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2023 has been an exciting year for me. On January 1st, I nordic skied for the first time with my own gear. That same day at Vail, I downhill skied. I finished the ski season with more days on the snow than ever: 31 downhill and 14 nordic (though most of the nordic days overlapped with downhill days). For part of the ski season, I lived in Utah, and while I was there I ended up running a 5K PR of 17:11 at altitude. In March, I moved to New York City for a new job. In April, I officially joined Central Park Track Club, and I spent the next four months seriously chasing track PRs.
When I first got back into running in 2020, I wrote a similar blog post reviewing the year, my performances, and some of the things I had learned. My main triumph from three years ago was that I was able to get back into running, and that I extended a marathon time trial pacing duties into a 3:10 marathon performance.
By 2022, I was in great shape. Above all, I was enjoying the sport like never before. I parlayed consistent track sessions in Chicago into a huge mile PR, running a 4:42. The impending move back to the east coast bolstered my confidence in running some fast middle distance times.
Before I moved to Utah in 2023, I was living at my parents’ house in Scranton. I was able to make it to a few meets at Ocean Breeze on Staten Island. Though my first attempt at the 800m resulted in a 2:06.1, I then put together a 16 x 200m death march workout and returned a week later to sneak under my high school 800m PR of 2:04.23 and run a 2:03.6. I ran a number of indoor miles in the vicinity of 4:42 – 4:46 but didn’t ever feel like I had a productive race considering the distance I had to travel to get to the races. Still, it was really really cool to focus on track with no external pressure. It was gratifying to see some decent results as a result of coaching myself.
As soon as I arrived in NYC, friends recommended checking out Central Park Track Club. Though the club is best known as a competitive road racing club, it is also the most track-centric running club in the area. From my first workout, I knew that the team’s atmosphere and coaching were exactly what I needed to take my running to the next level. Over the next two months, I attended workouts religiously, and often pushed myself to the point of exhaustion–a zone I could never quite reach when training alone.
My goal for the season was to run under two minutes for the 800m. I achieved that on July 15th at Franklin Field! This was the one goal from high school that I felt was in reach but that I had struggled to make progress on even as I got back to seriously training. Crossing the line in first place and seeing that the finishing time started with the number 1 was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. It brought me an immense amount of satisfaction and closed the loop on a goal I had first started talking about in 2011.
Beyond the 1:59, my times for this season were very consistent, though a bit stagnant toward the end.
2023 Performance Recap
1/05/23 – 4:46 mile, 2:06.1 800m
1/19/23 – 2:03.61 800m
3/26/23 – 1:20:44 HM
6/9/23 – 4:34.70 Mile
6/10/23 – 2:01.05 800m, 54.8 400m
6/12/23 – 47:44 AdZ (indoor cycling)
6/17/23 – 2:00.13 800m
7/4/23 – 17:08 3 miler
7/9/23 – 54.23 400m
7/13/23 – DNF 5k
7/15/23 – 1:59.87 800m
8/7/23 – 4:47 Mile (road)
8/15/23 – 2:01.27 800m
8/20/23 – 54.6 400m, 2:10 800m (relay), 55 400m (relay) [all hand-timed]
What Did Training Look Like?
The bedrock of my training is my indoor bike, my beloved Keiser M3. On days where I don’t have a race or team workout, I strictly follow a sunrise/sunset training model. The first thing I do in the morning is work out; the last thing I do before bed is work out. This helps frame my day. Sometimes I can put out serious wattage on the bike with structured workouts, other times I barely average 100W. Above all, it helps me stay consistent and maintain reasonable lower body fitness.
What Went Well
CPTC’s coaching was a godsend. Until the very “end” of the track season, there were plenty of other athletes on the track to run with. At first, I was chasing the elite women. Then, I was trading pacing duties with them. Finally, I was chasing the elite men. The way the workouts were designed allowed for thoughtful throttling of pace. Most of all, I realized pretty early on that being able to run with other people makes all the difference when completing track workouts.
Without much strength training, by June, I was able to consistently hit a 26.5-ish 200m pace top speed in workouts. This is enough speed to have fun with the open 400m, and plenty of speed to run competitive 800s, even against weaker college kids.
I garnered some praise for my adaptation of my high school 800m racing strategy. Stalking the leaders on the first lap and ripping into the lead between 350m and 415m to chase a slightly-negative split always meant that my competition was mentally defeated. This is a really fun way to race, though most would argue that this does not optimize for the absolute fastest times.
What Went Poorly
After my week of huge performances on 6/9, 6/10, and 6/12, I developed a sports hernia. I think it occurred while trying to deadlift a trivial amount of weight, but there was never a sensation of tearing something. I first identified it on 6/14. It was never diagnosed by a professional but it’s obvious. There is no bulge, but sneezing or other jerky movements cause a lot of pain. I spent the next two months trying to run through the injury (it continues as I write this in late August). Thankfully, it didn’t get any worse, but it was aggravated the most by slow running, so I eventually stopped running slowly and was only picking up mileage from workouts and races.
