The race unfortunately wasn't a great one, only 59.39, but I had fun, enjoyed being a part of it, and did not get injured. I felt like I wanted to do something special or different on my birthday so I did something I hadn't done before. I did a workout after the race in the evening.
I was then only masters / open 400m guy who showed up and I had a choice of running with the 18 yr olds or picking my lane and running alone. I ran alone in lane 5. Probably should have run with the guys because my time would have put me in the mix. 4 of the 27 18 yr olds did run slower than me... I guess that's a small accomplishment at age 63.
I really do love the sport and these all ages meets, and feel a sense of respect among the kids and their parents (and their grandparents who are my age), and the officials as well. I can't tell you how many people congratulated me and were surprised I could even run under a minute (as my age was listed in the start list). I must say, it's not a very diverse sport here in the deep south with these youth track clubs. Of the hundred+ or so competitors in the sprints of all ages, I'm pretty sure I was the only white person, or one of the very few, which is really cool.
Typically, after a slow race I try to ascertain what happened. Actually, all 6 of my races since indoor Nationals have been all within about a 0.50 range, this being the second slowest. Weird to think anyone could run for a minute 5x and have the result within a half second, doubt I could do that deliberately if I tried. Anyway, the race felt fine, no serious rigging at the end, thought it was well paced. The only thing was it wasn't fast. Maybe because not aggressive enough, not conditioned enough, not cognizant enough of form, not warmed up enough. I didn't warm up a lot, due to the heat index in the 90ºs, I had actually warmed up more last week. What is lacking in my workouts? As I get closer to championships, I tend to do more speed and less overdistance and just more race modeling. More actual 400s, playing with pace. I've done very little hard overdistance recently aside from an occasional 500m. Very few hard 400s. Time is running out. I have really just a few more days of hard workout opportunity before tapering down for Nationals, just 11 days away.
So, not wanting to waste an opportunity, I got on the road and drove back to Sewanee in miserable traffic, on the road almost 4 hrs. I rested an hour and went to the track. I thought I might do a beastly overdistance workout like a split 700. After warming up, I started the 500m and wow, it was bad, My foot was sore, my legs felt stiff and heavy, I bailed after a 47.5 300m. Rested one minute, then charged another 100m for a split 400. I followed up with a split 500, so not completely a waste.
Hoka trainers on
stretches, drills, 100m
'split 400' - 300m - 47.50 / 60 sec rest / 100m - 14.37
'split 500m - 300m - 46.10 / 60 sec rest / 200m - 32.37
The split 500m was hard. It definitely was hard to do a workout and run fast same day after a race. I doubt I'll do this again but it was an experience. Better than sitting home and looking at the TV or computer.
Busy with a music rehearsal and performance this week and an appointment for some home maintenance. I'll again race in Huntsville this coming weekend and give it one more shot before nationals. It's a fine line between overtraining and not doing enough. Hard to know which is which.
I'm not going to win Nationals or maybe not even medal if I run over 59, so I need to get my act together. I felt as if I was ready to run a good time this weekend, but no. At some point I guess, all the work one is capable of may not produce more speed and the inevitable slowing with age will occur. But hey, it's still 'my age minus 4' ... only a small handful of people can run their age at all. I was just reading an interview with Allan, who is world champion short sprinter, fastest man in the world over 60, won in France, Finland, Poland. He ran faster at age 62 in Finland than he did at age 56 in France. He remarked that his body is 'falling apart' and he's near the end of his masters career although people don't believe that because he's lost no speed. He won in France at
139.8 lbs after workout.
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