Last Few Days of Training

Everything hurts. Everything. No, not in a bad way (for those worried about me getting injured etc..). But my legs are sore, tired, and have a general feeling of animosity towards me. This is supposed to be a recovery week, or so I was told. I am thankful to be healthy though, because this is the worst, yet best feeling a distance runner can have. There is an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment when you complete a tough workout or fast time trial in personal record fashion. The ice cold water taste a little better and the crisp, refreshing taste of a cold beer feels well deserved.

The last few days of training have been productive for the most part. The team was finally able to run the time trial on Wednesday night after being postponed Tuesday and shortly delayed Wednesday night due to lightning. The entire team did amazingly well and is looking excellent for the upcoming season. I ran a huge PR and was extremely pleased with my performance! I finished with a 15:34, which is a 54 second PR over 3 miles. My splits were as follows: 5:14, 10:24 (5:10), and 15:34 (5:10). Last 800 meters was 2:31 and final 400 was a 73. The team results were as follows: Patrick Krol: 15:15, Joey D'Eramo: 15:16, Blake Woolums: 15:18, Julius Michael: 15:27, Clint Anders: 15:31, Travis Kocurek: 15:34. This will be great for cross country because we are all fit and close together in the standings, which is essential for scoring as low a score as possible in a meet.

Generally speaking, everything is going great right now, with the exception of Friday's run. I was tired from the time trial and the crazy bike ride Clint, Pat, and I had on Thursday. I will just shrug it off as a bad day and move past it enthusiastically into the days of training that lie ahead. The opening meet of the season will be a 3 mile this coming Friday at U of H. I am as fit as I could hope to be at this point in time and am looking forward to the upcoming cross country season!

Wednesday 8/26: 6 miles total (3 mile TT at 15:34)
Thursday 8/27: 4.5 miles total, easy + 23 mile bike ride (just over one hour, average 21 MPH on ride)
Friday 8/28: 6 miles total (5 miles at 6:10 pace, felt awful from TT and bike ride. Supposed to run 8 miles at 5:45 pace but legs would have none of it!)
Saturday 8/29: 6 miles total (4 miles easy + 8x200 meters fast uphill)