Something About Rivals

What I cannot stress enough

2009-01-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

Consistency is everything in this sport. Keep on truckin' and it will all pan out. Avoid setbacks at all costs. Take your multivitamins if you get sick, get your sleep when you feel run down, even when you don't, ice your injuries, don't overstretch, strengthen your weak points, whether that be speed, endurance, a part of your body that always gives you trouble, whatever your weak point is, strengthen it. Eat as much as you need to recover, just avoid setbacks and you will be fast. Consistent training is everything.

Getting Back Up From The Fall

2008-05-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

My title has two meanings, because this track season, I had to A) recover with a less than ideal fall cross country season and B) learn the steeplechase, my new event in which I fell down in as many races as I stayed upright. But I definitely grew as an athlete and the season reaffirmed my belief in the long-term and the value of patience. I'm very grateful that my season went by without injury and that I made serious leaps in my fitness.

My first race was a 5k at Davis, where I ran a terrible race. The only redeeming part was kicking down Erick Garcia and passing him on the inside.

My second race, a steeplechase at Sac State where I ran unattached, was a great introduction to the event. After I finished in 9:37, I was so fired up I wanted to race it again. I ran very conservatively, because I was worried about hitting the wall and injuring myself. Looking back, my form was absolutely atrocious at this meet, and I can't believe I came through without an injury. But seriously, now I was stoked for track season because I got to run the coolest event. And even cooler - I had run the conference qualifier in my first race!

Heading into April, I kept working on my hurdle form, which got a lot better once we got some alumni - Tim and Jessica Helms - to show us proper form and some new drills. At the Chico Distance Carnival, I went into the race gunning for the regional qualifier - 9:07. After going through 4 laps at regional pace, I even started to pick it up and pass people. But coming through the backstretch the knee of my trail leg hit the barrier and I was down in a heap. According to my coach, because I was in such a fog that I don't remember how it happened, I was on the ground for two or three seconds and then got up facing the wrong way. So I had to turn around and race again with a sore knee. And although I still managed to PR by 10 seconds in 9:27, I was pretty bummed that I hadn't been able to get the qualifier. The only good thing was that I didn't permanently damage my knee, I just got a major bruise.

The next week was Woody Wilson. I wasn't able to get my head into the race, and I was only able to run a 9:25 when I should have been up with the leaders. But this race definitely taught me to focus just on the race and not let other parts of my life get in the way.

And then came my best race of the season at the Causeway Classic - this was a serious breakthrough race. After the Woody Wilson steeple where I didn't put it on the line, I stepped up big time for this 3k. In the race, I actually executed tactically pretty well. After running :68, :70, :64, and :70 for the first four laps, I was right on the back of the second pack. With 1200 to go I was hurting and was right behind a teammate and a Sac State guy, but coming up to 1k to go I felt like the pace slowed so I just threw in a burst of speed to keep the pace at :70. With 600 to go I was in fourth, having passed a couple other guys I started pushing. The race up front had been between my teammates Jonathan Peterson and KC Cody as well as Sac State's Dominic Vogl. So I picked up the pace, trying to catch the Sac State guy in third, who was easily 50-70 yards ahead at this point I would say. So I really turned it on, and pulled even with him with 200 to go. At that point I had really started to run out of steam and I felt myself giving up. But I buckled down, ignored my aching legs, picked up my turnover, and gave it my all. I passed him on the turn coming in to the homestretch and kept going. I did look back twice, but I couldn't tell how fast I was going anymore, and I was worried I was going to lose right there. But I finished in third with a huge PR - 8:29!!! - and just felt amazing. The time converts to a 9:05 two mile or so, so I can be really proud of my time. My last 600 was a 1:37, and the last 200 was a :31!!! Nice finishing speed right there. What was even cooler was that the UCD guys finished 1-2-3 and my effort had displaced Vogl, making the team score even for the last event - the 4x400. Although we lost in a close battle, it was really cool to see my effort pay off for the team.

Flying down to Irvine was my first flight with the team, which was pretty cool. I really liked the outside water barrier, even though I made a fool of myself by almost falling in it as I warmed up. I felt really in control of myself in this race, and the conditions were perfect. Although we were on regional pace through 3 laps, I slowed down with the leaders on the fourth lap. Moving up from 3rd to 1st in the fifth lap, I knew I was going to have to really start moving if I wanted to get 9:07. I really went after it with 800 left, and after coming through in the lead at the bell, my legs really started feeling weighted down. But I kept driving, and was still in the lead coming up to the water barrier with 150 left. But going over I caught my trail leg and face-planted in the water. I got up quickly but was in second for good, coming through in 9:15. At this point I felt like fitness-wise I was ready for a sub-9:10 at least, but wasn't getting it thanks to all of my falls.

So after a week off from competing, it was time for Big West!! I was chosen to run the steeple with my teammate, Kyle Suarez, down in sunny Northridge. I couldn't believe that I was actually going as a freshman, I had never thought of myself as good enough. So I competed at 9:45 in the morning, and it was already in the 80s and I was sweating like crazy. We dumped a bunch of water over ourselves right before the race, and then off we went. I was in the second third of the pack for the first lap, and then surged through the water pit and pushed into third. I settled in there for a couple more laps, then pushed up to second place, right off the leader's shoulder. And it was cool, my form was so much better than the leader's that I would actually hurdle into first place over every barrier, and he would have to surge to catch up again! But with four laps down, Mike Powers and some other guy went by me into the lead. And I tried to go with them, but my legs just didn't respond. I got passed by three more guys in the course of the next two laps. I definitely didn't have my usual kick, which was disappointing, but considering my allergies/cold and the heat, I was pretty satisfied with my result. Looking back on the season, I am very happy with how far I've come, it's been a lot of fun.

So yeah, now it's two weeks off and then I start ramping up for cross country again. I have a lot of goals for this season, I'm amped to get training again.

Lydiard's Training

2008-05-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

If anyone has books they recommend describing Lydiard's training methods, please let me know. I would really like to read up on his ideas, they seem to have worked wonders for his runners in the Olympics!

Demons

2008-05-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

FIRST CALL FOR THE MILE RUN
His heart twisted around in his chest like a wild animal; it was an absolutely wrenching shot of adrenaline. They were going to run it after all! He was going to have to go through with it!
Then he got control again and steadied himself.
...
SECOND CALL FOR THE MILE RUN
Flash went another shot of adrenaline through his veins - he took two gasping breaths that seemed wrenching from his body as if from one tossed suddenly into an icy sea. He got control again, this time with difficulty.

Cassidy looked Denton in the eye very briefly, then smiled. He gripped Denton's forearm and held it hard for a moment. Then he turned back and ran off down the track. So, Denton thought to himself. He had seen it in Cassidy's eye. So there it is after all.

- Once a Runner

So as the season ends for many of us the question will be; "Is it there after all?"
Will it be there when we need it for the last qualifying rounds? If it is not for some reason, will it be there in the fall? A year from now? When we want it most? When our demons just want to wail on?

The Black Ice Knee Fiasco and Comeback

2008-05-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

So about two months ago I was out for my long run up in the foothills and slipped on black ice, fell on my right knee and gashed it pretty bad. I got it cleaned out by our trainers, a couple small rocks were taken out and then I waited for the swelling to go away and tried running after 5 days of biking. This was probably not too soon but then my knee swelled up to the point I couldnt walk so I went to the doctor and it was found I had a fever and strep, caused by an infection and not swelling of the injury. This was kind of good news because I thought something was wrong with my IT band and that would have taken longer to heal than the infection and swelling to go away. After another week off I had taken a total of 2 weeks off with two short runs in the middle, but at least was pain free and ready to run.

After the black ice knee fiasco, things have been getting better. I have a February and March of training that can only be described as crap, with 3 workouts in that time and three weeks above 50. Amazingly my third workout was great... 8, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 2, 8 very quick for the training up to that point - 2:23/66/30/64/30/62/29/2:13. That was nothing short of a breakthrough in training, then three days later was the fall and back to square one. Now I am running really consistently, I hope to be ready come November, the month of resolve.

