2012 Track Season Recap

This has been quite the season for me. Longer, harder and more fulfilling than any other track season to date.

• I competed at a high level since February when I ran a 4:08 mile. I held that form very consistently until May. I think that I improved my 5k fitness throughout the season, and I'm happy with that because holding my mile fitness at a high level while improving 5k fitness is not an easy thing to do. 
• I adjusted my personal goals this year to run for time instead of run for place. I did this because there really weren't any meets that I could run for place at (no conferences, IC4A's, etc) and because I wanted to show the graduate schools that I applied to that I was worth their attention. After I ran that 4:08 indoors, I set my goals for the year to run < 3:50 and 14:10. 14:10 was the goal I had set for myself about two years ago when I got really serious about running, and 3:50 was what I knew I could run based on my form in February. I am perfectly happy walking away from this year having run 3:49 and 14:09.
• My general attitude towards training and racing is much improved from past years. I relaxed a little bit this year with regard to mileage and I think I was better rested for the big races this season compared to last track season. Part of this was due to not having the pressure of a team to race for, but most of it was due to more confidence is myself and in my training plan. I raced more often to hone tactical sense and picked my spots to really run well. 
• I was able to keep improving consistently, not only through this season but through my college career. This goes back to the goals I set for myself, but I doubt that many guys can say they improved 17 seconds in the 1500 (4:06 to 3:49) and 54 seconds in the 5k (15:03 to 14:09) over their four years in college. I had no major injuries and was able to get tuned into my body enough that I could catch any potential problems early so I could keep training and racing. 

Any negatives? Not that I could really control. Obviously it would have been nice to still have a real team and be able to mix it up in the championship meets, but I think that I played the hand I was dealt about as well as I could have. 

I'm leaving this season very satisfied; I planned my training around running goal times, I went to the meets that I needed to be in to run those times, and I executed my race plans and came out with the times I expected. No surprises this season, which was fine with me. Surprises can mean unexpected good things, but in  running they usually mean bad things. No surprises also means that I have a good handle on what my body can handle and what training stimuli produce what responses. 

What do I want to do next year? Well, I definitely have more room in the 1500/mile than I thought I had 6 months ago. I'm sure that if I did more specific training in season for that I would run even better than I did this year. However, I don't want to sacrifice the 5k for the 1500, since I still think I'll eventually be better in the 5k over the shorter distance. Next year will be an exciting time and I'm already looking forward to it!

Swarthmore 1500m

Last night was my last official race of the season, and my last one in a Delaware uniform. As is the custom at UD for our last race, a bunch of us went up to the Swarthmore Last Chance meet to run a 1500 or a 5k. For years we have known about this little gem of a race. It is always perfect conditions and great competition for all races 800 and up. As luck would have it, this year some other guys you might have heard of found out about it too. Adrian Blincoe (5k Olympian from New Zealand) lives nearby in Bryn Mawr and put together quite the race for the 1500. The fast heat included names like Nick Willis, Will Leer, Lee Emanuel, and Dan Huling. Willis was to pace thru 1200 in 2:51 and let the other guys chase the Olympic A standard. This race went off while I was in line to get my number, with all my sweats and trainers on. When I realized I was in the next heat, I panicked a little bit and so I didn't get to really pay attention to the big boys in the fast heat. What I was able to watch was amazing; Willis did a great pacing job and stepped off at 1300, and unheralded Merber blew by the field in the last 200 to win in 3:35. A debatable American collegiate record for the guy who had a 3:42 PR coming in! That was definitely an inspiration to run fast for my race.

As to my race: I was confused when I was in the fast non-pro race, because I was 20th seed coming in. Apparently they just shuffled the first two heats randomly together. There were four Columbia guys in the race, undoubtedly fired up watching their teammate Merber run 3:35, who were going for NCAA times. One guy said he was rabbiting through 1200 in 2:57, which I knew was too fast for me. I got out well and the first 400 was 61, which I felt was about right. I was in a nice group while the Columbia guys rocketed ahead of the field. During the second lap I could feel the group slowing, so I went around just before the 800 (2nd lap = 63). I picked up and started reeling in a guy that had fallen off the leaders. At 1200 (3rd lap = 61) I was with two guys and I kicked with 300 to go. One guy blew by me on the backstretch but I caught him at the line and beat the other guy. My final time was 3:49.50, which was 0.17 off the school record (last 300 = 43). I wasn't too upset about missing the school record; I ran what I knew I could run and it wasn't a surprise since I ran 4:08 in February. I just went out and executed the plan.

I felt good after the race and on the cooldown, and I think I could have squeezed another second out of the race if the second lap had been better, but it as good a race as I could have realistically hoped for. I PR'd on this track two years ago in the 5k and almost everyone runs fast here, so much so that it's become a running joke on our team to call it a 390m long track. One more "race" in the season, an 800 against some teammates just to see what I can do, and then I'll shut it down. I think that if there were more fast 1500s in the coming weekends I could keep peaking and run a little bit faster for about two weeks and then the wheels would start coming off. Right now I'm content with the season; I did what I set out to do and my PR's are right where I wanted.

Kehoe Twilight Meet (UM)

It's actually been a week since this race, but I forgot about it since it was not exactly a highlight. Four guys on the team, including myself, drove down on May 3rd to race at Maryland's twilight meet, since we had a big gap in our racing schedules and wanted to get something in. We entered a little bit late, but the meet director seemed fine with it and let us in. I seeded myself at 3:50 in the 1500 in the hopes that it would be a fast race and I could get pulled along.

