Last Shot at Collegiate Track

My goal is 30:50 at the 10k in the ACC Championships. I will train smarter and harder than ever to get that time. Usually that time scores, but with the talent in the ACC it is near impossible to score in any event. Screw the talent. Mr. Talent prepare to meet Mr. Dedication.

My goals are 30:50, 14:50, 8:31 for the 10k, 5k and 3k respectively. My plan for the ACC 10k is to run 74's the entire way. I don't care what anyone else is doing. If I am leading the damn race and all the talent is sitting behind me just jogging so be it. At least I will be setting myself up for a huge p.r.

There is always a chance I can score- a one in a million chance. But I will take that one in a million chance. I will take that probability any day of the week at the acc championships. Because a one in a million chance means there is one success out of every million opportunities. One success is all I need. The acc championships will be my one success. The runners I run against at the ACC Championships will have to beat me out of a scoring position the next 999,999 outings because I am cashing in on that one success this april.

My First Success as a Coach-Winner of Atlanta Marathon

My first success as a coach came yesterday at the 2009 Atlanta Marathon, when Nathan Tew ran 2:34:24 winning and beating second place by close to 6 minutes. Nathan quit the Georgia Tech cross country team because he was burned out at the time, but after about 10 days off he started running again. He didn't lose much fitness over those 10 days, as he rides bikes all the time-mountain biking, cross country biking, biking on the road and doing 360's at skate parks on his bmx. After his second or third day back running we had a conversation that went like this:
Nathan: "What if you trained me to run the Atlanta Marathon?"
Me: "I am 90% confident that if you stayed healthy through the training I would give you that you would win."

A couple days later he told me to write up a schedule for him. He was going to run the Atlanta Marathon. Now let me explain why I was 90% confident he would win the Atlanta Marathon if he stayed healthy through the training. The average winning time is around 6 minutes a mile. I knew his talent level, how he is a one of the few pure distance runners-a guy that is so efficient that he just gets better as the distance increases. Out of all the teammates I have ever have he is the only one to convert perfectly as the distance goes up. This was why I was so confident. I was not speaking out of my ass. I believed I could get him to run faster than 6-minute miles.

I had 9 weeks to get him to the line ready to win the Atlanta Marathon. I had a schedule down for all the workouts over those 9 weeks. But as any good coach will tell you, you can't plan ahead for 9 weeks. You have to come up with a plan and adjust that plan according to how your athlete is doing. At first Nathan was nailing workouts, so I made the schedule more challenging, knowing that he would be able to handle the workload. Then there came a point where he could not handle when I dropped the rest on the interval days so I just kept it at equal rest. The point of the interval days was just to make marathon pace more comfortable.

Here are the workouts that Nathan completed before the Atlanta Marathon:

Week One of Workouts:
-12 mile long run at Kennesaw

Week 2
-3 mile tempo on lake loop in 5:35's
-14 mile long run @ Kennesaw(ran the final 11 miles @ 5:54 pace)

Week 3
-4 x 800 in 2:28-2:29 w/ 2.5' rest
-4 mile tempo on lake loop in 5:30's
-16 mile long run @ Kennesaw(final 13 miles in 6:03 pace)

Week 4
-6 x 800 w/ equal time recovery in 2:27-2:28
-5 mile tempo on lake loop in 5:30's
-18 mile long run at Kennesaw(final 15 miles 6:10 pace)

Week 5
-4 x 1200 on oval at piedmont park(ran 3:47-3:344-3:51-3:59 w/ 2' rest)*this workout showed me that i needed to give him equal time recovery. I really wanted him to be running 5:00 pace during these intervals rather than dying and falling off 5:00 pace.
-6 mile tempo on lake loop: 32:53
-20 mile long run at Kennesaw (final 17 miles in ~6:10 pace): ran 3 mile warmup, 16 mile loop, and a mile up the mountain

Week 6
-3 x mile at the river with 5' rest: 4:58-4:52-4:56
-8 mile tempo on lake loop: 5:33's
-23 mile long run at Kennesaw (16 mile loop w/ additional 7 mile loop)-ran final 20 miles in ~6:10 pace

Week 7
-6 x 800 on oval with equal rest: 2:27's
-10 mile tempo on lake loop: 5:24's Comfortably
-20 mile long run at Kennesaw(final 17 miles at ~6:10 pace)

Week 8
-18-mile long run at Kennesaw(final 15 miles ~6:10 pace)

Week 9
-8-mile tempo on lake loop: 5:25's (felt easy)
-16 mile long run at Kennesaw real easy~7:15 pace

Week 10
-Monday: 10 mile workout which consisted of 4 miles on lake loop at goal marathon pace~5:48's
-Tuesday: easy 6
-wednesday: day off(get that glycogen stored up)
-Thursday: 2:34:24 Atlanta Marathon

So as you can see from Nathan's training. he put in some serious work, but I know of a lot of runners that put in some legitimate workouts. What seperates Nathan from other runners that put in serious workouts is what Nathan does the other 22 hours of the day, what Nathan does on easy days, what Nathan would eat, and when Nathan would sleep.

First let me talk about what Nathan ate. He worked on increasing the number of carbohydrates he would eat at meals. this gave him fuel for his training, and taught his body how to store higher amounts of glycogen. Too many runners eat too much fats and proteins. They never give their body a chance to recover because they never replenish their carbohydrates.

Then there was how Nathan ran his easy days. We had him run them as slow as he needed. Easy days are just that. They are supposed to be EASY! You run them as slow and as comfortable as you need for two reasons. First, it allows you to recover for your next workout and it takes nothing out of you for the next workout. Second, running slowly allows you to burn less carbohydrates and more fats, so that you have the much needed carbohydrates(glycogen) for your next workout.

Sleep is critical to success. Nathan would sleep at least 8 hours a night during the school week and more on the weekends. The latest Nathan ever stayed up was 1:00 a.m. and that was rare.

The final key and probably the most important was that Nathan never drank alcohol once during the 9 weeks leading up to the marathon. He took care of his body.

It was a real honor coaching Nathan. His dedication to his goal of winning the Atlanta Marathon was something to admire. Seeing him run the race and drop the other two runners that were with him by mile 13 showed his confidence in his abilities. He ran physically strong, mentally tough, and supremely confident.

How The Goal Race Went

I set a goal: Top 50 at Regions, four years ago after my first region race. In the years in between I doubted the likelihood of me finishing in the top 50 but this year I finished 49th in a time of 32:11 for the 10k on Alabama's course.

Before this race I decided that I was going to run this race for my grandma who passed away September 13th of this year. I loved her very much and we were a lot closer than most people are with their grandparents. After the race, I gave my grandpa a hug. I told him that I ran the race for his beloved wife of 59 years and he could see the tears I was holding back and I could see the tears he was holding back. I am blessed with a family that has always given me their love and support no matter the endeavor.

I got out hard in 4:58 and 10:00 for the mile and two mile respectively, but I did not hear any of the times after that.

I brought everything I had to this xc season. Not to say I brought any less the previous years. I have always put in the effort.

It was a season that started poorly and got better as each race went along. It was an honor to run for the Georgia Tech Cross Country team. This year was something special for me. The team dynamic was the best I have ever seen. Along with the work ethic of my teammates and their desire to improve. Our team finished eighth place at the acc championships-a place our team has not finished since 2004.

I am sad that it has come to an end. I have always considered cross country as my strength. There are no hills on a track, but I am going to bring my best to this track season. I want to see what I am capable of. While I was in the van on the ride back to Georgia Tech, I had the pleasure of sitting in the passenger seat as Coach drove and having some good running conversations. I was the last person Coach dropped off and as we are getting out of the van, Coach said, "Greg you had a great race and a great cross country season. Now lets bring that to the track." And that is exactly what I plan to do.

