37th Annual Pacific Invitational Track & Field Meet

I attended the 37th Annual Pacific Invitational Track & Field Meet over the weekend, in Langley BC.

I ran a total of 4 races, and here are the results:

Distance	Time	Place	Age Graded
200m	33.82	5	30.22	63.96%
400m	1:18.19	4	1:08.45	63.09%
1500m	6:17.85	1	5:29.91	62.44%
3000m	13:20.94	3	11:57.33	61.34%

‘Place’ in the above table is within my Masters age category (50-54).

It’s interesting how the age graded percentages, which are based on world records, clearly show I’m a little stronger at the shorter distances.

INDIVIDUAL RACE COMMENTS

– 200 meter: My goal was to run it flat out, and I was able to, so I’m pretty happy with that aspect. However, it just felt slow, and I’m a little disappointed with the time. Maybe I held back a little? I’m hoping I can shave a second or two off that time in the next meet. I forgot all about proper form, which is important in sprint races, so I expect I can improve on this time.

– 400 meter: This was the last of my four races, late Sunday afternoon. I showed up at the track 15 minutes early for the race, and was pretty surprised to see my race was already underway. The runners were half way around the track! It does say in the rules that races could start up to 30 minutes early, but I didn’t take that seriously, as all the other races had been late. The race organizers kindly added me to the next heat, which I believe was the senior men. I was pretty happy with my time, but I believe there’s plenty of room for improvement. I once again forgot all about my form during the race. I tend to focus on my pace, and forget all about form. I’ll have to try harder to remember my form in the future. (Head up, back straight, and heavy arm swing.)

– 1500 meter: I thought I ran an amazing race. I pushed tremendously hard the whole way, and I really feel I did my maximum. I was very happy with my time until I saw the age grade percentage. 62%? Seriously? I did better in the 200m. Still, I am happy with the time. Some 16 years or so ago I used to do some jogging, and my goal was to run a 7 minute mile. I don’t think I ever got there. At this pace I would have run a 6:46 mile, so it seems I have finally achieved a life long goal of being able to run a 7 minute mile. I’m pretty happy with that.

– 3000 meter: I’m satisfied that I pushed close to my maximum, but could perhaps do a little better. Maybe. That’s a long way to be pushing so hard.

TRACK VS ROAD RACING

After running lots of road races this was my very first track meet. Some thoughts on the differences:

• I really appreciated the much better bathroom facilities. At road races there are usually port-a-potties and long line-ups. At the track they had full washroom facilities and no line-ups whatsoever.
• For the 1500 meter and 3000 meter, I really liked having the timing clock showing my time as I completed every lap. It provided welcome feedback on how I was doing. I really should get around to getting a watch for my road races.
• After my first race, which was the 3000 meter, I found it a little unnerving how there’s nothing that lets you know, for sure, that you’re finished. At the road races there’s a giant finish line and when you reach it you know for sure you’re done. They also call out your name as you finish. In the track world you cross the finish line multiple times, once for each lap, and it’s up to you to keep track of when you’ve completed the entire distance. It’s not that hard, actually, to know when you’re done, going by the time, but one definitely has to pay attention. (And they do ring a bell when you start your last lap, which is reassuring.)

CONCLUSIONS

So that was that, my first track meet. Doing 4 races at one meet was a bit much, I have to say.

Before the meet I was worried about the fact that I had never used starting blocks before. It turned out that I needn’t have worried. They were easy to use and I quite liked them, as it did seem they helped me get a quicker start.

I really liked the track atmosphere, with so many people everywhere running around and competing in various events. I was impressed with the Langley track facility, which is definitely first class. The Langley Mustangs were well organized and did a great job holding the meet.

Despite all the positives, I’m starting to think perhaps this whole track thing just isn’t for me. The way they lumped all the age categories together for this meet and age graded the results really drove home the fact that most of the competitors were at a higher level than I am. I am now feeling kind of ambivalent about the whole track thing, to be honest. It definitely dampened my enthusiasm. Oh well, I’m still going to attend the BC Masters Championships, where hopefully they won’t use age grading, and I’ll see how I feel after that.

MEC Vancouver Race Four: Garry Point

 

MEC Vancouver Race Four Poster

Today MEC Vancouver held their fourth race of 2016, at Garry Point Park in Richmond. They call this race “The Best Getter,” because the wide pathway that the race is held on is perfectly flat and fairly straight as well. In theory this should allow a personal best time. The path runs right beside the ocean.

Three distances were available, a 5k, a 10k, and a half marathon. A total of 529 runners showed up for the 3 distances. I ran the 5k.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, with a stiff wind blowing.

At the start of the race I was surprised to find myself blocked in. Right at the start the trail narrowed, there was a tight mob in front of me, and they just weren’t moving. I should have known, I guess, as I did notice while waiting for the start that the group in front of me were obviously not serious runners. I should have moved ahead of them before the start. Oh well, lesson learned. I wasn’t stuck for long, maybe just 5-10 seconds or so. When the trail widened a bit I was able to get to the outside and pass them.

On the way out we were running directly into the wind, which was definitely strong enough to be slowing us down. After the turn around I was relieved to finally have the wind at my back, but then I experienced a new problem: there was no air movement to cool me down! It seemed I was running at roughly the same speed as the wind, so there was no airflow to cool me off. It was a warm day, and this made for a hot run back.

At the start of the race, after we cleared the mob, there were 3 runners in front of me that slowly pulled away. Two more runners passed me in the first km and joined the front runners. At the 2k mark they were about 20 seconds ahead of me. On the run back two more runners sprinted past me. They went by so fast I assumed they must be front runners for a different race distance. However, after they passed me I was able to keep up with them and I found out after the race that they were, in fact, running the 5k. Thus, I ended up finishing 8th.

My time was 23:55, which is over a minute more than the times I’ve been setting lately.

I have to admit, I’m disappointed in my race craft. The winning time was 22:46, which I’m perfectly capable of doing. I beat that at my last race. I should have won this one. It was there for the taking.

Looking back, I realize now that I psyched myself out. I assumed the group of three at the start were going to set insane times, so I let them go. But at the 2k mark I saw they were only 20 seconds ahead, so I should have realized that they weren’t that fast. I should have made an all out effort to stay with them. On the way back I lost sight of them, and with five runners ahead of me, and feeling very hot due to the wind situation, I did not give my maximum.

This was definitely a learning experience for me.

There was also a small snafu that cost me a bit of time. Shortly before the turnaround somebody said to me, “the turnaround is right up there,” or something like that. I realize now they were just shouting words of encouragement, but at the time I thought they were telling me that I was missing the turnaround.

I stopped running. “Where?” I asked, looking around for it.

“No, no. Keep running, it’s up there,” they shouted.

Anyway, not my best race. Next time.

Weight with gear before the race was 189.6.