A lot of hard work and emotions of all sorts have taken place since the start of the year. After The club xc champs in mid December I took a week of really easy training before regrouping for a successful track season. I had a sinus infection that lasted from early December through mid January. It was nice to finally kick that thing. I really picked up my mileage in January, peaking at 100 miles per week before coming back down. That was one hell of a week. It took a very long time to build up to that. Years and years of getting stronger and stronger. I've had a past of injuries so averaging 85-90 miles/wk in Jan was great for my confidence and more importantly building a huge foundation. My training philosophy does back to the stronger you are the more you can handle. Both in the way of intensity and quality training that will need to be done in order to perform well when peaking for major competitions. Strength takes time, speed comes quickly.
Training at a high level places a great deal of stress on the body. Transitioning from a lot of volume to high intensity must be dealt with carefully and can vary from person to person. From a distance runners perspective we always want to keep our mileage consistent. Even when throwing in hill repeats, threshold training, intervals, and fartlek training. We are very stubborn people! It sometimes takes a few weeks to realize that your doing too much and something must give. My weakness has always been my left side. I've had an array of issues that start in my lower back, and the dull ache often affects my gluts, IT band and knee. I never really kicked this issue, instead learning to tolerate it. Although I love racing, indoor track is not for me. The tight turns place a lot of stress on my left side and I aways seem to get sick once racing indoors. Last year I didn't race indoors at all which was a good decision. I've had my issues but workouts were going great so I decided to race this past weekend in Boston. After all, it would be nice to see what kind of mile I could run off strength. This also gives me a way to reevaluate my training cycle thus far. Kinda like those mid-term report cards that most were terrified to get back in the day.... Below is what I posted in my training log after the race.
I'll first start with with my travels to Boston. I didn't sleep too well the night before. Not because I was nervous about the race. It had more to do with knowing that I had a flight to catch at 7 am and would be racing mid-afternoon 500 miles away. I was up at 5:00, showered, finished throwing a few things in my suitcase and was off to the airport. Jimmy dropped me off around 6. Was on the plan at 7 and before I knew it landing n Boston at 8:30.
Once exiting the terminal I took a shuttle to the Blue line train, which in normal circumstances drops you off at the green line which takes you two blocks from the Track/Tennis center at BU. There was some construction going on so I was detoured and got a little confused. This was my first time using the transient system in Boston so of course construction would be taking place. Soon back on track; literally and arrived at the BU track around 10 am. All and all not too bad.
Once arriving to the track I paid my entry fee, changed into running attire, and did 4 easy laps to test out the track. My left hip, lower back and IT band were bothering me. Already at the meet so what I'm I suppose to do. I sat around for a few hours before checking in at 12:45. That's always the worse for me. The first section was scheduled to go at 1:45, which is the fastest, then proceeds from there. My time of 4:02 seeded me 14th. Thinking that would be good enough to get me in the fastest section but a lot of fibbing was done. Not concerning myself with that. Whatever section would be fine. I knew section 2 would roll as well, or at least I was hoping.
The race -
Watching the first heat go as my hip had a tight dull ache minutes before my heat was schedules to go. Amazed to see the first section won in 3:57 with five guys breaking 4:00. The crowd was ecstatic. The starter announced that the rabbit would bring our section through in 2:28. That would be perfect. It was s small field of only 9. The gun sounds and I got out well only behind two guys. Came through in 30 and it felt fine. Even better was no hip discomfort. Through 400 in 59-60, 600 in 1:30, 800 in 2:00! I was amazed at how good this felt. Working but never feeling as though I couldn't handle it. Hit the 1000 in 2:30 and then we slowed to a 33 for the next 200. That killed our chances at sub 4:00. I was hurting, very tight but my legs were still under me. Wish I would have come into the race with more confidence. Being hesitant came at a cost. In this case it was a couple of seconds. Waited too long to pass the Mason guy and the guy from Cornell got away a bit. Ran the last lap in 30 which was good for a huge indoor pr of 4:05, good for second. Not saying I could have broke 4:00 today but running in the 4:01-4:03 range was possible. It's crazy to think because I'm still in my strength phase of training. Glad my leg decided to work with me today. Can't wait to be 100 percent healthy. Cooled down with 4 of the 5 guys that broke 4:00 in the first section. Happy for those guys. Decided to run the 3k later on since I was already there and didn't feel too bad. Ended up running 8:30 and it hurt. Legs were spent but all and all a great day! Probably not racing again until late March. It's time to train hard, get healthy, and kill it come outdoors. It's a long season and this is only a start! Link to the race is listed below.
http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238265-2011-BU-Valentine-Invitational/video/457509-M-mile-H02