Nice Guys Finish Last

I hear all the time: "nice guys finish last." Well, let me change that saying to be more applicable to running: "Hard working slow runners finish last."

The reason I decided to write this blog was because I wanted to show that through hard work, a slow runner could finish reasonably well for himself as a collegiate runner.

What is slow? Slow is being an individual who was never able to break 60 in quarter in high school. Slow is being an individual who can get passed like he is standing still by most of the runners on the women's cross country team during strides. Slow is having to pump your arms vigorously to be able to handle the smallest amount of speed.

A hard working slow runner may earn the respect of the best runner on the team, David Herren, but then again David may ask, "Aren't you ever mad that you work so hard and there are guys who hardly work and they beat you?" To which the hard working slow runner responds, "At least when it is all said and done, I will know that I gave it my all and I will have no regrets."

Ask yourself, "Are you the hard working slow runner or are you just a slow runner?" Maybe you are more talented than the hard working slow runner. Is that an excuse to not work as hard? At the end of your collegiate career you will think back to all the decisons you made throughout your collegiate career. Did you make the right decisons? Did you reach your full potential? DID YOU WORK LIKE THE HARD WORKING SLOW RUNNER? BECAUSE HARD WORKING SLOW RUNNERS DO NOT FINISH LAST!

The Final Countdown: 13 Days to my Goal Race

Well, I knew I would eventually get to the point where time is running out. There is no magical workout that is going to make or break my final collegiate xc race. There will be some final sharpening workouts, but nothing that will break me down.

I remember my freshman year, 4 years ago, I was a top 7 runner throughout the year on a team that finished last in their conference championships. I was scared. I had doubts. I was not physically prepared to compete against the runners in my conference and in my region. After my freshman campaign, I said I am going to contribute to this team in some way by my fourth and fifth year.

Well as I have continued my collegiate xc career, I have continued to improve but I have still never felt like I contributed to the team. All the work and nothing to show for it.

Once I got to my third and fourth year, I began to believe my teammates were on another level than myself. I started to think that the best I could do for this team was be a top 7 runner in the 8k races. I set my sights on my best event: the 10k xc race at regions, where I believed I could be a top 5 runner for the team and finally contribute.

After this past track season, I brought a level of focus to my running that would only be surpassed by the most dedicated collegiate and professional runners. When you only have one last shot you are willing to do anything to make it count. You start to recover from workouts faster. You start to get overly giddy and excited for tempo runs, long runs, intervals. You start to see out of a new pair of eyes. You know the importance of every workout and that there can be no bad workouts if you are going to acheive your goal.

It gives me goosebumps, even right now as I write this post, to think how far I have come this past half year. It wasn't by chance. It was a summer filled with quality long runs, tempo runs and tempo-paced fartlek. A summer with 3 hours of core work a week. A summer where three times a week I would perform body-weight exercises, and do fast strides in between the body weight exercises. These exercises would take about 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. Then I would follow up those exercises with a series of ankle weight exercises-hamstring curls, and three other exercises. This would take 15 minutes 3 x a week. Once the school year started I have tried to keep up with my core, probably averaging 1 1/2 hours a week. I have been doing weights but I still do the ankle weight exercises(the hickey routine) on my own 2 x a week on non-race weeks and one time on race weeks.

As a result of this work, I am stronger than I have ever been. My hamstring has given me no problems thanks to the hickey routine. Aerobically, I can clip off 6:00-6:10 miles on a long run comfortably. My lungs are strong, from the intervals we have run. I can go out harder in races without being forced into oxygen debt immediately.

This weekend was my final conference championships. Going into the race I was scared, nervous, I had doubts just like Pre-Nats. But I had a game plan. Get out, stick with Garad, finish. The same three goals I had at Pre-Nats. I had a time goal because we had run this course 4 weeks earlier, and I knew that if I had a great day I would like to run 25:15, and I thought if our team had a great day our top 5 would be right at or under 25:10.

I viewed the conference championships as a stepping stone towards my final goal, the region championships. If I finished outside of the top 7 on the team, I would not be taken to my goal race. If the region championships are my version of running in the 10k in the olympics, then the acc championships became my version of running in the U.S. olympic trials.

As I stepped to the line, the doubt faded, my nerves calmed and my fears disappeared. All I thought was my mantra: Get Out, Stick with Garad, Finish. The gun went off, and there was a false start, so we lined up again. The next time the gun went off I executed my game plan. I got out in a decent position for myself, a 4:53 first mile. I came through 2k in 84th place and 6:13. I came through 5k in 63rd place and 15:53 and I finished the race in 49th place with a time of 25:09. I pushed the downhills and relaxed on the uphills. You would be surprised how many people allow themselves to catch their breath going downhill. Well, while they put 2 seconds on me going up the hill, I put another 3 seconds on them for the downhill.

Halfway through the race, I heard my coach yelling at me that I was doing great. I must have looked strong but I certainly did not feel it. I was hurting, my legs felt like they weren't going to make it if I continued on at my current pace, but this race was make or break. I focused on catching the next competitor and then the next and so on and so on. The feeling in my legs like I wasn't going to make it got no worse and I began to realize that I was going to make it around 6k. As I approached 7k, I saw our team's top runner and I focused on catching up to him and working with him to the finish.

The ACC championships were the best race I have ever run, but it was not my goal race. My goal race is 13 days away. I am physically fit, physchologically confident and I still have my last shot at collegiate xc.

Week Summary: 10/19-10/25

Tuesday's Intervals: 20 x 400 meters on 2:15 swing: averaged 71's

Friday's workout: 8 miles alternating 10k pace and 10k pace +1'
-did not go as well as i would have liked
-ran 45:00 for the 8 miles~5:37.5 pace
-splits: 5:02-6:01-5:06-6:06-5:09-6:13-5:18-6:02

Sunday's Long Run: close to 17 miles. final 13 miles at 6:09 pace. final 4.5 miles 5:58 pace

Week Summary: 10/12-10/18

Tuesday's Intervals: 6 x 1600 cutdowns with 3' recovery
-splits: 5:20-5:13-5:03-4:55-4:49(2:27-2:22)-4:42
-notes: felt tired halfway through, but toughed it out and the last 1600 was rough
Pre-Nats:
-26:11 (a 14-15 second p.r. on Pre-Nats course)
-this was a slow pre-nats because of the mud
-got out hard and ran well

Notes:
I feel like I am starting to get on a roll that will continue throughout the season. I have put in the miles. I have the endurance. I have the lactate threshold. Now we are starting to get that VO2 max workouts in and as we continue to do those workouts, I will continue to get sharper.

Week Summary: 10/05-10/11

Tuesday's workout @ the river: 3 x (1200-800-400) with 400 jog
-first workout in spikes
- averaged 4:55 mile pace and 2:08.5 on 400 jogs

Friday's Tempo on Lake Loop
-9 miles at 5:35 pace. Felt comfortable and real smooth. probably could run one heck of a half marathon right now.

Sunday's Long Run @ Kennesaw: 16 miles with final 13 miles @ 6:02 pace. Felt easy.

Notes:
I am really strong right now-the strongest I have ever been. 34 days to my goal race, but I have to beat out one of three of my teammates for the spot. So I have my work cut out for me. My next race is Pre-nationals and I need to have a breakout race there, along with a breakout performance at the ACC Championships. At Pre-Nationals, I am going to go out harder than I have ever gone out before and see what happens. Everything is going according to plan- a perfect plan that is being executed.

