Morris Williams Miles

Time: 81:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Target: 4 x 1 mile starting around 5:00 and dropping, 3:00 rest
Workout: 5:02.6, 4:53.2, 4:50.0, 4:51.5

Luckily my flight out of Austin wasn't until late morning, so I had time to meet the Texas team for another workout. Coach Hayes had the guys doing mile repeats over at the Morris Williams golf course, which was in the realm of what I wanted to do this week and definitely better than doing something on my own. He mapped out a hilly mile loop on the course and I was surprised how good I felt in general hitting all of these intervals. I ran with Jake, Victor, Kyle who ran six miles and Jacob who did four.

Warming up my right hamstring was very tight again and I felt it right away in the workout. I would've liked to get after it and see if I could run the last two (which the guys hit in 4:47, 4:43) but my stride was starting to get off as my leg and hip got pretty tight. A flatter loop would've been more ideal for this, but I like the idea of running hilly miles.

Greenbelt

Time: 83:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Fairly easy morning run with Jake. We were supposed to meet the whole team, but we missed them by about 3 minutes. They took a different route back somehow and we didn't see them until we were back in the Barton Springs parking lot. My legs were tired the whole way and my right hamstring and hip flexor are both fairly sore. The next few days should be fairly easy, and I may skip working out until the beginning of next week.

Longhorn Fartlek

Time: 84:00
Distance: 12.5 mi.

Target: 6-8 x 1k or 3:00 fartlek, w/3:00 jogging rest
Workout: 6 x 3:00 w/3:00 jogging rest

I met the guys at the track to crash their workout. My options this week were to run something with a little less recovery than I would've liked, or to do it alone. I opted for the former, as I'm sick of working out by myself. The original plan was to hit Morris Williams for measured 1ks, but there was a golf tournament (?!) so we headed to a trail near a housing development across the street and turned it into a fartlek. We worked into it, and by the 3rd and 4th ones, we were running fairly hard. I was beat and dehydrated from the heat and travel yesterday. Some of the guys went all the way through 8 of them, but I was definitely ready to be done at 6.

LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course

Time: 30:00
Distance: 4 mi.

Course jog with 6 or 7 strides in spikes.


Aerial view of the course (which used to be the remnants of a mine)


10k course map

While we were putzing around in Terre Haute, Jilane (and friends) were rocking out in Philadelphia. JR ran a nice negative split (1:46:52 / 1:37:01) to finish in 3:23:53 (well under the Boston Qualifying time of 3:40, which I think was her goal).

Crossroads of America

Time: 15:00
Distance: 2 mi.



Spent the morning flying into Terre Haute through Hotlanta. I drove through here back in August but didn't have time to stop, so it's really been a full year since I've been here. The weather seems much more pleasant than it was a year ago, though, and I'm definitely more confident and excited.

Easy shakeout from the hotel with 4 strides. Hamstring feels good and my heel (?!) is a little sore.

Something's coming, sky is purple

Time: 32:00
Distance: 4.5 mi.

Easy 20 minute warmup with the guys. They did 4 x 300m in 48 down to 46 with 200m jog and I did 6 long strides in spikes. Hamstring is feeling MUCH better than yesterday, but no reason at this point to give it any excuse to act up again. Feeling good and the guys were in good spirits. Ran in the afternoon, which made it feel almost like outdoor track (it helps when it is 75 out). And that was my last "real" college practice. Woo.

Tomorrow will begin a 10 day journey... luckily I won't be too concerned about training.

Saturday 11/17 - Austin, TX to Terre Haute, IN
Monday 11/19 - Terre Haute, IN to Austin, TX
Tuesday 11/20 - Austin, TX to Amherst, MA
Wednesday 11/21 - Amherst, MA to Boston, MA
Thursday 11/22 (or Friday 11/23) - Boston, MA to Amherst, MA
Monday 11/26 - Amherst, MA to Austin, TX

Possum Trot

Time: 60:00
Distance: 9 mi.

Easy 60 minutes from the track. I could tell from the moment I got out of bed this morning that my right hamstring was in rough shape. It was a tight after the race and I felt it a little bit yesterday, but running hard on it with spikes and flats definitely aggravated it some. Often this kind of tightness will loosen up after the first 10-15 minutes, but this lingered the whole run. Tried to take care of it this morning stretching, getting stim, rolling it out and hitting the ice bath, but I am still feeling it for sure. Hopefully the massage this afternoon will help. Not worried that it is really injured but I will need to take good care of it the next few days.

Poncho showed me a great video over at the new Floswimming site with the Michigan swim coach that has some great race-week advice.

Morris Williams 1ks, Track 300s

Time: 60:00
Distance: 9 mi.

Target: 2 x 1k at "2:25 is too fast and 2:55 is too slow"; 6 x 300m in 50 sec. with 100m rest in 25 sec. (7:30 for 1.5 mi.)
Workout: 2:44, 2:36; 300s between 46-49, 7:20 for 1.5 mi.

A good workout moving the legs a bit faster without going to the well. The second 1k was definitely hard for me, but I think that feeling that faster pace was important. The 300s went fine... the easiest they've felt all season.

Right hamstring still tight, but not too bad.

Town Lake East, Infield

Time: 75:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Met the guys at the track to run from the track down to the east end of Town Lake and back. The pace was pretty steady after we got going... about 6:10-20s out and under 6:00 back until we hit the infield at 65 minutes and ran easy for the last 10 minutes. A bit stiff and tired from yesterday, but nothing major.

