Feeling Really Lucky

First off, I want to thank Adam and everyone at TC Running Co. (especially Kurt) for all of the support over the last several months. There are a lot of great people in the running world, but as far as generosity goes these guys are at the top of the heap in my book. Their support has made it possible for me to go the World Mountain Running Championships. I probably wouldn't have even been able to go to the qualifying race were it not for all they have done for me.

Running with the team has freed me to pursue a number of new avenues. The big new developments have been coaching a seemingly ever-expanding group of athletes, and running mountain and trail races. Where running will take me next, I don't know for sure (aside from the Olympic Marathon trials in Houston in Jan. of 2012), but it's great to have people passionate about running behind you.

TEAM USA MN TURNS 10

I attended the 10 year anniversary party for Team USA Minnesota the other night. I was a part of the training group from 2001-2004 and from 2006-2009. It was nice to catch up with everyone, and also to hear all of the current athletes speak. I would like to take this opportunity to echo the recurring theme that I heard from all of them: a big thanks to Pat Goodwin, Coach Dennis Barker, and all of the sponsors and board members. I feel really lucky to have been a part of the group, and I'm excited to continue to follow these athletes' careers. The new class includes two athletes who took one of my classes at the U, so it's really cool to see them stepping up and starting their professional running careers. And Old Gabrielson, Lehm-coolio, Nicolini and McG still have PLENTY of fight left in them as well.

It's amazing to think back to 2001 and to take stock of how far the group has come, not only in terms of performance, but also in what is available to the athletes now, not only in things like medical care/therapy, but also in terms of opportunities to travel and race all around the world. The good reputation of the group has opened a lot of doors. And as Dennis talked about in his hilarious, inspiring speech, a lot of progress has been made in raising the level of US distance running, in no small part due to groups like Team USA Minnesota. I'd encourage anyone to support the group and its athletes in their quest for success on the national and international stage.

TRAINING

Coming to the end of two very strong weeks of training. I've been aiming for balance in my training, with some hill work, some VO2max pace, some lactate threshold work, some strength and power work, and some quality aerobic running. No single workout stands out as amazing, but workouts have been consistently good. If I had to tell you about one workout that I've done recently, it would be this Tuesday's workout. It was a cool, beautiful morning, but I had scheduled a hill workout on the treadmill, so I did most of my running indoors.

The workout was 10x3 min on/2 min off. I was shooting for roughly 10k race effort, or slightly harder. The twist is that I attempted to mimic the World Championships course in terms of the elevation. The first kilometer of the course is flat, so I did that one on a flat. Most of the other intervals were at 12% to 15% grade, but I did throw in another flat repeat to mimic the flat to downhill section that occurs later in the race. I even hopped on the stair climber and maxed it out in order to prepare for the very steep sections on the course.

This whole mountain running thing really makes training interesting. I've always used my own running as a sort of an "experiment of one" where I can test out different approaches and theories. With mountain running, there isn't the same amount of accumulated knowledge out there, so I feel like there's less clear, evidence-based training theory. That is a challenge, but I'm finding that it's a lot of fun to test out some different workouts and see how my body responds. In the end, the physiology is the same, it's just the demands of the course that are different.

The main focus for the next couple of weeks it to keep the positive momentum going while backing off enough to make sure that I'm fresh and rested on race day. And I'd like to spend some time learning something about Slovenia...it would be nice to at least learn how to say "thank you" in Slovenian.