NIRCA Track Nationals

The first ever NIRCA nationals was at the University of Indiana, about a 13 hour drive from Newark. I ran the mile (prelims and finals) and anchored the DMR. My goal for the meet was to win both as easily as possible and get through the weekend without much wear and tear.

The mile prelims on Saturday were an easy qualifier. I won the first heat and had the second fastest qualifier behind Josh, another UD guy. Sunday morning had some thunderstorms but cleared up after a half hour delay. The mile final had nice weather, and Josh went into it hoping to run under 4:20. Since it was a final it was tactical and he ended up leading through three laps and the 3 guys sitting on him (me included). With a lap to go the other guys started moving so I kicked for the last 400 and cruised it in once I knew I had the win. I closed in around 57 and it felt pretty comfortable for being that quick.

After that, the sun came out and it got warm and humid. An hour and a half after the mile we ran the DMR against only three other teams and made no contest of it. I just wanted to get in a good effort and run at 5k goal pace and I split about 4:31, which was right where I wanted to be.

The meet was run pretty well and I definitely give NIRCA credit for being able to run the first ever track meet without any major hitches, even with the uncooperative weather. It was very well done, but the 13 hour drive is a big hassle for us on the east coast. Other than that, the weekend went great and I hope NIRCA gets more participation in the coming years. It is a great thing for the casual runner and the atmosphere of fun competition is a good draw for more club runners. NIRCA is still a young organization but has definitely done well so far.

Monmouth Mile

This weekend's competition was an open mile race at Monmouth University. I had heard through the grapevine that Princeton was sending their whole team to run this race, which was good enough for me. In the fast heat there was myself, a Monmouth guy with about the same mile PR as me, and fourteen Princeton guys. A few of them were running just to race, but a few were also there to pace Donn Cabral to a four minute mile. Since there were 16 people the first lap was all pushing and shoving as Cabral's group separated from the rest. I ran in the second pack for the middle stages.

I felt good in the middle two laps but due to the crowding it would have been a waste of energy to swing out and surge. The last lap went about as well as can be expected and I kicked into 5th finishing in 4:08.45, just off my indoor PR. I felt better and more in control this time around.

Coming up next weekend is the NIRCA meet, where I'll run more miles, and after that is the first really important race on my schedule, the 5k at Colonial Relays.

VCU meet and a new workout

This weekend was the first outdoor meet on my schedule. Our club team followed the women's schedule and went down to the Ram Invitational at VCU. I raced the 1500 and ran 3:54.88, and while it was a PR the time is clearly inferior to my indoor marks. I did not have high hopes for this race, since it was a relatively warm day, and I am not even close to acclimated to any kind of warmth (I felt terrible this week training in especially un-March-like conditions). Because of these self-imposed handicaps I was happy to get the win and not feel too bad during the race.

The real fun came afterwards. I had planned to run two workouts this week but after the first one on Tuesday went poorly I decided not to take chances and skip the second one and try and make race day a workout. To that end, I decided to take a page out of the Oregon Track Club training handbook and to a tempo run after the race. About 30 minutes and 1 slow mile after the race, I ran a 4 mile tempo on the roads around Richmond. It was extremely hot, the sun was high, I was dehydrated and, of course, tired from the race. Pretty obvious in hindsight, but I felt Bad. I might try this again if I skip a workout during the week but honestly this felt so badly (and I was running pretty slowly) that I would rather not try it again. Lessons learned.

Spring Training and Schedule

With a few weeks of not racing I've been able to get some uninterrupted training in, which has always been an important thing for me before a long block of racing. I do think the best preparation for racing is to actually race, so this coming weekend I will open up my outdoor campaign at VCU with a 1500m and see how that goes. These first few weeks of track aren't that important to me and will serve as "developmental races" and fitness checks. The first race that I really care about will be the Colonial Relays 5000m, and after that the Larry Ellis 5000m. I may try and fit in another fast 5k depending on how things shake out, and I definitely want to run a later-season 1500m or two, maybe at the Tuppeny/Swarthmore Last Chance meet in May.

As I said, I've had a good block of uninterrupted training. My intervals have been going well and I've got some good work in around mile pace. I've been doing some hard tempo runs with Digennaro and have gotten my aerobic fitness better than ever. I believe that to race a good 5k, you need to be able to run well both under and over that distance. The tempo runs have been my sustained > 5k work and the intervals have me covered < 5k, so the only thing left once I have that fitness where I want it is to do some really specific 5k workouts and then see what I can do in a race. I might also try to keep up some mile pace stuff along with the 5k and keep working on my speed endurance. My volume has been good and I've noticed in the past week or so that my easy/recovery runs have gotten faster without any noticeable change in effort. One thing I need to figure out is how to best taper for races, but a little experimentation is what the early-season races are for.

