FLOAT ON

First day in Auburn, Alabama and the weather was perfect for running, 16 (61F) and sunny.  Tim Konoval and I met up with Pete Watson and the team and did a 15km hilly loop in a State forest this afternoon.  Seems like there is a bunch of good places to run in the area.

 The Boston race was a success.  I ran a PB of 7:53.51 and felt good doing it, must be the new spikes… the NB 1005 are seriously amazing though.  My km splits were 2:38, 2:39, 2:36.  Kyle King got the race going, I took over the lead at the 1500m mark (3:58) from Gillis and then got passed by Sean Quigley (who won in 7:52.47) with 600m to go.  I’m very pleased with how the season is going, I took a day off and now it’s back to hammering.

Here’s the interview the night before the race (BGP’s for Gillis) http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=163&id=7847

and the race http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=163&id=8077

After the race Gillis and I went right over to Boston Indoor Games and watched the rest of the races there.  I’m glad I didn’t race that 3000m as it would of forced me to go out faster than I want at this time of the season.  It’s too bad that race doesn’t take place in mid-February, but oh well, fun to watch nonetheless.  I really need to run a 3000m when I’m in race shape.. maybe an opportunity this summer will present itself…

If you made the connection between the blog title and where I’m going be training for the next few weeks then you must be a Neil Young fan.  At one point a couple of months ago it looked like the Speed River contingent was going to be six strong down in Auburn but, due to an injury and race schedules it will be Tim Konoval and myself.  Lately the temperature in Guelph has been hovering around the -10C mark (14F) and yesterday it dumped enough snow to make my morning run slow as molasses and relegated my afternoon run to the treadmill.  Needless to say I’m looking forward to running in shorts and on dirt.  Tim and I will be driving the 1000 miles back from Auburn to Guelph whenever we feel like it.

Before I go to Auburn I’m making a stop in Boston to run a 3000m at the Terrier Invitational.  Three Kilometers on the track will just about double the total amount of track running I’ve done for the month of January.  This is the time of the year for longer tempos and high volumes of fartlek for myself.  The reason why we put this race into the schedule is to have a faster session, it’s pretty much a VO2Max workout and, simply put, it’s fun.  That evening we’ll be heading to watch the Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center, should be some great races there once again.

This will also be my first race with my new sponsor, New Balance.  OK, OK, more on reasons for switching later…

Today I ran a 1500m at the University of Toronto.  I won the race in 3:51.16 (61, 2:02, 3:05) and it felt pretty good considering that I haven’t been on the track much this season. Taylor Milne took the race out for a few laps, then Gillis took over for a couple of laps and then I took over for a couple of laps before Ryan Finn gave me a good run into the last straight where I re-passed him.  In general I’m very happy with my fitness and my body has held up decently well with the mileage and now I know I’m doing alright in the speed department….at least in the “getting ready for a spring 10,000m” department.   Toronto Results.

So the news I’m excited about is that from now on I’ll be running with New Balance.  Reebok had great service and I really enjoyed being on the same team as Kevin Sullivan and Nate Brannen but, overall New Balance is going to be a better situation for me, I’ll get into the switch a little more next post.  NB makes awesome shoes and gear and I’m very pumped to start racing in their spikes and flats.  Lighter spikes and flats may just give me the extra few seconds alone, haha.

Next week Eric Gillis and I are off to Boston to race a 3000m at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University. 

13 guys in the first section today- Nine from the Speed River/University of Guelph training group.

Quick update here… I hit 184km last week, the most ever for me in a calendar week.  All of my workouts have felt good, which is not always the case when I get to a higher ground with my mileage.  My legs definitely felt it this morning as I struggled my 60 minute run at about 4:20/km pace and definitely was not “sailin”.  In the afternoon I felt way better for my 45 minute run.  It baffles me that I can feel so crappy and so much better on the same day only six hours later. 

I’m going to “race” a 1500m this weekend at U of Toronto with a few of the other Speed River guys.  This is going to be a speed session to get my legs ready for a 3000m in Boston on the 26th.   This is the least I’ve been on the track in the past 10 years in January so it should be pretty interesting to say the least. 

