I will admit, there is always a little bit of pressure to perform well in your first race for the season. Last season ended fairly well with a few good performances in national level races. This year, however, is important in a different way. It is laced with expectations to follow through and improve upon last year's rookie season. So, although the first race of the year is not the most important, it is crucial in finding out where you stand in your levels of fitness as well as where you stand among competition.
Last week was my biggest week of milage this year, totaling 120 miles with a day off. I have to say I felt really strong during the entire week, and although I felt a day off was necessary, I was able to hit a back to back the two days afterward to make up for lost time. Here was the last weeks total....
WEEK 5: JAN 25- JAN 31
M- AM 65 min, 10 miles
PM 95 min, 13 miles
T- 164 min, 22.5 miles
W-AM 56 min, 8 miles
PM 65 min, 10 miles
T- AM 40 min, 6 miles
PM 41 min, 6 miles
F- day off
S- 202 min, team CRUD 23 miles
S- 147 min, 21.5 miles
TOTAL: 120 MILES, 14 hrs 35 min, 7:12 min/mile
This week has been great in a lot of ways too. I have just moved into my new apartment, and now it is possible to run from my place to Garden of the Gods in 30 minutes using mostly trails. Now most of my miles include a variety of bike trails, jeep trails, and singletrack, which is the perfect mix when training for trail races. Also, there is quite a bit of elevation gain on the way to Garden of the Gods, with quite a bit of loss on the way back. This allows for my legs to get a healthy dose of hilly miles, along with a chance to stretch my legs out and lengthen my stride for some fast miles on the way back.
Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how the elevation, along with the hilly terrain of Colorado Springs have helped me get into shape this season. I'm anxiously awaiting the moment to prove myself in a race setting, especially against my "ghost" of last year.
Good work brother. As like you the first race of the season is not my most important. I use it as a way to see where I'm at physically. I haven't checked the entrants list lately but if Ivan Marsh shows up he may be your only competition. Rick Mayo might be in good shape also but I haven't heard from him in awhile so I'm not sure about him. There are also a lot of good runners coming down from Minnesota and one from Oklahoma Tom Brennan. He's won the Arkansas Traveler a couple of times. I'll be cheering you all on from the sidelines. Good Luck to you.
ReplyDeleteWell...your training paid-off with a record performance! You were strong the whole race. If the mud had been a little less diarhea-like, you'd have had a sub-4, I'd say. Woo-hoo!
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