2018 Recap
When I came up with the idea for this blog, it was September and I was keeping myself in semi-shape with a couple jog-runs per week. My break from running hard had extended longer than I’d anticipated, but the summer of chilling and occasionally getting the blood flowing again was a nice mental break.
Then I signed up for a half marathon that was in three weeks, and realized it was time to get back in gear. I also signed up for a 10k a week after the half, and the 10k I always run on Thanksgiving day with some family. So uh, yeah, time to start running again.
Well, over the next three weeks I never made it more than eight miles and headed to Auglaize County, Ohio a little disappointed in my effort and anticipating more or less jogging it out over the course of the half marathon. But we had a day with perfect weather and I felt amazing, pushing the final five miles to finish in 1:28:14. Nowhere near where I’ve run in the past, but at least 7 minutes faster than I thought I was capable of on that day. Pretty exciting!
The good vibes from that weren’t enough to carry me through the 10k a week later. There, while the weather was hotter, I wasn’t really able to run a pace any faster than I had a week earlier and finished in a disappointing-but-should-have-seen-it-coming 39:40. Okay Nate, you’re not quite ready to set the world on fire.
From there, I had about 6 weeks to get in shape, and started committing to speedwork. I got on the track once a week with a couple friends once a week and worked through some intervals to try and get some speed. It felt productive and I felt myself getting some degree of faster, but the results weren’t really there–a 39:05 was my final finish of the year. To be fair, this course in Mason is hilly and very difficult, especially the second half. But I was expecting to be faster than that by a good margin.
Lessons Learned and Looking Forward to 2019
So a mixed bag to close out the year. I wasn’t expecting to set the world on fire, but I’ve also got some major work to do mentally and physically to achieve my goals for this year. Obviously, in order to be faster than I’ve ever been, I will need to be running more than I was, and I plan on it. That shouldn’t be a problem. But one concern I have as I kick off a new year is whether I will have the mental capacity to push myself that way I need to. Running fast requires feeling pain and discomfort, and embracing it and running through it. I wasn’t able to execute that in the Thanksgiving 10k, when it probably would have netted me another 45 seconds.
I did have that will to a degree in the half marathon though! After a conservative start, I felt so good through 8 miles that I decided to go for it, and ran a comfortable negative split (boom, blog reference). There were a few factors involved in that success; 1) the weather could not have been better, and 2) the general slowness of my pace at that point made it a simpler acceleration. But the seeds are there! With harder work going into the races in 2019, building on that mental state is my biggest focus.
Let’s make it happen.