About Hometown Hopefuls Hometown Hopefuls follows Atlanta Track Club Elite Team members Abe Alvarado, Brandon Lasater, Keturah Orji, Yolanda Ngarambe, Jarryd Wallace and Allie Wilson as they continue their journey toward Olympic glory. Be there every step of the way from training camp to the Olympic Trials and to Tokyo with every workout, every split, athlete reflections and coaches' comments too. Six athletes. Six months. Six shots.
Lasater reflects on his training period between April 26 - May 9 in this post. To learn more about Lasaterclick here.
Workouts for the Week: April 26-May 2
Monday: 12 miles on the day at the river at 6:47 average. Today was actually meant to be 8 miles but I hadn’t checked the workout plan since it had been changed following the home meet. Overall kept it pretty light so it shouldn’t make much of a difference.
Tuesday: 10 miles on the day. Workout with Avery at the track was 5 x 400m with 90 seconds rest then 5x200 with 75 seconds rest. Splits were 66, 64, 67, 66, 61, 30, 29, 29, 25, 24. 3 something miles in the evening to hit 10 on the day.
Wednesday: 6 miles easy around my house.
Thursday: 4 miles easy once we got the Jacksonville plus strides. Rooming with Avery on this trip. Race plan tomorrow is for me to take it out the first 400m-500m then have Avery go around me.
Friday: 2 mile shakeout. Pretty warm in Florida. Race was 1:49.9 so ever so slight improvement. Led the first 500m then was passed by a few people. Made up some ground in the last 100m but shouldn’t have let a gap form in the first place. Workout afterwards was 10x1 min with 30 seconds jog then some hard strides.
Saturday: Off day. Travel back to Atlanta.
Sunday: 8 miles easy around my house. No watch today.
Commentary and Reflection of the Week: April 26-May 2
Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: April 26-May 2
Brandon’s race was rained out last week, so we quickly decided to go to Florida for another race. It was a little chaotic because the race director decided to put him in the second heat, but then came to his senses and put him in the first heat at the last minute. It’s tough to mentally prepare in this situation, but Brandon handled it well.
Backing up to his pre-race workout, Brandon looked easy and smooth. His stride is looking more fluid, and his turnover is improving week over week. Our biggest concern at this point is getting Brandon into enough races to sharpen his race instincts again. He missed 18 months, so we really need to get him in a lot of races this season. Each one gets better and better.
Jacksonville was no different. Brandon was forced to lead, and he didn’t back down. He pushed the pace through 500, and then tightened up a bit as he pushed into the wind. He regained composure with 150 to go and had a great kick! He is starting to look like he did at the US Champs in 2018! We have plenty of time, so we just need to keep taking the baby steps each and every week.
Brandon’s next race will be in California on May 9th.
Workouts for the Week: May 3-9 Monday: 6.5 miles easy at the river with Wilkerson. This was meant to be a workout but due to the weather we just got an easy run in and will work out tomorrow.
Tuesday: 7 miles of running on the day. Workout was 5 x 800m with 1 min rest then change to spikes and 4 x 200m. Splits were 2:20, 2:18, 2:29, 2:18, 2:17, 25, 26, 25, 25. Felt good today but likely due to the 800s being a bit more of a broken tempo. 45 minute bike later in the day and lifted at the office with Amy.
Wednesday: 5 miles easy around my house so a bit more hills than normal easy days.
Thursday: 5 miles of running on the day. Workout was meant to be 10 x 200m with 1 min jog. Got through about 7 before my lower leg started to hurt so I just called it rather than push through it. Splits were 27, 28, 27, 27, 27, 27, 27.
Friday: Travelled to California and drove to the house we are staying at for the week. Ran pretty late in the day and did 4 miles around the house.
Saturday: 4 miles plus strides at the practice track today. Went through the COVID screening at the track as well.
Sunday: Ended the day with about 9 miles. Did a 2 mile shakeout in the morning. Race was 1:50. Not really what I was expecting as I felt fairly mentally prepared but I did make the same mistake from 500m to 600m of not moving up. Workout afterwards was 2 x 5 mins tempo and then 5 x 200m all with 2 mins rest.
Commentary and Reflection of the Week: May 3-9
I’m not sure what to make of the race. I’m obviously not in shape or mentally doing something incorrectly. If I knew exactly what the problem was it would be less frustrating. The coaches say I’m looking better at practice and historically I do run a lot of mediocre races in indoor before running decently outdoor. It’s just very frustrating getting these race opportunities and getting my ass handed to me. I have maybe 2-3 more opportunities to figure it out so I just have to make the most of those.
Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: May 3-9
Brandon looked great in his race, but he still isn’t there. He had this same trouble in 2018, and we ended up figuring it out in time for him to make the US Pan Am team, so we aren’t worried about it just yet.
He is getting into good shape. He’s not where he needs to be, but he also isn’t at a 1:50 800 meter stage of fitness either. When you miss an extended period of time, it can be challenging to get back into the groove with racing. That’s where Brandon is right now.
We ultimately decided to pull him from the second event, and will send him home for more training. He needs a couple hard workouts before his next race. We will keep working!
