Monday, March 16: 10:00 AM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Tuesday, March 17: 4:30 PM - 9 Miles, 61 min
Wednesday, March 18: 2:00 PM - In/Out Tempo WO along the River
20 min w/u, ~4 Miles @ 21:00 (5:30, 5:00, 5:30, 5:00) on effort, 20 min c/d
Thursday, March 19: 6:00 PM - 11 Miles, 80 min w/ CVC and KJ
Friday, March 20: 10:00 AM - 8 Miles, 56 min w/ CVC
Saturday, March 21: 8:30 AM - Interval WO @ BC Res w/ Roland and Dave
22 min w/u, 8 x 3min on/2min off, 20 min c/d, "On" @ 10K -> 8K pace
Sunday, March 22: 8:30 AM - 10 Miles, 71 min
6:00 PM - 4 Miles, 29 min
Week Total = 73 Miles, 8 Sessions
The week started off with a few days of recovery from the trip to Florida and the 15K. I felt decent following the race except my quads were really sore. They had been tight/sore for the last 2-3 weeks, most likely due to increasing volume and intensity. Then throw in a 15K race with a huge hill at the end of it and a bunch of runs on concrete sidewalks and my quads were pretty beat up after the weekend. I ran an in-n-out tempo on Wednesday which was doable but I didn't feel great while doing it. I was supposed to be 10s faster than tempo on the "ins" and 10s slower than tempo on the "outs". Guessing that my tempo is around 5:15ish right now, this meant 5:05 and 5:25. I just ran the workout along the river so I didn't have anything measured out and just ran on effort. To keep things simple, I used 5:30 and 5:00 as benchmarks for the pace change. It was one of the "warmer" days of the week but very windy! The weather hasn't been all that great lately as we've been dipping into the 20's and down to the teens with wind chill. This winter just keeps lingering on and has not helped me get out the door any faster.
I was feeling better by Saturday and had a very promising workout with Roland and Dave. My plan was to hang off the back of those guys and try to stay in control while expecting them to pull away from me on each interval. This was pretty much the case in the first couple sets, but then I found myself staying relatively close to them in the middle of the workout and decided to just sit on their shoulder as much as possible. The intervals were pretty hard efforts for me and I was definitely breathing pretty heavy, but the 2 min rest was more than enough between intervals and I never lost too much ground on those guys until the last one when Roland pulled away at the end. I didn't feel too fatigued from the workout and walked away from it feeling pretty good.
The mileage this week was good as I hit 70 for the first time in 2009. I've definitely been tired this week and the legs always feel like junk at the start of each run, but a lot of my tiredness is from working a lot and I usually feel good by the end of my runs. I'm still seeing my chiropractor every 2-3 weeks for adjustments (hip & back) and ART on the foot, lower peroneals, and ITB. All things I really need. I am also in need of a massage and will have to look into getting one of those in the next week or so. The foot is doing ok. It still bothers me, especially in the mornings and after long days at work. I use the Foot Rubz ball on it every day and do a lot of added flexibility and mobility work on it whenever I can. It isn't painful when I run, but is uncomfortable at times, so I still think about it often and try to be cautiously aware of the strains I put on it.
As I talked about in my last post, I ran a 15K race down in Jacksonville last week and was satisfied with my effort there. It's been a slow buildup to where I am now and I still have a long way to go, but for my first race of 2009, I was content with what I did down there. After the race, I spent the rest of the weekend meeting other elites and catching up with old friends. As each conversation developed, I could almost guarantee that each person would ask some form of the same question. "So what's next for you?" And I'm sure those of you that read this are wondering the same thing. Most people that ask that question expect a race somewhere in the answer... and yes, I do plan on racing at some point this spring. However, I don't know what races they'll be and they probably won't be for a while. So I've been answering the question of "what's next?" with, "a lot of hard training in March and April and once I'm fit enough, I'll find a race somewhere." There are a lot of options to choose from and I have a few in mind that might be possibilities, but it will come down to how quickly my fitness comes along and what Kevin thinks will be best for me this year. To keep things less costly, I'm guessing I'll stay local as much as possible and probably incorporate the Boston High Performance Series into the schedule. If I was further along in my training, it would be awesome to go out to Mt. SAC, UC Berkeley, or Stanford like most elite 5K/10K guys are doing, but if I'm not in sub 14:00/29:00 shape and don't have the extra money to throw around, it doesn't make much sense to go out there this early.
