Breaking Down

Its that time of the season again.... racing season. The time where every week is going to be a new opportunity to hit a faster mark or time. We are loaded with meets this year, every week until the week before conference we are competing. This is very exciting don't get me wrong, but it also puts alot on your body. Easy runs feel horrible, I need much more sleep than normal, and it is near impossible to get all my homework completed. I call this breaking down. I think of it as a means of improving, almost like a temporary plateau in your training. Once you make it out, you will be a changed runner. Stronger, faster, and more fit. A runner has to go through this breaking down stage to get better. I feel like that right now. Back to back races in consecutive weeks, my legs do not feel good, I am always tired (even if I get my 8 hours), and focusing on my studies is a big challange. It can be very demotivating at this time also. I just don't really feel like running. This is the not the time to slack off though. I still have to do my core and pushup routine, even though I really don't feel like doing it. I still have to double a few times a week so I can hit my mileage goal each week. I know soon enough ill be on that other end, the brighter side almost, ready to race fast. Just like the song that just came on Pandora as I sit here in the library procrastinating, "Go On" by Jack Johnson. I need to go on and push through this hard time in my training. In the end it will be worth it.

Here's the video that GR made for the team from this weekends meet. Good stuff.

Mental Preparation

Mental preparation is key. Coach Derick gave me this book, its called Mind Gym. Mind Gym focuses on how to prepare mentally for competition. I have really taken a liking to this book. More so this season that previous ones, I have been mentally preparing for all my races. I feel like this has helped tremendously. I never really put this as a priority in years past, but I believe this is one of the key reasons I have had success this season so far. I am still dabbling with how this process works, but the main thing I have done is invisionment. I lay down, turn on some very relaxed instrumental music, and just invision how I plan everything to play out. My high school coach used to tell me to close my eyes and physically time the race with my watch, its pretty cool to try and see how close you can get to your goal time just through imagining the race in your head. This is just something I have dabbled with and it has proven successful, I hope to be able to learn more about this process and other ways to mentally prepare for competition.

Race Recap: Trinity Open

The sun was baking on Saturday afternoon down here in San Antonio. 1500 started at 4:45pm. I was really nervous about this one. Pressure is always added when there is an opportunity to win. The plan for the 1500 was to take it out conservative for the first lap, then make moves up to the front. The race played out perfectly. First lap ended up being really slow, so I made a strong move into second after 400, then after 600 I made the move up to first. It was weird being up in front, I just told myself to stay relaxed. This was my first collegiate win. What was even more exciting is that Pancho got second! 1,2 punch! Coach Derick said to make a statement and I'm pretty sure thats what we did. I ran a 5 second PR of 4:04 (comparison of a 4:21 mile). This is a great way to start the outdoor season.