When we arrived, Wayne was up for his 200, which he ran with authority in 25 seconds and change. I waited for a while and then began my warm up routine. The hour or so I allotted myself felt just right. Just before my race, I stood entranced by the balanced race that Nick Berra ran: 30/61/1:30/1:59. I had done some visualizing before my race, and the outcome was not quite 1:59. I imagined 30/61/1:31/2:03 for myself.
There were supposed to be in upwards of 17 in my heat, but many guys dropped out, decimating the heat to a mere 9 of us. We would do an alley start; I was up top with two other guys. Given my hip #, 10, I was essentially seeded last in the heat, with the top seeds under 2:00. Thus, I shouldn't have been surprised when the guys shot out like a cannon when the gun went off. I tried not to panic when the guys went through the 200 in 27/28; I hit 29/30. As I approached the 400-meter mark, I could scarcely believe that I was seeing 58, 59, 60. I hit the line at exactly 60. The front runners crossed in 58 seconds. I knew that I was in 6th or 7th place. At the 500 mark I could feel someone on me. That someone was Lance Elliot, who passed me at the 550 mark. I tried to go with him, but I had no give in my legs. I saw 1:32-high at the 600, giving me a 32-second third lap. I thought to myself that a monster lap could lead to 2:03 or 2:04. But, no! I could feel myself tire and dropped a 2:06.72, a disappointment. I just can't get that damn last lap. A nearly 34-second last lap will not get the job done. 29-high/60-low(30-mid)/1:32-high(32-high)/2:06(33-high)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZbyIKofTOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRo9ercrlpw
I got over the 800 and made my way, mentally, to the 4x400. After some issues with guys who were hurt or preferred not to compete, we settled on a lineup: Rob, me, Craig, and club newcomer and novice runner Chuck from Lebanon. With six teams in the race, I knew it would be a fun one. Rob (58) powered the first lap of his leg and tried to keep it close when he handed off. I took the baton in 6th place and powered around the turn, passing two teams and chasing after a third. I passed a third team 150 meters into the leg. I had made my way to third place. I knew I had gone out pretty hard and that I should settled in. On the backstretch of the second lap, I felt that I was in a good position. That is, until the guy from SoCal came up beside me. I kept him to the outside as we rounded the turn into the straightway. As we came up the homestretch, I tried to hold him off. He had a slight edge over me at the handoff (53-high/54- low split). Craig (59) took after the runner, but also almost succumbed to a muscle pull before handing off to Chuck (68). Chuck gave this 400 his all and was probably overwhelmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkTRvhcMgbo
4x400 mens 40
M40 4x400 2014 Nationals Boston-another view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZp8vKu6CA
4x400 mens 50
After a tough weekend, I was ready to go home. While I was slightly disappointed, I would have to say that this nationals meet was my best thus far overall.
Saturday, 3/15-Today was more of a relaxed day. After stopping by to see some 60m dash action (Wayne did well, as did Duncan in his first-ever 60m), Rob and I headed back to the hotel room to hang out. We eventually made our way back to the venue with a couple of Athena TC members (Betsy et al.) in tow at about 1:30. (We learned that Craig would be taking a sore and tender Wayne's place.) We arrived in time enough to see Nick take the 45-49 age group mile in 4:34, who ran out front solo, looking relaxed. I also saw Mark Williams take the 40-44 age group mile in 4:42, a pedestrian time for him. The field went out in 75 for the first quarter, reached 2:32 at the half-mile, and then dropped a 2:10 last half...on the efforts of Mark and Lance Elliot.
I warmed up immediately after this, following the same routine I had established on Friday. I made my way to the track tucked away at the end of a debris-filled one-way road. I did a lap there and headed back to the Reggie Lewis Center. I did some high knees and then began my progressive stretching exercises. I didn't have much room for strides since the track was being used and so was the infield due to two high jump competitions in progress. I felt pretty good. My visualization exercises then kicked in.
We waited in the infield with many,many other teams awaiting our heat. One of the clerks was a bit of a mess, disorganized and not quite sure about what he was doing. This led to a bit of confusion. In fact, we had quite a scare when he told us we had missed our race. A very upset Robert confronted him, and he kicked us out of the infield. I reasoned that the clerk had made some error and asked to look at his ledger. He dismissed my request, which got Rob angrier. The clerk was seething. I pulled Rob aside and theorized that the error was the clerk's. We made our way to what looked to be our heat, and it was! We were being called to the line. I double-check the lane and heat again for good measure. We were set and had already check in: heat 3, lane 2.
