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!
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