After talking with Gary (my coach) about a comeback plan, we decided that there is no need to try to salvage the season as far as running fast times, but really just putting in good miles and workouts to help in the future. The other thing is to race a few 5ks in order to learn how to race the distance on the track. My first collegiate track race was at the end of my third week back; a 1500 in 4:09. We chose the 15 because otherwise I would have had to run 5ks on back to back weekends, which I dont think is the greatest idea when not in shape. I think that was a pretty good sign because I had pretty much only done tempo work up to that point, and nothing under 5 minute pace except strides since the aforementioned workout, so a 4:26/4:27 mile equivalent is fine with me, last season I had opened with a 4:32 off far more consistent training.

A week later I raced my first 5k, which was not as successful, but it is easy to see why. I was at the end of my first 75 mile week since January, my shoe came untied in the 3rd lap, it was my first 5k, my training was up to that point very inconsistent, it was ridiculously windy on the last turn, etc. My initial response was anger at seeing 15:46 but in retrospect I don't see why I should have expected to run very much faster than that given the circumstances. Right now I feel like I am rolling pretty well though, having just completed my first 80 mile week since October, then doing another 80 and handling the fatigue pretty well.

This last weekend I ran at a last chance meet put on by Santa Clara University and USF, a 3k. It went decently I suppose, it was hot and for some reason the other runners in the race thought I shouldnt be in second place. I was passed on every 200 by someone even though I was trying to not let people in by keeping close to the runner in front of me and eventually shuffled to 7th place by the mile, which I ran in 4:45, off of completely even splits (71 points). On lap 5 I must have run a very slow split and I think I only passed one person. Over the next lap I passed 3 more, then 2 more at 600 to go. I was repassed at 300 to go despite having made a good surge at 600 out and again at 400 out, held onto whoever that was and then ran away in the last 200 to get 2nd place in 8:57, which is about a 9:35 3200. Damned positive splits (5th lap). First place, Cheyne Inman, had just run away with it and it became a race for 2nd after the mile. Later we put together a 4x4 and I split like 56. At the end of an 80 mile week, and 6 weeks of training after 2 weeks off, plus a horrible February with no workouts and low mileage, I will accept those times. It was a good experience, putting in random surges late in the race.

This weekend I have a 5k at Davis, assuming I get in. Hopefully dropping down to 55 miles this week will give my legs the freshness they need in order to run well at that distance.

I have recently applied to a job in Montana at a resort in Glacier National Park which is at 5k ft and hope to get that. The resort is called St. Mary Lodge and Resort, located on St. Mary Lake. If I get the job I will stay there from June 1st-ish until August 10th-ish then go to Chico XC's week of camp in Tahoe. Some other guys that are in for the Montana gig include Torrey Olson, Matt Duffy, Charlie Enscoe, my teammate Cameron and some other assorted runners that Torrey knows. If I don't get the job I will stay in the Bay and work for my dad and try to get to altitude a few times. I got a call today from them but wasnt around to pick it up, called back and got their answering machine, didnt know what kind of message I could possibly leave so I didnt. I wonder why they havent just emailed me... Im kind of excited/worried to see what the call was about.

Causeway Classic

2008-04-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's coming up to championship time. I feel like it's high school all over again, and we're having our last couple of meets before we really buckle down for the big-time. My fitness has improved in leaps and bounds this season, it's been an enjoyable ride. My most recent steeple was a let-down, but I made up for it in a big way at the most recent meet - in the 3k in the Causeway Classic against Sac State. Although my laps were slightly inconsistent to begin with, I settled in at 70s for the 3-5th laps, passing a couple people until I found myself in fourth place with 1200 to go, a good 50-70 meters back of third place. So with 600 to go I started my drive for the finish, coming closer and closer to Sac State's Dominic Vogl until I'm right behind him with 200 to go. As we round the curve coming to the homestretch I just push through the lactic acid wall and pick up my rhythm and go for broke. I ended up in third in 8:29.97, an exciting finish behind my teammates Jonathan Peterson and KC Cody. In the last 600 I managed a 1:37 and the last 200 in :31. Pretty sweet day.

Recent Quad Meet

2008-03-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

So, I ran the 5k recently at a home meet against Fresno State, Stanford, and USF. So the conditions were hardly ideal, sunny with 15-20 mph winds, so I didn't run a great time. But nevertheless, I had a fun finish, and here's some photos to prove it:

That was the most dramatic finish I've been in, and it was against Erick Garcia no less, a 9:09 2-miler and 15:30 at Woodward!

Sub 4 vs Everest

2008-03-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

A recent thread was made on letsrun about which is harder, a sub 4:00 mile or climbing Mt. Everest. This is one of the replies.

"A guided trip up Everest is like sub-4:00 on rollerskates on a one-lane track with the perimeter of the track having a 12-story dropoff, and every once in while, a chunk of the track falls away completely."-Some letsrun poster

I thought it was funny.

Boston

2008-02-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

First off, I have been sick the past few days and haven't run since Wednesday, it is now Sunday. Although being sick is a major drag it is giving me time to refocus, and while I have lost four days of development, I think I have mentally recovered whatever slight bit may have been lost. Although going into sickness I was extremely psyched for this track season, I think I am now even more focused and again seeing things in the big picture, as well as wanting it more and more every day I can't run.

Last weekend I went to Boston for the Boston Indoor Games with my friend Mike Brondello who currently runs at Campo. Mike's sister goes to Boston University so we stayed in her dorm room while there. Before I bought my ticket, I found out about what I thought was an all-comers the day of BIG and signed up for the 5k online. After talking to Campo alum, Chris Vizcaino, I found out that it was a much bigger meet than just some random all-comers meet and that he would be racing the 3k there, so I was excited to see him as well.

I like Boston, it is a pretty cool city. The Subway has way more stops than BART and has better pay methods to save money. The "T" line in Boston is the major form of transportation because of this, something the Bay Area should look into so that the freeways aren't always so crowded.

I was going to run the 5k at the Terrier Invitational but instead changed to the 3k so that I wouldn't miss the Boston Indoor Games. Since it is so early and I haven't done any sort of race pace work, I didn't treat the race as a race so much as a way to find out roughly where I am and finished in 9:07. It was fairly easy, my last 50m I opened up a lot but definitely didn't go near the Well, like the Well was a good distance away and I used an extra long slurpee straw to take a teaspoonful of Welljuice. It's worth about a 9:45 3200m, which is a good indicator, especially for how easy it was and that I havent done any work specific to racing.

After that I put on my sweats really quick and cooled down to the nearest "T" station because BIG was about to get interesting. Too bad for whoever sat next to me, I must have not smelled too great.

I got there just in time to watch the last 3/4ths of the mens 800 and saw Khadevis Robinson outkick Nick Symmonds for the win in 1:50. Soon after, I saw the women's indoor 2 mile record dropped from 9:23 to 9:10 right in front of me by Meseret Defar, while a white Australian girl hung on for a 9:13!!! Respect to Kim Smith. After that I think was the Mens' mile which was of little interest since it didn't go under 4 and I had seen a 3:59 earlier that day during the Terrier Invitational. I have to say that I was disappointed in how the race played out, but no disrespect to the milers, things just didnt work out in that race. I got spoiled.

Later was the mens' 3000 meter race. Craig Mottram dominated, he went out faster than the mile field in 60.5 opposed to 61 for the first 400m. He continued just hammering the pace, lap after lap, 4:05 at the 1600m and then began his negative split battle of insanity. The next split 400 split was 5:04, he had run a 59 5th quarter. He continued running 30 seconds for each lap to finish in 7:34.5 for the 3k which is on pace for an 8:05 3200, and equivalent in effort to an 8:08 full two mile... indoors with those short turns and all. Pretty baller. After that he got all excited and started high fiving everyone around the outside lane, I saw that from a few feet away and was like "OMG ME TOO" so I went and got a high five from him. I am a huge Mottram fan so getting a high five from him was definitely the highlight of the trip and maybe even the winter. The only thing I think was cooler than that was getting all my winter miles in and running without flaw until now. But I'll get better soon.

