USA Outdoors

My first US National Championships—a time to line up against guys I had competed against during college, guys I’ve watched at world championships, and even guys for whom I’ve stood in line for an autograph (mainly Bernard Lagat)!  And even coming out of the race with a 10^th place showing and a new PR of 13:41 (formerly 13:44 from 2011), I must admit disappointment, but only the most disappointment one is allowed when setting a new PR.  Of course I’m thrilled to finally knock a few seconds off my 5k time after three years of injury and frustration, stoked to have competed and placed top 10 in a national championship, but it was the story line that unfolded during the race rather than the results which is the root of my dismay. A video of the race can be found here.

At no point during the race did I feel that I was in the race.  The entirety of the race from my perspective was just hanging on by a thread to the lead pack which surged and slowed in the mildly windy conditions and relatively slow first half.  With each ebb and flow propagating and exaggerating itself throughout the bulk of the pack, I was caught on the tail end of the accordion, fighting on each backstretch to keep contact and finding myself backing off the gas on the homestretch.

As the race began to pick up the last mile, I was able to consciously make moves around those who were dropping off, but I never really felt like a competitor in the lead pack—and it is in that where I find my greatest disappointment.

Coming into race week, my legs had been feeling pretty fatigued from the intensity of our training and I was without much of an explanation as to why I was so energy poor.  My best guess is cumulative training fatigue in combination with the illness my body had to fight last week which left me searching for that “pop and spring” so desperately desired during race week.  As my college coach pointed out in an encouraging email to me, “If you run a PR when everything is perfect, that is to be expected.  If you run a PR when things aren’t quite right, that is a much better accomplishment.”

Yet with all that being said, as my close friend Ricky Lupp reminded me in a phone call the afternoon of the race, “It’s crazy to think that on Jan 1 you weren’t even running, and now you’re in the national championships.”  And more truthfully is that my training didn’t resume until March 1.  My coach, Dennis Barker, remarked after the race that two months ago if he had proposed I could be 10^th at the national championships, I would have told him to stop dreaming.

If anything, I feel that this performance is an encouraging introduction to the runner I can blossom to be under the careful guidance of Dennis, the support of Team USA Minnesota, and the support of Saucony.  Now that Dennis and I have begun to figure each other out with the coach/athlete relationship and have been in a training good rhythm for four months to bring me to a new 5k PR, I am supremely confident that with additional consistent training under his tutelage that some very exciting things can happen.

And I’m excited to announce here that I will be taking off for a series of track races in Europe tomorrow!  I will be traveling with my teammate, Jon Peterson, and we will be competing in the following meets:

7/5 - 3000m at Memorial Leon Buyle Meeting in Oordegem, Belgium

7/13 – Mile at Letterkenny AC Meeting in Letterkenny, Ireland

7/19 – 5000m at KBC Nacht Meeting in Heusden, Netherlands

I will be doing my best to update my blog during my travels and give race reports for the next month!

Results:

1 Bernard Lagat Nike 13:31.41
2 Andrew Bumbalough Nike / Bowerman Track Club 13:32.01
3 Hassan Mead Nike / Oregon TC Elite 13:32.42
4 Ryan Hill Nike / Bowerman Track Club 13:32.82
5 David Torrence Nike 13:34.95
6 Trevor Dunbar Oregon 13:34.96
7 Joe Bosshard Colorado 13:38.19
8 Jonathan Peterson Team USA Minnesota 13:39.51
9 Tyler Pennel Reebok / ZAP Fitness Reebok 13:40.49
10 Eric Finan Team USA Minnesota 13:41.33
11 Joe Stilin ZAP Fitness Reebok 13:48.05
12 Daniel Quigley Nike / Oregon TC Elite 13:52.86
13 Brendan Gregg Hansons-Brooks Distance Projec 13:56.18
14 Scott Dahlberg Boulder Running Company/adidas 14:01.87
15 Sean Keveren Unattached 14:07.95
16 Lex Williams Unattached 14:11.73
DNF Erik Olson Stanford

Lessons in Portland

This is a tough race to write about.  After the high of breaking 4 minutes in the mile 10 days ago, this race could be considered a rather grounding event.  In the last week and a half after the mile, Jon and I have put in some good sessions on the track that set us both up well for a 13:30 race, but things just didn’t click tonight.