I think I'm on the right track to get back to where I was a year ago and it might not be that far away, but the big challenge for me will be to get past that point. I've been struggling for 3 years now to get past the point of being a 14:30 guy and am eager (almost desperate) for a breakthrough this year. It may take several weeks or months to show signs of surfacing, but I really hope to make some progress in my running career at some point in 2009.
Until I have more definite racing plans, I'll just keep working hard and building on what I've started and if anything big comes up, you'll certainly hear about it. Best of luck to all of you that are starting your seasons now and I hope to be joining you before too long.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Gate River 15K
Monday, March 9: 9 Miles, 63 min w/ Rupp (treadmill)
Tuesday, March 10: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, PM, CM, TO, TK, and MM
23 min w/u, 1600, 5minR, 2 x [4 x 400] w/1minR, 23 min c/d
4:45 / 68, 68, 67, 68 (5minR) 67, 67, 66, 67
Wednesday, March 11: 1:00 PM - 7 Miles, 49 min
Thursday, March 12: 7:30 PM - 5 Miles, 35 min w/ Rebecca, Watson, Carney, LT, and EL
Friday, March 13: 11:00 AM - 7 Miles, 49 min w/ Roland
5:00 PM - 3 Miles, 20 min w/ Roland, Light strides and drills
Saturday, March 14: 8:30 AM - Gate River Run
20 min w/u, 15K - 48:55, 57th place (53rd US), 20 min c/d
Miles: 5:13, 5:10, 5:14, 5:16, 5:12, 5:15, 5:09, 5:22, 5:25, (1:33)
5Ks: 16:14, 16:14, 16:25
Sunday, March 15: 10:00 AM - 6 Miles, 40 min
Week Total = 62 Miles, 8 Sessions
Sorry for the tardiness of this update, but better late than never, right? So this past weekend I ventured down to Jacksonville, FL for the 32nd Annual Gate River Run 15K. It's a race with lots of tradition and has been the host of the US 15K Championships for the last 15 years. I've had this race on my tentative schedule for quite a while and was excited when my team decided to send a squad down. I was hesitant at first because I missed most of the winter with injury and was not in ideal shape to compete in a national championship race. Despite those reservations, I agreed to go down and race with my team and am glad that I did.
I would compare my experience to that of the US 5K Championships this past September. I was able to take a lot of positives from the experience and was very happy with the treatment we received. However, I just was not fit enough to take advantage of the opportunity to race well against the competition that was present. The field this weekend was probably the
best US field I've ever been in and probably one of the best assembled on the roads in several years. Having said that, I have to credit Richard Fannin, the Elite Coordinator, for doing such a great job of organizing this field and making sure that we were so well taken care of. I say this is the best field that I've been a part of, but I can't really say that because I was out the back from the start and ran most of the race by myself. I knew this was probably going to be the case and I ran my race according to plan based on my current fitness, but I didn't think the time that I ran would put me so far back. I'm not saying 48:55 is a fast time, but I didn't think there would be 52 other Americans running faster than that. I also thought that I'd be able to catch a few of those guys falling off the back, but that was not the case as I only caught about 3 guys the whole race. This says great things for the race itself and for US Championships in general. I did have people to pass in the last few miles... but they were all women (the elite women started 5 min ahead of the men). I kept looking up ahead to see where the next guy was, but all I could see were sports bras.
