The sting of the 1st DNF is starting to wear off. I’ve spoken to a bunch of folks who have way more experience than I do in endurance sports, and all have had one or more DNFs.

What I have to remember is that you don’t learn by success, you learn by failure. So this DNF is teaching me some valuable lessons:

  1. More speedwork – I was totally undertrained for the pace I was trying to maintain. The Monday night track sessions with the Paramount Adventure group are looking promising
  2. Pacing – When I hit the potty-stop, I should not have tried to bridge up to the pacer. Also known as “Don’t race like a dipshit”
  3. Train consistently – I can’t believe how sore I am even 4 days later! My consistently inconsistent training is the root cause of the pain. I’m setting a goal of training “every day in May”. It may not be a lot, but I’m shooting to break a sweat each and every day this month. (So far, I’m 3 for 3!)