I am one with the levee and the levee with me

10 easy

Took the day off. Some would call this lazy, I call it listening to my body. Although lazy is probably closer to the truth.

AM - 4 easy from the apt

PM - 10 easy on the Urb with the team. 1:17 total time. 

6x1200m at the Lake Padden course. I felt fast and strong and really happy with how this workout went. I started out pretty hard to test how the legs would feel, and they never locked up with lactic acid like I expected. I did feel like I was having some breathing issues, but I attribute this to the congestion I had last week. It's been clearing up but isn't quite gone.

3:45 (2:30 rest, flat)

3:43 (2:30, uphill)

3:34 (2:30, downhill)

3:33 (3:30 rest by mistake, couldn't find the next marker; flat)

3:37 (2:30, net uphill through the rollers on the backside)

3:30 (66 second first net downhill quarter, then 2:24 flat 800)

For warmup and cooldown I ran from WWU to the course, about 4.75 miles. The longer warmup seemed to help clear the stomach better. 

12 easy miles out to Whatcom. Feel pretty tired today. Finished my first midterm today, feels like it's about time for a nap.

AM - 4 easy miles from the apartment. Since when is it dark at 6am?

PM - 5 miles of 75 sec fartleks on the Urb. Don't know the pace for sure but it was somewhere around 5:00. Wierd thing I noticed today: I felt super tired on the warmup and cooldown, but perfectly comfortable at 5:00 pace. I'm not sure what that means.

67 minutes on some trails around town, calling it 9 total. Our home invitational is tomorrow, and I'm actually a little nervous about it. We have some quality competition coming to town, and my plan is to try to hang with the top St. Martin's guys if they show up. They've been beating me pretty good so far this year, I'd like to really push the envelope and see if I can close the gap. It's going to hurt... 

I rolled out of bed this morning feeling great. Looked out the window and saw some heavy mist rolling in off the bay and this cheered me even more since I love racing in gloomy weather. Despite all the apprehension I had coming into today, I felt calm this morning, finally convincing myself that my planned pace was within my capacity.

Besides a couple bathroom events, not much exciting happened between the apartment and the start of the race. The weather was perfect -- must've been in the mid-50s or so with the sun poking out here and there. It rained over night, so the trail was a little muddy here and there and the grass wet, which worried me about wearing my flats. But overall great conditions.

I located the SMU kids at the start to make sure I could find them later. As I was doing some strides, I recognized Sean's face from his blog and went over and said hi. Cool to see blog representation out here. Anyway, the race got underway, I started a little quicker than SMU #1 and had to ease off to let him get by me, then I latched onto his back.

He beat me by about 40 seconds at pre-nats 2 weeks ago, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But we reached 1k and the pace didn't seem too crazy. I actually felt good. Then we headed up into the hills and I just let him pull me along.

The hills on this course are nothing killer. Just some rollers that you run through at the beginning and end of the race. At this point, I hardly noticed them. Passed the mile in 5:06. Perfect.

The rollers continued and we passed 3k and headed down the final hill into the flats. 2 miles at the bottom in 10:13, 5:07 second mile. I was feeling really good.

A chase pack had solidified by this point and me and both SMU guys were in the middle of it. As we got further into the flats, I got antsy and wanted to push the pace. So I left SMU #1's shoulder and pulled in line with the leader of the pack and was startled to see the lead pack about 20 yards ahead of us. I invited him to go after them with me and he goes "Cool it, bro. We got 4 to go, they're coming back." Which I decided was good advice and stayed in line with him. I couldn't help noticing the sun breaking through the clouds on the opposite side of the lake. It was a beautiful scene.

We passed 3 miles in 15:17, 5:04 for that one, then 5k in 15:50 or so. I couldn't help feeling a bit ecstatic at how good I felt. We entered a patch of grass that turned us in a gradual 180 to go back around the way we'd come. At 5k, the lead pack was almost close enough to touch, but all of a sudden they were pulling away. Alaska Anchorage #1 must've made a move, I thought.

So I figured I'd had enough of the chill dude I was running with and started to pull away. He didn't resist. But I heard footsteps trailing me and figured SMU was on my tail. The 4th mile came and went at 20:20 if I remember right, so 5:03. The lead pack was the same distance away, and one guy had fallen off the back. I smelled blood and picked it up some more.

I caught him just after 4 miles and what was left of the pack was stringing out. I focused on the next guy. I caught him just before leaving the flats, saw it was AA #4 and tried not to think about getting beat by 3 guys from the same team.

Heading up the first hill kinda hurt. It's the longest and steepest, but it drops away on the back side and I focused on letting loose and allowing the downhill to rest me. There were still footsteps on my tail. I tried to pick it up some as AA #3 was about 20 yards ahead and I wanted to lose the SMU runner. I was starting to feel the race in my legs, but I still felt ecstatic about how things were going. And I knew I had plenty left for the finish.

The rollers continued rather uneventful. Each downhill I'd put distance on SMU, but then he'd reel me in. Passed 8k in 25:2x and 5 miles in 25:32, 5:12 for the uphill. SMU made several attempts to pass me, but I held him off and knew from how he settled on my shoulder he was hurting. This made me happy. Not because he was hurting, but because it meant my training is coming together. He destroyed me 2 weeks ago, and here I was shoulder to shoulder with him, 8k into the race, and he was hurting. AA#3 still had 20 yards on us, and I didn't want to go after him alone, so I invited SMU to go get him with me. He dug deep and pulled alongside my shoulder.

I came off the last hill into the final flat loop into the finish. AA#3 was still about 20 yards up, and I decided I would catch him. I quickened my stride and suddenly he was drifting back. SMU fell back. With about 400 to go, I pulled even with him and went past. No resistance. The turn back into the finish was about 200 ahead and I put what I could into gaining distance. It wasn't enough.

I came off the turn facing the finish and sprinted at what I thought was full speed. AA#3 blasted past and SMU was right behind. I put my head down and pulled a hideous grimace and found a little more speed. SMU started coming back and I thought I'd nip him at the line, but he saw me and managed one last squirt of speed to edge me. There's nothing I hate more than getting outsprinted. But there's plenty of time left in the season to work on that.

And then something happened. Something that has never happened in all my years of running. I heaved. Nothing came out. I heaved again. Again nothing. I heaved a third time and my oatmeal from this morning came flying out of my mouth and onto the ground in front of me. Proudest moment of my life as a runner. 

I feel so happy about how today went and all that it means. My training is finally coming together. I am so grateful to be able to run, that my body is cooperating and staying healthy and injury free. I can't describe the feeling of joy I have after today. This is a beautiful sport we have.

I planned to run a few miles today, but I got in a wreck when somebody ran a red light and nailed me. Car is totaled. I feel extremely lucky and grateful that nobody was injured. Besides my loyal steed. It is no more.

AM - 4 easy in the rain. Gotta love the rain.

PM - 10 miles, again in the rain. Seriously, I love running in the rain. As long as the nipples don't chafe. There's nothing good about that. 

AM - 4 easy

PM - 10 easy around Lake Padden

5 x 1600m at Cornwall park w/ 2:30 rests. I didn't feel fantastic today, which surprised me. Bill thinks it's from the 10k Saturday, but I'm not sure. It just kinda felt like I was going through the motions. But that's okay, it's just all part of the grind. Had to duck into the woods for pit stops between #s 4 and 5, maybe that had something to do with it.

4:58, 4:56, 4:50, 4:48, 4:48 (avg 4:52) 

AM - 4 miles super super easy. I felt exhausted.

PM - 10 easy, about 76 min 

8 mile tempo run at a soccer complex of Northwest. It took a couple of miles to warm into this one, but I went from 5:38 and 5:35 and worked my way down to a 5:14 final mile for 43:53 overall. The last 6 miles felt awesome - I feel like I can run 5:30 pace forever.

