Final Indoor Meet, First Outdoor Endeavor

Yesterday was the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon, the first race on Montreat College's outdoor track and field schedule. I tagged along simply as a pacer, while Andrew Hege, Jed Edwards, and Ben Hall all attempted to hit the qualifying standard for nationals. Nobody qualified, but it was a great learning experience I think for everyone involved, including those of us who paced.

Personally, I learned a lot about pushing oneself to the limits in a long race like that. I know that I am as fit as everyone else on the team, and so there is no reason, on March 7, for me to fall off pace from the rest of them. I must push myself to stay in there, because I can certainly do it. It won't be easy, but I am fit enough.

I wrote a blog entry on Friday night before the race. The hotel we stayed in (which was a very nice hotel--right on the beach!) oddly did not have free WiFi, and I was unable to find any before going to bed, so below is that post.

We arrived in Myrtle Beach about 4 o’clock this afternoon, after having left Montreat at 9 this morning. The weather today was beautiful—a bit windy, but hopefully that will not be a factor tomorrow morning. Race time is 6:30 AM. We went for a 25 minute shakeout jog after arriving at the hotel and then headed over to the official race hotel so that the guys could pick up their bib numbers. We have three guys—Jed Edwards, Ben Hall and Andrew Hege—and two girls—Talisa Bishop and Kayla Suitor—lining up tomorrow morning. The rest of us (Luke Copeland, Jarod Neilson, Elizabeth Elliot, Artie Adkins, myself) are along for the ride and to help with pacing. I’m not sure what the girls’ plans are, but on the guys side, the three of us will be jumping into the race around mile 6 and going to about mile 13 with our boys, hopefully pulling them along to a quality 1:16:00 or so. All three of them will get a second chance in Albany, GA on March 7 (the same day I’m going for it), so they’re just trying to get a guaranteed B tomorrow, so that in Albany they can go for the A Standard and if they fall off, they fall off, because at least they already have a B.

I really appreciate Coach Larios allowing me to tag along on this trip so that I can start to get a feel for the whole half marathon scene. It’s a really good experience because it allows me to know a little bit what is going down in a few weeks. As someone who thrives on certainty, an opportunity like this is irreplaceable.

Last night I had an opportunity to travel with the team to Appalachian State University and compete in a small weekday indoor meet there. I raced the 3,000m, and it wasn’t exactly what I would call a success. They split the 3k into two heats, and I was seeded about fourth in my heat, so I started thinking maybe I would go for the win. That thought process was cemented when Coach Larios said, “Musto, what do you think about just going out and winning this race, huh?” So I went after it. I went straight into the front pack from the gun, and sat in second or third for the entire first mile. Somewhere between 1600m and 2000m, the air quality (or lack thereof) of App’s facility began to get to me, and I faced an incredibly difficulty in breathing. It’s no excuse, because I should have gutted through it better than I did, but I absolutely did the opposite of gutting through. Both Coach Larios and Coach Dawson have told me that they were very impressed with the fact that I went after the win the way I did, but I certainly was far from impressed with my ability to finish. In the end, Luke Copeland ran 10:00, Jarod Neilson ran 10:09, and I ran 10:23 for the night. Luke really battled like a man in his race. He was the last one before the cutoff in the fast heat of the 3k, and after only 300m he was already beginning to lose contact with the field. However, he continued gutting through alone and ended up running the fastest of the three of us, which is certainly commendable.

Coach is giving us a wakeup call at 4:30AM, and we’re leaving the hotel at 5:15, so I must sign off for now. Twitter updates will occur tomorrow after the race is over.

Jed finished first for the Cavaliers yesterday in 1:18:15, Andrew was second in 1:18:26, and Ben was third in 1:20:03. Jed and Andrew both feel very confident that they can hit the standard on March 7.

Snow, Track Workouts, Races, and a Special Edition Song

At 4:30 on Saturday morning, my alarm (obnoxiously) buzzed, and it was time for me to roll out of bed, brush my teeth, and roll on down to the gym to leave for the ETSU Niswonger Indoor meet. It was bitterly cold, and I was exceedingly happy that the race would be indoors. I was expecting pretty good things out of the race--I was loose, feeling good, and had thrown down some good workouts of late. The fact was, however, that my legs--while not heavy enough to notice upon getting out of bed--where heavy enough to begin to notice around 2,000m into the 5,000m race. Somewhere between 2k and 3k I began to fall apart, and it was all downhill from there, as far as the race went. I ended up running 17:58 and finishing third out of the three Montreat runners in the race. Hege went 17:25ish, and Jared was around 17:35. Both of them doubled back valiantly in the afternoon and ran legs of the DMR--Andrew the 1200, Jared the 1600. These poor guys were thrown to the wolves in that regard, as they're simply not the speed demons of lore discussed in John Parker's Once a Runner. Hege dropped a very respectable 4:35 (or so) 1600 in high school, but the guy hasn't done work as a miler since then, and has spent the last couple months in marathon training. Jared has never done mile-esque work and is also in that same marathon training. Needless to say, they didn't dominate, but as I said before: they put forth an excellent effort.

On Sunday, Ben Hall, Daniel Dunn and myself went on an afternoon jaunt up Greybeard Mountain (one of the mountains that forms the "bowl" that Montreat lies in), and then ran around the "rim" of the bowl and ran down from Lookout Point (the opposing peak) and back to the college. After that run my right Achilles began to tighten up, which was severely disappointing, and it continued to bother me throughout the night as several members of the team watched the Super Bowl in Montreat College President Struble's living room, as Pres. Struble had invited us to watch it with his family. (And what a game it was! It's a shame that the Cards couldn't pull it off, but you can't argue that it was a great game!)

Monday's planned long-run was split into two runs after Coach Larios saw how heavy our legs were in Saturday's races, so Luke Copeland and I hit the roads of Montreat at 6AM for 50 minutes, and then I doubled back with the rest of the team in the afternoon for another 65. My Achilles bothered me the entire time, but it was at least tolerable. I had an epiphany in English Lit this morning, also. I was recalling Achilles tightness from the past, and how it never bothered me for more than a few days, and I remembered my magic potion: Icy Hot. Thus, I got my hands on some of that stuff and applied it liberally to my leg. It's a good thing I thought of that solution, too, because this afternoon's workout was 10-25 x 400m. It was a classic Coach Larios workout--stick in the pack, or drop out and cheer. We were to do as many between 10 and 25 as Coach decided as he watched us, and we were to go at whatever rest he deemed a good rest based on the most recent one (maximum being 90s). In short, this style of workout is incredibly tough mentally, but it also makes one a much stronger runner. We ended up going 18 x 400 and averaging about 73s and pushed the 90s rest on most of the recoveries. It was both one of the best workouts I have ever run, and one of the most difficult. 18 x 400 in 73s with 90s recovery on a track shouldn't be overly difficult, however, it was snowing (hard!) and windy the whole workout, and that combination is one I have never faced before, and that made it more difficult than it would have been otherwise.

There is a decent bit of snow on the ground (by North Carolina standards) and we are anxiously hoping that classes for tomorrow will be canceled. The team is going to a viewing of the 2008 movie Spirit of the Marathon tomorrow afternoon, so we are doing our training run in the morning. Assuming class is canceled, the plan is to roll out and get that done at around 9-10 AM, and relax the rest of the day. We'll see what goes down. Below is a video, courtesy of (most of) the marathon group. Andrew Hege, Luke Copeland, Will Musto, and Travis Yoder star in this most excellent rendition of Alan Jackson's Winter Wonderland. If you look carefully, you can see some snow accumulating on the road. Enjoy!