Grand Valley 3k

The events leading up to the race:

Friday morning - Art and I don't want to go outside to run so I ran 1 mile on the treadmill and Art ran 4 miles while watching some reality show on drug rehab. Then when I am back in the room, I hear some pounding in the hallway and Art comes in out of breath saying he just did strides in the hotel hallway.

Tommy call's Art for running advice oh wait, no he called about advice on a boxing match. Tommy said he has two hobbies and they consist of betting on sports and picking up chicks.

Friday afternoon - Head to the track and see Paul, Scott and Jesse. Paul, of course, starts out by saying how much he doesn't like me. He says it's a love hate relationship but I think it's mostly just hate on his end. Art and Paul finalize the bet for the 3k on Saturday. The bet consists of Paul giving Art one second for each year difference in age. So Art has 10 seconds in hand.

The other battle in the 3k is Team Golden vs Team Gunnison. I think me and Art are the underdogs but anything can happen!

Good luck to the rest of the BRC athletes competing this weekend!

First Post!

Well, I finally remembered my password so I can join the fun. Not much is going on for me racing-wise here in the near future. I will be running in a 5k that some students at my high school organized for a good cause (http://raceforhope.community.officelive.com/default.aspx) but it won't be a big effort. I am just coming off a long training cycle that ended at the half-marathon in Phoenix Jan 17th. I didn't run my best there but I wasn't surprised as my training leading up to it wasn't that great. I took some downtime and am now just starting to build again. This training cycle my big goal race is the Riverbank Run 25k in Grand Rapids on May 8th. Being that this is very near my hometown I really want to run well. I will post again soon when I have more to talk about.

Good luck to all you BRC guys and gals racing this weekend at the GVSU BIG MEET and USATF XC Nationals!

Cross Championships Preview

I told you I would try to get back to you before the race and tell you my plan...

The field is good, but other then Ritz is pretty wide open after that. It looks like it will be muddy which will be fine, because it will slow the race down quite a bit. I planning on taking it out pretty hard and being in about 10th place by the mile. after 1 to 2 miles in a muddy race and there won't be a lot of moving 5 to 10 places at the most. Aerobically I'll be fine I just have to be in a good place and if i feel good I will close some people down in the last 3k to 4k.

This is my song of the week... maybe year!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxB42cjHTGg

Have some GRREEATTT races this weekend everyone!

US Cross Championships Tune Up

Getting ready for US Cross has been a little rough. I been sick for a couple of days and felt the aftermath a couple more days. I have been putting in consistently over 100 mile weeks since the first of jan. other than last week i got 90 in... which i wanted to make sure i was over my crappy cold stuff and be 100 percent.

Workout wise I have been mainly doing fartlicks until last friday i did a very light "tempo" and it went kind of crappy. It was 5 miles at 5:29 avg. and didn't feel great. But that evening I had 6x200m as my second workout. I warmed up 4 miles and crused 34, 34 low, 33, 33 low, 32, 32 low with 50 second light jog. I felt great and not that it was a hard workout at all, but I just needed to run that pace just to reassure me that still can run sub 4:40 mile pace.

My workout day went really good! I had another light workout and it was 4x400, 1k, 4x400. I had to hold back quite a bit, but it's for the better of the race this weekend. I was 70-71 on the 4s and 3.04 for the 1k. I was very relaxed! The outdoor track had about 2 inch of snow on it and was about a 6 to 8 mph winds. I did put spikes on and it looks like Spokane is going to muddy anyways. So I got a little closer to race like conditions anyways. Also, I used the trust art seminars half inch spikes that he gave me last year in Spokane!!! coincidence... I dont think so!!! Thanks buddy!

I do have more stuff, if i have time I'll post before the race.

Peace!

update

well I really wanted to quit running when I saw my time in the 10k I ran last weekend. Luckily it turns out the course was long. That made me feel a tiny bit better...but not much. It was still a rough day and I just never felt good. I did have a lot of fun on the trip and I would still do it over again if I had the choice. I think I learn a lot more from races where I don't do as well than ones that go according to plan.
Oh, and my eye? its still twitching. The eye dr. says its from stress and the only "cure" she knows is botox. NO THANKS.

This week training has gone really well. I am excited and starting to feel more confident about my marathon cycle! I recently committed to running Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN on June 19, so my training is finally starting to have some direction. While I am not currently doing any marathon specific training yet, I am working on increasing my ability to adapt to the added intensity in my schedule along with a small bump in mileage.

My coach usually sends me workouts in one or two week increments--when he starts sending two week increments I know that he is starting to have confidence in my ability to handle whatever he throws at me. So, this past week I finally got the first two week schedule in months . While I was glad to know that he was starting to have a little bit of faith in my body handling the work, I can't help but look ahead at the workouts I have coming up and feel nervous. I have 5 marathons on my feet and even though I know what to expect with the workouts and what the build up will look like until June, I can't help but feeling butterflies when I look at my schedule and see something like 3x2 miles or 15 miles with the last 5 miles at high 5's to low 6's. Sure, it doesn't sound like much or even that fast, but since I have done very little training over the past 5 months seeing the added intensity and knowing that I will have to push myself harder than the normal everyday run pace is scary. I am excited, of course, to get on with starting a little bit of speed work but nervous that my body is going to fail me again; nervous that I will be left flailing like I have in the past couple of cycles I have attempted.

The scariest part is there is no guarantee--we are doing all we can to monitor energy levels, sleep, appetite, and runs on a daily basis, but even with the increased scrutiny and a very conservative, long term approach no one knows or can predict what might happen over the next 5 months. I haven't had a training cycle yet that was completely perfect and I know I never will but this spring I am hoping not to experience some of the speed bumps that I have in the past--I have endured everything from freak illnesses to home invasions. But with each a successful end of a racing season, I felt like I had really accomplished something because not only did I race well or learn a valuable lesson for future racing, but I persevered and didn't let adversity dictate racing or my life. So while I do hope for a clean build-up, I also know that I can tackle any setback and not let it direct the outcome of my training. So, bring on the marathon!!

The Weekend/Upcoming Races

Hey everyone! Good job to those who competed this weekend! BRC is looking strong! I just wanted to post up what I dealt with this week/weekend. I had to wait for a response from the Meyo Invitational mile to see if there was any room for me. Unfortunately the Notre Dame coach declined my entry. He is pretty big on letting holding off all post collegians. He mentioned that their was 50 entries, and that he considers all collegiates before any post collegiate. So that was that. I had purchased my flight early in the week just in case I was making my way out there. I had it all set up. I was amped! So after that, I figured that coach Martin was going to have me compete at UNM. I was going to do a DMR with some of the post collegiates that are around Alamosa ( If I had know a BRC DMR was running one, I would have been on board!) The reason I didn't go to that meet either was that I had to help out around here with my work. So I ended up doing a workout solo. It sucked!!!!

I did it on Friday, which consisted of four 400's, with 9 min. rest. I ran them as follows: 55,54,53,52. It just felt awkward running solo for a quick session. Saturday I ran 65 min. Today I ran for 85 min. with the Adams guys.

Next Saturday I am heading out to Seattle which I will be doing the 3k (with possibly doubling in the mile).

Now you know what I've been up to, and what I will be doing!

I think this coming Saturday is the infamous "Michel vs. Seimers" 3k race!

If these two gentlemen are still competing together, and the rules still apply(handicap conversion or whatever they called it!) comment on this post to see who you are cheering for!!!!

I personally are hoping both these guys get some personal bests out there in Grand Valley!

Good luck to all and remember,

Lets have fun and Go BRC!!!!!!