The 'ol college try....
This was the third and final day of the championships. We had a rest day in between the 5000 and 10,000 and rest I did. I just did some light walking in the park and around the block to run small errands. Immediately after the 5, I took a cold shower and ran that cold water on my legs for 15 minutes. I repeated this when I got home, twice on Saturday, and when I got up Sunday morning. It rained early Sunday morning making for 32C and 85%humidity by the time we ran at 11. The humidity could kill a horse. I got to the track at 9:30 and there was not a cloud in the sky. I put my cap on and left it on and it ended up saving me from the direct sun during the race. As I was warming up, my legs were just not happy campers. I was still underrecovered and the heat and humidity....
I was a 10,000 runner all through college and the last time I had the opportunity on the track was when I won one in Serpukhov in September of 2008! I decided to just run this how I did in college-go out slow and controlled and move no sooner than midway. In this heat it was going to be all about tactics and this is how I used to win these years ago-go out slow then take off later. I sat in third until just after 4k and moved up to catch the leader. It was the Yakut girl that had finished just ahead of me in the 5. She's a strong ultrarunner and trains with a good friend of mine in Yakutsk that used to run 100K Worlds and Euros with me when he was still on the Natuonal Team. Actually, this race was stacked with ladies with ultra experience so I did not expect anyone to just drop off. So sit and bide my time I did. At 5.2K I began to move and passed soon thereafter. Just like back in the day, I opened a gap and kept going as much as I could in these conditions. I fully expected both of these ladies to come after me. I ran the final 4k in the pain cave because I knew there was no room for error or letting up. At this point I really wanted the win. I still cannot believe I pulled this off. I ended up lapping them both in my final 600m finishing with a good TWO MINUTE lead! I was done- just roasted-literally, but I got the job done and it was so classic how I did this so many times 30 years earlier it was surreal. I was dizzy and light headed and had to grab the railing after I finished. All of those days when it was snowing sideways and I wanted to shitcan my workouts but did not were absolutely worth it for a national title.
No comments:
Post a Comment