I’ll be honest, I went into my first track race in 20 years with a little too much confidence. Fitness? I had that. I’ve been doing the miles, the zone two work, the hard workouts. I thought I was ready. But then the gun went off, and within the first 200 meters, I was already breathing like I was in a fight. I looked at my watch and realized I’d been suckered into a pace that was way too hot. I panicked, slammed on the brakes, overcorrected, and found myself in dead last place before the first lap was even over. It was a classic rookie mistake. And I was the one making it.
That’s when it hit me: being fit and being a good racer are two completely different things.
Listen to audio podcast below on your next run or watch the video above to learn more
Why “Just Running Fast” Backfires
We spend so much time training our engines that we forget we also have to train the driver. In that first kilometer, I got pulled into the chaos because I let everyone else dictate my race. My fast-twitch fibers wanted to go, my ego wanted to keep up, and my brain checked out. The result was a “yo-yo” effect—too fast, then too slow to compensate, then scrambling to catch up. By the time I settled in, the gap had formed.
The lesson? Racing is a skill of constraint. It’s about knowing your limit and having the guts to run your own race, even when everyone else is sprinting past you. If you don’t practice that skill, you’ll always be a slave to the pace of the crowd.
“Racing is a skill and skills need reps and they need to be sharpened.”
The “Second Gear” You Only Find in a Race
Here’s the part that surprised me. Even after my disastrous start and the mental spiral of being in last place, something clicked in the final 600 meters. I found a gear I didn’t know I had. I started picking people off one by one; people who went out too fast and were now “blowing up.”
I used to think that top-end speed was just about leg turnover. But this race showed me that my “second gear” wasn’t physical; it was aerobic. All those boring zone two miles and VO2 max workouts had built a reservoir I could finally draw from when my form was falling apart. My cadence dropped, my neck started doing that tired “locomotive” thing, but I could still push. I wasn’t just surviving the end of the race; I was actually closing the gap.
That feeling doesn’t come from time trials. You can’t simulate the specific suffering of passing people in the last lap during a solo workout. You have to earn it in the chaos of competition.
“Being fit is easy. Knowing how to race is what separates you from everyone else.”
The Real Cost of That First Mistake
I didn’t break 10 minutes. I crossed the line at 10:07, completely empty. I was happy I could suffer—something I’m usually terrible at—but that early yo-yo cost me the seven seconds I needed. And honestly, that’s the part that stings the most. It wasn’t a lack of fitness that held me back; it was a lack of racing reps. I had the engine, but the driver made a bad call at the first turn.
It’s easy to look at the data afterward; the heart rate, the cadence, the splits, but you have to give it 48 hours before you dig in. When you do, you realize the numbers just confirm what your gut already knows: racing is a whole other beast, and it needs to be trained like one. I’m aging, but weirdly, I’m not losing my speed. I’m actually getting smarter. But this was a good reminder that smart doesn’t stick unless you test it. Skills need reps, or they get rusty. And if you want to run faster, you have to be willing to be humbled by a 7.5-lap track once in a while.
Links & Learnings
- 📈 Get Your Free Increase VO2 Max/VDot Score Training Plan Here: https://dlakecreates.com/vo2maxfree
- 🎧 Listen, Read and Learn More Here https://dlakecreates.com/3k
- Why Most Runners Get VO₂ Max Wrong: https://dlakecreates.com/how-to-train-vo2-max/
- Instagram – https://instagram.com/dlakecreates
- Strava – https://www.strava.com/athletes/120507
