I am one with the levee and the levee with me

AM - Easy 8 this morning. I've got finals this week, so training will be tough. I called the distance coach up at Pullman to get in on the dual meet - just waiting to hear back.

PM - Only had time for two miles tonight. Miki went with me to the track, she did a mile in about 12 minutes, but I think she should be doing it at least a minute faster. The 12 minutes includes about 2 that she walked, so she's running at a decent pace. I just need to get her to run the whole thing without walking.

AM - Had a great workout today that started a little slow. I ran to the Springville High track only to find they were holding a track meet for little kids. I thought about trying to do my workout around them, but didn't think that would go over well. Plus I was feeling silly walking around the parking lot wearing my running clothes and carrying my track spikes, like I was waiting to compete.

So I got my stuff together and headed to the BYU track. The workout was 4x1600m and I wanted to focus on averaging 73's for the workout. I took 4:00 rests, more than usual, but Eyestone mentioned he has his guys take 4:00 rest at altitude on this workout, so I thought I'd give it a try and push the pace a little.

The reps went like this:

4:52

4:57 (some of the women's athletes got in my way on this one, it cost me about 2 seconds)

4:50

4:50

On Rep 3, I messed up the pacing and went through 800m in 2:30, so I did the last 800m in 2:20, that surprised me a little. I was too conservative on the last one, though - I really wanted a 4:48 or so, but I ran the first 3 laps too slow to make it up.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the workout, and I know I'm about to have some good races.

PM - Added another easy 3 in Springville. 

AM - My last final is today! I spent the morning studying, but squeezed in an easy 5 miler. Left the watch at home and just enjoyed it.

Also, I got in touch with Washington State's head coach, and he shut down my hopes of racing in their dual meet. Some weak excuse like "dual meets are not open to outside athletes." Right, like I'd believe that. I told him I'd run anyway and beat all his athletes and he'd be sorry he didn't recruit me when I was in high school. Well, that's not exactly what I said, but I think he got the idea.

So now I'm stuck looking for another meet. If it doesn't happen, no big deal, but it would be nice to race at a lower elevation.

PM - Got 5 more miles in, but very squeezed on time tonight. Wish I could do more, but this will have to do.

I signed up in the Pacific University Twilight meet that's in Oregon on May 3. The list of schools attending makes me hope the 5k will be competitive. The University of Portland will be there, I might get to face some of my old Spokane rivals if they show up. Of course, they are lightyears ahead of me now, so not much hope for vengence.

I had to pass a state insurance licensing exam today, so I was up till 5:30 this morning studying. I passed, but I'm wiped out today. I managed an easy 7 miler, but I went to bed instead of running more.

I had a great run today at the Robison Invite. Conditions were perfect: 57 degrees, the wind was next to nothing.

17 guys showed up for the start and I was expecting a fast race. After the gun, we quickly split up into two packs; the first was off at a suicidal pace so I hung back with the second. First lap in 74, somebody spiked me, that hurt. I went through the 1600m at the lead of the second pack in high 4:57, the other pack was still together, going through in 4:43-4:45. Glad I hung back, that's a little too fast.

The second mile was pretty uneventful, some of the first pack was starting to fall off, but I kept rolling off 74-75 second splits, going through 3200m in 9:57. I felt great still, and I knew I'd have a fast final mile.

The first pack really fell apart here, and I started moving up quickly. I was trying to pick up the pace, but it was hard to tell if I sped up at all as people started falling back. Turns out I maintained 75's through the next three laps.

A Boise State kid hung on to me as I went by him on the 11th lap, and we really picked it up here. Went through the bell lap in 14:18, and we covered the next 200m in 32 seconds, reaching 4800m in 14:50. He dropped off and I continued my kick, although without somebody to chase I only managed a 35 over the last 200m. Final lap was 67 seconds.

Final time of 15:25.60. I needed to get out faster. I still felt reasonably fresh at 3200m, a more aggressive start would likely yield a faster time. Anywa, Mark Currell from SUU won the race in 15:02, Nate Ogden only beat me by 12 seconds today (last week it was 20), finishing in 15:13. 

I'm very pleased with the race - the altitude conversion puts me at 15:04.9, so I'm close to the sub-15 goal. I have my last race of the season next week at sea level, the Pacific University Twilight in Oregon, I should have a good shot at cracking 15:00.

1600m Splits:

High 4:57

4:59 (9:57)

4:53 (14:50)

0:35 (15:25)

Easy 16 in Boise today. The Boise River trail is really nice, I enjoyed this run a lot. Started at 7:30 pace, ended the last few miles at around 6:50 pace. Total time 1:56:50.