Track and Field Blogs - Nate Brannen

It’s been a while since I posted a blog but I figured it was about time to jump back on the wagon and start this up again. I don’t really have an excuse for not posting other than, oh yeah, chasing an Olympic standard for the last 2 months. And when I say chasing, I literally mean chasing a standard. Let me summarize, I began my outdoor track season with the Hillsdale Gina Relays on April 25^th, with somewhat of an unexpected 3:38.41. I knew I was fit going into this race but since it had been awhile since I had raced and also with the back surgery, I didn’t fully know how the race would pan out. From April 25th to June 20th I had 7 races, 6 of which were 1500’s. Before someone jumps on me about my racing schedule and makes a comment, let me first say, I know exactly what you’re thinking and thought the same thing the whole time I was racing. We had a great schedule set up which started with Hillsdale, then 2 weeks later an 800 here in Ann Arbor, then LA on May 18th, then the New York Grand Prix 2 weeks after that and nothing until the Harry Jerome Track Classic on June 20th. So a solid schedule with plenty of time between races.

What changed?

As everyone knows, it’s an Olympic year. So put yourself in my shoes. You’re chasing a standard and need to achieve a certain time by July 6th. It basically all started after the New York Grand Prix when Chris Lukezic told me they were trying to set up a fast 1500 in Waltham, Mass. I immediately decide to ax this plan and go back home and just train until Jerome. It wasn’t that easy to say no. When I got back home, I really thought about the race and the opportunity in front of me. After talking it over with my coach and agent, we all decided that I would be kicking myself if I didn’t go and they hit the standard in this race.

This is where the chasing of the standard really began. As you can tell from that last sentence, I didn’t hit the time in Waltham, running 3:37.57. Just under 1 second off the standard of 3:36.60. Another opportunity came knocking at my door the next weekend, a 1500 in Indy. Again, I thought to myself, it’s better to be in the race then sitting at home watching these guys run fast. I jumped on another plane the following weekend and found myself racing another 1500. Again, which was never on my original schedule.

The race…

Next up was the American Milers Club meeting in Indianapolis. Indy didn’t go so well. Alan Webb raced the 800 then decided to come back afterwards and pace through 1200 of the 1500. Great! This would be perfect for us. Unfortunately I found myself in 3rd behind Webb and Lukezic but was uncomfortable from the beginning. With 500 to go I felt like I was all out but I was able to hang on for another lap. With 150 to go I felt my legs basically lock and by 100 to go I stepped off the track. I’ve never dropped out of a race before but this was the accumulation of the last couple of weeks of chasing a standard. I’m sure I could have mustered it out to finish but knowing I was going to run 3:38-39 once again was too hard to take and mentally I stepped out.

Here we go again…

A week later was the Harry Jerome meet. Not only was I mentally tired, at this point I was physically beat down. Every weekend I found myself flying out to a new place to race. I would get back to Ann Arbor for a couple days, get in a workout and immediately fly out. At Jerome Ryan McKenzie and Kevin Sullivan agreed to pace and help me hit m standard. McKenzie was a little ambitious upfront and we covered the first 600 in 1:23. Automatically, when seeing this split, I mentally lost it because I knew we were too fast. I tried pulling it together and with 300 to go Taylor Milne passed me and I followed him. Coming into the final 100 I was still in second but felt like a gorilla jumped on my back. I finished the race in 3:38.80, which marked up another ‘B’ standard.

Next up, the Olympic Trials

Going into the Canadian Olympic Trials there was no denying what I had to do and what I went there to do. Everyone in the race knew I was going for my Olympic ‘A’ standard, I was just hoping someone would step up and offer some help. This is exactly what happened. Kurt Benninger came up to me before the semi’s and said, "you still want to go for it?" I replied, "yeah, but I’m going to wait for the final." We agreed that I would take the first 600 and he would take the next 600 and just race from 1200 on. I had been preparing to go from the gun in hopes of hitting the time solo and this offered a lot of relief.

I got us out and came through 400 in a cruising 56. I felt great. Then was 1:25 at 600. Kurt swung wide and took the lead down the homestretch but unfortunately we slowed. I had decided before the race that I would focus on my splits and from that point on just let the race happen and assume we were on pace. I found myself too focused on times this year and it played a major role mentally in my races. With 400 to go, I was about to swing wide and pass Kurt as Milne pulled up on my outside. I found myself boxed in and was just hoping Milne would either take it, or let me out since he knew I was going for the time. This wasn’t the case, I was stuck. I didn’t care so much about the place, I was just after a top 3 finish and a time under 3:36.60. At 300 Sully stared moving up beside me and I knew I wasn’t getting boxed in by him as well and made a big move to the lead. With 100 to go I was still leading, I didn’t lose the lead until 70-80 meters to go as Milne powered down the homestretch winning in 3:38.03, with me following in 2nd at 3:38.52, and Sully 3rd in 3:39.42. Although the time didn’t come, I walked off the track happy I at least gave it a go. I give a lot of credit to Kurt, he really stepped up to the plate and I owe him a lot of respect for that.

The extension...

I was granted an extension to hit my Olympic standard until July 22nd. The extension was based on a medical appeal because of the training I lost as a result of my back surgery. After Nationals I decided to go back to Ann Arbor, get some good training and rest in then race in Paris on July 18th. I awoke Tuesday morning to an email from my agent asking me to call him as soon as I got the message. The call was to ask if I could fly out that night and race Rome Friday. I said I would have to talk it over with Ron. After going back and fourth we decided I needed to be in Europe anyways so might as well give myself 2 chances instead of 1. The plan was to race Rome, upon hitting the standard go immediately back to the US. If I didn’t get the time in this race, I would race Paris the following weekend. Things worked out and I came out of the race with a qualifying time for the Olympics and a new PR in the 1500 of 3:34.65. I ran the race very conservatively and just want to be under 3:36.60. I stayed close to the back and never made any moves while the whole time feeling great. I came out of the race with 3 things, a ticket to Beijing, a new PR, and the confidence I knew was there but lost along the way.

It’s been an interesting year but I now sit here, writing this, reflecting on how amazing it is that everything worked out.