These last few days I’ve been feeling like whether I like it or not my season is finished. My foot has been bothering me again as well as I’m beginning to feel really run down. I was originally going to try to do 4 events next weekend at the Canada Summer Games Trials in Sherwood Park but after this abysmal weekend of sub par performances I’m having trouble motivating myself to want to run at all.
My training partner Isaak ran a terrific 1:53.17 yesterday to win Junior provincials and that excited me a little bit as all year we have been very close in workouts and both had run a lot of 800s in the 1:55- 1:57 range up till now. I think I will make this weekend’s goals to break 4:00 and 1:55 instead of making the Team as those were my season’s goals, but I will play it by ear for now and not scratch the 400 and 5000 yet.
I haven’t updated this in awhile but I have just returned from my first trip to Senior nationals. Since my last post I have lowered my PR to 1:55.97 at the Victoria International Track Classic 2 weeks ago. Going into Senior Nationals in Toronto this weekend, I was optimistic hoping to dip under 1:55 and finish in the top 20. Entering the competition I was ranked 31st and was eager to experience this new level of competition.
We traveled to Toronto Wednesday afternoon arriving late. Thursday we worked out in the muggy heat and then watched Jamie attempt his 5000m he has been having a lot of foot issues lately and it didn’t go as he was hoping. After Jamie and I went and saw the new transformers movie to get his mind off of the disappointment and to keep mine from the nervousness I was feeling about the race.
I drew the 3rd heat of 4 and was racing a few of the countries best runners with at least 2 former junior champions in my heat. It was still very hot and I was having trouble handling the heat but was excited to race. We ended up being a little late but after the mess of the Kajaks meet in Richmond (an extra hour of warming up behind) a few minutes didn’t bother me. My starting box ended up being Adam Currie, Darren Mazzie, and Olivier Collin… all of whom had previously broken 1:50 so I was timid off the line and tucked in behind them. Coming off the bend I ended up at the back of the heat and in hindsight should have been a little more aggressive. I split 27 for the first 200 pretty close to where I wanted to be but I made the mistake of relaxing a little bit and came through 400 in 57 way too slow. The next 200m was where I later learned experience would have helped as I hit the 500m mark in the race and was promptly dropped losing contact in a bit of a surge by the pack. I tried to push to pick up but had trouble coming through 600 in 1:26 again too slow. I kicked and saw Darren coming back so I worked on gaining on him but my last 200 wasn’t there and ended up being 31 seconds. I was very upset with my final time of 1:57.07 as I felt that this was the race that I could prove my fitness and racing skills.
I later saw the replay of my race (below) and realized that the leaders had split exactly what I was hoping to split 26, 55, 1:23. It was just a case of nerves and letting the whole atmosphere get into my head. I ended up 29th with my saving grace being that I finished higher than I was initially ranked. However It was great experience and I look forward to coming back next year fitter, faster, and smarter. Being in the finals will be my new goal.
My teammates ran great also with Brian and Jaden coming 3,4 in the final both having PR's of 1:48.89 and 1:49.11. Nicole ran a PR of 2:11.59, and Alana and Hayley both learned lots and gained experience that they will likely put to good use when they go after their Junior titles in 2 weeks.
