End of Season: Round-Two.
Back in Colorado now which means I am officially on my break after the season... again!
The race in Austin was pretty rough. I remember getting through 1km in just over 2.50
and I probably managed that pace for about 2.5km but by 3km I was in the shit-box. I
think I remember seeing around 8:47 when I went through and it only got worse!!!
I knew that going into the race it was either going to go great or shit, unfortunately I got
the latter but it was a great experience nonetheless. I got to feel what it's like to run at
a huge meet here in the states and will take a lot from it. 2 weeks prior I had run the 5/10k
double at altitude at conference, then stopped running all together for 5-days so I wasn't
going into the race with any massive expectations - just wanted to get out there and see
what I had. Have to say the humidity was pretty insane, sounds like East was pretty bad
too - especially with the numbers that dropped out.
So now I am officially into my break again. I'll likely take around 10-14 days off and slowly
get back into it. This year I'll be going into the summer a lot different than last year. Last
year I was pretty worn down from being ill, and didn't have a lot of good running in me.
This year I ran a half-decent 5k but more importantly knew I had a lot more in me. My foray
into 10km territory wasn't the best but at least now I know what it's all about. My goal this
season was 14:00, so didn't quite achieve that but considering I ran 14:11 less than a month
after being entirely-spent during indoors I am pretty happy that we have found the type of
training that I really respond too. To be honest that was the highlight of the season - being
really worn down, then in around 3 weeks getting myself up to running 14:11 at SAC. Would
have loved another shot to try and give 14:00 a crack but you can only play with the cards
you are dealt with and either way I took a big chunk off my PB. More importantly, sub-14
feels so much more achievable now and will be going into next indoor season with that
firmly as the expectation.
With that in mind, I really can't wait for the upcoming cross season. I will also likely be red-
shirting (competing unattached slash in a Wellington-Scottish singlet) next indoor/outdoor
track season, which means I can just focus on a few specific meets and not worry about
points at conference. It also means that two years from now I'll still be competing and going
one-step further than this year and make the NCAA-Finals.
One thing I will be doing different next season and in general is how I structure my build-up.
With such long seasons here, trying to do too much too soon can really jeopardise how
you are able to perform at the end of the season when it really counts. As such, this summer
I will likely not run much more than between 80-90 miles a week (albiet probably entirely off
singles) so that I get to the start of cross season ready to start training, not race-fit. That was
the mistake I made last year - I was very, very fit come the start of the season and absolutely
spent by Conference. I became far to hung up on running over 100 miles a week which is
bloody hard up here. It's easy to let the numbers take a hold of you when what is most important
is how you are feeling and responding to the training, whether it's 80 a week or 110.
This time I'm going about it very differently. I'll still have plenty of good running in me, but also
plenty of rest so that I am ready to roll come Regional's and National's.
Well that's it from me for a while. I'll update in a few weeks when I am back into some running.
Cheers,
d-wal
The race in Austin was pretty rough. I remember getting through 1km in just over 2.50
and I probably managed that pace for about 2.5km but by 3km I was in the shit-box. I
think I remember seeing around 8:47 when I went through and it only got worse!!!
I knew that going into the race it was either going to go great or shit, unfortunately I got
the latter but it was a great experience nonetheless. I got to feel what it's like to run at
a huge meet here in the states and will take a lot from it. 2 weeks prior I had run the 5/10k
double at altitude at conference, then stopped running all together for 5-days so I wasn't
going into the race with any massive expectations - just wanted to get out there and see
what I had. Have to say the humidity was pretty insane, sounds like East was pretty bad
too - especially with the numbers that dropped out.
So now I am officially into my break again. I'll likely take around 10-14 days off and slowly
get back into it. This year I'll be going into the summer a lot different than last year. Last
year I was pretty worn down from being ill, and didn't have a lot of good running in me.
This year I ran a half-decent 5k but more importantly knew I had a lot more in me. My foray
into 10km territory wasn't the best but at least now I know what it's all about. My goal this
season was 14:00, so didn't quite achieve that but considering I ran 14:11 less than a month
after being entirely-spent during indoors I am pretty happy that we have found the type of
training that I really respond too. To be honest that was the highlight of the season - being
really worn down, then in around 3 weeks getting myself up to running 14:11 at SAC. Would
have loved another shot to try and give 14:00 a crack but you can only play with the cards
you are dealt with and either way I took a big chunk off my PB. More importantly, sub-14
feels so much more achievable now and will be going into next indoor season with that
firmly as the expectation.
With that in mind, I really can't wait for the upcoming cross season. I will also likely be red-
shirting (competing unattached slash in a Wellington-Scottish singlet) next indoor/outdoor
track season, which means I can just focus on a few specific meets and not worry about
points at conference. It also means that two years from now I'll still be competing and going
one-step further than this year and make the NCAA-Finals.
One thing I will be doing different next season and in general is how I structure my build-up.
With such long seasons here, trying to do too much too soon can really jeopardise how
you are able to perform at the end of the season when it really counts. As such, this summer
I will likely not run much more than between 80-90 miles a week (albiet probably entirely off
singles) so that I get to the start of cross season ready to start training, not race-fit. That was
the mistake I made last year - I was very, very fit come the start of the season and absolutely
spent by Conference. I became far to hung up on running over 100 miles a week which is
bloody hard up here. It's easy to let the numbers take a hold of you when what is most important
is how you are feeling and responding to the training, whether it's 80 a week or 110.
This time I'm going about it very differently. I'll still have plenty of good running in me, but also
plenty of rest so that I am ready to roll come Regional's and National's.
Well that's it from me for a while. I'll update in a few weeks when I am back into some running.
Cheers,
d-wal