Not what I wanted, but I learned my lesson!

2 weeks after my win in the mile I was back in Seattle yesterday for the 3000 meters. This may be my favorite event, and after putting in a lot of work over the last months I was very excited to see what I could do. I felt like I was in PR-shape and wanted to get as close to 9:10 as possible (running a time around 9:10 or just under is probably good enough to make it into NCAA’s indoor nationals). Therefore the plan was to start out with 400 meters in 74s (9:15 pace) for the first 2km and end with a fast last kilometer. I felt very good in the warm-up and thought this was going to be my day. But unfortunately I forgot one simple thing:

How To Run a Good Race Rule 1: Don't Lead If You Don’t Have To.

2 weeks ago I had a terrible start and had to work myself up from behind to put myself in contention for a fast time, wasting valuable energy. So this time I was not going to have a bad start. I was going to be aggressive and find a good position. Well, maybe a little too aggressive… I had a very good start, so good that I ended up in the lead. Which is not a good idea if you are running in the strongest heat of the day and if you have to run 3 long kilometers. So there I was, in the lead, a perfect rabbit for the rest of the field. I probably should have stepped to lane 2 and let someone else do the work, but I didn’t. I was on pace for the first 400m but fell slightly off after that. Just before the mile someone else finally took over and I tried to go with her. At 2000meters I heard 6:16, where I had hoped to be around 6:10. It was hard to know that the time was slipping away, and it was tough to get passed by a couple more girls. I did not have the power to go with them, and ended up 6th. To finish in 9:24 is not bad, but I had set my mind on running at least a PR and to contend for the win again. And I think I could have achieved both, if I had just slowed down a little bit 80 meters into the race, when I was about to be the first one in the turn, so that I could have been the one chasing people instead of being chased.

But… The season is young and if you learn from your mistakes they can serve as valuable lessons for the future! I may not have gotten the outcome I wanted today, but I’ll get another chance soon enough. I just found out (read: persuaded coach) that I will likely be racing the mile in the House of Track (WC Indoors track) in Portland this coming Friday. I can’t wait to run there, hopefully this time with some smarter tactics…