After all that I was going through security at the airport in Boston and some guy asks me "Did you race this weekend?" He must have caught on because I was wearing two different Arcadia Invitational backpacks and Nike Frees. I turned around and told the guy I did but was mainly there for BIG and we start a conversation. The guy is Jason Jabaut, a 3:57, 1:48 runner who was racing the mile the night before. I spent the next 45 minutes talking to him about running, one of my favorite pastimes and something I rarely do with sub 4 guys. He let me in on his training with the Nike Farm Team which was recently disbanded but based in local Palo Alto. Apparently those guys did 3-4 hard workouts a week. Sometimes they would do an 8 mile tempo in the morning then come back and do hard 300s in the afternoon... while running in excess of 100 miles a week and doing their 2 hour long runs around 5:30 pace.
I got some good tid-bits out of him about his philosophy on running as well. He told me that he didn't think that running that hard all the time was actually the best way to train, that a different training program allowing more rest may have suited him better than the Farm Team's training. He then said that it set him up to run well now, everything he does is so much easier than the training there mentally, but more physically benefiting so he is racing better. He told me that cross training and supplement training (specifically weight training) in addition to a training regimen aren't worth it if you are tired because of such activities; that running should be the first and foremost concern. If something is making you sore and have a bad workout, it isn't worth the effort and energy. That doesn't mean however to not do weights, just cut out supplement training when it begins to hurt your running, or cut it back to an easier level.
Then he asked the big question: "Why do you run?" I didn't have an answer for him, just that I want to be really fast. He told me that he was looking for a coach after the Farm Team was disbanded and one prospective asked him to write her an essay on the topic "why do you run." It took him weeks and dozens of drafts before he was able to respond in the best way he could. This was the essay he wrote. I actually didn't find that until about 15 minutes ago, while searching for his PRs. If I had something more to add, I forgot it.

Again to Carthage Book Review

2008-01-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

First off, you must have read the first book "Once a Runner" which is reviewed below.

Calvin:

"Again to Carthage" was, in my opinion, a really great book. It certainly isn't on the same plane as OAR, but it is certainly another great novel packed with training information and motivation. It slowly reintroduces the reader to Cassidy and his new life as a lawyer in Florida. For the first half of the novel, Cassidy actively avoids training seriously, and enjoys his time fishing, diving, and visiting his family. After hitting the half-way point, which includes the loss of two friends, Cassidy again considers resuming "the task." I won't give away what happens, but there is a little bit of romance, some self-reflection, and a lot of hard-core training. I highly recommend you read Parker's latest novel.

Joey:

"Again to Carthage" is not as good as OAR, unfortunately. If you are looking for the best ever written about anything, read the original book, but if you are looking for a good book, read ATC. After taking some time off Cassidy returns to training... also after some 150 or more pages about what he likes to do in his time off from work; including fishing and partying with his attorney friends. This book builds even more suspense than the first, with almost no running for the first half, then gets into some training. As you can imagine Cassidy has moved up in distance as that is what you do when you grow up and lose your fast twitch yet have more endurance than ever before. [this is due to long term aerobic development ;) ]

Basically Cassidy has a midlife crisis and goes back to training full tilt.

All this, a high point and a sweet Olympic trials race with hallucinations, then the most anti-climactic ending I have ever read, but its not as bad as it sounds. The ending really speaks to the cold war and how Carter screwed a whole bunch of athletes over with no result for occupying a country that we currently are, LOL. Classic.

The writing style was similar, but I was unable to pick out any of the great quotes of the quality that OAR left with us. It wasn't bad, I was just a little disappointed and quite frankly it would have been impossible to top OAR since after all, it is the greatest book ever written about anything.

"Once a Runner" Book Review

2008-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Joey:

We are going to do a book review on the book "Again to Carthage" which is the sequel to "Once a Runner" but I thought it would be impossible for me to evaluate ATC without referencing OAR all the time. My ATC review would turn into a mixed review of both books so I am going to get my OAR thoughts out first. Both books are by John L. Parker Jr.

"Once a Runner" is the best book ever written about anything... ever. The book starts off with a good hook, but then gets off-topic for a huge section which turns a lot of people off whom I have talked to. They say it is boring, but it builds suspense like no other for what is to come. The main character is Quenton Cassidy, a miler at fictional Southeastern University in Florida, and covers his quest for the sub 4 mile, then an even larger goal. Every line in this book is poetry, it is 257 pages of pure running poetry and you have to read carefully to pick up all the subtleties. I have read it 4 times all the way through and I don't know how many random chapters or passages here and there, and I still pick up little things that I didn't notice the first times.

On top of the overall quality of writing this book is very, very inspirational. When you see the lengths to which Cassidy goes in order to achieve the goal, otherwise known as his absurd Task. Ah the Task, and the orb which is broken when he has used everything. After reading this book, you will most likely wish to undertake the "Trial of miles, miles of trials" but just remember to build into mileage, sudden jumps yield low benefits when you are injured. However finding that "red line" would be good sooner than later.

Two awesome quotes that don't give away too much:

"And too there were the questions: What did he eat? Did he believe in isometrics? Isotonics? Ice and heat? How about aerobics, est, ESP, STP? What did he have to say about yoga, yogurt, Yogi Berra? What was his pulse rate, his blood pressure, his time for the 100-yard dash? What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?"

"Cassidy sought no euphoric interludes. They came, when they did, quite naturally and he was content to enjoy them privately. He ran not for crypto-religious reasons, but to win races, to cover ground fast. Not only to be better than his fellows, but better than himself. To be faster by a tenth of a second, by an inch, by two feet or two yards than he than he had been the week or year before. He sought to conquer the physical limitations placed upon him by a three-dimensional world (and if Time is the fourth dimension, that too was his province). If he could conquer the weakness, the cowardice in himself, he would not worry about the rest, it would come. Training was a rite of purification; from it came speed, strength. Racing was a rite of death; from it came knowledge. Such rites demand, if they are to be meaningful at all, a certain amount of time spent precisely on the Red Line, where you can lean over the manicured putting green at the edge of the precipice and see exactly nothing."

I really don't want to give any spoilers which I would have to in order to share my true feelings and love for this book, so I will stop now. I would recommend it for any runner who isn't A.D.D. to the point they can get through the boring part (which I don't think is that boring since it is all poetry). There you go.

Calvin:

As far as running books go, I would argue that this is the best fictional running novel I have ever read. Although I had a little bit of difficulty adjusting to the author's style, once I got into a rhythm the book is just incredible. I still need to find a copy of my own, as I read it all from a pdf that I got online, but that's a whole other story.

Joey really gets to the heart of the book with those two quotes; if I had to choose a phrase that epitomizes what the novel is trying to convey, it would be the "Trials of Miles, Miles of Trials" line. I mean, that phrase alone has been on the back of countless running shirts, so merely by popular vote it is probably a winner, but I find that it really gets at the heart of what distance running is all about. I don't know about other runners, but getting out there in the pouring rain and driving wind and putting in the mileage is what psyches me up. I don't know if that's psychotic or what, but all I know is that I get pumped when I realize that I'm running in conditions that softer people look through their blinds at and go back to watching tv. So, to me, that quote really strikes a chord, and I'm sure it does for other people as well.

What really gets me about this book is how many little nuggets of training and running wisdom that Parker imparts. A big part of it was his history as an excellent miler for the University of Florida, and he crafts his book so that a careful reader will be able to find its hidden advice. I have yet to read it again, but I certainly plan to, so maybe I too will be able to take the world by storm, just as Quenton Cassidy did.

