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My Current Training

Season: Track Season Pre-Competition
Races:  soon
Emphasis: working on converting the aerobic abilities I've built up into aerobic power.  Maintaining LT.
Current Status:
Pre-Competition
Sample Week right now:
Week A:
Monday: morning-6mi easy
                afternoon-2mi easy,  *VO2 intervals (ex: 6-8x800 w/ 2min rest), 3mi easy
Tuesday: morning-6mi recovery run
                afternoon-8mi steady
Wednesday: morning-6mi easy
                     afternoon-3mi easy, 4-6x200m sprints up hill with walk down rest, 4mi easy '
                        OR 100's-200's at 400 pace w/ full rest
Thursday: morning-6mi recovery run
                  afternoon- 3mi easy, threshold run (35min spent at LT), 3mi easy  OR AT run (8-10mi at Marathon                                             Pace)
Friday:      morning-6mi easy,
                 afternoon- 4mi easy, 8-16x200 w/ 200 jog OR 15x200m run up, jog down hills  OR threshold intervals or a VO2                     fartlek
Saturday: afternoon-17-mi easy run
Sunday:  morning- strength circuit(click for example)
                afternoon- 10mi easy/recovery run



Definitions of paces and training terms used:
Easy- Go entirely by feel.  Averages out to be about 6:30-40 pace as a guess but ranges from right below 6 to 7.
Recovery-Again done by feel, but most likely 7minute pace
Steady-Easy runs but normally at the faster end, 6ish pace
threshold-done by feel, pace varies based on distance.  Try to get to that point where you are "in the zone" where it remains             aerobic. It's important not to cross the threshold so I try and stay a little below it.  My guess for  threshold would be             about 4:50-5min pace.

Recent Races:
Mile-Colombus Ohio-Jesse Owens Meet
       Well this race definately did not go as planned.  I was feeling really confident going into the meet and expected to drop a nice time, but like always things don't go as planned.  Everything exploded and fell apart after 1200m in the race and the last lap was a very slow and painful one.  At first I had no idea what happened but looking back it's easy to see and after going to the doctor on the monday and tuesday following the race I know exactly what went wrong.  Another case of bad timing.
       Preparing for the meet, everything was coming together as planned.  From 10 to 14 days out I had some excellent traditional indicator workouts, such as the 10x400 which is supposed to give you a rough estimate of your mile time in averaging 59 seconds.  I also had my fun 2x800 workout with short rest averaging faster than goal race pace to give me some confidence too.  After those two workouts I tapered down a bit for the several days leading up to the Jesse Owens meet.  I felt great at the start of the week and then started feeling a little bit "off" around thursday.  My morning pulse rate was elevated for some reason, but I blew all of those signs off and convinced my self I was ready physically and mentally.  Looking back at it now, I also could see signs of what was to come on race day on saturday.  I felt unusually tired so I tried to take a quick nap, that resulted into a long nap and having to be woke up.  Anyways, I went into the race still feeling really good, not knowing anything was wrong. 
    The first part of the race actually went very well.  I got out and settled into the middle front of the pack and on the outside.  No one went with the rabbit so the pace was slower than I wanted but it still was solid (Splits for 400m, 800m, and 1200m were 60, 2:01, 3:02).  I gradually moved up until I was on the outside shoulder of the leader of the pack and was really smooth and relaxed.  My parents said my running form and mechanics looked good and the video later confirmed this.  At around 900 to 1000m I gradually moved up and took the lead.  I held the lead until around 1200m when everything just went to crap all of the sudden.  The legs would not respond what so ever and it felt like as if in a 10-20 meter period they went from being light to weighing 100 pounds each.  Anyways, the last lap there was nothing I could do, so I struggled in.
    After the race I felt like complete crap.  I staggered over to my stuff and preceded to throw up for a while.  My head was spinning as I was extremely nausiated and dizzy.  My mom and sister said my eyes looked weird and were rolling into the back of my head.  I just sat on the curb for the longest time, because everytime I got up I'd stumble and really couldn't walk straight.  So after a long time, I decided I needed to cool down, so it consisted of walking about 800meters, trying to jog for about 30seconds, then dry heaving.  So I scrapped the cool down and just went back to the hotel.
    Alright, so what went wrong.  Well I went to the doctor and it turns out my thyroid was off, but that really didn't have anything to do with it.  The real culprit seems to be that I was sick.  A nice sinus infection of some sorts.  So I'm on antibiotics for 7 days and really still felt like crap for the first 3 days of that.  I've been just doing morning easy runs and then warming up in the afternoon and doing strides so far.  I feel best in the mornings, but the afternoons have been pretty rough.  Anyways, I'm starting to feel better after 3 days of antibiotics so hopefully I'm kicking the stupid sickness.  It really sucks because I also have to change my racing plans.  Now the plan is to try and find a meet at the end of may, or maybe even just wait until the beginning of june to give another mile race a go.   It sucks because before this I was ready to freaking roll, but give me a couple of days to get back to normal and I'll be ready again.
       Who knows, maybe the sickness and the down week in running will help in the long run.  It's pushing my peaking season back to the month of june, so maybe that will be beneficial.

1500-1st-3:47.88- SFA Dogwood meet
   
The race was okay. I felt good throughout physically, but worked way way too hard to run that time because of my technique. My form wasn't what it should have been because I got too caught up in it being my first 1500 race, so I ran way too tight and reverted back to some old bad habits. Nothing that isn't easily fixed though.  I just got to caught up in racing again and forgot to do the little things that make a big difference.  I got to tight, started forcing things, and got to choppy instead of getting into a good rhythm and allowing things to happen.
    The race was a good one though and the other guys in the race ran well.  I was pleased because I didn't have to take over until half way into the race.  The splits were something like this for me 44.4, 61.8 ,61.0, 60.6.  Those are rough hand timed splits taken off of the video camera.  Overall it was a good meet run a good, slightly humid, night.