The fun began when we went to check in and I noticed that I was in the second (and slower) heat. This confused me, since it was a smaller meet and I didn't think that a 3:50 seed would put me 15th. I thought about asking the people in charge about this, but then a Navy guy started talking to us and said he would be rabbiting a teammate through 1200 in 3:00. Once I heard this, I figured that the first heat actually was that fast and that if everyone was seeded around 3:45 then maybe I should be in the second heat. Well, once the first heat went off I could immediately tell that that's where I should have been. The Navy guy ended up coming through 1200 in 3:06 (right where I wanted to be) with no one near him. The race was won in 3:56.

My race could not have been less eventful. I led wire to wire in the slow time of 3:57.5. Even during the race I was discouraged about the situation and after the first lap I mentally threw in the towel for a fast time. In hindsight I'm not too upset about it; racing is just one of those things where it's not going to be perfect every time out, but try it enough times and you'll eventually hit the perfect day.

NCTFA Nationals

This weekend was the second club meet that the UD club team went to this spring. The meet was held at Eastern Kentucky U, which was a fairly nice facility but the conditions, being the end of April in Kentucky, were hot, humid and sunny. The meet itself boiled down to a dual meet between us and Illinois, with a smattering of other club guys as well. They were set on the team title, which surprised us because they had all of their guys doubling or tripling just to pick up little points. We didn't do this and as a result lost the meet by a couple points.

I raced the 5k at 1:45 pm on Sunday. It was pretty awful weather for a distance race, and I had no intention of running for time. All I wanted was the win, which mas made easier by the other main contender (Mike Frigo of Illinois) running the 1500 on Saturday and the 800 two hours before the 5k. The race itself was boring; I led every step of the way and pulled away in the last lap for a comfortable win in 14:55. I regretted not running the 1500, because I'm sure I could have won that as well and still have taken the 5k. Regardless it was a slow, boring race that I ran strictly for position and to exert as little effort as possible.

Me, Teammate Mike O'Brian, Mike Frigo (Illinois)

That's the last 5k of the year for me. With the season winding down, I'll run either a 1500 or a mile this weekend and another 1500 at Swarthmore the first weekend of May to wrap up the season with a fast time. I have yet to take a serious shot at the 1500 and I know I can run around 3:50 in the right race.

Larry Ellis (Princeton) 2012

I got back late last night from the Larry Ellis Friday Night Races. I ran the second (and last) planned fast time-trial 5000 of the season and my goals were the same as last time: be as competitive and smart as possible and run faster than I did last time out. I accomplished those goals and finished in 14:09.87 for 10th place in the fast heat. I ran generally very even splits, with all laps from 1-11 between 67 and 69, only varying due to the pace fluctuations of the pack.

With this race I finally accomplished the "short-term" time goal I had set for myself when I started what I considered to be really serious training the summer before my junior year. 14:10 represented a benchmark for a good college runner, an even time goal to shoot for (straight 68s) and, at the time, a lofty but not impossible goal. Now that I've finally accomplished this, I have a few new goals:

1) Get better at the events above and below the 5k. I still haven't run a 1500 equivalently as fast as my mile PR and my big seasonal goal for that is to break 3:50. As far as the 10k, I won't run one this year, because it never really fit into my schedule and because I found last year that it's basically impossible to train for a good 10k and a good 1500, and I knew I definitely had upside that I wanted to explore at the shorter distance. The other problem with the 10k is that it just takes so much out of your season and I wanted to be able to race at every good opportunity. Next year the 10k could become my main focus, but I'll start thinking about that later on.

2) Take another second per lap off of that 5k time to get under 14:00. This one is self-explanatory, just a logical progression now that I'm down to 14:09. I won't have another opportunity to PR again this season; I'm only running one more 5k and it's at the upcoming NCTFA meet in Kentucky. The race is scheduled to start at 1 pm and will likely be me vs. a 14:19 kid in a tactical race, so I'm not expecting any spectacular times.

3) Somewhat tying in with the sub 14 goal, get fit enough to be able to compete for the win in most major meets. Obviously a sub 14 will still have me buried in the field at the Stanford meets or Mt. SAC, but at least on the east coast a time like that will put me up at the front. To me, the most exciting thing about running is racing and winning; running fast is great and I get a lot of satisfaction from it, but at the end of the day it is only a means to an end. I want to get fit enough that I can take some big scalps in the upcoming seasons.

Colonial Relays 5k

I just got back from the Colonial Relays, hosted by William and Mary. The meet was a great success for the club runners that went. Three of the four of us PR'd and the fourth ran his second-best time. I got into the fast heat of the 5000m, seeding myself at 14:10. The workouts I've been doing indicated that that time would be a realistic goal to aim for.

The conditions were perfect and there was a rabbit thru about halfway running the pace I wanted (68s/lap) so I stuck on to that pack and gradually moved up as guys fell off. I hung in right on pace for about half way and then starting slipping, but closed pretty well to finish in 14:15. Watching the video, I got stuck behind a guy just long enough to break contact with the guys ahead of me and then I just lost it. A good time and right around where I thought I would run. The time is a school record and a seven second PR. My splits went something like 68 68 68 68 68 68 69 70 70 70 66 28.

In two weekends I plan on racing in the fast heat of the 5k at the Larry Ellis invitational. Last year I won the slow heat in 14:22 and the fast heat was won in under 14. My goal is just to try and maintain contact at that pace for as long as possible and see if I can keep it up a little bit longer than this week. Hopefully this will squeeze a couple more seconds out and I can run another PR.

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.