Club Cross Country Nationals

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted something, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything.  It's been a busy couple of weeks, and many miles have been logged.  I first starting writing this post before the USATF Club Cross Country National meet in Bend, Oregon, but now that the meet is over, I'll be entailing a summary of that meet, how the training went, and what lies ahead...

First off, I truly miss and love cross country.  It's such a heart pounding, gut retched feeling from start to finish, and a few strides past the finish for some.  This year the meet was in Bend, Oregon, which meant a mecca for beer lovers such as myself.  This also meant the home of Max King, who would be developing the course and transforming a lovely golf course into a hell bent European style cross country course with some hilly terrain - I was all for it!  Club Cross (as it's known to most post-collegiate runners) is usually a reunion type of race, where more than 1000 runners converge onto a city.  The reason for this is due to the "Club" mentality and camaraderie of racing together and scoring as a team.  Which, by the way, is the first time the Dukes Track Club has sent both a Men's and Women's team.  This was a huge highlight for me, and for everyone who raced.

So, to start things off, Phil and I left from Albuquerque after teaching all day at 5:27pm, and got into our rooms in Bend at 1:30am Saturday Morning.  We had to fly into Redmond first, then make the short drive to Bend.  Luckily, the Men's race didn't start until 12:45pm Saturday afternoon.  Well, once we: slept, woke up, get a short morning shake out to the course, and have breakfast, we were all ready to race.  The following Men and Women raced:

Men's Team:
Me
Tony
Phil
Neal
Brant
Matt
Chris
Mark
Sal
Loren
Matt

Women's Team:
Liz
Arlene
Sam
Stephanie
Vanessa

Well, I took a long break from writing this, so I'll end it quick...

The race was cold and hilly; hilly like a trail race with sharp turns and steep inclines and declines.  It was Epic, and I finished 49th.  The team finished 26th, which I was happy to have us finally score as a team.

More on training and the USA Half Marathon Championships.

First Real Week Back

After some much needed down time from the Twin Cities Marathon and a few weeks of low mileage, I've finally got a real week of training in. Actually, it's not completely real, I could use a bit more miles, bits it's a start. 

I rounded out the week at 91 miles and attempted and completed a solid 6 mile tempo run in. The tempo run went much better than I expected, as I averaged 5:23/mile on dirt. I know it's nothing spectacular, but it's a start. And after finishing up my grades last week, I'll have more time on my hands for some much needed miles. 

With usatf club cross country championships a few weeks away, I think it's time to get in the thick of things. Fartleks, long tempos and Long Runs. More updates to come once some interesting training is occurs. 

Anderson Fields - A great place to Tempo

Twin Cities Marathon/USA Marathon Championships

It's been more than a week since the USA Marathon Championships, and I think it's time to post my thoughts on this wonderful race.  I've spoken to many friends about how the race turned out, and the positives and negatives I took away from the weekend, but haven't quite put it into written context.  One thing I want to touch base on, is how well I felt leading up to this marathon, compared to how busy I was with "life".  This marathon was my second fastest marathon (2:20:57), and as a full time teacher, I can honestly say I was happy with the out come.  My fastest marathon came when I was finishing up Grad School, and student-teaching; nowhere near as stressful as having your own class(es).  Nevertheless, there are many different factors that I took away from this cycle compared to my PR cycle.  And that's what I'll be comparing the most.

So the weekend started off as soon as I got off work the Friday before the race.  I was done with my 2nd grade class at 2:50pm, and Arlene and Loren were in the parking lot ready to go.  Our flight was at 4:10pm, so we were cutting it a little close.  But of course we made it into Minneapolis without incident.  Liz was there at 10:30pm to pick us up, and we in bed at midnight after some chatting and late night snacks.  Arlene, Liz and myself slept in till about 9am, and went on a short 30min shake out run.  A pleasant jog through some Minneapolis parks and some light drills were enough for me.  Once we got ready, the whole group of Turner's (Liz, her mom and dad) took me to the host hotel and let me relax on my own.