I know my performance was nothing to write home about, but I'm doing it anyway. I was pretty satisfied with how I ran and how I was able to gauge my efforts throughout the race. One thing I've gotten better at over the years is the ability to judge my fitness and know what I'm capable of. I knew that anything faster than 5:00 miles was beyond me at this point and felt that 5:05-5:10 pace would be a good race for me (around 48:00). I have never raced further than 10K before, so I was open to the possibility that anything could happen out there. As you can see in the splits above, I never got down to 5:05 and only dipped under 5:10 once. I think the humidity may have been a factor, but the conditions were pretty reasonable for Florida. I wasn't feeling great in the first 5K and just tried to stay relaxed as I ran side by side with Ryan. I was hoping to feel comfortable through 4 miles or so and then start to go to work and crank down the pace. As the race progressed, I never felt that good at any point, but never really slowed down much either, which is a good sign. I tried leaning on the pace a few times in the last 4 miles, but didn't get much out of those efforts as I was stuck at what felt like threshold pace. You'll see the last two miles were slow and it looks like I faded there, but that wasn't the case. There was a 3/4 mile long hill that climbed about 150 ft, starting in the 8th mile and going about halfway into the 9th mile. It was a tough hill, but I ran it hard and was glad to see the pace didn't slow down too much in those miles. After cresting the hill, it was about a 1/2 mile downhill stretch to the stadium and I cruised in pretty comfortably. So I ran the race pretty much exactly as planned and wasn't too far off my time goal. I maybe could have run up to 30 seconds faster, but felt like I ran pretty close to my fitness.
I'll say again that the overall experience was great. Doug Alred (race director) and Richard Fannin (elite coordinator) certainly do a great job putting this on, and with the help of USATF Liaison's Bob Latham and LeeAnn Meyer, there wasn't much that could be improved upon. It was a great motivator for me heading into the spring season and I hope that the next time I'm in an event like this, I'll be at a much higher fitness level and ready to compete with some of these guys.
Furthermore, I'll recognize the rest of the NBB team that raced this weekend, specifically Rebecca and Roland who had great individual performances. I think most of us hoped for a better showing, but it seemed liked everyone found some positives to take away from the event as we move towards our goals in the upcoming weeks and months. I've added Rebecca's blog/website on the sidebar here so I encourage you to check that out and follow her progress as she continues to do great things all over the globe. She'll be in Amman, Jordan next week for the World XC Championships which should be pretty exciting.
If you want to check out some footage of the race and some interviews from the top finishers, check out the Flotrack coverage as they did a pretty good job there. I've also included a few more pictures below for your viewing pleasure.
Tuesday, March 10: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, PM, CM, TO, TK, and MM
23 min w/u, 1600, 5minR, 2 x [4 x 400] w/1minR, 23 min c/d
4:45 / 68, 68, 67, 68 (5minR) 67, 67, 66, 67
Wednesday, March 11: 1:00 PM - 7 Miles, 49 min
Thursday, March 12: 7:30 PM - 5 Miles, 35 min w/ Rebecca, Watson, Carney, LT, and EL
Friday, March 13: 11:00 AM - 7 Miles, 49 min w/ Roland
5:00 PM - 3 Miles, 20 min w/ Roland, Light strides and drills
Saturday, March 14: 8:30 AM - Gate River Run
20 min w/u, 15K - 48:55, 57th place (53rd US), 20 min c/d
Miles: 5:13, 5:10, 5:14, 5:16, 5:12, 5:15, 5:09, 5:22, 5:25, (1:33)
5Ks: 16:14, 16:14, 16:25
Sunday, March 15: 10:00 AM - 6 Miles, 40 min
Week Total = 62 Miles, 8 Sessions
Sorry for the tardiness of this update, but better late than never, right? So this past weekend I ventured down to Jacksonville, FL for the 32nd Annual Gate River Run 15K. It's a race with lots of tradition and has been the host of the US 15K Championships for the last 15 years. I've had this race on my tentative schedule for quite a while and was excited when my team decided to send a squad down. I was hesitant at first because I missed most of the winter with injury and was not in ideal shape to compete in a national championship race. Despite those reservations, I agreed to go down and race with my team and am glad that I did.
