3k Nats Recap

Last weekend I competed in the USATF Indoor Championships in the 3k. This meet has been held in Boston, MA for the past several years, which is always nice. I usually travel a few days in advance for this one and spend time with my family. It’s also my birthday week so it’s a nice treat to be home relaxing as I prepare for the race.

Going into the race I was the 4th seed with the 9:07 I ran at the PSU meet. I felt  pretty confident that I could run another big PR, hoping to break 9:00, and place at least in the top 3. I was recovered from my bought of the flu, workouts were again better than ever, and I felt strong.

Unfortunately a couple things went wrong with the race. I’ve been gearing up for this race as well as the 15k Championships which is this coming weekend. My workouts for both have been great, but for some reason my thoughts and focus seemed to be leaning more in the direction of the 15k. I think for a long time I’ve always struggled with the idea of tackling the longer distances in workouts and races. I think I’ve always pegged myself into the shorter/mid distance category. In high school I started out as a 100/200 runner and only just moved up to the  mile in college. So, increasing distance has been a very gradual progression both physically and mentally. Over the past few months I conquered some longer workouts and surprised both myself and my coach. I felt great doing them and really started to see myself doing well in the 15k. I saw myself doing well in the 3k too, but my thoughts seemed to be directed more toward the 15k. I hope to learn from this mistake and not get distracted by other races.

The 3k ended up being pretty loaded with competition, which is perfect. I figured it would go out pretty hard since it’s not a World Champs year for indoor and people were going to go after the title and setting prs. I was right, it went out very fast right from the gun. I thought my start was quick but it wasn’t quick enough. I ended up getting boxed in, pushed around, and going very wide a few times to get around, all things you should expect in any race. The lead group of about 4 or 5 women were at about 4:40-4:45 mile pace and I was at 4:49, figuring they’d come back. I’ve definitely learned that in a National Championship race you shouldn’t count on that happening. I think I’m finally realizing that I’m at a point where I need to start taking risks, and know that it’ll be ok. Unfortunately with 1k to go I realized that I had blown it. I just maintained my form, knew it would be a nice PR, and kicked it in with about 400 to go. A friend of ours, Terry Shea, was near the finish line and got my final 200 split as a 33. A 33 without anyone challenging me  and feeling too good finishing made me so upset. I played it way too safe. I’m happy to have run a 9:01.08, but know that I have yet to prove my potential. I won’t forget this feeling, which will definitely aide me in future races. I’d love to jump into a 5k right now and set a nice pr. Unfortunately that’ll have to wait until sometime in the spring. I think it’s great to get excited for upcoming races but for the future I’d like to stay focused on whichever race is next in line, which right now is the 15k.