2015 Spring season recap

2015 Spring Races
Date		Race		Result
3/15/2015		Road mile		4:19
3/21/2015		Road 5k		14:34
3/28/2015		track 1500		3:57
4/3/2015		track 10k		30:14:00
4/17/2015		track 5k		14:05
4/25/2015		road 5k		15:16
5/1/2015		track 1500		3:52
5/11/2015		track 1500		3:50
5/23/2015		track 3k		8:12
5/30/2015		track 1500		3:55
6/2/2015		track 1500		3:56
6/6/2015		road 8k		25:38:00

There's the season. Excluding the two races I ran as controlled efforts (road 5k on 4/25 and road 8k on 6/6) I think it paints a pretty good picture of a well-run season. Good training over the winter lead to a solid start and getting into racing quickly built up to a peak lasting from Larry Ellis on 4/17 to the 3k on 5/23. In the moment I was disappointed in the last two 1500s of the season but looking back I'm not too discouraged. 

The Pros: I had arguably my best track season ever while working full time and training once a day for the vast majority of the time. Especially while training during a very tough winter I was very happy to be able to achieve the fitness I did and execute some great races. A couple good races stand out:

1. Adrenaline 5k. First really serious race of the year, after a long winter and not racing since December 2014. Thanks to having 3 other guys in the race who were all very similar to me in fitness, I was able to really find my limits on the day and race well. I ended up losing by 4 seconds to Owen Dawson and beating the other two guys. This was a much faster race than the year before on perhaps a slower day. 
2. Larry Ellis 5k. Not much more needs to be said other than I PR'd after 3 years. I do believe I could have run 14:00 had the field been half the size, but in the circumstances of the race I thought I ran very well. I got 2nd and the winner had broken away with the lead rabbit early on, so I effectively lead the chase group through the last mile and still had enough to hold them off. The splits also suggest that a faster time could have been run. 
3. Swarthmore 1500. Ran my 2nd fastest 1500 ever here, 3:50.0. It was a much better race than the previous 1500- I felt much sharper and more in control of my body running at race pace. 

The 3k, while a PR, was a time trial with Deej and Feeney pacing me the entire way. I was able to really gut myself on that, but after that effort it was downhill for the rest of the season, 

I come away from this spring quite happy with the way it turned out. I would have been a lot happier if I had PR'd in the 1500, but having a PR season in the 5k/10k and a near-PR in the 1500 is something of a banner season. I think I trained smarter than ever for 1500-5k and was rewarded with excellent times for me off of less total work than in college.