Sun 1/2 - AM 80 minutes incl. 3k, mile

The day didn't start well as an ongoing (never ending) tooth issue forced me awake at 3:30 in the morning. Got back to sleep 90 minutes and an advil later, woke up from that glorified nap feeling like death warmed over. I was extremely pessimistic about my ability to carry through on the planned 3k cutdown and then a mile on top of that. Just the 3k alone didn't feel doable going in, and feeling flat on the warmup did nothing to change this perception. Nonetheless toed the line and thankfully the caffeine kicked in just in time. Planned to run the 3k with successive kms of 3:05, 3:00, and 2:55 (or faster). Actual splits 3:03 high, 2:59 high, 2:56. After the first 300m felt harder than I would have liked, got into a groove and changing gears at 1000m took little extra effort. Changing gears again was not quite as easy, last five laps felt like one sustained drive rather than a progressively faster effort but I'll take it. There followed a longer break than I had expected. Sat around waiting, jogged for 15 minutes very easy, had a snack to quell hunger pangs, and waited some more. Left hammie felt somewhat stuck getting ready for the mile, more worried about the caffeine wearing off. Went to the back of the field at the gun with legs that felt heavy, first 220 in the 36-7 range and I knew right there I wouldn't be running my seed time (4:36). Most of the field started to fall apart by the halfway point, at which point I was making another sustained drive. Decided not to save anything for a final burst at the end, given how slow the pace was. I was expecting to drag along some people with me and get outkicked by a few of them but this didn't happen. Nearly fell coming off the last corner trying to muster one final gear change that didn't exist. Finished just under 4:40 with splits of 2:21 and 2:18 high. Recovered fairly quickly afterward but I couldn't have run the race any faster. Left leg sore on the cool down but I've felt much worse after races earlier this fall. Overall the results were encouraging, the 3k more so than the mile. The overall pace for the 3k feels like something I should be able to manage for 5k, if not a bit faster, in a month's time. The gear changes came easier than expected. The mile was slow but given the context I'm pleased to have run negative splits and kept the ball rolling rather than settle for staying with a slowing pack.