Questions about Winter Training

2007-12-31T11:46:00.001-08:00

We recently got a question from one of our readers (The Red Line, huh? nice username.) about winter training, specifically geared toward the 3200:

So I have a lot of questions about winter training..... How should young runners (about one year of experience) go about winter training?
What the overall goal and how does it differ from summer training?
What percent of intensity for workouts?
If we are training for a race in May, is doing full workouts in December ok?
What should be more built up for the track season our anaerobic or aerobic fitness?
Should an aspiring 3200 runner train different then a 800/1600 runner?
And any other valuable "Tid-Bits" of info just so that i can get a better understanding of what Winter Training truly is/does!!!

-Thanks in advance!!

An aspiring, but beginning runner shouldn't go overboard their first winter of training. Definitely do a slow build-up of mileage, always in reference to and working toward your peak mileage goals for later in the season. Some programs do this buildup of mileage per week as a percentage of your peak mileage for the season, starting at 50% for the first week and then building up, with a slight dip in mileage every three to four weeks, throughout the winter.

Personal opinion from Joey- I think it's best to get to about 90-95% of the mileage you will want to run all season by the last week of your base period. I then think it is important to keep this mileage all season except in "down weeks." I didn't do this my senior year before cross country and ended up being at my best mid-season because I had dropped my mileage so early, then staying at pretty much the same fitness level until state, maybe 10 seconds faster over 3 miles, but not that great of a peak. For track I got up to a mileage, then tried to keep it all season long until the taper at the end, except for down weeks which I took at about 70% of peak mileage. By doing this I was able to have a better peak and dropped seconds off my 3200 every time I had a major race, case in point, the three times I raced it competitively; 9:36, 9:34, 9:30, 9:21. When I did this, my biggest week was the week of the 9:30 at 71 miles. That winter my biggest week was 69. The idea behind this keep your mileage up then taper idea has to do with glucose stores. While you are in more intense training, your body needs to produce glucose in order to fuel you for the training you are doing. Now if you do 70mpw from January to May, then cut your mileage down to 30mpw as I did for the last few weeks, your glucose stores go crazy, all the glucose you have been producing is now being stored for when you need it instead of being used a whole bunch every day. You get to the line on race day, you aren't sore because your training isn't leaving you dead and your fuel stores are up. Muscles have hardened as well do to getting proper rest. Of course you will have a great race on this day.
-In addition I watched the progress of some high schoolers over the course of cross country who did a lot of miles in the summer but dropped them when the season started, (case in point 70mpw summer, 40mpw in season) did great in the early-mid season then ate it in the post season. Their aerobic base wasn't getting better, and though they were in roughly the same shape as mid-season, they were expecting to feel better and it hurt them mentally in races more than physically and led to bad post-seasons. Their glucose rise and muscle hardening had happened months earlier.

The goal is really pretty much the same as summer training. You are trying to build an aerobic base upon which you can add speed later. At this point, base/foundation runs are emphasized, which are just your basic runs at base pace that you will do for almost every run of the week. Base pace is not an exact science, it is basically what pace you can run, day after day without getting too tired for between 4 and 10 mile runs. Long runs should be at roughly this pace as well, whether your long run is 8 or 15 miles.

On top of that, some speed maintanence is recommended about 3 times a week after you finish a foundation run. One simple way is just 4-10 100s on the track at a quick pace, emphasizing proper technique and form. A good way to build into these is to start your first 1/3rd at mile pace, your middle ones at 800 pace and your last 2 or so at 400(basically all out) pace. It is very important to keep your form when doing these, your top speed will be at its best when everything is working fluid and efficiently. You don't want to do these with bad form because you will then get bad form into your muscle memory when you are running fast and though maybe your fast twitch muscles will be firing as best they can, you won't be going as fast as you can. One way to do speed that I think helps a lot is as follows: after a good warmup and a couple striders, then do a few more strides at a quicker pace. The first 30 meters or so you want to accelerate, then for 30-50m go all out, while keeping form of course, then decelerate the last part until you have gone about 100-110m or so. The key to these is taking a LOT of rest. The more rest you take, the better your muscles can fire because the creatine stores in your body need 5 minutes to recover and fire at their best again. So by taking this much rest, your muscles are able to fire at their freshest and thus their fastest and thus your top speed improves best by taking a lot of rest. You don't need this much rest for strides per say, but when doing that workout, the closer to 5 minutes rest, the better. 3 is pretty good too.

If by full workouts you mean intense interval workouts, I would certainly advise against that. The whole point of those workouts is to sharpen your speed and get used to your race pace later on in the season. This doesn't mean to cut out all workouts though. Jack Daniels has proved a lot about the importance of early intervals, but with high rest and not too high of intensity. If your workouts are 5k pace, say 1000s or 800s and you are getting between 3 and 4 minutes rest, and you are doing only 5k worth of running, thats fine. This type of work isn't so much anaerobic as efficiency work. If you are doing intervals that don't tax you too hard, they are working on your efficiency at a given pace, and your V02 max to an extent. Workouts at 10k pace and tempo pace are great too, they help lower your lactate threshold.

In the winter, 800/1600 runners and 3200 runners hardly need to do different training at all. Maybe the mid-distancers need more top speed work, such as strides and the thing mentioned a couple points up.

For workouts, another thing to remember is that you are mainly working at date-pace. That means that if you are hoping to run sub 4:30 and 9:50 or so, you should not do workouts at that pace now. In most cases, you are not even as good as you were in cross country. If your 5k pace was 17:00, its probably around 17:30-45 right now unless you have been doing your workouts too hard in which case you have screwed over your peak.

As far as what winter training does, it helps develop an aerobic base which will help in your season, it helps build speed, it gets you ready for the season's workouts and it helps build efficiency. Simply put, by running more you are building your muscles to be efficient at running. Your muscles form to landing, your muscle memory gets good running mechanics. You build capillaries which help transport oxygen through blood to the essential muscles. You build mitochondria which help fuel you better and produce more energy etc. By doing winter running, you are maintaining all your systems, most importantly the aerobic system which works so hard to bring oxygen to the muscles that need it. You are really getting ready for in-season workouts, without winter training it would take months to get to the point you will be when you start the season by maintaining your cross country base. Long term aerobic development, thats the key. Consistency and just keep building mitochondria and capillaries. Long term, uninterrupted aerobic development. Let me reiterate. Long term aerobic development.

So yeah, don't go too hard or fast in winter workouts, keep things at date pace, don't drop your mileage too soon, keep normal runs at base pace, do your speed maintenance with good form, and mid distance and distance don't need to train terribly different.

Up to date- Joey

2007-12-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't been able to talk to Calvin in some time, I figured I would go ahead with a new post and share my training situation and some thoughts I have.

First off, it is really really hard to be in college and run with other collegiate runners in the East Bay and run only 55 miles a week. I end up taking a couple really low days every week so that I don't go over my mileage, yet still went 59 for what was supposed to be a 55. I suppose that's not too bad. Training has been pretty easy here in early base phase but I am already feeling like my speed is pretty good, just based on strides. Soon enough I will be running a 60 mile week and get to build toward my 80mpw with real workouts that will hopefully last for a good while before I have to drop my mileage.

This track season I am going to focus on the 1500 and 5k, off what is mostly 5k training. Lately I have been thinking that because of my height, my potential lies in the 1500/5k. I am 6' 2" and a white boy, the best 10k runners and marathoners are all considerably shorter than me. Now bare with me here. Shorter runners are more efficient at longer distances because in their form, they have a shorter lever, which is more efficient because it requires less energy to make a shorter lever work, while a longer lever takes more energy, but produces more power. Thus Haile Gebrselassie is the fastest marathoner in the world at 5' 4" and Asafa Powell holds the world record in the 100m at 6' 3". Now here's the other thing that leads me to believe that 1500/5k should be my distance. Craig Mottram. Like me, he is white and 6' 2". He runs a 12:55 5k and 3:48 full mile. I don't mean this to be racist in any way or form, but Craig Mottram is my personal inspiration due to the fact that he has the same Caucasian heritage and he is my height, he gives me hope. If this man who is similar in genetics and body can compete with the Africans, maybe I can too, that is my thought. This is not to say I don't think I should run the 10k, as Mottram is a great at that distance in road races from time to time, but he is definitely better as a 1500/5k man.

