I feel the need... for speed...

Last night, we had our second time trials at track. My ego was still bruised from the first one a few weeks ago, when the unbearable heat forced many of us to do only 2 miles (instead of the normal 3) and slowed us waaaaay down. As a point of reference, I finished those 2 miles in 23:18, a pace of 11:39 per mile. Compare that to my best time trial, in Winter season, at 31:15 for 3 miles, and you can see I definitely did not have a good day.

So you can't really blame me for being a bit nervous/anxious about this season time trial. Granted, the heat wasn't quite as oppressing last night as it was in mid-June when we first did this, but with my lacklaster warm-up run, I just had a bad feeling this was going to be another disappointing result. Much to my shock, though, not only did I end up beating my time from the first time trial (not that this was too hard ;)), but I actually SET A NEW PR!!

I finished the 3 miles in 29:25, nearly 2 minutes faster than my best time trial in Winter season. I've been trying to dissect it ever since, trying to figure out what it was that I did that made it so successful, and I'm still not sure I can put my finger on it. Certainly, I did a lot of the things the coaches tell us to do: start relatively slow to warm up (I started a full minute/minute and a half slower in my pace), then gradually pick up speed. By the last few laps, I was running 8:00-8:30 min miles--and feeling good. There must be something to this "start off slow" thing ;).

Thanks, Coaches!! What a night :).