Supremely frustrating despite a favorable result, esp. compared to the last time I ran this course two years ago. Hoping to run around 5:40 pace or so, mindful of the lost fitness from all the recent issues with the left calf. Started out under control, and after a little over a mile I had found someone to follow for wind protection. Soon we were joined by two others and with the pace feeling sustainable, I thought I had a good shot at maintaining the effort throughout. Then my fucking shoelace came untied, a first for the shoes and lace type I was wearing. No choice but to stop and tie it just after 4 miles. I lost a lot more than the 8 seconds or so it took to tie it, as my wind protection went chugging on down the road. Thought I would be able to reel them in within the next mile, wishful thinking of course. I ended up bringing the back of the group to within 15 meters or so but no closer, all while fighting a headwind during miles 5 and 6. By then the group had split and they were all running alone, but I had put too much into trying to catch up and wasn't able to pick off any stragglers. It's difficult to adequately express how frustrating this was. With less than 800m left, I tried to make one final move to close on the closest, who wasn't that far ahead at the time, but I felt the calf start to twinge and immediately backed off. Otherwise I would have been 8-10 seconds quicker the last mile. Overall the pace was fairly consistent, if not exactly impressive. I even negative splitted the thing. The eighth mile, which buried me two years ago, wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it. 15 minute cooldown. The wind was a definite factor, coming out the NNW all day, other than that not as cold as feared. Splits:
5:37
5:40
5:47
5:47
5:45 (includes taking a break to tie shoes)
5:39
5:42
5:45 (most substantial of the rolling hills)
5:34 (flat and trying desperately to regain contact)
5:40
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment