Circles

"Back In The New York Groove"
Ace Freeley

This time last year I was doing my best Billy Bragg impression...and getting back to basics,running six days a week and logging thirty miles a week,the mileage that had allowed me to do so well over 800m,1,500m/mile from 07-09.
However there was something missing from my resume,a decent pr for 3,000m and 5,000m,9.38.3. and 17.03.0. respectively so in mid February of last year I threw in a 40 mile week 2 weeks b4 the Mac C'ship 3,000m and clocked 9.13.6. and then a 50 mile week 2 weeks b4 Indoor Nationals where I won silver in 9.11.4. and we all know what I did last summer over 5,000m lowering my pr to 15.59.6.-15.57.7.-15.56.5.-15.36.8.

Normally I miss the second of the four Thursday Nite @ The Races series at The Armory as it clashes w/ the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile two days later in Itacha.however this year w/ all apologies to race director Tom Hartshorne I declined my invite to race at Cornell to allow myself the rare chance of an indoor 5,000m.
I don't think I've ever been at an indoor meet that offered an indoor 5,000m and the chance to run 25 laps on The Armory track was too great to pass up,I doubt very much I'd consider running 5,000m indoors on a flat track.
Kudos to my wing man Seano for the ride up and back,the Megabus is cool and all that but riding shotgun in the Mini is much more fun,normally Seano and I are running by each other on the drives or Schuylkill banks so it was nice to sit and shoot the proverbial on the way up and back.

Again I seeded myself in the fast heat,if I was going to run a decent time I needed to in w/ the big dogs and put myself in heat one,which was seeded between 14 and 16 minutes w/ 19 of us towing the starting line,I knew a few of my opponents,Atilla,Matt Chaston and Andy Elkan from previous New York races usually over the mile or in Atilla's case the 3,000m.
Good reaction to the gun and got into the first turn on the rail,over 25 laps the need to get to the outside of lane one or inside of lane two isn't as important as it is over 800m or the mile,there'd be plenty of time to work my way to the outside and get a clear run.
38 seconds for the first lap and 1.14 for the 400m split,by lap three I'd worked my way to the rear of a 5 man chase group who were mid pack and latched on to them.
4.52 for the opening mile,I think a few of my cheering section were concerned I may've gone out too hard too soon...I didn't share their concern 38 seconds per lap was 5.04 mile pace which if it could be held on to was 15.12 for 3 miles and maybe a 30 second final lap 15.42 pace....doable.

By now the race was well strung out I forget when I lost contact w/ the 5 man group,I did have one runner slightly ahead of me most of the race but I was never quite able to close the gap on him.
Coming up w/ 8 laps to go the lead two runners went by me and now I had to focus on the laps as the lap counter would be for them and I'd be a lap behind,I missed my 2 mile split but I was told it was 10.01 I still felt good.
25 laps indoors is much easier than 25 laps outdoors in the 10,000m and even though I was effectively in no mans land w/ each lap being clipped off between 39-42 seconds per lap time was flying.
I forget what the clock read when I came through the bell but I had juice to burn and set about closing as hard as I could,much like the mile 2 weeks ago I don't feel I was tested which tells me I can get faster as the weeks go by.

13th in 15.47.3,2 seconds off the 15.45 I thought I'd run and only 11 seconds off the 15.36.8. I ran in Sacramento last summer to rank #2 all time on my 5,000m list,in 10 months I've logged 5 sub 16 5,000s.
I'd run 5,000m indoors again in a heartbeat,there were 4 heats last nite so clearly a lot of runners were willing to see what it was like to run 25 laps indoors,I expect to see the 5,000m on next years schedule.
As for my race schedule it looks like I will be running the Millrose 4x400m next Friday followed by the mile in Boston at the Reebok Games and then back home again the following week for week #3 of the Thursday Nite Series where an 800m looks likely,I haven't ran an 800m at The Armory since the infamous world record on the 4x800m in December 09,but that's for another day I have some serious miles to log in training and if the bloody weather cooperates maybe some repeats too.