Well am back from the Mt.Sac relays in Cali where I finally nailed a decent 5km. Have been
fit enough for a while but after tweeking training a little bit it finally came out. We had spent 
indoors nailing track workouts thinking it was going to get me faster, when in reality all it did
was make me tired so we went back to some very basic stuff that I seem to run well off. For 
3 weeks after indoors I ran 90miles a week with a basic longer race-pace track session once
week, Hills, and 2 long runs. We also introduced a couple of tempo runs which got me working
but didn't tire me out like the track does. From that I went from running 14.20's feeling shit and
tired to 14.11 at Mt.Sac feeling really good off what was mainly 10k leaning training. 

The race was just what I needed - I was able to sit in and just tick off the laps, although the 
guys around me weren't too content on doing the same as people were going back and forth
from me a lot in the middle stages. I lost a few seconds on my second mile but managed to 
finish strong over the last 800. I went from the mid-teens to finishing 5th in that last half mile.
It was great because I feel like if I had run a little more aggressively, I could have run 5 or so
seconds faster on the night. In the end its what I wanted though, I went into the race with 14.10
as the goal so 14:11.20 will do for now. It was very important for me mentally as things are
finally clicking now and I feel like I can really give 14 a crack this season. 

For now it will be more of the same, as in two weeks I am going to the Oregon Relays to run 
another 5km. I am currently ranked 57th in the West Region for the 5k, and need to be Top 48
to go to the National Qualifying meet. At the moment 48th is 14.08, but with Stanford and a 
number of other top meets coming up out here I think I will need to run 14.05 to go. We have 
also considered a 10km, but will wait on word from the organisers at Oregon to see what the
field will be like in terms of depth. Likely though it will be the 5. I haven't thought a lot about it
yet but I will likely try to run pretty close to my 3k split at Mt.Sac (8.32) but focus on that 4th km
as if I can hold 14.10 pace through 4km then finish like I always seem to over the last half mile
then that will have me in a good position to run 14.05 or faster. 

d-wal

Well the weekend has been and gone and I'm back from Iowa and my 5km. 

The race was not what we expected and was a far cry from the year before. 
The field was deep on paper, and i was ranked 9th with my 14.23 from last year. 
Everything was magic up till around 3000m. I hit around 8.31-ish and was feeling
good just sitting in the pack following the train. Unfortunately the leaders then fell
to pieces and the pace dropped big time. I found myself moving from around 10th to
4th in the matter of a couple of laps and was pretty much in no mans land. I lost a lot
of time in that 4th km and although i pulled together a solid last 800, I finished 4th 
in 14:24.49. 

Pretty disappointed to be honest as i am in much better shape than that - just wasn't
the race we thought it would be. I have been training very much on the strength side
of things as outdoors is the priority but believed (and still do) that I could run 14.10 and
qualify for WUXC. I would love to have another crack but the qualifying period was
essentially just indoor season and had too be at sea-level, which meant I only had one
real chance over 5000m - while the 10'000 standard (30.30) was never going to be an
option as they certainly don't run that indoors anymore!!! I'm glad I had a crack though
and have made it clear I am still available for selection as Canada is just up the road
and I believe I can be very competitive at that meet. 

Finally have a week off from racing this week as I had raced the past 4 weekends in a row.
I'm also feeling a lot better than last week as I was starting to feel quite run down before
traveling. The plan now is Conference next weekend where I will be running the 5km/3km
double - 6 days after that we will be traveling to the Ben Brown Invite in Fullerton, CA to
open up the outdoor season. At that meet last year I ran 14.23 to win the B race, this year
I will be hanging close to the front in the A race. That race will essentially dictate what happens
for the rest of the season. If I can run 14.0X I will likely have a good enough time to make it 
to the National Qualifying Meet, so will have a lot of options in terms of training and racing for
the rest of the season. Tentative schedule after that is Stanford and Mt.Sac. 

Not much more from me - just looking forward to some more solid training and Conference! 

d-wal.