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Keeping everything in perspective...

Every runner at some point goes through a bad stretch of performances. Certainly I am no different. In the last few weeks, my performances have been up and down. As Nate would say, I've had some "piss poor" performances. My last outing on December 4 was quite embarrassing one to say the least. What excuses do I have? NOTHING.

In the late Summer of this year, my decision to increase volume of training was one that I certainly did not plan for short term success. I have since increased my long runs about 4-6 miles and my weekly mileage over 40+ what I did on usual around this time last year. I am a strong believer that it takes time and patience for results to appear when sudden changes in training are made. Random things will happen that we cannot control because of many uncertainties. It's like watching the stock market go up and down unexpectedly not having a clear picture of why it's happening.

One thing for sure though, on April 17, 2011, I hope that the stock market will be up because that's the day I will attempt to get the Olympic B standard in the marathon. So there you go! My near future long term goal is specifically for that day. On that day, it will not matter what I do for the rest of 2010, or what I run in any track races, but it will be about what i can do in the marathon - the event I plan on focusing on. I am hoping to be in good shape and fight an all out race to allow my country's flag to fly at the Olympic opening ceremony in London.

For now, I am keeping everything in perspective. I will not panic because I known I've been in these type of stretches before.I will remain calm and still run my 22 mile long runs whether I have good performances or bad ones. I have progressed to 20 consecutive 110 mile weeks and averaged 125 miles for the past 5 months. I am now getting adjusted to workouts and soon I strongly believe that I will be right on pace when I need to be.

Lastly, I will always remember this quote on my cold long runs this winter: "Tough times don't last but tough people do. "

Comments

  1. What are your thoughts on Veiga's performance at Nationals?

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  2. Veiga's performance at Nationals was truly amazing and inspiring to see a guy like him get stronger and stronger through the years. I'm not sure many will understand how difficult it has become to be a DII all american in XC, let alone be in the top 10. I miust apologize to him because I had predicted he would get 10-15th, but I bet Coach G was surprised by his 3rd place finish as well. He is a very hard worker and has steadily improved through the years at UML. He came out of high school with PR's of 9:37 and 4:30ish. However, Coach G knew he had a lot more in him (he only did cross country 1 year in high school, he was a soccer player)...Freshman year he ran 14:50's in the 5000 and from there you could tell he was going to be good. However, he was hurt for one of the seasons and another season he had mono. Last year during outdoors, he seemed very disappointed after his 10k (he didn't break 31min).

    He certainly ran a lot in the summer (18-20 mile long runs) and the accumulation of all high mileage have started to pay off. Also, another thing about Jeff is that is is a tough runner! I mean, he had a nail stuck in the bottom of his foot freshman year at New Englands and he still finished the race!

    Coach G's program usually takes 2-3 years for results to show if you thoroughly follow his plan. Jeff certainly did everything Coach G asked of him and now it's great to see the results appear.

    I haven't gotten the chance to workout with the UML a lot lately because of classes, but here's a workout I did with him on Oct 12 (he was 1-2 secs behind me on most of them)..I ran 24:06 two weeks later..
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    workout: 6xmile repeats at Mines Falls (Nashu,NH, 2130m loop)
    warm up: 18min, light drills and strides
    4:59.13(2:18.50)4:57.69(2:13.87)4:57.63(2:15.19)4:58.32(2:17.81)4:56.70(2:14.36)4:58.50(2:08)....12780m in 43:16.56 (5:26 pace)
    This might not look good on paper, but it was a good workout. Most of these mile repeats were uphill. The loop we used is 2130m, so we ran a full mile and the about 530m recovery. It was my first time in a long time doing workout on trail. Coach estimates these are about 10secs faster on the track. The fastest I've gone on track so far this fall for mile reps has been 4:54.
    cool down 22min
    ------------------------------------------------

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  4. Amazing!

    I'm not sure many will understand how hard it is now to get AA in divII , let alone top 10. I must apologize because I had predicted he'd finish 10-15th, but I bet Coach G didn't predict his 3rd place finish.

    I am very happy for him as he's had many struggles with injuries, mono and everyone telling him how fat he is..he weighs about 170ish at times. He kind of reminds me of Solinsky.

    He only ran xc/track in high school 1 or 2 year because he was a soccer player. SO when he came freshman year and ran 14:50ish in 5k, everyone knew he'd be good. Coach G's plan takes about 3 years to really show results. Jeff has done everything asked of him and now he is starting to reap the benefits.

    It will be interesting to see what he does on the track this year. He's a tough runner and I think this xc season will fuel him to run some good 5/10s. If he can stay healthy, there is not reason why I don't see him going sub 14min and 29min.

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