sub 26 XC 8k

Yes I am going to take it easier the next two weeks as I peak for the last indoor meet on February 15th, but no I am not overtrained. I have run every workout faster than the last one, so to say I am overtrained is foolish. And yes 2:30 recovery felt unnecessary, I agree, and will change it for the future. At worst by 90-120 seconds I felt 100%. Like I said I was sick. And thanks, I am feeling much better now and am excited for tomorrow.

interesting. what is your overall goal then running wise? do you feel you have an absorbant amount of untapped potential? or you just want to run D1 and be competitive for the next couple years? to clarify, do you think you have crazy fast times in you, or probably just 1:52/4:14 type times in you (which are excellent of course, but not in the most upper tier of collegiate times)

it seems OP had another bad day. 1:59.90

winner went 1:55 for his heat, no idea of splits.

I wouldn't necessarily say the first race was a bad day, but certainly a mediocre one. It seems the sickness I had earlier in the week is having a second wind, because I wasn't feeling great last night or today.

Splits: We went out very slow probably 28-29 and 58high-59high through the quarter. I sat mid pack 5th ish up until I heard the 400m split at which point a made a rather large move from 400-650m and moved all the way up next to the 2nd place runner. From 650 to the end I just couldn't hold pace and ended up getting passed badly. While some people can negative split/run even like that in an 800m, it is always hard for me. My best 800s I am always out in 55-56 in the first lap, coming through in 59mid for the first lap is a bad strategy for me.

then why didn't you take it out harder after the first 200? all the workouts you've posted the last few months indicate you're in exceptionally good shape. my high school teammates who drop 1:58s aren't nearly as strong as you and couldn't do a lot of the workouts. whats the washington coach said to you? do you think you will drop a 1:55 soon? any other distances you're going after? i think a 1500/mile might be worth a shot.

I should have, and yes I regret not doing that. I'd prefer not to lead, but hindsight being 20/20 I would have taken the race from the gun and went out in 55-56. I was sick earlier this week and am still have a cough etc. so I think that played a role.

I agree that the workouts that I have done indicate that I can run faster than 1:58.3. I'd be curious to hear what they are doing for workouts. What do you think my recent workouts indicate? I think a 1:55-1:56 is what I am capable despite not showing it on the track. I may do a time trial this week if I can find someone run against or someone to run rabbit part of the 800.

The coach hasn't given me an actual time. I talked to him earlier this week but I didn't talk to him after my race because I know 1:59 isn't good enough.

I have one more indoor race left two weeks from tomorrow. I have thought about trying the mile in the last indoor race, but will probably stick to the 800. After that, there are no more indoor meets that I can compete in so I am thinking of taking a 5 day break and then gearing back up for outdoors. I'll start the outdoor season on March 22nd and will race until the second week of May. During outdoors, I'll probably focus on the 1500m.

so...3 weeks ago my team did these 290m hill repeats, and averaged 55 seconds (roughly 2.5% grade, not that steep). 12 repeats.

this friday i did the same workout but without some of the teammates, so i had to lead. averaged 54s and it felt much easier. i'd like to do this workout again to gauge improvement, but i dont think we're planning to do it again. 54s for 290m is 5:02/mi, which is faster than i ran 12x400 last week, although neither workout was very hard.

next friday is a ladder workout on the track so i'll finally get to see where my speed is at.

try hard...maybe try to double in the Mile and 800...it seems like your training has been geared more towards longer races than the 800. A lot of 800 meter runners that I know are running 30-40mpw right now at this point in the season. I think you're training is more fitted towards the mile. And if you run two races you'll have the opportunity to redeem yourself if the first race goes south.

so regardless of how your next race goes (unless you blow the doors off and drop a 1:53 out of nowhere) you aren't going to be on the UW roster for the remainder of this school year right? do you have a chance to make it outdoor or you're probably going to finish out this semester unattached? your goal is to make the UW team right? what are your plans if it doesn't happen by the end of May? how do you like UW overall socially and academically? will you stay and try to try out for XC for Fall 2014? just curious what your plan is and your big picture thinking is for all of this.

for my teammates, I can't offer much. Honestly your workouts look great. I'm really unsure why you can't put the time together. Thousands of high schoolers are running 1:59/2:00 right now so for you to make a solid D1 roster I just think you really have to stand out and make the bump to that faster time. It really seems like you have it in you. I'd recommend going for the mile in your next race. The aerobic workouts you were doing a couple months ago were strong, even those 1k repeats were impressive. Come through in 2:10 and then just hammer that last 800 and try to go sub 4:20. That's what I would do, I'm sure that would interest the UW coach more than another 1:58 type result.

had a workout tuesday that i forgot to post:

ran moderately hard for an 8.5 mile hilly trail loop. i was trying to get the fastest known time for the loop, which previously was about 6:40/mi avg. i averaged 6:15-6:20 for the loop. went hard on the first 3 miles uphill and took things easier on the last 5 miles downhill. not quite the effort of a tempo run, but a solid 15 minutes of hard hill-climbing. 13 miles day overall

just spent a while putting together some comparative data from this january vs last january, so here it is

2013: 302.9 miles, 7:18/mi average pace.

