Hey guys.
Goal race: Club Nationals 10000 (yesterday), Railroad Days 10K (in six weeks)
For Railroad Days I think I'll be more focused on time. For Club Nats I had both time and place-based goals. I'll get more to that in a minute.
Monday: 9 total with a 10K tune-up. Hot, fatigued. 3 a bit slower than 10K pace (6:24), 1:00 rest (basically a water break) into 1 mile faster than 10K pace (6:09). 6:24s were very even and relaxed, but the heat made it a little tough at the end. 6:09 was a bit erratically paced but I got a second wind after the water.
Tuesday: 6 + strides at 8:07 pace, pretty slow, feeling tired.
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 3 + strides at 7:54 pace, a bit tired.
Friday: Club Nationals 10K, 85 at the start, 40:10 (slow time) for 8th (great place).
Saturday: 10 very easy before volunteering, cheering, and photographing the rest of Club Nationals.
Sunday: 9.5 at 8:05 pace, honestly feeling terrible, still dehydrated.
So Club Nationals. I'm very glad I had both time and race goals, that is definitely something I am going to keep doing in the future, because some days just aren't great for fast times and this was one of them. It was 85 at the start, so I slowed down my pace a lot (on a perfect day, I think I could run 6:12-6:15 pace, and I went out at 6:20 pace). Then I found myself alone for a while. Some of my teammates were running much faster, even the girls who ran low-39 went out at a much, much faster pace and ran it the hard, painful way, so I did not go with them.
For a while I was hitting 6:20s fine. The heat was intense, but sponges and water helped a little. A few miles in, being alone got to me, and I was exhausted from the heat, and I started to fade a little, although not terrible. We had twelve entered, eleven from our club and one from another club, but one was a no-show, one was behind me, and one dropped out from the heat. When I realized this, I knew it meant I had to score.
That's when one of the coaches from our club started yelling about the girl ahead of me from Denver Track Club. I actually hadn't seen her at the beginning. I'd thought she'd been behind me, but she actually went out at a near-suicidal pace with the top girls, way out of her comfort zone. She was 200 meters up, and I didn't want to hear it, because 200 meters was a long way to catch someone. But then he said she was 150 meters up. Then the other coach said I'd gained 16 seconds on her in a single lap. There's a point right there, get that point.
I got really excited and really competitive. For the last few months, I think because of all of my setbacks, I've been serious about my running but not very competitive. I just knew I HAD to catch that girl and crush her and get that point. So I picked up the effort and before I knew it she was right there. I made the most decisive move I possibly could and didn't look back. I was scared for about a 200 that she'd try to hang on but she fell back. So I got that one point. The time was very slow (40:10), but I don't think times really mattered or meant much.
So I guess I simultaneously ran an A race and missed a C goal. Funny how that works. I was very happy, though, because I raced well and got to contribute to the score, which was a major goal going in. This race is on video, although you don't see much of me. I'm in the dorky orange hat at the start. Note how fast the Denver girl goes out.
http://clubtrackchampionship.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=3704&
;do=videos&video_id=121412
Overall our team was second to Central Park Track Club with 161 points. Based on my calculations I should get a solid $4.65 of the team money because of this. I'm like practically a professional runner, guys.