2013 Indoor Track Season

2013 Indoor Track Season

1/12/2013 University of Illinois Open Meet
800 meters
3rd Place 
Time: 1:56.1

Race Recap: My training heading into this race has only been 10-15 miles of easy running along with my stair climbing training which is a mixture of stair climbing, cycling, lots of core and abs, Jacobs Ladder which is a high intensity climbing machine. The combination of this type of training is great for a short race like the 800m.
I went into this race pretty confident. I checked out previous years results and I figured I could put together a 1:57 at least which would keep me somewhat competitive. Got there and found out I was slowest seed time in a heat of 6, which doesnt mean anything but still it meant I was in a heat that was quick.  Got out in 4the place. 1st and 2nd were a few feet ahead, while I was off the right shoulder of the 3rd place guy for 3 laps.  I went through the 200 in 26 high, 400 in 56 low, 1:25 low. The 3rd place guy and I started closing in on the front two with 100m to go. On the final stretched I made a charge and got 3rd. Felt really strong, never really faded or hit a huge wall. 
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2/2/2013 Illinois College Open Meet
800 meters
1st Place
Time: 1:57.1

Race Recap: This meet turned out to be a timing disaster. The meet was crawling along and I ended up warming up way too early and found myself warming up and re-warming up, and sitting around getting frustrated just watching the meet officials poke around getting the heats lined up and so on. Watched the womens 800 start and it was a waterfall start with 14 racers. I thought this was ridiculous and was going to be pissed if they started the guys heat like that...which they did. I was the 3rd one on the line in lane 2. Got my elbow out and got out hard. Two other guys ended up rounding the curve and flying by me into the back stretch and immediately slowed down. This if you do not know is my pet peeve in the 800m, and they ended up running 2:04's.  Anyway, I was stuck behind these two guys until the 200m mark and I found a gap and went for it. After that I gaped the field for 3 laps. In the last 100m a Principia runner made a good push and we finished neck and neck.  Overall, considering how my warm up went and the iffy start of the race Im happy with this effort.

Here is a video of the race at IC...





Ever since I graduated from Eastern Illinois University where I was a middle distance guy, I have done a few short indoor track races per season. It becomes harder and harder every year working in the real world to find time to train at a level that I was at in college. Yet my stair climbing training has created a type of training that preps me pretty well for short intense races like the 800. Anything longer would be stretching it and Id probably have to put in more miles.  I'll probably run a couple outdoor races as well so until then Ill keep on training for the stair climbing season and transition into the summer running season.