Cross Country Cupidity

The past couple of weeks have been less than ideal training.  After a solid 7 weeks of continuous quality fall base, Dennis (Team USA MN's top notch coach) wanted to change my workouts up just a bit and put me into a 6k cross country race last weekend.  I was all excited about dusting off the old spikes and lacing them up for some soft surface fun, but before the weekend arrived, my left achilles flared up on me, complaining from the 70 miles I had put in the previous four days.  Yeah....I got a bit greedy for my current level of fitness.

So as my mileage plummeted over the course of the next few days and eventually hit rock bottom as I jumped on the spin bike for 5 days, my spirits too have fallen, but not as drastically as they have in the past. In the world of post-collegiate running, there is no home meet to attend, required conference race, or mandatory NCAAs for which to prepare: the season is what one makes of it.  This realization has lifted the burden of time sensitivity and pressure to rush back into intervals and long runs, it has allowed for a more conservative and healthy return to activity.  This is not to say that I'm not chomping at the bit to lace up and speed out the door, but it does allow for a greater long term perspective.

Injury aside, this past Friday I had the pleasure of attending the NCAA D1 Great Lakes Regional at the Thomas Zimmer Championship XC Course in Madison, WI.  What an incredible venue.

Thomas Zimmer XC Course

The afternoon of the race was an idyllic cross country day with 50° temperatures and a sunny sky beckoning for fast races fueled by a rowdy fans.  Below is a picture of the men's start with my former team, the Cincinnati Bearcats, on the far right:

2013 NCAA D1 XC Great Lakes Regional

As I watched the start that day, I have never wanted more badly to jump into a cross country race to experience the joy of pure racing, the rush of adrenaline over the hills, and the well digging drive to the finish. Races like those sit fondly in my memory!

So it is with this renewed energy of watching races that I am re-inspired to dive back into my rehab to recover from this bout of achilles soreness and carefully return to full training, preparing to have the best indoor and outdoor seasons of my life!

One Month and Many Miles

I'm coming up on the end of my first month with Team USA Minnesota in Minneapolis and I couldn't be happier with my decision to move and join this team.  For me, the move has been pivotal in my commitment towards being an elite distance runner--it was like jumping in headfirst rather than dabbling around with my toe.  With the move away from family and friends came the realization of a true commitment to fulfilling my potential as an athlete.

While I miss my family and friends back home, I am quickly finding my place here in Minneapolis among my amazing housemates, fantastic teammates, coach (Dennis Barker), and ever supportive team founder and president, Pat Goodwin.

The workouts that Dennis prescribes are not individually much more challenging than what I have done in the past (at least so far!), but it's the accumulation of 3-4 quality days a week that has fatigued my body more so than ever before.  But with that greater fatigue comes a greater training stimulus for improvement, and it is on that which I am supremely confident in a great season once I lace up the spikes.  As Dennis said to me earlier this week, "It's when you can put in months of this type of training uninterrupted that people make big jumps."  So for now, I'm just in the zone with training, looking forward to the day that I can test out the new limits of my body as the result of consistent quality workouts.

I had tossed out the idea of running in the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving, but Dennis didn't seem so keen on the idea of racing so soon.  That'll make my mom happy at least because I'll make my way back to Cincinnati for some turkey and mashed potatoes instead.  I'll likely end up jumping in the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race and see what happens, but won't be making any changes in my training schedule for it.

Beyond that, I had the pleasure to meet David Monti (elite athlete coordinator for NYRR events) this past weekend during the TCM events and I'm hoping to get a spot on the line for the Emerald Nuts 4 Miler on New Years Eve (gun goes off as the ball drops at midnight) in Central Park in NYC.  It would be really fun event and a great way to kick off the new year.

Following that rust buster, pending entry, indoor season will fall upon us with plans to run some fast races and compete at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on February 22-23.

Until then, head down and blinders on!

MSP Bound!

Recently I had the privilege to attend the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League meet with two of my close friends, Ricky Lupp and Matt Collmar.  It was the capstone to a ten day trip through Italy and Switzerland, and what a finale it was.  The meet is often referred to as the best one day track meet in the world and has earned the nickname of "The Olypmics in a Day."

