I landed in Toronto about a week ago, after finishing up the last few meets of my freshman year down south. They didn't quite end up the way I had hoped. I ran two 5000 races a week apart, but blew up big time in both of them. I haven't even put in the effort to actually find out what the times were, but it was pretty disappointing. I think I was around 15:40 in the first race, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was close to 16:00 in the second race. To be honest, I'm still a little confused as to what has gone so wrong in the past few weeks to go from 14:45 to 16:00, but I'm back in Toronto with a few more weeks in the racing season to figure things out and get back on track.
This whole year has been filled with pretty inconsistent performances going all the way back to my injury in cross country up until the problems I've run into over the past couple weeks, but there was a lot more to the year than what the times showed. I could write pages and pages of blog posts about how much I've learned from my first year in university but it still wouldn't be able to convey the knowledge and experience that I've gained from spending a year in this program in Alaska. I guess you could say that I came to Alaska as a big, dry sponge and spent the year absorbing everything around me. I got a really good feel for what it takes to be a part of a successful university program, and I have a really clear image of what I need to do in order to continue improving and developing on and off the track. I am already feeling eager to get back to school and put this years knowledge and experience to work for more success and consistency next year.
I still have about 11 weeks before I fly back, so I will have quite a bit of time for redemption on the track and base building for cross country. The rest of the season will have a little stronger focus on 1500 work, maybe tossing in a 3000 or 5000 but I'd really like a few cracks at getting below the 3:58 zone I've been stuck in for a while now. Not certain about the racing schedule for the rest of the season, but I'll definitely be doing some of the RCLDS races.
On a completely unrelated note, a guy by the name of Erik Van Ingen (3:38 1500) released a film today called "The Real Maine" documenting a summer of training in Maine featuring a bunch of the NCAA's best distance runners. Pretty inspiring movie, and I definitely recommend all you runners out there check it out when you get a chance.
Click here to watch the movie
Last but not least, I definitely need to give a shout out to the ten UAA Seawolves have qualified for NCAA's this year. They're taking off to Colorado tomorrow to show the nation what they can do. You can find results up at goseawolves.com after the meet this weekend.
Give 'em hell Seawolves!
5.21.2012
4.24.2012
When Running in Alaska...
Yesterday I flew back to Anchorage from California after a few solid meets. I ran 4:00 and 4:01 down south, so nothing spectacular but good efforts nonetheless. I talked it over with the coaches a few times, and we discussed the fact that we haven't really developed any pure speed yet in practice, focusing more on the 5000 and building aerobic fitness, so there shouldn't be any concern that I'm not dropping time in the 15 like I am in the 5000. I think it's a great approach, as I've seen 46 seconds dropped off my 5000m PB in the span of 2 races, something that makes me really excited to put in some further specific 1500m work.
Today I got a start on some of that raw speed work in a pretty interesting way, a different kind of workout that I had never had a chance to do before. Today's workout was a long run since we didn't get one done in California, and we were all looking to get into the 90 minute range. I know you're thinking this has nothing to do with raw speed, but believe me when I say I had the pedal to the metal on today's run. Many of you may not know this, but this was one of my first runs outside all semester. When I had my Achilles problem last October, I started back by running on the treadmill and next thing I knew the snow had started to accumulate on the ground. I spent almost all my winter training runs on the treadmill as it offered better footing and a nice temperature. When we got back from California though, almost all the snow had melted, and the temperature was right around 10 Celcius (50 Fahrenheit). The trails were still a little bit sloppy due to the melting, but it was perfect running weather so today we all decided to stick to the paved shoulders of some of Anchorage's roads.
Six of us took off, and quickly broke off into 2 groups of 3. The first group was going a little quick but I went with them anyways, and spent a lot of time yoyo-ing off the back of the two up front. The other group missed a few lights early on in the run, so I didn't really want to go back and wait for them a few minutes behind. About 30 minutes in, I fell back a little as I didn't think I could hang on for 90 minutes, so I tried to keep the pace comfortable to get through the whole run at a decent clip. I could still see the others up ahead, maybe 100 meters or so. A couple times I thought about trying to get back up with them, but I decided I would wait until they turned back to run with them instead of trying to bridge the gap then. A few minutes later, both of them went up a pretty sizable hill that went around a curve just before the top, with some short guardrails on either side. On the outer edge, you couldn't really see anything beyond the rail, as the terrain dropped off pretty quickly. At this point in the run, there wasn't any traffic on the road, maybe a pick up truck every few minutes, but hardly anything.
