.35m warmup w/ strides 1.6m cooldown
Lots of good guys to run with today! Mike and I decided before the race it would be a good idea to split the lead every half mile to help with the wind, since we were planning on about 5:15's. We did that for about 8 miles and it was really nice! The race played out almost exactly as it did last year. I switched leads with Iain Hunter last year till about the same point and also finished 3rd last year... minutes behind 2 runners who were out of my league. The difference was mostly in my last mile. Instead of 5:00 it was 5:15... and I ran 16 seconds slower this year. I am very pleased with my effort and the result, especially considering the lack of consistency in good workouts the past couple months.
Splits: 5:17.4, 5:14.7, 5:26, 5:14.6, 5:04.9, 5:10.4, 5:15.1, 5:20.1, 5:11.8, 5:20.5, 5:25.6, 5:14.7, 5:12.4, 46 seconds for .16m (4:53 pace) I was ahead of pace from last years time through 12 miles... but wasn't able to finish as well as I did last year.
I wore my brother's watch cuz my strap has broke 3 times in the past week or so...and I didn't want to risk that happening in the race. He has a Garmin forerunner 220 and I loved it! His watch got me at 13.16m@5:15... I think the race result is 1:09:14, or 5:17 pace. Average cadence was 182 steps per minute.
So both times I have run this race, the last 2-3 miles I feel like I have a hitch in my stride and my legs want to buckle. My breathing feels easy but my legs just don't work as well. I also felt like I wanted to fall backwards..downhill, flat, and even on the slight uphill. Have any of you had this problem? My best guess is my glutes are shot by the end of all that downhill and I start to compensate with an "extensor lurch"...only bilaterally. I think it's a matter of training higher mileage and more downhill. I'd love to hear if any of you have had a similar issue or what your thoughts are on it.
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