16:15.06 at Stanford Invitational
Door: Anne Luijten
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Anne
08 April 2015 | Verenigde Staten, Palo Alto
Date: Friday, April 3.
Location: Stanford
Distance: 5000m
Goal: Qualification EC<23.
On Thursday evening, I flew into San Jose and got picked up by the dad of one of my teammates, who was so welcoming and hospitable to open up his house for me. Because I am running unattached this season, I have to literally organize everything around the race myself (signing up, book a plane ticket, transportation, staying somewhere for the night etc.). NCAA-regulations are very strict, which means I could not even jump into the team-van to drive from UP to the airport or back, for instance. Luckily I could stay at my teammate's house.
Friday was spent doing… nothing. By now, I have raced so many evening races that I have been getting very good in doing nothing. Basically, I slept over 10 hours on Friday night and did not wake up until 9, had breakfast, wasted time on my computer, went for a 20min shake-out around 11am, had second breakfast, took a 1,5 hour ‘nap’ (laying on bed with closed eyes), had a late lunch at like 3pm, and got my stuff ready for the race. At 430pm we left to the race, where I saw my teammates and coach and watched some races, soaking up the incredible energy of this amazing track race. At 6pm, an hour before my race, I started my warm-up, and then it was finally race-time.
Over the last weeks, I have been feeling very good. After the 3000m in Seattle I had a few days off and didn’t do workouts for a week, followed by a week with only workouts off the track (Not my idea, but Ian wanted to make sure I was really rested and ready to go). By then, I was anxious to get back on the track, a little scared about where my shape would be. But in the two weeks before Stanford I had excellent workouts, which gave me the confidence that I was in much, much better shape than when I ran my PR of 16:32 in Mt. Sac last year.
And I was much better. Before the race, I heard there was a girl pacing at 78’’ a lap (3.15/km). Well I don’t know what this girl was doing, but she was certainly not running 78’’ a lap. The first lap was too fast (Fine with me!) and then she ran something like an 81’’ so that we had to play catch-up from there. I felt really good for the first 3k, although we came through a little slow (9:45). When at 4km I saw that we had gone even slower (I came through above 13 flat), I knew it was going to be difficult to get under the standard of 16:10. I kept trying to be aggressive and not let girls pass me, but I did not have the wheels to shift to the next gear. In the last lap, I think I was thinking a little too much about (not getting) the standard, instead of focusing on getting everything out of me to win the race (I ended up 6th). Except for that, I am happy with the way I raced. Even though I did not get the standard, I find it hard to be too disappointed with 16:15, a 17 sec-pr. I do make it pretty difficult for myself this way though, because now I have to do another one. After talking to some different people, I am thinking about flying myself out to the Payton Jordan Invitational next month.
Bill Hastings filmed the entire race: https://vimeo.com/124271876
Location: Stanford
Distance: 5000m
Goal: Qualification EC<23.
On Thursday evening, I flew into San Jose and got picked up by the dad of one of my teammates, who was so welcoming and hospitable to open up his house for me. Because I am running unattached this season, I have to literally organize everything around the race myself (signing up, book a plane ticket, transportation, staying somewhere for the night etc.). NCAA-regulations are very strict, which means I could not even jump into the team-van to drive from UP to the airport or back, for instance. Luckily I could stay at my teammate's house.
Friday was spent doing… nothing. By now, I have raced so many evening races that I have been getting very good in doing nothing. Basically, I slept over 10 hours on Friday night and did not wake up until 9, had breakfast, wasted time on my computer, went for a 20min shake-out around 11am, had second breakfast, took a 1,5 hour ‘nap’ (laying on bed with closed eyes), had a late lunch at like 3pm, and got my stuff ready for the race. At 430pm we left to the race, where I saw my teammates and coach and watched some races, soaking up the incredible energy of this amazing track race. At 6pm, an hour before my race, I started my warm-up, and then it was finally race-time.
Over the last weeks, I have been feeling very good. After the 3000m in Seattle I had a few days off and didn’t do workouts for a week, followed by a week with only workouts off the track (Not my idea, but Ian wanted to make sure I was really rested and ready to go). By then, I was anxious to get back on the track, a little scared about where my shape would be. But in the two weeks before Stanford I had excellent workouts, which gave me the confidence that I was in much, much better shape than when I ran my PR of 16:32 in Mt. Sac last year.
And I was much better. Before the race, I heard there was a girl pacing at 78’’ a lap (3.15/km). Well I don’t know what this girl was doing, but she was certainly not running 78’’ a lap. The first lap was too fast (Fine with me!) and then she ran something like an 81’’ so that we had to play catch-up from there. I felt really good for the first 3k, although we came through a little slow (9:45). When at 4km I saw that we had gone even slower (I came through above 13 flat), I knew it was going to be difficult to get under the standard of 16:10. I kept trying to be aggressive and not let girls pass me, but I did not have the wheels to shift to the next gear. In the last lap, I think I was thinking a little too much about (not getting) the standard, instead of focusing on getting everything out of me to win the race (I ended up 6th). Except for that, I am happy with the way I raced. Even though I did not get the standard, I find it hard to be too disappointed with 16:15, a 17 sec-pr. I do make it pretty difficult for myself this way though, because now I have to do another one. After talking to some different people, I am thinking about flying myself out to the Payton Jordan Invitational next month.
Bill Hastings filmed the entire race: https://vimeo.com/124271876
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08 April 2015 - 07:48
Anja Luijten:
Nu Anne,
We enjoyed watching your race girl. I am looking forward getting out of my bed in the middle of the night for a new PR. Have a nice day! Mum
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08 April 2015 - 19:27
Tante Els:
Hi! jeetje je wordt wel echt een pro langzamerhand hoor, impressive hoe je alles indeelt enzo. Nog gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag. Ik had geprobeerd je te bellen.... sufkluts die ik ben dacht ik pas een dag later eraan dat ik je natuurlijk ook had kunnen sms-en... haha. je tante blijft een dinosaurus.
Els -
09 April 2015 - 11:16
OMA LUIJTEN:
ha Anne,gelukkig hadden wij zondag al in het nederl gehoord hoe de race was gelopen dus kon ik dit verslag goed volgen. Fantastisch, ga zo door. succes met het vervolg. liefs oma -
12 April 2015 - 22:17
Sonja:
Hi Anne,
Unfortunately the link to the Stanford race seems to be inactive. Such a shame as I really would have liked to see you running. You are making progress with your 17 sec. PR. Quite impressive. If you stay in good shape you can be another 5 minutes faster next time in Stanford. You just go on rehearsal and try to stop thinking too much during your race. Perhaps that can make a 5 seconds difference.
If not, than you can still be proud of your score.
Good luck, you deserve it completely.
TTFN
Sonja
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