As the other two approached the curve in the road, I took a glance up at them, thinking "this is going to be horrible", as my legs started to tire. So I put my head down, and started to grind away at the hill. About halfway up, I lifted my head to see how much more of the hill remained. As I looked up, I caught a glance of a big dark figure right behind the guardrail at the curve in the road. I did a quick double take, as I thought it might have been a bear or moose. The dark figure turned to look at me, and sure enough it was the face of a black bear. It was the first time I had seen a bear in Alaska, so I really had no clue what to do. The other two were out of sight, so it had become a Kevin Vs. Wild showdown. For a split-second I wasn't sure if I should follow bear protocol (Yell, back away slowly, make flailing arm movements, don't run etc...) or if I should just start booking it down the hill (being a runner and all). It didn't take long to make up my mind. As soon as it hopped over the guardrail onto the road, I took off sprinting down the hill.
I figured I had 30-50 meters on the bear, so if it was going to catch me at all, it would take at least 150 meters. I quickly looked back at the bottom of the hill still in full stride to see it in the middle of the road still coming towards me, so I kept on hauling. I was hoping a car would come around the corner as I was running away, but no such luck. By the time I ran into the second group of guys, I had to have gone 400 meters. I stopped to turn around with the other group, and thankfully the bear was still only about halfway down the hill walking around aimlessly. It's pretty unreal to think that if I had held on to the other two for a little longer, or tried to bridge the gap I would have been almost face to face with the bear as it jumped out onto the road. The other two actually had no idea there was a bear on the road at all as they had just gone around the curve, and thankfully didn't have an encounter with it on the way back.
I'd like to believe that when the bear saw me bolt off it was discouraged and slightly stunned by my unbelievable turnover, but it was probably more amused by the look of terror on my face and the blurts of profanity as I took notice of it at the top of the hill. Let me tell you that was easily the fastest I have ever run, it's too bad nobody was there to clock a 400m split. I certainly would have been well below 4:00 in a 1500 if I was being chased by that sucker a little further. Maybe next race I'll hire someone to jump out unexpectedly onto the track dressed in a bear costume with a lap to go. It would almost guarantee a closing lap under 60, and possibly a need for a second pair of shorts post-race.
Pretty exciting run overall, and a wonderful way to work on my turnover, but I'm not looking forward to running that route any time soon.
Today I got a start on some of that raw speed work in a pretty interesting way, a different kind of workout that I had never had a chance to do before. Today's workout was a long run since we didn't get one done in California, and we were all looking to get into the 90 minute range. I know you're thinking this has nothing to do with raw speed, but believe me when I say I had the pedal to the metal on today's run. Many of you may not know this, but this was one of my first runs outside all semester. When I had my Achilles problem last October, I started back by running on the treadmill and next thing I knew the snow had started to accumulate on the ground. I spent almost all my winter training runs on the treadmill as it offered better footing and a nice temperature. When we got back from California though, almost all the snow had melted, and the temperature was right around 10 Celcius (50 Fahrenheit). The trails were still a little bit sloppy due to the melting, but it was perfect running weather so today we all decided to stick to the paved shoulders of some of Anchorage's roads.
Six of us took off, and quickly broke off into 2 groups of 3. The first group was going a little quick but I went with them anyways, and spent a lot of time yoyo-ing off the back of the two up front. The other group missed a few lights early on in the run, so I didn't really want to go back and wait for them a few minutes behind. About 30 minutes in, I fell back a little as I didn't think I could hang on for 90 minutes, so I tried to keep the pace comfortable to get through the whole run at a decent clip. I could still see the others up ahead, maybe 100 meters or so. A couple times I thought about trying to get back up with them, but I decided I would wait until they turned back to run with them instead of trying to bridge the gap then. A few minutes later, both of them went up a pretty sizable hill that went around a curve just before the top, with some short guardrails on either side. On the outer edge, you couldn't really see anything beyond the rail, as the terrain dropped off pretty quickly. At this point in the run, there wasn't any traffic on the road, maybe a pick up truck every few minutes, but hardly anything.
