matt http://www.runnerspace.com/profile.php?member_id=41 Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:51:50 +0000 ross@runnerspace.com (Ross) 60 matt http://www.runnerspace.com/members/avatar/2352.jpg http://www.runnerspace.com/profile.php?member_id=41 Blog - 10 Keys to Being a Good Pace Maker / Rabbit 10 Keys to Being a Good Pace Maker / Rabbit

On Sunday I am the pace setter for the 800m at the Prefontaine Classic. The field is arguably one of the best group of 800m runners ever assembled on US soil. Below are my 10 Keys to Pacing a Ridiculous 800m Field. Hopefully this will help out runners of all events that are going to or are thinking about pacing a race.

1. Don't forget your spikes. Running fast and in the front wearing your trainers will only turn out bad. You'll feel like you're running in sand on the beach before its over. It will also make your feet look huge compared to the other runners.

2. Check the meet schedule the night before the race. Sometimes things change and event staff will be worried most with the athletes that are competing before they think of the pace setter. So it's best to check on this yourself. Being late to the start line or missing the race all together is not good for your career.

3. Don't lean across the line at your stopping point. Not only will this look awkward but studies show that 15% of time runners that lean/lunge across the line fall. If you fall as a pacer you will definitely be trampled by everyone behind you. That can get very ugly ... and bloody.

4. Get off the track quickly. Remember that other runners are right behind you the whole time. So don't slow down in lane one, or lane two for that matter. When your job is done move so far out of the paths of runners so that the only possible way you'd get in the way would be on the winner's victory lap out in lane 8.

5. Keep to the time. Just do your job and run the pace. If the pace is 60 sec laps, don't go out in 56 and come back in 64. For one, that makes the real runners look bad, and two, you're not helping anyone. Also people may start referring to you as Kevin Elliott..

6. Keep your eyes forward and pay attention. We all know you could go farther and you feel comfortable with the pace. So don't showboat like you are winning or try to make it look extra easy by waving to your girlfriend while you're rounding the curve. Again, that can only end badly with a fall or pissing off the meet director.

7. Look presentable. Yeah, you aren't out there to set a personal best or try to beat people but you will still be the face of the race for a while. If the meet is on TV your face will most likely be front and center. So shave your face, shampoo your hair, wear your race makeup (for girls), or do whatever you need to look presentable. Who knows, you may start getting fan mail.

8. Don't put your hands on your knees or lay down on the track after you pull out. If you didn't notice, everyone else in the race ran just as hard as you and kept going farther. In fact, the race is still going on so act like it didn't hurt. Stay upright, sign some autographs, and pretend like you aren't breathing hard. This will help you get more pacing duties and even more fan mail.

9. Be prepared not to be thanked. Everyone in the race is there to win and only one can. So there may only be one happy person after the race and he/she may be giving media interviews afterwards. That leaves a bunch of other runners meandering around the post-race tent, most of which probably could find something you did wrong that hurt their race. If you want a pat on the back, call your mom afterwards.

10. Don't finish the race. If you do it may be your last pacing job ever. Stick to the plan.

]]> Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:04:00 +0000 Photo - Total Sports Management ]]> Fri, 22 May 2009 14:17:07 +0000 Blog - Puerto Rico Trip - 5/22/09 Last weekend I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend in the Carribbean in Ponce (pronounced Ponse-say) in Puerto Rico. The meet hotel was a Hilton resort, golf course, and casino, definitely a vacation destination hotel. It was sort of out by itself on what had to be at least 60 acres of land so I didn't get to do much outside of that area. But the hotel was right on the coast so there was almost no need to go anywhere else.

The day before the meet I went to the stadium to get credentials and do my pre meet workout. In the van on the way over was Dwain Chambers; he seems like a nice guy. I did the first half of my pre-meet in the rain. The difference is that this was 75-degree rain, not Oregon's 40-degree rain. So it wasn't too bad. It's very humid here too. I can definitely tell I'm in the tropics. The scenery and landscape here are amazing too. Looking one way I can see the sea and the other the mountains on the inner part of the island. I can see why people vacation and honeymoon to the Caribbean.