9 workouts:

tempo (4) (total 16.3 mi, 5:51/mi)

hills (1)

fartlek (3) (total 18.5 mi, 5:54/mi)

track (1) (5x1600 in 5:19)

2014: 295.6 miles. 6:59/mi average pace.

9 workouts:

tempo (3) (~5:38/mi)

hills (2)

fartlek (2) (total 12.9 mi, 5:46/mi)

track (2) (4x1600 in 5:13)

Ya i think you should move up to the 1500/mile. you are training like a miler. I was doing 50-60 miles with tempos and fartleks before I got injured with plantar fasciitis. My coach is making the mid distance guys do mostly speed.

I was in your situation when i was a freshman. I was training by myself freshman year. I was also training towards to making to the xc team. I go to a D1 school. I did 800m races and 1-2 1500m races. Ran horribly in the 800 (2:08.. pr was 2:04) and showed signs I could do well in the 1500 race. (1600m pr in high school was 4:50 and 1500m pr at the time was 4:31. I took 2 months off during fall 2011 so that was surprising I ran that time).

I surprisingly got a spot on the xc team. I ran okay during my first season although I got injured during the summer and season. During track season, I went from 4:31 to 4:19. My training at the time was depended on mileage (50 mpw) because workouts were on grass since we don't have a track. Ran less 800s (still ran 2:08). But this season Im hoping to break 2 especially I got the correct training.

I wouldn't double. I did that last year when I did 1500m and 800m. I pr'd in the 1500, but I died in the 800.

M 6.4, 6:44

T 12.9 w/8mi hilly moderate tempo

W 7.4, 7:13

Th 9.2, 7:02 in the mud

F 10 w/track ladder. 400(68.6) 800(2:26) 1200(3:44) 1200(3:43) 800(2:24) 400(63.7 with equal time recoveries. hard workout, first real speedy stuff this year

Sa 6/6 double, 7:30s for both

Su 13.1 "long run" 7:08/mi in the mud

total 71.0 @7:01/mi

back to some respectable mileage this week, hoping to keep it over 70 for a while now

i've got 5x1600 in 4 hours. and a 3k on friday. i don't think mile repeats correlate much for a 3k, but if i can average 5:05s, I think that'd be a good sign. i'll put on spikes for the first time since last May. last time i did mile repeats i was feeling pretty beat up and ran 5:15/5:15/5;10/5;10.

felt like poop in the warmup, and during strides, which ended up being like 50m at 5:20 pace. then once we start, i'm fine.

5:08.51(2:34/2:34), 5:09.96(2:36/2:34), 5:08.29(2:34/2:34), 5:06.17(2:33/2:33), 5:01.51 (2:31/2:30)

5:06.89 avg

3 minute jogging recoveries. whole workout was in spikes, which was my first time this season. definitely not going to the well, though i considered throwing down a fast final 100 to go sub 5, but decided against it. racing on friday, so i need to take it easy.

my past best mile repeat session was 5:08.x avg for the same exact workout, in peak XC shape. a year ago today, 3 days out from the same 3k, i did this session in 5:16 avg and ran 9:36. probably was in 9:20 shape, but i had a bad race. so if i'm 10 sec/mi ahead, that puts me right about 9:00

Solid workout! 3:00 jog is a lot of rest though. I would try to break 9:00 in the 3k. Gotta beat Efraimson haha.

Running the mile this weekend on Sunday. Been very busy with school. Will post in more depth later.

You should be able to break 9. Last year I opened up with a 8:56 (ran it once) and probably wouldn't have been able to hit those splits for 5xmile. Let 'er rip.

yeah the rest was a little much, but we ALWAYS do 3 minutes for our mile repeats. i like keeping it that way for comparisons sake. besides. the 3 minutes is nice for the last couple.

and if my running "career" doesnt work out, i'll keep training, and start being a rabbit. i've come to realize that i think it's pretty fun to nail splits. i feel like you could pick a number between 60 and 85 and i could hit within 0.5 for a lap. especially a 70, 75, or 77. those are my best for some reason.

and yeah, cain and efraimson's PRs are definitely the target, though my race is outdoors. might be a tad warm...may be 80 that day, but the race is about an hour before the sun goes down.

running "career"? are you trying to make a collegiate team like the OP?

there's a reason i put career in quotes. it's quite obvious that running won't be an integral part of my career.

an no i'm not trying to make any team