So after shaking off a dismal end to a not too shabby season, I have begun the long road to November. Even after only a week I could not wait to get back on the trails and roll around Cheney and enjoy the summer sun. I don't know about you guys, but when I'm not running, my entire schedule/life goes down the crapper. I sleep in late, stay up even later and have a general apathy when it comes to class and homework. There is just something about getting out for a jaunt, doing some light abs and pushups and spending a little bit of time in the training room that makes you feel accomplished, even if you really did nothing to contribute to society.
This summer I have some big expectations in terms of what I want to do to help me continue my rapid improvement and establish my self as one of our teams top runners. The one big thing I did differently this year then any other year was push the limit with my mileage. I think that was the biggest reason I was able to improve by leaps and bounds from my previous years times. So continuing the high mileage over the summer is going to be a priority. I have the green light to get up around the 110s, so we will see how I feel with that mileage later in the summer, but I have a feeling I should be able to handle that more than easily. One thing I did notice in my logs from last summer was a lack of tempos and too much summer racing. So that is going to be a big point of change for me, replacing the wednesday 3 mile club runs with more tempos and fartleks. I'm also going to try to build up more slowly than I did last year. I literally had zero left in the tank by the time conference rolled around, so I am going to try to be as fresh as possible while still stepping up my training.
While in college with 3 seasons, it is a delicate balance between setting your self up for racing well now and racing well in the future. My story this last year was I trained my ass of in the summer, was too tired for xc and then after some rest, had a huge winter and spring of improvement. So I have to keep my log in mind when I decide whether or not running 100+ in early/mid july is a good idea or not. Yes, my workouts did improve during xc, but my racing was not there and at the end of the day, racing and your results is all that really matters. Fortunately, even though I am moving back home, I have more than enough people to train with, which should make this summer my best one yet in terms of running and just overall quality of life. I'm motivated and I'm excited to really REALLY get after it this summer and take my running to the next level.
I just have to give a shout out to a website that has really helped me with all that I know about running and training and can be credited partially with my choice to run higher miles. Actually there are two of them. Both by the young genius himself Steve Magness, who is shaping a new generation of runners daily. Read as much as you can and enjoy your summer months!
http://magstraining.tripod.com/
http://www.scienceofrunning.com/
DO WORK!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
DFL and DNF
The title of this post pretty much speaks for its self on how I raced this weekend. The steeple was pure abstract horror as I went out the back the first 1k and then struggled to a 1012, a good 44 seconds slower than I ran two weeks ago. Even with the altitude conversion, my pathetic effort didn't even break 10 minutes. I wish that this was one of these races that I could look back and say "Oh this was the reason why I ran this time" but I don't honestly know what happened. The altitude always plays a part in racing at conference, but I think that doesn't cause you the kind of performance that I had this weekend. The 10k was, well, the 10k even if I didn't complete it.
It's funny how sometimes when things are seemingly going great with your training and racing you can still have a sobering performance like the one I had this weekend. When it was all said and done this weekend our distance squad had a rough weekend. We had at least 2 people in every event from the 1500 to 10k yet only managed two 7th place performances. Being a walk-on I have talked a lot about taking advantage of the opportunities that are given to you. Well this weekend was a wasted chance at taking my running to the next level. The way that this weekend went down reminds me of a great blog article by one of my personal favorite runners, Nate Jenkins. A while back he wrote an entry entitled "Nothing hits harder than life" which I feel really speaks to my situation. I know I'm not the first person to have a bad race, so I know that this isn't the end of the world. It just feels crappy. Fortunately I was able to find some kind of hollow victory in knowing I didn't have the worst day in sports, especially since I wasn't wearing a Boston Bruins uniform, who had just completed giving a way a 3-0 series lead and then a 3-0 lead in game season, ending their playoff run. So I feel a little better about my run after knowing there are 30 or so guys who are a lot more pissed about how they did than me.
That Nate Jenkins blog entry can be found here, and its a must read/bookmark. It always hits the spot especially when I feel like I'm not running to the best of my ability or just have a really crummy workout.http://www.flotrack.org/saucony_2009xc/blogs/64831
Despite this less than stellar finish to my sophomore year, I really couldn't be happier with how I have progressed as a runner and as a human being. Especially after a really really shaky cross country season, I couldn't have pictured my self as a 8:25 3k/9:28 steeplechaser at all until it actually happened. I had some good races where I really took advantage of the moment, but I know that the next step in my progression as a runner is running well not only during the season and continuing to get faster as it progresses, but to also run well at the big conference meets and score points. So hopefully I can look back in a couple of years and laugh about how far I have come.
Until then, I'm going to analyze the ole' log and talk with my coaches about how they thought my season went and then I'll make sure to work on those things this summer and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, will have another year of great running and some more unreal improvements.
Hope everyone is running well. Do Work!