That night I had the hotel seafood buffet. It was pretty amazing. They had alot of different kinds of fresh seafood. The crab was probably the best. There was also whole fried snapper... it was definitely whole, eyes and all. I should have taken a picture of that. I also had probably some of the best clam chowder too. Clams and muscles deserve an honorable mention as well.

Ponce, Puerto RicoThe weather on the day of the race was perfect. We ran at 8:45pm so the wind had died down and the humidity was very low. They had tried to find us a rabbit but by the time the race came around we learned that there wasn't one. And partially for that reason, the raace wend out in a pedestrian 52.5 for the first lap. I was in the middle of the pack so was probably about 53.0 for my first lap. Then I started a string of stupid mistakes. I started picking it up around the first curve of the second lap. That is ok but I probalby moved a little too hard from getting panicked about the slow pace. Then with 300m to go I let myself get sucked into a couple people's moves. I am usually not strong enough to start kicking with 300m to go. This race was no different. At the 200m mark I thought I still felt pretty good and made my real move to try and catch Jonathon Johnson, who was 5-6 meters in front of me. Again, not a good idea when it is my third move in a 200m span. I should have kept my pace and kicked with 120m to go. But I didn't and because of that I started running out of gas with 30 meters left and got passed a few meters before the line for a 3rd place finish.

My time was 1:48.02, which to be honest, isn't good at all. I feel like I'm in 1:45 shape right now. But I can only do so much with a 53 first lap. So I didn't really care about the time, it is irrelevant. What was important was being in the race mentally and being competitive, which I was. What I wasn't happy with was my tactics. I've been beating myself up for the last several days for not racing smarter. But, you live and you learn and hopefully I learned and won't make that mistake again.

Check out some of the photos I took over the weekend here.

]]> Fri, 22 May 2009 13:22:00 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 23:20:02 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 16:13:08 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 16:13:06 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 16:13:03 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 16:13:01 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 16:12:58 +0000 Photo - Ponce, Puerto Rico ]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 16:12:56 +0000 Blog - Matt Scherer - Oregon Twilight Recap - 5/13/09 This week I have a more legitamate excuse for not writing a blog on, say, Monday. The fact is that I actually did write a blog on Monday and I was about to add one more link to it and press submit when my Firefox browser crashed and I lost it. This time I wrote it on my Stickies App on my computer and then just copied and pasted into the blog. Much safer! So without further delay, here goes my blog.

Last weekend was my triumphant return to the 400m at Hayward Field in Eugene, OR. The last time I ran a 400 at Hayward was when I won the Pac-10 Championships in 2006 with my still lifetime PR of 45.19 (video below). I have ran a hand full of 400's since that time but none at Hayward.

My main competition for this race was 4x400 anchor aficionado Chad Barlow. I was actually a little nervous about racing him head to head. At the Oregon UCLA Dual meet he set a PR at 46.7 or so and I hadn't ran sub 47 for over a year. But on Friday, the day before the meet, I took 6-7 block starts and my confidence was back. I got out of the blocks extremely well and the race was over in about 15 meters. I powered through the final 100m to cross the line in 46.59 (video below) - about 1.25 seconds ahead of Barlow and a new meet record. What I enjoyed most about the race was my victory lap. It was almost like a homecoming for me to hear people clapping and cheering for me as a 400m runner.

i also ran a pretty non-chalant leg of a non-chalant 4x400 relay. I split 46.9 as our team won in 3:12.13 (video below). Even though we weren't out there running really fast it was still good enough for a new meet record. I thought that was strange until I remembered that while at Oregon we never ran this meet because Pac-10's is the following week.

Puerto RicoIn all it was a good day. The objective was to get in a really good speed workout and I definitely did that. Now I am looking forward to this weekend where I am running the 800m in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It should be a fun little trip except the weather forecast shows rain the entire time I'm there. The picture to the right is from the Hilton hotel website where I am staying. Pretty nice huh?

Check out my website Saturday/Sunday for updates on my race. And also be sure to vote on my poll to predict what time I will run. Here are some links of interest:

VIDEO - Oregon Twilight 400m - 46.59

VIDEO - Oregon Twilight 4x400m relay - 3:12.13

VIDEO - Oregon Twilight Interview

VIDEO - 2006 Pac-10 400m - 45.19

LINK - Ponce Grand Prix de Atletismo (Meet Website)

]]> Thu, 14 May 2009 02:31:00 +0000 Video - Mens 400 Heat 1 - Oregon Twilight 2009 ]]> Sun, 10 May 2009 03:08:44 +0000 Blog - Matt Scherer - Penn Relays Recap - 5/4/09 I am definately a week late in updating my blog with a recap of last Saturday's Penn Relays. Each time I thought about writing this over the past week something else entered my mind. Here is my list of 5 reasons it took me 9 days to write a blog:

1. I got back from my trip and had almost no food in my house so I spent the time trying to create new foods by combining whatever I had left. A few of those meal creations included tuna tacos, pancakes and rice, nesquick-flavored pancakes, and instant potatoes and toast. Eventually I did go to the store and am back eating normal and healthy now. i may keep the nesquick pancakes.

2. It has been raining non-stop in Eugene since my return so I've been unmotivated to do anything but watch B-Movies on free On-Demand. I was really surprised about how many of those movies Dennis Quaid is in!

3. After a great run at Penn I got so motivated to continue training that I've been sleeping in the weight room so that I can get to work sooner in the morning and don't waste time getting ready in the morning and driving to the weight room. I did find that neither the plates or the med balls make good pillows. I ended up putting two padded benches together for a bed. It has paid off though. I am now dead lifting 300 lbs in 2 sets of 5.

4. I volunteered at a local soup kitchen last week for 40 hours to fill a community service order from a jaywalking ticket crossing the street to the courthouse to go to jury duty. Pretty ironic huh? I made a few friends though. Jay is a war vet and has had a hard time with alcoholism for the past 30 years. He is really smart and I like discussing the economy with him. I invited him over for pancakes and rice but he passed for some reason...

5. I spent over an hour every night on the phone with one of my friends explaining what a DMR was and why it looked like I was jogging around the track not catching up to Khadevis Robinson and Gary Reed. My friend couldn't grasp the concept that I ran an event that wasn't in the Olympics or the fact that since I'm bigger than all the other 800m runners, why I couldn't catch all of them like Usain Bolt can. It was very hard to try to explain why running relaxed works in a distance race to run your best time. Even after almost 8 hours of conversation I'm not very positive that I got the point across, and I have a feeling that I'll get the same questions again after my next race.

So there are my reasons for postponing this blog until tonight. Now I'll give you the recap of my Penn Relays experience.

This was my first time competing for Team USA. That in itself made it a very special experience and hope there will be many more of those times over the next several years. The travel to Philadelphia went really well after my one-hour delay out of Eugene was cancelled. That was the first time I've ever had a flight go from a delay to on-time.

Friday, the day before the race, I picked up my Team USA gear kit at the hotel and discovered that they had mistakenly given my the little distance running shorts instead of my requested half tights. There was a team meeting that night to go over teams and logistics so I took my shorts to exchange them after the meeting. During the meeting I found out that I would be on the USA White team with Christian Smith (1200), Kelliw Willie (400), and Lopez Lomong (mile) - a pretty darn good team. After the meeting we rummaged through the uniform boxes to discover there were no half tights. There are also only red and blue colored speed suits so I was stuck with the little distance shorts. Even though I run the 800, I definitely do not have a distance runner's body. To say the least, I was not very excited about going out in front of 40,000 people in my short shorts. I took that night to just relax and the next morning I decided to man up and accept my short shorts and just go out there and do my thing.

Being part of the USA vs the World part of the Penn Relays gives you some VIP treatment. One of those is you get to warm up on the infield. That was especially cool since I was in the middle of my warmup when they ran the boys high school 4x100 championship race where a team from Jamaica ran 39.91 and the crowd just went crazy, especially the 15,000+ Jamaicans in the crowd. The warm up went well and I was pretty relaxed for the race until I got onto the track. I watched the first lap of the 1200 and started to feel myself get a little nervous. So I stopped watching the race until I was on the line and saw Kelly Willie about 50 meters away. By that time I was in my race zone and was anything but nervous.