As the other two approached the curve in the road, I took a glance up at them, thinking "this is going to be horrible", as my legs started to tire. So I put my head down, and started to grind away at the hill. About halfway up, I lifted my head to see how much more of the hill remained. As I looked up, I caught a glance of a big dark figure right behind the guardrail at the curve in the road. I did a quick double take, as I thought it might have been a bear or moose. The dark figure turned to look at me, and sure enough it was the face of a black bear. It was the first time I had seen a bear in Alaska, so I really had no clue what to do. The other two were out of sight, so it had become a Kevin Vs. Wild showdown. For a split-second I wasn't sure if I should follow bear protocol (Yell, back away slowly, make flailing arm movements, don't run etc...) or if I should just start booking it down the hill (being a runner and all). It didn't take long to make up my mind. As soon as it hopped over the guardrail onto the road, I took off sprinting down the hill.
I figured I had 30-50 meters on the bear, so if it was going to catch me at all, it would take at least 150 meters. I quickly looked back at the bottom of the hill still in full stride to see it in the middle of the road still coming towards me, so I kept on hauling. I was hoping a car would come around the corner as I was running away, but no such luck. By the time I ran into the second group of guys, I had to have gone 400 meters. I stopped to turn around with the other group, and thankfully the bear was still only about halfway down the hill walking around aimlessly. It's pretty unreal to think that if I had held on to the other two for a little longer, or tried to bridge the gap I would have been almost face to face with the bear as it jumped out onto the road. The other two actually had no idea there was a bear on the road at all as they had just gone around the curve, and thankfully didn't have an encounter with it on the way back.
I'd like to believe that when the bear saw me bolt off it was discouraged and slightly stunned by my unbelievable turnover, but it was probably more amused by the look of terror on my face and the blurts of profanity as I took notice of it at the top of the hill. Let me tell you that was easily the fastest I have ever run, it's too bad nobody was there to clock a 400m split. I certainly would have been well below 4:00 in a 1500 if I was being chased by that sucker a little further. Maybe next race I'll hire someone to jump out unexpectedly onto the track dressed in a bear costume with a lap to go. It would almost guarantee a closing lap under 60, and possibly a need for a second pair of shorts post-race.
Pretty exciting run overall, and a wonderful way to work on my turnover, but I'm not looking forward to running that route any time soon.
4.08.2012
All Aboard the PB Train
Another couple of solid weekend races are in the books. Last week I was in Oregon for the Willamette Invitational, where I ran another 4:00 in the 1500. I was hoping for a new PB, but it wasn't meant to be. I went back to Alaska with a little sense of urgency to make a breakthrough that I believed I was fit for. This weekend was spent at San Francisco State, where I ran a 5000m in a great heat of 25 or so guys all seeded between 14:40 and 15:00. Going into the race, the plan was very simple. Get on the rail, and follow the pace train. Almost right away, everyone was settled down into a pack running the exact paces I was looking for. 72, 72, 36 for 3:00 at the 1st km, and then lap by lap the pace began to gradually drop bringing me through 2k at 5:56, and 3k at 8:54. If you recall in my last 5000, I went out in 8:57 and held it together for the most part to finish in 6:08 for the last 2k. I was a little uncertain about how the last 5 laps would play out going through 3k a little faster this time, but I felt great. 4k was hit in 11:52, and still feeling good I had a 2:53 left in the tank for the last km. 14:45.08 was the final time.
Apart from breaking 15 for the first time, I was excited because this is the breakthrough I had been searching for since last year. It's pretty clear to me now that last year I wasn't running the mileage I needed to in order to keep it together in a 5k, but with the additional 15 or so miles/week, I am definitely stronger, and able to put up a fight in the last 2km. It gives me a little more confidence in my aerobic fitness and it puts me in a good position to get into faster races. One of my big goals this year was to get into the 14:30's and it now seems a lot more realistic and certainly attainable. Additionally, the NCAA DII provisional standard is 14:35, so I've now set myself up nicely for another shot or two at that time.