Week Summary: 9/28-10/04

Tuesday: 8 miles alternating 1 mile @ 10k pace and 1 mile @ 10k pace + 1'
splits: 5:14-6:14-5:09-6:14-5:08-5:56-5:06-5:58

Friday: 8k race at Great American: 25:50
notes: Got to get out harder on that course. Overestimated the difficulty level of the course and went out too conservative. Did not have enough people come back.

Sunday's long run: 14 miles @ Kennesaw-final 11 miles too fast-5:54 pace. Have to be careful to not run with runners that are going to push me too hard on long runs. Usually comfortable at 6:15-6:20 pace on long runs. Got to go back to running long runs alone.

Notes:
I am the fittest I have ever been-maybe not in all around fitness. Haven't been able to keep up 3 hours of core a week, but I have been doing some core. But I know that I am on the verge of breaking out in a race.

Week Summary 9/21-9/27

Tuesday's tempo: Ran 10 miles in 5:42 pace. I definetely could hold that for a marathon under perfect conditions and on a flat course.

Friday's workout: 36 minutes of continuos hills repeats on grass with jog back down as recovery

Sunday's Long Run: Ran with an ex-teammate of mine and we rolled out. Ran close to 18 miles at Kennesaw. 13 of the miles were in 6:07 pace and it was comfortable...for the most part.

Week Summary: 9/14-9/20

Tuesday's tempo: 8 mile tempo in 45:05~5:38.14 pace

Friday's Race at Alabama:
Ran 26:44 on Alabama's 8k course. It was 79 degrees with 83% humidity during the race. I did not have a great day or a good day, I had a smart day. I knew that the course was going to run slow on that given day, so I ran conservative from the start and focused on maintaining my pace throughout the race and I picked off a good number of runners. I think I have a good opportunity to succeed when we return to Alabama for the 10K Region Championships in November.

Sunday's Long Run: Slow 13

Week Summary: 9/07-9/13

Tuesday's workout on lake loop: 8 miles alternating 10k pace and 10k pace + 1 minute
-splits: 5:18-6:04-5:12-6:04-5:12-6:06-5:16-5:58
-averaged 5:39.25 pace
-total time: 45:14

Friday's interval workout: 6 x 1000 with 2.5 minute jog recovery on hilly grass loop at piedmont
-splits: 3:22-3:19-3:18-3:18-3:17-3:17

Sunday: 16 mile long run at Kennesaw
-13 of the miles at 6:12 pace

week summary: 8/31-9/06

Tuesday's workout: 8-mile cutdown in 45:03. Ran 5:58-5:55-5:37-5:39-5:33-5:27-5:26-5:25

Friday's Dual Meet with UGA on UGA's course: this race went poorly as I had a hard time breathing during the race, whether it was because of the freshly cut grass, the hay or the dust I just really did not stand a chance with my asthma. This race really beat up on my team as no one had a good day. But what everyone needs to do is refocus and forget that race.

Sunday's long run: 17 miles at Kennesaw. Final 13 in 6:22 pace. Could have ran faster but I felt like backing off after a tough tuesday workout and a race that pushed my body way too hard because of my breathing difficulties.

Lets attack Alabama in 11 days.

week summary: 8/24-8/30

Ran 81 miles this week. Here were my workouts:
1) 5'-4'-3'-2'-1' with equal recovery fartlek. Ran on the grass at piedmont. Ran the 5' section on the oval and the following two segments on the lower 1k loop, and the final two segments on the upper loop. Felt good. Under control and comfortable.
2) 3.5 mile tempo at 5:22 pace on the track. Pouring rain. Felt under control and could have continued on at that pace for a another mile and a half at the same pace without exceeding the appropriate effort. Then we had a 3.5' break, and we ran 1 mile in 5:04. Easy stuff. Ran the final two laps in lane three so that I would not get my heels stepped up or get pushed around. Some people on the team act like practice is a race. Even thoug I was in lane three it was easy.
3) Long run at Kennesaw. Final 13.5 miles at 6:12 pace.

Week's Summary: 8/17-8/23

Cruise Intervals: 3 x mile w/ 1' jog recovery in 5:19 average

7-mile cutdown on lake loop: 5:56-6:01-5:42-5:38-5:20-5:24-5:26 for a total time of 39:32

16 mile long run at Kennesaw with final 13 miles in 6:19 pace. Seems like I have 6:19 pace down as I hit it every week at Kennesaw.

Long Run @ Kennesaw

16.5 miles~13.5 miles @ 6:19 pace at Kennesaw. Surprisingly it always feels like I am not giving a hard enough effort for it to end up being 6:19 pace.

Wednesday's tempo

9 miles in 51:14 on the lake loop. Was planning on doing 10 and could have done 10. Slacked off too much/felt tired from very little sleep b/c of broken air conditioning.

Monday's Cruise Intervals

5 x mile, 1 x 1/2 mile in 5:23.5 pace with 1'15" jog recovery at the alpharetta greenway. temperature at start of workout was 75 probably finished at 78 degrees. pretty tough with the humidity

Saturday's Long Run

16 miles at Kenessaw. 13 of which were at 6:20.5 pace.

Workout Wednesday

5 mile tempo on the lake loop at 5:28.12 pace for 27:20.61. It was the hottest morning of any wednesday so far this summer. It was about 75-77 throughout the tempo with high humidity. Splits: 5:23-5:30-5:25-5:31-5:29.

Monday's Cruise? Intervals

Felt tougher than cruise intervals feel but that is because I ran my 3 x mile at Webb Bridge park over varying terrain. Ran 5:24.13-5:17.87-5:19.96 averaging 5:20.66 pace with 1'15" jog recovery.

Long Run at kennesaw

16 miles, 13 of the miles at 6:21 pace. Not my best long run.

Wednesday's tempo

Ran my last tempo workout with EC Gibbs. We ran 7 miles in 39:05~5:35 pace. We felt good. Now there are only 107 days till Regions. If you notice I ran the same workout on the lake loop on July 1st, but this time I ran 50 seconds faster!!!

Wednesday's Tempo

5 miles on the lake loop in 27:27~5:29.48 average. The good news is that I felt great and as soon as I finished I took my pulse. It was 152. I remember last year at the end of tempos in would be around 170.

117 Days Till Regions

Did 3 x mile on lake loop w/ 1'30" recovery @ 5:18.13 pace running with Tim. Felt good and smooth.

Saturday's Long Run

17 miles at Kennesaw. 14 of those miles were run in 1:26:42~6:11.5 pace
Felt real good

Wednesday's 9-mile tempo with Hickey

9-mile tempo on the lake loop in 51:04~5:40.45 pace. Felt good to have someone to run with.
splits: 5:36.91-5:40.89-5:36.98-5:38.92-5:41.86-5:42.65-5:47.76-5:35.51-5:42.63
This is the fastest I have ever run for a 9-mile tempo.
122 Days Till Regions

Monday's Cruise Intervals

3 x mile on lake loop w/ 1'45" recovery: 5:17.74 average
Felt good. I really wanted to do more than 3 because I could have done 6 with no problem, but I didn't for 2 reasons:
1) I don't want to overdo it.
2) I am running a 9-mile tempo Wednesday morning with Hickey

Saturday Long Run

16 miles at Kennesaw

My Plan for the Next 3 Weeks

3 workouts: consisting of a fartlek, a tempo and a long run

fartlek: ranges: 3-6 miles
tempo: 4-10 miles
long run: 12-14 miles

the cumulative number of miles from my 3 workouts can not exceed 24 miles starting next week. Why 24? Well, through analysis of previous training over the past 6 weeks, I have found that the first 3 weeks of summer training I averaged 18 cumulative miles from workouts. The second cycle of 3 weeks I averaged 21 cumulative miles from workouts. My next 3 week cycle starts next week, and I plan to average 24 cumulative miles from workouts

Now the fartlek pace is about 5:20-5:24 pace
The tempo pace is 5:40-5:43 pace
The long run is typically in 6:10-6:20 pace.