I got the baton in 3rd place about 10-12 meters back from USA Blue and Canada. I take off with the intention of maintaining the gap to the two 1:43 800m runners in front of me. About 200m into the race the Kenyan runner moves in front of me. That gave me someone to pace off of and so I kept on his heels until about 200m to go and tried to put the hammer down. I passed him back on the turn and gave it all I had the last 75 meters. By the time I got to Lomong, I could barely lift my arm to give him the baton. That thing felt like it weighed 40 pounds. At that point I moved off the track and tried to find some water and recover a little bit. I looked up with two laps to go to see Lomong in the lead. I thought that would give us a chance at the very least so I was happy I had kept it close enough. The Canadian and Kenyan anchors rand around 3:51 miles and was just a little too much for Lomong but he still split around a 3:54 and we finished 3rd, beating the other USA Blue team.

After the race I cooled down and had to go straight to the airport to catch a flight back home. At the airport I talked to my coach over the phone and he told me that I had split 1:45.79. That time is .3 faster than my personal best. So to run that fast in April is a great sign that Coach Rowland and I are on the right track. I am still in a pretty tough training phase now so when I start to taper in June I don't think I'll be so surprised when I'm running even faster but for this early in the season, that is great.

Of course I was super pumped and told a bunch of people but in reality it doesn't mean much in the scheme of the season. There will be many other times when I'll need to run at least that fast. If I'm not running fast in June, July, and August then this race won't matter at all. But it does give me a big confidence boost right now and I feel like I should be able to go out and run at least in the 1:46's my next race out.

Here are some things you might find interesting from my Penn Relays weekend:

Race VIDEO of my 800m leg

 

Results

PL Affiliation Mark Athletes ID
1 logoKenya 9:22.04 Frederick Musyoki Ndunge (2:57.53), Thomas Musembi (46.10), Jackson Kivuna (1:45.62), Josephat Kithii (3:52.79) KEN
2 logoCanada 9:22.05 Matthew Lincoln (2:56.64), Tyler Christopher (45.34), Gary Reed (1:45.73), Nate Brannen (3:54.34) CAN
3 logoUSA White 9:23.65 Christian Smith (2:57.51), Kelly Willie (45.84), Matt Scherer (1:45.79), Lopez Lomong (3:54.51) USA-w
4 logoUSA Blue 9:24.43 Leo Manzano (2:57.40), Xavier Carter (44.94), Khadevis Robinson (1:44.04), Evan Jager (3:58.05) USA-b
5 logoAustralia 9:36.64 Craig Huffer (2:58.39), John Steffensen (45.20), Nick Bromley (1:49.12), Ryan Gregson (4:03.93) AUS
6 logoFrance 9:50.66 Jamel Aarass (2:58.73), Bruno Naprix (46.89), Driss Yousif (1:55.43), Nouredine Smail (4:09.61) FRA

 

Photos

  

]]> Tue, 05 May 2009 02:29:00 +0000 Blog - Running Too Fast... Matt Scherer 4/5/09 This past week has been a little bit rough for me training-wise. It began last Saturday at the Arizona State invitational where I ran the 400m and anchored the 4x400m relay. I guess actually it started earlier than that. In the 3 weeks leading up to that meet my training has been very base heavy. I was basically training like a 1500m runner, doing lots of tempo and aerobic based workouts. So going into the meet I was better prepared for a 1200 than an 800m. But, it was a good opportunity to get a great speed workout in.

In the 400m I got every bit of speed I could handle in running a 47.06. My hamstrings were toast after that. I had over an hour until the 4x400 so I did what I could to make sure my muscles would be ok. I got a massage from Frank, an ASU trainer (who did a great job, thanks!), and did the heating pad routine before warming up agian for the relay. Our relay's goal was to stay competitive and not get blown out of the water. The other 3 guys did a great job and I got the baton in 4th about 10m behind Illinois and 15m behind Arizona State. I am like a kid with candy when I get the baton in a 4x400. I went out and caught up to both of those teams at the halfway mark and on the curve I moved around ASU. The last 100m was pretty uneventful except ASU came back on me in the last 20m. I split 45.7 which I was completely surprised with. Evidently all I need is a little adrenaline and somebody to chase and I can still run a decent relay leg. We ran 3:08.6 as a team which is a club record by 2 seconds. 3:08 is a really good time for a college time this early in the season, so for 4 800m guys who have been doing mostly strength work, that is an excellent time.

