It takes a special breed to run the 3,200

It’s a well-known fact in track & field circles that distance runners are, well, kind of their own breed. It’s actually something most of them take pride in.

Take the 3,200-meter run, for instance. Eight laps around the track, four left turns per lap, and a solid 9 minutes or more of the same scenery, the same competitors, the same aches and pains over and over again.

What would possess someone to go through that?

"I think you have to be a little crazy to run distance races," Newman senior Quincy Coomes said. "You actually have to like pushing yourself past your limits, and have the mental toughness to talk yourself into
building the endurance it takes
to be successful."

"You definitely have to be crazy to actually keep going around and around the track for eight laps," Sterling sophomore Dewey Landis echoed. "It's just a different mindset, more thinking about the race than just running your heart out. You have to be mentally
prepared to run a 3,200."

That’s really what sets the 2-milers apart from their teammates.

With so much time to think throughout the course of that one race, you have to be able to focus and concentrate for extended periods of time on what you’re doing.

The easiest way to do that is to break up the race into smaller races. While keeping the end of the race in the back of their minds, 3,200 runners will often run mini-races during the course of the eight laps.

“In a long race, you definitely have to give yourself little goals during the race if you want to do well,” Newman sophomore Chris Ahlers said. “Maybe you stay with one pack through the first two laps, set a time where you want to be after 800 meters or a mile, figure out where you want to be place-wise after six laps, then work off the guys in front of you or next to you as things spread out.

“Breaking things down into shorter distances and times is a good way to run the 3,200.”

Pack running is often the key, especially for teams that have a veritable stable of distance runners like the Comets. It’s a lot easier to keep pace when you’re running with someone, as opposed to keeping that pace when you’re all by yourself.

“You definitely lean on the people you’re running with,” Newman senior Drew Rosengren said. “They’re opponents, but they’re struggling with the same thing in their head and their body as you are as everybody’s going around and around. You kind of feed off each other until the end, and that’s when the competitiveness comes out.”

It’s no surprise, therefore, that in a sport where camaraderie often carries past team and school affiliations, that distance runners seem to be the most friendly and supportive with the competitors they just spent the last several minutes trying to beat.

“You make a lot of new friends at every track meet, and that’s why I love it,” Coomes said. “We all just experienced the same kind of hell, the same kind of pain, and we all finished. That’s a fun accomplishment to share.”

The draw to the 3,200 is different for everybody who does it. Most of the distance runners in track are also cross country runners, and many actually prefer the challenge and terrain of the 5K races to taking eight laps around a track.

It’s also a chance for kids who may not be naturally as fast to make a name for themselves on a track team.

“Some kids are speed, some are more endurance,” Newman senior Bryson Reyes said, “but to do a 3,200, that’s mainly just the people who really like the longer cross-country length race. I find myself as more of an endurance kind of guy, and the longer races are a lot more to my comfort.”

There’s also a lot of “self reward,” as Ahlers calls it, in the distance races. Unlike the shorter races where time can usually only be shaved off in seconds or tenths of seconds, it’s a lot easier to see the improvements when times can drop by 10, 20, even 30 or more seconds every time a runner takes the track.

“I like the fact that you really get to see how you improve over the season, and the years,” Coomes said. “You can really see the times coming down, sometimes in a big way, and you start to know your potential and see where you can go with it.”

The mental aspect seems to be the biggest draw to the 3,200. While it’s tough physically to run at top speed for so long, it’s even harder to keep your mind from wandering.

“Sometimes you get to look up at the crowd, and you see about the same person, watch what they’re doing every lap you go by,” Rosengren joked. “It kind of breaks the monotony of left turn-run, left-turn run.”

All joking aside, the mental toughness it takes to gut out 3,200 meters is what drives distance runners more than anything else. The thought of posting a personal best time, or winning the next race, or beating a rival who seems to get you every time, that’s what pushes runners to continually pound the pavement and find that little something extra in themselves.

“When you’re tired in the middle of the race, the third quarter of the race, that’s just when you’ve got to tell yourself you can do it,” Reyes said. “If you’ve trained properly, your body can handle it, and it’s just being able to mentally tell yourself that you can take it.”

Seems the key to running a 3,200 is to not panic. No matter how you’re feeling going into a particular race, or how poorly a planned strategy might be working, there’s plenty of time to figure out something new and adjust on the fly.

“It’s nice to have so much time to make up for a bad start or a bad early stretch,” Landis said. “In the sprints, if you get out of the blocks bad, your whole entire race is ruined. But in the 3,200, you put together a plan, and even if it’s not working for that race, you have plenty of time to find the little secrets of that specific race that will help you beat the other runners.”

Still, even though each race is its own entity – and sometimes one race can take on different styles on different laps – it always helps to have a game plan. While every runner has a different preference – some go to the front, others stay back a bit and bide their time – there is still that final stretch that looms in the back of the runners’ minds.

The generalization when it comes to strategy in the 3,200: discretion the better part of valor.

“It’s going out at the right pace, not super-fast, but fast enough to stay with the pack,” Ahlers said. “A lot of people misjudge how long the race is and how fast they have to go early on, and get to the mile mark and still have half the race left. You have to be conservative and tactical, and not drain yourself mentally or physically so you can have that kick at the end.”

As with any event, it’s an ever-evolving process of learning how to be your best. It’s just that in the 3,200, eight laps is a long time to pinpoint one specific secret to success.

“I don’t know what the secret is,” Rosengren said with a wide smile, “but when I find out, I’ll tell you.”

Secret to the 3,200

• Really, it’s not psyching yourself out. With eight laps to think about what you’re doing, there are a lot of idle thoughts that can distract you, and strategy and tactics come into play more than in any other event. Breaking the race into smaller increments, and setting goals for yourself throughout the course of the race helps with focus and concentration. Pace is the biggest key, as you have to run fast enough to stay with the pack, but not so fast that you don’t have enough left in the tank for the homestretch.