I run a 3-mile warmup before each of my 3 workouts.

The week of 7/13, I plan on doing: 26 Workout miles
1) 3 x mile @ 5:20-5:24 pace with 1'45" recovery-should feel easy. Monday should not take anything out of me
2) 9-mile tempo with matt @ 5:43 pace. This distance will make me work a little bit. I won't go past threshold effort but the sheer distance will leave me tired, but I do have two easy runs the next two days
3) 17-mile long run at Kennesaw. Use first 3 miles at warmup and then settle into normal long run pace for 14 miles

Week of 7/20: 22 workout miles
1) 3 x mile @ tempo effort w/ 1'30" recovery
2) 5-mile tempo
3)17-mile long run at k-saw. 14 miles of which at long run pace

Week of 7/27: 24 workout miles
1)4 x mile @ tempo effort w/ 1'30" recovery
2)6-mile tempo
3) 14 miles of long run at long run pace

As you can see my next 3 weeks should average 24 workout miles. The following 2 weeks should average 27 workout miles and should bring me straight into the school year and training with the team:

Week of 8/03: 27 workout miles
1)5 x mile at tempo effort w/ 1'30" recovery
2)8-mile tempo
3)14 miles of long run at long run pace

Week of 8/10: 30 workout miles
1)6 x mile at tempo effort w/ 1"30" recovery
2)10-mile tempo
3)14 miles of long run at long run pace

Solid Tempo Wednesday

Have not had a bad tempo yet this summer. Ran 8 miles on lake loop in 45:40, 5:42.5 pace for 8 miles. I have not been at this level of fitness before. I am going to be very careful not to overdo it with my training, and I might give myself a week off of a tempo in the next couple weeks.

Monday's Tempo Fartlek

Ran 6 x mile at 5:22.6 pace with 2 min jog.

Peachtree Road Race

Wanted to say I talked to Brian Sell today after my cooldown after the Peachtree. He seems like a real nice guy and it was an honor to meet him. Also, I was happy to see Matt run such a great race today. I believe he got a 40-something second p.r. as well. I felt comfortable throughout the race, and don't feel like I ran a race earlier today. I feel more like I ran a hard tempo. Part of that may be from the shock of running so fast. I was not expecting 32:48, a 45 second p.r. and as mile by mile went by I was in shock at how fast my splits were.
Here were my splits:
5:08
10:20
15:35
20:59
26:30
31:42
32:48

What this big p.r. tells me is one of many things:
1) God has blessed me this summer with good health and solid training and a desire to succeed like I have never had before
2) I am a pure distance runner and run my best times off of 3 solid workouts a week. One workout being a tempo at marathon pace. Another being cruise intervals at threshold pace with short rest. The third being a solid long run at Kennesaw Mountain.
3)More than anything I attribute this success to my long runs at Kennesaw Mountain. During the Peachtree, the hills took nothing out of my legs. Thats because running at a solid effort at kennesaw mountain makes running everywhere else seem easy.
4) My general strength and core exercises(3 hours total a week) have strengthened my core and made me strong in many different areas of my body and core.
5) My stretching has increased my flexibility
6)My tempo warmup drills have given me the muscular endurance necessary for my hamstring to hold up through races.
7)My 60 meter sprints after every run has helped me to work on my speed throughout my base training and to be able to run aerobically at faster speeds than I have ever run.

So where do I plan to go from here?
First, I plan to increase my cruise intervals up to 6 x mile and reduce the recovery till it gets down to 1 minute recovery.
Second, I plan to continue to increase my tempo distance by one mile a week, while holding marathon pace.

Wednesday's Tempo

7 miles in 39:55-5:42.14 pace on the lake loop

Monday's Cruise Intervals

Ran 5 x mile at tempo pace on the lake loop with 2 minutes rest. Averaged 5:21.1 pace. Felt Good. Lactate threshold is getting strong. Hopefully I will be able to do 6 x mile with 1 minute rest in 5:24 pace before the start of xc.

Saturday's Long Run

Long run at Kennesaw-15 miles
Speed Drills and 2 x 60 meter strides
Stretching

Friday's Core

Core: 21 minutes: focusing on The German, Obliques, Lower Back, and Lower abs
General Strength: Pedestal Routine-3 sets: 16 minutes
Easy 10
Speed Drills and 4 x 60 meter sprints
Stretching

Thursday's Run

Easy 9 miles
Tempo Warmup with 8 x 60 meter strides
Dynamic Warmup
Stretching

General Strength and Conditioning: 1 1/3 sets of Dryer and Teak: 15 minutes
Core: 19 minutes focusing on obliques, lower abs, back and stabilization

Workout Wednesday with PPRC

6 mile tempo on the lake loop in 34:22: splits: 5:55-6:01-5:48-5:47-5:30-5:20
Felt good. Definetely could have kept on going at this pace

Stretching

Worked a lot today so did not have a chance for core.

Tuesday's Easy Run

Easy 9 miles
Speed Drills and 3 x 60 meter strides
Stretching

Core: 11-minutes: The German(60 pushups and 150 situps)

General Strength: 1 1/2 sets of Dryer and Teak: 16 minutes

Monday's Cruise Intervals

miles run at tempo effort on the lake loop: 4 x mile: 5:21 average w/ 2 minute jog. felt too easy. probably should have cut the rest shorter but it is early in the summer training.
145 Days till Regions

Stretching

Core: 30 minutes

General Strength: Pedestal Routine 3 sets-16 minutes

Tempo Warmup: Strength Exercises

Hickey Routine with leg curls

Stretching

Sunday's Easy Run

Easy 8 miles

Speed Drills and 2 x 60 meter strides

Stretching

Saturday's Long Run

Ran 13 miles for a long run over at Kennesaw today.

High knees, Buttkicks, 1-2 high knees, 1-2 buttkicks, bacwards running, ankling, karaoke with 5 x 80 meter strides

Stretching

Friday

Pedestal Routine: 240 crunch low reach & 160 crunch low reach with twist & 2 x 20 prone elbow stand single leg raise
Core: 15-minutes60 pushups
60 situps
30 side-ups each side
60 Russian Twist
60 heel touches
30 hypers
30 prone cobra
30 crunches
1' 6"
1' Flutters
30 Toe touches
30 legs in and out
20 leg raises

Easy 8 miles

Tempo Warmup with 4 x60 meter strides: High knees, buttkicks, 1-2 high knees, 1-2 buttkicks, A-skip, B-skip

Stretching

Thursday 6/18/2009

4-mile tempo on the lake loop: 22:26-splits were 5:33-5:38-5:40-5:35

tempo warmup exercises w/ 7 x 60 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)

Dynamic warmup

hickey routine with leg curls and hip activation with ankle weights 3 x 15

Stretching

Core: 15-minutes
60 pushups
60 situps
30 side-ups each side
60 Russian Twist
60 heel touches
30 hypers
30 prone cobra
30 crunches
1' 6"
1' Flutters
30 Toe touches
30 legs in and out
20 leg raises

General Strength: Mahogany and Helsinki routine-1 1/2 sets of eachMahogany and Helsniki routine consists of:low level leg twistsHip-UpsSeated Russian twist180 to 90 degree toe touchBack hypers (aka supermans)V-upsTwo Leg Lift over ConeBig 10(10 push-ups-10 sit-ups, 9 push-ups-9 sit-ups, etc): 16 minutes total