I ventured around a little bit on Saturday to the elite hospitality suite and to a local coffee shop for a decaf vanilla latte.  The majority of the afternoon was set aside towards getting my bottles ready, and watching movies in the hotel room.  I had a nice time catching up with John and Ariel Heitzman for lunch, but besides that, I wasn't doing a whole lot.  And once it was time for dinner, Arlene and company came and picked me up for an awesome dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory - one of my favorite places on earth!  John and Ariel were there, along with many other Albuquerqeños.  Dinner was amazing, and then it was time for a long night of nerves and tossing & turning.

Race morning provided us with some perfect weather!  I had my usual breakfast, and boarded the elite bus.  I sat with an old friend of mine; Nick Arciniaga, and we chatted a bit about race nerves and goals.  I knew he was going to race well when he pointed out how nervous he was.  I also had a feeling that I was going to run well too, but things slightly changed.  Once, we got to the staging area, I got in a short warm up and was ready to go.  I knew there would be a solid pack of runners in the front going out in 66:00 for the half, so I didn't want anything to do with that.  I was looking for a 68 minute group.  Well, after about a half a mile, the race looked like a tear drop, with a ton of guys in the front group, and a dwindle of guys stringing out to where I was.  I would guess I was in about 30th place at the mile, which was hit in 5:14.  I wasn't wearing a watch, so after that I had no real idea of where I was at.  Mbarak came up on me just after the mile and I was with him for a bit, but wanted to catch anyone in front of me.  I saw another familiar head up front - Solomon Kandie, so I raced up to his little group of 4 runners.  Once I caught them, I decided to keep the momentum and continue on.  I felt pretty comfortable running by myself and catching a guy or two every mile, but that ended when I reached the halfway point.

When I came up on the clock at 13.1 miles, I had no idea that the clocks were off.  The clock read 66:47 when I passed it, and I was a little freaked out at how fast that could've been.  In reality I came through the half in 68:24, a time I wanted to be at, but I didn't know it at the time.  So, I was thinking that I was going to blow up hard.  Another thought I had was that I might blow up a little and still run a pr or the Olympic Trials Standard.  Either way, the wheels came off at around 20 miles.  I remember two guys coming up on me at 18 miles, one Hansons guy and a BRC guy.  A tried to run with the Hansons guy for about a mile, then faded off of him and attempted to run with the BRC guy.  We ran a few strides together, and I asked him his name.  "Sean", is what he said, and then he wanted us to work together.  I've heard that phrase so many times in the later stages of a marathon, and always believe I can stick with them to the finish.  Well, in this case, I ran another mile with Sean and faded.

I came to the hill at mile 20, and slugged myself up it, and kept on moving until Mbarak and Solomon caught me at mile 22.  Again, I rallied myself to go with them, and faded at mile 24.  The last 2 miles were a struggle, and once I could see the clock, I made out a 2:20 something ticking away.  I wasn't too surprised, and still didn't want that number to tick any higher, so I kicked it in to finish 20th in 2:20:57.

After all the mayhem at the finish, and getting ready to come home to Albuquerque, I started to assess my training.  I figured I had a solid 19 weeks of high mileage, but once I plugged the numbers in, it turned out to average 87 miles a week.  This was a little surprising to me!  I now know that working really takes a ton of time, but if I can squeeze a few more miles in, I know my performance in the marathon will improve.  2:20 is a good start to another training cycle, and a great spring marathon attempt at the standard.  Cheers to many more miles!    

From Instagram user bethholine

8 Days till The USA Marathon Championships

With only 8 days left until the biggest race of 2013 for me, I sit patiently in a city that has given me so many great memories - Houston.  The reason for my trip to Houston starts in the summer, a time when I thought my life would revolve only around running and not teaching. Boy was I wrong. I'm here in Houston for training, but not the running kind; the kind needed for a new teacher who has entered the Independent School system. You can call it Professional Development, and I'll call it a life changing experience. You see, I got hired as a Physical Education teacher at Manzano Day School (private school) and have fully embraced this new lifestyle. Let's rewind...

