PM: 3,000m race, 8:56 (PR), 5th place - 9 miles
One goal I had in my only indoor track season in college was to break 9:00 in the 3k. Not only did it never happen, but I'm pretty sure I never came close. 9:11 may have been the best I managed on the indoor oval. I've tried to break 9:00 several other times because I considered it a "soft" personal best, but I've never had the natural leg speed for it to come naturally. I've tried to get under 9:00 in the 3k three times since college:
1.) once en route to my 5k PR on a cold time trial with Kilm and Bert;
2.) once at the Maryland home meet where I tied up something awful after taking an early lead; and
3.) once in a time trial with Liam on Duke's outdoor track
That makes three times I've tried and failed since college. I don't race the event very often, so my attempts have admittedly been few and far between. And because my only other races on an indoor track were some disastrous 5ks at Maryland, I'll venture to say that I've never once felt good about racing on the small oval.
Today, after more than seven years following my first attempt, I finally managed a decent race indoors.
Indoor track is and has been hard on my body. My broad-shouldered frame and inherently weak leg speed don't take kindly to the tight turns and confines of indoor tracks, especially the non-banked variety at Maryland and Liberty. As the post-race photo of foot illustrates below, I almost always tear up my feet racing on indoor tracks, and today was no exception. My left foot felt like a shoe-demon was stabbing it with a hot spoon for the last 10 laps of the race, but with more than two hours of driving each way, I earnestly wanted to make this race count.
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| A handsome blood blister as my reward for a PR. |
Normally the second mile is my weakest moment when racing the 3k. After going from last place up to the chase pack early on, I again fell back as far as 10th place in the race, but instead of accepting my fate and ceding the race to younger, faster legs, I hung in and fought. I was passed by at least three runners in the second kilometer, but then I'd fight back and re-pass.
Another huge improvement is that I out-kicked four considerably younger college runners in the last 400m. I've never had much of a kick, but I closed the last 200m in :32 and got one last guy at the line. That just doesn't happen that often for me, particularly in short races.
The PR and the respectable kick fired me up so much that I ran through the line and immediately high-fived Alex (who won in 8:37) without breaking stride. Monk came in behind me and set a PR in his first ever indoor race. That made three BCTC PRs propelled by the encouraging cheers from Coach George (Monk's eight year-old son) on every lap.
I've unquestionably found some pop in my legs in the last few weeks. I don't know what exactly brought this on given that I'm only now just getting into higher mileage, and I haven't otherwise introduced new stimuli into my training recently, but I'll gladly take it.
I'm really pleased with the way the training cycle for Boston has started: we aren't even a month into 2012, and I've already broken two PRs after a nearly two-year drought. It's extremely satisfying to get that frustrating chapter of my running career behind me, and unlike last week, I even managed a PR in a real race--with timing, competition, and everything--this time. My major hope is that breaking these relatively soft PRs will set me up to break through to bigger and tougher challenges at 10 miles and the marathon in April.
The video of the race is here. I look like a huge dork with my t-shirt tucked in because I forgot my BCTC singlet at home.
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| Three PRs are all that could have made four hours of driving worth it. |
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