The 2010 USAT&F Master’s National Championship Pentathlon
DETAILS, REGRETS AND EXCUSES – My Experience at the Nationals.
The event began at 10:45am and finished about five hours later. The weather was sunny with a light breeze. The temperature stayed in the low 90’s, a few degrees cooler than was forecast. There were 14 of us entered in the 50-54 year old bracket, I was the second oldest. The athletes had come from all around the country including Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Alabama and of course California.
My goal was getting 2600 points which is the All-American Standard in my age group. I would need to average 520 points per event.
LONG JUMP
Being a newbie I couldn’t really ask anyone to check my steps to see if I was on, over or in front of the board. Among a bunch of guys, a pecking order needs to be established. I accept that, asked for no help and made the best of it. My practice run-throughs felt pretty close so I went with that.
I’ve been challenged with a left Achilles tendon injury since last September. This has been a real obstacle to getting fit and doing things like interval training. I came into the competition taped up and pretty sore, expecting the tendon to go but hoping for the best. I jump off my left foot as well as “block” off it on the throwing events. When my Achilles holds up I can jump over 16 feet (4.88m) but I never really can be sure how it will react until takeoff.
My first jump was over 5 meters but I fouled by 6 inches. Worse than the foul was my tendon screamed at me big time so I knew it would be a long day babying it along. My second jump was also over 5 meters but I fouled by 3 inches. All the field events are given 3 attempts so I needed to get the next one in or get no points in the event. I moved my check mark back 9 inches. My third jump wasn’t that hot but at least it was legal and I got some points.
GOAL: 4.57m / MARK: 4.53m (494 points)
JAVELIN
I’d really been struggling with this event in the past weeks. It’s very technical and a bunch of stuff can go wrong. In hopes of sparing my achilles and holding my form I decided to not do an approach run and instead just hold form and do a six-step approach. It is interesting that at this competition the javelins were not required to stick in the ground. I’m guessing it had to do with the infield being hard and for potentially good, legal throws to be discounted. As it was, there were many throws from my group that were “flat” and wouldn’t have stuck in mud but counted anyway. All three of mine stuck.
My first throw was pathetic. My second throw the same. I sucked it up and got off a decent final throw.
GOAL: 37m / MARK: 37.29m (526 points)
200 METERS
I have only raced this event once – in May of this year. There were 4 of us in that race. Two guys were 1-2 seconds ahead of me, I never saw the other guy, so I got to race with my head attached and focusing on what I was trying to do. I had a plan for this race – accelerate the first 50 meters, work the curve hard, accelerate coming out, relax, stay tall and be quick with the feet over the final 80 meters. I was in lane two, not ideal, pretty tight curve but I figured I would be able to ignore the guy in lane one who looked too big to run as fast as me. Gun went off, I accelerated over 50 meters only to hear this guy huffing it in my left ear. I forgot all about working the curve. He beat me out of the curve and now there were 4 guys even with me on the right. I was in a race and had no idea what to do! So I just ran as stupidly fast as I could while my achilles pain escalated down the stretch. Came across pretty pissed off for freaking out and losing my mind. Would love to race this pain free. Bet I could break 27…
GOAL: 28.0 sec. / TIME: 28.61 sec. (559 points)
DISCUS
My best event and I rocked it. Also it was a good stretch hanging out with the guys – finally we all relaxed with each other.
GOAL: 35m / MARK: 36.96M (619 points)
1500 METERS
I was plagued with anxiety about this race for many days leading up to this competition. This is the one event my chronic injury was hurting most. I never got an aerobic base set in off-season and was unable to train the way I needed to run my original goal race-pace of 6 minutes flat. I knew I was going to lose big points in this event going in. 520 points in my age group requires a run of 5:50. I knew I could gain points in three of the other four events (not the javelin) but my long jump and 200m events didn’t go as well as I’d hoped and the discus results, although good, wouldn’t make up enough. I didn’t know it at the time but I would have needed to run a 6:17 to make the 2600 All-American Standard. It’s unlikely that even with a cooperating achilles tendon I could run this fast.