It's funny how sometimes when things are seemingly going great with your training and racing you can still have a sobering performance like the one I had this weekend. When it was all said and done this weekend our distance squad had a rough weekend. We had at least 2 people in every event from the 1500 to 10k yet only managed two 7th place performances. Being a walk-on I have talked a lot about taking advantage of the opportunities that are given to you. Well this weekend was a wasted chance at taking my running to the next level. The way that this weekend went down reminds me of a great blog article by one of my personal favorite runners, Nate Jenkins. A while back he wrote an entry entitled "Nothing hits harder than life" which I feel really speaks to my situation. I know I'm not the first person to have a bad race, so I know that this isn't the end of the world. It just feels crappy. Fortunately I was able to find some kind of hollow victory in knowing I didn't have the worst day in sports, especially since I wasn't wearing a Boston Bruins uniform, who had just completed giving a way a 3-0 series lead and then a 3-0 lead in game season, ending their playoff run. So I feel a little better about my run after knowing there are 30 or so guys who are a lot more pissed about how they did than me.
That Nate Jenkins blog entry can be found here, and its a must read/bookmark. It always hits the spot especially when I feel like I'm not running to the best of my ability or just have a really crummy workout.http://www.flotrack.org/saucony_2009xc/blogs/64831
Despite this less than stellar finish to my sophomore year, I really couldn't be happier with how I have progressed as a runner and as a human being. Especially after a really really shaky cross country season, I couldn't have pictured my self as a 8:25 3k/9:28 steeplechaser at all until it actually happened. I had some good races where I really took advantage of the moment, but I know that the next step in my progression as a runner is running well not only during the season and continuing to get faster as it progresses, but to also run well at the big conference meets and score points. So hopefully I can look back in a couple of years and laugh about how far I have come.
Until then, I'm going to analyze the ole' log and talk with my coaches about how they thought my season went and then I'll make sure to work on those things this summer and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, will have another year of great running and some more unreal improvements.
Hope everyone is running well. Do Work!
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Final Countdown
So I found out the good news that I will be going to Ogden, UT for our conference championship meet this weekend. I never had any real doubt that I wouldn't be taken, but when more people have qualified than can go, that possibility is always there. This means now that I am preparing myself for probably one of the most epic doubles in all of track and field, the 3k steeple followed a couple hours later by the 10k. Thats 8 miles of pretty damn fast racing crammed into one night at 5,000 ft above the sea. Talk about ending my season with a bang. Right now I am honestly not worried about the 10k because I'm working on focusing all of my energy on yet another pr in the steeplechase.
Our conference is pretty stacked when it comes to this odd event. We have 5 of the west regions top 50 steeplers and two other guys who have ran 9:07. So what that means is that barring one or two of those guys have a bad day, I'm essentially in a race for 8th place, which is the last scoring position at our conference meet. Now that doesn't mean I'm not going to run my ass off, which you can count on me doing, but it means that realistically I have a different race plan than those other 7 guys who are or are almost regional qualifiers. Now in order for me to probably score, I am still going to need to run at pr or at least an altitude converted one for me to do what I need to do, but I feel that with me finally consolidating all of my fitness, another break through is almost certain, SO LONG AS I keep my head mentally in it, especially that second to last lap, which has been the bane of my existence thus far.
So for this upcoming race on friday I have come up with some goals for my last meet of the year, which I feel are obtainable, especially with how fit I am, as long as I apply myself. If I don't hit these goals, is my season a failure? No way, but I think that having an awesome last meet could put this season over the edge in terms of being a pretty solid one to being a true breakthrough.
*Score in the 3k Steeplechase (Top 8)
*Run sub 9:31 (sub 9:20 with the altitude conversion of 11.xx seconds)
*Finish the 10k
Now I know that last one is pretty weak, but I think trying to do anything but that right off the gun would be a set up for a LONG 25 laps. If I have some kick left, then hey, I might just go out there and surprise some people. The one thing I am going to make sure of is that my trainer has a stretcher ready for me after its all said and done. And I'm actually kind of serious.
On a less serious note. My teammate and I had a bet at the beginning of the year that who ever had the slower 1500 season pr had to get their ears pierced for conference. Now kyle is a pure 10k runner, although at 29:34 and 14:19, the bet is pretty damn fair. Now I did technically beat him by about 1.5 seconds with my solo 1500 time a couple weeks ago, but because of my good nature and love of all things ridiculous, we are both getting our ears pierced tomorrow for conference. I'll try to post some pictures on here when I post next, but it's going to be pretty awesome. So because of how stupid I'm going to look while racing, I'll most definitely have to put up or shut up this friday.
The immensity of my task is just starting to sink in. That's what I'm talking about! Going for broke baby! This is what running is all about! Hope everyone has a great week of racing, I know that crunch time is now for most of you, so race fast and run hard. Do Work!
