Last Chance Meet and Final Week Before States- Weekly Log: February 6 to 12 (w/Rest of the Season Outlook)

Only a quick break after class because Tuesday is the last chance qualifier. While I've definitely qualified in the top half for both 3K and 1500, my 1000 isn't where I want to be and I have a chance at getting in the seeded heat. We're also trying to qualify a westerly 4x800 team for states, so I'm running that again. With lots of recovery (and no 1500 this time) inbetween the two events (practically first and last), I should finally be able to hit the 1000 I've wanted to for so long- about 2:38. My goal originally was to hit 2:36 by the end of the season and my times at division and class have been a little slower than anticipated, so I think to have a chance at that I'll need to hit 2:38 on Tuesday. While my main goal at states is top 3/all-state in the 3K, placing in the 1000 would be great as well. As for the 4x800, I just want to a fast time but could care less about PRing. Hopefully a little more consistent than Saturday's effort.

Monday: 7 Miles. Track workout. Was feeling really sore and wasn't thrilled that we had a workout. I knew it wouldn't be anything brutal, but was still worried considering my legs felt like crap and I was feeling weak on the warm-up. 6x400 w/just 30s recovery @71s each. Not too fast, but certainly a hard breathing effort. Legs felt really smooth, but a little tired in the last few. Overall, not bad at all and actually felt better coming out than I did going in. Difficulty: 2/5.

Tuesday: 4 Miles, Last Chance Meet.

Arrived at 5:00, ready to warm-up for a 5:30 meet as we were the first event. I was nervous as I felt a little full and we likely would not get in our full warm-up routine. The meet ended up not starting until 6:00. The strides were not quality as the track was so crowded that we constantly had to swerve out of the way or slow down. We ended up being rushed as we thought girls went first and suddenly had to prepare to race. I was also changed to lead-off leg at the last second, which I didn't really want to do.

4x800
On the line I could see that there were at least two good competitors, Ben Drezek and Ed Golas. Ben said he was going for about 2:05, so I suspected he'd be right behind me. The start was a mess and I got boxed in terribly. Ben got out well as he and a Portsmouth runner were up front with a 15 meter gap pretty quickly. I managed to get out of the middle of the chase pack and started going for the front. I had to use a lot of energy in the first lap, but was right up there with them. I pushed for the lead lap two and held it in three. I was feeling tired at the end and was repassed by ben with 150 to go. Based on the clock, it looked like a 2:05, which isn't bad but a little slower than I was looking for. A few of our other runners were a little off time-wise, and we ended up running 8:44, not quite matching our 8:40 from the other day. We ended up qualifying for states easily, which was the team goal here. My split was 2:04.1, not as bad as I thought.

1000
I had a long wait before the 1K and became more and more nervous throughout. I felt really terrible after the 4x800 as I was throwing up and coughing frequently. It got better as I went on and I was feeling much better in an hour. Both Mars Bishop and Nathan Coogan were running the 1000, so I knew going out too slow wouldn't be a problem. I didn't know whether or not I should try to hang with them or if that would be too fast and may cause me to blow up. In the end, I didn't want to risk running too slow and decided I'd go out with the lead pack. I was extremely nervous at the start. The first lap was a bit of a mess with many fighting for position but I managed to stay behind Nathan and went out in 30, about 4th place. I was right on the top guys at 400, along with Ben Drezek and Jack Perreault. Jack passed me and Ben as Ben started to slow up. The top guys started to pull away. Ben conveniently pulled to the side and I was able to pass with ease on the inside. As much as I wanted to go after the top guys, I was feeling comfortable right behind Perreault and stayed right there. I was right on him and thought I could pass him. I waited too long and made an attempt to go around in the last 50, but was unsuccessful. It seemed like Mars and Nathan were too far ahead and I didn't know if I'd be under 2:40, but soon saw 2:34 when I could glimpse the clock. I kept looking at it and it looked like I crossed in 2:37 or 2:38. 2:38.25. Definitely happy with the time, but was unsure if I ran the right race and if I should've tried to stay with Mars and Nathan longer. Ended up 7th on the performance list, which will get me into the fast heat at states.

Wednesday: 7 Miles, 7xPark. Felt terrible the following day as my minor cough turned into an annoying cold/cough and I got very little sleep. My legs were completely trash and even the warm-up was hard. My splits were pretty terrible as expected, but I was just glad to get it over with. Difficulty: 4/5.

