re: 1.5 mile run at 9:30 p.m. In my mind at the time, it was one Strike against me. The next day I forgot to take my gym bag (shorts and spikes) to school. That was strike two. Coach decided he was going to have all the sprinters (7 of us) race in a 40 yard dash from the blocks. Lanes 2-8 and I got Lane 2, thanks Coach. Luckily, I was wearing heavy sweat pants and flats. After warming up and doing some practice starts I realized how much it sucks to use flats in the blocks where you couldn't modify the angle.
Set...BANG!! I got a Blake type R/T (19.26) bc I was so uncomfortable . Strike 3. I had every excuse to lose and not worry about it anymore. I took off and passed them all up like they were school children. They weren't world beaters by any means. 10.7-10.8 guys. I eased off as soon as I passed up the guys at around 30 yards and they caught me at the line. I didn't care about the time or results in a 40, I just loved competing. As I was walking away to get some water, the guy in Lane 3 who was a very fast starter asked me "why did you let up?" you went right past me and just stopped running. I told him I wasn't expecting to accelerate so fast.
I think you're right about the run being the right stimulus (at the right time)
I was excited to run but felt no pressure at all. Just execute. Anyways, I felt great for 60 M sprints and other speed workouts after running 1.5 miles the night before.
I forgot about it til recently.
Sprinting fast feels Fantastic. My body feels really great after the 1st rep.
I will consider racing if the Meets are there. For sure. I frequent the San Jose, CA area and if there are All Comers Meets in Los Gatos again this year, I just may 'Go for it' Use the races 100-200 for my speed endurance this year.
ONe of the reasons I want to race is bc my kids want to see me race. They like to see me compete and cheer for me. I play other sports in highly comp. leagues and they know when I say something..I back it up. Well, I made the mistake of telling them ' if you put me in a race with the top 5 ppl my age in the U.S.A. ...I will not take last place. I will pick-off some of them.
I've never considered running in a master's race til very recently. The Nationals are right here in my backyard next year. If it happens, Great. I plan on being there. If not, great. I train for myself anyway and also to get a better understanding of my own body so if/when I decide to coach again, I'll be better off. As it is, I challenge 20 somethings to races at times. They think they will destroy me, but, they always end up false starting over and over. Rookies.
Maybe I'll see some of these posters on SM at a Meet who have claimed that they have been working on their speed the last 3 months approx. since the gyms have been shut down. I'd like to race some of them , but they seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden.