Meet Report: 2023 Colorado Invitational

Yesterday, I competed at CU Boulder’s Colorado Invitational. I got into the meet by the skin of my teeth: the entry standards for unattached athletes were very stringent at 6.80 for the 60 and 21.41 for the 200. Thankfully, the 22.25 I ran last weekend converts to an outdoor 21.40, and the meet director was kind enough to allow me to race.

Training leading up to the meet was almost nonexistent: I was in Denver all week for Vesta’s winter offsite, and I wasn’t able to find a good track to work out on. Between the lack of training and stacking a few nights of bad hotel sleep, I wasn’t expecting great times in the meet.

My first race was at 4:30pm; I showed up to the track around 9am to get in the pre-meet workout that I would normally do the day before. That workout confirmed that I wasn’t super sharp—I struggled to get a cohesive block start.

I don’t think I recovered super well from the pre-meet—by the time I warmed up to race, my calves and hip flexors were slightly sore.

60m prelims: 6.91 (video)

• I stumbled in both of my practice starts, but not in the actual race. That said, I did come out a little flat—probably the worst start I’ve had in competition this year.
• I intended to come upright a little quicker than last week, at 20-25m instead of 30-35m, with the idea that I’d spend more time at max velocity. While I did execute here, my actual max velocity didn’t feel great today.
• 6.91 ties the second-fastest indoor 60 I’ve ever run.
• I took third in my heat and had the seventh-fastest overall time, which qualified me for the finals.

60m finals: 6.92 (video)

• I was excited to have a really good race here, and I’m disappointed to have come back slower than the prelims.
• My reaction time was worse than my competitors, and my start was similar to the last race—just not quite at the bar I’ve set for myself this year.
• Because of my poor start, I lost touch with the other racers early on, and my max speed isn’t yet good enough to come back from an early deficit.
• Despite all that, 6.92 is faster than all the indoor 60s I ran last year (the only 60 I ran faster last year was outdoors with a tailwind). I also managed to beat my seed and finish 6th in the finals.

200m: 21.84 (video)

• I was tired going into the 200. My calves only got more sore and unresponsive as the meet went on.
• Because of the fatigue, I ran scared. I didn’t take the start out nearly as hard as I should have and quickly found myself in a hole.
• I was able to make up a lot of ground through the curve and final straight, but finished with energy to spare. I’ll have to be much more aggressive in the remaining races I have.
• 21.84 is an indoor PR for me: Boulder has a 300m track, and the 22.25 I ran last week on a flat 200m track converts to a 21.85 on a banked or oversized track.
• I finished third in my heat and ninth overall.

Overall, while the absolute times I hit were close to PRs, I’m frustrated that I was well off my best. I’ll have to make sure I’m sharp for the final indoor opportunities I have this year.

Next up for me is the Bobcat Performance Meet in Bozeman on February 10th.