Monday, October 18, 2010

Burnout - PT 8K Results

Missing a personal best time it isn't necessarily a loss as much as it is a learning experience, trying to factor in all internal and external conditions to see what one could learn from and overcome next time.  Missing it by a mere 1 or 2 secods, however, can be frustrating.  Especially knowing that one or two adjustments could have made all the difference..

Overall time:  32:11
Overall Finish:  13th
Pace per mile:  6:28.5
Age Group Finish:  4th
Splits:  6:06, 6:06, 6:18, 7:02, 6:39

It's pretty obvious by the split times where I fell off.  I hit stomach cramps hard on the 4th mile and struggled to recover before the final approach to the finish line.  I pin a lot of this on running out just a bit too hard, and part of it to not being able to push through the pain and discomfort on the vital stretch of the race.  The terrain was flat, but I think that might have made me a bit overconfident.  I paced it like a shorter race - which showed as I was crossed the 5K mark at roughly 19 minutes flat before falling off.

With no single-mile and 5-mile races left for the year (in Maine anyway), my attempt to PR every major distance this year will come up a little short.  Disappointed? A bit.  Discouraged?  Not at all.  I'll make every effort next year to PR them all.