Indoor 400 Meter Dash Results

I just got back from day one of the USA Track & Field Indoor National Championships. Most of today was pentathalon events and the 400 meter finals. After running a little behind schedule, we ended up with two heats for the 35-39 age group.

There were so many amazing athletes, some former Olympians, and outstanding performances. I saw at least three world records broken today. What a great venue for the meet. The USA Track and Field staff does a great job of building the excitement for the events and letting the fans know when something big is taking place. One of the biggest moments was when a 75 year-old broke the world record in the 400 Meters by running 1:03.90. The announcer pointed out that he was on pace to break the record after his first lap and the crowd went nuts. I'm sure that was somewhat of a factor in his great performance.

The other thing that I love about Masters Track and Field is that there is less of a feeling that you are competing against each other, and more that you are there to help each other. I've seen people giving advice to each other in field events where they are directly competing. People aren't keeping training secrets. They encourage each other and want others to do well.

So you're probably wondering how I did in the 400. I ended up getting third place and taking home the bronze medal. It was pretty well known that World Champion Antwon Dussett was going to win the gold, but after that it was a pretty even field. I had not put together very good performances this winter, only breaking 56 seconds once. I knew I needed to run a much better race. I ran 53.35 today which was better than my outdoor championship 3rd place time last year of 53.42. Not bad for only training using workout programs that I do in my basement (and the fire station once a week). Normally it is hard to run a faster indoor time, so I'll have to look through what I did differently for this meet and apply it to the outdoor season. I'm not sure if running on a track would help me or not.

I have a day off and then the 200 prelims (and hopefully finals) on Sunday. There's a chance we could try to get a relay team together, but I'm not planning on that right now.