The sports hernia derailed my season in a big way. However, by that point I knew I was in sub-2 shape. It was apparent that I could get to 1:59 even if one dimension of my training (steady paced mileage) dissipated. I just missed running under two minutes in the 6/17 race, running 2:00.1. Things finally came together a month later for a 1:59.87. The pain wasn’t bad in races, but for rapid changes of tempo, warmup runs, or certain movements like getting out of bed (lol), it was (and, largely, is) a tough 6/10 pain.
When my mileage fell off a cliff in early July, I knew that my distance goals (specifically the mile and 5k) would be out of reach through the end of the summer. Also, annoyingly, the injury prevented me from executing high-intensity top speed workouts. My god, did I try, but the pain was brutal. I was damned to focusing on race-pace-ish workouts and being an 800 specialist whether I liked it or not.
My cop-out: there was no chance I was going to make it to the next tier of track performances unless this injury was fully healed. After that week in mid-June, I hung on to my fitness and had a few monstrous workouts, but I didn’t improve in any meaningful way.
The next thing is that, though there were a lot of opportunities to race the 800m (especially compared to Chicago), the competition was often weak. In fact, in outdoor, I won every 800 heat I was placed in! The only race where I was able to chase someone on the last lap, it resulted in my fastest performance. It is fair to conclude that, with better competition, I would have ended up closer to a 1:58 low.
I perform poorly in the heat. No matter what I do, I can’t improve. My body starts to shut down and the “signals” to stop pushing myself are difficult to overcome. The races on 7/4, 7/13, 8/7, 8/15, and 8/20 were all brutally hot and humid. For this reason, I can confidently say that there is no future scenario where I base my season around running any distance races in a hot climate. I felt like these races largely were a waste of time, and potentially endangered my health.
Were There Any Surprises?
As fragile and imbalanced as my body is, I was surprised by my overall durability. Once I had been training hard for a month and a half, there was pretty much no residual soreness in my leg muscles and I was able to come back from workouts or races feeling 90% the next day.
My confidence in my ability to execute in the 800m was very high. I was comfortable running negative splits, even splits, and positive splits. I was also consistently in the 54 second range in the 400m. My races were tactically sound, and I was surprised at how, at times, dominant I felt in the 800.
Selected Race Summaries
1/05/23 – 4:46 mile, 2:06.1 800m
The day after I returned from a NYE ski trip (where I picked up cross country skiing), I drove to Ocean Breeze to race. These were two decent performances. The first time since high school where I was reminded of the joys of running multiple races in a short window of time.
1/19/23 – 2:03.61 800m
This was a fun race. It went out about 1.5 seconds too slowly, though. I moved around 400m and took the lead. Going into the last 200m, somebody passed me, and I couldn’t match his move. This was an improvement over my high school PR.
3/26/23 – 1:20:44 HM
After returning from Utah and moving to NYC, my mileage was all over the place. I had no plan for this race, but I came away with a slight PR. I went out a little hot and got passed by roughly 10 people during the race, which wasn’t fun. Further, I had about 3 poor miles that took me out of striking distance of 1:18:36.
6/9/23 – 4:34.70 Mile
Sizing up my competition on the starting line, I knew I could win this race. I slotted into third (behind the pacer) and sat there for the whole race. This race was paced perfectly–2:15 through 800m. I was disappointed to see the pacer drop after two laps, but the leader put out another 67 to bring us through the bell in 2:23 or so. Unfortunately for me, I was gassed, and I could only muster a 70 second closing lap. I haven’t thought much about this race, but closing in 65, which would not have been outrageous, could have brought me to a 4:29. Regardless, this was a massive, 6 second PR.
6/10/23 – 2:01.05 800m, 54.8 400m
The day after my mile performance, I ran pretty much what I would consider my peak performance couplet of the season. I ran a very strong 2:01 flat (time trialing the last 400m+) and then came back for a monster 400m. I realize that 54.8 doesn’t sound fast, but my power curve peaked at over 1000W. For my body and level of strength, this was simply incredible.
6/12/23 – 47:44 AdZ (indoor cycling)
Knowing I was in incredible shape, I made a huge push to attempt an indoor cycling time trial. I felt so strong. This was the most dominant aerobic performance of my life. If I could re-create it directly in front of an air conditioner, I could probably take another minute off.
6/17/23 – 2:00.13 800m
I felt amazing going into this race, and I felt amazing crossing the finish line. I had to politely ask for my finishing time. It was devastating to learn it was 14 hundreds off from sub 2.
Seeding for this race was awful. It was me and one competitive masters athlete and then 6 high school kids. I let them take it out, wasting precious time, and then I ended up running the last 450m all alone. When I started to get tired after 600m, it was very hard to motivate myself to keep pushing forward.