Wednesday 6/17/2009

Core: 27-minutes: 60 pushups, 150 situps, 30 side-ups each side, 60 Russian Twist, 60 heel touches, 30 hypers, 30 prone cobra, 30 crunches, 1' 6", 1' Flutters, 30 Toe touches, 30 legs in and out, 20 leg raises, plank-2'15", superman and alternating superman-30 each

General Strength: Dryer and Teak Routine: 2 sets (Total Time: 15 minutes)2 sets:Low level Bicycle(60)Side Leg Lifts(20)V-ups(20)Pushups(25)L-Ups(20):bringing legs up to 90 degrees and back downGood Mornings(20): trying to keep the knees lockedButterfly crunch(30)Roll-ups to the sky(20)Roman Chair Situps(30)standing twist(30)

Easy 8 miles

Speed Drills: Buttkicks, High Knees, 1-2 Buttkicks, 1-2 high knees, backwards running and 3 x 60 strides

Stretching

Tuesday 6/16/2009

Ran a workout at the river. Ran 1-mile in 5:24, 3/4 mile in 3:59, 1/2 mile in 2:34, and a 1/4 mile in 76 seconds with a quarter mile jog recovery. Felt slow. Aerobically fine but turnover was bad. Legs kind of felt heavy. I think it was the heat.

Speed Drills-high knees, buttkicks, etc

Stretching

Monday 6/15/2009

Pedestal Routine: 240 crunch low reach & 160 crunch low reach with twist & 2 x 20 prone elbow stand single leg raise

Core: 15-minutes
60 pushups
60 situps
30 side-ups each side
60 Russian Twist
60 heel touches
30 hypers
30 prone cobra
30 crunches
1' 6"
1' Flutters
30 Toe touches
30 legs in and out
20 leg raises

Easy 8 miles

tempo warmup exercises w/ 7 x 60 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)

Dynamic warmup

hickey routine with leg curls and hip activation with ankle weights 3 x 15

Stretching

Sunday's Scrapes

Ran 12 miles for a long run over at Kennesaw today. Fell 2 miles into my run. Scraped my left hand, left arm, left hip, and left knee. Looks like it might leave me sore for the next week and take a 2-3 weeks to heal.
High knees, Buttkicks, 1-2 high knees, 1-2 buttkicks, bacwards running, ankling, karaoke with 5 x 80 meter strides
Stretching

What is Light and Easy Running?

If you don't know what light and easy running is, then I can point you in the direction of the answer. You can read 8 running books per year like I have done and see that many of the books have the same answer to what light and easy running is or you can ask some of the best runners in the world what light and easy running.

The best distance runners in the world are the kenyans and ethiopians. In general, all of their warmups are considered "slow" by american runners. The day before a race, you will see far amateur runners running faster than these elite runners. It is not uncommon for them to run a 10-minute mile for their first mile of a warmup. Then a 9-minute mile and then an 8-minute mile. Not exactly those times but pretty darn close to that 10-minute mile pace for the first mile.

People that have had difficulties with their hamstring need to warmup slowly. I have seen far too many runners run too fast for a light and easy run. They are done with a light and easy 3-mile run at the same time I am 2 miles in during that light and easy run.

In Marty Liquori's Book, he wrote that many elites run the first two miles slowly~slower than 8-minute pace for the first two miles before picking it up.

So don't worry if a 60-year old woman is running past you during a light and easy run. Swallow your pride and run at the correct intensity. You will have plenty of hard workouts where you can run as hard as you want.

Benefits of Supplementing Your Mileage with Some Light, Easy Running

What are the benefits of supplementing your running with just more running? Well if you are able to run most of your miles in singles(only running one run per day), and you have time available during another part of your day, then you should consider doubling with a light easy run. Say you run 8 miles in the morning. In the evening you can go out for a light and easy 3 miles. Light and easy runs help to disperse the lactic acid from the harder run you completed in the morning. They will loosen you out and you can get a good stretch in after them so that the following morning you will not wake up as tight as you would have if you had done no second run at all. But the big benefits of second runs are the following:

1)An increase in the size and number of mitochondria. Mitochondria help remove lactic acid that accumulates when running.

2)An increase in the capillarization of the muscle fibers

3)The enzyme activity within the mitochondria4.

4) Light and easy running also trains fast twitch muscle fibers so they have greater aerobic capacity than normal

Saturday's Core

core work: 10 minutes of the modified german(120 pushups-20 situps), 20 minutes of Core focusing on obliques: 60 x side crunches, russian twist, side-to-side crunches, heel touches, hypers, prone cobra, superman, alt. superman, crunches, flutters-up and down, scissor flutters, and finish up with a 6" hold

Saturday and Stuff to do

Had stuff to do so going to do the long run tomorrow. Plan to do an aerobic 12 miles at Kennesaw tomorrow.

7 miles
tempo warmup exercises w/ 7 x 60 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)
hickey routine with leg curls and hip activation with ankle weights 2 x 15, 1 x 10
Stretching

Friday-June 12 an off day

Well I did poorly on my test today. Its a good day to take off.

Stretching

Thursday June 11 and ISYE Test

Kind of tired today. I studied hard for an ISYE test. Unfortunately I got another test on Friday, so I will take Friday off.

Easy 8 miles
tempo warmup exercises w/ 7 x 60 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)stretching
hickey routine with leg curls with ankle weights 3 x 10
Stretching

Wednesday's uptempo run canceled

Was planning to run an uptempo run today, but got an email from my coach saying no tempo this week. Since it is the second week of base training I will take his advice and take this week easy.

Easy 8 miles
High knees, Butt kicks, A-skip, B-skip, leg swings with 3 x 60 meter strides
Stretching

Tuesday June 9, 2009

Easy 8 miles
High knees, Butt kicks, A-skip, B-skip, leg swings with 4 x 60 strides
Stretching

General Strength: Dryer and Teak Routine: 2 sets (Total Time: 15 minutes)2 sets:
Low level Bicycle(60)
Side Leg Lifts(20)
V-ups(20)
Pushups(25)
L-Ups(20):bringing legs up to 90 degrees and back down
Good Mornings(20): trying to keep the knees locked
Butterfly crunch(30)
Roll-ups to the sky(20)
Roman Chair Situps(30)
standing twist(30)

8 minutes of core: emphasis on stabilization exerises-planks on elbows and then on hands. Also, leg raises, legs in and out crunch and toe touches.

Monday Morning at the River

I feel really strong from the tempo warmup exercises I have been doing. This will be the fourth week of the tempo warmup exercises, and my hamstring feels better on my runs. My hamstring feels stronger. I feel faster and feel like I can drive my knees higher during my runs. The extended stretching makes me feel more flexible than I have ever been. The General Strength exercises and core exercises can definetely be felt during my running. Everything seems to be coming into place. In another two weeks I may increase the tempo warmup to include a few extra reps just to continue in my goal of strengthening my hamstring. If I get that strong, I feel I will have my best xc season yet. May I run as fast as my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, allows me to run.

AM

Workout: 3-miles warmup, 4 miles of 3/4-mile on, 1/4 mile off. Ran the 4-miles in 22:53. Averaged: 3:55.97 on the 3/4 miles

tempo warmup exercises w/ 8 x 60 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)

stretching


PM

dymanic warmup foot drills
hickey routine with leg curls with ankle weights 3 x 10

pedestal routine: 3 sets of (prone elbow stand sl raise(10), supine elbow stand s.l. raise(5), prone hand stand s.l.raise(10), supine hand stand sl raise(10), lateral elbow stand sl raise(10), lateral hand stand sl raise(10), crunch with low reach(80), crunch:low reach with twist(50))core work: 5 minutes of the modified german(60 pushups-60 situps), 10 minutes of Core focusing on obliques: 30 x side crunches, russian twist, side-to-side crunches, heel touches, hypers, prone cobra, superman, alt. superman, crunches, flutters-up and down, scissor flutters, and finish up the 10 minutes with a 6" hold which usually is 1.5" to get me up to 10 minutes of Core and 15 minutes of total core

stretching

Jenny Barringer is Amazing

Hope you saw Jenny Barringer become the third fastest American ever in the 1500. Her range is amazing. 3:59.90 1500, 15:01 5k, 9:22 3k steeple. And in terms of world ranks she could compete extremely well off of that 3:59.90. I will be proud if my final track season in the spring of 2010 has the same kind of times that she has run over the course of this past season.

