NCAA's

Finally, the national meet. This was my first time at an NCAA meet of any sort so I was nervous, but having some experienced veterans on the team was reassuring. We knew from regionals that we had a good team and could place highly if we ran a smart race. We wanted to run as a loose pack and key off of some OSU guys, since they tend to run very smart races and do well. Unfortunately we had some bad luck in the race, with Pat losing his shoe at the start, and most of us slipped off the line and got buried in the field. Position is everything in cross country, especially at this meet, and it was an added challenge to get back up to where we were supposed to be from the beginning. We ended up not being able to pack up as successfully as regionals and could never get to that level of running. We finished 8^th as a team, which was obviously disappointing for us. Not the best way to end the season, especially since regionals went so well, but personally I was happy to be there. It was my first NCAA’s after all, and it was an incredible experience.

Midwest Regionals

At the regional meet, all we wanted was to get top 2 and qualify automatically to NCAA’s. This was not a task that we took lightly; including us, we had three top-10 teams in OSU, us, and Tulsa. We all had good races and we all stepped up to tie OSU for the win. This ended up being a lucky break, since Tulsa really rose to the challenge was only two points behind us in third. 

Keeping the pack together

The scores for top 3 were 45-45-47 and it was a real nailbiter when the results were being tallied. Of course, Tulsa ended up going to NCAA’s anyway as an at-large qualifier, but it was great to have the momentum of winning regionals going into the national meet. Our top 6 all scored in the top 20 and this ended up being our most satisfying meet. We executed the race plan perfectly and left knowing that all we had to do at nationals was replicate our tactics and we would run to our potential as a team. 

Happy with the win

Big 12's

We entered the post-season with our next race, the Big 12 meet in Austin. Our team goal in this race was to get a solid 2^nd behind OSU and ahead of Texas. Challenging OSU is always a nice goal, but in hindsight they were dominant this year. Again, we didn’t run the way we wanted to and it ended up biting us as we got 3^rd, losing to Texas. Partly because Texas really stepped up and we just had a regular day, they beat us by 6 points and moved ahead of us in the rankings. This was our most disappointing meet because we should have been able to get 2^nd overall. This race was a learning experience to improve on, but still a tough loss.

Just after the start

Wisconsin

Three weeks later, we raced at the Wisconsin Invitational. Over the past couple of years this has been the biggest meet in the regular season, and probably the hardest field besides NCAA’s. This year was crazy with something like 45 teams in the field (Mick Byrne said after the race that he’ll limit entry to 30 or so because the field was just too big). We were optimistic about this race and thought that if we executed the pack running concept as well as we did at UVA, then we should be able to win. Well, the race went about as weirdly as anyone had ever seen a big cross country race go. Instead of going out fast and then settling in, everyone went out slow for the first two miles and then hammered the last half. 

I'm back there somewhere, I promise

The big move at 3k split us up and we ended up not running our plan, and so we didn’t run as well as we wanted to. We got 3^rd in the meet behind Stanford and Iona and were disappointed as a team, although some guys had great races. It was a good learning experience and we did our best to objectively look at our mistakes and fix them for the post-season. Even though Wisconsin was such a big meet, it was still regular season so it didn’t count for much besides a rehearsal for NCAA’s.

Panorama Farms

Our first test came at the UVA Panorama Farms Invitational on September 22. Despite the early season and relatively low-key meet, there were some good teams there including us, Michigan, Arkansas and the host school Virginia. All four made it to NCAA’s so it was actually a solid field. Our goal was to run as a five-man pack for the whole race and win it, which we did comfortably. The course was challenging and we succeeded because we dictated the race instead of letting the race dictate us. The other teams didn’t run as smart and so they didn’t run to their potential like we did. Overall we were happy with this race since we accomplished our plan and it was a good fitness checkpoint for us.

Some strides before the start

Cross Country 2012 Recap

My last cross country season is in the books and I’m at home for Thanksgiving, so I have time to reflect on the last few months, and what better place to do that than here? Now that the season is over I’ll talk about the five major races we competed in and analyze them in the context of what we were trying to achieve as a team. The team has finished 6^th and 5^th at NCAA’s the past two years, so the next logical step for the program this year was to finish 4^th or better. Everything was done with this goal in mind.

Oklahoma

I know I haven't updated on anything in a while, but that was both intentional and a necessity. I had a good summer of training with some good guys in a location very conducive to running, and now I'm finally in Norman, OK at the University of Oklahoma. I'm in the midst of the necessary school and NCAA meetings and other red tape, but once this is over we start practice and get the season going in earnest.

I don't have much that I can say in the public domain, other than the team has a bunch of great guys and we are ready to have a great year. Of course, all of other top 10 teams in the country are saying that right now too.

The weather has been pretty forgiving and it's not too bad to run at either end of the day, though I'm sure that will get worse before it gets better.

It will be quite the adjustment being so far away from home for nine months but I know it will be worth it in the end. I can't wait to see how all of our training pays off when it comes time to put it all on the line in November!

Back to Summer Training

Last week was my first full week of real summer training. To me, summer training, and off-season training in general, is the most important training phase of the year. Lydiard wasn't kidding when he said that the base phase determines your performance level for the entire training cycle.

I think a lot of people either don't conceptualize or just don't understand summer training. In high school I just did easy runs for three months, came into preseason and started working out. I never ran as well in cross country as I did in track, and it's clear to me that it's because I let myself lose too much fitness over the summer. I would come into mid-August having run a lot of 60 mile weeks, but never run anything harder than easy runs. In the winter, I did long intervals and occasional tempo runs and always ran much better in May than I did in November. Last year, I had the best fall season of my life and I think a lot of it was because I decided to run a half marathon in mid-September. That forced me to get in good shape for that starting earlier than I ever had, and that fitness carried through for arguably the rest of the year.

Canova says that 80% of training is just training to train. By that he means that 80% of training could be considered foundation work for the highly specific workouts in the two months or so before a peak. Summer training for cross country is exclusively training to train. The whole point is to get your body ready to start working out and racing come September. It is a time for building strength and a big endurance base.

And now we arrive back at the big mistake: people don't have the right idea of what endurance means. Endurance training is by far the most general of the phases. It is an almost intentional lack of specificity. Over 50 years ago Lydiard showed everyone that endurance training works for every race 800m and up (unless the 800 guy is a sprinter moving up, then it probably wouldn't work very well). A lot of people also misunderstand Lydiard's base phase. It is NOT easy running; it is "steady running," and he set 100 mpw as a benchmark. That is really really hard to do, and it's also the main reason (along with periodization) why his principles are behind so many gold medal performances.

And finally on to what is the right way to train in the summer. I guess this is more accurately what I think is the best way to train in the off-season, since I'm not stupid enough to think I've got it all figured out. Part 1 lasts until you get up to whatever your desired peak mileage is. In my opinion it is best to get there sooner rather than later to give your body time to adjust to the workload before introducing another stimulus, i.e. workouts. Part 2 lasts for the rest of the summer, and consists of long tempo runs and intervals. These form a good mental break from the easy runs and are really the immediate precursor to XC-specific workouts.

Other stuff: I like to do hillsprints when I feel motivated enough. These are another thing a lot of people do wrong, because no one is really patient enough to do them with enough recovery. I'm not an expert but Canova is the authority on them and why they're a good idea. Bodyweight exercises and drills are probably a good idea too, if nothing else to strengthen your core and keep your form from getting too sloppy. Hitting the weight room for the compound lifts is good if you can find the time, but know what you're doing before you try and squat 300 and kill yourself.

How They Train upload

In the days before graduation I've had some spare time. I decided to upload a rare piece of running history that I have in my collection, an original edition of Track & Field News' How They Train:

How They Train (1959)

I'm hoping for no copyright issues, since it was published so long ago and I don't think the copyright was really renewed They published subsequent editions but they were all different and updated with current athletes so hopefully T&FN doesn't get mad at me!

Edit: The first link was to a poorly scanned/incomplete copy. I fixed the link, but to see it properly download it and rotate it counterclockwise.

2012 Track Season Recap

This has been quite the season for me. Longer, harder and more fulfilling than any other track season to date.

• I competed at a high level since February when I ran a 4:08 mile. I held that form very consistently until May. I think that I improved my 5k fitness throughout the season, and I'm happy with that because holding my mile fitness at a high level while improving 5k fitness is not an easy thing to do. 
• I adjusted my personal goals this year to run for time instead of run for place. I did this because there really weren't any meets that I could run for place at (no conferences, IC4A's, etc) and because I wanted to show the graduate schools that I applied to that I was worth their attention. After I ran that 4:08 indoors, I set my goals for the year to run < 3:50 and 14:10. 14:10 was the goal I had set for myself about two years ago when I got really serious about running, and 3:50 was what I knew I could run based on my form in February. I am perfectly happy walking away from this year having run 3:49 and 14:09.
• My general attitude towards training and racing is much improved from past years. I relaxed a little bit this year with regard to mileage and I think I was better rested for the big races this season compared to last track season. Part of this was due to not having the pressure of a team to race for, but most of it was due to more confidence is myself and in my training plan. I raced more often to hone tactical sense and picked my spots to really run well. 
• I was able to keep improving consistently, not only through this season but through my college career. This goes back to the goals I set for myself, but I doubt that many guys can say they improved 17 seconds in the 1500 (4:06 to 3:49) and 54 seconds in the 5k (15:03 to 14:09) over their four years in college. I had no major injuries and was able to get tuned into my body enough that I could catch any potential problems early so I could keep training and racing. 

