I am one with the levee and the levee with me

8x600m at Broadway Park. I hate short intervals. That's the lesson learned today. Gosh my legs have never felt so unresponsive as #7 and #8 today. I don't remember the times I ran exactly, but they were a cutdown from 1:53 to 1:45. Just glad to have it in the books.

9 easy on the trail w/ 4xstrides after. I've been bad about strides. Need to change that.

Woke up this morning with a scratchy throat, so I turned over and slept another 2 hours. It's regionals this weekend, chem can wait. Here's hoping I don't get full-blown sick.

8 miles total, ran about 2 miles of 60 sec fartlek on the Urb. Whatever's attacking me is moving into my lungs. Not serious yet, just annoying. 

7 easy around the course.

It's hard to do a writeup of a race that fell apart. I came in today optimistic and feeling really good despite the cold that's been developing in my lungs. I slept well, my legs were fresh, my sinuses were clear, and I was jacked to race. I got myself into good position early, just tailing the lead pack and ready to move up once things settled down, but after 2k I started going backwards. Guys started passing me and I felt like I was redlining. I felt helpless.

My breathing deep in my chest felt constricted and I just fell to pieces from there. Each of my teammates went by until finally my last teammate made me latch on to him and he pulled me through to the finish. 

The good news is that the rest of my team ran well enough that we qualified for nationals anyway. I love my team, they did so much afterwards to help me feel okay about what happened today, but there's a deep sadness I feel about not running well. And a deep doubt that even once I'm healthy, I somehow won't be my old self. I hoped I could shake this off quicker, but it really, really bothers me to go into nationals like this. It'll take a little time to sort this one out.

10 easy on the Urb. Got a lot of sleep this weekend, hoping to start feeling better soon.

10.5 miles easy out towards Lake Whatcom. Today felt absolutely awful for the most part. I was feeling better most of the day but hacked and coughed all through the run. 

10 easy around Padden. Tried to do some strides to sharpen up the legs a bit, but I had a funny twinge in my hamstring after #2 so I called it good. 

10 easy

10 easy

2x3200m workout today on the track, both in 10:07 w/ about 2:30 rest. Cold, windy, rainy, this workout was just to get my confidence back in race pace after the horrible race last weekend. It felt super easy, my breathing is back to normal, and I can't wait to race at nationals.

Easy 10 on the Urb. There's a little swelling in my right knee, I think the cold on Saturday irritated it.

8x400m at Broadway Park w/ 300m jog. Reps were between 71 and 77, just an easy workout to keep sharp for Saturday. Can't wait for nationals!!!!

7 miles super easy. Leaving tomorrow for the great city of Spokane!!!!!!! Three days and counting.

7 easy on the Urb with a 2x2:00 pickup mixed in at race pace.

Easy run around the nationals course.

Gosh I don't know where to start on this report. This was a race of extremes. The hardest race I've ever run, the most fun I've ever had at a meet, and the most extreme weather I've ever raced in.

We pulled into Spokane Thursday night and settled into the hotel. I love my teammates. They know how to stay loose and not get too tense with all the waiting. They embody every ridiculous and crazy attribute runners represent. We had a great time in the wait leading up to race day while not losing focus of what we were there for. Plus, I felt like I had recovered from my breathing problems, so I was not in doubt of a good performance.

Race day arrived with 20 degree temperatures and about 4 inches of new snow. I have never raced in snow, and the feel of the course was so much cooler to me than when we were at Regionals two weeks ago. I love racing in bad weather.

Our super fans showed up early, stripped down to shorts and shoes, and covered themselves in blue body paint. They were amazing. We had around 50 students show up, and between them and parents and coaches and teammates, we had a serious fan section going on that course. There were very few parts of the race that I couldn't hear the chants of my teammates. Awesome stuff. I also loved the moment when the Chico State fan section tried to start a fight with ours by circling our group and engaging them in a chant war. It got a little tense... I have to say I was genuinely surprised no punches were thrown. Although one of our signs was stolen, the perpetrator was tackled and the sign retrieved, though the thief managed to take a bite out of it before it was wrested from his grasp. 

I don't have a ton of detail to provide of the race. The snow was tough to run in. I got out in a good pace (5:06 first mile, 10:15 at 2) but struggled to pick up runners from there. I started around 80th placed and was only able to move up to 63rd by the end. It was frustrating to be running as fast as I could and not be able to pick up many more places. It was an absolute battle, start to finish. But I felt like I gave it everything I had, and I crossed the finish line knowing I had done all I could do. Even though I was gunning for an All-American spot, 63rd is a universe apart from my race 2 weeks ago where I struggled to place 47th in my region. And I ran a few seconds faster on a course that was made 200 or so meters longer (it was short last time) while racing in some serious snow. 

I was shocked at how fast the race started. Something to think about and remember for championship race: fast starts. After 2-miles, my pace slowed considerably. I feel like I've lost a bit of fitness between now and midseason, and I'm not sure why. I plan to look back over my training and try to figure it out. Maybe I need to not taper so early or so much coming into these races. I simply felt like I wasn't in good enough shape to run at my mid-season form.

The best part of the meet for me was how well the team placed. After leading our team for most of the season, I was 2nd today and our pack was fairly tight. About 50 seconds between 1st and 5th. Even though none of us felt like we had the races we wanted, we pulled out a 10th place finish. We came in today with a 22nd place ranking. After losing 3 All-Americans last year, it was a great feeling of accomplishment to have done this together.

After the race, we set loose on all the things we'd been avoiding all season. For me that meant ridiculous amounts of chocolate and Mt. Dew. We stayed up all night celebrating, and if this report isn't entirely coherent, it's because I'm going on 40 hours of no sleep. I'll have to say that the highlight of the night was having to chase one of my teammates through the hotel at a dead sprint because he had decided, in his drunken state of mind, that he should go use the hot tub in nothing but a jingle bell man-thong. It was simply amazing.

I love my choice to join this team. Absolutely priceless. 

Finally fell asleep last night around 9:30 after this amazing weekend. I didn't have class today till 2pm, so I left the alarm off and slept until 11am. 13.5 hours straight, this is my new sleep pr.

I did an easy run around Lake Padden, taking the hills gingerly since my right knee is acting up. Apparently it's not happy about all the fast cold weather runs. I'm planning to take the next few weeks for some easy mileage, icing all my sore spots, and upping my mileage to pre-championship levels. I'd really like to test the upper limits of my mileage potential, so I'm hoping to get up to 100 mpw this winter, and healing up in the next few weeks will be important.

Just wanted to jot down a few thoughts from this season. I can't believe how fantastic the last few months have been. It's been a long, tough journey from the physical therapist in March to 80 mile weeks over the summer, to meeting my new teammates and getting integrated into the system, to struggling through 10k in the snow on Saturday.

First thought is that my body likes high mileage. I improved a lot on 80 mpw. My best 10k prior to this was a 32:32 on the roads on a course that may or may not be accurate (it isn't USATF certified, anyway). My first 10k this season was 31:31 on a hilly course. Good things are in order with consistent mileage.

Second is that training on a team is incredible. After going mostly solo since high school, it was a weird adjustment running with 20-30 guys every day. I still like to run on my own every now and then, but nothing beats a group of runners. That's a level of crazy you can't get anywhere else. I've got more good memories coming out these few months than I could have hoped for.

Third, I understand very little about how to train myself. After feeling invincible at our home meet on Oct 7, I felt like a completely different runner at NCAAs. And I have no idea why. I never felt as good as I did that day at Padden, and it was my 7th week of 80+ miles. I even cut out my Sunday run that week and made up for it on the early part of the week. Why would I feel that good? It doesn't make logical sense. I did 7k of very fast running on Tues, 5 miles of fartlek on Thurs, and raced Sat. And I never felt that good the rest of the season. My sleep habits stayed the same all year, I improved my diet starting in Sept with more vegetables and fruits, and this stayed the same through the season. I took iron supplements starting in Sept and this continued to the end. I don't get it 

8.5 really easy from the folks' house. Older bro went with me, I am surprised he can run this far with how little he's been doing. Avg about 7:45 pace.

8 easy around Badger Mt

After a week of laziness and gluttony, it's time to put the ax back to the grindstone. Easy 10 around Padden.

Easy 10 on the Urb.

Easy 10 on the Urb. The air was so humid today it felt like breathing into a humidifier. Loved it. My right knee isn't hurting anymore but it feels slightly out of whack. I feel little twinges or friction here and there. I'm icing and stretching, hopefully it'll return to normal soon.