Now, credit to my coach, she suggested moving me into a faster heat. I refused, because I knew I could have run sub 2 in a time trial setting. In retrospect, I should have just taken her advice, run 1:58, and began injury rehab here.
7/4/23 – 17:08 3 miler
I had high hopes for this race, but it was an extremely hot day. I went out in 5:11, faded badly, and pretty much jogged it in. It was a waste of time.
7/9/23 – 54.23 400m
I ran the SpikeUpNYC meet and came away with a slight PR. I didn’t feel like my muscles were fully engaged here, but I gave it an honest effort and made sure not to blow all of my energy at the start.
7/13/23 – DNF 5k
It was too hot and humid. I provided an aspirational seed time to get into the fast heat with a 16:00 seed time. I went out in 5:12 and lost contact, got lapped by the leader around lap 6, and then ended the race at 2 miles. Just a total disaster and, to be honest, a waste of time.
7/15/23 – 1:59.87 800m
I went down to UPenn with one of my teammates. I was really disappointed to be seeded into a bizarre heat with slow people. The meet officials seemed to want to keep the high schoolers together, but those were all the 1:58 range people. I asked what the hell was going on with seeding but was rebuffed.
While I was warming up, I knew I had a sub 2 in me. The way the race played out, though, the first lap was a complete disaster. Most of the racers seemed inexperienced and I had to swing pretty wide to pass them on the back stretch. The top two runners had gone out quickly, and though I made contact with them by 400, I only started fighting for the lead after 600m. I fought all the way, and came out with a narrow win.
Man, this was an awesome race.
8/7/23 – 4:47 Mile (road)
Simply, too many people in this race were trying to run 4:30. I appreciated the density of competition, but this course makes for really aggressive racing which wasted all of my focus. The goal was to go out in 2:11, but there was a blockade of people and I kept wasting distance trying to maneuver around them. I went through in 2:15 and didn’t feel great. The course also has weirdly sneaky grade changes, for a flat course, so after seeing a disastrous 1200m split I jogged it in. Another complete waste of time, effort, and taper.
8/15/23 – 2:01.27 800m
This was an extremely hot, humid, and sunny day. Large insects were flying around and harassing us. Before lining up, I asked one of my competitors what he was looking to run, and he said a 1:52 – 1:53. He took the race out in a 27, or maybe a 26, but by the time he hit 300 he looked awful. I passed him around 375m and went through 400m around 58 low. As I accelerated to 500m I felt really strong and figured I had a 1:58 in the bag. However, time trialing is mentally exhausting, so I ended up closing very slowly, maybe in 32 high, to win by a half second. This was a good experience but it was supposed to be a breakthrough race.
8/20/23 – 54.6 400m, 2:10 800m (relay), 55 400m (relay) [all hand-timed]
To close the season, I attended this meet which featured hand-timed results. My original intention was to run a very fast 400m and return for a very fast open 800m, but once I realized it was hand-timed and that it was way too hot outside, I decided to enter some relays instead.
This was a really fun race that reminded me of high school. I was really disappointed with my open 400, but my legs were just locked up. I ended up in second place but was shooting for a 52 or so. In the 800m relay I went out in 63 but the heat beat me down. I reached a max heart rate of 227, running a 2:10 split. Later on I opened a 4×4 relay and ran an incredibly smooth 55 low. This taught me that I need to work more on form and warming up for the 400. Sometimes, that’s just how it goes.
Looking Forward
This was a fulfilling season where I improved my track PRs in a meaningful way. Nothing happened by accident, though. This required quite a bit of time. Actually, a substantial amount of time. As much as I enjoy running and the grind and whatever else, I need to be realistic about the extent to which I can dedicate myself to chasing future goals.
Because I’m injured right now, it is unlikely that I will seriously race prior to the indoor track season. For indoor, my initial goals would be running sub 50 in the 400 and sub 2:30 in the 1000. Hopefully such fitness would translate to “DI competitive” times in the 800m and indoor mile. Without looking at equivalency tables, I’d be seeking sub 1:55 and sub 4:20 by the end of outdoor or beginning of indoor.
In the “best case” scenario (consistent 1:55-range times), I’d completely dedicate myself to running during the proper outdoor season (March – June) and I would seek out chances to run against fast college kids. If I progressed enough, which is a huge if, I would then use the 2024/2025 season to pursue a crazy goal, such as a sub four minute mile or 1:49 800.
There is another scenario in which I end up chronically injured, or my performances stagnate. By the end of the 2024 season, I’ll know where I stand, and I’ll need to be realistic about what I can squeeze out of my body. If I feel like I’m nearing the limit for how much time I can spend, I’ll likely focus on cycling, Crossfit, or something else.
In the meantime, I am seriously focusing on cross training with my indoor bike, skierg, and rowerg. I also build leg strength at the gym roughly four times per week. I am excited to see where this goes as I enter my last few years of peak athletic performance.