Anyways, it's a very good season opener in my opinion.  Learn from it, move on, run faster next time.  I've got a couple of weeks of just training hard now and then I'll start getting into the real racing in may and june.


800m-3rd-1:53.12- LSU Tiger Classic
   
This was one crazy 800.  The field was pretty loaded with a 1:46 guy, a 1:49 guy, and a 44.4 400m guy in it.  There were only 5 of us in the field and judging off of everyones speed and PR's I figured we'd go out pretty fast.  The wind was present but nothing like last week.  I think it was about 10mph based on the wind readings for the races before ours.  It turned out I was right on the pacing for about 150-200m or so, and then the race just got weird.
    The first 100 went out pretty good, so I just settled into last because it was such a small field.  I crossed 200 in 27 low, so we were right on pace for a 54ish 400 which would have been perfect since I figured I could run about 1:50.  After 200 however the guys leading just started slowly decelerating.  In the homestraight we were jogging and that resulted ina  30 mid 200 in the middle of an 800!  Still in last place, I crossed the 400 in 57high/58 low and didn't know what was going on.  Finally at about the 450 mark the guys in front started to move.  The front guys got a jump on me since I was in last and didn't want to pass on the curve, so I waited until the straightaway and then moved wide and made a move to get myself in better position.  I swung wide and passed three of the guys in front of me and got in good position.  I figured off of the slow pace I had to be up there with 200 to go because I didn't have the pure speed that everyone else in the race had.  My 3rd 200 was 26 something.  Coming off the curb or around there,  Joel Williams was leading and then Adam Steele passed me.  I tried to stay relaxed and finish strong and with 50m to go I started to try and stroke my arms a little to kick it in.  I was edging up on 2nd place but didn't quite make it and got 3rd by .1.  The winner ran 1:52.2 or so.
       It was a pretty crazy race but I was pleased with how it went considering that it was tactical and not a PR type race.  I hung in there with a strong field and held my own against guys with much much faster 400 speed than me.  I also recovered really fast so that was a positive.  Overall another good race that shows I'm rounding into real good shape.

800m- 3rd-1:52.12 PR
    The first race of the season went really well.  It was good to bust a few cobwebs and rust and get in a race again.   From a technical standpoint it was a pretty good race, although I made one or two tactical errors.  I just got a little over anxious with it being my first race and my first 800 in a while.  Anyways, it was a PR by .58 seconds and my first 800 PR since '03 so that was a plus.  It's hard to describe how it feels to finally PR in an event after 2 years of sub par times (college best was only 1:53.6 or so).  Running a PR in my first race off of very little intense anaerobic work  is a sign that I'm on the right track and is hopefully a stepping stone for a great season.  The race went as follows:
       It was a pretty crowded start with I think 12 or so people in it.  What made it crowded is that they started  us in a strange way for the 800.  We started in two seperate waterfalls like in an indoor 800.  This led to some jostling at first and one runner in front of me almost went down at about 150m, which threw me off my stride and caused me to lose momentum for a bit.  Because of this I ran the entire race in lane 2 which sucks because I was running longer but with the pack so bunched it was better to avoid the rest of the jostling and stay wide.  The other thing about the race is that it was really windy!  I don't know the exact wind but I know the weather station was saying something like 17-20mph winds at the time we were running and it sure felt like it!  This created some crazy splits as we  slammed on the breaks into the wind on the homestretch.  The splits were as follows for me:

26.4, 29.0 , 28.1, 28.5

The 2nd and 4th 200's included running into the wind down the homestretch.

The start of the race was pretty fast and I got collapsed on from people on the outside so I was momentarily boxed.  It then opened up a little at 150m but I had to slow down due to the jostling and then move around to get free and to the outside.  Most of the race I was in about 5th or 6th place until around the 500m mark I made a big move (too big as I got impatient and it was too costly.  Would have been smarter to wait a little and pass gradually) to take the lead for about 70m until some guy passed me with 200 to go.  I then settled in behind him and then coming off the curve into the straight I pulled even and so did two other guys.  So for a brief moment we were running four wide in the straightaway.  Unfortunately I just didn't have that extra gear yet, so I passed the guy who had been leading but couldn't quiet match the kick of the other two.  So I finished in 1:52.12 FAT.

10mile- 51:13 PR
    This one wasn't a race or an all out effort, but it was a PR none the less, on the same course as my former PR (53:58).  It was during what we call our hard but controlled 10 mile hill circuit run.  It's run on our 5 mile hill loop that is pretty dang tough for a TX course.  It has numerous hills ranging from a short steep one to a medium length sand hill to two longer (800-1km) hills of gravel and dirt.  Anyways, I wasn't planning on going that fast and was just planning on doing a longer threshold type workout.  However I came by 5 miles at 25:45 and was shocked at how easy it felt so I decided I'd just keep that pace up for the next 5 miles to get a new 10 mile PR.  So my next 5 was run in 25:27ish.  I was surprised and shocked at how easy it felt and I really didn't feel like I was extending myself at all until the last mile in which i decided to push it a bit but not too much (also about 1000m of the last mile is uphill, so if you don't push it you slow down a TON!).  Anyways, as I said, it's a new PR and I'm very pleased with the effort especially on the tough course.  For comparisons sake I ran around 54 minutes in HS all out on the course when I  was in peak track shape, and in CC this year before I ran 29:53 for 10k XC, I ran it with about the same controlled effort as this time in about 54 minutes.


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