I would compare my experience to that of the US 5K Championships this past September. I was able to take a lot of positives from the experience and was very happy with the treatment we received. However, I just was not fit enough to take advantage of the opportunity to race well against the competition that was present. The field this weekend was probably the
best US field I've ever been in and probably one of the best assembled on the roads in several years. Having said that, I have to credit Richard Fannin, the Elite Coordinator, for doing such a great job of organizing this field and making sure that we were so well taken care of. I say this is the best field that I've been a part of, but I can't really say that because I was out the back from the start and ran most of the race by myself. I knew this was probably going to be the case and I ran my race according to plan based on my current fitness, but I didn't think the time that I ran would put me so far back. I'm not saying 48:55 is a fast time, but I didn't think there would be 52 other Americans running faster than that. I also thought that I'd be able to catch a few of those guys falling off the back, but that was not the case as I only caught about 3 guys the whole race. This says great things for the race itself and for US Championships in general. I did have people to pass in the last few miles... but they were all women (the elite women started 5 min ahead of the men). I kept looking up ahead to see where the next guy was, but all I could see were sports bras.I know my performance was nothing to write home about, but I'm doing it anyway. I was pretty satisfied with how I ran and how I was able to gauge my efforts throughout the race. One thing I've gotten better at over the years is the ability to judge my fitness and know what I'm capable of. I knew that anything faster than 5:00 miles was beyond me at this point and felt that 5:05-5:10 pace would be a good race for me (around 48:00). I have never raced further than 10K before, so I was open to the possibility that anything could happen out there. As you can see in the splits above, I never got down to 5:05 and only dipped under 5:10 once. I think the humidity may have been a factor, but the conditions were pretty reasonable for Florida. I wasn't feeling great in the first 5K and just tried to stay relaxed as I ran side by side with Ryan. I was hoping to feel comfortable through 4 miles or so and then start to go to work and crank down the pace. As the race progressed, I never felt that good at any point, but never really slowed down much either, which is a good sign. I tried leaning on the pace a few times in the last 4 miles, but didn't get much out of those efforts as I was stuck at what felt like threshold pace. You'll see the last two miles were slow and it looks like I faded there, but that wasn't the case. There was a 3/4 mile long hill that climbed about 150 ft, starting in the 8th mile and going about halfway into the 9th mile. It was a tough hill, but I ran it hard and was glad to see the pace didn't slow down too much in those miles. After cresting the hill, it was about a 1/2 mile downhill stretch to the stadium and I cruised in pretty comfortably. So I ran the race pretty much exactly as planned and wasn't too far off my time goal. I maybe could have run up to 30 seconds faster, but felt like I ran pretty close to my fitness.
I'll say again that the overall experience was great. Doug Alred (race director) and Richard Fannin (elite coordinator) certainly do a great job putting this on, and with the help of USATF Liaison's Bob Latham and LeeAnn Meyer, there wasn't much that could be improved upon. It was a great motivator for me heading into the spring season and I hope that the next time I'm in an event like this, I'll be at a much higher fitness level and ready to compete with some of these guys.
Furthermore, I'll recognize the rest of the NBB team that raced this weekend, specifically Rebecca and Roland who had great individual performances. I think most of us hoped for a better showing, but it seemed liked everyone found some positives to take away from the event as we move towards our goals in the upcoming weeks and months. I've added Rebecca's blog/website on the sidebar here so I encourage you to check that out and follow her progress as she continues to do great things all over the globe. She'll be in Amman, Jordan next week for the World XC Championships which should be pretty exciting.
If you want to check out some footage of the race and some interviews from the top finishers, check out the Flotrack coverage as they did a pretty good job there. I've also included a few more pictures below for your viewing pleasure.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Going South
Monday, March 2: 7.5 Miles, 54 min w/ CVC
Tuesday, March 3: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, PM, CM, TO, TK, and MM
23 min w/u, 8 x 1200 @ 3:45ish w/ 1minR, 23 min c/d
3:49, 3:47, 3:48, 3:46, 3:45, 3:43, 3:41, 3:39
Wednesday, March 4: 1:00 PM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Thursday, March 5: 12:30 PM - 6 Miles, 40 min
Friday, March 6: 4:00 PM - 6.5 Miles, 45 min w/ Rupp
Saturday, March 7: 9:00 AM - WO with Roland, JLutz, and Rupp outside @ BC
24 min w/u, 5.4 Mile Tempo, 23 min c/d
3 x 1.8M Loops = 5.4M @ 27:47 (9:17, 9:20, 9:09) ~ 5:08 pace
Sunday, March 8: 9:00 AM - 14 Miles, 90 min w/ Rupp and Riley
Week Total = 68 Miles, 7 Sessions
Monday, March 9: 9 Miles, 63 min w/ Rupp (treadmill)
Tuesday, March 10: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, PM, CM, TO, TK, and MM
23 min w/u, 1600, 5minR, 8 x 400 w/1minR, 23 min c/d
4:45, 68, 68, 67, 68, (5minR) 67, 67, 66, 67
Wednesday, March 11: 1:00 PM - 7 Miles, 49 min
This is gonna be quick. I had a pretty good week of training compared to past weeks and I feel like things are starting to come around in workouts. I still have a long ways to go, but I am taking whatever fitness I have right now and going to Jacksonville for the 15K. I feel like I am fit enough to at least treat it like a race and maybe surprise myself even. There is a massive elite field this year and I'll be happy to finish in the top half of it (so somewhere in the top 30 / 48 minute range is probably my thoughts going into it).
