Summer Training, Start of Fall, and a Look Ahead

Summer Training :On Saturday May, 2nd I took a terrible tumble at the end of a road/XC race that effectively ended my track season about a month early. I took 8 days off entirely from running and then very gradually brought my mileage back up going from 14 to 20 to 34 miles a week running relaxed and easy. From my CMS days the summer training officially begins in June, and because of that, I still count my summer miles starting June 1st. The past few years my opening week in June has been around 70 miles and then escalates from there. This year I was so set back my first week in June was just over 50% of years previous with a 36 mile week. By the end of June I had hit 60 miles a week and was actually ready to start with real training. I totaled 208.89 miles (6.9/day) in June, 338.17 miles (11/day) in July and 355.15(11.5/day) in August with a 80+ mile week up in Tahoe with my the current CMS XC squad. Seen below. However the biggest deal out of that is, for the 4th year in a row I cracked 900 miles for the summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I just did most of it all in 2 months time time ....)

In the final week of August I began workouts for the XC season in San Diego. Until this point I had only run base pace and LSD pace with a "final mile" pickups where I would cover the last mile of a run in ~5:20-5:30 pace. My preparation in September has been a mix of the usual base and long runs mixed with tempo efforts, 10 mile hard base runs and the signature CMS workout - 1k repeats. From here on out I will try and detail each week's workouts but for now this small snippet will have to suffice.

The Start of Fall My first race back to kick of the '09 XC season was my typical season opener up in Santa Barbara for the CMS - Westmont Alumni meet. The meet this year was changed to be an even 4 miles to avoid the bizarre 4.123xxx distance it ran years previous. The race went out fast but felt very relaxed as the first mile was passed in 5-flat.  As we navigated parking lots and a steep hill coming into the new and unknown turnaround the pace slowed considerably as the 2 mile turnaround was hit in 10:37. I freaked out knowing I have very little speed due to a short track season, and about 8 months off competitive running before that, and I took off. I came through the 3 mile in 15:33 to clock a 4:56 3rd mile (with a small DH) which is right were a running shot passed me. I could do little to gap him as I was already at top gear and I just maintained into the finish line losing 6 more places falling to 8th place with a 20:39 clocking which is a 5:06 final mile. I am very happy with this result as its right around my average mile 2 years ago where I won L&C meet in Oregon (25:57 for 8k).

Race #2: This was my first official Dirt Dog XC race and my first XC race for BSK. The race was the City College 10k which consisted of 4 by 2.5 km loops around a park on varied surfaces; including grass, dirt, mulch, and rail road tracks. I clocked 34:49 for a 6th place (5th place in USATF standings) finish and was at the highest only 7th position during the whole race. The time is relatively slow as its 3:28/km or 5:36/mile. I wince when I see this time as I have split faster than that for much longer training runs (eg: 55 minutes for 10 miles). However the effort was much greater and my falling over with exhaustion at the finish line was an indicator of my effort. Here is Team BSK minutes before the gun.

On the plus side my 5th place finish put my as our teams #2 guy and we won the men's team competition with 29 points moving our team into 3rd place overall. My finish garnered me 66 points towards the overall individual crown and after that one race I'm in 13th place. Note on the left: here we have just a great photo mid race by our injured Sergio.

 

 

 

A Look Ahead: The season is pretty laid out for me, I know exactly when my races are, the lengths and my entire training plan is laid out and set in stone up till November 14th. This is something I am rather excited about. The race calendar goes as follows:

09.26   Bonita Stampede - 8k
10.03   Balboa Boogie - 5k
10.17   Cougar Challenge - 8k
10.31   Cuyamaca SixK - 6k
11.14   USATF Champs - 4 mile

There are some large gaps in there w/o races but I have 4 mile tempo runs on those days. I don't really have any goals yet as time goals would be hard with the lack of a specific distance, however I would love to clock an 8k PR at the Cougar Challenge, but besides that I would like to finish top 10 at every one of these races, as to finish top 10 in the overall individual standings.