A couple of days ago I came down with a cold that left me deprived of my normal energy and my legs feeling flat.  Come race day I was on the recovering side of the hump, but apparently not quite far enough away from the peak for the body to cooperate for a fast time.  It is frustrating after having put in the work and knowing that I’m in PR shape for a stroke of bad luck to catch me like this on a last chance meet, but that’s the nature of sport. 

Enough of a preamble, let’s get right down to a race recap.  First things first: I lined up next to Mo Farah (2012 Olympic Champion in 5k and 10k, amongst other credentials) and said what I always say to my fellow competitors on the line, “Good luck.”  He didn’t return the omen.  From the race results, it was apparent he didn’t need my wish of luck anyway.

The pacer was erratic the first mile, as the first 800 was covered in 2:14, the next in 2:09, resulting in a mile split of 4:23.  At this point I was feeling decent, but was having a hard time getting into the psyche of a real race.  The next couple of laps clicked by and I found myself getting gapped by the pack ahead of me, yet my legs were stuck on cruise control around 67 seconds per lap.  Every time I tried to switch gears to try and close the gap on the pack, my legs gave a sluggish response and refused to respond to my mind’s urgings.  I believe I split 8:46 or so at two miles, meaning that my second mile ended up being a rather lackadaisical 4:33.

The gap slowly increased over the next few laps paralleling my decreasing mental focus on finishing hard.  It was like my mind and legs were both slowly turning simultaneously into sludge and only a small part of my sub-conscious ineffectively fought back.

Finishing in 13:47.83 is still my second best time ever, and this after only 3.5 months of consistent training; a far cry from my 3 continuous years of training leading up to my PR race of 13:44.91.  It’s also a long way from the 13:32.00 I had set my sights on to achieve the “A” standard and get an auto-qualifier for the US Outdoor Championships.  I am now in limbo and will have to wait until Wednesday when final declarations are made to see if I can sneak into the race based on field size (meaning that if not enough individuals get the auto-qualifier of 13:32.00, they then go to the descending order list and let in individuals based on time until they reach a field size of 24).

Every race serves a purpose and an opportunity to learn about myself as an athlete.  I would say the takeaway from today is how much mental preparation and visualization of success before the race can make a difference.  I found myself slowly sliding down the valley of doubt with the onset of my cold several days ago.  And even though most of it had lifted physically, holes were still pierced through my confidence.  I am continually discovering the power of the mind when it comes to athletic events and the need to believe, even when the circumstances appear grim.

Shoutout to Kevin Schwarz, a close friend and supporter, for coming to the race

Shelton Track Club                          6/15/2014 - 9:46 PM
 Portland Track Festival - Open - 2014 - 6/14/2014 to 6/15/2014 
                     6/14/2014 to 6/15/2014                     
 
Event 24  Men 5000 Meter Run High Performance
================================================================
 Meet Record: R 13:19.78  6/9/2012    Dathan Ritzenhein, Nike Or
     USATF-A: A 13:32.00                                        
    Name                    Year Team                    Finals 
================================================================
Finals                                                          
  1 Farah, Mo                    Nike Oregon Project   13:23.42
  2 McNeill, David               New Balance           13:28.13
  3 Rono, Aron                   Wcap                  13:35.80
  4 Stilin, Joseph               Zap Fitness           13:36.21
  5 Keveren, Sean                Ragged Mount          13:39.26
  6 Quigley, Daniel              Oregon Track Club     13:41.37
  7 Pennel, Tyler                Zap Fitness           13:41.56
  8 Peterson, Jonathan           Team Usa Mn/Brooks    13:42.65
  9 Bruchet, Luc                 Point Grey Tfc        13:45.66
 10 Fernandez, German            Nbsv                  13:47.08
 11 Finan, Eric                  Team Usa Minneso      13:47.83
 12 Dahlberg, Scott              BoulderRunCo/adidas   13:56.94
 13 Kwiatkowski, Chris           Pacers New Balance    13:58.67
 14 Reid, Phillip                Asics Aggie           13:59.02
 15 Britt, Barry                 Vandal Track Club     14:01.38
 16 Puskedra, Luke               Nike Oregon Project   14:01.48
 17 Zarda, Zach                  Unattached            14:13.05
 18 Halsted, Trevor              Unattached            14:21.59
 19 Gildea, Sean                 Colorado Sch          14:34.39
 -- Smail, Nouredine             American Dis               DNF

3:58.73

Wow.

