You've Got To Learn To Pace Yourself

Fresh off a great run in Miami, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Hadn't had a bad run in quite some time, PR'ed in DC, and things were looking great for Columbus. And then taper hit me like a truck.

Long run: hit my target paces, but was working HARD to do it. 12 miles felt more like 15.
Sprint workout: had to do it on the treadmill because the rain will never end. Our gym is about 800 degrees, and I could only do 3 of my 5 sprints before my heart rate was out of control.

Yesterday, I got to do my tempo run, which was an easy warmup and cooldown around 3 miles at short tempo pace (7:38 for me). The hard part started out pretty smoothly - I decided on the fly where I'd run, and just kept an eye on my Garmin pace. It started to feel tough as I went uphill, and my pace was falling off on the watch...7:45...8:00. I pushed hard and got my pace back down. Then, I finished my first mile, and the Garmin popped up my average pace: 7:28.

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

I am officially the worst pacer ever. If there's one thing I think would help me the most right now, that might be it - learning what a given pace feels like so I know when I'm running that speed. Things have just changed so much in the last 6 months pacewise that my internal gauge is waaaay off.

So, the first mile was too fast, and I paid for it in the second mile. That ten second cushion I build was a two second deficit by the time I was done, and the only thing that saved me from a complete collapse on mile 3 was a well-timed stoplight where I had to cross that gave me a breather. As I finished the third mile, I quickly slowed to a walk so I could feel sorry for myself. As I did so, the sky just OPENED UP. All of a sudden, rain was pouring down, and a cold wind was whipping through the field. Even my iPod decided to give a little mood music to the situation.



It was all very melodramatic.

After a minute or two of walking, I decided that I had until I got home to wallow in my self-pity, and then it was time to move on. I got back to a jog to finish up, mostly because the weather was turning from bad to worse. As I turned on to our street, I even saw Meredith driving toward me on a rescue mission! However, I was close enough at that point to finish it out.

I'm hoping this is just the taper blues. I hope I didn't peak too early. I hope I've got what it takes to get this race done the way I want to do it.