Any negatives? Not that I could really control. Obviously it would have been nice to still have a real team and be able to mix it up in the championship meets, but I think that I played the hand I was dealt about as well as I could have. 

I'm leaving this season very satisfied; I planned my training around running goal times, I went to the meets that I needed to be in to run those times, and I executed my race plans and came out with the times I expected. No surprises this season, which was fine with me. Surprises can mean unexpected good things, but in  running they usually mean bad things. No surprises also means that I have a good handle on what my body can handle and what training stimuli produce what responses. 

What do I want to do next year? Well, I definitely have more room in the 1500/mile than I thought I had 6 months ago. I'm sure that if I did more specific training in season for that I would run even better than I did this year. However, I don't want to sacrifice the 5k for the 1500, since I still think I'll eventually be better in the 5k over the shorter distance. Next year will be an exciting time and I'm already looking forward to it!

Swarthmore 1500m

Last night was my last official race of the season, and my last one in a Delaware uniform. As is the custom at UD for our last race, a bunch of us went up to the Swarthmore Last Chance meet to run a 1500 or a 5k. For years we have known about this little gem of a race. It is always perfect conditions and great competition for all races 800 and up. As luck would have it, this year some other guys you might have heard of found out about it too. Adrian Blincoe (5k Olympian from New Zealand) lives nearby in Bryn Mawr and put together quite the race for the 1500. The fast heat included names like Nick Willis, Will Leer, Lee Emanuel, and Dan Huling. Willis was to pace thru 1200 in 2:51 and let the other guys chase the Olympic A standard. This race went off while I was in line to get my number, with all my sweats and trainers on. When I realized I was in the next heat, I panicked a little bit and so I didn't get to really pay attention to the big boys in the fast heat. What I was able to watch was amazing; Willis did a great pacing job and stepped off at 1300, and unheralded Merber blew by the field in the last 200 to win in 3:35. A debatable American collegiate record for the guy who had a 3:42 PR coming in! That was definitely an inspiration to run fast for my race.

As to my race: I was confused when I was in the fast non-pro race, because I was 20th seed coming in. Apparently they just shuffled the first two heats randomly together. There were four Columbia guys in the race, undoubtedly fired up watching their teammate Merber run 3:35, who were going for NCAA times. One guy said he was rabbiting through 1200 in 2:57, which I knew was too fast for me. I got out well and the first 400 was 61, which I felt was about right. I was in a nice group while the Columbia guys rocketed ahead of the field. During the second lap I could feel the group slowing, so I went around just before the 800 (2nd lap = 63). I picked up and started reeling in a guy that had fallen off the leaders. At 1200 (3rd lap = 61) I was with two guys and I kicked with 300 to go. One guy blew by me on the backstretch but I caught him at the line and beat the other guy. My final time was 3:49.50, which was 0.17 off the school record (last 300 = 43). I wasn't too upset about missing the school record; I ran what I knew I could run and it wasn't a surprise since I ran 4:08 in February. I just went out and executed the plan.

I felt good after the race and on the cooldown, and I think I could have squeezed another second out of the race if the second lap had been better, but it as good a race as I could have realistically hoped for. I PR'd on this track two years ago in the 5k and almost everyone runs fast here, so much so that it's become a running joke on our team to call it a 390m long track. One more "race" in the season, an 800 against some teammates just to see what I can do, and then I'll shut it down. I think that if there were more fast 1500s in the coming weekends I could keep peaking and run a little bit faster for about two weeks and then the wheels would start coming off. Right now I'm content with the season; I did what I set out to do and my PR's are right where I wanted.

Kehoe Twilight Meet (UM)

It's actually been a week since this race, but I forgot about it since it was not exactly a highlight. Four guys on the team, including myself, drove down on May 3rd to race at Maryland's twilight meet, since we had a big gap in our racing schedules and wanted to get something in. We entered a little bit late, but the meet director seemed fine with it and let us in. I seeded myself at 3:50 in the 1500 in the hopes that it would be a fast race and I could get pulled along.

The fun began when we went to check in and I noticed that I was in the second (and slower) heat. This confused me, since it was a smaller meet and I didn't think that a 3:50 seed would put me 15th. I thought about asking the people in charge about this, but then a Navy guy started talking to us and said he would be rabbiting a teammate through 1200 in 3:00. Once I heard this, I figured that the first heat actually was that fast and that if everyone was seeded around 3:45 then maybe I should be in the second heat. Well, once the first heat went off I could immediately tell that that's where I should have been. The Navy guy ended up coming through 1200 in 3:06 (right where I wanted to be) with no one near him. The race was won in 3:56.

My race could not have been less eventful. I led wire to wire in the slow time of 3:57.5. Even during the race I was discouraged about the situation and after the first lap I mentally threw in the towel for a fast time. In hindsight I'm not too upset about it; racing is just one of those things where it's not going to be perfect every time out, but try it enough times and you'll eventually hit the perfect day.

NCTFA Nationals

This weekend was the second club meet that the UD club team went to this spring. The meet was held at Eastern Kentucky U, which was a fairly nice facility but the conditions, being the end of April in Kentucky, were hot, humid and sunny. The meet itself boiled down to a dual meet between us and Illinois, with a smattering of other club guys as well. They were set on the team title, which surprised us because they had all of their guys doubling or tripling just to pick up little points. We didn't do this and as a result lost the meet by a couple points.

I raced the 5k at 1:45 pm on Sunday. It was pretty awful weather for a distance race, and I had no intention of running for time. All I wanted was the win, which mas made easier by the other main contender (Mike Frigo of Illinois) running the 1500 on Saturday and the 800 two hours before the 5k. The race itself was boring; I led every step of the way and pulled away in the last lap for a comfortable win in 14:55. I regretted not running the 1500, because I'm sure I could have won that as well and still have taken the 5k. Regardless it was a slow, boring race that I ran strictly for position and to exert as little effort as possible.

Me, Teammate Mike O'Brian, Mike Frigo (Illinois)

That's the last 5k of the year for me. With the season winding down, I'll run either a 1500 or a mile this weekend and another 1500 at Swarthmore the first weekend of May to wrap up the season with a fast time. I have yet to take a serious shot at the 1500 and I know I can run around 3:50 in the right race.

Larry Ellis (Princeton) 2012

I got back late last night from the Larry Ellis Friday Night Races. I ran the second (and last) planned fast time-trial 5000 of the season and my goals were the same as last time: be as competitive and smart as possible and run faster than I did last time out. I accomplished those goals and finished in 14:09.87 for 10th place in the fast heat. I ran generally very even splits, with all laps from 1-11 between 67 and 69, only varying due to the pace fluctuations of the pack.

With this race I finally accomplished the "short-term" time goal I had set for myself when I started what I considered to be really serious training the summer before my junior year. 14:10 represented a benchmark for a good college runner, an even time goal to shoot for (straight 68s) and, at the time, a lofty but not impossible goal. Now that I've finally accomplished this, I have a few new goals:

1) Get better at the events above and below the 5k. I still haven't run a 1500 equivalently as fast as my mile PR and my big seasonal goal for that is to break 3:50. As far as the 10k, I won't run one this year, because it never really fit into my schedule and because I found last year that it's basically impossible to train for a good 10k and a good 1500, and I knew I definitely had upside that I wanted to explore at the shorter distance. The other problem with the 10k is that it just takes so much out of your season and I wanted to be able to race at every good opportunity. Next year the 10k could become my main focus, but I'll start thinking about that later on.

2) Take another second per lap off of that 5k time to get under 14:00. This one is self-explanatory, just a logical progression now that I'm down to 14:09. I won't have another opportunity to PR again this season; I'm only running one more 5k and it's at the upcoming NCTFA meet in Kentucky. The race is scheduled to start at 1 pm and will likely be me vs. a 14:19 kid in a tactical race, so I'm not expecting any spectacular times.

3) Somewhat tying in with the sub 14 goal, get fit enough to be able to compete for the win in most major meets. Obviously a sub 14 will still have me buried in the field at the Stanford meets or Mt. SAC, but at least on the east coast a time like that will put me up at the front. To me, the most exciting thing about running is racing and winning; running fast is great and I get a lot of satisfaction from it, but at the end of the day it is only a means to an end. I want to get fit enough that I can take some big scalps in the upcoming seasons.

Colonial Relays 5k

I just got back from the Colonial Relays, hosted by William and Mary. The meet was a great success for the club runners that went. Three of the four of us PR'd and the fourth ran his second-best time. I got into the fast heat of the 5000m, seeding myself at 14:10. The workouts I've been doing indicated that that time would be a realistic goal to aim for.

The conditions were perfect and there was a rabbit thru about halfway running the pace I wanted (68s/lap) so I stuck on to that pack and gradually moved up as guys fell off. I hung in right on pace for about half way and then starting slipping, but closed pretty well to finish in 14:15. Watching the video, I got stuck behind a guy just long enough to break contact with the guys ahead of me and then I just lost it. A good time and right around where I thought I would run. The time is a school record and a seven second PR. My splits went something like 68 68 68 68 68 68 69 70 70 70 66 28.

In two weekends I plan on racing in the fast heat of the 5k at the Larry Ellis invitational. Last year I won the slow heat in 14:22 and the fast heat was won in under 14. My goal is just to try and maintain contact at that pace for as long as possible and see if I can keep it up a little bit longer than this week. Hopefully this will squeeze a couple more seconds out and I can run another PR.

NIRCA Track Nationals

The first ever NIRCA nationals was at the University of Indiana, about a 13 hour drive from Newark. I ran the mile (prelims and finals) and anchored the DMR. My goal for the meet was to win both as easily as possible and get through the weekend without much wear and tear.

The mile prelims on Saturday were an easy qualifier. I won the first heat and had the second fastest qualifier behind Josh, another UD guy. Sunday morning had some thunderstorms but cleared up after a half hour delay. The mile final had nice weather, and Josh went into it hoping to run under 4:20. Since it was a final it was tactical and he ended up leading through three laps and the 3 guys sitting on him (me included). With a lap to go the other guys started moving so I kicked for the last 400 and cruised it in once I knew I had the win. I closed in around 57 and it felt pretty comfortable for being that quick.

After that, the sun came out and it got warm and humid. An hour and a half after the mile we ran the DMR against only three other teams and made no contest of it. I just wanted to get in a good effort and run at 5k goal pace and I split about 4:31, which was right where I wanted to be.

The meet was run pretty well and I definitely give NIRCA credit for being able to run the first ever track meet without any major hitches, even with the uncooperative weather. It was very well done, but the 13 hour drive is a big hassle for us on the east coast. Other than that, the weekend went great and I hope NIRCA gets more participation in the coming years. It is a great thing for the casual runner and the atmosphere of fun competition is a good draw for more club runners. NIRCA is still a young organization but has definitely done well so far.

Monmouth Mile

This weekend's competition was an open mile race at Monmouth University. I had heard through the grapevine that Princeton was sending their whole team to run this race, which was good enough for me. In the fast heat there was myself, a Monmouth guy with about the same mile PR as me, and fourteen Princeton guys. A few of them were running just to race, but a few were also there to pace Donn Cabral to a four minute mile. Since there were 16 people the first lap was all pushing and shoving as Cabral's group separated from the rest. I ran in the second pack for the middle stages.

I felt good in the middle two laps but due to the crowding it would have been a waste of energy to swing out and surge. The last lap went about as well as can be expected and I kicked into 5th finishing in 4:08.45, just off my indoor PR. I felt better and more in control this time around.

Coming up next weekend is the NIRCA meet, where I'll run more miles, and after that is the first really important race on my schedule, the 5k at Colonial Relays.

VCU meet and a new workout

This weekend was the first outdoor meet on my schedule. Our club team followed the women's schedule and went down to the Ram Invitational at VCU. I raced the 1500 and ran 3:54.88, and while it was a PR the time is clearly inferior to my indoor marks. I did not have high hopes for this race, since it was a relatively warm day, and I am not even close to acclimated to any kind of warmth (I felt terrible this week training in especially un-March-like conditions). Because of these self-imposed handicaps I was happy to get the win and not feel too bad during the race.

The real fun came afterwards. I had planned to run two workouts this week but after the first one on Tuesday went poorly I decided not to take chances and skip the second one and try and make race day a workout. To that end, I decided to take a page out of the Oregon Track Club training handbook and to a tempo run after the race. About 30 minutes and 1 slow mile after the race, I ran a 4 mile tempo on the roads around Richmond. It was extremely hot, the sun was high, I was dehydrated and, of course, tired from the race. Pretty obvious in hindsight, but I felt Bad. I might try this again if I skip a workout during the week but honestly this felt so badly (and I was running pretty slowly) that I would rather not try it again. Lessons learned.

Spring Training and Schedule

With a few weeks of not racing I've been able to get some uninterrupted training in, which has always been an important thing for me before a long block of racing. I do think the best preparation for racing is to actually race, so this coming weekend I will open up my outdoor campaign at VCU with a 1500m and see how that goes. These first few weeks of track aren't that important to me and will serve as "developmental races" and fitness checks. The first race that I really care about will be the Colonial Relays 5000m, and after that the Larry Ellis 5000m. I may try and fit in another fast 5k depending on how things shake out, and I definitely want to run a later-season 1500m or two, maybe at the Tuppeny/Swarthmore Last Chance meet in May.

