I’ve actually done no preparation (on my plan) at all since I had planned on working on <a href=”../index.php?misc=search&subaction=showfull&id=1199409726&archive=&cnshow=news&ucat=2&start_from=” target=”_self”>my 5k goal</a> for a while longer, but that came to a very surprising end tonight as I finished the <a href=”http://www.dcroadrunners.org/Races/wdf.asp” target=”_blank”>Run After the Women 5k</a> in 18:56… over 40 seconds faster than the adult PR I had set just a couple weeks ago, but following/during a heck of a cold.<br/><br/>I’m not sure what I attribute my time to. I automatically began to think the course was short, but a number of people were complaining that their times were slow, and a guy showed another his GPS watch showing 3.11mi (long, if anything). The weather wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great. It was pretty hot and rather humid following afternoon storms. I wasn’t feeling all that good; I’m not used to night races, I had a slight headache, I had hydrated, but not eaten particularly well… Whatever all that is worth. Many things I’ve read say you race better when the race is held at the time of day that you train… Maybe that was it? Regardless, I’m happy so I treat myself to some <a href=”http://www.yelp.com/biz/super-pollo-arlington” target=”_blank”>Super Pollo</a> on the way home.<br/><br/>The race course was the most familiar 5,000 meters I know; it was the portion of the W&OD that I run nearly every day. Not sure if that helped, but I now consider it my “home” course. The first half was an ever so slight downhill. I completed that in 9:07… Was passed by three guys on that stage and passed one. The second half, a slight uphill, I completed in 9:49. I was passed by nobody, passed one, and gained a little bit of ground on one of the guys who had passed me earlier. I would have liked more even splits, but given my blazing [to me] time, I’m going to chalk it up to the grade.<br/><br/>I’ll continue running races, but I think I’m going to very much slim down my schedule so I can fit in more quality miles. That said, I still plan on running the <a href=”http://www.geocities.com/tidalbasinrace/” target=”_blank”>Tidal Basin 3k</a> this Wednesday and the <a href=”http://www.dcroadrunners.org/Races/jascourt4m.asp” target=”_blank”>Hugh Jascourt 4-miler</a> this Saturday. I suppose race miles are quality miles as long as I can ward off injury, eh? They’re more fun anyway…<br/>
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