All Aboard the PB Train

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.

Go Time Round 2

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, but I've been pretty busy this past week getting caught up after the trip.  Anyways, the race went really well on Friday (The Saturday meet was cancelled, so I didn't run the 800).  Once again, there was no problem getting into a groove to try and get after a fast time.  Perfect weather, perfect pacing, and it ended with a 4:00.06 for me.  In my last post, I made it pretty clear that I was fit and ready for a 1500 PB, but after the 1500 it was pretty apparent that I'm not quite sharp enough to beat 3:58.25 YET.  I got a little caught up in how well things were rolling that I sort of forgot that it was still the first week of what I hope will be a very long season.

I took a look back to my 1500 season openers in my past two years and realized that it always took at least a few races to get into the 4:05 range each year.  Those years ended with a 3:58, so that really put things in perspective.  Another way to look at this race is that I was almost exactly the same time that I ran at my final 1500 last year.  So to start where I left off last year is pretty exciting.  About 10 days from now, I'll be racing again at Willamette in Oregon.  I think it will be a 1500, which will be really exciting to get another crack at it.    A few pics from California below, you can click them for a larger image.

Team Picture in San Diego

Celebration after watching the UAA Basketball team win an NCAA Regional Championship 

The Granddaddy of Them All

The Rose Bowl

Downtown L.A. to catch a Kings/Wings Game

Chirpin'

San Diego Coastline

Go Time

I ran a pretty solid one last night.  I was entered in my 2nd 5000, and if you recall on my blog last year I didn't have a very good outing the first time.  9:00 through 3k and a 6:31 last 2k to be exact.  But this time was different.  I went 8:57 and hung on better with 6:08 to finish in 15:05.  Of course there's a lot of work to be done if I want to sneak into some big races this year, but as a first race of the season and a sizable PB, I won't complain.   Another reason not to complain is the fact that I'm in Southern California for 10 days to get some fast races in the warm weather.

I'm racing again next week - a 1500 on Friday, and an 800 on Saturday.  I'm certainly looking for a couple more PB's next week, and there really won't be any excuses not to.  If any of you readers have ever attended the London Runner's distance races in the past, you know what a perfect race is like.  Tons of runners all looking to run fast times under the lights with no wind and perfect temperatures.  That's what it was like yesterday.  It's no wonder everyone comes to California every spring to run blazing fast times, it's perfect weather every single day.  There were 5 heats of men's 5000 runners each with 30 runners and there was definitely no sitting and kicking going on.  Just a bunch of dudes running really quick.  The Seawolves had some really solid performances last night and I'm going to start putting results up on the schedule/results page as soon as I get a hold of them.

I'll post another blog after next week's races - hopefully some big times to talk about!