How far will you go?

Thursday, September 25: 7:30 AM - 10 Miles, 68 min
6:30 PM - 5 Miles, 35 min
Friday, September 26: 12:30 PM - 10 Miles, 66 min (middle 3Mi @ 15:50)
6:00 PM - 5 Miles, 35 min
Saturday, September 27: 7:30 AM - 15 Miles, 101 min
Sunday, September 28: 8:30 AM - 10 Miles, 67 min

Week Total = 82 Miles, 9 Runs

Monday, September 29: 1:30 PM - Interval WO (Lappers)
12 x 550m (Avg = 1:37) w/ 1 min jog; 4 x 275m (Avg = 46) w/ 1 min jog
1:38, 1:37, 1:37, 1:38, 1:38, 1:39
1:38, 1:38, 1:39, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37
50, 46, 44, 46
18 min w/u, 19 min c/d
Tuesday, September 30: 5:00 PM - 12 Miles, 79 min
Wednesday, October 1: 1:30 PM - Interval WO
6 x Mile @ 88% w/ 5 min rest
4:50, 4:50, 4:50, 4:50, 4:49, 4:47
15 min w/u, 16 min c/d
Thursday, October 2: 7:30 AM - 10 Miles, 67 min
6:30 PM - 5 Miles, 32 min
Friday, October 3: 7:30 AM - 10 Miles, 68 min
5:30 PM - 4 Miles, 35 min (Mission Bay)
Saturday, October 4: 7:00 AM - 15 min w/u, 5K tempo (16:18), 30 min c/d (Balboa Park)
Sunday, October 5: 9:00 AM - 14 Miles, 92 min

Week Total = 87 Miles, 9 Runs

September = 361 Miles

A pretty good week overall. After the CVS 5K, my legs took a little while to recover from the long weekend and all the traveling but by the end of the week, I was feeling better. Christian Hesch joined Steve and I for a run that Friday and despite running at the hottest time in the day, we still ran the middle 3 Miles at about 5:15 pace. This week was much better as both workouts went pretty well and definitely showed progress from the last couple sessions. Wednesday's workout was tough and the heat was really bad that day, so Marco gave us 5 min between repeats instead of the 3 min we had last time. I didn't feel great, but I was happy with the consistency of the workout. I pretty much ran right on 4:50 and just dropped it down a bit on the last two. Since, I averaged 4:53 per mile in the 5K, I was happy to average sub 4:50 for 6 x mile and show that I am more fit than that 15:09 showed. If things are feeling good this next week, I'd like to get the mileage back up in the 90's and maybe close to 100, but we'll take it one day at a time.

Finally at the end of the week, I was able to take a mini trip to San Diego and visit with a few of my close friends. Mario was on the west coast for a few days visiting Sean and Dianna, so I took advantage of the opportunity and shot down to visit with all three of them (with the addition of their friend Matt, who I just met but is also from New England). Even though it was just a short visit, it was really a great getaway from the normal grind and the company of these four was just what I needed. We had a huge meal at Lots O' Pasta, caught the Red Sox game, saw Mission Bay and Balboa Park, and ventured up to Mt. Laguna to catch the scenery from about 5000 ft.

Back to running, we now have another race on our schedule. We've been talking about it for a while, but just finalized it last week. Steve, Carlos, and I are all going to Boston for the Mayor's Cup 8K on Oct. 26. It's a great race, it has a lot of competition, and it will be good preparation on our way to Club Nats. Also, since I'm a New England guy at heart, I love having the opportunity to go back to familiar ground, race some familiar names, and see a bunch of family and friends in the process. I'm also anxious to have another shot at getting a good race under my belt and see how I compare to this point last year. I feel like I'm finally catching up to my former fitness, but it's hard to judge. So Mayor's Cup might be able to give me an indicator of where I'm at.

In other news, I am now holding a part time job out here in Chino Hills. I had gone about 5 months without working a regular job and I must say it was easy to get used to. I was hoping to spend the majority of that time getting super fast, but instead, I spent about 2 months healing and the last 3 months just trying to build back to where I was. So unfortunately, I wasn't able to utilize that time as well as I would have liked. However, I did do a lot over those 5 months. I traveled all over the place, I went to the Olympic Trials, I helped a lot with the Run to Remember Race in Boston, I moved across the country, and I spent a lot of time with friends and family and tried to keep close contact with as many people as I could. I would certainly like to stay with the lifestyle of just run, eat and sleep, but the funds have run out and I need to start having an income again. I applied to several jobs in the area and considered a few different offers, but made the decision to accept a position at Starbucks. That's right, I am now a barista. At this time last year, I didn't even drink coffee and now I'm representing the biggest coffee chain in the world. I'll give Tony the credit for getting me hooked on the stuff. Anyway, it's not a bad gig... the benefits are pretty good and it's easy work that's flexible around my schedule. Also, I get as much coffee as I want and get to take home a pound every week. I'm averaging about 20 hours a week, which certainly cuts into my free time and many of my afternoon naps, but it's not so much that it cuts into my training time.

I know this is already getting long, but since I last posted, a very big thing happened in the running world, and I need to talk about it a little. As most of you know, it was the breaking of the Marathon World Best and the breaking of the 2:04 barrier. In Berlin last week, Haile Gebrselassie ran 2:03:59 to break his own world best by 27 seconds. I watched the entire race online and it was really amazing. Over the last few years, I've watched a lot more marathon races and have gained so much more respect and interest for the event. I currently consider myself a 5K-10K guy, but as many people have told me, and I have come to realize, I will probably need to move up in distance in the next few years to have a chance at the success I'm looking for. The question on the table is: How far do I go?

I plan to use this year as an opportunity to test the waters in some longer races. In 2009, I'm looking to run the 12K US Cross Country Championships in February and hopefully get into the 15K Championships in March, which will lead into Outdoor Track where I plan to debut in the 10K and see if it offers a better chance of qualifying for Nationals and ultimately the 2012 trials. I am gradually bringing my mileage up higher this year and am hoping to have an uninterrupted stretch of training that will prepare me well for these races. I've even thought about a competitive Half Marathon in December of next year, but I'll first wait and see how the other planned races go. I still feel like I have a lot of ground left to cover in events like the 3K and 5K so I don't plan to stop running those, but I want to open up my range a little more and see what comes of it. I've let my mind wander even further up in distance as I look toward the 2012 Trials, but nothing that I'll put in writing yet. It's become quite the trend it seems for these 5K and 10K guys to start jumping up in distance as the 10K has turned into an all out sprint and the marathon is now being run more like a middle distance event. I am curious as to where my strengths will be on this spectrum, but I'm going to make sure I find out gradually. It's a tough game to play and the clock is always ticking.

So how far will you go?