jonathon wrote:
It's simple. You are not racing fresh. You are starting the race in a fatigued state due to too much mileage / intensity in the week leading up.
Try just doing strides and easy running in the week before, and dropping your mileage 10%. Take the last 3 days before your race at easy or recovery effort.
I can do a similar thing for 11 miles, and also run in the low 17's. But I would run exactly what you did if I tried to race not completely fresh.
This may be a key factor- I haven't mentioned any tapering because we've trained through the meets thus far.
This week was kind of a wipeout for me, pretty much my hardest week in terms of fitness level vs. fatigue in over a year. For those wondering about the workouts, I'll list what this week was.
Monday: "Easy run", 8 miles @ 7:35/mi
Tuesday: Long run, 11 miles @ 7:13
Wednesday: Speed, 2x800m @ 2:40, 2x1200m @4:10, 1x1600 @ 5:48
Thursday: Easy run, 8 miles @ 8:30/mile
Friday, Easy 3 miles with 8x100m pickups @ race pace
Tomorrow: 5-8 @ comfortable pace