So I ran the Nautical 4 mile race and while it was a new PR for me for speed-wise it wasnt a great race overall. I decided to train the 3 weeks before for 7 min miles as my previous best for doing 4 miles was 7:13min/mile (not in a race but on a route by my work).
My uncle and I :) He races a lot with me which is fun! I got there race morning and it was hot. We took off and the first mile is mostly up hill. I was under pace for the first mile at 6:40, but I was dying. It was too fast. I knew it wasnt sustainable and I was having no fun at all.
The second mile had both uphill and downhill, but overall more up and I averaged 7:20. I could tell I was fading and the heat was tough. The third mile was all gradual uphill again and I totally fell apart. averaging 7:56 mins/mile. The whole time my phone is yelling at me that I'm not making my pace. I was trying to place 3rd for my age group as I knew I had a chance at that one. I was counting the women who had passed me and I was in 4th place overall, but I could tell one of the women was young so I figured I was holding on to 3rd for women 30-39.
The final mile was down hill and I was able to hit 6:43 again. But in the last 400m straight away to the finish line another woman passed me and I could tell she was in her 30's and I wasnt going to place. To add insult to injury she flung sweat on me as she zoomed by...lol. I just had nothing left in me to stay ahead of her. So I got beat by a 19 year old, 31 year old and two 34 year olds :) No medal this time as I was 4th for my age group.
So my husband gives me **** because I came 5th overall out of all the women (small race so maybe only a hundred) and had a new PR on my pace of average 7mins and 6 second/mile so I should be pleased. But I just didnt feel good during the run or after. The only highlight for me was a couple other racers asked me if I beat Becky (who apparently was the woman who came in a about 10 seconds after me) and I said yes and they said congratulations she is our local hotshot. So that was nice to hear.
Lessons learned:
Dont set the bar too high and make it so you no longer enjoy the race. I wont set my pace so fast next time that the whole race I'm panicking and getting yelled at and not having fun. I run because I love it, placing and getting medals is fun but not at the expense of killing the joy of running.
Dont start so fast you burn out too quickly, save some energy for the end so sweat flingers dont leave you in their dust :)
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