Finishing a Segment: Some personal reflections

Since graduating Central Michigan and leaving Mount Pleasant in 2004, I had thought of myself as a marathon runner. That was before I had even run one! Since 2005, I had barely touched a track and hadn't even considered putting a full track segment in, until the summer of 2009. From the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2009, I had run the Chicago Marathon three times, Boston two times, New York once, and the US Olympic Trials in Central Park. My best year by far was 2006, where I had run 2:15:22 and 23 at Boston and Chicago, and been part of the best American male finishing contigent since Greg won over 25 years ago. Since then, I had continued to push the marathon and since the Olympic Trials in the fall of 2007, performance has not exactly been there. Some of it has been circumstance. I am at the point where I continued to force races that were not there, instead of just letting them come to me. Some of it was the races I had run, where I would be running by myself and not racing anyone. The long story short, I had become stagnent and needed to get back to a different type of running- TRACK.

With all of that said, there were two main goals for this segment: 1) regain some lost speed and 2) make a serious attempt at a new 10,000 meter PR. The segment began in Mid-November, so it was a long training block. However, it was by design, because long term, I am thinking about a fall marathon. My mileage is relatively high anyway (100-120 miles a week), so I don't like to do a huge build-up for a marathon. Anyway, so I had been doing "speed" work for a long time. I say, "speed" because it's relative to what I used to do. I wasn't on the track twice a week, but just doing some shorter workouts at 4:30-4:35 per mile pace. This weekend, the segment was to close at Stanford. I was certainly faster than 6 months ago and now it was time to hopefully close out the segment with the secondary goal accomplished.

My plan was to go straight to the back of the group and get pulled along for as long as possible. I was in the fast heat and it is usually pretty fast (for me), so I don't need to be up front where I don't belong. For those who are a little unfamiliar with track racing, it's a cluster-bleep at the start. A lot of pushing and shoving for position. The name of the game is to stay on your feet, hold off space invaders with a strategic elbow, and jockey for a rail position. After that, just ride the rail and only make a move when you think a break is for real!

The race started just as expected and I went right to the back of the 30 runners. It was a little chaotic and spiked feet were a little too close to comfort. Nobody really wanted to lead, so it was like a highway traffic jam. Everybody knows you don't hit the breaks on the freeway! In any case, I stayed upright. We coasted through the first lap in 72-73 seconds, which was slow. I was hoping to be 69-70. But, it picked right up and the next lap was 68 something. I found myself off the rail, making stupid moves to move up the line. That costs energy, especially when you panic. Two really big mistakes. I forgot that it's ok to feel good when you're not doing the work!!! We rolled through the 1600 meter mark in 4:41, or so. The next mile was pretty similar. By now we had strung out to nearly single file and we hit the 3200 meter mark in 9:15, or 4:34 that second mile. At this point I feel pretty freaking good. I am relaxed and running smooth, but I continued to make a couple more unnecessary moves that would later haunt me. The third miles was 4:37 and we hit the 3 mile in 13:52 and the 5,000 meter mark in 14:27. I am feeling awesome, it felt like a hard tempo run, not a redlined drag race.

BUT, a kilometer later, I couldn't cover a small burst from the group and boom! I am off the back. Kevin said I was 71.5 for that lap. I am not really sure what splits were from there, but it wasn't great. I couldn't cover any moves and it felt like someone hit me in the face with a 2x4! It's so weird, how I can feel amazing one lap and then absolutely terrible a couple laps later. Looking back at it, if I could have just held on for a couple more laps, I would have gotten it down to under a mile and a half to go. At that point, I think I could have held on better and snuck under 29:00. It didn't happen though, and I ended up coming in at 29:25. It's hard, because you come through with a mile to go and realize you aren't going to run a 4:00 mile to seal the deal. When you are in the situation you want, you know you can bring that last 400 in 63-65 instead of 70-72! So, it was about 70% there. I made it through 4 and change on a huge PR pace, but couldn't just finish it. That part is frustrating, especially when I can picture the exact moment where I made a split decision and it was the wrong one. However, I always try to find the positve in a situation. 1) the segment was a succes in the fact that I did the work. I did the 28:30 work, and I am closer now than I have ever been. Your body still adapts to that work, regardless of a bad race. 2) I know exactly where I need the most work. It has nothing to do physically, it comes from knowing that a race like that is extremely painful and you have to trust that your body will hold up for those last 10 minutes! It's not like a marathon where it's the slow depletion fatigue. It's sharp, pugnent, and forceful. 3) I am more fit than I have been in over a year, accross the board. My 8 mile tempo runs are over a minute faster than they were in 2009. They are faster than when I ran 1:04:05 in the half marathon and 2:15:22 in the full. That is very promising, and gets me fired up!

So, the segment is over and a break is long over due! A week off from running, then start a small transition segment. I'll get back to the roads and run a half marathon at the end of June. Another small break, then back to the marathon this fall.