Will Turn to Gold

I had a local 5k race today and, I've got to say, it went very well. I always hope for something more and to be the person leading the race, but I've come to learn I don't quite have that pace but I can be successful in my own lane.

One of the big goals I've tried to focus on is holding on mentally when things get hard and not stepping off the gas. I've found that I am very capable at talking myself out of keeping on a goal when it gets a little hard and compromising and saying that's okay. This happened a lot during Bayshore when, at like mile 3-4 (or so it felt like, not entirely sure which one it was but was in the first half) when I said it's okay if it's not my day. I even talked to myself about how impressive my training block was with everything that I had to deal with personally and professionally. And, while that is true, that doesn't mean that I couldn't have pushed.

So I've tired to use these shorter races, where things going bad only go bad for so long, as a way to stay on top of my mental game. I've kept telling myself things that "you're okay", "you're not going to die", and "keep pushing" as well as played games of both race announcing in my head and tracking down runners. What I've found is that I've managed to keep on top of my goal for the day and not really let off the gas. 

Today I told myself to run and to hope for a PR (and to potentially break 21:00). I went out real hot, too hot, but I didn't panic. I saw that I was sub-7:00 and then just let off the gas, but kept my form. I chatted with someone quickly and then settled in. I knew there would be runners falling apart with how they started so I said be patient. I settled a little too much at one point and saw a 7:30-7:40 so I mentally shook myself out of that and picked up my form and my pace. I said just hold this and keep striding. I saw a woman I chatted with at the start with 1.5 to go who I could tell I was going faster then so I started my race dialogue and tried to pick it up or at least hold on.

I mostly held on to the pace which was an improvement from last year (knowing the rolling hills and the back half helped) and I didn't catch the woman, but I made up a lot of ground and only ended about 3 seconds behind her. I PRed this course by about a minute and felt strong the whole time. It was a nice result and gave me some hope for a next cycle.

I will say that I got some news which makes the idea of a winter training block seem like a potentially insurmountable task, but I can't get too far ahead of myself just yet.