Now this is not to discourage tall people from wanting to develop themselves at the longer distances, in fact I have always been an advocate of the mentality "Everyone runs the shortest race they have the speed to run, when they should move up in distance to be great." At this point though, I am not so sure which is right, that tall people should run the race they are more efficient at or move up in distance and let the mileage carry them to have great endurance.

Just some thoughts. Feedback would be great, leave comments and I will try to analyze and learn.

Shameless Plug

2007-12-18T12:49:00.001-08:00

Campolindo High School's video "I am a Runner" needs your support on flotrackr.

If you have a flotrackr account, you can vote for it. There isn't a normal voting system, this one is done by rating, if you rate the video 5 stars, that helps it a lot.

So please everyone, go give this video 5 stars.

http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/flotrackr/videos.php?a=video_show&show=videos_team&vid=9129

Thanks

And as I procrastinate for my finals tomorrow, I stumble across a quote, and thus exit teh intrawebz for teh nite

2007-12-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

Weight lifting-Completed Version.

2007-12-05T22:31:00.000-08:00

I received the question that follows and decided that it deserves its own post.

"What is your stance on weight lifting? How often? What tyoe? Core work? Types of reps? When to do it? How long into the season to hold it? ect. ect." - Winter Lifter

Joey: My stance on weight lifting is that it is not necessary, but I know its not harmful and may even be helpful. As my high school coach, Chuck Woolridge described it, the point is to teach your muscles to all fire at once. I was skeptical when he first started giving us light-weight training and I really didn't believe in it. The weight training is really more for speed, it helps far more with sprinting than it does distance running, as you want your muscles to all fire effectively in order to produce a powerful stride. The idea as I understand it, with distance running, is that it would possibly make your stride more efficient because top speed and explosive muscle make you more efficient at all distances. It also helps with your kick. The idea is also that it helps your form stay together and having upper body strength at the end of a race helps you to drive your arms to kick harder.

Personally, I do not believe it really has any positive benefits that doing core work and top-speed work don't give. As Wetmore says "Why borrow from Peter to pay Paul?" He also says that death tastes like pennies, so I don't know how right he is. He has coached several national championship teams and multiple individual national champions, so I'll take his word that weight lifting is unnecessary for the distance runner. Another person who doesn't make distance runners do weight lifting is my coach, Gary Towne. Though not as mainstream successful as Wetmore, Towne's methods work really well. I can also vouch for the fact that Scott Bauhs has never done any sort of weight lifting or even core work for that matter, but my intuitive mind tells me that he would be even faster if he did do core. And strides. How he is fast is beyond me.

Anyways, what I do know about weight lifting is what actually does help running. Squats, and just about everything to do with your hamstrings and quads. In low weight. High reps, low weights. Calf work is unnecessary. Being powered by your quads is the most effective way to go.

High reps, low weights. If you dont do them at all, whatever. Dont skimp on the core work though.

How long to keep doing weights? Until your taper for your peak race starts, about 2-4 weeks out from target race.

Calvin: I agree with Joey on the most part, and it definitely depends on what sort of event you are training for. Middle distance and shorter events, in my opinion, can find beneficial gains in strength by doing actual weight-room lifting. But the way we do it for the long-distance runners at Davis is a regimen of strength and core exercises, the vast majority of which can be done with a medicine ball, swiss ball, a bench, and a dumbbell. In fact, many of the exercise we do don't require equipment at all. In regards to reps, at Davis we keep it fairly small, but we definitely are looking to progress. So at the beginning of the season we are looking at around 10 reps per exercise, to be increased as we improve. As Joey said, you want to keep the weights low, you aren't looking to gain a whole lot of muscle mass.

The exercises we do range from squats to pushups and planks to pull-ups to abs. I would look online, I actually found a pretty good set of core/strength stuff at various sites that I incorporated into my high school on my own. Here's a plyometric workout regimen, a circuit training regimen, and another circuit training regimen. Personally, I used the last link, as I thought the article was pretty informative and it's a pretty good way to get in an aerobic effort and some strength/core in a fairly limited amount of time. I actually added thirty minute jog loops after each exercise and then immediately started the next one, in addition to the prescribed 400 meters at 5k pace. They mentioned in the article that adding these jogs would be beneficial, and believe me, my heart rate was really high after the deceivingly difficult circuit. Also, I would definitely not launch into this sort of stuff without already having a good base of fitness, it is surprisingly hard.

Back to the topic - At UC Davis we have several different "programs," which are basically a set of a dozen or so core and strength exercises, that we do throughout the week. So, if you had three "programs," you would do the first one on monday, the second on wednesday, and the third on friday, and then repeat the following week. So to answer your question about the duration and timing, I would recommend doing it all year, and only skipping one of your programs to all for a better taper for an important race. Near the end of the season, for the peak races, I would suggest dropping weight/strength altogether until you start all over with another season.

Winter Training Pointers - "How to Achieve your Track Goals"

2007-11-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to collaborate on winter training pointers, mostly just covering the "whole picture" that can make all the difference several months later when the post-season finally rolls around. Training isn't just running every day, living the life of a runner, including getting good nutrition, getting adequate and regular sleep, and staying healthy, is how you can make the biggest difference and get those PRs.

Here's our 8 winter training pointers:

1) Live like a clock, especially in season. This means going to bed at the same time EVERY night, and waking up at the same time EVERY morning. Your body responds extremely well to this. This is just as important as getting ENOUGH sleep.

2) Recovery. There are some really good recovery benefits from ingesting a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. It's been proven to be the most effective way to recover, if you have any questions, just ask about it. Having chocolate milk and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, eating a banana and a gatorade, or eating an energy bar and washing it down with a sports drink within a half hour of the running will provide the protein and glucose to your muscles that they need in order to run well the next time you run. If you do this every time, eventually it could lead to you dropping serious seconds off your PRs.

3) Drills/strides. Get efficient. Strides and other speed work that don't get too intense are great. 4-8x100m strides will help with turnover(stride frequency) and recruit fast twitch muscle. Make sure you do your strides with good form so that efficiency translates over to all running. Recruiting fast twitch muscle to help your top speed helps a lot. Having good form helps a lot.

4) Consistency is key. Don't drop your mileage until you have down weeks(breaking up the cycle) or taper. This also means don't get injured. The best runners out there are the ones who have gone the longest time without being injured. Uninterrupted training brings you to the top. Now how do we prevent injury? Below

5) Injury prevention can be very simple. It takes a while to know what injuries are injuries and which are just funny feelings that you can run through, no one can explain it, its just intuitive to those who have been running long enough to know. For those of you who are new though, or maybe a veteran with something that is sore, here are some pointers. ICE. Ice the spot that hurts several times a day but not close to when you will begin your run, after is good, before is bad. Don't ice for over 20 minutes on any one spot. MASSAGE. Massage spots that hurt. Pretty simple. If it isnt hurting it isnt doing anything. ELEVATE. If the injured spot can be elevated above your heart, do it. REST. Don't run on something that hurts. This is especially important in knee, hip and achilles injuries. Those linger for ever if you try to run through them.

Cold weather: if it is cold enough that you feel even slightly tight in the early parts of your run as a result, wear sweats or tights when you run. That cold tightness can cause real problems. Make sure to warm up before running fast as well.

6) Don't kill yourself in the winter workouts, you can go hard but remember that your are just getting in shape to the point that it will help your in season workouts, you don't really need to gain fitness, just maintain. When the season starts you can go harder, your hardest efforts should be mid-late season. You are peaking for May or June.

7) Motivation. During the stormy winter days, it can be tough to get out there and slog through a miserable run. There are many different ways to motivate yourself, from goal setting to reading motivational quotes to watching a clip of a famous race. Whatever can get you juiced to get out the door and running.

