Mid May this year I made a tough choice, but it felt right in my spirit. I had been down with a cold the last few days of April and first few days of May. When I returned to training the following week, I just couldn’t get motivated. I gave myself another week to recuperate, but by then I felt behind in my training and desperate.
As much as I love this one mile race, I just had no desire to train for it. I knew what it would take to prepare and I felt like I didn’t have enough time to get ready. It just didn’t make sense to work at that level when I still didn’t fell 100%. By now had lost some of the benefits of base training especially given how sporadic my training had become before the Russvegas Half Marathon. 5 weeks was not enough time to train to get the results I wanted and I knew that I would be disappointed if I put in that kind of effort and ran anything slower than a 6:15.
It made more sense and was more in alignment with my long term goals to focus on running and lifting consistently. Based on my current fitness level and what I ran at last year’s race, I felt like a time in the low 7s was realistic (B goal) and if everything came together I might could even break 7 minutes (A goal).
All my training consisted of low mileage easy runs and one 8 mile long run. For grins I did a 6 x 400 speed workout with 400 walking recovery on Tuesday before the race. I wanted to get an idea of where I was as well as give myself a little momentum and confidence boost. The workout went well and confirmed my goals were realistic.
The weather had been a little cooler than normal the week of the race, but race day was starting to warm back up. It was still nice in the low 70s and not too humid. I didn’t spend much time warming up for this race, just a half mile or so to loosen up. I’m always glad to be over 40 when it comes to this race because we get the good fortune of running the first heat at 7 am!
I set my watch to catch the quarter mile splits and knew I needed to hit 1:45 to run 7 minute mile. I expected my first split to be a little faster so I was kind of surprised it was only 1:44.9. I think I got in my head after that. Several ladies had zipped right on past me in that first quarter.
The second quarter I noticed how my legs felt heavy and I didn’t seem to have much leg turnover. However, I managed to catch back up with some of the ladies and pass a few. My second quarter was 1:51.8.
The third quarter brings a slight uphill and 3 turns. In this section of the race I felt like I was just going through the motions, but not near as focused as I had been last year. I was disappointed in myself for not bringing my best mental game. Just because I didn’t prepare for this race physically didn’t mean I still couldn’t show up mentally with my A game! My split was 1:58.3.
This year there was someone ringing a bell at the start of the last quarter to symbolize the bell lap and final quarter. It was exciting to hear it ringing. My friend Annette was there cheering for me and it gave me a big boost. Although I felt flat, I pushed as hard as I could all the way through the finish chute. The final quarter was 1:43.7. My official race time was 7:18.7. I finished 8th in my heat and 47th woman overall. I placed 1st in my age group.
After the race, I told my coach that even though I didn’t have the race I wanted to have, it just didn’t feel right to be disappointed. In fact with the inconsistency in my training coupled with the traumatic experience of having a blow out on the interstate while driving back from Texas earlier that week, I really was okay with the race I ran.
The lesson I learned from this race is that even if you don’t prepare physically for the race, you can still prepare mentally to race your best with your current ability. I’m usually very mentally prepared and mentally tough. I took it for granted this race and didn’t show up and run with my head in the race. This year is cost me and kept me from placing in the top three of the overall Grand Master’s division. No matter how much you prepare physically, mental preparation is key. Don’t skip this step!
