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