The meet was fantastic--it was absolutely compelling and awe inspiring to see some of the best athletes in the world perform at their physical peak.  Each event had its highs and lows and all 25,000 people packed in the stadium fueled the adrenaline pumping through the meeting.

But I must admit, as exciting as the meet was, I couldn't help but to have a single thought running through my mind throughout the meet: I can be in there, I can run in this meet.  When watching a Diamond League Meet on the internet or TV, it can be a surreal experience since the production is so well done.  It makes the competition seem untouchable and the athletes invincible, but in person, the event became human....manageable....possible.  I could see myself on that track, running with the best of them.

And it is with that thought that I take off tomorrow for my next adventure in life: joining Team USA Minnesota in Minneapolis.  Today was my last day in Cincinnati and I'm looking forward to what the future brings. I soaked up all that the Queen City had to offer along the river front on my last run, packed up my car, and am leaving early tomorrow morning!

Thanks to all of those who have been influential in my life in Cincinnati--I cannot thank you enough!

Lifting Limits

I recently teamed up with DrinkHoist and they filmed a short segment on my aspirations as a professional runner, my move to Minneapolis, and what's next.  Check it out here!



Hoist - Episode 22 #Liftlimits from AGAR on Vimeo.

While I'm going to miss my beloved and native Cincinnati, I've got some unfinished business in my running career and the move to join Team USA Minnesota is going to put me in a better position to achieve my goals.

Onward and upward!

Team USA Minnesota

With great excitement, I'll be joining Team USA Minnesota in a month in Minneapolis, making the next move in my running career!

I'll give you a brief background...

I grew up in the small village of New Richmond, OH, just east of Cincinnati.  Graduating from high school with PRs of 4:15 (1600) and 9:15 (3200), I showed some promise, but by no means was a Footlocker finalist.  I was never quite able to snag that DII state title either, as I had to play bridesmaid my senior year in the 3200.

Fast forward to college: the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of the great (and wise) Bill Schnier.  In his own words, I had "the worst freshman year of anyone he had ever had."  While I was thrilled to join Cincinnati, in my own ambition to "move up to the big leagues" of a DI college program, I ramped up my summer training too quickly and soon set myself back with a tibial stress fracture.

To add insult to injury, as I was cross training on a road bike back in New Richmond two weeks before school started, I got into an accident.  So now when I smile, if you look closely, it's a bit crooked and I usually have a bit of coffee residue hanging out on my fake teeth.  Don't stare! Luck was simply not on my side in 2007.

I spent that first year of college rehabbing from both the stress fracture and the bike injury.  Then things really turned on as I found my collegiate groove over the next three years and often found myself at the front end of races.  It was an exciting time and I couldn't have been happier than to wear that Cincinnati Bearcats singlet on my chest and be the first to break the tape.

After my most successful year in 2011, where I placed 10th in the NCAA Championships in the 5000m (13:44), won the Big East Championships in XC that fall, and then went on to place (a somewhat disappointing) 25th at NCAA Nationals in Terre Haute, I was primed and ready for what I thought would be a spectacular 2012 and the icing on the cake to my collegiate career.

Only luck again was not on my side, and as my college teammates liked to say, EFD (Eric Finan Disease) struck again.  I was sidelined in December with inflammation in the first MTP joint in the big toe of the left foot.  All of that is just a big fancy way of saying "turf toe".  While I did my best that winter to stay motivated and believe that it would work itself out so that I could still compete in the 2012 Olympic Trials, the inflammation never quite went away.  While I did compete in the Big East Championships that year, it was after very little running (mostly aqua jogging in the pool) and I had a poor showing when the wheels fell off the wagon after two miles.

Defeated, I questioned whether I would ever run competitively again.

Following graduation, I began running again in October pain-free for the first time in 10 months.  I slowly built up and under the guidance of a new post-collegiate coach, Randy Cox, I competed in the 2013 US Half Marathon Championships on June 22nd.  While I finished a respectable 32nd in 64:42 in my debut HM, I was hungry for more and know I have more in the tank.

And it's with that brief background that I'll be joining Team USA Minnesota, looking forward to some unfinished business in the 5k and 10k in the coming years!

Hello, World!