BU. Bracketing exercise that ended up falling in the category of "seemed like a good idea at the time." Original plan was to run the 3k as a progression, starting at 39 sec/lap and increasing it 1s/lap for each subsequent km (3:15/3:10/3:05). More than a tempo for sure but less than an all-out race, although I had my doubts going in about being able to hold 37 for any length of time after the first 2k. Then a nice long break before tackling the 800 for the first time in 20 years, in hopes that the experience would be beneficial for feeling relaxed racing the mile later on in the month. In my glory days when indoor track was about racing 3k and 5k I could perhaps justify completely ignoring anything shorter than a mile but not the case any longer. Got to bed later than I should have last night which left me feeling somewhat flat. Left myself too little time for an adequate warmup before the 3k, not that I was that concerned given the way I'd be approaching it. Despite the pack of good time charlie high schoolers who were doing their darndest early on to show to everyone how nonchalant they were, got into a groove soon enough. Although it did indeed feel a bit harder than I would have liked from the outset. Still able to come close to hitting the numbers, tellingly the final km was the one furthest from the goal:
39.3/39.8/39.6/39.0/38.2 - 3:15.9
37.6/38.1/38.1/38.1/38.4 - 3:10.3
37.4/37.9/37.5/37.4/36.6 - 3:06.9
The difference between clicking off 38s and trying to click off 37s while already a bit tired was noticeable, but overall a qualified success. Breaking 9:20 is about all I could hope for were I racing the distance in earnest. The new normal. Wore spikes instead of flats, a decision I had dithered over far too much but flats would have made things that much harder to accomplish. Alas, the spikes didn't treat the already frayed-feeling calf so well and this ended up becoming the dominant factor later on. With 4+ hours to kill went out for a very slow cooldown jog on the roads before a small lunch. Realized to my dismay that the calf was more frayed than before and maybe adding a short and fast effort to the day wasn't such a great idea. Nothing about the secondary warmup jog and drills did anything to dissuade me, not able to get a full force push off. Nevertheless, toed the line petrified I might pull it at any moment. Went out very tentatively the first 50m as a result, realized I would survive in one piece albeit running at less than 100% efficiency. However, by 250m in the burning arms feeling had set in and it just got harder from there. Tried to keep some turnover going but I could feel myself sagging with each step. Two others were in the same kind of trouble just in front of me, made a move on the final back straight to pass them and didn't really make it stick. Lap splits of 32/34/35/36. I had seeded myself at 2:13 and thought for sure I could break 2:15. The calf issues surely affected the time somewhat, how much is anyone's guess though. The time is more embarrassing than discouraging though, the real concern is with the right calf which since Wednesday has suddenly gone back to its bad old self. Easy jog cooldown inside before calling it a day.
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