Two PRs and Two Medals
The first track meet of the year! As I wrote in the earlier post about this USATF Pacific Association Championships, I was to assess my fitness level in today’s events, 1,500m and 800m, and use it as benchmark to train for the rest of the summer. As it turned out, I ran both events in PR and could not be happier at this early stage in the track season. Excellent start! The meet itself was a little slow, due to its size (500 competitors) and the organizer’s willingness to accommodate elite athletes’ requests, who were trying to qualify for the upcoming Olympic Trials. There was one World Record for women’s masters 10,000m. A 70-year old Marie-Louise Michelsohn ran 46:38.5 and bettered the previous record by over 30 seconds. Also, there was an Olympian Stephanie Brown Trafton who competed in Discus and threw 208′ 2″, which looked ridiculously far from where I was sitting. So, it was a fantastic meet to be part of, from my own competition perspective, but also was a great opportunity to witness some of the world-class athletes’ performance.
The first event was 1,500m at 11:30 am. I arrived at the track with some of the team members at around 10:00 am. We all picked up our bibs and sat down with the team. The track meet was already in progress with steeple chasers tackling the distance, hurdles and the water pit. It was a great running weather for them, but for us sitting and waiting, it was a bit too cool without the sun keeping us warm. I went to check in for 1,500m and headed to warm up at 10:30 with a teammate, Thomas Setser, who was also running 1,500m and 800m, but in the Open division. After the usual warm-up and drills, I went to bathroom and I was ready.
I did not know any of the competitors. After a few pleasantries, all 18 runners lined up for one big heat. I tried to remind myself of sticking with the pace, 77-78 seconds a quarter for as long as I can, and see what happens. On your mark. Bang! A couple of runners jumped out fast and I started to follow, quickly realizing it was too fast for my pace. I slowed down and settled into a comfortable breathing. First quarter 73 seconds. I slowed down even more. I was in the third place then, but shortly someone else passed me. With my breathing rapidly becoming heavier, I tried to focus on my running. 78 seconds the second quarter. Good. Just keep it up. Less than 2 laps to go. Look ahead and keep the pace. In the distance, not sure where I was, I hear the bell. The leader started the bell lap. As I passed the 1,200m, gasping for oxygen, I did not bother getting my split on my Garmin but looked ahead to close the gap with the third place runner. I saw my team mates calling my name and taking photos, but this was not the time or place to try looking good! I swung my arms to lift my legs, being filled with lactic acid with every stride, and strode into the home stretch. No way to catch the guy and I finished fourth, but in 4:44.50. That’s a PR by smashing four seconds! Woo-Hoo!!
Cooled down with Thomas who did not run too well. We talked about switching our focus and relaxing for 800m. The subsequent events, namely hurdles, delayed the schedules quite a bit. They decided to switch directions to get favorable wind for the elite hurdlers. While I waited, I walked around with my camera, trying to find interesting subjects and actions. I found it a good way to relax and keep my legs loose. My team mates were running 400m and 100m. Also, long jump. It is difficult to take a good photo when the subject is moving very fast. Sometimes I get lucky, but a lot of times I end up with photos with the subject out of focus. I would love to learn how to take great action shots.
Since I had already warmed up earlier for 1,500m, I did not waste my energy warming up too much for 800m. I did a few laps and some dynamic stretch and striders. They divided Masters runners in two heats. I was in the first heat. When we were called, I saw the guy who took the third place in 1,500m, Greg Hales, but did not see the first or second place finishers. Instead, I saw a tall, fast-looking guy with more of a sprinter’s build. I bet he was a good half miler. The officials went over the rules and put us in dedicated lanes. I was in Lane Five. Three steps behind the green line. On your mark. Bang! Confident from the earlier race, I upped my pacing a little bit but no particular time in mind. After cutting in, I was leading the pack until the third corner. Two guys, the tall fast-looking one, Steve Yatson and Greg, passed me. Fine. I followed them behind 6 feet or so. On the homestretch, there was a wind. So, I drafted behind the two guys. Perfect. I did not look at my Garmin or the official watch but heard the announcer saying the leader ran 63 seconds the first lap. Bell rang. The race starts now. I closed the gap a little bit and was at the foot of Greg who was just behind Steve. In the backstretch, I felt strong and decided to be patient until the homestretch. I hung with the leaders around the third corner and just as soon as I finished the last corner, I let it rip. 90m to go. 
I passed both of them. I am now big time sprinting. I felt the wind pushing my upper body back against my formidable effort, and I resisted it by exerting even harder. 60m to go. I heard the crowd going wild. I saw Steve in the corner of eye, to my left. I don’t remember if I was breathing or what I was looking at. My lungs were hurting. My legs, heavy. O2 debt. 30m. Steve passed me. I hung on. 20m. I am losing balance. 10m. Barely sprinting, but acceleration just carried me through the finish line. Both hands on my shaky knees, now I’m definitely breathing, gasping for air. 2:15.32. Second place. Another PR! I shook hands with Steve, Greg, and others, all still breathing heavily but relieved that the race was over.
