Weekend Recap: Mountain Lion Invite
January 28th - 8:00 AM
Time to EAT
The weekend began auspiciously with golden sunlight beaming down upon the Colorado bike path. Having drunk several pints the evening before, and unsure of when to do my planned track session that day, I slept in and leisurely joined Willie for a comfortable 35-minute jog at a shade under 8-minute pace.
Alex, Jarrett, and Zev – our representatives in the 5,000 meters later that evening – wisely elected for a short shakeout. Alex, in his full Norwegian National Team regalia (I kid), hit the treadmill for 10 minutes. Jarrett went outside and jogged 10 minutes and ran four strides at 5:50 pace ;). Zev jogged two miles.
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3:30 PM
As the evening approached, I was quite relieved not to have to put myself through Dante’s Inferno in the race. I drove down to Colorado College to embrace my own hurt, in what was supposed to be a mere 10x200 meters at a light effort with near-full recovery in between reps.
My addiction to mileage and an aggressive warm-up got the better of me, however, and I hammered 30 minutes with the final fraction of a mile at 6:07 pace. In the elegant words of our token English semi-member, Callum, I was hooned. I called the workout off and drove home, planning to do it the next day.
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5:15 PM
In the first heat of the 5k, Zev did a splendid job pacing some UCCS runners for 2,200 meters, running a solid 5:05 pace for 11 laps of the track. He is on the way up in fitness.
It was time to prepare for the second heat. Spectating a meet in which you have a vested interest is still a vastly different experience to one in which you are racing. There is no anxiety. There is no suffering. There is no blind adherence to a pre-race routine which may or may not prove physically optimal. There is only light banter with the boys who are about to crucify themselves for 25 laps upon that godforsaken unbanked oval.
And maybe a bit of advice if they want it. In this case, Alex and Jarrett had long known what the plan was.
At the track now, having warmed up, they appeared ready to execute. I’ve always been fascinated by the wide variety of ways in which people approach running and racing. Jarrett is impressively laid-back, seemingly impervious to the Promethean suffering his body was surely about to experience, and less driven by the nitty-gritty scientific details of a sport that appears so externally basic, but we now know is in fact wonderfully complex.
Alex Fernandez leading a charge of UCCS guys in the 5k
Alex, on the other hand, wears a mask, not to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but ostensibly to hide what must be a bona fide army of wailing demons in his skull. Every race is a test of the tangible progress he has made in this grueling sport and an answer to that grim Question: what would you do 15 laps into an indoor 5k at altitude when your entire body is screaming at you to quit?
On the start line, I was on the outside looking in. I felt a pang of guilt for not being there to put myself through the fire with the boys, but I prepared myself for my role as a cheerleader for the next 16-something minutes. What Alex and Jarrett probably felt then, I could never begin to understand. But I know if it was anything like what I feel prior to a 5k, a position on the start line was not something I envied. In all of reality’s tortured truth, I wanted absolutely no part of the sufferfest about to commence at the crack of the starter’s pistol.
The race played out fairly predictably. I hollered every split at the gladiators in singlets doing battle on the tartan. Alex told me afterward that the general din of an indoor fieldhouse completely drowned out my fruitless yelling, though Jarrett reported that he heard some.
Regardless, every 200-meter lap is recorded and tucked away in a strange corner of the internet. They are available if you would like to check them out. But to me, they are almost irrelevant. We could analyze the splits to death or we could find beauty in the agony. I hardly remember the race and I doubt the boys do either. After it was over, I gave both a huge hug and felt true pride that anybody, let alone my best friends, could do that to themselves. Running truly embodies some of the greatest features of the human spirit.
You might think this is heading towards an admission that they both ran poorly. But that is far from the truth. Alex set an enormous personal best with a 16:28 raw time, which given the NCAA’s complicated altitude and track conversion formula equates to something in the neighborhood of 15:40. That really is not too shabby for a 21-year-old who was until recently a 17-minute type guy. I say that facetiously; it is downright incredible!
Meanwhile, Jarrett hammered a 16:31, which… yep, you guessed it: 15:43. This is about 12 seconds off his all-time PR.