So when the time came, I calmed down and told myself just jog it – so what if you run it in 8 minutes – just finish.
We took off, I settled in last and remained there trying to hold a 2-minute 400 pace. I did this through 1000 meters but my achilles quickly got so bad I couldn’t stay on the ball of my foot. I walked out the next 100 meters and stepped off the track at the finish line, 400 meters short. Zero points and some lost of face.
GOAL: 6 minutes down to “just finish” / DNF
CONCLUSION
I finished with 2198 points, 402 short of my goal. I finished 7th overall and was in 5th going into the final event. I tied for 6th in the long jump, was 6th in the javelin, 7th in the 200m, 3rd in the discus and DNF in the 1500.
Four of my fellow athletes were in the top five of every event and led throughout the competition. Michael Janusey took the gold with 3452 pts, Greg Canfield the silver with 3240 (the oldest of us), Jim Russ the bronze with 3135, and Steven Winkle was fourth with 3080. These four have been competing with each other for years. They’re all studs – believe me. Greg Canfield was a decathlete at Berkeley and came into this contest with very little training. He’s really quite an amazing athlete and I’m sure could have taken gold if he had trained longer. Michael Janusey has had both hips replaced – he’s bionic! His technique in all events was a beautiful thing to watch and his javelin throw of over 55 meters was mind blowing! Jim Russ is just a stud pure and simple. Steven Winkle is one intense competitor – he ran an amazing 1500, really surprising the other three guys.
The next level was a little more nebulous – no one was sure who took 5th through 7th but it was clear that it would be me, Mark Carver and Brien Ricci in some order. Mark Carver was fifth with 2743 pts. Neither Brien or I would have been able to surpass Mark as he ran an amazing 4:58 1500m! It was a beautiful thing to watch. Mark is a rail thin middle distance runner. Not having to carry around the 40+ pounds that Brien and I had on him helped, no doubt… Brien finished 6th with 2339 pts. His long jump and 200m marks made up for sub-par marks in the throwing events and he ran a 6:30 1500. As it turns out, had I run just a 7:30 1500m I would have finished 6th (but not gotten the 2600 I wanted).
Of the remaining competitors, 3 got no score because they didn’t start the 1500. None of these three would have ended up in the top 8.
In the end, I’m satisfied. I did this a year ahead of schedule and I gave a good showing in the competition. I’m proud of my commitment toward training over the past year and of the improvements to my health that I have benefited from on account of it. I’ve dropped 25 pounds, gained a lot of muscle, have much greater endurance, speed and strength. My diet is much much much improved and I have virtually stopped drinking alcohol. I’ve met some really fine people and I’ve learned quite a bit about the events I participated in.
It is tempting to imagine what I might have done had I not been injured throughout all of this. But because I have been injured nearly the entire time, it is really hard to know. I think I could make 17ft in the long jump, run the 200 in 26-something and the 1500 sub 6:00. The throws are so technical, I think I did as well as I would have if healthy.
It is also tempting to blame my less than hoped for results on the injury but I’d be foolish to suggest that other athletes in my group were not struggling with injuries of their own. My long experience as an athlete and knowing other teammates and competitors tells me that we very rarely compete at 100%. I felt great all day – very nearly 100% – if I were to not include my achilles in the assessment. I really couldn’t ask for much more from myself.
Now I am going to rest for awhile. Walk and paddle around the pool. Soon though I will begin body weight exercises and running in the pool. Most importantly, I am going to get rehab on my achilles and this time DON’T SPRINT UNTIL I AM STRONG ENOUGH. I plan to build my aerobic base in September and October and run the Lafayette 5K and the end of October. 22.5 minutes sounds doable. Next year the decathlon is offered at the Worlds, also to be held at Sac State. I would need to learn to hurdle, high jump and pole vault. The pole vault… Maybe that’s what I will focus on for next season… get myself 12 feet up in the air!
Living with Pentathlon Madness 