Reagan finishes 2nd in 100K USATF championship
So what did Patrick Reagan decide to do as an encore after running in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials in mid-February?
Compete in the USATF 100K Road National Championships in early April, naturally.
Not only did the 2005 Albert Gallatin graduate compete in the 62.1-mile distance race, Reagan finished second with one of the fastest times on record by a North American runner.
But, back to the marathon trials.
Reagan, who enters his fifth year as the head cross country and track & field coach at Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design, an NAIA school, earned his way into the Olympic marathon trials in Los Angeles on Feb. 13 by reaching the qualifying standard in the Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon in early January.
Reagan completed the 13.1-mile course in 1:04.29 (4:55 pace) to finish 12th overall to earn his spot in the trials.
Fellow Slippery Rock University graduate and teammate Jeff Weiss (McGuffey) also competed in the marathon trials.
Reagan was a a two-time All-American in cross country for The Rock and helped the team to ninth place in the NCAA Division II Championships in 2007. He placed ninth in the 2004 WPIAL Class AAA Cross Country Championship and was third in the district finals in the 1,600 the following spring.
Reagan was seeded 124th coming into the Olympic marathon trials, but shined in the 26.2-mile race by placing 33rd overall with a time of 2:23:30.
Galen Rupp (2:11:12), Meb Keflezighi (2:12:20), and Jared Ward (2:13:00) were the top three finishers and earned berths to the Olympic marathon squad.
Reagan averaged 5:29 per mile in the race with his half marathon split at 1:10:04, so he had a pretty consistent race. He was 78th at the halfway point and moved up through the pack on the back half of the course.
“My experience went very well considering it was my first time,” explained Reagan. “(The heat) was not ideal conditions for the human body. I fared well on the back half.
“It was a good experience.”
So, two months after Reagan crossed the finish line in the marathon trial, he toed the line for the Mad City 100K, the home of this year’s Road National Championships.
Reagan finished second with a time of 6:35:56 (6:22 pace) for the seventh-fastest time by a North American athlete at that distance. The course was a 10K loop around Lake Wingra with a rise of about 87 feet.
Geoffrey Burns, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, won with a time of 6:30:37. Mike Bialick, of Minnetonka, Minnesota, was a distant third with a time of 7:15:54.9.
“(The 100K) was a natural progression for me. My focus was on qualifying for the U.S. marathon trials. Most of my training was three or four long runs (a week),” said Reagan.
“It was my debut at 100K. I ran really well. I had the seventh-fastest time by a North American.”
According to Reagan, moving up to a 62-mile race wasn’t the quantum leap many would think it would be for him.
“It’s in my tool box, my comfort zone,” said Reagan.
The conditions in Madison, Wisconsin, in early April were opposite of those in Los Angeles in February.
“It is pretty darn cold in April,” Reagan said of the race temperature in Wisconsin.
Although the ultra distance race is well over two marathons, Reagan said preparing for the race was merely an extension of his marathon training.
“It’s not necessarily a ton more volume. There’s more specificity, specific work and threshold work,” explained Reagan. “The long runs tend to be a little longer. I trained in the mountains in Tennessee.
“I was doing continuous thresholds, like a marathon. I did interval training, hill repeats. It’s mind over matter.”
As for the mental aspect, Reagan said, “At the 4-hour mark, I had 2½ hours to go. It was more mentally (draining) than physical.”
So what does one think about or do on a 6-plus hour run?
“So much of the time I was consciously thinking when to eat or drink water. I have a mathematical mind. It was one step at a time. I think it’s like a derivative for me.”
Running a great distance involves not only the physical planning and training to cover over 62 miles, but also other aspects such as hydration, fueling the body, and when to take a bathroom break during the 6-hour race.
“It progressively gets harder as you go,” said Reagan. “You have to be careful not to dump your energy in the first half of the race. I’m a pretty disciplined runner. I had water prepared, gel packs and little snacks.
“I found it a little tough at the 60K mark (37.3 miles). You have to be careful until you have 15K to go. You’re not out of the woods yet.”
Reagan continued, “The 70K mark (43.5 miles) was new territory for me. I had to trick my mind and think about the next 5K.”
Reagan hopes to run another 100K this year as a member of the United States team at the IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) 100K World Championships on Dec. 4 in Los Alacazeres, Spain.
There are four criteria for selection of up to six runners to the men’s team for the world championships: Top 10 at the 2015 World Championship 100K (no automatic selection); Winner of the U.S. National Championship (Burns, Mad City 100K, 6:30:37); Top American in Top 15 at 2015 IAU World Championship (Joe Binder, 6:58:04); and Time in 50-mile/100K. Reagan has the best time in this criterion, holding a 23-minute edge over Zach Bittner.
Reagan’s time gives him serious credentials to be one of the men selected to the USATF 100K Team.
He is scheduled to run in the 2016 USATF 50K Trail Championships in Muir Beach, California, on Aug. 27 and the 2016 USATF Half Marathon Trail Championships in Bellingham, Washington, on Oct. 15.
In the meantime, Reagan will continue his training and preparing for the 2016 cross country season. In his first four seasons, Reagan has coached 42 cross country runners that qualified for the NAIA National Championships, including one All-American, and another 21 for the track & field national meet, with four earning All-America status.
“The program’s come a long way, especially the women,” said Reagan, who is the only full-time coach for the program.