For those of you who didn't know, this weekend was one of Stanford's big track meets they host each year, so the Seawolves split up our squad to go to both San Francisco State and Stanford. All weekend, everyone was getting texts and calls from the athletes and coaches at opposite meets about the big breakthroughs everyone was having. It almost seemed too good to be true, as personal bests, national qualifiers, school records, and conference records were dropping all over the place. I'm not even going to try to remember how many records were broken, as there were so many that I'm bound to forget to mention a few. The full results will be on the Schedule/Results page ASAP. The coaches agreed it was right up there as one of the best overall weekends for UAA track and field, and that's definitely a great sign to see such solid performances from the whole team. And the best part is that there is still about 5 weeks to the conference championships, and 7 weeks to nationals for everyone to put in a few more big weeks of focused training.
One of the benefits of being in the San Francisco area is that after my race I got to head over to watch the big boys running the 1500s, 5000s, and 10000s at Stanford. It was pretty sweet getting to watch some of the Seawolves rip it up with some of the best runners in the country. It was also great to watch guys like Tegenkamp, Jager, Bairu, Ritz, Levins, Derrick, Bauhs, and a bunch of others get after some quick times. Getting to meet Lawi Lalang after his race, and going out onto the track with Alberto Salazar as he gave Ritz splits during his 10k was just a bonus to a great day. Then, as if the first day wasn't enough, on our run the following morning, the Kenyans on our team ran into Bernard Lagat's brother (27:50 10k), so he joined along for our team long run. Pretty awesome weekend. Now it's time to get back to business for a few more hard workouts the next 2 weeks. Not 100% sure when I'll race next, but I'll keep you posted.
P.S. One thing I forgot to mention was that Anchorage just broke the record for the most snow in one season in the history of the city (just under 12 feet). Adding that to the coldest January in Anchorage's history made for a pretty chilly, snowy winter up in the Big One, but spring is certainly on it's way.
Apart from breaking 15 for the first time, I was excited because this is the breakthrough I had been searching for since last year. It's pretty clear to me now that last year I wasn't running the mileage I needed to in order to keep it together in a 5k, but with the additional 15 or so miles/week, I am definitely stronger, and able to put up a fight in the last 2km. It gives me a little more confidence in my aerobic fitness and it puts me in a good position to get into faster races. One of my big goals this year was to get into the 14:30's and it now seems a lot more realistic and certainly attainable. Additionally, the NCAA DII provisional standard is 14:35, so I've now set myself up nicely for another shot or two at that time.
For those of you who didn't know, this weekend was one of Stanford's big track meets they host each year, so the Seawolves split up our squad to go to both San Francisco State and Stanford. All weekend, everyone was getting texts and calls from the athletes and coaches at opposite meets about the big breakthroughs everyone was having. It almost seemed too good to be true, as personal bests, national qualifiers, school records, and conference records were dropping all over the place. I'm not even going to try to remember how many records were broken, as there were so many that I'm bound to forget to mention a few. The full results will be on the Schedule/Results page ASAP. The coaches agreed it was right up there as one of the best overall weekends for UAA track and field, and that's definitely a great sign to see such solid performances from the whole team. And the best part is that there is still about 5 weeks to the conference championships, and 7 weeks to nationals for everyone to put in a few more big weeks of focused training.
One of the benefits of being in the San Francisco area is that after my race I got to head over to watch the big boys running the 1500s, 5000s, and 10000s at Stanford. It was pretty sweet getting to watch some of the Seawolves rip it up with some of the best runners in the country. It was also great to watch guys like Tegenkamp, Jager, Bairu, Ritz, Levins, Derrick, Bauhs, and a bunch of others get after some quick times. Getting to meet Lawi Lalang after his race, and going out onto the track with Alberto Salazar as he gave Ritz splits during his 10k was just a bonus to a great day. Then, as if the first day wasn't enough, on our run the following morning, the Kenyans on our team ran into Bernard Lagat's brother (27:50 10k), so he joined along for our team long run. Pretty awesome weekend. Now it's time to get back to business for a few more hard workouts the next 2 weeks. Not 100% sure when I'll race next, but I'll keep you posted.
