Monday: 10 Miles
Tagged along with Seniors Billy, Tim and Davis for a very light hill workout. Pudding hill (8 mile loop) with 2xPudding hill and 4xCoe. We really didn't put much effort into this one (not my call) and cutting off the last set of hills made it pretty easy. Difficulty: 1/5.
Tuesday: 10 Miles
Interesting workout, glad to get back to some more focused training now rather than just doing the occasional hill workout or tempo. 2 mile warm-up followed by a progressive 2-mile gate to gate tempo in 10:30ish (didn't get my time, just gauging this from how far off Tim I was, who ran 10:26). Wore baggy/restrictive warm-up pants not expecting an outdoor workout portion, which made the tempo more uncomfortable. Started to fall apart halfway through but gained a second wind with some nice downhills. Finished up, but definitely a hard effort with about 5:24/5:06 splits. Followed up with 5x1K on the indoor track (6.25 laps). Had a decent sized group doing this and I never had to lead any. The guys up front did a great job hitting the splits. Despite feeling sluggish at the beginning, I was the only one not to get dropped on the last two. Not easy, but I felt great towards the end. Splits: 2:56/2:57/2:58/2:57/2:54. Difficulty: 3/5. 2-Mile cooldown afterwards. Very happy with what I feel like should be a hard workout, feel much more confident about my fitness now.
Wednesday: 9 Miles
Bennett (9 mile loop) split into two different group, a faster (6:40 average) and slower one (7:15). I was feeling pretty tight and sore in my quads so I dropped back with the slower group which was a nice change of pace/recovery run. Felt more tired than usual, definitely felt like a harder effort than low 7s. Haven't done this route in a while so I enjoyed it.
Thursday: 7 Miles
Was disappointed to hear there was a workout, but after hearing what it was I was okay with it. Very light session, 12x200 in 33-35s, 120m jog recovery. Group of 5 for this (10 guys doing this workout, but we split up into group). Took turns leading off, had no idea what I was doing when I was in front and ran slightly too fast 32s. Weirdly felt like I was cruising when leading but like I was working somewhat hard behind people. Nothing hard, but I didn't feel that great either. Difficulty: 2/5.
Friday: 7 Miles
Easy Jenkins run (although much faster than Wednesday), preferred to do a 7 mile shakeout than a 5 mile. Felt mostly good besides some annoying random heaviness and tightness here and there. 3x160m strides after on the indoor track fairly hard.
Saturday: 7 Miles
Got there at 11 for a long boring wait before the 3K which was the last individual event at 3pm. Breakfast was different today as the dining hall opened late at 11 so we ate breakfast in coaches office with an assortment of food set up on tables. Was worried I was eating too light and too early but it ended up being fine. Started to get really antsy to warm up, especially as my legs were tired from standing. We finally headed out for a 2 mile warm-up. My legs were feeling heavy and I felt weak, just like most warm-ups.
I felt instantly rushed as soon as I got back. The girls 3K went off, giving me just 12+ minutes to get in dynamics, final bathroom stops and getting race ready (strides, spikes). I got through this fine but felt a little more nervous than usual since I didn't have as much time as I wanted. There a lot of things I prefer in my college training over HS, but I definitely prefer the earlier warm-up routine I did in HS as it gave me plenty of time to do whatever I needed and not get too nervous. Weirdly, I was only with one other teammate doing dynamics while everyone else (5 other guys) were mysteriously no where to be found. They showed up quickly. I did some quality strides and realized I felt pretty good but had to pee, an annoying problem stemming simply from being hydrated.
Got on the line as the 3rd seed. There were 8 holy cross guys- whom we expected to crush and 7 of us. Tim would be untouchable and more than likely lead the race gun to wire while lapping half the field (and he did). The rest of us UNH guys were in somewhat similar shape. I felt like I had an edge on most of the guys as I had crushed the workout Tuesday whereas many of them had faded.
The gun shot off and within in 50 meters, I was in a great position. Tim took it out as expected with Sam "Slants" right behind him. A holy cross runner whom I'd formerly known from RI HS races, Alex Campagna sneaked into third as I was right behind him. After a couple laps, Tim began to gap Slants and Slants began to gap Alex and I. I made the move around Alex and ran solo for a little bit. It felt pretty comfortable which surprised me none of the other UNH guys were up with us. The pace definitely was not conservative though and I started to realize this as I couldn't really catch up to Slants.