I apologize for the short (and late) post but I hope to have more up on here when I get back from Florida.
Tuesday, March 3: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, PM, CM, TO, TK, and MM
23 min w/u, 8 x 1200 @ 3:45ish w/ 1minR, 23 min c/d
3:49, 3:47, 3:48, 3:46, 3:45, 3:43, 3:41, 3:39
Wednesday, March 4: 1:00 PM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Thursday, March 5: 12:30 PM - 6 Miles, 40 min
Friday, March 6: 4:00 PM - 6.5 Miles, 45 min w/ Rupp
Saturday, March 7: 9:00 AM - WO with Roland, JLutz, and Rupp outside @ BC
24 min w/u, 5.4 Mile Tempo, 23 min c/d
3 x 1.8M Loops = 5.4M @ 27:47 (9:17, 9:20, 9:09) ~ 5:08 pace
Sunday, March 8: 9:00 AM - 14 Miles, 90 min w/ Rupp and Riley
Week Total = 68 Miles, 7 Sessions
Monday, March 9: 9 Miles, 63 min w/ Rupp (treadmill)
Tuesday, March 10: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, PM, CM, TO, TK, and MM
23 min w/u, 1600, 5minR, 8 x 400 w/1minR, 23 min c/d
4:45, 68, 68, 67, 68, (5minR) 67, 67, 66, 67
Wednesday, March 11: 1:00 PM - 7 Miles, 49 min
This is gonna be quick. I had a pretty good week of training compared to past weeks and I feel like things are starting to come around in workouts. I still have a long ways to go, but I am taking whatever fitness I have right now and going to Jacksonville for the 15K. I feel like I am fit enough to at least treat it like a race and maybe surprise myself even. There is a massive elite field this year and I'll be happy to finish in the top half of it (so somewhere in the top 30 / 48 minute range is probably my thoughts going into it).
I apologize for the short (and late) post but I hope to have more up on here when I get back from Florida.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Not There Yet
Monday, February 23: 0 Miles (worked all day, very tired after)
Tuesday, February 24: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, and Phil
22 min w/u, 4 x 1000/600 @ 74/72 pace w/ 2minR, 3minR between sets, 22 min c/d
3:06/1:47, 3:05/1:46, 3:03/1:48, 2:55/1:43
Wednesday, February 25: 1:30 PM - 7 Miles, 49 min
Thursday, February 26: 12:30 PM - 0 Miles (not planned)
Friday, February 27: 7:30 AM - 9 Miles, 63 min w/ Rupp
Saturday, February 28: 8:00 AM - WO with Rupp outside @ Bentley
22 min w/u, 6 x 4min @ Tempo w/ 1minR, 21 min c/d
(middle two intervals on the track - 1200's @ 3:56, 3:53)
Sunday, March 1: 12:30 PM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Week Total = 47 Miles, 5 Sessions
Another week gone by with very mediocre training. I am still trying to get settled into a routine and find a daily balance between training, work, and everything in between. The house is coming along now that our third roommate, Chris has finally moved in. It's looking a bit more lived in and feeling a bit more like "home". However, I have still been very busy and just haven't had a good week of training yet. I was ok with running 40-50 miles a week a month ago because I was just getting back into things, but I should not be below 60 right now. There is no excuse for it and taking two days off in a week is simply unacceptable. I get really frustrated with myself because I know I have the drive to be doing more, and I know I NEED to be doing more if I want to have any type of success this spring. I'm having some okay workouts on the track and I find myself pushing through those well, but the in between days are where I am lacking and that is where I need to make some big improvements. I am working really hard, but I am doing it inconsistently and not taking good enough care of myself along the way. If I don't get more serious about the little things, I have a feeling I'm gonna be paying for it down the road.