8 miles easy. Left shin is getting worse. 

AM - 4 easy

PM - 10 easy around Padden.

7x1000m on the Urb. 2:00 rests

3:07 (up)

3:01 (down)

3:04 (up)

2:58 (down)

3:01 (up)

2:54 (down)

3:00 (up)

Felt really fast. Faster than 5:00 pace is uncomfortable.

AM - 4 easy

PM - 10 easy around Padden. I felt a bit of vertigo on this run. Kind of a wierd sensation to feel dizzy while running. This has happened once or twice in the past -- it feels like I've got a morphine drip feeding me the whole way. Strange.

Workout today was 60 sec fartleks out on the Urb for about 4 miles. Didn't seem like enough volume -- I didn't hear the workout from the coaches and I think we cut it short.

Anyway, the dizziness hasn't gone away. I woke up with it this morning and it's continued all day. Anytime I move, whether it's walk, run, drive or whatever, it's there. It feels like the narcotics drip I once had in the hospital, just waves and waves of painkiller radiating through my body. I'm a little concerned it's lasted this long.

Ran 12 easy on the conference course.

Well, today was proof to me that I can run well when I don't feel fantastic.

It was our conference championship, the course is at Apple Ridge Run in Yakima, which is kind of a slow, grassy, hilly course out in the middle of a bunch of orchards. The race got under way, my goal was top 10, and I knew pretty quick that my legs weren't very rested. Which is fine, we're not focusing on this race.

Saint Martin's lined up right next to us, which was convenient for tucking right in with their top 2 runners. They pulled me through the mile in 5:03 and up the big hill to mile 2 in 5:03 as well. The course takes us through the hill 3 times, and my legs were starting to hurt well before mile 2, so I chose to coast up the first time.

The front pack was pretty much together up to that point, and then the top 2 guys took off to duke it out and the pack strung out. I was in about 8th, SMU #1 was pushing the pace and I was hurting already so I decided to play it conservative. I hung with his teammate for awhile, then went after the each guy that fell off the pace.

Alaska Anchorage's #3 was the last guy I caught, and we had a little battle to the finish. I threw in a little surge up the final hill and he fell back a few paces. For the last 1000m I had to work hard to keep that gap as he kept coming and coming, but I managed to stay 2 or 3 steps ahead through the line.

Even though times were slow and I didn't feel like I ran to my potential, this raced showed me I can compete whether I feel great or not. 5th is a little higher than I thought I'd finish, so I'll take it and look forward to the next one. I also learned that being in shape slows how quickly your legs hurt. With how I felt going into the third mile, I thought I'd be dead by mile 4, but 2-4 wasn't all that bad. I need to remember that in the future.

AM - 4 easy

PM - 10 easy on the Urb. Legs are a little tired from the race, but otherwise things are feeling good. 

Ladder workout at Lake Padden. It's cold and it's been raining the last couple nights so the course was pretty soggy. 1600m, 1200m, 1000m, 800, 600, 800 was the workout, about 2:00 rests.

5:00 -- I believe the marker was off, felt a lot more like 4:50-4:55

3:46

3:04

2:21

1:44

2:18

Legs were a little dead from conference, but I started to feel better on the last few reps.  

12 easy

10 easy

4.75 mile tempo on the Urb. This is a rough estimate, total time was 24:56, it may have been a touch shorter. Came through 2 miles in 10:48 and picked it up from there but I didn't catch any other splits. Rainy, windy day, tough conditions to run in, everything felt fine. I tried out my half sleeves for the first time, thought they were ok. They don't exactly conform to the shape of your arm, though. Tight up top, loose at the bottom. 

12 easy on the Urb

Easy 12 around Lake Padden. I'm beginning my taper in earnest this week, which is really hard for me to believe in. I'm scared my legs are going to atrophy.