Well, this week was nothing if not eventful across a broad scope of topics. Personally speaking, it was an awful week- I had Enumerator Training for the US Census (my brief little summer job) which ran all day Tuesday-Friday and killed consistent sleep and decent training. I had very little time to run and felt awful most of the week- my workout on Tuesday was crap and I got about 1500m into a workout on Friday before I canned it and jogged home. I even had to take Sunday off because I was just spent. However, I'm hoping this week with much better sleep, I'll bounce back fine.
From a team perspective, things went well. We had the America East Conference Champs this weekend at the U of New Hampshire. Since that's only about 40min from my house, Peter, Mike, and I drove up to watch. We were treated to watching Eric lead the whole damn steeple until the last backstretch, then rallying to finish 2nd in 9:02.7, Elliot come back from injury (he's done like one workout in the last three weeks, and maybe half a dozen easy runs) to nab 3rd in the 10k, and Katie make her own successful 10k debut for 2nd. That was just the first day!
On Sunday, our 800 crew ran well, with four of our six entrants setting big personal or seasonal bests. Three of roommates ran the extremely deep, competitive 1500, with Ken leading the way in a 3:51.3 PR, Eric coming back from the steeple, running 3:52 out of unseeded heat with a ~2:01 last half, and James running a PR of 4:03. Rob won a disgustingly hot/humid 5k in 14:48. To give you a hint of how bad it was, Riley Masters, Maine's sub-4 miler, had what I think was a heatstroke and was taken to the hospital. He's ok, fortunately- but it was scary nonetheless.
Of course, I'd be a self-centered fool not to mention the Payton Jordan 10k on Saturday night. I'm sorry it's being used more as a means to bash Rupp than give credit to Solinsky's incredible race. The fact of the matter is that American distance running is better than its ever been. Two Americans just broke Meb's 27:13 standard. Rupp is 23? Solinsky is 25? 24 and 26, maybe? Either way, its fantastic for American running.
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What are some of your strategies on running a good mile, 2 mile, and 5k?
ReplyDeleteJJ- Well, I've run a grand total of three 3k races and two 5k races since I've graduated high school, but I have raced the mile a ton. Keep in mind, though, that so much of race strategy depends on a runner's personality, preferences, competition, and fitness.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, in the mile, I like to split it up into two parts: the first 1000 and the last 600. The first 1000, I don't worry about anything- I just relax as much as I can and stay out of trouble. It's amazing the amount of jostling and stupid unnecessary defensive moves people make in the early part of the race. At 1000m, I start positioning myself for a kick. As long as I'm not racing in a group that's orders of magnitude above me, I tend to have a pretty decent last 400. In my best races, I don't look at the clock, but I've been known to peek sometimes. Splitting a mile into a 1000 and a 600 also eliminates having to think about a "third quarter."
As for the 3k and 5k, I have much less experience. I ran my 3k PR at a little developmental meet at BU, and just ran behind a future teammate until he dropped me, then just put my head down and tried not to think. I believe my splits were more or less even- I remember being 4:28.xx through 1600 and finished in 8:24, which is 67.x per 400.
I'm afraid I don't have much to offer in the 5k. In course, I always tried to hold back a little in the first mile, run the second mile more or less as hard as I could, then hope to God in the last mile I had something left. This worked better for HS XC than it does on the track. For track 5ks, I'd say you have to get to 3k feeling reasonably good, because the last 1500 of a 5k is a truly awful experience if you're low on gas. In both of the track 5ks I've run in college, I went through 3k within 10 seconds of my PR at that distance and paid for it hard in the last mile.
Hope that helps!
you should have mentioned how you got that good meal money... not
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