USATF Club Nationals

Last weekend was one hell of an experience at Club Nationals.  There were only three of us out there from the Dukes Track Club, but that's all we needed to have a good time.  I know that if we sent a full squad, we could have scored really well and placed high... Next year.  Anyways, it was a nice 30 degrees out there on the 10k grassy course in Lexington, Kentucky.  The race went off at 1:30pm with the sun slowly setting beneath some clouds, which made for a much colder race than the warm up.  The start goes up a 600m hill and after the crest it dips down to a lower field for a loop and back across another rolling hill.  Those rollers lead to the back side of the course and past the start to do it all over again.  I wanted to get out hard, so I just went with the leaders and stayed on whoever was in the top ten for as long as possible.  Lots of gut grinding and teeth chopping occurred throughout this course, as well as loss of blood flow in my fingers.  After the race I realized I could have used some gloves, but it didn't really matter in the race.  Our first mile was hit in 4:40 with about 10 guys packed together.  Next mile was 9:20 something with about 8 guys.  This is where the leaders (two of them) took off and the packed dispersed.  I was in 7th place trying to race with the 6th place guy for the third mile, which was hit in around 14:07 and 14:47 for 5k.  After half way I was still in 7th racing with Ryan Bak.  We came past the starting line again and a few more guys caught us on the up hill.  I knew I had to stay in the top 10, so after the hill I crested it and opened up my stride so that only Bak came with me.  It pasted me on the turns and we pushed up the next uphill.  At this point we had about a mile or so to go.  I started maintaining stride till we came into the finishing area with 800m to go.  Another guy caught us and our finishing pack was now to 3 guys.  The mud at this area wasn't too bad, more compacted soft dirt than anything else, and the windy was howling in our face with 400m to go.  The six mile mark was final visible and counting down from 28:55 to about 29 flat by the time we past it.  So with about 400 to go and two turns I was still trailing and decided to go a little wide to start kicking.  The straightaway and the finish were in sight and I slightly edged out the other guys for 6th place and a new over all 10k PR of 30:03.  

I was very pleased with the place and time, and still think that I can improve my 10k PR from a cross country time to a faster time on the track.  But, since this is cross country I was more pleased with the place.  The next step is to place in the top 10 at the USA Cross Country Championships come February and make that US team!         

Pictures:

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USATFClubXCChampionships/photos/racePhotos/openMen/index.asp

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USATFClubXCChampionships/

Base Building

It has been about 4 weeks since Twin Cities Marathon, and I am back on the Trials of Miles...  I think I was around 110 for last week and will continue to build up towards 140 miles/week.  We haven't been doing any workouts, so it is a bit easier to hit higher mileage.  This past sunday, there was a big group of us.  There were about four Americans and four Africans with us on our 18 mile long run.  We went 6 miles easy, 6 miles a little faster, and the last 6 was very, very fast...  But, it felt great!  

Things are shaping up, and I am very excited to focus on one thing this winter, which will be the USA Cross Country Championships.  I will do a few indoor races, but the main goal is to make a National Team.  Workouts will come in a few weeks, and I'll jump into a few races for fun.  And the quote of the month between all of us has been: "More is Better!"  

Twin Cities Marathon

As I keep reading about the Elite Fields for the Twin Cities Marathon, and the American hopefuls to win this event, it becomes very inspiring.  The race is only 11 days away and I can't wait for it to start.  The two American hopefuls are Luke Watson and Jason Hartman, both very talented runners.  This will be Watson's debut marathon, so it will be interesting to see how he does, and Hartman was 10th at the 2007 Olympic Trials.  That combination makes for a pretty decent American Field.  I just hope to be in the mix with those guys.  At this point, I feel very confident in racing my own race, and not worrying about things I can't control.  

