Month: February 2024

5K Weekend in the ATL

After what I felt was an off day in Virginia in January, I spent the following month getting ready for the USATF masters 5K in Atlanta. It took another week or so to recover from the 8K and lingering symptoms of a cold. However, workouts went well and I managed to get in some decent training volume.

For the ensuing four week I did one double threshold-type workout on Tuesdays and then repetitions (2-5 minute) on Fridays. The Tuesday morning workout was 4-5 miles of tempo-effort repeats, aiming to be just be low threshold. I started at 4X 6 minutes and built to 6X6 minutes by mid-February. The afternoon session was shorter, maybe just 30-40 minutes total and I did hill reps of 4-6X 1.5 to 2.5 minutes, with a jog down for recovery. The effort for those was a little more, like CV (critical velocity) to V02 max. The Friday workouts on the track ranged from reps of 600 m to 1200 m, or by time if off the track. Those all went pretty well and on paper it seemed I was ready for something in the 19 minute range for an altitude 5K or 18:30 or so at sea level.

Although I racing was at that level for much of 2023, I had seemed to fall way off pace following the Chicago Marathon in October. Three poor cross country races, and an okay showing on the track in Colorado Springs in mid-February did not inspire confidence. The best I could hang onto was a 39:15 10K at sea level three months ago, the 5K equivalent to that is 18:41, and and the altitude -converted equivalent to last week’s 3000 m was 18:52.

Nevertheless, I flew to Atlanta hoping to meet or beat the 18:24 I ran there last year.

Atlanta

Our team plans fell apart over the last week. A pulled hamstring and pneumonia knocked two of our guys out. So it would be just me. After more than a decade of being a strong presence of being a strong presence on the USATF masters circuit–usually a podium finisher–the men’s 60-69 group has not fielded a full team for five consecutive races, with our last team score in June of 2023 at the road mile. Injury, illness, age, and moving on.

So I traveled alone, getting in Thursday evening, which gave all day Saturday to ‘relax’ (I still put in 16,000 steps on Friday, schlepping around the town, the expo/bib pick-up, and jogging the course). And my hotel was noisy all day, with families and kids–something big must have been going on–but fortunately, it all quieted down at 10 PM after they closed the atrium swimming pool!

Race Time

The race was early, 7:40 Atlanta time, which is 5:40 in Colorado. I met some friends at 6:15 in the lobby and the plan was to walk-jog to the start, about 1 or 1.2 miles away. Downtown Atlanta has some quirks, and our route was more of a zig-zag, so by the time we got there it was closer to 2 miles. I only warmed up for 14 or 15 minutes, held my groggy breath in the cool morning air (46 degrees and breezy), and we were off.

Mid-packing it off the start line (the John Glidewell is the runner on the right in the Atlanta Track Club singlet). Photo by John Blaser.

I had lined up in about the 4th row from the front, and got bumped a bit and immediately swallowed up by a dozen or so runners. That first stretch was the worst of the race, my chief rivals (all from the Atlanta Track Club) were in front a few meters and it was crowded. Although I stayed on my feet I did not feel good, and was wondering if had made a mistake to travel all that way for a mediocre race.

We made the first turn onto a narrow side street that climbed at about a 5% grade for a quarter mile. I kind of dreaded this, but held my ground right behind Ken who was in my age group and I figured we would be fighting for 2nd and 3rd place figuring that Glidewell was already a ways ahead. After the top of that hill there was a little zig zag with couple of tight turns as we turned onto a long straight stretch on Walker Street. It had a gentle climb. At the first slight downhill, just before the mile I picked it up and never looked back. Another Atlanta runner in the next age class down was 5-6 seconds up, so I focused on keeping up with him. I split the mile in 6:00, not bad for a 60 net gain. I never did catch the other Atlanta but kept the gap between 5 and 10 seconds. We made a hairpin, near 180 degree turn onto Peters Street and then it got fun because we were now going downhill. I was able to stride out and pass some runners.

I was probably about 50th place at the mile and by 3K (officially 11:13 but I think it was more like 11:05-11:10) I was in 44th. There was a pack just ahead, and as we made the turn back west with a little over a mile to go I surged to stay close, so they’d block the headwind on that long uphill (another 60 feet over about a half mile). So I tucked in and if someone passed I go with them. There were about 6 of us in that group. As we passed the giant Mercedes Stadium the course flattened before a nice downhill. Most of the last half mile was downhill. I started surging–and was happy to have the energy to do so! Best I had felt in a race since September.

Back past the start area, with about 400 to go before the finish I held on, and after making the penultimate turn, with about 250 m remaining I poured it on. At the final turn I caught one more runner, from ATC, and sprinted for the final 80 meters.

Sprinting home, just before the final turn, 100 meters to go.

He did catch me back, but I finished in 18:23, for 2nd in my age group behind Glidewell and a 91% age grade. Best result in nearly a year.

The race could hardly have gone better. Yeah, sure winning the age group would have been better but I can’t compete with a 94.5% age grade. I got 2nd in the age group and 3rd in age grading, enough to bring home $300 from USATF.

