No cigar.

this morning was the carlsbad 5000. it was a good day for racing and it was also nice to have a 9:25 start.

breakfast- black coffee, toast with p-butter banana and agave syrup.
pre-race - motor tab, water and 4 vantage tabs 45mins prior to race (these seem to work
better for me cycling than running.)
1 clif shot @ 15 mins prior.

i arrived an hour early to get settled. my warm-up would take me 30 minutes so i was ready to go at 8:45. Pre race warm-up was one that i learned at Rehab-United. I do this before most runs. about 10 minutes of easy drills including some strides, skips, hip mob's, buttkickers etc. then 20 mins of light to mod running with about 4 x 20s surges to race pace. i felt okay after the warm up but didn't feel a great recoil in my stride. got a decent sweat on and stayed loose with 5 mins till start. I used this time to find a spot away from slower runners and do some breathing and visualization to prepare for the effort. it helps with anxiety. one of my favorite parts of the race is the national anthem.

two minutes into the race, some idiot cut me off, and i went down. not too hard but enough to lose some valuable seconds, momentum and focus. probably took about 5 seconds to yell at the guy, check for blood and get up, but more like 10-20s to get back up into some kind of rhythm. I tried to lay off the first mile but still split it at 6:10. my plan was to run it 6:25-6:30 then heat it up, trying to run even splits. when i saw my time i figure no need to really hammer now. hold that pace and see what happens. mile two was 12:25 still on pace. there's a lot of people suffering around me and its hard to shut it out and pretend i'm not. I was just trying to lean, breath well, and stay relaxed. At 4k, i'm saying okay 4 minute interval, don't think, just go. this is the slowest portion of the race course, and felt like it. i was atop the downhill with about 300m to go and i'm at 19:10. a little disappointed I knew i would go over 20. I figured, this is what i need to practice. finish hard. i tried to regain somekind of form before the finish where the announcer called my name. look at me i'm rubber leg man! it would have been better if i crossed at 19:58. Unofficial 20:10. 1:05 faster than '06. 5k PR. OK. Got some oranges and water then cool down for 25 min.

splits:

mile 1 6:10
3k 11:49
mile 2 12:39

4k 16:05

This cake is far from baked. Jim has laid out a great plan to try to squeeze out some more speed and more importantly get me more prepared to stay focused in the red zone. good coach.

Yesterday was an easy 2 hour ride steady at 175-200W. rode up to O-side to watch JT and James. I caught (with my camera) Andy Potts going out on the run with a 2 minute lead. game over. I wished I was racing but that always happens. the sun was out. should have been there in the swim coral where it was 50 degrees at 6:30am. wind okay, heat sucks, being cold REALLY sucks. 70.3 for sure next season. HONU or Vineman.