I plan on doing a lot better with this over the next few weeks. I feel like things should start calming down in my everyday life and I can hopefully rid myself of the many stresses I've been putting on myself. I hope to eventually be able to work a little less than I am right now and get into a regular schedule so I can better plan my training around it. Right now, I'm just picking up as many shifts as I can and sometimes have sacrificed a quality run because of it. I'm tired all the time and just don't seem to have enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. Also, the weather has not been cooperative. I AM SO SICK OF WINTER!! We just got dumped on with more snow this week and the last few runs have not been pleasant. I feel like better weather will help a lot with getting me back into a rhythm and back to the mileage I should be at. But enough ranting, let's move onto something else.
I will finally let the JC Experience readers know about my plans for my first race of 2009. I agreed to do this one a few weeks back, but was holding off on telling people for various reasons. Now that it is less than two weeks away, I guess I can tell people about it. So on March 14th, I'll be participating in the Gate River 15K in Jacksonville, FL and the plan is to race it. This race is also acting as the US 15K Road Championships and will have very strong individual and team competition. I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I was a month ago... it's too early for me to be in a competitive race, let alone a national championships. And you're probably right. The training I've been doing does not indicate a fast 15K and I will likely be training the majority of this elite field. Despite all that, I will be there just the same and compete to the best of my ability. I know I can be tough in competition and I may surprise myself. It may also be a big kick in the ass. Either way, I plan on using it as motivation to propel me into the spring season and will hopefully gather some information about where my fitness is and what I need to do to achieve my goals for this spring.
So I agreed to do this race for several reasons. 1.) My teammates needed a 3rd guy for the team competition, 2.) It's a good strength workout for this stage in my training, 3.) Jacksonville is warmer than Boston, 4.) Two of my best friends, Liz and DJ live in Jacksonville, and finally 5.) I need to remember what it's like to be competitive again before I enter the spring season, so what better race to pick than a national championships where I'll likely be racing the top guys my events for this coming track season.
In other news, it was a big weekend in the Track world as Boston played host to the USA Indoor Championships. I attended the races on Saturday and agreed to do a few interviews while I was there. Not my best work, but I did what I could. More importantly, the people I was there to watch did very well. Specifically, my teammates Rebecca Donaghue and Jenn Donovan placed 5th and 12th in the Womens 3K with big PRs of 9:01 and 9:15, respectively. I am really pumped about these performances because I know how hard these girls have worked and they deserve every acknowledgement they get.
After a long day on Saturday, I was up before 6am Sunday morning to meet up with old friend Ryan Fenton, now of FloTrack. We met up with Ryan Hall and got some footage of him running the last 20 Miles of the Boston course, similar to what we did with Kara Goucher a few weeks ago. It was a neat experience and I was happy to help out, but I was certainly exhausted after everything on Saturday, followed by 4 hours in the car on Sunday, followed by a run in the snow, followed by 7 hours at work. I definitely take on too much and this is probably a big part of why my training has been suffering. But how often to you get the chance to hang out with Ryan Hall?
I plan on having some better training updates for you in the next few weeks so stay tuned.
