So far through this winter, training has gone fairly well. In the last month I have been training very well coming off of a forced break that lasted through the beginning of 2014. After taking a planned week off after USA club XC in December, I began running again with the intention of building back up relatively quickly and getting back into workouts. My body saw things differently and I felt pretty terrible for about 3 weeks after resuming running. I was initially worried that this episode was a repeat of last year, but decided that no matter what I might as well keep running at whatever level I could just to maintain routine and keep in touch with my body and feedback. After the new year, I started feeling better and began workouts successfully soon after.
Now that I can see the end of winter in the distance, it's time to start planning races for the spring season. Ever since I ran Chicago in the fall, I've wanted to get back on the track and see if I can run well over the 1500-5k, maybe even a 10k if the opportunity comes easily. With that in mind, I'm looking at a racing schedule that allows minimal travel with the best competition. The Princeton meets, Bucknell, Colonial Relays and Swarthmore are all within 4 hours and, for my level, have great races. I hope to be able to challenge my old UD marks and acquit myself well in these races.
More immediately, I may end up running an indoor meet coming up at Penn State. I originally was not planning on doing any indoor races, since I didn't really think I was in good shape and didn't want to waste a Saturday on a mediocre race. When I saw Chris Slate raced a mile at Boston last weekend, it kicked my ass into gear and got me thinking about racing something soon. I would run a 3k and hopefully get down near 8:20, but that is a pretty big guess and I haven't got a good gauge on my fitness for those distances now.
In the meantime I continue to train well with Digennaro and Feeney, getting in a good blend of tempo runs, long intervals and shorter intervals. I've found a good balance in my training and a good balance in my everyday life between work and running. If I can maintain the good patterns I've been riding for the last month I think I'll be in a good position to run well in the March thru May seasons.