Went through the 800 in 2:17 and the 1000 in 2:54. The gap continued to grow and realized how foolish I was to go out so fast. While it had felt comfortable at the time, it was still wasn't race pace. I no longer could maintain that and was slowing greatly. This was an exact mirror of many of my Junior year indoor races where I went out fast and died the second half, except today I had people to race. As I was slowing and starting to feel crappy, the entire chase pack- Ryan, Nico and Dean caught up to and passed me. Went through the mile in 4:43. I was instantly pushed to the back of the pack and was seriously thinking my race was over but having people here now encouraged to keep up the pace. After coasting in the back for a little while, I got my legs back under me and started to feel more confident. I wasn't feeling good about having 10 to go, but now the laps were zipping by with so many guys to run with. We went back and forth and people in the front would make surges and others would fall back, but no one fell off permanently. Every time I got in the front, Nico made huge surge and pretty much gap us instantly but he always came back. With 3 to go, I made a move to the front and started to increase the pace. I absolutely hammered the last lap and felt Ryan coming up on me with 80m. The last stretch was an absolute sprint. Likely the fastest last 200 of any 3K. Crossed in 8:51, just behind Slants. Ryan finished .4 seconds behind me. Results here.
Definitely a much different race tactically than I normally run. Looking back, it was certainly a mistake to go out with Tim at the beginning especially as the group ended up catching me while having the luxury of going out 3-4 seconds slower through the 800. I could have split the same thing for the mile and felt much better doing so. I'm guessing my middle kilometer was pretty slow. 8:51.24 seems like a half decent time on this track and seeds me at 8:42 for other meets with a generous conversion. Happy with it overall. Need to work on race patience a little better.
Sunday: 10 Miles
Around the Pond Loop with Dad. Durham got hit pretty heavy by a snowstorm so it was fortunate to be in RI as I could get in a run without dealing with wintry conditions. Felt good, very windy going North on Weekapaug but comfortable low-40 temperatures.
Weekly Total: 61 Miles
YTD Total: 190 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Got in a very solid week of training, with some great workouts and capping it off with a pretty good race. Definitely a very good week overall.
Weekly Lowlight: While somewhat inevitable for race weeks, after enjoying many 70 or near-70 mile weeks, it was a little disappointing to drop back about 10 miles this week. While 61 is fine for a down week, it's likely going to become the norm as I race most weekends for the indoor season.
Next Week: Another home meet, will race a mile and 1200 DMR leg. Don't really have expectations for either, but will obviously treat them as any other race.
Went through the 800 in 2:17 and the 1000 in 2:54. The gap continued to grow and realized how foolish I was to go out so fast. While it had felt comfortable at the time, it was still wasn't race pace. I no longer could maintain that and was slowing greatly. This was an exact mirror of many of my Junior year indoor races where I went out fast and died the second half, except today I had people to race. As I was slowing and starting to feel crappy, the entire chase pack- Ryan, Nico and Dean caught up to and passed me. Went through the mile in 4:43. I was instantly pushed to the back of the pack and was seriously thinking my race was over but having people here now encouraged to keep up the pace. After coasting in the back for a little while, I got my legs back under me and started to feel more confident. I wasn't feeling good about having 10 to go, but now the laps were zipping by with so many guys to run with. We went back and forth and people in the front would make surges and others would fall back, but no one fell off permanently. Every time I got in the front, Nico made huge surge and pretty much gap us instantly but he always came back. With 3 to go, I made a move to the front and started to increase the pace. I absolutely hammered the last lap and felt Ryan coming up on me with 80m. The last stretch was an absolute sprint. Likely the fastest last 200 of any 3K. Crossed in 8:51, just behind Slants. Ryan finished .4 seconds behind me. Results here.
Definitely a much different race tactically than I normally run. Looking back, it was certainly a mistake to go out with Tim at the beginning especially as the group ended up catching me while having the luxury of going out 3-4 seconds slower through the 800. I could have split the same thing for the mile and felt much better doing so. I'm guessing my middle kilometer was pretty slow. 8:51.24 seems like a half decent time on this track and seeds me at 8:42 for other meets with a generous conversion. Happy with it overall. Need to work on race patience a little better.
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| 3K Ranking in NCAA DI |
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| 5K Ranking |
Around the Pond Loop with Dad. Durham got hit pretty heavy by a snowstorm so it was fortunate to be in RI as I could get in a run without dealing with wintry conditions. Felt good, very windy going North on Weekapaug but comfortable low-40 temperatures.
Weekly Total: 61 Miles
YTD Total: 190 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Got in a very solid week of training, with some great workouts and capping it off with a pretty good race. Definitely a very good week overall.
Weekly Lowlight: While somewhat inevitable for race weeks, after enjoying many 70 or near-70 mile weeks, it was a little disappointing to drop back about 10 miles this week. While 61 is fine for a down week, it's likely going to become the norm as I race most weekends for the indoor season.
Next Week: Another home meet, will race a mile and 1200 DMR leg. Don't really have expectations for either, but will obviously treat them as any other race.
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