Thanks to By Peter Gambaccini for runnersworld Nick Arciniaga, 26, of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project ran a personal best 2:13:46 for eighth place at the ING New York City Marathon on November 1. His previous best marathon was a 2:16:13 in Boston in 2008. His marathon debut was a 2:16:58 in Chicago in 2006. Arciniaga was 17th in the U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Trials in November of 2007 in 2:17:08. His 2009 race results include a 1:04:24 for 17th place at the USA Half-Marathon Championships in Houston and a 1:34:25 for fifth at the Ohme 30K in Japan. Arciniaga attended Cal State-Fullerton.
When you get to a certain level in the marathon - and you've gotten there with this New York effort - you have to think this is now worth all of the effort you've put in for the last three or four years, or longer. You must come away from this thinking "thank God I finally made this worth my while."
Nick Arciniaga: Yeah, it's a huge relief for me, just personally. I had a great debut (his 2:16:58 in 2006), so having that was a great starting off point. But my next two marathons were within 50 seconds of my first one. Having this one being a full two and half minutes faster was a lot better than that. It's a lot of relief.
When you improve by that much, you have to have made a commitment to it fairly early on in the race. Obviously, you went through halfway in something a lot better than 2:16 pace.
NA: Yeah. Going into it, Kevin and Keith (Hanson) and Brian (Sell) had me training to run 2:13 or so. That had been my goal pace going into it. All the workouts had been pointing in that direction, so I just wanted to put myself in that spot through the first half and hopefully run the second half faster.
Even though the second half of the New York City course is a lot more difficult than the first half.
NA: Yes. Yes. One thing that I've found out about myself over the years of training is that my body favors the hillier, tougher courses.
That seems to be common to a lot of Hansons runners. A lot of your workouts in Michigan are hilly, right?
NA: Yeah. We definitely have a lot of places were we can find the hills. We try and get of them as much as possible and try and simulate the actual (marathon) course.
We know Brian Sell ran the first half in New York in 1:06 and something. Were you two together for the first half?
NA: We were together for every step of the way for the first half. I split away from him and about five other guys, and then two of them went with me for the next five or six miles.
How did you react to something you'd probably heard about, the huge roar of the crowd as you came off the Queensborough Bridge onto First Avenue? Did you find that energizing?
NA: It was definitely energizing. I was actually hoping to use it 'cause that was the part of the race I wanted to lay it down and have time in the bank. I definitely used the energy in the crowd to motivate myself to get by the guys we were starting to pick off and (make sure) they didn't try and tag along.
What place do you think you were in at halfway?
NA: At halfway, I probably assumed I was 20 to 25.
So were you constantly picking off people through the second half?
NA: I would average about one per mile. You could see guys dangling out there in front of you, and gradually over time, you'd get closer and closer and they'd actually start developing from an ant into a human being. You're trying to bring them closer. It was a long process of just grinding it out, because you're not just focusing on the person in front of you. There were a couple of guys around me who were trading leads and I was trying to figure out what kind of pace I was running, what type of time I was going to hit if I continued at that pace - just trying to keep my mind occupied.
And the last couple of people you passed were people that you recognized - Jason Lehmkuhle (who finished tenth in 2:14:39) and Abdi Abdirahman (2:14:00). We're talking about a guy who was fifth in the Olympic Marathon Trials, and a guy who's run under 2:09 and won some USA 10,000s. When you pulled alongside them, that must have made your heart soar a bit.
NA: Absolutely. I caught Jason at about 23 and that's when I saw my coach Kevin (Hanson) and he yelled at us that we were in 10th and 11th. That was a shock to me because I didn't realize I was already in that high of a position. I thought I was about 15th. I didn't realize I had passed that many people or that many people had dropped out. I thought there was still a huge group of Africans and Americans ahead of me still. But yeah, I caught Jason and Abdi. I could see them up ahead because they were both wearing bright orange jerseys (singlets) and I was able to target them pretty well. And then passing Abdi, that was pretty exciting. I've never been close to him at any distance at any race.
So it has to do feel good to be a sub-2:14 guy now.
NA: Yeah. I've been checking the stats. There are a lot of guys out there who were great marathoners, who people talk about all the time, who never broke 2:14. It opened my eyes a little bit and put some more realistic dreams in my mind.
Well, at the press conference on the Monday after the marathon, Mary Wittenberg referred to you as "our next Brian Sell."
NA: Oh really? Nice.
Early on, even while still in college, were you thinking "the longer the better for me" in terms of running distances?
NA: Towards my senior year, I started thinking that. I was a middle-distance runner in high school and focused on the 1500 halfway through college. By my senior year, I tried out the 5K and actually realized I was good at it so I said "oh, I'll try these longer distances some more." I always did well at the tempo runs in workouts. I never put two and two together until my last years in college, and after I graduated from college, I started doing some half-marathons, stuff like that. Those came pretty easy for me as well. I moved up to the marathon.
