3 mile time trial 7/11/12

So I had been getting really bored of not knowing exactly what I am capable of now. I usually like running an all out mile to know where my fitness level is at but my scheduled work outs had not given me that opportunity. However, I found that I could sneak in a 3 mile time trial and count it as a tempo run instead of a broken down tempo run of 4x5min intervals. So I planned this starting Monday and saved my efforts for a good hard time trial on Wednesday. When the day finally came I did my usual 1.6 mile warm up and stretched, extra long stretching this time. I was feeling a little nervous having not even raced or done a time trial this long in over three years. I had done an all out mile on a track but even that is much shorter and I knew exactly how much I have done and have left.

I planned this new 3 mile time trial on a course I had not run before so that only added to my nerves. I started off and I immediately felt like I had no idea what pace I should be shooting for. I pictured optimistically I could run around 18:50s, but to how I have been feeling lately as slow as 21 min flat. I had run 4 miles at night on a track at 6:55 pace but lately I had been feeling that I have had no speed control what so ever. So the trial began and I was rolling what I feel was around 6:30ish pace. I kept my self in check still fighting fatigue every now and then but nothing I would yield to. I knew from mapping out the course that once I hit a corner and made a right I had almost exactly half a mile left to finish. I pushed just a little harder maybe lasted for about a minute before slowing down just a bit. Finally I came to a spot where I knew there was a quarter mile left and I just pushed again but with about 200 meters left I was loosing steam. I made the last bend and saw my finish point and went a little hard to finish as if I was trying. I ended with a 20:25 3.02mile time trial. I was very disappointed. As I made the half way point I realized 18:50s was much to fast and aimed for 19:30s. That would have been exactly 6:30 per mile pace and I would have been pretty happy with that. I had not ran a distance that long that fast in a long time, however the 20:25 was too slow for how hard I have been working.

Although it was slow, I am glad I finally ran a time trial to see where I am at. I have been training for 14 weeks without any significant mark that would let me understand where my training is at. I will definitely use this time trial to help gauge where my tempo runs should be at and work at calibrating my inner speedometer and pedometer. I have already planned to do another 3 mile time trial next Wednesday so I can run it knowing the course as well as focusing on how fast I should be going and hopefully improve the time. This first time trial was a completely blind experience in regards to what pace I am capable of, what the distance covered feels and is like, and what my training has helped and lacks in speed. So in conclusion this is finding a victory within what I would consider a downer.