If speed’s a pro inertia must be a con

The Macklind Mile was last weekend. For the third consecutive year I’ve looked forward to this race, both with excitement and terror. It’s fun because it’s different (my last foot race was 50 miles) and I can compare my old decrepit self against my teenage self. But it’s just so short and so fast and it hurts so much. For a couple minutes, at least.

Every year I plan to do months worth of interval training to prepare. Two years ago I ended up doing one interval workout the week before the race. Last year I did one interval workout the week before the race. This year I actually faired a bit better by doing two interval workouts starting three weeks before the race. I also started doing 150 meter stride accelerations at the end of most of my runs just to get used to going really fast. I think the strides helped a lot more than the intervals to be honest.

I had a weird sensation during the race. I wasn’t held back by my aerobic system or by the strength of my legs. The thing that prevented a lower time was that I simply could not turn my legs over any faster. I usually run with a cadence between 88-96 rpm and I was well above that range during this race. If I’m going to run faster I need to do more speed work to try to increase my maximum cadence.

I ran as hard as I could for a few minutes before crossing the finish line in 4:47, about 5 seconds faster than last year. That’s about what I expected, though I kind of hoped to do a few seconds better. I guess that means I have to run it again next year.

My parents were visiting and my mom ran the race again this year, taking over two minutes off her time from last year. Will took part in his third ¼ mile dash, also scoring his fastest time yet. So it was a good day all around.