How did the connection to the Hansons group come about?
NA: After I ran Chicago (the 2:16:58 in 2006) and made my debut in the marathon, a couple of my buddies from California where I was training got me in contact with Kevin and Keith. I came out (to Michigan) and visited the team, like a recruiting trip, and they took me on within a couple of months.
What would you say was your best overall race performance before this New York City Marathon? We did notice you got fifth at that Ohme 30K in Japan. Do you think that was a big breakthrough performance?
NA: That definitely was. That was a pretty big time for me, considering the course. You run half the thing up a mountain and then you come back down. But I did it the wrong way. My first half, going up the mountain, was faster than my second half. That put me at the point where I thought 2:14 was more realistic than my previous marathons had shown.
But you mentioned running the second half of your marathons more strongly, and your Hansons team's top female marathoner, Desiree Davila, is notorious for doing that. Is that just a coincidence or is that something the Hansons coach to do?
NA: It's definitely the way the Hansons coach. The way that I have come to understand marathoning is you want to go out the first half and feel comfortable and be able to race that second half. If you check out most of the winners of New York and the major marathons and the Olympics even, a lot of the guys go out pretty crazy but they come back with their second half even faster...most of the time.
How did your preparation change for this marathon, compared with past cycles? Was each interval and tempo run done a little bit more quickly, or was there more volume? What were the differences?
NA: It was actually a combination of both. I was more prepared for this marathon than any other race than I've ever done, period. Before, when we were training for marathons, Kevin and Keith would have us train at a little bit faster clip than actual goal pace. This time, I wanted to train at the pace that I wanted to run but just have the quantity be a little more. So I'd just go further in the workouts, and kind of simulate the attrition that you get in a marathon. My weekly mileage was probably the highest it's ever been. I topped out at 147 a week. Twenty-two miles was my longest run.
Before you ran your 2:16:58 in Chicago, were you thinking of yourself as a professional runner?
NA: No. I had just finished school (at Cal State-Fullerton). My dad was actually getting on me to get a real good. I was doing Chicago and I was coaching at my college at the time, just helping out and running with them. Basically, Chicago was going to be all or nothing. It was my last chance. I'd still continue running, but if I didn't do well I'd get a real job and not really focus as much on running as I had been.
So you did that well after just running with the college kids?
NA: Well, I was doing all their workouts. Plus, I knew I had to do longer intervals at the time. I'd do everything they did, because I needed a group to work out with; I found out very quickly that I couldn't do workouts on my own very well. So I'd do what they did and then added on quite a bit and then added my mileage on distance and long run days.
How many hours a week are you working in the Hansons Running Shops?
NA: Twenty-five to 30. I'm the manager at the Royal Oak store.
Do you have any idea what you want to do when your competitive days are over?
NA: Not entirely, no. I'd like getting into a coaching type job or something like that. I do have a lot of interest in kinesiology.
We would think after this 2:13:46, you're of a bit more value to race directors.
NA: I would hope so. It makes me excited, thinking about that.
Do you expect to be a two-marathon-per year guy for the next couple of years, leading up to the Olympic Trials?
NA: I definitely want to try a couple more marathons and see what type of race I can deal with. I'd like to do one where I'm actually racing it rather than doing like a time trial. Then I want to go on a flat fast course and see what I can get - then start preparing for the trials after that.
Do you think you might end up at Boston in the spring?
NA: We haven't really talked about it. It would be a long shot for me to win that one. I'd like to go to one I can actually compete in.
Well, this 2:13:46 from New York is a life-altering result for you. You're at a whole other level in the sport now.
NA: Yes, it does change certain avenues I was going to take previously. I was thinking, moving forward to the next Trials, whether to focus more on trying to get a faster time on a Chicago- or London-type course or whether to try and qualify for the World Championships before the Trials. Now I can consider myself a hopeful for the next Olympics. I can hope that the Trials fall at a time that I can train for a Worlds team beforehand. If not, I'll have to try something else.
By MARK GARCIA for THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Local finishes eighth at NYC Marathon
Former Fountain Valley resident Nick Arciniaga finished eighth overall Nov. 1 at the ING New York City Marathon.
Arciniaga, a 2001 Fountain Valley High graduate, completed the over 26-mile course in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 46 seconds. His finish was fourth among American runners, thus qualifying him for the U.S. Olympic Trials, scheduled for Nov. 2010.
Following graduation at Cal-State Fullerton in 2006, Arciniaga moved to Michigan to train with the Brooks Hanson Distance Project, a group that specializes in developing post-collegiate runners to become elite marathon runners and compete on the world stage.
Arciniaga qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and placed 17th in just his second marathon run ever. He qualified for the trials by turning in a 2-hour, 17-minute time in his first marathon in Chicago.
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