P.S. One thing I forgot to mention was that Anchorage just broke the record for the most snow in one season in the history of the city (just under 12 feet). Adding that to the coldest January in Anchorage's history made for a pretty chilly, snowy winter up in the Big One, but spring is certainly on it's way.
3.23.2012
Go Time Round 2
Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, but I've been pretty busy this past week getting caught up after the trip. Anyways, the race went really well on Friday (The Saturday meet was cancelled, so I didn't run the 800). Once again, there was no problem getting into a groove to try and get after a fast time. Perfect weather, perfect pacing, and it ended with a 4:00.06 for me. In my last post, I made it pretty clear that I was fit and ready for a 1500 PB, but after the 1500 it was pretty apparent that I'm not quite sharp enough to beat 3:58.25 YET. I got a little caught up in how well things were rolling that I sort of forgot that it was still the first week of what I hope will be a very long season.
I took a look back to my 1500 season openers in my past two years and realized that it always took at least a few races to get into the 4:05 range each year. Those years ended with a 3:58, so that really put things in perspective. Another way to look at this race is that I was almost exactly the same time that I ran at my final 1500 last year. So to start where I left off last year is pretty exciting. About 10 days from now, I'll be racing again at Willamette in Oregon. I think it will be a 1500, which will be really exciting to get another crack at it. A few pics from California below, you can click them for a larger image.
I took a look back to my 1500 season openers in my past two years and realized that it always took at least a few races to get into the 4:05 range each year. Those years ended with a 3:58, so that really put things in perspective. Another way to look at this race is that I was almost exactly the same time that I ran at my final 1500 last year. So to start where I left off last year is pretty exciting. About 10 days from now, I'll be racing again at Willamette in Oregon. I think it will be a 1500, which will be really exciting to get another crack at it. A few pics from California below, you can click them for a larger image.
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| Team Picture in San Diego |
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| Celebration after watching the UAA Basketball team win an NCAA Regional Championship |
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| The Granddaddy of Them All |
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| The Rose Bowl |
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| Downtown L.A. to catch a Kings/Wings Game |
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| Chirpin' |
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| San Diego Coastline |
3.12.2012
Go Time
I ran a pretty solid one last night. I was entered in my 2nd 5000, and if you recall on my blog last year I didn't have a very good outing the first time. 9:00 through 3k and a 6:31 last 2k to be exact. But this time was different. I went 8:57 and hung on better with 6:08 to finish in 15:05. Of course there's a lot of work to be done if I want to sneak into some big races this year, but as a first race of the season and a sizable PB, I won't complain. Another reason not to complain is the fact that I'm in Southern California for 10 days to get some fast races in the warm weather.
I'm racing again next week - a 1500 on Friday, and an 800 on Saturday. I'm certainly looking for a couple more PB's next week, and there really won't be any excuses not to. If any of you readers have ever attended the London Runner's distance races in the past, you know what a perfect race is like. Tons of runners all looking to run fast times under the lights with no wind and perfect temperatures. That's what it was like yesterday. It's no wonder everyone comes to California every spring to run blazing fast times, it's perfect weather every single day. There were 5 heats of men's 5000 runners each with 30 runners and there was definitely no sitting and kicking going on. Just a bunch of dudes running really quick. The Seawolves had some really solid performances last night and I'm going to start putting results up on the schedule/results page as soon as I get a hold of them.
I'll post another blog after next week's races - hopefully some big times to talk about!
I'm racing again next week - a 1500 on Friday, and an 800 on Saturday. I'm certainly looking for a couple more PB's next week, and there really won't be any excuses not to. If any of you readers have ever attended the London Runner's distance races in the past, you know what a perfect race is like. Tons of runners all looking to run fast times under the lights with no wind and perfect temperatures. That's what it was like yesterday. It's no wonder everyone comes to California every spring to run blazing fast times, it's perfect weather every single day. There were 5 heats of men's 5000 runners each with 30 runners and there was definitely no sitting and kicking going on. Just a bunch of dudes running really quick. The Seawolves had some really solid performances last night and I'm going to start putting results up on the schedule/results page as soon as I get a hold of them.
I'll post another blog after next week's races - hopefully some big times to talk about!
