It wasn't pretty, but I did gut out another age group win at the Roselle Run for Roses 5K a little over a week ago. I followed that with a fast mile mid-week, and now I'm in a mini-recovery mode.
Roselle 5K:
I actually had the intentions of running a fast 5K here, but for some reason it just didn't work out. I'll blame it on a lack of mileage over the prior weeks, and a last minute audible that had me running for placement instead of time. Training wise, I've been gradually winding down in this post-marathon mode (more like delaying the inevitable), yet still racing nearly every weekend for the last several weeks. I simply have sacrificed quality long runs for races. Regardless, I went to Roselle thinking that I'd be able to run a 16:20ish.
A little head wind in the first half of the race forced me to change my strategy. I didn't want to be the work horse for the chase pack going into the wind. If I did, then I would've risked either dying or getting dropped by guys that I should've beaten. And if I would've sat in the middle of the chase, then I would've gone out too slow and been victim to who knows what (heaven forbid a negative split 5K).
So with the gun, I sprang quickly onto the back of the lead pack. It was fast. I knew it. These guys were going sub 16 pace, but I felt nice and loose so I just went with it. I simply decided to get far enough ahead of the chase and then gut out what I could. I didn't have a watch and I don't recall my exact splits - but they wound up something like 5:08, 5:28, 5:23, 0:32 = 16:33.
That first mile was really hot. I saw the clock and immediately had a big "whoops!" Trouble with that, was I had already started to slow up before reaching the marker (as did most of the pack). Only they clung to their pace from there, while I pulled back again in the second mile as I tried to get under control. Hence 5:28. After the first mile, I dropped a kid that went out with me, and saw nobody else the rest of the way. Little did I know, that a couple guys from the chase were closing on me, but nobody ever passed me. And for that, it was a success as I won my age group. 16:33 was a far cry from 16:20 and even more from a PR... but another good enough.
Spring Mile:
A mile isn't something I normally do. Since some of my recent racing was behind me and I was about to hit the reset button, I thought I'd give it a shot just to see what I could do. So last Wednesday night, a number of us went to the track for the first time this year. It was a treat, since we've been doing our speed on the lakefront path or in the zoo parking lot.
I simply had the target of running sub-5 minutes. I know I can go faster, but given that I suck at the mile... I figured I'd play it safe. I split 75, 76, 74, 73... for a total of 4:58. It felt great and was actually pretty fun. I couldn't have run it any better too - a very conservative and clean negative split. To boot, I capped off the 2x 400, 1x 1600, 2x 400 workout with a blazing 65 second 400. I think I'll try to give the mile another shot after building my training back up, as opposed to winding down. I'd absolutely love to go sub 4:50, which I should be able to do with a little more fitness and speed work.
Now that that's out of the way, I'm taking a few weeks of reduced mileage before I roll back up. Some much needed recovery. I'll keep it simple for now and reassess in a couple weeks. Ultimately I'll build to burn a fast marathon in the fall (location still TBD), followed by a lay-up with the NYC Marathon. Along the way, I'll give my 5K and half marathon both an honest shake for PRs.