Our conference is pretty stacked when it comes to this odd event. We have 5 of the west regions top 50 steeplers and two other guys who have ran 9:07. So what that means is that barring one or two of those guys have a bad day, I'm essentially in a race for 8th place, which is the last scoring position at our conference meet. Now that doesn't mean I'm not going to run my ass off, which you can count on me doing, but it means that realistically I have a different race plan than those other 7 guys who are or are almost regional qualifiers. Now in order for me to probably score, I am still going to need to run at pr or at least an altitude converted one for me to do what I need to do, but I feel that with me finally consolidating all of my fitness, another break through is almost certain, SO LONG AS I keep my head mentally in it, especially that second to last lap, which has been the bane of my existence thus far.
So for this upcoming race on friday I have come up with some goals for my last meet of the year, which I feel are obtainable, especially with how fit I am, as long as I apply myself. If I don't hit these goals, is my season a failure? No way, but I think that having an awesome last meet could put this season over the edge in terms of being a pretty solid one to being a true breakthrough.
*Score in the 3k Steeplechase (Top 8)
*Run sub 9:31 (sub 9:20 with the altitude conversion of 11.xx seconds)
*Finish the 10k
Now I know that last one is pretty weak, but I think trying to do anything but that right off the gun would be a set up for a LONG 25 laps. If I have some kick left, then hey, I might just go out there and surprise some people. The one thing I am going to make sure of is that my trainer has a stretcher ready for me after its all said and done. And I'm actually kind of serious.
On a less serious note. My teammate and I had a bet at the beginning of the year that who ever had the slower 1500 season pr had to get their ears pierced for conference. Now kyle is a pure 10k runner, although at 29:34 and 14:19, the bet is pretty damn fair. Now I did technically beat him by about 1.5 seconds with my solo 1500 time a couple weeks ago, but because of my good nature and love of all things ridiculous, we are both getting our ears pierced tomorrow for conference. I'll try to post some pictures on here when I post next, but it's going to be pretty awesome. So because of how stupid I'm going to look while racing, I'll most definitely have to put up or shut up this friday.
The immensity of my task is just starting to sink in. That's what I'm talking about! Going for broke baby! This is what running is all about! Hope everyone has a great week of racing, I know that crunch time is now for most of you, so race fast and run hard. Do Work!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Breaking Barriers
Hope everyone enjoys the title I came up with for this particular post, I thought it was extremely witty/cheesy when it was formulated. If you read last week, you knew that this weeks run was pretty huge in terms of what the rest of my season had in-store. If I had a good race, I extended my season two more weeks, but if I failed I'd be taking my recovery period for summer training a little earlier than most people. For those of you who are dying with suspense, I'll spill the beans. Ran 9:28.58, big pr, easily got under that standard of 9:41.
For those of you who don't live on the west coast or haven't been lucky enough to travel to Eugene to run at Hayward field you are missing out. I have watched the Pre Classic there when I was in High School and the atmosphere was amazing. That energy is magnified by 10 when your on that track. I ran in the Friday night distance carnival portion of the meet. And even though it was a small meet by Hayward standards, the crowd was still quite large and LOUD. I mean really REALLY loud. In my short college career, I will always have a special place in my heart for that meet/stadium.
Now this is a blog about how it is to be a walk-on at a small D1 university and the ups and downs that come with it. Being a small school, we aren't exactly sitting on a gold mine of resources, especially if you run around the football field and don't actually play on it. The one thing I am thankful about is that our coaches have been able to do a lot with a little. Yes that does mean we have to leave at 3pm from Spokane and arrive at Eugene at around 1am to save money or stay 3 to a room, but when your a guy who is the athletic equivalent to an intern, you take what you get. One thing about a travel situation like this is that you can either just roll with the punches and stay focused on what you came to do or you can use the less than ideal conditions as a crutch to a poor performance. Now me personally, if I'm crammed on a bus for half a day I'm doing it because I'm going to throw down a sick time. And that's exactly what I did.
The race was split into two heats, and with my 9:42 from last week, I was placed in the slower heat. I was pretty lucky to get into the meet as I was the second to last person accepted. The pace went out pretty standard, around 72-73ish and I allowed my self to settle in at the back of the pack and make sure not to do anything stupid. I came in with a pacing goal of 9:30 which is 76 second laps. A group of 5 or 6 of us cruised around the track, coming through the mile within the range of 4:53 at the front of the group to 4:56 at the back of it which was still where I was trenched in at. Chad Meis of Seattle Pacific then stretched out his lead, gapping us by about 30 or 40 meters. At this point in the race I felt pretty damn good and started moving up on Meis from the back of the pack. Unfortunately I did way way to quickly and started tying up from oxygen debt after running a pretty quick 200 meters, way to quick for the middle of a steeplechase. That forced me to struggle to regroup as the field gobbled me up again and spit me out the back. At this point in the race I knew two things, one being that I had a little under 3min to run 800 meters to get my qualifying time. The other was that I was hurting. The one thing that inhibited me that race was that I never really got into a rhythm when going over the barriers. They weren't as difficult as last week but I started stepping really early into the race because I just couldn't get my timing down to completely jump over with out stuttering. I closed really well, and despite almost eating track on that last hurdle came up with a 9:28 which is another break through for me, although I know I have even better than that in my legs.