I’m heading South for a couple of training camps this winter.  I’ll touch on that and some other exciting news soon.

Adios

Pop quiz.  There was only one event in 2007 on the men’s side in Canada where there were four athletes ranked in the top 100 in the world.  What event was it?

Hints:  CBC has not given any airtime to this event at the National Championships in the past four years.  It is a track event.  It is run at the National Track and Field Championships, not Abbotsford.  The event consists of running between 12 and 13 laps of a standard outdoor track.  It is half the distance of the longest track event held at the Olympics.

So I changed around the look of the blog a bit.  There are going to be a few more changes on the way.  I’m very excited about them, stay tuned…

Global Warming?

December 22nd, 2007

January 9th, 2008.

What a difference four and eight years can make.  At the beginning of 2000 my goal was to make the Canadian Olympic trials and I ran a huge PB to dip under the 14:40 qualifying standard for the 5000m by less than a second, and then I eclipsed the 1500m standard of 3:53 by less than a second as well.  At the start of 2004 I had PB’s of 3:46 (1500m) and 13:53 (5000m), quite a ways off the Olympic standards.  Even going into the 2004 Olympic trials (the last chance to make the Olympics) I was not thinking of the Olympics, not at all.   After winning the Olympic Trials in 13:45 I went over to Europe for my first set of track races and dropped a 13:31.01.  It was at that point I could smell the Olympic B standard of 13:25. 

2008 is here and, of course, this is a big year for Track and Field as the big show in Beijing will once again bring the sport to the front pages for reasons other than drug cheats.  Now I’m starting off an Olympic year with two Olympic B standards.  What does that get me?  In the words of Dave Milne, that and a dollar gets me a cup of coffee.  I am often asked what I need to do to make the Olympics.  The answer is actually pretty complicated so I’ll just lay out the basics.  Since a country cannot send an athlete who only has a “B” standard if they are sending an athlete with an “A” standard in the same event I have to assume other Canadians will have the A standard.  That being said, the Canadian “Eh” standards are 13:19.62 and  27:47.31.  If I can break one of those times during the right qualifying period, and finish in the top 3 at Nationals, my ticket will be booked.  There is also the chance of achieving the IAAF standards of 13:21.50 and 27:50 as well as fulfilling repeat “B” performances under the Athletics Canada criteria and qualifying for the Olympics.  With Kevin Sullivan already having the 5000m A standard and with Paul Morrison and Simon Bairu knocking on the door of “A” standards it would not be wise of me to only aim for repeat “B” performances, so I will not entertain those possibilities here.

I am very happy with where my running is right now.  I’m entering my 11th year under the coaching of Dave Scott-Thomas and our training group is stronger than ever.  My first goal is to bust the “Eh” standard in the 10,000m  May 4th at Stanford.  Right now I’m doing a lot of mileage and tempo, but to keep it interesting I’ll run a couple of indoor races in January, these are used as workouts.  I would like to run the Reebok Boston Indoor Games again, but I don’t think I’ll be ready to run at that level by then.  If I’m going to race, say 7:55, I’d rather be at the front of a race than be 15 seconds in arrear of the leaders.  Then I’ll gear up for an indoor race in February, hopefully the 3000m at Tyson.  Between mid February and the beginning of May I’ll likely run two races, one race to keep the competitive juices flowing and another to set up the May 4th race.  Later in the season I’ll concentrate on the 5000m, but I have not planned that racing schedule quite yet and it will depend on how my races up to that point have gone.

So those are my plans for the first months of 2008.  Thanks a lot for the support and keeping up with my rambling. 

Cold tubing is uncomfortable at best.  I try to combat this with a toque, loud music, 4 shirts and a hot cup of tea.  This pic was taken during a particularly cold session… I know it’s cold when at the end of 10+ minutes the ice still hasn’t melted.  There’s another way to determine how cold it is when a guy sits in cold water… but I leave that with the repeat “B” performance explanation.

