I ran the 3000 and then the 1500 at the Bennett Blazers Invitational track meet last weekend (yes, I'm just now finding time to write up this report). I ran 13:39 for the 3000 and 7:04 for the 1500, which were both enough to qualify me for the Hartford Nationals.
My summer plans include competing at the Hartford Nationals in Grand Rapids, Michigan in July. To do so, I needed to nab qualifying times for the 3000 and the 1500 - the two events I've chosen to target there. I could qualify at either a Move United (organization for para- and adaptive athletes) meet or a USATF meet, but I preferred to do so at a Move United meet (less paperwork). Conveniently the Bennet Blazers Invitational offered both distances. The meet was just under 4 weeks after the Boston Marathon, which meant that I would just be returning to training. But that was fine - I was confident that I could qualify without being in top shape, and racing the two distances would work well as a rust buster.
The meet was in Towson, just north of Baltimore, so I was able to do it as a day trip, leaving my home around 5:40 am. I arrived at the track a bit after 7 am and immediately found a good spot for my yoga mat. I spent the next 30 minutes stretching, foam rolling, and otherwise getting ready to run before grabbing my bibs (two for front and back). Then I headed out to jog laps around the track to warm up. I was wearing a pair of Reebok FloatRide RunFast Pros from 2018 as they fall within the stack height limit of 20mm for para-athletic track and I was pleasantly surprised by how good they felt.
The 3000 was the first race of the morning. And I was the only one in it. This wasn't totally surprising - adaptive/para-athletic meets tend to emphasize the sprints, and many of the competitors there consider anything longer than 800 to be a long race. Being the only one in the first race of the morning meant that I could warm-up, check-in, walk over to the start line, and casually wait for the gun. The starter and I grinned at each other as he formally advised me that I could take the inside lane from the gun, and then we were (meaning I was) off.
***
The next few minutes were oddly fun. I was not allowed to wear my Garmin and there was no clock visible - thus I had absolutely no way to know what splits I was hitting. Without anyone else in the race, I couldn't gauge how fast I was running. Fortunately for me, I've done a lot of solo tempos on the track, not checking my watch until after I'm done, so the lack of information didn't bother me. I also knew that I only had to dip under 20:40 for the 3000 (11:05 pace) to qualify for the Hartford Nationals, so I didn't have any worries there.
Essentially, the race became a hard tempo/solo time trial, with the added benefit of somebody counting down laps for me and a crowd cheering. I simply relaxed into the rhythm and worked through my mental form cues, and seven and a half laps went quickly.
After finishing, I caught my breath and then asked the officials what my time was. "13:39" was the answer, which I was more than satisfied with. Previously I had told the meet director that I planned to be under 15 minutes and thus not add too much time to the meet. I was glad to be significantly under that threshold. 13:39 was also significantly faster than my Tuesday track workout had indicated - it's always nice when you race better than you train.
***
I had a wait of about 2.5 hours before the 1500, which was the last race of the morning. I suspect that events were arranged to give me as much space as possible between the two. The irony there is that I would have much preferred to have jogged for about 4 minutes and then rolled into the 1500 - thus doing a slightly harder version of the 3200, 1600 tempo workout. 150 minutes was enough time to get really stiff and rigid. I tried to find an area to jog around outside of the track but had no luck. So I settled for repeated strides on a strip of the outside lane (with the meet's permission). It was something, but not enough.
There were three other runners in this race (all different divisions, and so technically not my competitors), and I fully expected to finish last due to both stiffness and lack of fitness. So I was pleasantly surprised when the gun went off and I found myself in second, with the leader in reach. However, that feeling only lasted for about 100m, and then everything started tightening up. When I'm not loosened up, I often have to manage this annoying....thing (for lack of a better term) where I can't selectively contract muscles. Trying to accelerate hard means that everything locks up - I can't step on the gas without also stepping on the brakes. So...I have to try to trick myself into running fast without trying too hard. Which is tricky when you are in second place in a 1500 with first place in reach and third place just behind you.
I worked through things as best I could but was outkicked in the home stretch to finish third overall in 7:04 (7:35 pace). So not the way I would have liked it to play out, but it was a good reminder of what I need to work on, and I snagged another qualifying time.
All in all, it was a successful morning - I got what I came for, got my rustbuster out of the way, and figured out what I need to work on in the next few months.
Other notes:
- We had great weather for the meet - mid 60s with low humidity. It was windy, but still much better weather than one usually gets for a summer track meet.
- I really like the Reebok Runfast Floatride Pros, and I am now glad that I was never able to sell them on Ebay. I bought them in around 2018, but quickly decided that I preferred the Vaporfly for racing all distances. But now things have changed, and my shoe hoarding tendencies have been reinforced.
- I do have my work cut out for me, fitness wise. 7:35 pace was my goal marathon pace last summer, and now I just ran a 1500 at that pace (of course, I did run the 3000 faster :)) I don't think this is any sort of disease progression - I just need to train consistently and work on my coordination hiccups. Mission accepted.