As I said, I've had a good block of uninterrupted training. My intervals have been going well and I've got some good work in around mile pace. I've been doing some hard tempo runs with Digennaro and have gotten my aerobic fitness better than ever. I believe that to race a good 5k, you need to be able to run well both under and over that distance. The tempo runs have been my sustained > 5k work and the intervals have me covered < 5k, so the only thing left once I have that fitness where I want it is to do some really specific 5k workouts and then see what I can do in a race. I might also try to keep up some mile pace stuff along with the 5k and keep working on my speed endurance. My volume has been good and I've noticed in the past week or so that my easy/recovery runs have gotten faster without any noticeable change in effort. One thing I need to figure out is how to best taper for races, but a little experimentation is what the early-season races are for.

Today it is going to be 75 degrees and sunny on the track. Nothing like a taste of spring to get me excited for spring track!

Another Mile at the Armory

Today was (probably) the last race of my 2012 indoor season and it concluded much the way that my last outdoor season did - with a solid race and a near-PR. This time it was over a mile and a PR and school record just wasn't in the cards. The race was set up for an Albany guy to get as near to 4:00 as possible. I was at the back of a line of 5 guys and Coach had me out in 59.8. I am just not that fast, at least not right now, and I fell off on the second quarter to 2:04 and from there it was just trying to hold contact to the guy ahead of me. I finished in 4:09.93 and it was definitely an all-out effort.

I definitely felt the fast first 440 for the rest of the race and I think if I had gone out a little bit more conservatively in 61.x, I would have been able to squeeze a few more seconds out. Of course, I also would have been by myself in the race, so I have no regrets about the way I ran. I just put myself in the race and hoped for the best, and eventually I'll hit a perfect race that is set up for me to run my best. For now, though, I want to take a break from racing until outdoor track starts and get a solid, uninterrupted training block in.

Lafayette/Rider indoor meet recap

This past Friday I ran the second race of my rather lackadaisical indoor campaign. I ran 1 mile in 4:08.27 and it was technically a PR by 11 seconds (!), although since I ran 4:11 for 1600 last week it wasn't quite that dramatic of a jump. Regardless it was a great step for me, and if the 4:11 split didn't convince me to concentrate on the 1500 outdoors then this certainly did. I got 4th behind three columbia guys who, I suspect, were shooting for a good IC4A qualifier. I would love to run in that meet this year, but due to our demotion last winter to club status, even if we meet the IC4A standards we can't run in the event because we don't have a program.

Championship meets or not, I'm very happy with this race, but the school record is less than 1 second away so I feel compelled to try again at the Collegiate Challenge meet at the armory on February 23. I'm sure I can squeeze a couple more seconds out in a well-run race, but we'll see. Running the mile is so nice, I don't know how I'll go back to the 5k when spring rolls around!

New Balance Collegiate Recap

This weekend a few of the guys on the UDTF club team went up to the Armory to race, among other things, a DMR. I ran the anchor leg and wasn't sure what to expect since I haven't run a serious or 1500 since last March. I figured I would be in the 4:10 - 4:15 range, since last year I ran 4:19 on a flat track around this time. The meet was running about 50 minutes behind when we went to warm up(typical of an indoor meet) but once we got back it was somehow almost back on time and we had less than 10 minutes to race time! We got checked in and evidently the sped up schedule caught all the other teams off guard too, based on the general panic in the bullpen.

I'm not sure where in the race I got the stick, but I knew that Clemson, who was dominating the race, was close to lapping us so I got out hard and tried to get up with a pack to run with. I knew I was going way too fast but I figured once I caught people I'd back off (first 400 = 60). I ended up getting somewhat stuck behind people who were running a little slower than I wanted to at that stage of the race, but I didn't want to have to go out into lane 3 multiple times to get around those groups of guys. The net result of my lollygagging was 64/65 for the middle 400's. Going into the last 400 I heard the bell (for Clemson who was right on me) which inspired me to start kicking with two laps to go. I actually would have liked to kick from farther out, since I had slowed down enough by that point that I felt recovered from the fast start. Too bad I am a novice at these short indoor races and always react a little too late to things like that. I managed to hold off Clemson and finish my leg with a good 61, and a final (split)time of 4:11.

Considering the crazy splits and that even during the race I felt like I had a ton of strength in reserve and just couldn't get around people, I am sure that I can run much faster in a better race. I felt great all day, even on the cooldown. Evened out, those splits probably would come out to a 4:08-9 and I really think I can run even faster. Next week at the Armory I'm running another mile and I hope I can break 4:10 for the first time!