Afterwards I hung around with John my former college teammate, and other friends including the four guys from the club’s 70+ team, who chalked up another win.

With the BRR 70s team, Jan, Rick, Doug, and Bruce.

One of these days, we’ll hopefully get back together to field some competitive age group teams.

Indoor Track at High Altitude: Out of the Comfort Zone

I never really loved indoor track, although when I ran in college there were some exciting moments. As a freshman I won my heat in the 600 yard dash at our conference meet, after two guys got tangled and fell and I hurdled one of them as he was sprawled on the track. The next year I ran my first ever 2 mile and won! I only ran three seasons as an undergrad maybe 15 meets total. And only race twice since then, in 1981 just after graduating and in 1991.

In other words, I’d rather be skiing!

My 2024 ski endeavors have been a wash with bad snow or bad weather, getting sick, a winter race schedule, and other things popping up. I think in the future I’ll get into more skiing.

I will be racing the USATF masters 5K on the roads next week, and at last month’s cross country championship I really felt my lack of speed, 6:20 pace felt like a sprint and my competitors just pulled away easily on that 8K course. So I have added a bit of speedwork to prepare for that 5K and decided to cap it off by running a double at the USATF Mid-America regional championship in Colorado Springs. The meet was slated for the relatively new indoor facility at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (UCCS) on Sunday (elevation 6250 feet). I figured that would have some effect on the my speed but I live at over 7000 feet and train mostly at about 5500-6000 feet, so figured that wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

However, on Friday there was a shooting on the campus, two people were killed, and the university cancelled all activities for the weekend, including the race. That’s a terrible thing. Not the cancellation, but the shooting.

The USATF organizers moved quickly and the near Air Force Academy (AFA) agreed to host the meet at their venerable track, set at 7075 feet on the beautiful campus situated next to the foothills. That’s amazing that USATF was able to make that happen in just a matter of ours. The only real downside was the elevation difference and the Academy’s notedly old track. So I knew each race would be a grind.

First up, the 3000. My goal for the UCCS track was to run around 11:00-11:10, although I figured that might be a stretch, my last 3000 (outdoors in Boulder at 5300 feet) in 2021, was only an 11:09. But I’m an optimist and felt I could click off 44-45 second laps and make it happen with a good kick at the end. That would put me near the top fastest age group times in the world for the 2023-24 season even at altitude.

My friend David Westenberg ran 10:32 in December and while I wouldn’t be close to that, an 11:00 would compare favorably with a conversion factor to 10:36. Close at least.

3000 Meters 11.2 laps

Seventeen runners were entered and with a couple scratches 15 lined up, five women and ten men. They lined the women up on the inside lanes. With a seed off 11, I was on the far outside, so rather than that I lined up behind the two fastest looking guys.

The AFA track is an odd 268 meters, with long straights and tight curves, exactly 6 laps per mile. With the higher elevation I figured 60-61 per lap would keep me in the 11:15 range, so not too far off my original goal.

The gun fired and I immediately dropped to about 12th place. We strung out and I tried to relax, although I had the thought of just sprinting out to run with the leaders for a couple laps. I knew that would end up being rather painful so kept my head.

Off the line, near the back (Lane 1 Photos)

2nd lap pondering my sanity to run an indoor meet at 7000′

The first lap was right at 60, so not bad, then 2:02, 3:02, 4:03. I picked off a few runners in the early laps and there was a big gap (80 meters up to the next two). Split the mile at about 6:05-06 and was actually feeling pretty good. But on the 7th and 8th laps I could feel the effort increasing and I slowed to 62s-63s through lap 10. I did through down my best kick over the last lap and was under 60. And crossed in 11:27. It was a positive split, but I’m not disappointed to finish in 6:08.9/mile pace, which would be 5K goal pace at 5280 feet in Denver or Boulder.

Dead Last in the Last Mile

Not as ominous it sounds, but this was the last race on the old track at the AFA Field House. They are going to shut it down next year and build a new track, no doubt a banked 200 m oval that will have a state-of-the-art surface. It will certainly be faster than the current version. Maybe I’ll give it a shot in another 30 or 40 years. Maybe not!

After a 10 minute cool down I relaxed for a couple hours in the infield and tried to track some cross country ski World Cup results online, from races taking place in Minneapolis.

In the afternoon I warmed up outside for another 10-12 minutes and did a few pick ups. Eleven runners had signed up for the mile, but the attrition rate was pretty high and only six of us lined up. I was the oldest by 15 years and it showed. The other five runners gapped me immediately and I ran the entire race far off the pace. For this one I just wanted to run relaxed for the first couple of laps and then bring the pace down. I was hoping for 5:45 or so, but would be happy with a 5:50 considering the double and the elevation.

It pretty much went according to plan, as I was just under 2:00 after two laps, 3:57 at four laps, and with about 300 meters to go I started my version of a kick, covering the last lap in about 56 to finish dead last in 5:51.4. My slowest track mile on record (by 16 seconds, I ran a 5:35 at the Mile High Mile in 2021, 5:42 on the road at the Carnation Mile in 2022). That’s okay, I got what I wanted out of it.