bmw 2-mile classic race

2-mile race at the bmw speed track tonight for the corporate shield. i ran this race last year after some non-consistent training in 13:41 (1st place age group, 12th overall female).

this year i put on.

official results aren't posted yet but i ran 12:30 according to my hrm! 3rd place overall female!! i was/am way excited. :o)

josh also ran the race tonight - his first! i am so proud of him. he ran a 15:40 which is awesome! his goal was to run a sub-17 with an ultimate goal of 16:00 and he killed it. :o) you did so great!

i started out fast and tailed another girl but realized quickly that she was just going to be faster than me so i pulled back. got passed shortly after by a skirt and knew i wouldn't be able to hang with her either. (hopefully the results won't tell me otherwise or else i'll be mad for not pushing it more!) anyway so then i was thinking to myself, there are only *two* girls in front of me, i am in 3rd place! (i've never placed top 3 overall in a race before) i was hopeful.

from about a 1/2-mile into the race until the final 1/4-mile my thoughts were "holy crap i'm in 3rd place. i think i'm in 3rd, did i miss a girl? i think i'm in 3rd! what if i get passed after holding 3rd place this whole time? that would suck! i'm in 3rd place, i've got to push it. i have to hold my spot! i'm gonna get an overall award!" and then as i hit the home stretch... "i'm still in 3rd! i'm a little tired from running so hard but i'm in 3rd - i'm almost there just make it don't get passed!" ...and then obviously i didn't get passed. as i crossed the finish i looked back and there was a pack of 6 guys or so, but no girls. :o)

[miles - pace, avg hr]
mile 1 - 6:08, 179
mile 2 - 6:22, 193 *i really wish i would've pushed it more and not had such a slow 2nd mile :(

oh well i still got 3rd!

my max hr during the race was 201, so i am going to base my training run hr zones off that instead of the 191 (and corresponding zones) i calculated previously from a formula. it'll give me a little more leeway in my 65-75% easy pace zone and hopefully i'll have more success actually staying in that zone.

no day off this week obviously, hope my legs can hold up through these next 40 or so miles until next friday.