Ok, so back to what I was originally writing about. After the meet I was dead. I slept like a baby that night and the next night, and really ever since then. Each day I had to drag myself out of bed in the morning. Workouts have gradually gotten better throughout the week but I have definitely had a rough time getting my body recovered from the races. Aerobic workouts haven't been much of a problem but my muscles weren't lasting long in anaerobic work. It wasn't until Friday when I finally felt 100% again. Then I came back strong Satturday with very solid double day of workouts.

Looking back, I know I ran faster than my body was ready for but I definitely don't regret it. I go out in every race with the intention of leaving it all on the track. I mean, why go out there if you are going to coast in and jog across the line? That's not me anyway. The good news is that I got some amazing speed work in for early in the season. With all the improvements I'm making in strength over the past year, all I'll need is a little bit of speed work to draw on that 45.1 speed I used to have to have a breakout year and do some special things. If I were to run that hard again this weekend it would only take a couple days to recover. By the time the season comes into full swing I'll be doing a workout after running 1:46's. So even though I ran faster than my body was ready for this past weekend, I can say that I'm right on schedule in my training and am on pace to have a great year.

This Thursday I'll be leaving the beautiful weather of Tucson, AZ and heading back to the hopefully dry Eugene, OR. Then a couple more weeks of training before heading to the Penn Relays to run an 800m leg on the USA Distance Medley Relay Team. Check out the Competitions section of my site for my full outdoor schedule. I am updating it as soon as I get confirmations from meets.

 

Arizona State university Videos:

400m

4x400m Relay

]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:11:00 +0000 Video - Matt Scherer High School 400m 46.67 - Harrisburg, IL ]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:32:20 +0000 Comment - matt Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:27:26 +0000 News - Foam Rolling For Runners FOAM ROLLING FOR RUNNERS Try these exercises to help prevent injury and improve performance By Lara Rosenbaum PUBLISHED 02/20/2007

Using a foam roller can provide similar benefits as deep-tissue massage. By increasing flexibility and decreasing muscle tension, it can help prevent injury and improve performance. Make the following foam-roller exercises part of your regular running routine--run, roll, then stretch. Place your body on the roller and slowly roll up and down (for about 10-15 seconds) along the muscle group you are targeting. If you find a particularly tight area, pause on that spot. Putting pressure on a tight area can help release the tissue.]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:55:44 +0000 News - Why Running Is Good For Your Joints THE BENEFITS OF RUNNING Running makes us well-oiled machines--ankles, knees, and hips included. By Judi Ketteler PUBLISHED 10/25/2007

"What about your knees? how are your knees?" chances are, you've fielded those questions more than once. Not from physicians, exercise physiologists, or physical therapists but from nonrunning friends and family members who assume that pavement pounding wreaks havoc on our bodies and that we'll all eventually need knee replacements and motorized scooters because of our arthritic joints.]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:53:17 +0000 News - Evolution of a Shoe

PICK UP ANY SHOE IN THE BOWERMAN SERIES.  At first you might think it’s just a shoe, just like any other.  A closer look reveals that there’s a great deal going on.  Why is the rubber in a specific formation?  Why does the upper have seams here and not there?  What the heck is a crash pad and why does it look like it does?  Here is a step by step process of how a shoe in the Bowerman Series is built!

]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:41:49 +0000 Comment - matt Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:45:53 +0000 Comment - matt Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:19:33 +0000 Video - Men 200 - EWE Cuxhaven Meet - John Capel ]]> Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Video - Women 200 Heat 2 - Cuxhaven EWE Meet - Donita Harmon ]]> Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Video - Women 200 Heat 1 - Cuxhaven EWE Meet - Tangela Neal ]]> Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000