Running Uphill

Hello, World!

It has been a minute or two since I have posted an update. After a relatively mediocre race at the US XC Championships in Boulder on February 7^th where I placed 24^th, I spent the rest of the month in Boulder to continue my altitude training.

When I returned to sea level in Minnesota in March, in cliché fashion, I was running the best workouts of my life and gearing up for what I thought would legitimately be a 13:20-25 5k, given the workouts I was running (as always, you can see my training log here). In the excitement of these stellar workouts and impending race success, I ignored the early signs of achilles overuse. 

Which turned into cutting workouts short. 

Which turned into taking a few days off, because it'll patch up real quick. 

Which turned into taking a few weeks off. 

Which turned into running a lone mediocre 5k at Payton Jordan, my only race to show for the entirety of the 2015 track season.

Below is a screenshot of my training log summary from track season, which is inundated with bars labeled "OTHER", indicating a cross training day.

During the months of April, May, and June combined, I totaled a paltry 298 running miles. For sake of comparison, in the previous 5 years, my mileage during this same period of time was as follows:

2014 - 946
2013 - 1031
2012 - 75 (foot injury)
2011 - 888
2010 - 888

This was supposed to be the year. The year that finally turned it around. Since the magical year of 2011, I have been on and off like day and night. Sporadic success came once in a blue moon. But 2015! I had put a stake in the ground, I was going to be ON! 

Yet again, I found myself in the midst of injury. Cheering on teammates, friends, and rivals alike from the east grandstands at historic Hayward Field, host of the 2015 USA Track and Field Championships. I watched in agony as the 5k field loped along for two miles, followed by a fast finish. I watched as a contemporary won the race, an athlete with whom I have closed, side by side, in previous races. A finish which did not eclipse my ability.

Motivated by what I witnessed that week at the US Championships, I ran along the famed Pre's Trail on the north side of the Willamette River, covering ground which has been trodden by countless national and world champions. My thoughts focused on training, racing, competing. Is this still what I wanted? Had my love for the footrace been too far tempered by the trials of injury?

I returned to Minnesota with a burdened mind, but a clear vision: I love to race. I am not ready to toss the spikes, the long workouts, the innumerable miles. I owe it to myself at least through the 2016 Olympic Trials. You can do anything for a year, right?

So with renewed vigor and commitment to the sport, I have made the difficult decision to leave Team USA Minnesota. The past two years have been full of both trials and triumphs, failure and success. But my sojourn in Minnesota has been perennially overshadowed by injury. My longest stint of uninterrupted health was between March 1, 2014 and December 25, 2014. And even that was complicated by anemia early on in the track season.

My decision to leave Minnesota is not a reflection of the support of the team, my teammates, or the Land of 10,000 Lakes (...and its frigid winter). Coach Dennis Barker is a highly accredited coach with a long history of success. A coach, while at Team USA Minnesota, has produced 23 National Champions in events ranging from the 1500 meters up through the marathon. His résumé is unarguably impressive. But as outstanding as Dennis' credentials are, unfortunately it wasn't a great fit for me. With continued bouts of injury under his direction, I have decided to pursue another opportunity where I hope to be more consistently healthy. I strongly believe consistency is the greatest predictor of distance running success and that is the area in which I have failed most during my time in Minnesota.

With that, I am excited to announce that in October, I will be joining Team Run Eugene, based in Eugene, Oregon! After many conversations with coaches, friends, and mentors, I am excited to begin working with the new team and coach, Ian Dobson, a 2008 Olympian in the 5000 meters representing the US.

This will be another big change in my life, but one about which I have great excitement. Ian and I have spoken about what my time in Eugene will look like and I'm looking forward training under his tutelage with my eyes set on making a US team. In fact, Eugene plays host to the US Olympic Trials at Hayward Field, located on the campus of the University of Oregon, so it will be a constant reminder of the goals towards which I aspire.

As I return to more consistent training, I have my eyes set on the two following races so far this fall:

• Minnesota Mile - September 13
• USA 5k Road Championships/CVS 5k - September 20

And if I can place in the top 10 at the CVS 5k, that will make me eligible for the .US Road Racing Championships on November 15, in which I hope to compete. I'm determined to keep the entirety of 2015 from being a competitive wash.

Finally: thank you for reading, for the continued support, and for all of the kind messages that I have received from so many of you this year. My sincere appreciation for all of those who have helped me keep my head high during this tough year of injury.

Houston Half - US Half Marathon Championships

Today was a great race down in Houston. I could complain over how if I had only run 9 seconds faster, I would have been 8 places higher, but I refuse to let that haunt me, as I leave Houston today with a new PR of 63:29 (formerly 64:42), which was good for 19th place in the US Half Marathon Championships.

Coming off a somewhat disappointing road season in the fall, I set my eyes once again upon the gruelling and necessary base training phase. My miles climbed higher as my high quality long runs increased in length. I was firing on all cylinders and eating like an animal. Week after week I was nailing my long hard efforts and looking forward to capitalizing on my new fitness. But come December, each run felt a little more fatigued, and even my easy runs were starting to become a bit of a chore. I began traveling to see relatives pretty early in December and my nutrition began to suffer as I spent long hours driving in my car. It seemed that with each run, I was taking a trough and removing a little dirt. After a few weeks, that became a hole and I was stricken with a tight calf that wouldn't let go. I had to take a couple days off and my mileage dropped precipitously (you can always see my training log here).

My fall training block, week by week on a bar chart (injury in orange box)

Now my challenge became treating the calf just to get to the starting line in Houston, AND finish healthy, since the longer term goal is to run well at the US XC Championships (Feb. 7th in Boulder). I began an aggressive treatment regimen and saw an old friend, Dr. Yost, in Cincinnati to receive some ART treatment. Luckily, the hole I had dug hadn't become too deep and I was able to get back to running after a few days.

With only two weeks to go until Houston, Dennis (my coach) and I crafted a plan to try and get in some quality workouts to get my energy systems topped off blow the dust of my top end speed. I honestly had a couple pretty tough workouts and my confidence was rather low. I had originally planned to try and break 63 (4:49/mi pace), but then after a 4 x 2 mile workout where I could hardly maintain 5:10/mi pace, I started to question if I could even break 65 minutes.

Nonetheless, Houston approached regardless of my preparedness and I did my best to trust in my training that had happened before my injury. The day before I suffered a rather debilitating stomach ache for 4 hours in the morning and my nutrition was awful. I wasn't able to eat until 1:30pm--the perfect day to have nutrition issues! Still, I pressed on trusting that training had gone very well for quite some time and that it hadn't gone away.

This morning I lined up, feeling more relaxed than usual, knowing that all I could do was my best--what was under my control. The front pack blew away pretty fast off the line, but there was a solid 63:20ish pack that I ran with the whole time and just stayed relaxed. In fact, I was feeling so good that at 10.5 that I made a 5k-like move and probably dropped the next 800 in 2:20 or so. Mistake. I really should have waited until the last 800 to make such an aggressive move. I got swallowed right back up by the pack by 11.5 miles and then passed by a few guys. Had I waited until the end to put the pressure on that I could have been closer to 11th place but I learn to race another day. I will put that nugget of wisdom in my pocket for next time.

Thanks to Houston Marathon for putting on such a great event!

With teammates Meghan Peyton and Jon Peterson post-race