8) Illness. Some people, however, can get too enthusiastic about their running and try to train through illness, like a cold or flu. Unfortunately, this well-intentioned effort to maintain fitness can really backfire, because if training through sickness can make that sore throat or runny nose linger up to an extra 2 weeks. This will just make your training fall further behind, so just take the time to really take care of yourself and you'll be back at it in no time. In fact, the best way to keep your training consistent is to avoid sickness altogether. If you are able and willing, Vitamin C supplements and other health products can help you avoid sickness and have a productive winter.

Calvin and I answer some questions from Albert Caruana

2007-11-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

1) Training wise, what do you think contributed to your success in high school?

Calvin: The success I had in high school stemmed from several key components: a great coach, a training system that got me in comparable shape with the other top runners in my section and division, and a drive to "own" the sport both inside and out. It also didn't hurt that I never got a serious injury from running...

I became a runner after 10 years of soccer, so I would guess that the transition was made easier by this basic aerobic base. What made me transition to cross country was three-fold: an ankle injury from soccer, my love of running, and all the friends I had on the cross country team.

First off, Danny Aldridge is both a great coach and a great runner (he's attempting to set the 800 master's record. Go Danny!) Danny's style as a coach was very laid back and inclusive. He appreciated the JV runners just as much as the Varsity runners, which I think has helped our team to be so successful. But more importantly, Danny wouldn't pressure any runners to do more than they wanted, so the kids who came to practice for fun could have their fun, but those who came to improve could learn a lot from his experience and knowledge and realize their potentials as runners.

Danny implemented a training regimen that emphasized low mileage and high quality. My peak mileage in high school was 45, for my senior year of track, but most of my weeks were hovering from the low to high 30s. This is pretty low mileage, but with the success that Maria Carrillo has seen in the past 5 years or so, it's hard to argue that it doesn't make sense. We tended to do short intervals at the beginning of the season (ranging from 200-800) combined with some tempos, and then did cutdowns near the end of the season as we peaked for league, sections, and state. In retrospect, I think that this low mileage sets me up for some real success in college, as I can really move up in the mileage and make some serious improvements.

On top of all this, and I think I speak for both Joey and myself, I truly love the sport of running. I love the sport and enjoy reading training manuals, biographies, and fictional running books. An enthusiasm for running can really make all the difference, as approaching a workout with the requisite sense of dread but with a slight enjoyment can make you work all the harder and improve just that much faster.

Joey: There are several things that really helped me in high school, the two which I think are most important were staying uninjured for an entire year and a half and having two great coaches. I was injured somewhat frequently my first year running, I lost 6 weeks going into junior year including a week during the season to what I believe was a bone bruise on my knee cap. That injury was caused by BMX biking, which I soon gave up for running after having been a rider for almost 6 years. I started running track during sophomore year because my PE teacher was coach Walsh and he is a very inspirational person, he made me feel like I could achieve anything. Walsh had pretty good workouts that were Bowerman style and I was able to progress rapidly. Sorry for going on a tangent but I think this is relevant enough. Anyway after my junior cross country season I decided to run high mileage and thought I should get up to 70 miles a week so of course I got injured and had knee problems which made my winter training very sporadic, with a high week of no more than 45 and quite a few less than 30. After this I didn't get seriously injured again throughout high school, despite having my same mindset of running high mileage and jumping to 70 miles a week that summer, how I kept away from injury is beyond me. The other thing that helped was the arrival of Chuck my senior year. Chuck brought more scientific training and we worked for 9 months on making me have better form. The efficiency paid off, as well as his workouts and the base I had from that summer.

I forgot to mention this before, but having an incredible team as well as front runner in Chris Vizcaino. Having teammates around my level helped a lot during my sophomore and junior years, especially Viz, chasing him and trying to beat his times helped me focus. I never beat any of his times except the 400 and tied his Woodward PR, but having a ghost to chase my senior year was essential. The other Chris, Chris Harland Dunaway, helped with senior cross but as soon as track rolled around workouts were on my own.

2) What do you think you could have done different in hs that would have eased your transition to college?

C: I think I should have done a little more mileage over the summer, but what's done is done. Obviously, I came from a program that stressed low mileage, so transitioning to college mileage and paces could have been made easier if I had worked a little harder over the summer. I really don't regret it too much though, I think I adjusted well in general.

J: I think the only thing I could have done is run more mileage, done longer tempoes and longer intervals, which I personally dont think would have helped my running in high school. I think what I did is working fine because if I had done more, I wouldnt be able to add new stress as easily and thus Jack Daniels' "New Stress New Fitness" module would be hard to implicate and I would have trouble improving.

3) What is the hardest part to adjust to in college running?

C: Although I don't do double days yet, that will be a difficult adjustment. Also, the mile repeats were difficult for me to adjust to, as was the increased speed on the runs. But after a month or so the pace became second nature. As Joey also said, I am constantly tired and wanting to take a nap. But if you're not sore and tired you aren't trying hard enough.

J: The long intervals and double days. I actually picked up on long tempos very quickly, however it took me till the end of the season to have good mile repeats. Just being tired all the time, but I wouldnt want it any other way.
"International running is just about feeling tired all the time. It is very difficult for people to really understand this, the worst thing I can do is to walk around a department store. That is just such a dreadful waste of energy." - Sebastian Coe
Too bad Im not running internationally. I think this quote should be applied taking out the word "International"

What to look forward to...

2007-11-29T00:57:00.000-08:00

Just so people have an idea of what to look forward to with this blog, I thought I would give a brief introduction to some of the stuff we'll be covering. During the season, we would ideally like to be writing predictions, race summaries/analysis, and other fun stuff, depending on our interest and inclination. In addition, we plan on writing training information, ranging from interval workouts to endurance runs, and from base training to tapering.

Also, a thank you to Albert Caruana for his post about our blog at this post. Thanks Albert.

Calvin's season

2007-11-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

My decision to run for Davis was a fairly simple one after comparing it to other schools - the team was best suited to my interests and ability, the school itself is well-known for it's Biosci programs, which I would like to major in, and the freshman recruiting class. So after a fairly successful postseason, winning the NCS-Redwood Empire in 9:25 and finishing 6th to Joey at NCS, I embarked on my summer training. During high school, my peak mileage was about 45, but I had stayed well under 40 for the majority of my training. So after talking with Coach Puppione, I moved up my peak mileage to 50 and moved up to 50 very slowly, progressing with 25, 30, 30, 35, 35, 45, 50, 50, 40, 45. The training went without a hitch, luckily, and I was feeling pretty good about my fitness. At this point I found out that I had made the UC Davis cross country team, and I went to the summer training camp, where I met David Buscho, Andy Peabody, and Jonathan Peterson, along with the rest of the team. At that point, my peak mileage quickly jumped to 60, where it hovered for the rest of the season, with slight drops in mileage every fourth week or so.

After a fun week of training for the first time with the Davis team, I traveled up to compete in the Chico Invite. I was chosen to race along with 4 other Davis runners to see who would go to Sundodger the following week. I went through the first mile fairly quickly, just doing my best to stick with the other Davis guys. I have no recollection of any splits, just a vague strategy of how to work the hills. On the third loop over the big hill, I gave it all I got, remembering all of the runs I had done over the summer in hilly Annadel Park in Santa Rosa. I eventually caught one of our runners to come in 3rd out of the 5 guys, in 27:58, averaging about 5:30 a mile. Not at all spectacular, but considering the week of training beforehand, not bad.

Returning to Davis, I was truly introduced to the training grounds I would frequent the coming months. Known as the levees, this flat stretch of gravel road takes a runner south of campus, past the highways and railways. For me, this flatland running was unnerving, especially coming from hilly Sonoma County. But I quickly came to appreciate the advantages of pancake-flat running, especially with the mile-markers on the levees. With three different loops that could take me from 7 to 10 miles, I had a pretty good range of training runs at my disposal.

