4:22 this weekend, a 4 second PR.
Those who I am close with, and those who I talk to about my running know that I've been waiting a good while to say that. Ive had my share of struggles, injuries, and setbacks within the last two years trying to get back into my rhythm and good racing shape.
Well, I have a system where I can maintain my body effectively and produce good training which is pleasing.
Leading up to the race this weekend, I had a slightly down week.
The 800 last week left me feeling surprisingly good. I got a quick picture from the meet from a bowdoin website:
Pretty cool pic. I think it's the final turn, I ended up winning the race by barely catching Stein from Bowdoin and out leaning him at the line.
This week, I ran about 58 miles and I didn't do the major workout this week. Also, I took a day off on Tuesday which was needed since I hadnt taken one off in about a month.
On Thursday, I did a mini-workout. Ran 4x200 with Matt Jennings, Marc, and Chris.
We ran 27 seconds for each one. Felt pretty smooth, it was more of a workout to get the legs going. A workout that hits the right buttons and leaves you feeling sharp for the race.
On Saturday, I woke up with my roommates, ate, and we headed down to the gym at around 10:30Am. The Reggie Poyou Invitational (A memorial meet named after a Brandeis track and field athlete who drowned in Africa while studying abroad) was scheduled to start at noon.
Me, Matt, and Chris were scheduled to run the mile. We spent a lot of time warming up because we didn't really know what time our race would go off. Well, the race went off and Matt and I ended up battling two Amherst runners for most of the race, until 400m to go when Matt took the lead. I was in 4th at the time behind the two Amherst runners. We had been running split 33's, it didn't feel exceptionally fast but I hadn't really been feeling well from the start of the race.
As Matt made his move, the first amherst runner followed him and opened a short gap on the rest of us. With 200m to go, I passed the other Amherst runner in 3rd and started to make up a little ground on the two up front. It was a crazy finish. I ended up catching the Amherst runner in 2nd and then Outleaning Matt at the finish. We both ended up running 4:22.
I knew with 50 meters to go that I would catch the Amherst runner, but that final effort also propelled me 1st which was surprising.
Matt seemed like he was pretty happy that it was me who ended up next to him at the line, and not a runner from another school.
pic on the line:
It was a pretty good effort. I'm eager to get under 4:20, but it was a good opening mile of 2009. Plus, I'm under that 4:26 barrier that I seemed to have in my senior year of high school.
Me, Matt, Marc, and Mike (all those m's) doubled back after our events to run the 4x800. We ended up winning in 8:07 which was neat. I came out of the day with two wins, pretty good stuff. Matt and I felt pretty tired after our mile race, Marc and Mike even more so after their 1000m. Mike led off in about 2:04-2:05, then Marc went out in 27 but finished strong to run 2 flat, I ran 2:01, and Jennings with a decent lead anchored us with a 2:01 to win.
I probably ran one of my best doubles ever, 4:22 mile and 2:01 800 split.
Things are looking good. I'm looking forward to the BU meet on Valentine's Day to hopefully get another shot at the mile.
Sinead Evans (Coach John's wife) praised me for my race.
She said "Sam, at BU in a couple of weeks you’ll take about four seconds off that time. It’s a lovely fast track they have there! "
Now, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
To those who are not familiar with Sinead, she was an Olympic runner for Ireland. Her personal best in the 1500m is 4:04,(REALLY FAST!), her mile best is 4:22, and her 3k best is 8:58 ( AMAZING).
Things have been working out well, and I'm going to keep training smart and look forward to more good races and PRs to come.
1 comment:
Admitted bias alert re the blog -- I'M SAM'S DAD!
Hard to articulate this, but I too spoke with Sinead briefly at the meet, and it got me thinking about the sport in a way I hadn't before.
Hundreds of incredibly committed and energetic athletes at the Red Auerbach Arena, all focused on their goals. Virtually all of them are really good, or else they wouldn't be competing at the collegiate level at all. If you think of the Bell Curve of high school runners, almost all of the competitors were in the 80th percentile and above.
Now that top 20 percent is the new Bell Curve, and everyone on the left-hand side is "below average" by definition, which exacts a psychological toll.
And in this sport, as we know, an athlete competes at once against rival schools, against his or her best friends who are teammates, and against him- or herself. Further, unlike a great DIII quarterback or DI point guard, you have your times, which are known to all and don't lie. So, at any given distance, there is always someone better, unless you happen to be the best in the world.
This means to me that the sport is more character building than most. And, as the T-shirt proclaims, "My Sport Is Your Sport's Punishment."
So here we have all of this admirable energy and effort, and back in the pizza room stands an understated young woman, off and on chasing after her son and speaking encouraging words to all of the Brandeis troops. Unbeknownst to almost everyone in the building, she has placed 7th and 9th in the 1500 at consecutive Olympics and, in shape, would probably win the men's mile at the meet!
This to me says a lot about the purity of the sport and the Zen-like mindset it takes to excel.
PS. Great as well to see at the meet Newton South and DCL parents -- parents of Nina Slote, Ann Norris and Sam's teammate Kate Warwick from A-B.
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