It's spring time, and I'm actually finishing my first year as a classroom teacher, a day I never thought would happen. 180 days in what you would call a school or learning environment, a safe haven, a place for growth. Well, it was the excact opposite and I was ready to leave and never look back. I was going to "run" away from that place and not have to think about that school again. Well, I did, and I searched for something else. And as luck would have it, a dream position opened at a very impressive school that I applied for a year earlier. MDS was hiring a P.E. teacher and I got it. I was a bit afraid of the expectations and how "perfect" everything seemed, but as time pasted everything is falling into place. 

So back to Houston. I'm here because I needed to see how our school is connected to other successful schools in the Southwest and what learning is suppose to look like. And it looks joyous! 

The school, the kids, the parents, the other teachers and staff all make this job a great environment.  And more importantly make me a better person. You can even ask Arlene (my girlfriend); since signing that contact with my school, I have found NO excuse not to wake up before the sun rises and hit the pavement. I have no reason to sleep in and dream of a better school to be at. I can leap out of bed with a clear focus on making the 2016 trials, while other athletes sleep in and rest all day.  I can gain inspiration from amazing kids that I'm around everyday, and return that favor by accomplishing a goal that I want more than anything - to make the Olympic Trials Standard as a full-time teacher! The only barrier I had was myself, and now I have everyone in my corner helping me along this path.

From Houston Hobby airport after my last day of Professional Development. 

Skagit Half Marathon: 19 days from Twin Cities Marathon

After coming back from the Skagit Half Marathon in Burlington, Washington with a 1st place finish and a decent time of 1:06:47, I can honestly say I am ready for Twin Cities.  Granted, I would've liked a quicker performance at Skagit, but nevertheless, I am content to be running pain free and focused on the target at hand.

Just as the title says, we only have 23 days left until the Twin Cities Marathon.  And for marathon training, that's nothing.  "The hay's in the barn" is what my old coach - Steve Scott would always say.  So from this standpoint, there isn't much work to be done, just maintaining fitness and staying healthy.

So I will recap a little bit on the Skagit Flats Half Marathon:

The town of Burlington is about 1 hour north of Seattle, and has a small town charm to it, mixed with strip malls and suburban shopping centers filled with familiar shops such as Starbucks, KFC and your local Albertson's.  The race starts at the High School and heads west, but on race day, there was so much fog in the air you didn't really know which direction you were going, but that was a good thing.  I did my usual early morning shake-out run, then a hot shower, breakfast and headed out to the race with a coffee in hand.  The weather was perfect and I was ready to run fast, but I was a bit worried as the first mile had course arrows along the sidewalk... this made me nervous, as I didn't want to be racing on sidewalks that dipped every 10 feet for a driveway.  However, once the race started we followed a police car that cleared the traffic on the road for about 2 miles.  After that point in the race, it was all farm land with a brief house breaking up the open fields which were being swallowed by the foggy air.  The race heads out for about 6.5 miles, then comes right back.  It was pretty much flat with an ever so slight incline heading out.

Skagit Marathon and Half Marathon Start.  Perfect Conditions

Coming back would have a nice little decent, but nothing too noticeable.  Then once you get within a mile of the high school, you venture through the neighborhood, into the school and finish on the track.  It was pretty straight forward and I didn't really have anyone to run with the entire time.  I was fortunate enough to have 4 people on the lead bike for me, but after the 6.5 mile turnaround, I only had 1 bike, and they weren't really "pacing" me, just leading me throughout the course.

8am was the start time and I took off by myself with an easy 5:02 opening mile.  My second mile was 4:57 and I basically stayed around 4:50's-5:10's till the turn around.  Now, I wasn't quite sure if the turn around was exactly half way, or just the correct distance out to make the round trip equal 13.1 miles, but I hit that point in 32:21, and was attempting to figure the math out...  I thought that I had enough time to be under 65 minutes and hit the qualifying time, but I was wrong in many cases.  All in all, it was a great effort and time trial.  On to Twin Cities and whoever shows up.