This race has convinced me, along with Coach's insistence, that I can run a good 1500m this spring if I get in a fast field. I haven't even touched anything close to mile pace in a serious workout, so hopefully when I get some specific mile work under my belt I'll feel much more comfortable in a fast race. Doing some speedwork at that pace should also help the beginning of a fast 5k feel manageable, something I have always struggled with. I am really looking forward to the coming weeks of training and the upcoming spring season!

Training & Traveling

I got back from Minnesota today and have really been traveling a lot in the past month. After going to Oklahoma, then California and finally Minnesota, I've really noticed how tiring traveling is and how much it impacts quality training. This past week I took a down week by design, since I had been feeling pretty run down, but even if I had wanted to get a high mileage and high quality week in it would have been next to impossible. I was flying 3 days in the last 7, which forced me to take those days pretty easily (a good thing for me, since I can be compulsive sometimes). Even though the traveling definitely takes a toll on serious training, I really like seeing different places and think that, in the end, it ends up being a net benefit. Like I said before, I can be compulsive in training, especially during heavy periods and the imposed easy days are probably for the best.

 I finally feel energized and ready to run hard again, and not a moment too soon since this week will be pretty hard. I am racing a 1600 (anchor leg of a DMR) this Friday at the Armory and it will be my first track race since last May and my first hard mile in a long time. I'm excited to see how my fitness translates into racing so I can see where I'm at. It's time to start in with some race specific training as well, so I'll back off a little on mileage for the sake of quality. Getting ready to race always means tough training but I can't wait to reap the benefits of all the aerobic work I've done over the past few months and run fast this spring!

Visit to Minnesota

I am wrapping up my visit to the University of Minnesota for grad school next year and thought I would take the time to summarize my thoughts on the school and the running program.

The school itself is in a great location, with campuses split between Minneapolis and St. Paul in a scenic area of Minnesota. It has one of the largest student bodies in the nation with around 50,000 students. It certainly doesn't seem that big because the campus is quite spread out, with it being on both sides of the Mississippi River. The engineering department is good and the professors I talked to seemed enthusiastic and very involved in research and solving current problems. Obviously the winters can be rough, but that hasn't stopped this and other northern schools from producing great runners. Another great thing about the location is that there are a ton of good running routes right from campus. The River Path goes for many miles on both sides of the river and there are lakes, a golf course and other city parks to run around as well.

The programs seems excellent. Coach Plasencia ("Plaz") really knows what he's doing, as evidenced by his own personal athletic success and the success of the men he has trained over the past 15 years. Such standouts as Ben Blankenship, Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough have all shined under his tutelage and I believe that it would be very beneficial to my development as a runner to be coached by him for one or two years. An interesting bit of trivia: Coach Fischer (my current coach) coached Plaz when he was in high school and Fischer was just a young coach! Pretty amazing how small the world seems sometimes. I am not as starstruck from this visit as I was from visiting UO, but I can definitely see myself succeeding here.

Another thing I really liked about the school was how all the sports teams support each other. I went to a hockey game (Gophers won, 2-1) and a basketball game (Gophers won in OT against Big 10 rival Illinois), and both games drew tons of attendance and support. Guys on the team told me how everyone likes the AD and the football coach, even though the team isn't great, and the throws coach gave me a very warm welcome as well. Perhaps I'm just bitter about the situation at UD, but it always seems to me that the athletic department is not well liked and the games are never well attended despite their best efforts. I just think it's great to see a positive environment for all the teams here.

So I think it would be pretty cool to go here next year. I would be thrilled with running for a Big 10 school and competing with against some great runners. Honestly just having a team again would be great!

Icicle 10-Miler Recap

Today I ran a 10 mile road race, which forced me to change up my week a little bit. I ended up trading a little bit of mileage for quality and ran 2 workouts and this race. I went into this race about as fresh as I have been since I started this training cycle after the Rothman 8k, but I was by no means taking a full taper into this. Basically I wanted this to be a good indicator of my fitness. The course has some hills and the weather, a chilly 22 degrees and breezy, probably affected times a little bit as well.

Feeney, Me, Digennaro at the mile

As to the race itself, I didn't know how hard I would end up running this beforehand, since my goals were to win and maybe get the course record if I felt good (54:03). I started out with Mike Digennaro and Dan Feeney for the first few miles and took the lead for good just before 5 miles (26:25). The first half of the race is where most of the hills are so I ended up having a solid negative split and won in 52:32 for a new course record. Even though the downhills in the second half of the race made it fast, I could feel my legs taking a beating and knew I would be feeling the race later. Digennaro and I pushed the hills hard in the first 4.5 miles but I didn't run flat-out over the last few miles, since I was confident in the gap I had and the downhills were hard enough as it was. There was a really tough hill in the last mile but other than that the finish was nice and I cruised it in without trying to force out an extra few seconds.

