View Workout (Jacob Young)

Return to Log

Oof

April 14, 2018 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
There is no better description for this race other than “oof”.

Now, you all know I had lofty goals for this race. The goal was first to beat Colin Riley’s club record of 15:22.4, and the second goal was to get All-American. I failed both of these goals miserably, but I can’t say I didn’t go FULL SEND, which has been a theme of this club over the past year.

Before the race, as I am sure you could all tell, I was super zoned out and focused on listening to my music to get me ready. I had talked about visions I have had of this race over the past few weeks, but none of the visions had me with a finish or a time. On my warmup, my legs felt amazing and I knew I was ready for a great race. The plan was to hang around and draft off the other guys, and then trust my fitness that I have showed in practice recently to carry me through. Unfortunately, today my fitness could only carry me so far. Here is how the race went:

1600m – 4:49.3 – this was honestly the easiest 4:49 1600 I have ever run in my life. My fitness was there! Let’s see how I hang on…

3200m- 9:46.7 (4:57.4, pace for a 15:17 5k) – This was still too easy. By now I had worked my way into sitting in 8th place just cruising along, hitting 73’s or 74’s on each lap like it was a jog. It doesn’t really mean anything, but my split here beat our girls 4x800 by like 4 seconds lol git gud. But then, “oops, something went wrong…”

After hitting about 3500m, I blacked out. The rest of the race was a blur; I hardly have any memory of it. I got a cramp in my abdomen and my arms tightened up HARD. Tbh, my legs didn’t feel super awful, but those other two things took me over. The last 1500m of this race was a true testament to my character though. Once my body broke down, I knew the record was gone, but I HAD to cross the line. I have never dropped out of a race in my life but this race ranks in the top 3 of races I have wanted to drop out of (Boston Marathon 2015 and Spartan Invite 2017 are the others). Also shout out Ryan Whinnery for crossing the line in his race. He broke down way before me but still finished. A mentality like that will get you far in life. Facts.

I ended up slumping to the line for a 15:50 with the last 1800m in a 6:03. I almost fainted at the line and was super dizzy. For you Culture III boys that were there at the line for me, words can’t describe how much I appreciate that and especially all the support you were giving me during the race, even while I was suffering. Thank you guys so much. Without you, I probably would have cried or thrown myself in VanPelt ditch afterwards. But because of y’all, I am actually content with how I laid my body on the line and left EVERY ounce of energy on that track. My body just couldn’t handle the intensity in the end, but that’s ok. I am 22 years old, have a whole lot more running left in me, and have shown consistent improvement. I typically am one to blow up halfway through a race, but for me to make it as far as I did today before dying at that pace shows that I am only going up.

I have also come to terms that I would have actually been MORE disappointed in myself if I maybe went a little more conservative and crossed the line in a 15:35 or something. Who the hell would care about that? Sick PR bro. If you ain’t first, you’re last, and Colin Riley’s name would still be there as the record holder. Plus I would be left with the whole “but what if I had gone out faster and stuck with the lead pack?”

Afterwards, I chugged a Hamm’s and then cooled down with some guys from Bowling Green. Racing a 5k, chugging a beer, and then trying to run again hurts lol.

I can’t be mad about how I went full send. You can never be mad about going full send. It’s all about going hard or suffering the rest of your life. Today I went hard and suffered, but I won’t be suffering for the rest of my life. And that makes all the difference.

There’s more to come here. Hillsdale Magic 10K. 33:23.2 is the record. LFG.