Woke up to lots of snow on New Years day.  Pretty, but not the best footing for running. 

My 2007 Running year in review.  Thank God 2007 had a lot more highs than lows.

2007 started off with a big question mark as 2006 was my most disappointing track year ever.  2006 was the first year I had not achieved personal bests and my times weren’t even close to what I had run in the previous couple of years.  By the end of 2006 I felt like I was coming around and a second place finish at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in Vancouver confirmed that belief.

January 15th of 2007 I hit my lowest point in the year when I struggled to run a workout of 10 X 600m.  In the past three years I had averaged around 1:35 for this workout and in 2007 I averaged 1:38 with my last interval run in 1:44.  I left the indoor track distraught and went for a 40 minute cool-down in the snow and dark (typical cool-down would be 20 minutes on lit, clear roads).  Even though I did not want to go I had already booked my flight for Boston to run a 3000m at the Terrier Classic so I decided to test it out.  I went out there to run run 32 second 200m splits for as long as I could.  Some guys in the field thought I was planning on running faster and I ended up leading the first 2km in 5:20 flat.  I ended up third in 7:56 and was very happy with the race.  It was at that point I knew I could get to where I wanted to in 2007.  One more indoor PB of 13:42 in the 5000m confirmed I was on the right path.

A couple of the highlights in 2007 were running a PB in the 10,000m of 27:56.92 in April and a very surprising PB in the 1500m of 3:40.38.  The 1500m PB was run shortly after arriving in Europe and was, basically, a set-up race for the upcoming 5000m, I also ran into a soccer bench 50m into the race. 

I was very happy with all of my 5000m races in 2007. The first was a 13:42 indoor win in Arkansas.  Then I opened up outdoors on a hot and humid night, so the time was a lackluster 13:50 but I felt like I raced well against the great field to finish eighth.  Then I ran 13:29 in Aarhus Denmark to place second, my second time under the 13:30 mark.  Then  came  Nationals where I won for the fourth straight time and ran a 13:34 with the last four laps solo.  After that I had one chance left to run 13:19.71 in the 5000m to make the World Championship team.  Even though I came up less than two seconds short I was happy with the race. A PB of 13:21.53 eclipsed the Westdale S.S. and University of Guelph alumni records (Jason Bunston and Paul Williams had both run 13:22) as well as Prefontaine’s PB.  Not going to Worlds was not a high but I knew what I had to do before, so even though I met the IAAF standards I was not surprised to be left off the team.

Then I refocused my goals to run a good 10,000m in September.  I wanted the Canadian Olympic standard of 27:47 and after a few key workouts I knew I was in the best shape of my life and ready for 27:45.  A smooth trip to Brussels and a nice taper I arrived to the start line in the best shape and feeling the best I ever have in my life.  Then I went out in 64 seconds and was dead last, then 2:09 at 800m and I was off the pack.  I have always had a hard time in ‘time trial’ races and this was no exception.  After passing 5000m in 13:53 I was loosing it, fast.  Then came the most memorable 900 meters of the year when I got lapped by the World Record holder, Kenenisa Bekele.  I got a surge of adrenaline and stayed one step behind Kenny making sure I didn’t trip him.  The crowd of 50,000 people were very supportive when I crossed the line in 28:14, ahead of a couple Kenyans.  Getting lapped for the first time was actually pretty fun, but I was disappointed with the time relative to what I was ready to run.  as seen on TV

Then came the shortest Cross Country season ever, eight weeks.  After a so-so road race in Manchester I stepped it up at Nationals and capped off the year with a win at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in Guelph.  I know there will be an asterisk beside that win… the year Bairu didn’t run.  The Speed River team really showed it’s strength that day as we beat the rest of the country.  Good things are in store for the River.

Another sweet part of 2007 was the emergence of http://www.flotrack.com/.  It’s possible to watch a bunch of my races, Mt. Sac 10,000m, Stanford 10,000m, Cambridge Mile, Brasschaat 1500m, Heusden 5000m and the AGSI Canadian XC champs online.  Training for the first time at altitude proved to be a great experience and stimulus, and I fell in love with Flagstaff, AZ.  I will be going back there again in 2008. 

