Week 11: (Dropping the) Hammer time

(Monday, 5 November)
Monday workouts really mess with me. ~3-3.30 on times 3, 2 on times 2, 1 on times 2. Ran hard but trying to keep it under some degree of control. Also trying to get some rest and focus before Saturday. Gotta rest and get in my zone.

(Tuesday, 6 November)
45 minutes easy. Nice to chill out around South Pas. Some caca hit the fan today in terms of work, but I'm just going to keep on top of it and stay in control and visualize Oregon. Legs okay. Hips were bothering me after the run yesterday but today they feel better.

Today Oregon is still feeling kinda far away in a hazy way, but my goals for the race are starting to gel in my mind. I'm visualizing that razor edge between outside-the-comfort-zone but sustainable, and red zoning it.

(Wednesday, 7 November)
Played hooky from normal practice to run on my own in the morning, and it helped me formulate my plan for Saturday. I am now feeling like I have an attack strategy. I will elaborate later.

Overall, legs feeling pretty good. I need to keep soliciting massages, and rolling, and icing, and I think things will continue to improve. And, I can't get too antsy during the workout tomorrow. Kangway's right: no more running hard until the big day.

Also, I lifted after running, which I think is the winning combination. It made me feel really good. Didn't do the leg press though, because I think it effs with my knees. Iced the hips and hung out with Erin.

(Thursday, 8 November)
4-3-2-1 at Lacy. It was nice to do something short and sweet. I said hello to the edge but didn't work too hard. I'm focusing on Saturday, so this was just to get my feet moving. Still thinking about and honing my plan. I practiced thinking about my form when my mind started to wander.

Stressing about school and such, but I've decided not to bring any work with me to Oregon. Just a book and a dream.

(Friday, 9 November)
Oregon. We flew out in the morning with the added delight of having Oxy on the plane with us. Once we finally got in some vans, we got ready to run the course and proceeded to get horribly, inexorably lost. After driving for about an hour, we made it to within a mile from the course, which of course was closed and it was dark. We drove back (not getting lost), ran 25 minutes around a shopping mall, and ate at the Old Spaghetti factory clad only in spandex (okay, that was me.) Then shopping happened (Susan bought me a pair of black gloves) and we got food for the AM.

I felt nervous and scared, and stressed that we hadn't seen the course, but tried not to freak out. By after dinner I was pretty relaxed, and stretched and read my book for a little while before falling asleep. I slept like the dead, very peacefully -- it was the best sleep I've gotten in a long time.

(Saturday, 10 November) REGIONALS, LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE, OREGON
Results. Ate some good breakfast, and made it to the course to run the loop as warmup. I was glad to see the entire course, and it was beautiful. Fairly flat, fairly good footing, and the perfect weather. Sunny, but not warm, and I didn't even need my gloves.

I was not pleased to sit at the start line waiting for the race to start, but I did get a chance to chuckle that they said my name on the loudspeaker.

The plan was: go out steady but in control the first lap (3k), and then to increase my tempo after that until I was right on the edge, and keep it there until the finish.

What actually happened: I went out a little fast (6.33) because of the excitement; it was hard to get my pace locked in, because everyone else was so darn fast (it is regionals I suppose.) After that, I had to tell myself: "Don't fuck this up, think about your pace here and get control back now; you gotta save up for the plan." Two miles rolled around in about 13.35 (I forget the exact time) but I remember thinking, "Okay, that was a 7 minute mile, that was your rest, you're back where you want to be now and ahead of where you were at conferences (14.00), so pick it up a little and think about how good you're feeling, and how much you have left in the tank".

At this point the first lap was done, and here's where I dropped off the plan a bit. I didn't go immediately at the second lap; I was quite alone at this point and didn't really get in my head to go until I was up and over the slight hill about 400 meters past the start area; I think this is what cost me those 7 seconds. Once I got up there though, I told myself that this was it, and to move my feet downhill as fast as I could. I started picking some folks off on the downhill parts, and having Matt's parents and Steve's parents yelling at me really, really helped.

I blanked out around then, but the next thing I knew I was at the 3 mile mark in about 20.25, and two things popped into my head. First, I was passing Julia Tyack, who I knew was usually faster than me and had been just ahead of me at Conferences. So I knew I was in a good place. I was scared to pass her, but I was speeding up to really get to the red line at this point, and it was a fairly decisive pass. Second, I knew that I ran my last 1200 at Conferences in 4.30, so there was a SLIGHT possibility that I could break 25 minutes. So I started trying to speed up and trying to speed up. I thought of what Diana used to say - doing your best is never going to be easy.

Surprisingly, with 800-1000m to go I passed Stephanie, and it was like she wasn't even moving. I felt bad and wished that she would come along, but it didn't happen. At this point I was feeling the edge for sure, but I wished that I had gotten there sooner. The last minute went by really fast, and I heard someone yelling for the girl in front of me that "a chaser (me) was coming". I didn't catch her but I hope she was scared. I saw the clock at 25.05 and knew I hadn't made it, and I was bummed out. But it was still a PR, so I shouldn't complain. If I had had one more race this season, I could have done it. I'm almost positive. Overall I was a little too in control and not quite gutsy enough. But this is something that I think will start to come more naturally to me in track season this year.

Afterwards I ate a ton of brownies courtesy of Steve's mom and cookies from Megumi, and I got to have a nice stop-and-chat with Leer. Holy SHIT the guy looks good. Even more than usual, he seemed fit, relaxed, and exuded a really positive attitude. I felt like I was seeing him really in his element. It was nice to see a friendly face.

I also ran into a few folks from PHS XC: Carolyn Jaeger (23.29, UCSC), Alli Rowe (23.35, Colorado College), and Jesse Baldridge (26.44, UPS). It was good to see them, but also more than a little depressing to see that I'm still pathetically slow in comparison to them. I guess progress is relative. But I would have gotten a great deal of satisfaction if I'd been closer to how fast they are now then I was back in the day.

(Sunday, 11 November)
Taking a few days off. Going to lift weights and ride my bike this week.