Race Simulation

Tomorrow is the NIRCA regional meet at Belmont Plateau. Tomorrow I am also taking the FE exam all day, which is a really big engineering test that I signed up for before the dates for these meets were released. Due to this unfortunate conflict I thought I should do a race simulation-type workout instead. I settled on doing 5000 meters of sprint 100/float 100 on the track. I had done this workout only once before, during the spring of 2010, and I ran about 15:32 and subsequently ran 14:46 that season so I was excited to see what I could do this time around. When I thought about doing this workout I had 15 flat as a time to shoot for in the back of my mind, but that was only a convenient round number. I really had no idea what I could do but decided to just go out and shoot for a good effort.

I ended up running 14:56, and it was HARD. I was working hard by 3 laps in and 2 miles in I thought that it would be a good workout even if I stopped there. Instead I kept at it and ran consistently (the range of 1600 splits was 3 seconds). I'm really happy about this workout; I was completely by myself without any company even on the track, and tried to keep the efforts honest and only hammer the straights. Hopefully that means I'm in near-PR shape for 5k, since I know I have plenty of strength to carry me the extra 3k, and with the 5k speed endurance I hope to pop a really fast few races coming up.

I decided on this workout because it forms a capstone to the pyramid of training that I've done since June. I ran about 6 weeks of quality strength/threshold work to prepare for my half marathon, then a few weeks of 8k/10k pace work, then a little bit of sharpening/faster than 8k pace work, and finally these last few workouts integrate all of those different energy systems to get the body racing fit. I'm racing 2 big races starting in 2 weekends, so next week I'll do 2 more hard workouts, either at faster than race pace or at goal pace but with little rest, both with the goal of further preparing my body to race as well as possible over 8k. Then it's time to slack off (I believe the technical term is "taper") and race well!

My season so far, and looking ahead

This is an exciting time of the year for me. I have two very important races coming up in 3 and 4 weeks, and possibly another 2 weeks after that. This training cycle has gone better than ever for me, especially regarding the strength I've built up since July. The big change this cycle was motivated by my first-ever half marathon, the Philly RnR Half (formerly Philly Distance Run) that was in mid-September. Normally I would focus my training on 8k/10k pace work starting in September, but this year I started doing long workouts and tempo runs starting in July as preparation for the half and I think that the strength I gained will really pay off for the upcoming 8k races.

First XC race this season (UMES)

The first important race is the NIRCA national meet, or the club XC national championship. It's at Charlotte and should be a pretty good race. I give myself pretty good chances to win, but you never know who might show up. Last year it was won by a Michigan guy by about 20 seconds in a respectable time so hopefully it's a fast race. I also think that we have a great shot to win the team race, which promises to be exciting. 

The weekend after that I'm racing the Rothman 8k in Philadelphia. This is known for being a super-fast course and typically has a pretty strong field. I was fortunate enough to make it into the Elite field on the strength of my half-marathon and 5000m PR's, and looking at results the winning time is always under 24 minutes so I hope to put myself in contention for the top spots there. 

After that I might either call it a season and get to work this winter on a high-mileage and strength workout plan to prepare for the upcoming track season and the challenges of 5k/10k racing, or if I still feel good I may extend my season to an early-season indoor meet at Haverford that usually draws some good college guys looking for an early 5k qualifier. It would be nice to race there but I'm really focusing on the next few weeks so it's not a big deal if I decide not to race. 

Some background info on me (a running resume)

I am a 21 year old college student living in Newark, Delaware. In high school I focused on the 3200m and my eventual PR was 9:19, with a 1600 PR from junior year of 4:26. I grew up in Delaware and liked the school and the coach so it was natural for me to attend the University. 

Freshman year I made the varsity XC squad and ran a 15:03 5000m, but hurt my hip three days before the conference meet and had to call it a season then. In hindsight that probably was for the best, since I was due to run my first 10000m and I was absolutely not prepared for that at all!

Sophomore year I was on varsity in XC and track and got down to 4:01 in the 1500, 14:46 in the 5000 and a 31:25 10000. That 10k was a big eye-opener for me; I just didn't think I would be tired for a week after a track race! I ran another 10k at our conference meet but it was at George Mason in May, so of course the weather was unfavorable and the race was rough. Those races convinced me that I needed more strength and basework. 

Junior year I started training much more seriously than I had been before. In the summer I upped my running to twice a day, every day and was consistently over 110 miles per week, even with the terrible heat and humidity from June through August. I ran well when it counted that fall and scored an All-Region spot in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as an All-East spot at Van Cortlandt. In the winter I set my goal as running well outdoors, but when our team got cut in January I made the difficult decision to try and run well indoors in a Delaware uniform, even if it meant compromising my outdoor season. I made IC4A's indoors and ran a school record at that meet, as well as qualifying for the outdoor IC4A meet. That was great, since getting it out of the way so early took some pressure off! Outdoors I ran 3:57 in the 1500m, helped our 4 x 1500m relay run a school record at Raleigh Relays and then in April and May had a string of some good 5k races with a relatively poor 10k thrown in at Penn Relays. That was quite the experience, since the gun went off at almost 1 am! I ended the season with an 14:22 5000m PR and a 2nd place medal from the conference meet.

During the summer I resumed running over 100 mpw but once I registered for the Philadelphia Rock N' Roll Half Marathon I tried to focus on quality strength workouts in preparation for that race. I ran even better than I thought I could and finished in 1:07:32 and 46th place overall. Only two women beat me!

That's a pretty concise summary of my running career up to this point. I hope I can continue to improve and get on the radar of any potential sponsors out there looking for someone to advertise their products at the front of the field. Look for more updates as the season and training continue!

First Post

Hello World!

I finally caved in and started a blog, with the goal of reaching out to potential sponsors, and fellow runners. I am currently a senior Civil Engineering major at the University of Delaware. I had been a varsity member on the track XC teams for three years, beginning freshman year, until the University in its infinite wisdom surprised the team and the Delaware running community last January by cutting the men's cross country and outdoor track teams (indoor track had already been cut two years prior). Since then I have turned my focus towards high-profile road races and the UDXC/TF club team races. I hope to continue improving and climb through the ranks in the hopes of making a living doing what I love. If you want to contact me, my email is agweaver@udel.edu and I also have a public training log on athleticore.com.