2009 Canadian Track & Field Championships Championnats canadiens d'athlétisme 2009 Toronto,ON - 6/25/2009 to 6/28/2009
Event 16 Men 800 Meter Run ================================================================ Championship: ! 1:45.34 2004 Gary Reed Name Year Team Prelims ================================================================ Preliminaries 1 Harris, Geoffrey Halifax Tigers 1:50.37Q 2 Reed, Gary T. Pacific Athletics 1:50.98Q 3 Currie, Adam Athletisme Montréal 1:51.61Q 4 Roppelt, Brian Edmonton Thunder 1:51.70Q 5 Ostapowich, Jaden Edmonton Thunder 1:50.47q 6 Collin, Olivier Vaudreuil-Dorion 1:51.69q 7 Rae, Jeremy Niagara Regi 1:51.90q 8 Laporte, Charles-Olivier Rouge ET OR 1:51.92q 9 Del Monte, Michael University O 1:51.93 10 Smith, Kyle Phoenix Athl 1:52.04 11 Tome, Mitchell Windsor Legi 1:52.57 12 Saizew, Michael Caltaf Athle 1:52.76 13 Finn, Ryan Phoenix Athl 1:53.31 14 Gamble, Dustin Speed River 1:53.34 15 Simair, Chris Queen City Striders 1:53.70 16 Langridge, Jordan Durham Drago 1:54.37 17 Theriault, Madison Caltaf Athle 1:54.42 18 Mccormick, Iain Queen City Striders 1:54.48 19 Young, Sean Ottawa Lions T.F.C. 1:55.06 20 Brennan, Kevin Ottawa Lions T.F.C. 1:55.23 21 Russell, Ryan Calgary Inte 1:55.39 22 Carlos, Shane Unattached-OTFA 1:55.41 23 Gravel, Benjamin Cirrus 1:55.51 24 Raymond, Mathieu Club D'Athlé 1:55.78 25 Laan, Brandon London Runne 1:55.80 26 Nishiyama, Michael Leduc Track 1:55.86 27 Lecours, Tommy Sherbrooke 1:56.70 28 Mazzei, Darren Queen City Striders 1:56.75 29 Carroll, Rory Edmonton Thunder 1:57.07 30 Dib, Abdelkader Caltaf Athle 1:57.36 31 Abbott, Larry Harbour Track 1:57.48 32 Klaus, Anders Harbour Track 1:57.73 33 Fleming, Noah Harbour Track 1:57.91 34 Azzi, Sofiane Cirrus 1:59.37 35 Anderson, Travis Brantford T.F.C. 1:59.77
So I got to the track this morning and was pumped to run a good race, I felt so good and was pumped to tear it up.
It was super hot out but got windy as I warmed up. I lucked out this time and snuck into the fast heat with my 1:55 seed time Lane 1. Trent wasnt feeling it, so he decided to pace through 600m.
The race started and I was in dead last going through 200 in about 28, felt good but it was really windy and I tucked in behind Madison. The 400m split was around 56 and at that point i was feeling great. 600m 1:25 and at this point im getting stoked because I new I was on Pb pace. I had to go really wide like outside of lane 3 wide to pass Jeff Homer, Madison, Abdel, and Nish... I thought I was flying and running a 29sec last 200 but when i saw my time after I realized that i had probably ran at least 5m extra that last 200m.
Event 508 Men 800 Meter Run Senior ========================================================= Name Year Team Finals Points ========================================================= Finals 1 Saizew, Mike 87 Caltaf Athle 1:52.91 2 McCormick, Iain 85 Queen City Striders 1:53.22 3 Russell, Ryan 88 Calgary Inte 1:53.29 4 Simair, Chris 85 Queen City Striders 1:53.87 5 Wasylyshyn, Adam 89 U OF C Athle 1:56.47 6 Ratzlaff, Scott 90 Caltaf Athle 1:56.53 7 Carroll, Rory 88 Edmonton Thunder 1:57.17 8 Nishiyama, Michael 89 Leduc Track 1:57.21 9 Theriault, Madison 88 Caltaf Athle 1:57.70 10 Dib, Abdelkader 89 Caltaf Athle 1:57.72 11 Boldt, Alyosha 89 Queen City Striders 1:58.58 12 Homer, Jeffrey 90 U OF C Athle 1:58.91 13 Dorosz, Sam 90 Lethbridge T 1:59.10 14 Delange, Owen 88 Calgary Spartans 1:59.12 15 Furlong, Mark 83 Calgary Spartans 2:00.42 16 Elford, Adam 88 U OF C Athle 2:01.83 17 Brown, Travis 90 Calgary Spartans 2:03.75 18 Wittig, Luc 91 U OF C Athle 2:11.51 19 Herzog, Walter 55 Unattached Alberta 2:16.13 20 Marks, Laurence 72 Unattached 2:16.49 21 Davies, Roger 35 Calgary Roadrunners 3:00.77 22 Wollman, David 49 Calgary Roadrunners 3:27.12 -- Ratzlaff, Trent 86 Caltaf Athle DNF
I'm happy with this race Its a PR, but I really wanted to get down in the 1:55 range. I guess it will have to wait till west coast. The last 200m felt like a 29 effort but it turned into a 31 so I know that ill be under 1:55 on the coast if im smart and run the entire race in the inside lane I also felt really good through 600m so I think I can get away with shaving a second or 2 off my first 600m.
