I need to get better about blogging. Hopefully I can put something out on a weekly basis so that the few people who follow me can have an update on my training, goals, and whatever else. It's hard though to find things to talk about during the pre-season...really, we train seemingly endlessly. We've been doing workouts since mid-September with the season opener in January. It can be hard to keep focused.

My training throughout that period has been very good. The past 6 weeks, my mileage has been higher than it was at this point in 2011. My base is definitely much stronger than it was last year. We worked a lot on some pure speed techniques as well. We did some work under 100 meters at near max effort with full rest. It took a while to click but I think it really did these last two weeks. We started coming indoors to workout the second week of November. Since then, we have been inside basically every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Once inside, we did some basic workouts such as race pace 150's to help acclimate our knees, ankles, etc. to the indoor turns. After about a week and a half of foundation work, we finally got a chance to open up a little. Since then, I have done some Mile Race pace 400 workouts as well as some 400 race pace 200's. I haven't really done much in between which is different from last year. My best gauge of 800 fitness is usually based off how well I can run 300's. We will begin with some next week in just enough time to open up January 12th at University of Kentucky. Crazy to think that we will be running very fast in just 3.5 weeks!

To keep me sane and to gauge my fitness, Coach had me do a 1000 meter time trial this Monday evening. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I knew I was fit but I wasn't confident yet in my long speed. I've only run the 1000 a few times in my life. Last year, we did two time trials...one of which wasn't what I hoped for while the other, I ran 2:23. I also raced a disappointing 2:24.14 at IU last year. I figured if I was in the general are of those times, I would be happy.

Coach set my goal as coming through the 600 in 1:25 and finishing as best I could from there. I ran the time trial solo but teammate Jarrett Newby paced me through the 6. I got out pretty well just about where I needed to be in 28.7. From there, I was too conservative. My next two 200's were 30's. I knew, however at 400 meters that I felt GOOD. I figured I could wait until 400 to go and hopefully drop a 57 to log a respectable time. I wasn't always so confident in my finish. In fact, until last season, I traditionally did not finish strong. 

So I kept it comfortable (a little too comfortable in hindsight) and waited for the 600 mark. I put in a surge there after Jarrett dropped which led to a 28.7 for my fourth 200. I was still very comfortable and tried to wind it up at 800. I finished well and my form felt pretty solid. My last 200 was 27.4 making my last 400 56.1. My total time was 2:25.8. I would have liked to go a bit faster but I was also very happy with the time. If it had been an actual race, I would have liked to think some more adrenaline would be flowing. We likely won't get a shot at the 1000 at all during the season which is a shame. If you are able to run 2:23.90, it qualifies you for the USA Champs for 800 meters as a provisional event. 

The best way I can explain this effort was "conservative". I think it was what I needed though as I am very confident in my finish and I'm sure I can do the same off a fast pace. Hopefully I can blog next time about a couple of my teammates time trials as I know many of them are ready and excited to test themselves.