I am one with the levee and the levee with me

WWU Vernachia 5k

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Location:

North Salt Lake,UT,

Member Since:

Dec 12, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

1500m - 3:59.9h (2014)

5000m - 14:53.45 (Portland Track Festival 2014)

8k XC - 25:09 (Sundodger 2011)

10k XC - 31:31 (WWU Invite 2011)

HM - 1:10:19 (Houston 2018)

Marathon - 2:28:39 (Houston 2019)

Long-Term Running Goals:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Personal:

Married, working, training. While my wife has nixed all future attempts to grow glorious mustaches, she has been supportive of my crazy running dreams. Life is good.

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
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Miles:This week: 1.00 Month: 1.00 Year: 1.00
Mizuno Ekiden Lifetime Miles: 274.65
Flyknit Streaks Lifetime Miles: 419.25
Flyknit VFs Lifetime Miles: 80.50
Ride 14 Lifetime Miles: 652.85
Ride 15 Lifetime Miles: 275.80
Ride 15 X2 Lifetime Miles: 21.50
Race: WWU Vernachia 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:14:56, Place overall: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.500.000.003.118.61

I finally went sub-15! Today's race went about as perfect as I could have hoped, aside from letting myself get outrun in the last 800m. 

The weather was pretty good for Bellingham in April. Sunny and warm with a light breeze (5-10mph). A few of my former teammates and I were shooting for about 14:50, and another guy agreed to pace us through 3200m in 71s. The race got underway, the first lap was a little quick, but things settled in with Ike out front with me eventually settling in behind a string of 3 guys. Perfect positioning. They completely cut the wind, and I just allowed myself to be towed through the laps. The pacer was slightly slow, but I was okay with that, overall he did a fantastic job. I reached 1600m in 4:45 and 3200m in 9:33 (4:48). I've been preparing myself for a really painful final mile, but up to that point I felt pretty good. By then I had moved into 2nd in preparation of the pacer dropping out, and he was kind enough to tow us through another 200m to 4 laps to go. 

I did my best to maintain pace, but inevitably dropped slightly. I saw a shadow on my shoulder and assumed the pack was still behind me. With 2 laps to go, the shadow moved to my side and materialized into a person, and I matched pace as he took the lead. I didn't recognize him. But he towed me through that lap, and I should probably credit him with helping me take off those final seconds to get under 15. But with 500m to go he made another surge and I had allowed too much of a gap to open. He moved steadily away and ended up winning in 14:51. I didn't really shift gears till 200m to go (14:22, 4:49) where I kicked it in with a 33 for a final time of 14:56.2. 68-69ish final lap. I can do better.

But I am unbelievably happy to finally break 15. I was honestly hoping to run a few seconds faster, but I have to be happy with chopping 19 seconds off my PR. And based on how this felt, I think more time will be coming off by June. 

Knowing that I can always improve my racing, I recognize that I made a major mistake letting 1st place run away from me. Yes, I was hurting, but not as bad as I was expecting to. He may have beaten me anyway, but then I'd have been that much closer to my <14:50 goal. 

Regardless, it is great to know my training is paying off.

Splits (hand timed):

1:10.5, 1:12.1, 1:11.4, 1:11.7, 1:12.5, 1:11.4, 1:12.5, 1:12.4, 1:12.3, 1:12.3, 1:11.9, 1:11.8, :33.2, 14:55.9

Ravenna 5 Miles: 5.50
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Jake K on Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 06:37:23 from 98.202.128.218

Awesome run - congrats!

Think 14:30s - the way you are running, it's in the cards!

From Tyler on Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 18:13:58 from 140.160.40.151

Thanks for the encouragement, Jake! 14:30s is my goal.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 12:36:09 from 72.250.218.114

Tyler:

Congratulations! I know this is a very exciting moment for you. It is one thing to know that you have a sub-15:00 in you. Many people do - to borrow an idiom from Russian, as many as there are unbutchered dogs. What is special is actually doing it - relatively few out of those who have what it takes actually accomplish it.

From Jake K on Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 12:42:17 from 159.212.71.77

I assume you are targeting PTF. That will be a great place to go for it. I was going to run the 5K there, but the fast heats are on Sunday night and it will be tough to get back for work on Monday morning, so I think I'm going to run the 10K on Saturday night instead.

From Tyler on Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 19:42:44 from 98.247.82.12

Thanks Sasha! I've missed your Russia-isms!

Jake, I am indeed shooting for PTF, although I didn't know it was a 2-day meet. I'm supposed to be meeting my family at Lake Powell Monday morning, so I may need to rethink the plan. If it works out, I hope to see you there!

From Jake K on Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 20:00:11 from 98.202.128.218

They just posted the schedule yesterday. Changed it from Fri/Sat to Sat/Sun. 10K and slow heat of the 5K on Saturday night, and faster (2) heats of the 5K on Sunday night.

From Tyler on Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 23:52:21 from 98.247.82.12

Hmm maybe the slowest heat could work. I really doubt I can swing the 9pm race Sunday night. Are you looking for a 5k?

From Jake K on Thu, May 01, 2014 at 10:56:45 from 199.190.170.30

Originally I was, but now I'm thinking 10K and trying to finally crack 30 minutes.

From Tyler on Thu, May 01, 2014 at 20:32:03 from 98.247.82.12

You were so close there two years ago! If you ran a 5k, what would you be shooting for? I'm toying with the idea of running the slowest heat and seeing if I could find someone to pace through 3200m. I'm guessing you'd want faster than 14:40, but it could be an option.

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