Today it is going to be 75 degrees and sunny on the track. Nothing like a taste of spring to get me excited for spring track!

Another Mile at the Armory

Today was (probably) the last race of my 2012 indoor season and it concluded much the way that my last outdoor season did - with a solid race and a near-PR. This time it was over a mile and a PR and school record just wasn't in the cards. The race was set up for an Albany guy to get as near to 4:00 as possible. I was at the back of a line of 5 guys and Coach had me out in 59.8. I am just not that fast, at least not right now, and I fell off on the second quarter to 2:04 and from there it was just trying to hold contact to the guy ahead of me. I finished in 4:09.93 and it was definitely an all-out effort.

I definitely felt the fast first 440 for the rest of the race and I think if I had gone out a little bit more conservatively in 61.x, I would have been able to squeeze a few more seconds out. Of course, I also would have been by myself in the race, so I have no regrets about the way I ran. I just put myself in the race and hoped for the best, and eventually I'll hit a perfect race that is set up for me to run my best. For now, though, I want to take a break from racing until outdoor track starts and get a solid, uninterrupted training block in.

Lafayette/Rider indoor meet recap

This past Friday I ran the second race of my rather lackadaisical indoor campaign. I ran 1 mile in 4:08.27 and it was technically a PR by 11 seconds (!), although since I ran 4:11 for 1600 last week it wasn't quite that dramatic of a jump. Regardless it was a great step for me, and if the 4:11 split didn't convince me to concentrate on the 1500 outdoors then this certainly did. I got 4th behind three columbia guys who, I suspect, were shooting for a good IC4A qualifier. I would love to run in that meet this year, but due to our demotion last winter to club status, even if we meet the IC4A standards we can't run in the event because we don't have a program.

Championship meets or not, I'm very happy with this race, but the school record is less than 1 second away so I feel compelled to try again at the Collegiate Challenge meet at the armory on February 23. I'm sure I can squeeze a couple more seconds out in a well-run race, but we'll see. Running the mile is so nice, I don't know how I'll go back to the 5k when spring rolls around!

New Balance Collegiate Recap

This weekend a few of the guys on the UDTF club team went up to the Armory to race, among other things, a DMR. I ran the anchor leg and wasn't sure what to expect since I haven't run a serious or 1500 since last March. I figured I would be in the 4:10 - 4:15 range, since last year I ran 4:19 on a flat track around this time. The meet was running about 50 minutes behind when we went to warm up(typical of an indoor meet) but once we got back it was somehow almost back on time and we had less than 10 minutes to race time! We got checked in and evidently the sped up schedule caught all the other teams off guard too, based on the general panic in the bullpen.

I'm not sure where in the race I got the stick, but I knew that Clemson, who was dominating the race, was close to lapping us so I got out hard and tried to get up with a pack to run with. I knew I was going way too fast but I figured once I caught people I'd back off (first 400 = 60). I ended up getting somewhat stuck behind people who were running a little slower than I wanted to at that stage of the race, but I didn't want to have to go out into lane 3 multiple times to get around those groups of guys. The net result of my lollygagging was 64/65 for the middle 400's. Going into the last 400 I heard the bell (for Clemson who was right on me) which inspired me to start kicking with two laps to go. I actually would have liked to kick from farther out, since I had slowed down enough by that point that I felt recovered from the fast start. Too bad I am a novice at these short indoor races and always react a little too late to things like that. I managed to hold off Clemson and finish my leg with a good 61, and a final (split)time of 4:11.

Considering the crazy splits and that even during the race I felt like I had a ton of strength in reserve and just couldn't get around people, I am sure that I can run much faster in a better race. I felt great all day, even on the cooldown. Evened out, those splits probably would come out to a 4:08-9 and I really think I can run even faster. Next week at the Armory I'm running another mile and I hope I can break 4:10 for the first time!

This race has convinced me, along with Coach's insistence, that I can run a good 1500m this spring if I get in a fast field. I haven't even touched anything close to mile pace in a serious workout, so hopefully when I get some specific mile work under my belt I'll feel much more comfortable in a fast race. Doing some speedwork at that pace should also help the beginning of a fast 5k feel manageable, something I have always struggled with. I am really looking forward to the coming weeks of training and the upcoming spring season!