Race Pace

Yesterday I did training run #3, which was supposed to be a 5 miler at race pace (8:31).    As for the success of this run, let's just say that I'm glad I have 4 months to learn and practice holding race pace.   Even though I knew better, I ran the first mile waaaay too fast.   I always seem to do this, even though I know it is such a rookie mistake.   But no matter how rational I try to be, I always seem to succumb to that voice in my head that tells me I won't have enough energy in the last miles, so I should smoke the first miles to give myself some wiggle room at the end.   After years of missing time goals in races with this strategy, I know better.   But yesterday was like so many other days when knowing better doesn't translate to doing better.   So my first mile I felt good, but was breathing too hard and knew that it would be a struggle to hold this pace for the entire run.   Even after the first couple of minutes, I was almost positive that I was well under 8:31pace, but instead of trusting myself, I listened to the voice that tells me I'm not fast, not in shape, ect and forced myself to keep pushing.   Of course, when I hit mile 1, I was discouraged and encouraged simultaneously when I heard the nike plus voice telling me that my avg. pace was 8:03.  

I tried to pull back on the reigns and slow down, but again, that voice was in my head, whispering that I was probably pulling back too much; that I would be so disappointed at mile 2 when I realize I had slowed down to a 10 minute pace.   So mile 2 ended up being almost just as fast...8:08.   During mile 3, I was started to feel pretty tired and just wanted to be finished so I still didn't let myself let off on the effort.   The split was a little slower though (8:35) because of a stop we had to make to retrieve our sippy cup.  Mile four and five were the same....I was tired and dragging.   I was using the same effort as I had in the first miles, but I could feel that I was much slower (8:37).  

So, while my overall pace average was actually pretty close to target (8:21), I feel that this run was a perfect example of what not to do on my next pace run.   After all, the purpose of a race pace run is to build confidence.   Ending a run feeling as spent as I did yesterday is most definitely not a confidence builer.   Keeping that in mind I am promising myself that next week, I will start SLOW.   I will ignore the evil voice and I will listen to my body.   I will be even more recovered from the bronchitis so I will have the energy to make up any time that I lose in the first couple of slow miles.   This is my plan.   Keeping fingers crossed that I will implement it.   The good news is that I have approximately 15 more race pace training runs until the marathon.   It looks like I may need all of them.

Coming up:   First LSD run.....10 miles at 9:30 pace.  Long slow distance on an early Saturday morning.......definitely one of my all time favorite things.