2.11.2012
I Said It And I Still Mean It
Things have been going really well up north since school resumed almost a month ago. Firstly, I couldn't be more satisfied with the way I've been running lately. As I was talking a lot about in my last blog, I got to put in some solid work back home over the holidays to get ready for this season and it's starting to pay off. Since Christmas, it seems like every workout has been better than the last. I've just been in a really nice groove where it seems like everything is falling right into place. Cross country and track seem like night and day already, and the outdoor season hasn't even begun. The Kevin from cross country season seems like a distant memory that I would really like to forget about. But the truth is that I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't run so poorly in cross country. As time goes on, I'm beginning to understand that the cross country season wasn't a failure at all. Just like Good ol' Thomas Edison said, "I haven't failed, I've just found 10 000 ways that don't work." Let's be honest here, I found a whole load of ways that didn't work in cross country. But those mistakes I made were the ones that needed to be fixed for this season, and I think that because I'm taking care of what I need to I've been able to get back on track and I couldn't be more psyched for the season to begin. We're about a month out from our first race, so now it's all about consistency in workouts and stringing together good, hard weeks of running. As soon as I get racing, I'll try to throw up some more blog posts and update the Schedule/Results page. Until then, you can be sure that the Seawolves are working hard for a big season and that we'll be ready to rock and roll in California 27 days from now.
1.16.2012
Back to School
I just landed in Anchorage yesterday, and I've got to say that I'm pretty disappointed with this weather. For a month, I've been spoiled with no snow and daily temperatures above freezing making it perfect for some solid running in Toronto. But sadly, my good luck didn't follow me up north. I arrived in the Airport to hear the pilot say "Welcome to Anchorage, where we have clear skies and a temperature of -6 Fahrenheit". It's almost a 40 degree drop in the temperature I had when I left Toronto, and understandably I wasn't really excited at all when I walked out of the airport. The only other time I've spent outside so far has been to go to and from the treadmill in a building across the street, and honestly I really didn't even want to walk that far. Hopefully things warm up in the next few days for school on Tuesday. I have to say that I'm pumped for this semester. Maybe it was the long break or the idea of getting back to training with the team, but either way I'm ready for school to begin.
This time around, I'll be coming into track season with a good idea of where I'm at in terms of fitness, and what I need to do to translate my fitness into fast times on the track. Over the break I had a chance to run some of the major workouts I did in high school, as well as running some longer tempos faster than I ever have before. The good news is that I've never been this fit in January. One of the ways I've always been able to track progress is by looking back at myself one year ago at the same time in my season and comparing my fitness to this year. In cross country season, I was definitely behind on my grade 12 fitness albeit due to an injury, but things have really gone well this past month and now I can certainly say that I'm ahead of January 2011. Also, apart from a little turnover, I feel that I'm just as aerobically fit as I was in the beginning of April last year. It's obviously a good sign that I've been able to develop a significant base, but now I've got about six weeks where I'll need to focus on gearing up and getting into racing shape. I'm still not sure what I'll be running as my main event, but I don't think there is any question it will be either the 1500 or 5000. I guess time will tell. Apart from training, there really isn't too much going on in Anchorage to talk about. I'll try to put up another blog as soon as track (and hopefully the weather) starts to heat up.
This time around, I'll be coming into track season with a good idea of where I'm at in terms of fitness, and what I need to do to translate my fitness into fast times on the track. Over the break I had a chance to run some of the major workouts I did in high school, as well as running some longer tempos faster than I ever have before. The good news is that I've never been this fit in January. One of the ways I've always been able to track progress is by looking back at myself one year ago at the same time in my season and comparing my fitness to this year. In cross country season, I was definitely behind on my grade 12 fitness albeit due to an injury, but things have really gone well this past month and now I can certainly say that I'm ahead of January 2011. Also, apart from a little turnover, I feel that I'm just as aerobically fit as I was in the beginning of April last year. It's obviously a good sign that I've been able to develop a significant base, but now I've got about six weeks where I'll need to focus on gearing up and getting into racing shape. I'm still not sure what I'll be running as my main event, but I don't think there is any question it will be either the 1500 or 5000. I guess time will tell. Apart from training, there really isn't too much going on in Anchorage to talk about. I'll try to put up another blog as soon as track (and hopefully the weather) starts to heat up.
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