Yep - I can feel his teeth grinding and see his eyes rolling reading all of this. The proof's in the data though.
He trained like a moron for a 5K summer 2018, went out way too fast on a hot day, and still clipped 23. He continued to train like a moron then spent the week prior in Vegas and proceeded to sustain a 7:3X pace without his HR exceeding 160 in a late summer 10K until he approached the 5K mark...sure, he slowed down from that point-on, but still stayed below 8 minute miles with a HR that primarily hovered around in the mid-160's.
He started learning how to train the correct way in 2019. Then in November he learned how to race at a higher and uncomfortable (> 170) HR. He had one month over 105 miles in 2018 - he had five in 2019. Then the last two net career high's of 157 and 182 - and he's sitting at 137 in the shortest month of the year. Which is good for...his 3rd highest total of all time. Only behind the last two. And had he not signed up for this 5K he may have bested December. The first thing he cited was a failed mile repeat workout when he admitted to not being in a good frame of mind, but he didn't mention his 7.5 mile tempo workout 2 weeks ago, which was amidst his 11th week in a row over 30 mpw, five of which were over 40 - a number he had never before achieved.
I understand the fear of failure, but I'll also never forget what
@Hang 10 wrote to me November 2015 just before the light bulb finally turned on in 2016 - scared money don't make money. It wasn't the first time I'd heard that phrase, but I never considered it when it came to my racing goals. You are not going to regret anything if you go for it and have to fight and claw to get to the finish, but with your current fitness it is not going to be a death march; not in a 5K in sunny 40 degree conditions anyway. You will second guess yourself if you feel like you left some of it out there though.
x if I had tried but I had zero confidence of that before the race. I felt good about going for 21