Results: http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/376460.htm?ATCLID=204939345&SPSID=4364&SPID=243&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500
As a distance squad, all of our guys who were on the chopping block in terms of making that conference team or not made some convincing cases for themselves. Our freshman Simon Sorrenson ran 3:54 in the 1500, a pr and Bowe Ebding, a junior who played baseball in high school ran 14:45 to win the B heat of the 5k, a 14 second pr. Also had freshman Jordan Curnutt run 1:51 for the 800, a second pr from his high school time despite missing all of winter training with a bum knee. So this weekend was a great one to be an Eagle. Now we go back to the grindstone and sharpen our racing axes for one last big meet. I'm still not officially for sure going to Utah in two weeks just because of the nature of having 28 deserving individuals who have qualified and 25 spots, but I feel really confident none the less about where I am sitting. Hope everyone has a great week and good luck your conference/district/league meets that are coming up soon. Do Work!
For those of you who don't live on the west coast or haven't been lucky enough to travel to Eugene to run at Hayward field you are missing out. I have watched the Pre Classic there when I was in High School and the atmosphere was amazing. That energy is magnified by 10 when your on that track. I ran in the Friday night distance carnival portion of the meet. And even though it was a small meet by Hayward standards, the crowd was still quite large and LOUD. I mean really REALLY loud. In my short college career, I will always have a special place in my heart for that meet/stadium.
Now this is a blog about how it is to be a walk-on at a small D1 university and the ups and downs that come with it. Being a small school, we aren't exactly sitting on a gold mine of resources, especially if you run around the football field and don't actually play on it. The one thing I am thankful about is that our coaches have been able to do a lot with a little. Yes that does mean we have to leave at 3pm from Spokane and arrive at Eugene at around 1am to save money or stay 3 to a room, but when your a guy who is the athletic equivalent to an intern, you take what you get. One thing about a travel situation like this is that you can either just roll with the punches and stay focused on what you came to do or you can use the less than ideal conditions as a crutch to a poor performance. Now me personally, if I'm crammed on a bus for half a day I'm doing it because I'm going to throw down a sick time. And that's exactly what I did.
The race was split into two heats, and with my 9:42 from last week, I was placed in the slower heat. I was pretty lucky to get into the meet as I was the second to last person accepted. The pace went out pretty standard, around 72-73ish and I allowed my self to settle in at the back of the pack and make sure not to do anything stupid. I came in with a pacing goal of 9:30 which is 76 second laps. A group of 5 or 6 of us cruised around the track, coming through the mile within the range of 4:53 at the front of the group to 4:56 at the back of it which was still where I was trenched in at. Chad Meis of Seattle Pacific then stretched out his lead, gapping us by about 30 or 40 meters. At this point in the race I felt pretty damn good and started moving up on Meis from the back of the pack. Unfortunately I did way way to quickly and started tying up from oxygen debt after running a pretty quick 200 meters, way to quick for the middle of a steeplechase. That forced me to struggle to regroup as the field gobbled me up again and spit me out the back. At this point in the race I knew two things, one being that I had a little under 3min to run 800 meters to get my qualifying time. The other was that I was hurting. The one thing that inhibited me that race was that I never really got into a rhythm when going over the barriers. They weren't as difficult as last week but I started stepping really early into the race because I just couldn't get my timing down to completely jump over with out stuttering. I closed really well, and despite almost eating track on that last hurdle came up with a 9:28 which is another break through for me, although I know I have even better than that in my legs.
Results: http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/376460.htm?ATCLID=204939345&SPSID=4364&SPID=243&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500
As a distance squad, all of our guys who were on the chopping block in terms of making that conference team or not made some convincing cases for themselves. Our freshman Simon Sorrenson ran 3:54 in the 1500, a pr and Bowe Ebding, a junior who played baseball in high school ran 14:45 to win the B heat of the 5k, a 14 second pr. Also had freshman Jordan Curnutt run 1:51 for the 800, a second pr from his high school time despite missing all of winter training with a bum knee. So this weekend was a great one to be an Eagle. Now we go back to the grindstone and sharpen our racing axes for one last big meet. I'm still not officially for sure going to Utah in two weeks just because of the nature of having 28 deserving individuals who have qualified and 25 spots, but I feel really confident none the less about where I am sitting. Hope everyone has a great week and good luck your conference/district/league meets that are coming up soon. Do Work!
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