What a fun ( and interesting) experience!
Definitely an experience:)
Mile was first. I said that I would do whatever everyone around me does. If we go out at 5:10 pace I will be there. If we go out at 6:00 pace I will be there. Based on seeding times in my heat I expected that we will go out in 38sec/200m, then little under 3:30/1000m and then I will cruise the remaining 600 to 5:40ish mile. That would be a great workout!
What actually happened is this: We went out in 45sec. As the guy called out that split we all panicked and everyone (me including) made a mad dash to pass the girl who led us out at that pace. It was pretty hilarious. Although it did not work out since we all moved to the side to lane 2 and 3, so noone moved forward and the traffic jam continued. Lot of elbowing, spiking, slowing down and accelerating. That's what happens when you let 14 women "off the leash" on an indoor track for a fast and furious mile race:)Wow, I am not used to that. Then we went through 1000m in 3:36 and finished in 5:50. Hm, I guess that's what you get you are 7sec behind after only 200 meters:) It was still a good workout.
Just to further illustrate what a slow start can do to you: I went through 1000m in 3:30 and through the mile in 5:45 in 3000m race in December.
I also realized that it is very hard for me to pick up the pace after I start running. It was impossible to get down to 40s after that first 45. Blah.
Then I jogged for a few minutes (maybe 8), sneaked into a pool for a 10min flop and then I sat on my butt watching other events. Around 35min before 3k I jogged for 10min, did few stretches, 2 strides. My legs were definitely not as springy as usually.
3000m: Phew. It started ok, first 1000m in 3:41, then 3:58, and closed in 3:56 for 11:35. I did not know that one measly mile could take so much out of me. Interesting.
I wonder whether it would have been better if there was not ~2.5h break between the mile and 3k because I guess that my legs were more sore after 2.5h than they would have been after let's say an hour. I do not know. It feels that way.
So all in all it was a great fun again. Track races are so much fun. Way better than road racing. (Stop having such thoughts! Immediately! You are on a right track to become a road distance runner!) I am done with indoor track races for now. Maybe next year I will try to do some more 3000m specific workouts and race it again. And I will try to hit a certain time and not go just whatever depending on what people around me do.
Books I Read September and October 2024
4 weeks ago
The tactics in these races are amazing! You did awesome, those are some great times!
ReplyDeleteOh come on, those are horrible times! We both know that:)
ReplyDeleteRemind me, next time when do a race on an indoor track and if i want to hit a certain pace, i need to take matters into my hands.
I love your current interest in indoor running. I am similarly surprised that first mile seemed to sit in your legs so much for the 3k afterwards. But it must have had something to do with going all out and building up a certain amount of lactate. Anyway - I would also expect faster times from you. I mean, the 3000 was fast, but not as fast as it could be. Well, carry on and thanks for the interesting reading.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a current interest, we all know that I am a track whore, whether it is outdoor or indoor:) Plus there is not much to do in winter anyway.
ReplyDeleteBasically the plan was to do it as a workout and have two mediocre races: hold back in mile (although I hoped we would run faster than 5:50), and then we knew both of the races will be mediocre because even if I held back in mile it would still effect my 3k race. But I still expected a less mediocre 3k race :)
I do not know what caused that very slow 3000 time. I am sure that that mile affected me although it was not all out (5:50 is pretty easy, well, if you run one mile). Maybe I am just not used to doubling so my body was shocked. Plus I am sure that almost 3 hours between those races had negative impact because by the time I was getting ready for 3k the fatigue and soreness from the mile started to set in. It would be much better if it was 1-1.5 apart.
And also because my heat was pretty slow, unlike in December when we went through the first 1k at 10:30 pace, now we went out at 11:00 pace. Although if we went through the mile in 5:45 as we did in December I am sure that I would have blown up royally less than 2k in:)
Anyway, indoor track is fun! But can be very frustrating because it is very hard to run your own race with too many people in such a small area. Unless you are up front controlling the race. But I would still take an indoor mile over a 100k anytime:)