C Mantz Running

AM-4.2 miles with Clayson.

PM-7 miles with Rory in Austin. It was hot! 

AM-3.2 easy miles.

PM-a little over 4 miles with strides. Felt fast.

AM-2 mile shakeout.

PM-race. Went well, I’ll write more later. Clayton won, and McMillan was third. It was quite a spectacular day. 5 other qualifiers for day 2, and our decathlete did great. 

Longer report: Boy is Austin HOT.  We got to the track about 80 minutes before our race, relaxed for a bit, then warmed up about 45 minutes before we raced.  I did the smallest warm up(less than 2 miles) to date due to the heat.  Coach prepared us well for the heat, so we were staying cool until we were on the track.  Did 4 strides, had a team prayer, and went to the start.  Due to the weather, they had changed the schedule so that all other events were during the day, and we were at 9, so the stands were kinda empty; however there were probably 100 people in the stands cheering for BYU, which was sweet! 

Gun went off, and I get on the rail right behind Connor Weaver.  I didn't expect this race to go out too fast, and just tried to race similar to the Stanford Invite.  While we were going considerably slower, it was tougher.  I didn't think it was going to feel that hot, but by the fifth lap I started taking water.  The first time I was in about 20th-22nd place, and I went outside to get water, but the person didn't hold it out, so I swung to lane 4 to grab in out of their hand.  It was annoying, but we were going slow enough that it didn't jeopordize anything.  As the race went on, I started grabbing water every lap, and sometimes twice a lap, and just throwing it on myself, and getting a sip every once in a while.  I was feeling really dehydrated, but I had to tell myself that everyone else was feeling the same way.  As the race played on, I just stuck on the back of the lead pack and waited for moves to be made.  I remembered Rory mentioned how at regionals there would be a lot of times when people would look like they'd make moves and then nothing coming from them, and after noticing that here, I just waited in the back.  At 5k I moved up and eventually I got behind Clayton.  Spent most of the race on the inside, which was nice.  With 4 laps to go, I was feeling fatigued, but then heard someone in the crowd yell that we had less than a mile to go, which changed my mindset, and I was ready for us to pick it up.  It picked up with 2 laps to go, and then with a lap to go I was boxed in a bit and started watching Clayton lead the race and hope he would win it.  After maybe 100m, I realized I'm still racing, and I don't know why I didn't try and catch Clayton, but I sped up just enough to hold off fifth.  In the last 30 meters, I was catching McMillan, and I knew Hassan Abdi was closing hard, so I yell at McMillan to speed up.  He didn't hear me, but he finished right ahead of me by less than a tenth of a second.  

It was probably one of the coolest things to finish a race with 3 guys on our team doing so well.  BYU's distance squad had a lot of bad races at nationals the past few years, which made this accomplishment feel even sweeter.  3ish mile cool down with Clayton.  

AM-3.7 with clayson past the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue.

PM-3.4 with strides.

Quick report: race went well, I positioned myself well with about 500m to go, but didn’t have the necessary speed to get in the top 3. Happy with 7th though. 

AM-2 mile shakeout

PM-Race: Kept things about the same as the 10k, but I wasn't as prepared as I left my towel that I would soak in my hotel room, and I misplaced my hat that I would also soak in cold water.  I knew that with the heat being such a factor from first-hand experience two days before-hand, I knew that the first 100m was going to be quick, but then it would go into a jog, and I prepared accordingly. It's hard to push the pace when it's that hot, so I chilled in the back, and let the race play out.  After a few laps, I saw Clayton pop out into lane 2 and start moving up, so I followed.  I got pushed right to the back. I kept telling myself to have fun in this race.  There were even more moves in this race that didn't turn into anything substantial than the 10k, and I felt like it benefitted me to watch this.  As the race moved forward, I would move up on the inside.  With 5 laps to go, maybe even more, I started taking water every lap. It wasn’t because I was overheating, but it gave me something to do as I waited. Once the real racing started, I would stop, but no one was pushing the pace. With less than a mile to go a lot of people moved outside and I made a move to get right behind McDonald who was leading it with Grant on his shoulder. With 800m to go, the pace still hasn’t ramped up, but I was in perfect position(or so I thought). During this race I had a very different mentality and approach than I’ve ever had in a major race. I told myself to trust in my kick. With 600m to go, I probably would’ve taken water the race was so relaxed. With 500 to go, McDonald was in the middle of lane one, and I thought about squeezing on the inside and passing him and fisher. I hesitated, and I believe that was my only tactical mistake of the race. Fisher and McDonald didn’t speed up until other competitors got on their outside, and that left them ahead of me, cutting in right in front of me with about 400 to go. The next 200m, I felt like I was running backwards. People were flying by me, and I hadn’t accelerated as quickly, and went from 3rd to 8th in about 200m. I kept thinking of this same race 2 years ago, where Clayton was in first at 300 to go and faded to 10th or something. I didn’t want that to be me, but I kept thinking that I must be going to slow. With 200m to go, I looked back, saw Robert Brandt closing on me, and tried to kick so he wouldn’t pass me. I passed Kyle Mau, and then nearly caught Clayton, who I wasn’t even focused on, and then finished 7th. I felt like I still had a lot of energy after, but I couldn’t speed up much more in the last bit, I just neeeded to start my kick earlier. I’m happy with the way this season went, but I’m a bit dissatisfied. I felt like I may have sold myself a bit short mentally during races. It’s all good though, into cross country in the fall. 

Short cool down with Clayton after.

AM-long run along the lake with some of the guys (5 of the 10k guys and Talem).  Felt good until about 12 miles, then was a bit tired and probably really dehydrated.