Thursday: 6 Miles. Waited too long and had to run in the middle of the snowstorm. Blasting wind and stinging snow made for an unpleasant experience, especially when going against the wind. Could barely see anything. There were slight breaks in the harsh conditions, but overall a brutal run.

Friday: 8 Miles. Around the pond loop. Nothing like the brutal storm conditions, but not exactly a fun run. Roads were either icy all around or snow took up the entire shoulder of room between me and the car. Had to slow the pace down many times for lack of traction. Annoying wind the entire way back made it cold as well. In a way, nearly as brutal as Thursday's run.

Saturday: 5 Miles. Bummed out to have practice, but it ended up being fairly simple and easy. I was worried I'd have a distance run, which would not be fun running more icy roads, especially ones I don't care to run on. It ended being a hill workout w/some 200s and the warm-ups and cool-downs were either outside in the parking lot or in the babcock gym. Not hard, but somewhat boring and glad to get out of there. 5xPark + 4x150 on the road. Felt decent, but still sick which made my breathing a little off. Kept them pretty consistent, which is my goal now rather than running them really fast. 150s on road were really hard as the traction wasn't great and it didn't feel smooth running that fast. Difficulty: 2/5.

Sunday: 7 Miles. Really great roads in Charlestown with Sam. Mostly quiet roads that were very smooth and comfortable to run. Felt much better and not as congested as the previous.  Early 7:30 start time was nice as well. Definitely want to return, hopefully incorporate the beach and trustom pond trails in as well. The only enjoyable run on this four-day weekend.

Weekly Total: 44 Miles
YTD Total:  272 Miles

Rest of the Season Outlook

Week of: February 19

This week is states (Feb 18), which I'm pretty nervous for. I'm more focused on the 3K, where hopefully I'll come close to my 8:44 effort at Yale and place in the top three. This is one of the rare instances where I will value place over time. I'll have plenty of recovery before the 1K, where I want to hit a new PR in the 2:36-2:37 range. Since I made the fast heat, the conditions should be right to hit a fast time. I don't know if anyone in the slow heat will even end up cracking 2:40. I'm hoping for a top 6 finish, which will be tough with such a stacked field. See final performance list here.

Last time at PCTA this season.

During the week, I'll probably have light but fast workouts and normal distance runs, perhaps slightly shorter than usual. I'm hoping either this week or next, with less people at practice, practices will only be held on workout days so I can explore new roads rather than running from the school on my distance runs.

Week of: February 26

I have a week without meets after that, which may include some hard training and its very unlikely I'll have practice every day. I'd probably prefer if New Englands was a week earlier, but the two weeks off will be really nice.

Week of: March 5

This will be New Englands week, held at the Reggie Lewis track. I enjoyed running there last year, but didn't run very well and my eating routine was way off since I ended up running about 3 hours later than expected. The best part was probably the track itself, and I'll be running the two mile. Hopefully, my time at states will be fast enough to get me into the fast heat at New Englands. My 3K at yale converts to about a 9:24 two mile, so the competition will probably be stacked (at least 3-5 people capable of running that range). I hoping the fast track and competition can get me under 9:20 or as close as possible. This will probably the hardest (fastest?) effort I have left in the season. It'd be great if I could get top 3, but I definitely want to be at least top 6.

Very excited to return here.

As for practice, same routine with less/no practices on distance days, shorter distance runs and shorter workouts.

Week of: March 12

I was fortunate enough to qualify for New Balance Nationals, which I am very excited about. I'm looking forward to running on the famous Armory track. Right now I'm signed up for the championship 5K (8:48.9 3K time required, which I ran at Yale), which is held Friday, March 10th (3-day meet 3/10-3/12). I'm excited to run the 5000 on the track, as the competition will be great and it's likely I'll hit a huge PR. I could care less about place, but am hoping to run 15:20 or faster. I'm also very nervous for this, as the 3K/3200/2-Mile already feels long with 15/16 laps and the 5K is 25. Hopefully the other runners will pace well so it can be a comfortable race. Have no idea how practice will work or if there will even be practice that week. The Emerging Elite 2-Mile is that morning, so I'm not running that (qualifying time 8:52.0), but if I run fast enough at States/New Englands (8:40.0 3K/9:20.0 2M) I can get into the championship 2-mile which is on Sunday.

Armory Track in New York.

Plenty of races and hard efforts coming up.