David's Blog

Race Report: Leap Year 4 Miler

Yesterday I ran the [leap year 4 miler](http://www.everalracemgt.com/events/full.php?2012/leap-year-4-miler.html). It was in Willow Metro Park and was different from many of the races that I have run in that it was in the evening. The park had no streetlights on the course and it was quite foggy so it was actually somewhat difficult to see towards the end of the race but overall it was quite fun. The course was extremely flat (fast\!) and the little bit of rain didn’t really bug me all that much.

My goal was to run under 27 minutes, which I was able to do. My splits were quite embarrassing though - just really inconsistent. I was looking for about 6:30-6:40 pace during the race but that really isn’t what happened. I went out feeling pretty good and thought I was right on pace; It turned out I ran a 6:08 for the first mile which was really quite surprising for how little I thought I was exerting myself and the shape I consider myself in. It turned out that was not sustainable at all though. I tried slowing down a bit but that mile caught up with me quickly.

The next two miles were 6:55 and 7:15 and were quite tough to keep the pace up. There was also a bit of rain but that actually felt kind of good. There was a turn around right before the 3 mile marker and that is where I decided to really start pushing again. I was able to hold a really good pace without feeling like I was about to fall apart for that entire mile. I even had a decent kick at the end which means I probably had more in me for the middle two miles - I just couldn’t find it.

I finished the last mile in 6:34 for a finishing time of 26:51. Overall sometime I’m happy with because I beat my goal. I do think that if I had been a bit more even in my splits that it could have been even better but it is no use worrying about that now. Full results for the race are here.

Some takeaways from this race:

  • I ran a faster 5k time than in the middle of this race than I did at the [Super 5k](http://davidwilemski.com/blog/2012/02/race-report-super-5k/ "Race Report: Super 5K") earlier in the month
  •  My first mile of 6:08 tells me I’m getting some speed back but I know that progress will be slow
  • I need to work on pacing my miles a bit better. This is something I already knew that I used to have trouble with and something I continue to work on.

In order to help me keep a more steady pace as I train for some upcoming races I plan on doing more mile repeat workouts. I know in the past they’ve really helped my pacing and improve my speed over the course of a race.