That concluded Elmwood’s evening at the meet, but tomorrow was another day for members to show up and show out. And yes, I finally did 10x200 in the morning before going to spectate the races.
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January 29th - 1:00 PM
On the docket for Elmwood competitors on Saturday was the men’s mile, 3,000, and the marquee event, the 4x400.
The mile promised to outshine all other events at the meet, with multiple athletes seeded under 4:10 including our Elmwood hero and my dear brother Willie, who was coming off of a 4:12 mile in Boulder (which according to our favorite calculator indicated 4:06 fitness.)
But the favorite was undoubtedly Evan, a UCCS runner who the prior spring crushed the equivalent of a 4:04 mile. Also lurking was Gavin, a teammate of Evan’s, who at the crisp age of 20 had been absolutely annihilating training lately.
Willie ripping a 54 later in the 4 x 4 later that day
Willie agreed to set the pace and took off at a devastating tempo, factoring in the altitude and tight turns. Evan and Gavin nipped his heels as the field strung out behind them, surely suffering from even halfheartedly attempting to follow the pace. As they hit the halfway mark in 2:07, we knew we were looking at something special.
With 400 to go, Evan and Gavin went around Willie. Elmwood’s best runner appeared to struggle. But in reality, Evan was turning on the afterburners and Willie was hanging on for another 4:06 converted. Evan used his cheat-code kick to blitz a 61, break the fieldhouse record, and run 4:04 converted. Gavin was just two seconds back, a casual 10-second PR for a guy who I never realized was a super talent.
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2:30 PM
As the crowd collectively caught its breath, I went to cool down with the boys and run Callum’s warm-up. The whole Elmwood cheering section regathered for the 3k, which would feature Josh and friend of the club Callum, and in the second heat, Seth. I should take a moment to shout out our entire crew spectating, which included Brian, Ryan, Luke, Jarrett, Alex, Marah, and honorary member Hannah, as well as some other friends.
Evan and Gavin, coming off that magisterial performance in the mile, prepared the phalanx to pace Afe, a D2 All-American in cross and national qualifier on the track, for another qualifying time. As they blasted away at 4:30 pace, Josh chipped away at it with delightfully consistent 36.x second laps (about 4:50/mile pace), just off the pace for his goal time of 9:00. He executed his plan perfectly, kicked hard, and ended up with a shiny new PR of 9:03 (8:37 converted).
Pic of the day?
This should be considered an extremely successful run for Josh and Elmwood at large, as it points neatly toward a crack at a sub-15 minute 5k on the track at sea level outdoors. This would be huge for the club, as our stated goal is to put 5 men under 15 in 2022. And if you’re wondering, Afe won the race with about an 8:08 converted time, not far off of his PR and quite impressive just weeks after running a massive 63-minute half.
In the second heat, Seth, a marathoner, dipped way down in distance and ran a brilliant race a 9:23 (8:57 converted.) His goal was just to break 10 minutes raw, and he doesn’t do a whole lot of speed work in his marathon training. The whole crew was talking up this guy’s talent in the wake of the race.
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3:10 PM
It was finally time for the 4x400, which was a household event for me, featuring all four of my roommates: Willie, Zev, Jeff, and Josh.
This played out fairly predictably as well, with a particularly heroic effort by Zev to break 60 seconds! Our team was nearly lapped but got a standing ovation for their efforts. In all seriousness, this was an event that is not a specialty for any of our athletes. Showing up and participating was a testament to our team’s commitment to representing Elmwood and having fun with the sport. It doesn’t have to be all grim business, despite what I might have written about that 5k.
As the boys posed around the clock, an Elmwood chant began. Partly in jest, and partly sincere, there were soon 20 + people chanting “Elmwood, elmwood, elmwood,” as we closed out the day with smiles on our faces.
Valiant effort boys. Who started the chant?
5:00 PM
Most of us decamped after the meet to watch the Millrose Games at Ryan’s place and then some of us indulged a bit that evening. In summary: beers were had. In all, it was a spectacular weekend for Elmwood Athletics.
The most exciting thing is that for most of our team is that it truly is just the beginning. 2022 is going to be our year.
