Resetting to a "FASTER Normal" Post-Race

It's happened again: a phenomenon that I've seen my body do in the past. Take, for example, my 2017 Halloween Half Marathon and my 2018 Halloween 10K. During the half, I didn't give it my all, but I finished with my 2nd fastest half marathon ever. And during the 10K, I set a 10K PR.

Why?

I think it's because I raced the TC 10 Mile a few weeks prior to each of those races. Racing always makes me faster.

I went to a duathlon clinic 10 years ago put on at Gear West Bike and Tri where Kevin O'Connor was one of the 2 main speakers. He was the 2009 USAT Duathlete of the Year (among with many other accolades). One of the points I made in my post about the clinic is that "both Kevin and Jason emphasized racing A LOT. Racing often is the way to get good at racing." And I've noticed that any race I do makes me faster for a while after it. (Which wasn't EXACTLY their point, but it's related.)

Here's a chronological listing of ALL of my weekly long runs this year that had 5-6 miles "at pace" in the middle. You can see my 10 mile race in the middle of this list. I color coded them, so you can see where my miles are faster, just OK, or slower:

PER MILE PACE OF MIDDLE "AT PACE" MILES DURING WEEKLY LONG RUNS:

6:25 or faster   |   6:25 - 6:35   |   6:35 or slower

6:37 pace, 8/3
6:30 pace, 8/10
6:22 pace, 8/17
6:50 pace, 8/24
6:33 pace, 8/31
6:28 pace, 9/7
6:34 pace, 9/14
6:38 pace, 9/21

6:15 pace, 10/4 (RACE DAY - the virtual TC 10 Mile)

6:31 pace, 10/19 (first effort post-race, still taking it a bit easy)
6:21 pace, 10/26
6:20 pace, 11/2
6:36 pace, 11/9 (worried about some knee pain - took it easy)
6:23 pace, 11/16
6:21 pace, 11/23
6:25 pace, 11/30

Glancing at this for 5 seconds will tell the story. Look at all the red and yellow paces PRE-race. Those were runs when I was TRYING to go hard because I wanted to race well! But then look at all the green paces POST-race when I really had nothing to train for and no "reason" to be pushing myself any harder. It's quite dramatic, really. (And the 2 "not fast" runs post-race both have "excuses.")

This also begs the question: how much of this is physical, and how much is mental? Did I run harder post-race because I was in better shape from the race? Or was it just that I subconsciously knew that I COULD run harder and still be fine? Did the race train my body or my mind?

Whatever the reason, the results are pretty clear: racing seems to give me a boost for a month or 2.