Recordman Sorensen looking strong on comeback trail
 Jim will skip this weekend’s club XC nationals in Spokane.
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Last we heard from Jim Sorensen, he was trying to forget an injury-plagued 2008 after an amazing 2007 that saw him set a bunch of M40 middle-distance records. Now the latest: He recently ran 15:04 in a road 5000, averaging 4:51 (corrected from original) per mile at age 41. Only 21 seconds ahead of him that day in late November was Olympian Gabe Jennings, an ex-fellow Bay Area runner. I shot Jim some questions on his latest comeback, and he replied expeditiously. Here’s my quickie Q&A with the masters supermiler:
Masterstrack.com: Not bad being only 20 seconds behind Gabe Jennings!
Jim Sorensen: We were actually roommates at one of the meet hotels. He is getting ready for the Cal International Marathon and drove from Eugene the day before. So I am sure he wasn’t at his best for the 5km.
Tell me about your condition, recent results and plans for 2009.
My condition is progressing. I am close to where I was at last year, where I had some consistent weeks but needed to get some intensity and structure going, like stuff on the track, periodization, working the different energy systems more specifically, things like that.
So that’s what I am starting to do. Last year I raced a lot of XC up through November but didn’t do a lot of the things I just mentioned above. This year, after I am at the same place, although I didn’t run any cross country. I ran a 15:04 5K on Thanksgiving each of the last two years. So my fitness appears to be quite similar.
However, last year I came down with two significant injuries, one on Christmas Eve and then an Achilles injury in February. That kept me sidelined from running about 3+ months. When I came back, it was real slow, like four total miles the first week, then 9, 15, 16, 25, 21, 33, 29, etc. But even at that progression, I was still having various aches and pains. It was frustrating having to back off after finishing a no intensity 30-mile week.
I finally started feeling healthy in late August. I have been fairly consistent with 40-mile weeks since then.
Going to Spokane for club XC nationals?
No, I should have planned to do this, because I missed going last year. I guess my focus is to train. Besides, I already traveled a lot in the fall (I was an assistant coach at Notre Dame de Namur University).
Tell me about the 15:04.
(It was) the Applied Materials/Synaptics (Elite) 5K in San Jose on 11/27. It is one of the fastest 5Ks in the country nowadays. Scotty Bauhs ran 13:37 and beat many Africans. It is also a Pacific Association event. There is masters money for the first 40+ runner in. Behind me (in the masters finish) was Danny Gonzalez and Jeff Hongo. Chris Schille must have dropped out. Schille won the Pacific Association Cross Country Championships the Sunday prior.
2 Responses
Congratulations, Jim. Hate to be a quibbler, Ken, but that is 4:51.0 per mile, not 5:04.0 per mile.
Correction on the one of the interview responses: Chris Schille, age 42, did not drop out of the San Jose 5km on Thanksgiving, he finished in 15:42.
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