I awoke Saturday morning figuring I would race around 1-2pm, and I was right, but for some reason I didn't plan my eating all that well. I had the regular oatmeal with nuts at 7 in the morning, and that would be it until race time aside from a nibble on a Clif bar. So, nutrition wasn't great, but I was perfectly hydrated... the dry indoor air really wouldn't effect me at all.
Lisa and I headed out around 9am, picked up Eric Sampsel and drove out to the Spire Institute for the first time ever. It is a nice facility with a good track. Not great. I'll likely race there again because it's convenient, and much better than Kent or Akron, but it pales in comparison to the GVSU indoor facility in Grand Rapids, where we have done most of our indoor racing.
Anyways, we arrived as the meet started, I got my bearings, relaxed and when the time came started the warmup. I grossly underestimated the time it would take for the heats leading up to my race. I was about 20-30min off of what I actually expected. My 30min warmup ended about 30min before race time, mistake. I warmed up a second time for about 5-8min, then went onto the track for strides, etc. I was a bit nervous, non characteristic of my race days, but typical of the first race of the year.
We lined up... I was in lane 2, outside of D3 National Champ in the 800 and 1500 last Spring. The gun went off, I held my position in my lane and knew I would have to beat the outsiders to the break, 100m into the race... so, I did my job, but Nick Guarino, in Lane 1, best me to the break and moved out into my lane... I later realized this was to help his brother in Lane 4. I had to break stride and nudge him in the back to keep my balance, all while running at 25s/200m pace which was a bit disappointing. Hitting the 200m in 25s was way faster had planned, I wanted to be about 27s. I held position until 300m into the race, where I was in third... then it all happened... the race blew by and I was left lost and confused for the middle 400m. I was not used to the tactics of the 800m, so my miler instincts let me settle into a pace, which happened to be 30s for the second 200m... I hit the 400m at 55s... which would have been great if I had gone 27, 27 for the first 200, 200... anyways, the 400-600 leg was dreadful, I held pace, probably fell off a bit... then with 200m to go I realized that I had plenty left and picked up the pace, passing one on the turn and two on the straight on my way to a fourth place finish in 1:57:15.
In a perfect race, I may have gone about 0.5 faster, but I still feel good about starting the season with a 1:57. Lat year, I ran 1:57-high during my competitive phase with about 35 miles on my legs, I ran this 1:57 with 85 miles on my legs... so, I'm confident that the fitness will really break through when the time is right!
Workout: 800m Race (30+min warmup, Strides, Race, 10min cooldown)
Pace: 1:57.15
Extra: None
Workout Mileage: 7
Mileage This Week: 77.85
Total Weekly Target: 95
Posted on
Sat, January 21, 2012
by Clayton Burnett