nonetheless.