So, as far as training goes, last week (9/14/09) went really well.  We had one fartlek workout on tuesday, which consisted of 5 sets of 3-2-1.  The rest of the week leading up to sunday's long run/tempo was just easy mileage.  Now, sunday's long run/tempo was interesting.  As usual, we start late because Kris and I are off marking a 10k loop that we will run marathon goal pace at, at the end of our long run.  Once that "course" it set up, we leave some water bottles and fuel, and head over to meet up with the rest of the gang.  The long run starts off fine, with everyone: Me, Kris, Robby, Dustin, and Josh goofing off and trotting along the river for 12 miles.  Oh, and every so often Kris gets a bright idea to throw in a surge for a minute to spice things up... Well, once we finish 12 miles (or so), we head over to "the course" and start the last 10k of our long run.  Unfortunately, I started us off a little too quick and forgot to start my watch (so we had no idea how fast we were going), but I think it went well.  The course had a few turns through some neighborhoods, past some pit-bulls that wanted us dead, a few disgruntled sunday morning drivers and finished by a lovely fire station... All and all, it could have been worst.  I actually liked the course and I think we will use it for more of these marathon simulation workouts.  But, as I was saying, we didn't get a full time on the 10k loop, but I'm pretty sure we got the last 2 miles, which were in 11:11.

On tuesday, our other semi-last workout of the season, we just did 5x1000m at Albuquerque Academy.  This was another makeshift workout, since lanes 1-3 were blocked.  We had to calculate the correct stager in lane 4 and stay in lane 4.  That workout went well and Kris, Allen and I worked together on it.  

As we have 11 days till the marathon, I just hope to stay healthy and hungry to race.  "Tapering" is an interesting experience, and I don't even know if we are doing it right, but either way I know we'll be ready at the start of that marathon.              

3 Weeks and Counting/Hood to Coast

So, there are only three weeks left till my marathon debut.  I am both excited and nervous about this ordeal.  At times I feel like I could use another month of training, or just pick another marathon, but I'm sure the Twin Cities Marathon is a fine choice.  Kris and I have been preparing very well for this, and a few weeks ago we just completed the Hood to Coast relay.  Although, Kris and I were on different teams and different lengths the effort was still there, as well as the confidence.

The Hood to Coast relay was a logistical nightmare; fun, but insane...  This "experience" transpired back in March when I got an email from Steve Dekoker, a Brooks Sports Marketing guy, and talented runner.  His emailed explained how Brooks has been putting together a team every year at this NIKE Hood To Coast relay in Oregon.  This relay is "The mother of all relays", as it says on the back of the corny T-Shirts.  Well, Steve had invited a few Brooks athletes to be on this team, as well as local Brooks guys.  And with the lure of gear incentives, travel and free food, why wouldn't I take this opportunity.  Not to mention that the entire relay covers 198 miles from Mt. Hood to Seaside, mostly done at night. It was a nightmare, but fun!  Our team, the "Brooks Beast" won in a time of 16 hours and 55 minutes, an average of 5:09 miles.  Two years ago the Brooks team took 3rd to 2 Nike teams, Last year they were 2nd to the Nike team and finally, this year we won.  So, needless to say, it was a great experience!

Now, its roughly 2 1/2 weeks till the marathon.  Last week I tapped out at 124 miles for the week, which was the most I've ever done.  Hopefully I can post as much as possible leading up to the marathon.

Coming into Form

Things have been going pretty well the last couple of weeks.  I think I've been hitting 90 plus miles for the last 2 weeks and over 100 for this past week.  A teammate and I are slowly creeping up towards 120 miles for this week.  The reason for this is due to the amount of success other runners had when increasing their mileage.  Just as long as we do it smart and under a fine microscope.  The workouts have been good, but only a few of them a week.  

This past sunday we did a 20 miler with the last 8 at around tempo pace.  It didn't go as great as I planned, since I started off too fast and died toward the end, but only to recover the last mile in the fastest mile of the day.  So not a complete failure.  It was also good for us to practice fuel intake.  We grabbed some water bottles and a GU to take during the tempo portion, and I was able to take it without any problems.

So, this week should be the most mileage I've ever done, then a slight drop in mileage next week for the half marathon in San Diego.  This half marathon should be a stepping stone towards the marathon.  It's going to be fun, being back at home to see my family and friends.  I'm looking forward to it!  Kris, Dustin and I should have a good time out there and preform fairly well, if the weather isn't as hot as some say its going to be.  Nonetheless, everyone has to run in it, and I think I'm going to compete in this race as suppose to going after a time.  

Should be fun!