I was assigned the leadoff leg on this three-turn stagger race. No one was to my inside; to my outside were SW Sprinters, Mass Velocity A, Mass Velocity B, So Cal. I settled nicely into my blocks. When the gun went off, I kept my head down and tried to get my legs up on the backstretch. Going into the turn, I felt that the guy to my immediate outside from SW Sprinter, precisely the same one who came after me at Millrose in the 4x400, had gained very little over me. That is, until the homestretch, where he showed a better finished and handed off first. If I am a betting man, I handed off second, maybe just a hair ahead of the guy in third. Rob plowed around the turn, a raw sprinter getting him just beyond the break cones. He pushed through the homestretch and handed to Nick, who galloped through his leg, passing one of the Mass Velocity guys, I believe, and gaining on the other. He handed off to Craig nearly even with Mass Velocity, whose anchor was Barney Borromeo, who had run 7.45 in the 60m. Craig hung onto him as best he could and ended the race strongly.
We were pleased overall, having with 1:42.33 (FAT) broken the record established last year. According to Wayne and a counterpart, our splits were about as follows: Me-24.28, Rob-26.08, Nick-25.33, and Craig-26.16. Then you have to account for FAT, adding .08 to each split.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQCtzds1RI4
The 4x800 team of Craig (2:18.9), Andrew (2:23.9), Carl (2:29.9)and Rob (2:17.9) also had a good run. Too bad that Rob's progress was stunted by an elderly gentleman who stepped in front of him at the 650 marl. Argh.
Friday, 3/14--Rob and I had peanut butter sandwiches this morning. I had another sandwich, this time half, at about 11:30. Having collected our packets earlier Friday morning, Rob and I arrived at the arena at about 12:15 for our 1:43 400 meter race. We checked in. I warmed up largely alone. I did a bit over a mile outside, making my way .4M to a local high school track (lap around .25M ) and back .4M. I did my usual stretching routines, feeling OK and not too tight. I was certainly stunted a bit by my piriformis. I checked in again for heat and lane assignments. Heat 3, lane 2.
I made my way to the infield, which had cleared, spiked up and did a few strides. I was also trying to assess whether I was comfortable wearing shorts versus tights. I watched a couple of races, including Daryl's. After his race, I decided I wanted to switch into tights. It was 1:35 at this point, just a few minutes outside my race. I dashed to the lab and made the change. By the time I returned to the track, Nick Berra and the hot heat of the 45-49 year old 400 meters was on the track. Those guys shot out like a cannon when the gun went off. Coming up the homestretch I could see that Nick was in control but pushing harder than he's had to during the first lap of the 400. He made a great move on the backstretch. He continued around the final turn, cutting into the lead of the guy in front of him. In the end, he'd get third, in a brilliant time of 52.37. The winning time was just under 52.00, 51.98.
Then the 40-44 400s were up. Rob was in lane 6 of heat 2. He got out hard and looked to be leading at about the 100m mark. When he broke for the cone, he was in second place and reached the 200 in 27.0. He seemed to attempt a pass around the turn but would up running on the line shared by lanes 1 and 2. He sort of tucked in behind the guy in front of him, figuring he would make another move over the final stretch. It was not to be. Rob looked stronger and the time of 58.11 does not reflect the race I saw on the track. I was sure he would've run a full second faster. The effort was there, though.
I was in heat 3, lane 2. This was fine with me. To my inside was some guy whose name I cannot remember. To my immediate outside was Michael Jackson from TNT (lane 3), Lyndell Pittman from Southwest Sprinters (lane 4), Ed Winslow from Southwest Spinters (lane 5), and Andrew Hogue from Central Park (lane 6). This race, in my estimation, was the most competitive masters 400 meter race field I had ever been part of. All of us used starting blocks. My plan was to test the waters by seeing whether I could catch Michael within the first 100 meters. And the gun went off. I got out reasonably well and, going through the second turn, realized I was in a pretty good position. That was until Lyndell and Andrew noticed and surged through the cones and past me. I almost decided to challenge Andrew, who passed me just before the finished line, but I figured I'd keep something in the tank. I stayed in good contact with them on the backstretch, thinking to myself that I had run a faster 400 split than these guys at last month's Millrose Games. They decelerated less quickly than I did, with Andrew pulling ahead of Lyndell at the line for second place. Ed ran away with it in a magnificent time of 51.69. I had to settle for a slightly disappointing 54.17, figuring I had made a tactical mistake by not beating Andrew to the first turn of the second lap. Had I done that, I could have kept him to the outside and allowed him to push me in much the same way I was pushed at Millrose when the SW Sprinter guy tried to take me on the backstretch.
2014 Masters Indoor T&F Championships 400 40M
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