3:58.73.

My first PR in three years. The race video can be found here. My post race blubbering of excitement can be found here and here. Finally, a small article on the race can be found here.

After the injury riddled winter I had, having only been training for three months, having this kind of race was a big surprise.  My confidence has been so down this spring following such a disappointing winter and a rather mediocre race at the Oxy High Performance meet.

But with my first sub-4 mile, the win, and meet record, my confidence made a bold move back in the right direction.  We have been training hard lately and let up just enough before this race that my legs finally felt like they had some zip to them and fortunately I was able to capitalize on the day.

Going into the meet, the elite athlete coordinator took a chance on me just getting me to the starting line since my previous mile PR of 4:04.94 was from 2010.  When I had run that four years ago, I remember the dream of a sub-4 mile suddenly became real—tangible.  But following that year I took a wrong turn on Unlucky Street and ended up in Injury City.  That dream of a sub-4 mile began to fade and over time it weathered to a silvery grey—a distant thought that occasionally slipped in and out of my mind.

Fast forward to two weeks ago when my teammate, Jon Peterson, and I ran a 5 x (500, 300, 200) workout on the track, all at sub-4 pace.  It was one of the hardest workouts of my life, resulting in two collapsed heaps on the track following the last set, yet we were able to maintain sub-4 pace through to the end.  It was when I was lying on the track, gasping for air, lactic acid pooling in my legs that the dream of a sub-4 mile started to gain color again.

As I did my prerace routine of a Clif Bar and coffee, that dream seemed to gain strength and life.  I began to imagine what it would feel like to cross the line and see 3:5X.X.  I told myself that with 500 to go, I could maintain sub-4 pace, no matter how much pain I felt.  I had proved that in the workout two weeks earlier. 

Yet with 600 to go, I found myself not hurting at all—in fact when I heard “2:30” from the timer shouting splits, the only thought I had was, “This is it. This is the day. Sub-4 in the mile is happening right now.”  With 400 to go, I stayed calm and relaxed having a few more gears to shift.  At 250, I decided to swing wide and move around a pack of five, which pulled me even with Leo Manzano (2012 Olympic Silver Medallist in the 1500).  With 150 to go, on the outside of lane one, I was neck and neck with Manzano.  We hit the final straight…..and to my own disbelief, I began to edge ahead.  Inch by inch, I was pulling away.  As Manzano faded out of my peripheral, Hamish Carson came into focus and we fought each other right to the line.  With 10 meters to go, I honestly was just looking at the clock and realizing I was going to finally break 4. In my final step, race instinct kicked in one more time and told me to lean.  Good thing I did because it got me the win by 0.01 seconds!

The final kick

Immediately after finishing, I went up to the finish line official, put my hand on his shoulder, and asked, “That was a full mile, right?” I wanted to make sure it was real!  He looked at me with a confused face and answered, “Yeah….a full mile.”  Only then did I ask if I had won and after a short minute, they reviewed the photo finish and revealed me as the victor.  I could not have been more shocked.

For the first time in my life, I had a line of kids next to me after the race asking for autographs.  The first kid handed me a pair of Saucony LD4 spikes (the ones I had raced in!) and I stood there and asked him where he wanted me to sign them.  He shrugged his shoulders and I laughed, “This is the first time anyone has ever asked for my autograph, thanks!” 

So with that mile under my belt, I now am gearing up for the Portland Track Festival 5k next weekend with a greater sense of confidence.  The time to hit is 13:32, which is the “A” Standard (guaranteed entry) to compete in the US Outdoor Championships at the end of June in Sacramento.  I definitely feel a little pressure going into it to make it happen, but the little boost of confidence from this mile PR is going to help in a big way. 

3:58.73 to win the Adro Mile