Saturday April 6 (5000m, 15:25.25)

Missed Dan Kleiman's #4 all-time mark by 0.10 seconds. Splits of
4:55, 9:48 (4:53), 14:48 (5:00), 15:25

I'm satisfied with the race, because after all I did PR and that's always satisfying. On the other hand, I wasn't tired at the end and 30 minutes later I was all pumped up about getting to run the 4x400 (it turned out they scratched and neglected to inform me of this).

I decided before that race that 4:55 would be a good pace for the first mile, because it was a little faster than PR pace but also sounded like something I could easily negative-split off of. I did just about that, constantly moving up past people. The second mile I accelerate a little, and was still feeling pretty good coming through in 9:48. My plan here was to accelerate again and rock a solid last 1800m, but it just didn't happen. I ran the next 800 in about 2:26, but then I got uncomfortable.

Not really in pain, or locking up, but just uncomfortable, and I simply stayed at "uncomfortable" level rather than making the effort to push the last 1000. I don't really know why I didn't gun it. I know I could have. I had plenty of juice left, but I simply didn't lay myself out when it was time.

I guess I've only had one time this entire year where I tried really hard at something (the PP 3000), and I just haven't been practicing it. It caught me unawares. My last mile was 5:00 and my last 200 was at just the same pace. There were a couple of guys I passed with about a mile to go, and they passed me back and ran 15:16 and 15:18. I really should have run about 15:15 in this race, as an estimate. It felt like the same effort level as the Caltech All-Comers 3000. So my plan for the future is to run some harder workouts, get used to speed on the track, and especially get used to just plain trying hard.