General Strength: Mahogany and Helsinki routine-1 1/2 sets of eachMahogany and Helsniki routine consists of:low level leg twistsHip-UpsSeated Russian twist180 to 90 degree toe touchBack hypers (aka supermans)V-upsTwo Leg Lift over ConeBig 10(10 push-ups-10 sit-ups, 9 push-ups-9 sit-ups, etc): 16 minutes total

10 minutes of core: emphasis on stabilization exerises-planks on elbows and then on hands. Also, leg raises, legs in and out crunch and toe touches.

Stretching

Stunning Saturday

I was amazed when I checked flotrack this morning and saw that the 300 meter high hurdles record was broken by reggie wyatt with a time of 35.02 seconds-a national high school record. He is going to USC next year, and we will probably be seeing big things from him.

Anyway...

Ran 10 miles at Kennesaw. Got in 37 miles for the week.

Did buttkicks, high knees, A-skip, B-skip, 1-2 high knees and 1-2 butt kicks, ankling, bounding, and leg swings, and one 100 meter stride.

Stretching

Friday's Training

General Strength: Dryer and Teak Routine: 2 sets (Total Time: 15 minutes)2 sets:
Low level Bicycle(60)
Side Leg Lifts(20)
V-ups(20)
Pushups(25)
L-Ups(20):bringing legs up to 90 degrees and back down
Good Mornings(20): trying to keep the knees locked
Butterfly crunch(30)
Roll-ups to the sky(20)
Roman Chair Situps(30)
standing twist(30)

General Strength: Mahogany and Helsinki routine-1 set of eachMahogany and Helsniki routine consists of:
low level leg twists
Hip-Ups
Seated Russian twist
180 to 90 degree toe touch
Back hypers (aka supermans)
V-ups
Two Leg Lift over Cone
Big 10(10 push-ups-10 sit-ups, 9 push-ups-9 sit-ups, etc)

core work: 5 minutes of the modified german(60 pushups-60 situps),10 minutes of Core focusing on obliques: 30 x side crunches, russian twist, side-to-side crunches, heel touches, hypers, prone cobra, superman, alt. superman, crunches, flutters-up and down, scissor flutters, and finish up the 10 minutes with a 6" hold which usually is 1.5" to get me up to 10 minutes of Core and 15 minutes of total core8 minutes of core: emphasis on stabilization exerises-planks on elbows and then on hands. Also, leg raises, legs in and out crunch and toe touches. Total: 23-minutes of core

easy 4.5 miles

tempo warmup exercises w/ 4 x 100, 2 x 80 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)hickey routine w/ leg curls: 3 x 10 with ankle weights: 10lb. in each ankle weight

Stretching

Thursday's Run

Easy 3 miles
High knees, Butt kicks, A-skip, B-skip, leg swings with 2 x 100 strides
Stretching

Workout Wednesday

Found out today that Rupp has decided only to do the 5k/10k double. Bummer. Anyway, today a group of us met at the AMC at 8:30 and ran over the park and did a mini-tempo. They ran 2 miles comfortably hard and I tacked on a third mile.

AM
General Strength: Dryer and Teak Routine: 2 sets (Total Time: 15 minutes)
2 sets:

• Low level Bicycle(60)
• Side Leg Lifts(20)
• V-ups(20)
• Pushups(25)
• L-Ups(20):bringing legs up to 90 degrees and back down
• Good Mornings(20): trying to keep the knees locked
• Butterfly crunch(30)
• Roll-ups to the sky(20)
• Roman Chair Situps(30)
• standing twist(30)

Workout: 4.5 mile warmup, 3-mile tempo: 5:49-5:41-5:30 at the park, 1.5 cooldown Total: 9-miles

tempo warmup exercises w/ 4 x 100, 2 x 80 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, mountain climbers-singles in(30), mountain climbers-singles out(30), mountain climbers-doubles in(30), mountain climbers-doubles out(30), speed skaters(30)

hickey routine w/ leg curls: 3 x 10 with ankle weights: 10lb. in each ankle weight\

Stretching

PM

pedestal routine: 3 sets of (prone elbow stand sl raise(10), supine elbow stand s.l. raise(5), prone hand stand s.l.raise(10), supine hand stand sl raise(10), lateral elbow stand sl raise(10), lateral hand stand sl raise(10), crunch with low reach(80), crunch:low reach with twist(50))

core work: 5 minutes of the modified german(60 pushups-60 situps),

10 minutes of Core focusing on obliques: 30 x side crunches, russian twist, side-to-side crunches, heel touches, hypers, prone cobra, superman, alt. superman, crunches, flutters-up and down, scissor flutters, and finish up the 10 minutes with a 6" hold which usually is 1.5" to get me up to 10 minutes of Core and 15 minutes of total core

8 minutes of core: emphasis on stabilization exerises-planks on elbows and then on hands. Also, leg raises, legs in and out crunch and toe touches. Total: 23-minutes of core

Stretching

Wednesday ain't no punk *** *****

Tasty Tuesday

Ran an easy 3 miles, and Stretching. No core work or general strength work but I will make up for what I missed Wednesday.

166 Days till Goal Race, First Official Week of Summer Training,

This is the first official week of summer training and I feel good. In less than 2 weeks I will be able to see EC Gibbs in the finals of the 1500 at nationals and see Rupp carry his team on his back in the 1500, 5k and 10k by winning the 5k and 10k and scoring in the 1500. Better yet his teammate Matt Centrowitz will probably win the 1500 at nationals. Go Oregon! A distance team that will take xc and track nationals. Amazing.

So here was my training for today.

AM
pedestal routine: 3 sets of (prone elbow stand sl raise(10), supine elbow stand s.l. raise(5), prone hand stand s.l.raise(10), supine hand stand sl raise(10), lateral elbow stand sl raise(10), lateral hand stand sl raise(10), crunch with low reach(80), crunch:low reach with twist(50))
core work: 5 minutes of the modified german(60 pushups-60 situps), 10 minutes of Core focusing on obliques: 30 x side crunches, russian twist, side-to-side crunches, heel touches, hypers, prone cobra, superman, alt. superman, crunches, flutters-up and down, scissor flutters, and finish up the 10 minutes with a 6" hold which usually is 1.5" to get me up to 10 minutes of Core and 15 minutes of total core
light jog~10 minutes
hickey routine w/ leg curls: 3 x 10 with ankle weights: 10lb. in each ankle weight
stretching

PM
3 mile warmup
4 x 1/2 mile with 1/4 mile jog for 3 miles Total time: 17:06. Avg time on 1/2 miles: 2:36.2
kept the recovery honest
1.5 cooldown
tempo warmup exercises w/ 4 x 50 meter fast strides: 30 prisoner squats, 30 single leg squats, 30 stabilized single leg squats, 60 walking lunges, tried mountain climbers but felt pain in my ankle so i could not perform them or speed skaters.
felt no pain during the strides, so i think it is just limited to when i do mountain climbers. although i felt no pain doing mountain climbers the last two weeks.
dynamic warmup exercises with foot drills: again felt no pain on the ankle
focused stretching: holding stretches up to 25-30 seconds

