Tonight’s run was a little earlier than usual as I got out of work early. We left home at about 3.45 and headed straight up to George’s Lane. From there we went up the Pike, back down, to the Pigeon Tower, down the slippery slope to the path below, up through the terraced gardens, back to the Pigeon Tower and along George’s Lane back home.
Although I had my head torch in my bum bag, I decided to challenge myself to get home before it got dark which meant really getting a wiggle on.
It has made me realise that I might not be trying hard enough in races. When I was running through the terraced garden, uphill towards George’s Lane, I looked at my Garmin which was showing an 8.15 minute mile pace and, whilst this isn’t quite as fast as my race pace (8 min mile), I felt really comfortable and was initially surprised to see that I was running at this pace up hill. I held this pace for about three miles and still felt comfortable and that if I had been in a race I would have been able to go quite a bit faster.
Why then do I not feel this good when I’m racing? Is it all in the head? Maybe I struggle to get out of my comfort zone? I do find that I’m always able to finish a race with a sprint finish which makes me think I’m not putting in enough effort during the rest of the race if I still have this much energy let at the end. Plus, when I cross the line, even though I’m out of breath and I have to double over for a few seconds, I recover really quickly so maybe I haven’t pushed hard enough?
Whatever it is, I’m going to work hard to try to overcome it and get to a place where I’m racing well and getting more and more PBs in.
I’ve agreed to take part in a relay with the Harriers in March so I really want to improve by then so I don’t let my team mates down and make them proud.
Total distance – 5 miles
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