Race Report: GTC All-Comers Track Meet - 1 Mile

I'll be honest, I woke up nervous for this event on Tuesday morning. I haven't been nervous for a race in forever, not even my last marathon, really. I think it's the smaller crowd and knowing that EVERYBODY CAN SEE ME for the entire race. I don't know, I get self-conscious about that kind of thing. 

"What if I go out too fast and then everybody sees me fall apart at the end?"
"What if I'm so far behind the rest of the pack and finish last?"

"What if I'm the WORST at this and people think I have no business running in a track meet?"

Totally irrational, and yeah, the answer to everyone of those questions is "Well... so what?" but still... yes, these are thoughts circling through my head all day.

The plan for the evening was to get home from work, grab a snack, and run over to the track (about 2.5 miles from my house). I figured this would ensure I was warmed up enough, and would also be a way to make sure I got all 6.2 miles of #10kTuesday done. In hindsight, I wish I had just run like 4 miles in the morning, then left the rest to the track meet and just drove there... oh well.

The evening went just as intended, and I arrived at the track right around 6pm after a 2.8 mi run @ 8:53/mi avg. Ooops, too fast for a warm-up. I even tried to take it VERY SLOW. During the run, I started realizing that my goal of sub-6 was not likely to happen, primarily due to:

Feels like 96F, zero wind

I haven't trained in the heat. I know that's a cop-out excuse and I totally COULD have trained in the heat. But ugh. Mornings are so much nicer! Anyway, I started adjusting my expectations (let's be honest, I'd started adjusting them well before this day).

Got there and got my bearings, signed up (there were no bibs or chips for timing), and then hung around in the few patches of shade I could find.

The Track.

Meet Schedule

I debated even doing the warm-up laps, but figured it would be a good idea just to get myself out on the track. I felt a lot less nervous after I actually got out there and ran a couple of laps. 

The kids races and the 100m went by pretty quickly, and next thing I knew, it was time for the mile. They split the mile into two heats... sub-7 pace, and above 7 pace. I was nervous about running in the "fast" heat (because I didn't want to be last), but it was completely reasonable for me to be there, so out I went. At least I would get it done with?

I lined up, there were about a dozen of us, and then we were off!

The biggest concern was going out too fast, so I made sure to settle into a comfortable pace. Thankfully there were several other runners who were going about the right speed, so I paced off of them. I checked my time at the first lap and was right at 1:30. I didn't think I could hold that pace for 3 more laps, but at least I knew I was doing the right thing so far.

I hit my lap button manually at each lap, and it wasn't until the third lap (about 600m to go) when my lungs started feeling fatigued. My legs felt fine the entire time, so I knew I had the ability to go faster, but my lungs & cardio were struggling in the hot sun. Surprisingly my heartrate didn't go crazy, probably due to me not wanting to push too hard in the heat. I kept myself just below "redline" feeling, and did my best to stay consistent through the entire race.

Splits.

Pace + HR graph

Not sure what that pace blip is right before the half mile mark... 

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of this pacing. Not the best, but I definitely didn't go out insanely fast and then die at the end, so that was positive. 

Anyway, end result was 6:29.... just barely under 6:30, which was my "baseline" goal for this race, though with weather-adjusted considerations, was exactly what I expected. I know I'm faster, I know exactly what the factors were that lead to this result, and I know in different conditions I could have come closer to my goal.

So... looking for fall 1-mile races. :)