My training and questions on race mentality

Hey Guys

I'm bored at work, so I thought I'd give this running blogging thing a shot. First of all to echo what a lot of posts have said before, I think this blog is a really good idea, and well done to j-rags/nick/whoever else was part of putting it up.

So here's where I am with my summer training: I went abroad in January and got back in early May. I didn't run once while I was there-a combination of needing a mental break and the fact that Cairo's overflowing streets, dense air pollution, and lack of any free public green space aren't really that conducive to running. I also had done some serious thinking over there about whether I was even going to run this year or not. I had not taken off more than a month from running since my freshman year of high school, and for the first month or two I didn't miss it at all. I walked around a lot, so I still felt like I was getting exercise, and the lifting of the burden of having to find a time to run every day (and the guilt if I didn't run) felt kind of liberating. However, as my trip came to an end and I started thinking ahead about the next year back in the US, I slowly came to the realization that I both wanted/needed running to be a part of it. Up to this point, my college career has largely been a disappointment to me. This has stemmed both from my inability to train consistently over the summers and from doing a poor job preparing for races mentally (which I want to talk about later.) So, when I came back to the US, and made a list of 3 simple summer goals for myself, which may seem self-evident for most of the guys on this blog, but were a step forward for me. They were:

1)no unplanned days off
2)eat healthy-i.e. cut the andreas out of my life
3)stretch and abs every day

I also made 3 goals for the xc season:
1)Sub 17:30 at alumni run
2)Sub 28:00 in a 8k
3)make ECACs

So far this summer I've accomplished goals 1 and 2. I took only one unplanned day "off" (really a 2 miler at the beginning of this week-the rest of the low mileage you see for me this week yesterday and probably today is the result of a stomach bug) and eaten healthier than I have maybe my whole life (thanks to 139 College's excellent cooking.) Goal 3 I've been slacking on, probably because my mind doesn't see the immediate link between abs and running (I know, I know, it's there, just bear with my irrationality.) And the plan is paying off because I definitely feel like I'm in close to the best shape of my life. I've been doing training runs at a faster pace than normal, without it feeling that fast (if that makes sense) and I felt stronger in last Tuesday's tempo than I have since I can remember. I still haven't hit the weekly mileages I'd been hoping for, but it's definitely been a large improvement over last summer. I also attribute that to having people to run with every day. Assuming I can get over this stomach thing, I'm feeling ready to put up a strong last month of training before xc (which for me would be hitting the 65-70 mile range/week.)

On a different note, I had some questions for anyone who reads this. As I mentioned above, in the past I've had trouble with race-day mentality. Looking back on past experience it feels almost as if its dumb luck whether I have a good race or not. Obviously this is not true, but let me try to explain what I mean. Going into a race I'm always going to put in a full effort, but some days I can cruise along at 5:45s pretty effortlessly in an 8k, while other days I come through the first mile at 6 minutes and feel atrocious (obviously you guys can readjust these times so they make sense for what you run-My prs 28:45, if that puts them into perspective.) This can happen in back to back races, with no clear difference in training difficulty, diet, sleep, etc. Course and weather could play a role, but it happens variously enough, (and in track) that I don't think it's one specific course, or one specific weather condition, which of course leads me to falsely attribute to how I feel, and hence run, any given day to luck. This leads to over-analyzation and as Brunnquell mentioned in an earlier post, often at least for me, self-over-analyzation often leads to failure.

So I guess what I was wondering is, what are people's general strategies towards dealing with the variability in racing and race mentality in general? For guys who have had runs like Sorensen or Brunnq, where every race seemed to be a big pr, what felt different then from other times in your running careers? Was it confidence? The benefits of additional training? I'd like to hear people's opinion on this. Sorry if this question/topic is kind of basic/irrelevant to summer training, but it's something I'm curious about.

Finally some closing thoughts:
1) Hutch should definitely create his own blog

2) Working in this library has taught me why people in the post office and DMV always have such attitudes, when you become accustomed to doing nothing all day, every small task out of the ordinary seems like a major annoyance

3)I had to take a shit on a run the other day. When emerging out of the woods, right in front of me on the road was this grungy looking guy, wearing a brown leather trenchcoat, black boots, and looked like he was hopped up on something. It was the most scared I've been in a while.

4)Bloom looks skinny in his recent pictures on facebook. It's kind of disappointing.

5)T-29 days to camp


Sam(bo 1)