Slow down!

 I’m not sure why I’m feeling so lousy and just struggling with the easiest runs.  It definitely showed at the race last weekend (Over the River and through the Woods) where I ran my slowest time for 5k since early January and 1:30 slower than the USATF NE race last month. This was my sixth time racing at OTRATTW and using 2018 as my base year, I’d been steadily running around 3% slower in 2020-2022.  This year  I was nearly 11% slower and about a minute slower than I thought I could run.  Ouch.
 
Over the River (and through the woods)                                          
Year     Time    Place   Percent slower           
2018    18:12   4                     
2019    18:26   8          1.28    
2020    18:41   1          2.66     Only four entrants, I set up the race myself
2021    18:42   11        2.75    
2022    19:30   6          2.54     Equivalent of 18:40 for 3.12, race was 3.26 miles
2024    20:09   7          10.71   Ouch!