Overall ranking of 43rd.  At one point I was 35th, then others ran faster.

Pl.	(Pl.)	Athlete	Birth	Nat	Score
1.	(1.)	Kenenisa BEKELE	82	ETH	1404
2.	(2.)	Eliud KIPCHOGE	84	KEN	1332
3.	(3.)	Moses Ndiema KIPSIRO	86	UGA	1331
4.	(4.)	Sileshi SIHINE	83	ETH	1325
5.	(5.)	Joseph EBUYA	87	KEN	1298
6.	(6.)	Edwin Cheruiyot SOI	86	KEN	1296
7.	(7.)	Tariku BEKELE	87	ETH	1291
8.	(8.)	Micah Kemboi KOGO	86	KEN	1273
8.	(8.)	Thomas Pkemei LONGOSIWA	88	KEN	1273
10.	(10.)	Craig MOTTRAM	80	AUS	1265
11.	(11.)	Matt TEGENKAMP	82	USA	1256
11.	(11.)	Gebre−egziabher GEBREMARIAM	84	ETH	1256
13.	(13.)	Kiprono MENJO	79	KEN	1249
14.	(14.)	Ahmed BADAY	79	MAR	1248
15.	(15.)	Mohammed FARAH	83	GBR	1237
16.	(16.)	Moses Ndiema MASAI	86	KEN	1234
17.	(17.)	Markos GENETI	84	ETH	1230
18.	(18.)	Boniface Kiprotich SONGOK	80	KEN	1225
19.	(19.)	Leonard Patrick KOMON	88	KEN	1221
20.	(20.)	Tadesse Tola WOLDEGEBREL	87	ETH	1216
21.	(21.)	Robert Sigei KIPNGETICH	82	KEN	1211
22.	(22.)	Dathan RITZENHEIN	82	USA	1206
22.	(22.)	Shadrack KOSGEI	84	KEN	1206
24.	(24.)	Juan Luis BARRIOS	83	MEX	1205
25.	(25.)	Alistair Ian CRAGG	80	IRL	1204
25.	(25.)	Josphat Muchiri NDAMBIRI	85	KEN	1204
27.	(27.)	Mark BETT	76	KEN	1201
28.	(28.)	Sahle WARGA	84	ETH	1194
29.	(29.)	Marilson GOMES DOS SANTOS	77	BRA	1193
30.	(30.)	Gideon NGATUNYI	86	KEN	1192
31.	(31.)	Isaac Kiprono SONGOK	84	KEN	1190
32.	(32.)	Dickson MARWA MKAMI	82	TAN	1187
33.	(33.)	Jesús ESPANA	78	ESP	1178
34.	(34.)	Chris SOLINSKY	84	USA	1170
35.	(35.)	Khoudir AGGOUNE	81	ALG	1168
36.	(36.)	Mark KIPTOO	76	KEN	1166
37.	(38.)	Samuel WANJIRU	86	KEN	1162
38.	(40.)	Galen RUPP	86	USA	1155
39.	(41.)	Kensuke TAKEZAWA	86	JPN	1148
39.	(41.)	Hicham BELLANI	79	MAR	1148
41.	(44.)	Ian DOBSON	82	USA	1142
41.	(44.)	Günther WEIDLINGER	78	AUT	1142
43.	(46.)	Reid COOLSAET	79	CAN	1141
44.	(39.)	Ed MORAN	81	USA	1140
44.	(47.)	Boaz CHEBOIYWO	78	KEN	1140
46.	(37.)	Ahmad Hassan ABDULLAH	81	QAT	1138
47.	(48.)	Alejandro SUÁREZ	80	MEX	1133
48.	(49.)	Bolota ASMEROM	78	USA	1132
49.	(-)	Felix KIKWAL KIBORE	88	QAT	1131
49.	(50.)	Jan FITSCHEN	77	GER	1131

If you’re still reading… Happy NEW YEAR!