New and old territory…

Over the past few years, I’ve run at several local “all-comers” track meets in the area, mainly at those hosted by the Boulder Road Runners running group. The meets are exceptionally well-organized and fun. They offer athletes of all ages and talent levels to compete in a variety of events, ranging from the 100M to the 5000M for running, and field events including jumps and the javelin.

The event offerings change among the different meets so a couple of them may have the mile run (1609M) while others feature the “metric mile” or the 1500M. One this summer even offered the 3000M.

The 1500M (3.75 laps on a 400M track) and 3000M (7.5 laps on a 400M track) are common events at professional track meets. They’re less common at US events. I’d done the 1500M at one of the meets in the summer of 2024 but wanted to give it another go as I realized my pacing strategy needed a major tweak. I had never competed in a 3000M and opted into for that, too. That was the new territory.

The old territory came with my doing both events in the same evening, separated by roughly 90 minutes. However, I hadn’t done a “double” in competition since my high school track days where that’s common, and I was very rusty on how to handle that. I didn’t want to coast in the 1500M, the first event, and only preserve my legs for the 3000M, and I also didn’t want to get to that race with my legs and energy sapped from the first one. How to plot my pace to maximize my times in both?

I took my most recent 5000M time, adjusted the pace down a bit for the 4500M total I would actually be racing plus the 90-minute break, and came up with what I felt were reasonable times. Suspense saver–I ran a few seconds faster than both of my predictions so I think I had the math right. After the 1500M, I still felt fairly good. Following the 3000M, I was toast–nothing left.

The second challenge was what to do between the races. I settled on running a slow half-mile right after the 1500M, followed by resting for a bit, then doing another half-mile-plus re-warm-up for the 3000M. Given how I felt and how the races played out, that worked for me.

Since I’d never done a 3000M, my strategy was to go out at the pace I was 99% sure I could hold for the first 3.5 laps, then just go with however I was feeling. I’ve noticed in a two-mile (3218M, or roughly eight laps) that my brain is stuck on 5000M mode until I get to lap five, when I realize I’m over half-way done, which creates a pleasant mental boost. In the 3000M, on lap three I was having serious doubts about my pace. I think this was partly due to my doubling up on events and then similar to the two-mile, as I entered the final four laps, my brain shifted.

The tweak for the 1500M? The first time I ran it, I calculated my time for the first 300M, followed by my 400M splits after that. My rationale was simple. The 1500M starts 100M around the track from the eventual finish line and I figured it would be easier to use that as my main marker. It’s important to note that many track athletes think in terms of 400M splits for events that are multiple laps.

The reality was that when I started with a 300M split, my mid-race math got wobbly. I don’t know that it greatly impacted my time but when you’re making adjustments in that short of a race, you don’t want to be too far off. This time, I switched to thinking in terms of even 400M splits for my first three laps, using the start line as my marker, and then going all-out for the final 300M. That worked much better.

I don’t know how often I’ll seek out more doubles as they present a challenge. Besides the physical part, when you can’t really go 100% for the first event and then you know you’re already a little depleted for the second, there is the question in the back of my mind, “How much faster could I have gone?” On the other hand, it’s fun to have two possibilities of success, or a situation where you can have a great first or second event, helping to erase any disappointment from another one.