On top of the mileage difference, the pace of college running quickened dramatically, from base runs to intervals. I especially noticed the difference on the base runs, as I shifted from running 7:00 pace in high school to routinely running 6:00 to 6:30 pace on our easy days. It was difficult to adjust to at first, and my workouts suffered dramatically as a result. But once I got into a groove, I was able to perform well in the workouts again.

After Chico was the Stanford Invite, which was a pretty incredible experience. I had a huge breakfast but then almost nothing before the race, so I was a little worried, especially since I was tired on top of it all. But after going out fairly conservatively, I started to work up on guys with about 2k left, just picked up the tempo enough to pass people as they went into their painful death march to the finish. I eventually came through in 26:15, good enough for 6th on my team! However, this was a decidedly off day for Davis XC, and I was one of the few guys to actually run well. Regardless, I was happy with a new PR.

Resuming training, our team as a whole was fairly disheartened, and I think we all got too involved in our own, individual training rather than thinking about what we could do together as a team. At this point, I was still getting used to college running, and another one of the runs that really gave me confidence was a 10 miler that began at 7:00 pace and dropped steadily until we were running 5:45-5:35 over the last four miles! Pretty cool considering how far I had come since high school.

A breakthrough workout came after our disappointing performance at the Santa Clara Invite. We did 2x800, 3 mile tempo, 2x800. All of the 800s were in the low 2:20s for me, which felt good, but the true inspiration was the 3 mile. Our team really worked together, talking and encouraging each other the whole way. I went through the first mile around 5:10 and then held strong, despite my body crying out for me to slow down. I stuck with Himmelberger and was able to gut out a 15:27. The awesome part was how much easier the third mile was after the grueling second mile, just putting one foot in front of the other, fairly quickly... Everyone really performed well, and our team felt good going into Big West.

From here on out, I started slowly winding down my season. After not making the Big West squad, I decided to go down with some teammates to cheer on the team. Stopping in Isla Vista on the Friday night before Halloween was a wild time, there were thousands of people going crazy. The next day, we painted ourselves up, yelled like crazy people, and waved around a UC Davis flag, cheering on the guys and the ladies, which was a lot of fun.

After that, I knew I was not going to make the West Regionals squad, so I just focused on performing in the remaining workouts before taking my time off.

The final workout of the season was a great send off. After a two-mile warm-up, we launched into a 6 mile tempo. The first five miles we were supposed to keep the pace around 5:25 to 5:20, which we did superbly with 5:22, 5:17, 5:24, 5:22, and 5:18. What I want to emphasize here is how incredibly easy this felt. I just focused on staying on my Ben's shoulder and I just felt like I was cruising. A truly awesome feeling, especially considering how previous tempos had ended with me dropping off at the last couple miles. After executing the first 5 miles perfectly, we then launched into the last mile, which was supposed to be sub-5:00 at the minimum. We really hammered this last mile and came through in 4:45!! This tempo, which had felt positively easy the first 5 miles, was almost good enough for a 8k PR, and I wasn't even racing! This workout left me confident and enthusiastic about what I'll be able to do this spring and next cross country season!!

Joey's season in a nutshell- from flotrackr

2007-11-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

I shall start with my choice to come to Chico State. In the last ten years, Chico has become one of the premier distance running programs in the nation under head coach, Gary Towne and his success as a coach was one of my major deciding factors in coming here. Gary has coached numerous top-5 teams in cross country and many individual All-Americans in both track and XC, as well as two individual track champions in 2007. This program was just bursting with success, I saw the opportunity to become what I wanted to become as a runner and took it. I have very, very high expectations of myself. I have never been one to care too much about academics... the running, beautiful campus and Bidwell Park were my incentives.

Bidwell Park. Bidwell Park is the third largest municipal park in the United States, behind Central Park and Golden Gate Park. The main path is much like the bike path in Lafayette, in the Burton Valley area. Slight uphill on the way out from town, slight downhill the way back, but ever so slight, just like the bike path. The difference is that this is a dirt trail with trees hanging over for the entire way. The trails of Bidwell go out to Upper Bidwell Park and thus eventually to the Sierra Nevada. I am sure you could run from Chico to Tahoe by trail if you knew the way. The trail within Chico has half mile marks, making it great for intervals and tempos without having to go on hard surface or the track. We run in Bidwell Park almost daily to avoid over-pounding on asphalt America. Anyone who has had a stress fracture or connective tissue problems in their Achilles or heel can tell you how essential this is. Picture at top.

So lets get to training. At the beginning of summer, Gary gave me my mileage plan. I would start out at 40 miles for the first week, then the next weeks would be 50, 60, 65, 75, 55, 75, 75, 80, 85, 55 then see what I would be ready to run for the rest of the season. I made it through the 75, then the 55 before getting a minor injury while running with Tyler and Colby Pines. I ran 35, 65, 75, 83 for the next weeks following that. It was odd running that 83, I didn't really get that tired. In order to get back to this mileage I had stopped doing workouts and focused on volume for the time being, I was afraid a workout would re-injure the spot that was hurting.

The season began. The first workouts were excruciating, I couldn't finish the first 4 workouts. They weren't even that hard, I just hadn't been doing workouts since July and it was 100 degrees even in shady Bidwell. The reason I couldn't finish these first few workouts was dry heaving. Towards the end of the workouts, I would begin to dry heave, that is throw up but have nothing to throw up, so just retching with nothing coming. It is not a pleasant feeling. Since then I have learned how to counter-balance the causes of dry heaving by over-hydrating and trying to breath very deep and slow while running. I only needed to dry heave on hot days anyway.

The first "race"
Chico Invite: I go out in 5:23 and think I have gone out conservatively. Oh no, I was wrong. 5 minutes later I cannot get any turnover, my breathing is fine but my body cannot move. I finish the race, my breathing is fine and I have not been able to even kick, I have averaged 5:36 per mile.

I have a few more practices where I drop out of the workout.

A breakthrough. One morning we wake up EARLY to go for our 8 mile tempo run that begins at 6:30. I make sure to get up extra early so I can drink a lot of water and have some breakfast. It is important to eat some carbs before running so I eat some oatmeal so that my body doesn't have to go to stores it doesn't have. We do our warm/up: drills, dynamic stretching and strides. We begin. First mile in 6:04, then start running some faster ones. At the end I have dropped 11:00 for the last two miles and averaged 5:42 per mile for a continuous 8 mile tempo run, and I wasn't ever troubled to do it, it was easy. Confidence is back up. This workout was in an 80 mile week.

Season keeps going, I keep running 75-80 miles a week with down weeks of 55 miles in order to break it up into phases and recover. During this time I do strides, lots of strides, to try to keep my speed up. I have gained speed. I do a workout of 3x400, 3200, 3x400 in splits of 69, 68, 70. This first set was ridiculously easy. Then a 10:27 for the 3200 part, this part was surprisingly hard, but I have a LOT left in the tank nonetheless. My next interval is a 66, it was really easy. I then run a 62 thinking I have just run a 65. I came through 200 in 30 seconds feeling like its a 33... confusion? I run the last interval in 61. This was the easiest workout ever, I dont know how I have come to the point where a 62 felt like a 68 did last year. The next time I do quarters it is not with as much success. I ran 8x400 in 69, 68, 68, 68, 66, 65, 64, 64. No ridiculous splits, but still not a hard workout, it was basically what Gary had intended, an introduction to speed without going too hard and taking short rest (60 seconds between intervals).

Stanford. I didn't get into the 8k race but they let me have a spot in the 4k. Redshirts like me had a hard time getting into the 8k, but we find ourselves in the 4k. First mile 4:40. Second mile must have been around 5:00, and the last half mile should have been around 2:30. I have averaged 4:53 for a 2.5 mile cross country race.

I ran the 8 mile tempo again, this time after having run a 4 mile morning run the morning of. With warm/up and cool/down I have run a 20 mile day. I ran the same average as the first time, but after having run in the morning, it is fairly successful.

