Skip to main content

Ready To Go...

Just wanted to get in one last post before heading to Houston this weekend. Tapering's been going well, and I had my last workout of this season on Tuesday: 4 x 1k at tempo pace (I averaged right around 3:05, which is near 5:00 pace, which is near goal half marathon pace). Nothing too crazy for that workout, just something to get the legs turning over and feeling race pace.

Like any diligent racer, I've also been religiously checking the weather in Houston. It looks like, compared to the past couple weeks here (highs in the single digits, below-zero wind chills), it should be just about perfect down there. A nightly low around 45 warming up to 65 by mid-day (so it should hover right around 50 degrees for the race), with no precipitation in the forecast and winds below 10 mph? Can't ask for anything better than that.

And of course, what pre-race post would be complete without the shameless self-promotion? The race starts at 6:55 am Central Time, so for everyone in the east that's basically 8 am Sunday morning. The best part? You can stream the race on USATF.TV starting at 7:50 EST. I probably won't ever make the live stream, but you should watch it anyway.

So anyway, I'm excited to get down there and see how it all plays out. This is the culmination of my fall racing season, and I know I'm in very good shape. After a breakthrough 1:05:28 in November, this is going to be my best chance for the next few months to drop 29 more seconds and hit the Olympic Trials qualifier. Why no go for it with the best in the US?

I'm psyched because I've got no pressure on this race. Of course the goal is sub-1:05 -- that's everything I've been dedicating my training towards. If (when) I get it, I'll be ecstatic. But even if I don't, I can't be disappointed. This past year -- and especially this fall -- has been a tremendous improvement in my training, and it's shown in many of the races I've run. I've set road race PRs at every major distance from 5k to half marathon. That's a testament to the progress I've made towards the Trials standards, and so hopefully this race will be the realization of that progress.

But if not, hey oh well, no big deal. That doesn't take away from the strides I've made in the past year. And I'll still have another year to nab that sub-1:05 / sub-2:18. So what the hell, I can't pick any better time, weather, or competition to go for it.

I'll only be disappointed if I run between 1:05:00 and 1:05:15. To be so close and yet so far...that's just agonizing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Base Training the Lydiard Way

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while, but just haven't really gotten around to it. This is for anyone using the summer to gear up for a fall season of racing, whether that's a marathon, road races, or cross country. That said, this is especially for you high school and college athletes. Summer is the most important time of the season. It's when you build your base -- everything that's to come later in the fall is determined by the quality of this base. In fact, some might even say that your end-of-season peak is limited by how well you trained over the summer. Arthur Lydiard believed this. And his philosophies still form the foundation of modern-day distance training. You've probably heard (and maybe internalized) many of the common critiques of Lydiard-style training: it's old and outdated , or it's too hard, or, most common, it's just a lot of long slow distance. And low slow distance makes for long slow runners . The lat...
2 comments
Read more

Why I Love Running At Withrow

One of my favorite places to do workouts and strides and general fast stuff is the track at Withrow High School in Hyde Park. No, it's not because of the newly renovated surface. No, it's not because it's a perfect 10-minute warmup and cooldown jog from my house. No, it's not because I'm a nerd and it has markings for both a 1600 and a mile. No, it's not because the school building forms a perfect "L" around the homestretch and first turn, sheltering the field from any drastic wind. No, it's not because I spent four years during college running workouts there. Actually, wait, that is part of it. The reason I love Withrow's track so much can be summed up like this: it's a true public track. If you've ever been to the track, then you know how packed it can get with people using it. And it's not just Withrow High School teams and random individuals -- the track is also regularly used by many other local high schools witho...
1 comment
Read more

My Unpopular Opinion, v2

With Cincinnati's very own Queen Bee Half Marathon coming up, I wanted to get this out there: I absolutely abhor all-women's races. I don't think they should exist. I don't even think they should be called races. I'm not going to link to any race websites because I don't want to give them the dignity. They may be worse than color runs and other novelty events in my book. Before you call me a sexist and a male chauvinist pig, hear me out: I don't think all-women's events are necessary any more . This isn't the era of race directors physically pulling Katharine Switzer out of a race specifically because she's a woman; rather, women make up the majority of participants in running events today. Thirty or forty years ago, when road running was an all-male endeavor, women's-only events definitely had a place. But now, nearly every race is a majority female affair. Road races are already women's races -- making some specifically only  for wo...
4 comments
Read more