Terrier recap

Numbers...

Saturday, January 26th
Terrier Invitational
3000M - 8:17.62 - 12th place
400's - 67.5, 65.4, 66.0, 66.1, 66.6, 65.5, 66.9, 33.6
k's - 2:45.0, 2:46.6, 2:46.0

Sunday, January 27th
8:30 AM - 9 Miles, 60 min
Hamstring was pretty tight to start out but loosened up after a couple miles and was able to have a decent run. Semitendinosus flared up a little in the last few miles but not too bad.

Training Log (Jan 21-27)
Monday: 12 Miles, 80 min
Tuesday: 4 x 800 @ 2:14-2:16 w/ 2.5mr; 4mr; 3 x 300 @ 45-46 w/ 1.5mr; Total- 10 Miles
Wednesday: 0 Miles
Thursday: 0 Miles
Friday: 4 Miles, 28 min
Saturday: Terrier Inv. - 3K (8:17); Total- 8 Miles
Sunday: 9 Miles, 60 min

Total: 43 Miles, 5 runs
Another low week. More problems. One half decent race.

So let's talk about the race a little bit. I had a lot of mixed feelings about this result and therefore am not really sure if I'm happy with it or not. Considering the way the last few weeks have been going and the problems that have been popping up, I guess I have to see this performance as a positive. It was less than a second off my PR and was even paced all the way through. I felt comfortable running with those guys, I stayed focused for the majority of the race and I didn't blow up at any point. So it could have been a lot worse. However, when it came time to close and really go after a fast time with the rest of those guys, I just stuck my tail between my legs and let everyone blow right by me. I ran most of the race with Miller, Norton, and Roland. But as you can see in the results, all three of them beat me by 6+ seconds. With about 400 to go they put the hammer down and ran 60-61 for the last quarter... but I didn't move an inch. I just settled for another 66. Part of it was I just didn't have any gears to go to, but at the same time, I don't feel like I tried hard enough to find those gears. I didn't give up but I didn't fight either. I want to get that fight back. In order to do that, I need to first get my confidence back, which has been slipping lately. Pretty much everyone and their mother ran a PR this weekend and I just settled for mediocre. I look at my time and know that it is not indicative of what I can do. 8:17 is not good! It may be fine for where I'm at right now, but I really wanted to be a lot faster at this point in the season. I know I can run with all those guys in front of me and therefore it's discouraging to see them just run away from me like that.

Ok, back to positive. The good thing about this race is I felt comfortable running 66's. Again it was just that last 4-600 meters that got away from me. So I feel like my strength is definitely there. At certain points in the middle of the race, I felt like the pace was lagging and I actually thought about pushing the pace at times. But rather chose to be safe and stay with the pack. This should be a good set up for a fast 5k in a couple weeks. While I would love to improve on my 3k time, I feel I need to go after a fast 5k this season. That's the main focus this year and therefore, putting up a 14:15-14:20 indoors would set me up nicely for the spring. So I'll keep nursing these little injuries and try to get ready to run my ass off in that 5K at Valentine.

Before I conclude this, I'll also say that this will be my last "journal" entry for a while. Rather than rambling on each day about useless details in my everyday life, I'm going to focus my entries more on what this blog was intended to be: a training log. I think it will be better for everyone if I keep more of my emotions to myself and just take care of business. I'll still throw in some insight here and there, but the daily posts will be more of a simple training log format. I may decide to go back to the old format again in the future but for right now, I think this is the best thing to do.

All for now.