1600/3200 Track shape (Read 384 times)

Well Eliajh Armstrong, who was I think 6th at footlocker nationals, showed up and that kinda messed my race plan up a bit. I stayed back early on and reeled in the people who chased after elijah in the middle laps. Splits for me were about 1:14, 2:33, 3:51, 5:08-9 and then I even split again and finished 3rd in 10:15.4. Got out kicked in the last 300 but I felt really good and really in control for most of the race. Mile should be comming up in a couple of hours, want to run around a 4:50 or so.

While good report and a nice race, if you're still at the meet with a race to go, keep your attention on the meet, not on what some random guys on an internet forum are typing.

Hope the mile went well.  Your pacing in the 3200m shows much better control than most HS athletes.  You are doing well and should be proud of both your performance and pacing.

Thanks guys! And yeah normally I wouldn't have been on my phone but there were 16 teams and they were all allowed 6 entries per event, which led to the 100's and 200's taking upwards of an hour each and the 1600 being over 5 hours after the 32. I got a bit cold waiting around for the 200's to start after I came back from sitting in car for a good portion of the meet. But once I warmed up I felt alright. There was a big pack of 15-20 guys for the first lap. It thinned about a bit over the race but not too much. Splits were 1:12, 2:26, 3:41, 4:52. I made a big move on the backstretch of the 3rd lap to avoid being boxed in and I didn't like I was going to have a big kick so I was pretty surprised when I closed in 71. I feel like I've finally "figured out" the 1600 because even 2 weeks ago I was pretty dead after 3 laps at the same pace and had no kick at all.

Yeah I guess looking back I did get in more work at/faster than race pace so that's probably why I felt a lot more comfortable and relaxed instead of really pushing in the middle to maintain pace. As for sub 10, I'm hoping to take a shot at that next week. Our top distance guys are going down to Boise (~2000 ft elevation drop for me) for an invitational. There should be plenty of sub 10 guys and a solid pack to run in there so I'm thinking I might go out a bit more aggressively and try to hit the 1600 at 5 flat and see if I can keep it up. Also I finally got around to putting up all my training since the start of this year.

 

BoilerTom and others may shoot me for saying this, but I recommend 4:55-4:57 for the first mile.  I think if you are truly 9:50-fit this will be no risk at all, but if you really are right on the hairy edge of 10-flat fitness I think it will be very hard to drive that second mile negative.  As you well know those 6th and 7th laps are a mother -- no matter what your mind says, you are likely to lose 2-3 seconds each off your pace on those laps.

Nah, I think that's a pretty save/reasonable first mile if shooting for sub 10. I agree that's it's awefully tough to run even or negative splits, especially when trying to break that 10:00 barrier for the first time.  A few weeks ago, my son has already tried the first mile at 5:00 even, only to follow it up with a a 5:17 (more positive than I would like to see) -- but he tried.

Well it was a really nice day in Boise. For the 1600 it was 70 degrees and a little windy. I started out near the back of the 36 man race and worked my way up during the 2nd half. Splits were 72 2:24 3:35 4:43.8. I finished in 21st. And for the 3200 it was nice and calm and around 50 degrees. The lead pack started out fairly slow in 2:30 and I was 2:32. I hit the 1600 in 5:02. After lap 5 I started pressing really hard but managed to hold together for a 10:02.8 and a 10th place finish.

Wow... You are running some very consistent splits. That 1600 was 72, 72, 71, 71.8?

And then the 3200 was 2:30, 2:32, and then something that was close to 2:30, 2:30.8?

I'm impressed. We never ran like that in high school. In fact, I remember our state qualifying meet my senior year, we had a couple guys that we thougth were close in the 3200. So we tried to get people to go out too fast. At 4500 altitude on a dirt, I went out in 65 and then 70. Probably 60% of the people went with me, and our other two guys went out more conservatively. It worked out ok, as we got one of the two guys in. (Only the top 4 went.) Sounds like in your area, people wouldn't have gone with me at all... /shrug

-Kelly

Well it was a really nice day in Boise. For the 1600 it was 70 degrees and a little windy. I started out near the back of the 36 man race and worked my way up during the 2nd half. Splits were 72 2:24 3:35 4:43.8. I finished in 21st. And for the 3200 it was nice and calm and around 50 degrees. The lead pack started out fairly slow in 2:30 and I was 2:32. I hit the 1600 in 5:02. After lap 5 I started pressing really hard but managed to hold together for a 10:02.8 and a 10th place finish.

Congrats!  You keep getting better and better. Your pacing is great!!

 

Wow... You are running some very consistent splits. That 1600 was 72, 72, 71, 71.8?

 

And then the 3200 was 2:30, 2:32, and then something that was close to 2:30, 2:30.8?

 

I'm impressed. We never ran like that in high school. In fact, I remember our state qualifying meet my senior year, we had a couple guys that we thougth were close in the 3200. So we tried to get people to go out too fast. At 4500 altitude on a dirt, I went out in 65 and then 70. Probably 60% of the people went with me, and our other two guys went out more conservatively. It worked out ok, as we got one of the two guys in. (Only the top 4 went.) Sounds like in your area, people wouldn't have gone with me at all... /shrug

 

-Kelly

I think the splits were around 72 72 71 68.8 and 2:32 2:30 2:32? 2:29?

As for the pack in both races I was in the last couple of people for the first 1-2 laps and worked my way up as people began to fade, but this year in my area most of the top guys either like even/negative splitting and the ones who don't follow whatever pace the leader sets whether its a 5:15 first 1600 or a 4:55. Actually two years ago our team used the same strategy to get one of our rivals to go out in 63 at the district 1600 and it got two of our seniors to state