What?!???

I went to the track today. Workout: 5-6×1000 with 3 mins rest in between each. Goal time 3:38. I hit the track and had a great workout! I did all 6: 3:37, 3:37, 3:34, 3:38, 3:37, 3:35. I was proud, I ran really hard, through a good wind (and didn’t even try to wind aid the reps), and was at or below my times.

I checked my 1000 rep times before the marathon. They were 3:31-3:35. Hmm, I was a little slower than that today. Bet that was the wind. Or maybe I just had a good day then.

BUT THEN I came home and checked my plan. Goal time: 3:28. What???!!!??? NOOOO! Check the book, make sure. Yep, 3:28. What a sinking feeling.

I start to think: did I work to my full potential? Could I have gone harder? After the first one (3:37), if I would have known I was 9 seconds slower than goal, would I have gone harder? ARGH!

I know I couldn’t have hit 3:28s. If I would have had someone to chase, then maybe I could have been a few seconds faster. Maybe I would have gone 1-2 seconds faster each if I would have known how far off I was. Those two combined, I would have been MAYBE 3:32-3:33. That’s a MAYBE. It wouldn’t have been 7-9 seconds each time.

So — need to figure this out if I’m going to get anywhere. Part of it is I haven’t adjusted to VO2 max/speed work. I can hit tempo pace without any trouble. Hard long runs? Love them. But rep or interval pace, I’m not even close.

It’s also because I’ve bumped up my pacing. Instead of 2:50 pacing, I’m now at 2:48 pacing (and in a few months, hope to bump that to 2:46). Again, I have no problem with the tempo pace change — but everything else… it’s ugly.

So it’s really, really good for me to realize this is a such big weakness. I need to focus, really get after it. So, with that — enough said! No more missed paces, if I have ANYTHING to do with this. I CAN do this!!