Day 1 of Base Training

Core: emphasis on stabilization exerises-planks on elbows and then on hands. Also, leg raises, legs in and out crunch and toe touches. Total: 8-minutes

General Strength: Mahogany and Helsinki routine-1 set of each
Mahogany and Helsniki routine consists of:

• low level leg twists
• Hip-Ups
• Seated Russian twist
• 180 to 90 degree toe touch
• Back hypers (aka supermans)
• V-ups
• Two Leg Lift over Cone
• Big 10(10 push-ups-10 sit-ups, 9 push-ups-9 sit-ups, etc)

Easy Run at the Chattahoochee River-30 minutes

High Knees, Butt Kicks, A-skip, B-skip, leg swings, 1-2 high knees, 1-2 butt-kicks

5 x 50 meter strides

Stretching with 30 second holds

Sinus Infection and Blood Test

Just now getting over a sinus infection that started May 11, 2 weeks ago. Saw a doctor on Friday May 15 who listened to me and said that I didn't have a sinus infection. Then went to a doctor with the same symptoms the following Friday May 22 and he said I did have a sinus infection. Now I am on medication and am feeling better, although I still am coughing up pleghm. When I saw the doctor I had him take my blood as well. I take medication for my thyroid and I have been low on iron before, so I got him to run three tests-one on my iron levels-both hematocrit and ferritin levels. Another test is a mono test and the third test is my thyroid levels. If my thyroid is not working well enough then they will have to increase my medication. In case you don't know the thyroid controls your metabolism and energy levels. A poor working thyroid will make you feel tired most of the time and you can't deal with that level of tiredness and train at the same time. I know because I tried it one summer and towards the end the doctor just had to put me on the thyroid medication because my energy levels were too low. I get these blood tests done once every 6 months. So in another week I should get the results.

Why I Can finish High On Regions 10k Course

Three reasons why I will finish high at regions. I will be:
1) Mentally Prepared
2) Physically Prepared
3) Execute my Gameplan

People let the distance scare them especially if they are mid-distance runners-i.e. 800/1500 runners. The distance is overwhelming for them. It is roughly 6.5-12.5 times longer than their ideal racing distance. They get out that first mile with the leaders, and if they are capable of sticking with the leaders thats fine, but most are not capable of staying with the leaders. They have this deep desire to be in a good position early in the race, thinking that once they get into that position they just have to hold that position for the rest or the race. Well...99% of the time they don't hold that position. Why is that? Because they are not mentally prepared for the race distance. Most of them get out that first mile then think "Oh..no I got out hard at a pace that I cannot hold for another 5.2 miles to go." So what do they do? They do what their body and their mind tells them to do: they slow down to a pace in the middle miles that is far slower than the pace they should be running at. Physically, lets talk about what they did wrong by getting out fast that first mile. They created irreperable damage that is going to make their performance in the race suffer. Now I want to emphasize that the runners I am talking about are runners that are not good enough to finish in the top 20 runners at Regions 10k. These are the runners that are outside of the top 20-more middle of the pack to back of the pack runners. These runners take off that first mile and go into oxygen debt and start accumulating too much lactic acid too early. No matter what they do past that first mile, they have already ruined their race, because they are not talented enough to keep up with the leaders and their bodies can't handle it. These are the runners that I plan on passing at regions this coming year. Runners that are falling back. My advice for those runners.

Get mentally prepared! Understand that you are running a 10K. Run the first half of the race conservatively. You will find out that when you try to run the first half conservatively, you will be able to have a solid second half. That is where the race starts in the 10k, halfway through it, so save your aggression for the second half of the race and don't waste it on the start.

Get physically prepared! Don't skimp out on those long runs, tempos, VO2 workouts. You are going to need all of those to be physically prepared for a 10K on a xc course.

Execute your Gameplan! Go ahead, and come up with a game plan. Walk/Run the course the day before or a couple days before. Make sure you have every part of the course in your head in terms of where the mile or kilometer markers are. Break the course into segments:
First, you should always know at what part of the course you should kick from. I hate the word kick. It means picking up the pace to a sprint at the end of a race. It is my belief that if you run a race right, you have exerted so much throughout the race that you have nothing left. All you can hope to do is maintain the pace you have been running throughout the race to the finish. Anyway, you should pick a part of the course close to the finish. Once you get to that part of the course in the race, use whatever you have left and try to expend it by the time you get to the finish. Most likely you won't have anything left if you ran it right, but if you do have anything left when you get to that point in the race you better use it.
Second, try to think about where you want to be at throughout the segments you come up with. For example, first 1/3 of the race you might want to be in the top 80 runners. In the second 1/3 of the race your goal may be to pass 30 runners. In the final 1/3 of the race your goal may be to pass another 15 runners. Now here comes the criticism. People will read this and ask, "How can I know what place I am in during the first 1/3 of the race?" My answer is you don't know. just go out and run conservatively. think good-better-best for each of the 3 segments of the race respectively. But having a goal to pass X number of runners the second 1/3 of the race is a worthwhile goal, and passing another X number runners in the final 1/3 would be great.

Obstacle #3: Finishing High

Obstacle #3)consistently finishing in the top 7 on the team throughout the season (only 7 runners per team compete at the Region meet so if you are not in the top 7 in the races before the region meet your coach will leave you at home)

Obstacle #3 is a tough one for myself because it is 100% outside of my control. I can't control how other people finish in respect to where I finish. I am a distance runner who has no foot speed. What can I do if there if #5,6,7 are right with me in a race of any distance and there is only a half mile to go? The answer is nothing but run as fast as I can to the finish and hope that I hold them off. 99.9% of the time all they will have to do is stride out to the finish and I just can't keep up. I lack the ability to close, so I make up for this deficiency my pushing the middle of the race-that is where I can put distance on people. I try to run a race even-not necessarily even pace since you can't control that in a xc race with the varying terrain but more so an evenly spaced effort so that I run at an effort that I can maintain for the entire length of the race and not a step more and not a step less.

Also, since I am at the far extreme in terms of slow twitch, the farther the distance of the race better I will do respectively on my team. In any 10K I am confident that I could be in the top 5. Why? How can I be in the top 5 on the team at this race when I am far less talented than the other runners? My form stinks. I have no foot speed. I probably have a much lower VO2 max, than most of the runners. So why do I think I could finish in the top 5 on my team given that I am fit and my teammates are fit? I will answer that question tomorrow.

Obstacle #2: Staying Healthy

There are a lot of aspects that go into staying healthy. First, is nutrition. Eating a variety of foods is key, to make sure you get all your necessary vitamins and amino acids. Along with eating healthy, take a multivitamin just to make sure you cover all your vitamins. Eating red meat is important for iron levels, but excess red meat does nothing for you. Also, there are many plant sources that have high amounts of iron and you can get a significant amount of iron from these sources BUT Remember that only a small portion of the iron you eat from plant sources is absorbed, so you must eat red meat at least 3-5 times a week. The ideal portion is 3-4 ounces, anymore and it does you no good because your body can only absorb a certain amount of iron at a time. how much can it absorb? Only 3-4 ounces of red meat worth of iron, so don't eat more than that unless you just want to build a fat reserve. If you are still not sure you are getting enough iron, take iron supplementation but make sure to check with your doctor to see where your iron level is at. There is such a thing as too much iron and it can kill you.
Stay away from sodas and alcohol-both of which have no nutritional value. Both dehydrate your body and leave your body in a state of stress. The more stress, the more of a chance you have of getting sick.
So, in terms of nutrition its real simple. Just eat:
Fruits and Vegetables all the time
Red Meat in 3-4 ounce portions 3-5 times a week
Oatmeal and other carbohydrate rich options
And avoid alcohol and sodas at all cost.

