Well after being home for a bit I finally feel pretty confident about making some comments about the race on Friday. I was 31^st in 24:27 in what was our first big-meet of the season. I actually think I was 32^nd overall but some random unattached cat was running.

As I had made pretty clear my goal was top 20 so I went into the race prepared to run the race to be in that spot. That pretty much meant after the around 3km settling into that second pack and that is exactly what I did. Unfortunately, this year that pack meant being in the thirties, not teens/twenties. I basically finished pretty close to around where I was at that early/mid stage of the race.

The mistake I made was not being there when things started separating. What is frustrating about that is in all honesty, I felt great for a really long time. I had been so concerned pre-race about staying focussed in the tough parts that I let the simple aspect of positioning in the race slip-away. I never felt this good in a cross race last year as I did on Friday, so I guess I can change my strategies a bit now knowing that I am very strong and can run the middle part of the race well. I just have to put myself in it. I thought I was where I should be, and that guys would fade up front. They did, just not fast enough for me.

Berryhill told me I ran a complete race, as in I didn’t shit myself in the middle like I did all last year. But a pretty ‘average’ complete race I guess.

I was running with Alabama’s 5^th guy pretty much the whole way, as well as Oregon’s 5-7 who came back to us after around mid-way. On that third lap macca and some other Nova ginge-cat went by me. At that stage I was actually kind of on my own for a bit so tried to latch on but it didn’t last. It’s one of the parts I’m annoyed I didn’t run to the best of my ability. C-mac ran awesome though – it actually really helped me relax to see him and the giraffe from Madagascar in the race after training with them this summer. Beamish wasn’t in sight for too long though – the three of them ran fucking tops. Great chunder by mac-daddy post race as well. Yum.

In hindsight I am not gutted, but not pumped either. I’m actually pretty happy with the time: the course is flat but it is by no means the race-course that Notre Dame is. (I’m not sure how the weather was there, though). It’s always soft and of course it had to rain the night before as well… Standard shit Oregon/Auckland weather. Looking back I think I had another 10secs or so in me, which would have had me Top 25 I think. That really shows the depth though. That whole top-30 was top quality, and the difference between each guy (aside from the top 10) is not that much, pretty close to a second a spot again or close to it. It’s hard to make a mistake because there are so many guys ready to take your position. Aside from a few hiccups though, I feel I held my weight and threw it down in parts pretty bloody well. Knowing that makes me realise that if I had put myself in it a bit more, things could have been a little different.

It’s funny though, sometimes I feel like here it is so hard to finish a race completely happy that you did everything you could. “Never satisfied, are they?” to quote John Mildenhall, there in support with his lovely wife Janne. It is just really deep in these top races but if you want to run well at Regional’s and Nat’s, you need to be able to race really well. Its for that reason that you often see guys who are really ‘fast’ on the track who can’t race for shit over cross here because all they know how to do is time-trial at Washington or Stanford. i.e all the Brit’s at New Mexico.

In terms of fitness, the strength is definitely there. We certainly didn’t ‘peak’ for this race, but it was important. I know with the training we have been doing that come Conference and running 10km at Regional’s we will really be ready to go. I actually ran over 40secs faster in the race this year than I did last year. Granted conditions were better, but not that much better. So with better tactics for big-meet racing I think things are going to be great this season. It would be great to have a few guys to run with but our team is certainly not what we expected it to be a few months ago. Knowing how I ended the season last year and entered track, I am genuinely excited about my training and fitness. Getting tough over cross will pay off huge come track.

The hard training is still on us though, today (Sunday) we did a 90min run of 1hr moderate then 30-mins fast. Not tempo, but quick. Tuesday is scheduled for 10x1km again and Friday is 3-mile – 2-mile – 2-mile. After that it will likely be some slightly easier-stuff be fore we head to Pre-Nat’s. That is a race where I really need to put to work what I learned at Oregon: get in it early. The fields there are huge, it is a real shit-fest that first couple of miles. If you don’t get out well you are done for. I’m sure the kiwis who were there last year would agree. 

Over and out.

d-wal

The season has now officially begun. To be honest it’s nice to finally not be one of the new guys, as has been the case the last couple of years. The summer had been great for the team – last year we never got very close as a group. This year almost all of us stayed in Ft. Collins and trained together everyday so already there is a relaxed atmosphere to training. 

Week 1:

Mon: Easy 50.

Tues: 7x1mile w/ 3mins rest. (av. 4.47)                 Plyo’s

Weds: Am: 30 – Pm: 60.                                       Core

Thurs: Light hill strides– about 55mins total.        Weights

Fri: Am: Easy 30. Pm: Easy 50.                            Plyo’s

Sat: 9mile tempo

Sun: 1:45 over hills.                                           Core

The first week back was a great telling of what was to come. Bryan was going to be a lot tougher on us than last year. The hard days are very very hard, but the easy days allow us to get the most out of tues/sat.

Tuesday was a great workout: I was very comfortable at that pace which was surprising but encouraging at the same time. The last few were a great chance to stay focussed and really keep the pace on like I will need to in the latter parts of cross races.

The tempo’s here are always a great test of fitness as the course is challenging. I finished at 47.55 for 9miles and was a lot more relaxed than the week after camp. I think that is averaging just under 5:20 miles. 

Week 2:

Mon: Easy 50.                                                  

Tues: 11x 600m hills. (1hr 20 total)                     Weights/Core

Weds: AM: Easy 30. PM: Easy 60.                      Plyo’s

Thurs: Easy 45.                                                  Weights

Fri: RACE.

Sat: Fartlek.

Sun: 1hr 45.

Week 2 brought with it the first race of the season. That Tuesday however was an absolute shit-fest. On the hottest, driest day of the year we were out smashing 11x 600m hill repeats, by far one of the toughest sessions we do. I must have lost about 5kg by the end. 

The race was the Wyoming Invite (7000ft), held on Friday evening. We knew the field was weak this year so went in with our own goals knowing finishing high would not be a problem. The plan was to sit for 2 miles, then start moving after that. (The race is 4.25 miles). The course has two hills on it: one is long and the other short and steep, a lot like that at CU. Only a couple of guys have gone under 22:00 for the race (both were All-Americans if my memory is right), so the goal was to break that barrier. My team mate Jeremy and I are very evenly matched thus far, so Bryan had instructed us that if we were together with 800 to go, to just hold the pace and bring it in together, rather than try and smash each other in the first race of the season.

Jeremy is a tough bastard and loves to hurt, so he threw it down at 2miles. I waited back a bit then started moving and had him at around 3.5miles. I could see he was tiring up a bit and I was feeling great but I knew the plan so we came in together very relaxed in 22.10. We were both happy as we knew that if we threw it down that breaking 22.00 would have undoubtedly happened. Coming in comfortably we were 10secs ahead of 3^rd place, another CSU runner and NCAA 1500m rep; Wil Buchanan.

With the race not being stressful, Berryhill had us run a fartlek on Saturday consisting of 15,30,45,60,1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00 then back down – all with equal rest. Sunday was another 1:45, reasonably steady over hills.

I am currently training harder than ever before. We are in the gym on tues/thurs and also do plyo’s weds/fri. It seems like a lot but it has been a few years in the making. I am also taking my easy days very very easy and just long enough as to properly recover. We get all our miles in our workouts which are very long, as well as Sunday, and like I’ve mentioned training at altitude is different than sea-level so being at around 80miles a week at the moment is perfect.

Keep it deep

d-wal

PS - check out my blog pics in the photos section.