After the race my legs feel very beat up. I knew I would feel pretty bad but the cooldown was hilariously slow (somewhere near 9 minute pace) and we all felt terrible. Just sitting around my legs are quite sore and I know I won't be able to run a quality workout for a few days. It's amazing how a tough course even a less-than-100% effort can take a long time to recover from. I remember after my half-marathon this fall it took over 10 days to fully bounce back from that effort, so hopefully this doesn't sideline me for that long as I would like to get back to quality training as soon as possible. There is something to be said for the fitness gained from this hard and long of an effort, and this is just the kind of work I'm looking for in January.

Feeney and I post-race

Tomorrow I fly out to San Diego to see some friends and the weather there will be a welcome respite from 25 and windy here in DE! Hopefully they take it easy on me out there and don't run me into the ground too hard or I'll have to come back early.

Oklahoma

The past few days I was in Oklahoma on a recruiting trip to OU for a potential 5th year of competition in grad school. Going into this I didn’t really know what to expect, since I had never gone on any of these trips, but I had a hunch that it would be pretty cool and a lot of fun. Now that I’m back, I can safely say that I am blown away the the OU cross country and track programs and would love to run for them next year. The team dynamic and the synergy between the entire team, including all of the coaches, is amazing and something I had never seen. Everyone just seemed to genuinely love each other, and the coaches, while able to maintain a professional demeanor when necessary, were included as family in the team brotherhood.

The whole trip was great but there were a couple events that really wooed me to this program. The first night, Coach Smith and his lovely wife Renee treated Kyle (my roommate/fellow recruit), Kevin Williams (guide for the trip) and Kevin’s roommate and team member Bill Kogel to a delicious dinner at a local steakhouse. After dinner we got our first insight into Coach Smith when he “held court” at the dinner table for an hour and a half. The man totally overwhelmed us and he really showed his love for running and the team. I came away from dinner thinking that this man belonged in the company of the great guru-coaches with men like Bowerman, Jumbo Elliot and Lydiard. His coaching record over the past 30+ years is incredible, as is his charisma and his infectious enthusiasm for the sport.

The next night for dinner, Coach Smith and Renee hosted the entire XC team plus the recruits (Kyle, myself and 3 freshman) for a great dinner where we bonded with the team. This was a great experience and I really noticed how well the team got along. This really sold me on coming here; by hanging out with the team and seeing their interactions, it was obvious that everyone got along with everyone else and really enjoyed their company, and the coaches were involved in the banter and company as well.

Overall this was an amazing trip. Tiring, busy and hectic but really a great experience. Before this visit I had never seen a team that got along so well. The nearly unlimited athletic budget, great meets to go to and environment for training and improvement didn’t really hurt either. Coach Smith was just great and made every effort to talk to us and let us know what we would be getting ourselves in to. He told us that to really be successful in the program, we would have to buy into it, and who am I to argue with his kind of success? He took the team from nothing to 5th in the country in XC in 6 years, and has coached 274 All-Americans! Not many coaches have that kind of track record. I would love to be a Sooner next year!

2011 In Retrospect

2011 was a good year for my running. I learned a lot, raced a lot and trained a lot. I ran PRs for every distance, didn't get any really debilitating injuries, was able to train consistently and generally take my running to a new level. Some numbers:

4541 miles (88 mpw)
24 races
11 PRs
35 days off running (due to injury, between-season breaks, sickness, etc)

Not too bad. The only upsetting things this year were my knee injury in the winter (caused by slipping on some black ice) and my Achilles "injury" in the summer (felt after track IC4A but never became debilitating). I also learned a lot about training and myself this year; I was in great shape in the spring but was never fully rested to run 100% up to what I think I could have run. I was trying to race well in the longer races while at the same time maintaining quality training, which is always a mistake, and it showed in my fatigue during the season. However, it was a good learning experience so I can't be too upset about it as long as I don't make the same mistakes this year.

Another positive is that ever since I started running higher mileage, especially in the past year, I have found a personal sweet spot in balancing mileage and quality that is near-optimum for me. I've mostly stopped running mileage for the sake of mileage and have gotten better at just training hard 2x a week plus a long run and seeing what kind of mileage comes out in the wash. I believe this is a much healthier mental state and a more relaxed way of training. Hopefully I can carry this mindset through to the racing season and can back off enough to take full advantage of all the work I'll put in this year.