Another couple of solid weekend races are in the books. Last week I was in Oregon for the Willamette Invitational, where I ran another 4:00 in the 1500. I was hoping for a new PB, but it wasn't meant to be. I went back to Alaska with a little sense of urgency to make a breakthrough that I believed I was fit for. This weekend was spent at San Francisco State, where I ran a 5000m in a great heat of 25 or so guys all seeded between 14:40 and 15:00. Going into the race, the plan was very simple. Get on the rail, and follow the pace train. Almost right away, everyone was settled down into a pack running the exact paces I was looking for. 72, 72, 36 for 3:00 at the 1st km, and then lap by lap the pace began to gradually drop bringing me through 2k at 5:56, and 3k at 8:54. If you recall in my last 5000, I went out in 8:57 and held it together for the most part to finish in 6:08 for the last 2k. I was a little uncertain about how the last 5 laps would play out going through 3k a little faster this time, but I felt great. 4k was hit in 11:52, and still feeling good I had a 2:53 left in the tank for the last km. 14:45.08 was the final time.
Apart from breaking 15 for the first time, I was excited because this is the breakthrough I had been searching for since last year. It's pretty clear to me now that last year I wasn't running the mileage I needed to in order to keep it together in a 5k, but with the additional 15 or so miles/week, I am definitely stronger, and able to put up a fight in the last 2km. It gives me a little more confidence in my aerobic fitness and it puts me in a good position to get into faster races. One of my big goals this year was to get into the 14:30's and it now seems a lot more realistic and certainly attainable. Additionally, the NCAA DII provisional standard is 14:35, so I've now set myself up nicely for another shot or two at that time.
For those of you who didn't know, this weekend was one of Stanford's big track meets they host each year, so the Seawolves split up our squad to go to both San Francisco State and Stanford. All weekend, everyone was getting texts and calls from the athletes and coaches at opposite meets about the big breakthroughs everyone was having. It almost seemed too good to be true, as personal bests, national qualifiers, school records, and conference records were dropping all over the place. I'm not even going to try to remember how many records were broken, as there were so many that I'm bound to forget to mention a few. The full results will be on the Schedule/Results page ASAP. The coaches agreed it was right up there as one of the best overall weekends for UAA track and field, and that's definitely a great sign to see such solid performances from the whole team. And the best part is that there is still about 5 weeks to the conference championships, and 7 weeks to nationals for everyone to put in a few more big weeks of focused training.
One of the benefits of being in the San Francisco area is that after my race I got to head over to watch the big boys running the 1500s, 5000s, and 10000s at Stanford. It was pretty sweet getting to watch some of the Seawolves rip it up with some of the best runners in the country. It was also great to watch guys like Tegenkamp, Jager, Bairu, Ritz, Levins, Derrick, Bauhs, and a bunch of others get after some quick times. Getting to meet Lawi Lalang after his race, and going out onto the track with Alberto Salazar as he gave Ritz splits during his 10k was just a bonus to a great day. Then, as if the first day wasn't enough, on our run the following morning, the Kenyans on our team ran into Bernard Lagat's brother (27:50 10k), so he joined along for our team long run. Pretty awesome weekend. Now it's time to get back to business for a few more hard workouts the next 2 weeks. Not 100% sure when I'll race next, but I'll keep you posted.
P.S. One thing I forgot to mention was that Anchorage just broke the record for the most snow in one season in the history of the city (just under 12 feet). Adding that to the coldest January in Anchorage's history made for a pretty chilly, snowy winter up in the Big One, but spring is certainly on it's way.
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