Tuesday, February 24: 6:30 PM - Track WO w/ Mario, JP, and Phil
22 min w/u, 4 x 1000/600 @ 74/72 pace w/ 2minR, 3minR between sets, 22 min c/d
3:06/1:47, 3:05/1:46, 3:03/1:48, 2:55/1:43
Wednesday, February 25: 1:30 PM - 7 Miles, 49 min
Thursday, February 26: 12:30 PM - 0 Miles (not planned)
Friday, February 27: 7:30 AM - 9 Miles, 63 min w/ Rupp
Saturday, February 28: 8:00 AM - WO with Rupp outside @ Bentley
22 min w/u, 6 x 4min @ Tempo w/ 1minR, 21 min c/d
(middle two intervals on the track - 1200's @ 3:56, 3:53)
Sunday, March 1: 12:30 PM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Week Total = 47 Miles, 5 Sessions
Another week gone by with very mediocre training. I am still trying to get settled into a routine and find a daily balance between training, work, and everything in between. The house is coming along now that our third roommate, Chris has finally moved in. It's looking a bit more lived in and feeling a bit more like "home". However, I have still been very busy and just haven't had a good week of training yet. I was ok with running 40-50 miles a week a month ago because I was just getting back into things, but I should not be below 60 right now. There is no excuse for it and taking two days off in a week is simply unacceptable. I get really frustrated with myself because I know I have the drive to be doing more, and I know I NEED to be doing more if I want to have any type of success this spring. I'm having some okay workouts on the track and I find myself pushing through those well, but the in between days are where I am lacking and that is where I need to make some big improvements. I am working really hard, but I am doing it inconsistently and not taking good enough care of myself along the way. If I don't get more serious about the little things, I have a feeling I'm gonna be paying for it down the road.
I plan on doing a lot better with this over the next few weeks. I feel like things should start calming down in my everyday life and I can hopefully rid myself of the many stresses I've been putting on myself. I hope to eventually be able to work a little less than I am right now and get into a regular schedule so I can better plan my training around it. Right now, I'm just picking up as many shifts as I can and sometimes have sacrificed a quality run because of it. I'm tired all the time and just don't seem to have enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. Also, the weather has not been cooperative. I AM SO SICK OF WINTER!! We just got dumped on with more snow this week and the last few runs have not been pleasant. I feel like better weather will help a lot with getting me back into a rhythm and back to the mileage I should be at. But enough ranting, let's move onto something else.
I will finally let the JC Experience readers know about my plans for my first race of 2009. I agreed to do this one a few weeks back, but was holding off on telling people for various reasons. Now that it is less than two weeks away, I guess I can tell people about it. So on March 14th, I'll be participating in the Gate River 15K in Jacksonville, FL and the plan is to race it. This race is also acting as the US 15K Road Championships and will have very strong individual and team competition. I'm sure you're thinking the same thing I was a month ago... it's too early for me to be in a competitive race, let alone a national championships. And you're probably right. The training I've been doing does not indicate a fast 15K and I will likely be training the majority of this elite field. Despite all that, I will be there just the same and compete to the best of my ability. I know I can be tough in competition and I may surprise myself. It may also be a big kick in the ass. Either way, I plan on using it as motivation to propel me into the spring season and will hopefully gather some information about where my fitness is and what I need to do to achieve my goals for this spring.
So I agreed to do this race for several reasons. 1.) My teammates needed a 3rd guy for the team competition, 2.) It's a good strength workout for this stage in my training, 3.) Jacksonville is warmer than Boston, 4.) Two of my best friends, Liz and DJ live in Jacksonville, and finally 5.) I need to remember what it's like to be competitive again before I enter the spring season, so what better race to pick than a national championships where I'll likely be racing the top guys my events for this coming track season.
In other news, it was a big weekend in the Track world as Boston played host to the USA Indoor Championships. I attended the races on Saturday and agreed to do a few interviews while I was there. Not my best work, but I did what I could. More importantly, the people I was there to watch did very well. Specifically, my teammates Rebecca Donaghue and Jenn Donovan placed 5th and 12th in the Womens 3K with big PRs of 9:01 and 9:15, respectively. I am really pumped about these performances because I know how hard these girls have worked and they deserve every acknowledgement they get.
After a long day on Saturday, I was up before 6am Sunday morning to meet up with old friend Ryan Fenton, now of FloTrack. We met up with Ryan Hall and got some footage of him running the last 20 Miles of the Boston course, similar to what we did with Kara Goucher a few weeks ago. It was a neat experience and I was happy to help out, but I was certainly exhausted after everything on Saturday, followed by 4 hours in the car on Sunday, followed by a run in the snow, followed by 7 hours at work. I definitely take on too much and this is probably a big part of why my training has been suffering. But how often to you get the chance to hang out with Ryan Hall?
I plan on having some better training updates for you in the next few weeks so stay tuned.
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