Overall, it was a great day for me. No complaints whatsoever, other than the big delay in the schedule. Even the sun came out. Now that I have benchmark for these two events, I can set target for the next two meets and train for them. Rick, VP of the team congratulated me for the perfect strategy in 800m. Strategy… Yeah, I can call it that. After the race, I stuck around a while and photographed other events my team mates were competing in. Around 5pm, though, I picked up my age-group medals and I was ready to go home and enjoy the rest of the evening, off the track.
Great job to all who competed in the Senior Games and good luck to those who qualified for the National Senior Games next year. Take some well-deserved rest! I am sure I will see some of them at the track meets this summer. I’d better train hard so I won’t get beaten! By the way, some had really nice-looking racing flats!
This past Saturday, San Francisco Track & Field Club hosted Pride Meet at Cox Stadium on San Francisco State University campus. This was the fourth year the Club put together this event, but this was my first Pride Meet. I had been involved in the organization of this event, but thanks to Drew and all the volunteers, I was able to focus on my events and do very well in each event.
This was my first time running 800m since high school. 800m was not my event even in high school, so I don’t remember what was my time then. From the 400m and 1,500m races I ran in Vancouver, I thought I could run in around 2:20, which is 70 seconds per lap. Last couple of times at the track practice, I tried to feel the pace, though I was not totally comfortable about me nailing the pace. I also read a few articles about how people run 800m. From what I read, runners usually run the first lap tad faster than the second. So, I thought I would try 70 sec in the first lap and see how I can manage in the second. The problem with running different distances, though, is I risk screwing up my pace. This summer I trained hard for 5K and 10K, so I know my pace for these races. But the shorter distances are pretty new to me and my pace is largely unknown. Anyway, I had my target and tried to stick with it.
This was the event I really wanted to try this year but I didn’t practice much. After I had gone to our Throw Clinic in April and watched Youtube videos a few times, maybe I did two or three practice. This event was also canceled in Vancouver, so my motivation to practice was down. It would have been great to be able to do a turn and throw, but I decided to do a standing throw. In my flight, there must have been about 15 or more throwers. Aaron, James, Andy, Dave and Allen were in the same flight. A lot of throwers looked pretty good with a nice form, turn and trajectory. There were maybe three or four throwers like me, looking like a novice. Anyway, I tried to remember all the tips that I learned and hope I could throw as far as I could. After a few practice throws, the competition started. I was the third thrower. I had four chances to register a good throw. In the first throw, I focused on ‘Release and Block’ and ‘Keeping the arm behind my hip’. I threw 23.78m. Hmmm, way too short of 30m that I thought I might be able to throw… I watched others throw but I could not learn much, because they were totally at different levels from me. The second, third and fourth throws did not go as far as the first one. Allen and Andy said that I had a good technique but needed to learn some turns to be able to throw farther. Totally agreed.
My target was around 5:08. I had run 1,500m in 4:48 in Vancouver. The pace was 76 – 77 seconds per lap. Andy said Phil’s friend, Daniel, runs Mile in sub 5:00. Brien who ran 400m in 56 sec was there, too. Also, Phil had said that there was someone who was going for an American record, though we did not who that was and how fast s/he was going to run. As we were lining up to start, I learned who he was. He was older and shorter than I was and sounded experienced. After a minute of debate on where the start line was, we were ready and the gun went off. Immediately, Daniel took off and Tom chased after him. I chased them for 150m or so but decided the pace was too fast and let them lead. The first 200m split was 37 sec or so. Still too fast. As Daniel and Tom went on, I slowed down a bit and passed the first 400m in about 75. Brien passed me and pulled me the next 400m, but he started to slow down at about 800m, so I passed him. By then, I saw Daniel and Tom about 200m ahead and Tom caught up with Daniel. I had no energy worrying about who, between those two, was leading the race and focused on my race and my pace. During the third lap, I heard Brien following me. I started to feel my legs heavier and so was my breathing. I heard people cheering on me around the third and fourth corners. 500m more to go. At that point, Daniel was still ahead of Tom and they looked like they were less than 200m ahead. I wondered if I could catch them if I sprinted. But I was out of gas by the time I went into the last lap. Though I tried my best to catch them, they were too far ahead and I did not have any legs left. I no longer heard Brien but wondered if he would be blasting by me, which probably helped me run faster and finish before Brien, which I did. It was a hard race and the time was 5:15.36. Slower than expected but I was OK with it considering I had done three other events earlier in the day. I congratulated Daniel, Tom and Brien, as we all tried to recover our breaths.
I did less practice on Shotput than Discus before the meet, but I did compete in Vancouver, so I knew better. In Vancouver, I threw 8.51m, so that was my target. There must have been 20 or 25 throwers in this event. Andy, Rick, Sean and Craig also competed in this event. Among Andy, Sean and I, we weren’t sure which shot to use: We could not tell whether one was heavier than the other. After trying to figure that out by feeling them, Andy went to weigh one and came back with the right one, which felt heavier than the other one that we were comparing with…
This should not be a hard question, since I’ve run 5,000m on track. In the most recent 5,000m, I ran the first mile in 5:50 or so. But the question is how much faster can I get? 5:50 is 87.5 sec/lap. Can I do 85 sec/lap? Probably. How about 80 sec/lap? Hmmm, not sure.
