I finished my most recent training cycle. It was a tri-emphasis with extra focus on running. My swimming has been staying consistent at 3x per week ranging from 9000-10000m per week. This time around my cycling picked up quite dramatically. My running went back into more intensity.
The point of my race today was to find out if I could pace myself by perceived exertion only. Coach told me to leave my technology hidden and just run. Going into this, I knew it was going to be a challenge. I know my zones 1 and 2 very well, but I don't know my upper zones. I knew it was going to require quite a bit of focus on my part.
Doing this, I ended up with a PR. Good right? Who doesn't love a PR? My 5 mile time came in at 47:30. (BTW: If you don't know how to do this in Training Peaks: go to map & graphs, go to the right side and scroll down to your distance. It will give you the time for the exact distance you did. Why is this important? Last year, my race distance--on my garmin--was 5.08. This year, it was 5.05. I can't really compare those finish times. I need the time it took on both race days for me to run 5 miles. Make sense? If you look up my race results today, you'll see my time of 48:00 for 5.05 miles. Looking at trainingpeaks.com, I did 5 miles in 47:40. It removes the zigzagging distance.) This is how I always get my times and paces, so that I can compare all my races of the same distances.
But, I digress.
I learned a few things while I was at it.
1.) I didn't really do a bad job. When I finished the race, I was thinking that I didn't go hard enough throughout. That part is correct. However, I did increase my effort throughout the entire race. I just didn't go as hard as I could. In theory, I accomplished my goal.
2.) Loss of focus. This has been my issue for years. Short races are easy for me to keep my focus. As races get longer, I tend to space out.
3.) This was the best "running" of this race that I've ever done. First of all, it felt very short which means my fitness has improved. Second, I usually crash and burn the last mile. This year, I didn't. In fact, I ran my fastest last mile EVER, for this race.
There were a few other thing.....but DUDE, I'm tired. I can't remember everything now.
For the next few weeks, I'm getting ready for my first Tri of the year. Then in June, we have my first A race of the year.
UNRELATED to training....
I've been struggling with something.
My A race is the last weekend in June. (Olympic distance)
Two weeks later, I have the Boulder Peak. (Olympic distance)
Two weeks after that, I have a sprint race.
I don't know if I want to do the Peak. There are a couple of reasons why.
First, I registered for this race last year. I didn't realize (at the time) that it was so close to my other races. Why did I register for it? It was more of a whim, I guess.
Second, it's a really big race. I don't like doing big races. I don't like waiting in line to get into a venue. I don't like waiting over an hour to start. I just don't like big races.
As the date gets closer, I'll talk to Coach about it. She might just say, "Grow a pair and do it." I'm cool with that. In fact, I'd rather that she just plain take the decision out of my hands.
If she DOES say "Grow a pair". Well....I've never done it before. I can go into this race with a different mentality than my A races, different goals, etc.
Olympic races are hard. For me, it is the hardest distance. I have never done one as part of training. It's a long distance for a training race.....for me.
It would be a good opportunity for me to practice nutrition in the heat.
So, yeah. I know why it's good for me to do. I just don't really want to do it. It's the only race like that. I love my race schedule other than that one race.
And yes. I know that sometimes we have to do things we don't like in order to accomplish our goals.
Now back to our regularly scheduled training....