Once more, with training

Wednesday night was the third race of Project IMPROVE, my attempt to bring my old personal records (PRs) into the 21st century.

The previous Wednesday, I fell short of my 1500m PR. To ensure that I would have better luck in the mile this week, I corrected a few missteps from the previous week. For example:

Last week: raced in road flats. This week: raced in spikes.

Last week: ate a large serving of fried rice about 3.5 hours before the race. This week: ate a lighter meal somewhat earlier in the afternoon.

Last week: had done only one workout at race pace or faster (5 x 400m with 200m jogs in between) prior to the race. This week: did another race-pace workout (the same one, actually).

Last week: ran my first 400m in 67, about a second slower than desired. This week: went out in 67 again. Oops.

The final result was a disappointing 4:32.7, a full 1.1 seconds slower than my lifetime best. Evidently, beating my 1500m and mile PRs is not going to be as easy as I thought. Having already adjusted my diet and shoes to no avail, maybe I need to resort to the drastic option of changing my training.

Or perhaps I should just wear a bodysuit next time.