The second aspect is sleep. For distance runners, there is no amount of sleep that is too much sleep. If you can sleep 11 hours a night, fine. Do it! If you feel fine with 9 hours, then sleep 9. But any less than 9 and you are not giving your body the amount of rest that it needs. If you are serious about staying healthy while running you will see to it that you are in bed well before midnight and that you sleep as long as your body needs to feel rested.

Obstacle #1: Hamstring

My biggest obstacle for the past two years has been my hamstring. There are many different aspects that affect my hamstring. First, the number of miles and the intensity of those miles. Sprinting all out would not be a good idea. Plus I when I am sprinting all out I am not going that fast anyway. Fast strides I can handle, but anything that approaches the pace that I could run for 400 meters is off limits. In terms of the number of miles, I am going to closely monitor the # of miles. I plan to run the fewest miles this year so that my hamstring will hold up. In terms of the intensity, well this summer won't be extremely intense, but I plan on it being easy enough for my hamstring to stick in there but intense enough to ensure that I come into the xc season in good shape. Second, the strength of my hamstring. If the hamstring is weak it won't last a cross country season. What can I do about the strength of my hamstring? One activity that I really like, and I will probably do this summer is stadium steps. Running up two steps at a time. The next day after stadium steps I am sore in the hamstrings but that soreness eventually goes away and my hamstrings eventually feel stronger and thereby handle workouts better. Also, after every run I do leg curls: 3 x 10. The first set is with my foot straight and lifted up and down. The second set is with my foot pointed in and the third set is with my foot pointed outwards. This works three different areas of the hamstring. Eventually I will find ankle weights and start utilizing ankle weights for the three sets of 10. The third aspect is my flexibilty. Most of the stretching I do focuses on the hamstrings(my problem area). Probably focus solely on stretching out the hamstrings for 5 minutes after every run, and then stretch other areas. After going through all the different stretches with the hamstring and other areas, I see if I can comfortably touch my toes. If I can't I further stretch out the hamstrings until I can.

Tomorrow I will discuss Obstacle #2.

My List of Obstacles

Figure out what your obstacles are. Mentally and physically prepare yourself for the challenges ahead. There are many obstacles in my path to acheiving my goal of top 50 at Regions.

Here is my list of obstacles:
1) hamstring
2)staying healthy
3)consistently finishing in the top 7 on the team throughout the season (only 7 runners per team compete at the Region meet so if you are not in the top 7 in the races before the region meet your coach will leave you at home)

Over the next 3 days I will discuss each one of my challenges and how I will prepare my best to meet that challenge.

My Goal

My goal is clear and set. It was the same goal I had 24 weeks ago and I will have that goal in mind for the next 28 weeks. My goal is to finish in the top 50 at the NCAA South Region Cross Country Meet. Every year runners take off at the start like a bat out of hell and struggle with the second half of the race. I hope to run a smart race from the back and move up throughout the race. If you run smarter than your opponents, then you give yourself the opportunity to beat those that you are better than, beat those that you are equal to, and beat the runners that are slightly better than you just because you ran a smarter race. Basically, you didn't push yourself into oxygen debt too quickly. 10K is a long way to go. You don't want to put yourself out of the race halfwayt through because you ran the first half with reckless abandon.

Vacation

Taking a vacation for a couple days, but the training will still be there. Going to Biloxi, hoping that I'll be lucky. Next post will probably be Friday.

What's Your Specific Goal

Before you start training, you need to know what your goal is and the steps you are going to take to acheive that goal. You have to understand the purpose behind every workout, so that you believe in your training. Any doubt and you will not perform your best for both psychological and physiological reasons. If you don't believe the workout will help you accomplish your goal, talk to your coach about it. Either he will show you the purpose behind the workout or he will agree that maybe another workout would better suit your needs on that day in that given training block.
Goals should be both short term and long term. They are accomplished with proper training and consistency. You should not expect the same drop in time from year to year. Rather you should expect yourself to have decreasing drops in time as you continue running. For example your first year of running, a runner might drop his 5k time by 3 minutes, but the second year only drop it by a minute and a half, and the third year only drop it by 30 seconds.
So how should you come up with your goals. First look back at how much training you have completed. Realize that running follows the principle of dimishing returns. Talk to your coach and together come up with a goal.
Lets say that your goal is to run a region qualifying time in the 5k. The qualifying time is 14:10. Your current time is 15:10. First, when do you want to accomplish this goal. In 4 years? 3 years? 2 years? 1 year? Lets say 4 years. Then what should be your goal for each of the next 4 years? Peter Coe, father and coach of one of the greatest middle distance runners in history, Seb Coe, has written that runners follow this formula in coming up with their goals. First figure out how many years you have till you need to run that time. If it is 4 years, add up the numbers 1 through 4: you will get 10. Then figure out your first year's goal by dividing the number of years left to hit the goal/the # 10. Multiply this number .4 by the amount of time you want to drop, 60 seconds and you will get 24 seconds. That is how many seconds you want to drop your time the first year. How about the second year? Well on the second year you have 3 years of training left, so you take 3/10 * 60 seconds and you will want to drop another 18 seconds off your time.
Ex) 15:10 runner wants to run 14:10 at the end of his 4rth year
total time he wants to take off: t=60 seconds
total time he has to train= 4 years
denominator=1+2+3+4=10

1st year

4/10*60=24 seconds to take off
Goal: 14:46
2nd year
3/10*60=18 seconds
Goal:14:28
3rd year
2/10*60=12 sec
Goal: 14:16
4rth year
1/10*60=6 sec
Goal: 14:10

I will give one more example to make sure you understand.

Ex)
14:40 runner wants to run 14:10 at the end of his 3rd year
total time he wants to take off is t=30 seconds
total time he has to train= 3 years
denominator= 1+2+3=6
1st year
3/6*30=15 seconds
Goal: 14:25
2nd year
2/6*30=10 seconds
Goal: 14:15
3rd year
1/6*30=5 seconds
Goal: 14:10

What if you can't run the goal time set out for you on the first year?
This means that your goal may need to be changed. Perhaps you were injured or sick or you didn't train properly. If those are your reasons ,then sure if you get healthy and train correctly then you may still be able to hit your time goals in the next year. BUT if you trained correctly and consistently and you were neither injured or sick then you should change your final time goal to a more realistic time.

Can't Fall Asleep

Well its 11 p.m. and I can't fall asleep, so why not start a blog? Perhaps it will keep me honest with my training throughout the summer. Maybe I can look back on this blog with fond memories of how SMART and proper training brought on respecteble results.
A little background info. I am going to be a fifth year next fall and will be participating in my last year of eligibility for cross country. I have had varying levels of difficulty with my hamstring for the past year and a half. I have a good amount of knowledge of running-I've read 40+ books pertaining to running, and I want to be a high school coach in a few years.
This summer I am going to monitor things very closely-mileage and intensity to not push my hamstring too hard. Also, I am going to try to be falling asleep much earlier than I did tonight. Just finished finals week so I am off on my sleep cycle.
Also, I am going to try to lose about 7 pounds by cross country. I'm 6'1" 161 lb. right now and thats just too big. Got to eat healthier, even if it costs me more money. Get fresh vegetables and whole wheat pasta and limit my fats.
So today, I went to the grocery store and bought whole wheat pasta, fresh squash, green beans, peas, corn, potatos, sweet potatos, turkey breast, chicken breast, tilapia, ground beef, and fettucini, ragu sauce, oatmeal, yogurt and some cereals.
Got to get an early start on a good diet for this summer. Cross Country starts in August.