San Francisco invite: 26:23 for 8k (5:18 average). Nothing really special to say about this one.

Mile repeats. 3x1600, 3 minutes rest. 4:54, damn that was easy. 4:49, wow this is easy. 4:41, oh wow, that was fast. Still not that hard. Excellent.

Training goes as usual but I cut down to 65s then a 55 the week leading up to Almond Bowl, the 10k I am peaking for.
Almond Bowl is a 10k that runs through Bidwell Park on roads, starting with 3 miles of slight uphill then coming down for 3 miles before making a spiral to the finish that briefly goes uphill then back downhill. All hills are so slight it seems dumb to even mention them at the end portion of the course, but there you have it. So I go out in 4:57... on the slight uphill. Crap race is ruined. So I dont think that negative and proceed to keep running hard splits uphill, a 5:14, a 5:22. Ouch. Then I start going downhill and convince myself to push this part of the race. 5:14. Ouch. 5:25, 5:25 for the last two then I come to the .2 miles to go. Too bad I starting kicking 200 meters ago, I didn't know how much longer I had to go. Ouch. So basically all I can do at this point is remember what Chuck has taught me about keeping form together at the end of a race and use my own finishing toughness to get me the hell to the finish line as fast as I can. Ouch. 32:43 for my first 10k, 5:15 average. Not too bad, Gary just wanted me to run under 33 and I did it the hard way.

That was on Sunday, but on Thursday I have the 3200 time trial.
I do the usual warmup, drills, strides, long strides. I sport the old Campo boys uniform. Blue top, red shorts. Lanangs, the socks I won NCS in, but not the same pair, a blue version. Gun goes off (okay the gun is Gary saying "Kaayyyy, GO!") but its just as effective and him telling us that that will be the command relaxes us. Pat Boivin, the assistant coach has agreed to pace the first 6 laps as 70, 70, 70, 69, 69, 69 then let the race go as it will in the last 2 laps. This sounds like an excellent way to drop my PR from 9:21 to 9:16. I run behind Pat and am 4:40 at the mile, off almost perfectly even splits. We were 35 at 200 and 70 at the 400, Pat's pacing ability is uncanny. So at the 5th lap I am 5:51, I was 5:55 there when I ran 9:21, this is good. Next lap, arg 72, then ARGH 73. Closed in like 70 to finish in 9:26. This is only the second time I have run under 9:30 and is quite remarkable to me since I havent done many workouts geared for the 3200. I wanted to PR, but this is a great sign for track season.

NATIONALS TRIP

Last Wednesday night (a week before Thanksgiving) 3 vans with 7 people each rolled out of Sacramento after an hour and a half drive down from Chico. The 21 people in these vans embarked upon one of the greatest adventures of our young lives, the trip across the country to Joplin, Missouri for Division 2 NCAA Cross Country Nationals. Chico men's and women's teams flew, but the non-top-seven fans had a 30 hour drive... each way.

My van included some of my newly-made favorite people. Danny and Thomas I felt I knew decently before the trip, kind of Nick as well, but I didnt know Alia, Katie or Stephanie well at all... that changed a good deal.

I won't bore you with too much crap that happened in the vans though, except the time all 3 vans got pulled over for running a red light (I was driving the van that didnt do this... though I was the last van through and probably would have had I been driving in either of the first two) and doing 48 in a 25. Since we were in a caravan cross country, the two cops decided to not ticket us, but did point out to me that I should try to "match the numbers on the dashboard with the numbers on the big white signs with black letters" oops. I told him, "sorry officer, I was following the caravan and forgot to pay attention." Remarkably, that worked.

Our first major stop was Salt Lake City, Utah. We had intended on making this a one hour stop since we wanted to drive to Arches National Park that night and try to make it to Boulder as well, but we stopped for 4 hours, hanging out at the Mormon Temple and walking around a shopping center. Now Arches and Boulder were out of the question. We did get to Denver though... but missed all of Colorado's beauty due to driving at night.

The shifts I drove were the very early morning shifts that contained the sunrise, which was always awesome. Next major stops were Kansas City, then Joplin. As you may have guessed we drive straight through the night.

Joplin: we arrive, get into a hotel room that Gary has gotten us, chill, eat etc. Go to course, party, sleep, wake up by the host school's (Missouri Southern U.) coach blasting "California Dreaming" by The Mamas and the Papas at us. He was cool though, he even gave us NCAA banners because he knew we were going to steal them anyways.

Paint: we are now all (there are now around 30 Chico fans as others have traveled that were'nt in our caravan) painted red, black, and white. Personally I have "Brendan" written across my front to support Brendan. So we are all running around doing our Chico chants and then other schools' fans come at us, then others, it looks like Braveheart. Painted fans running at painted fans... pretty soon there are over 100 fans running around in a big circle of mayhem that really resembles Braveheart, save the lack of swords and shields and everyone screaming their school's chants.

We go out to where the girls are doing strides, do their epic chant, which was a mystery to the men's team up to this point but I have forgotten already. Soon after the race starts. Epic, the women are ranked 7th I believe going into the race. Everyone clicks, Sarah Montez gets 13th place, Kayla gets the second to last All American spot in the low 30s and Aisha misses All American by .7 seconds, but helps her team to their 4th place finish. Top 4 get hardware, the women have achieved their goal. The fans are psyched.

Men's race. Once again we battle the other fans then go out to do the men's chant, which is epic. Doing Grape Vine style Greek dancing in a circle all linked at the shoulders, the fans and team chant "C. H. I. C. O. C. H. I. C. O. C. H. I. C. O. CHICO, CHICO, CHICO, THERE AINT NO RUNNER LIKE A CHICO RUNNER CUZ A CHICO RUNNER DONT STOP, YOU KNOW!!!" yipes and clapping. Men get back to the line, race begins!!!

At about 600 in, Timmy is around 35th and Brendan is not too far behind, the rest of the men come through. The race is led by a pack of 10, all but 2 are Kenyan, or at least East African. Too bad Scotty is redshirting, that would give the pack more diversity. Later, the pack is pretty spread out, Timmy looks like he has gone too hard too early, something is not clicking with him... redlining is shown in his grimace. Timmy redlined longer than I have ever seen someone redline before.

A few miles in it is Timmy, Brendan, then a pack with Angel, Wickman, Manny and followed by Page and Fairley. Brendan moves up, Timmy falls back, Angel moves to Tim, Wickman falls back and Manny and Fairley maintain. I am screaming, running around with Beau. I yell to each Chico man that passes me to go find the next Chico man. I yell to Brendan that "THIS KENYAN IS DYING, START BY PASSING HIM." To my joy, he passes the Kenyan and keeps rolling up on guys. Brendan finishes 20th, getting the All American spot he had been eyeing all season. Excellent. Timmy and Angel finish just outside of All American contention. Heartbreaking. Manny and Page come in. Wickman's foot bothered him to no end and he finishes outside the top 5, followed by Fairley. The men have not clicked as well as the women, but have not done horribly either. They just expected higher, at least Brendan clicked. The men are happy to hear that they have gotten 6th. 4th was the goal but after their performances it wasnt bad to hear, especially with most of them coming back next year.

At night there is much partying, but since I havent slept a wink in 3 nights, I sleep pretty early.

On the drive back I got the morning shift again, this time going into the Grand Canyon, which is beautiful at sunrise. We spend about 2 and a half hours there then get back on the road. Late that afternoon we drive through Barstow. Multiple D3 State Champions, I see why Barstow is so good at running... there is nothing else to do. It looks like a spaghetti western's downtown.

So we get back to the bay later that night and I sleep forever. We have gone through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Damn. Good times.

Next year nationals is in Pennsylvania, so I am hoping to make the team. That trip is fun but I think flying there would be nice too.

The Beginnings...

2007-11-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

Well, this is just the first post, hopefully this blog will broadcast the opinions of Joey and me, and anyone else I guess.