I ran across videos of Sebastian Coe (on YouTube) and Haile Gebrselassie (on CNN Video) that are definitely worth watching.

Terre Haute! Terre Haute!

Time: 70:00
Distance: 11 mi.

NCAA Div. I South Central Regional XC Championship

Target: make nationals, run smart.
Race: team 2nd; 14th in 30:18.

We accomplished our goal of qualifying for nationals with no trouble as we just had to beat Texas A&M who finished with nearly twice our score. Our team race wasn't quite as strong as I think we were hoping for though with Kyle and Jake a little bit back but Leo and Erik ran very well taking 3rd and 4th. Jake and I ran together through 3 miles, about when we caught Kyle, and I ran away from them a bit.

I ran the conservative race plan well, but the way the race shaped up, I was running nearly alone for the last 4 miles. There was a pretty strong front pack that Jake and I were off by the first mile and we were in no man's land trying to catch them. In the last 2 miles it really felt like I was almost running a tempo, with almost no one to run with and knowing that we had the nationals bid locked up. Definitely could've closed much harder, which I will have to get ready to do in 10 day--this wasn't even the effort of the Big 12s race for me. Went through the first mile in 4:50, second in 9:41, fourth in 19:32 (4:51ish pace), not sure about the rest but if it is a full 10k (there are questions about the distance) I would've averaged 4:53s (meaning that the last 2 miles were slow).

Bottom line: we're headed to Terre Haute, and I'm especially looking forward to giving both Arkansas and Oklahoma State another run.

With Jake near 2 miles...

and starting the second loop

1 Arkansas  37    5    6    7    9   10   27   41
Total Time:  2:28:59.10
Average:    29:47.82
2 Texas     52    3   4    12   16   17   19   44
Total Time:  2:31:00.60
Average:    30:12.12

1  Shadrack Songok        Tex. A&M-Corpus        29:16.3    1
2  Francis Kasagule       Lamar                  29:23.4    2
3  Leonel Manzano         Texas                  29:30.7    3
4  Erik Stanley           Texas                  29:35.2    4
5  Matt Munoz             Arkansas               29:36.7    5
6  Chris Barnicle         Arkansas               29:37.8    6
7  Scott MacPherson       Arkansas               29:39.3    7
8  Joseph Simichimba      Lsu                    29:52.1    8
9  Tyler Hill             Arkansas               29:55.8    9
10 Festus Kigen           Texas Christian        30:04.3
11 Steve Magness          Houston                30:04.3
12 Shawn Forrest          Arkansas               30:09.5   10
13 Nava Luis              Texas-Pan American     30:15.3   11
14 Owen Washburn          Texas                  30:18.1   12
15 Samuel Kosgei          Lamar                  30:21.5   13

18 Darren Brown           Texas                  30:44.4   16
19 Jake Morse             Texas                  30:52.2   17
22 Kyle Miller            Texas                  30:58.5   19
49 Jay Heller             Texas                  31:57.5   44 

More coverage: TexasSports recap, full results, other NCAA qualifiers.

Also, it looks like the Brown men capped off a frustrating year with a great race at the Northeast regional race (or is it now the New England region?) beating the rest of the Ivys there, which I was very happy to see... looked like great races by Ari and Graddy in particular.

Photos courtesy of two awesome but somewhat conflicted fans.

Fayettenam

Time: 37:00
Distance: 5.5 mi.

Dubbed Fayettenam by collegiate running enthusiasts because whenever you're there you're "going into war," Fayetteville, Arkansas embodies the term in more ways than just that one... it's pretty bleak in these parts and people feel very strongly about the way things happen here. (Incidentally, it appears that the term originated for Fayetteville, North Carolina.)


10k Course Map

We headed out to the course (the same one used for the Chili Pepper Invite) when it "opened" at 10am to run it over. I like it a lot... hard-packed ground, wide paths and gradual hills and turns. It reminds me a lot of the course in Grafton, MA at the Tufts Vetrenary School that hosted the Massachusetts State Meet my junior and senior years... and I ran quite well both times there. Hips/glute definitely feeling a bit better and striding out felt pretty good.

As for the race, I am excited about the plan and the race itself. Jake and I are going to run together, hopefully a bit more conservatively than last year when my 5k splits were something like 15:00/16:10. Goals are pretty simple: run a smart race, make it to nationals.

Other stuff:

Got a new pair of Elite 3s, which I've been running in all fall. Since my last pair I also wrote a very light review of them for RunTex.

Check out the NCAA South Central Regional meet website, the TexasSports preview, hating on us in the LetsRun polls, and this great Lil' Wayne song.

Also, the first local news source that comes up in a Google search (NWAnews.com) seems like it could be easily confused.

IF Speed Play

Time: 66:00
Distance: 10 mi.

Target: 3 sets of long interval (4 min), 1 min jog, short interval (60, 45 or 30 sec), 2 min jog
Workout: ran hard throughout keeping the top group together

Ran up to IF (despite it not having "good workout grass") for a fartlek doing loops of close to a 1k loop on the field. It was a little weird because it was the first time we've ever worked out up there and it was very windy, but we ran well just on effort. My hips felt very tight and my right glute is sore.

I wish I could find someone who would pay me just to not get fat between now and next spring.

IF, Track

Time: 90:00
Distance: 14 mi.

An atypical but good Sunday run. Met at the track and headed up to IF where we ran for 30 mins and then ran back to be at the track at 70 mins. Ran 1.5 miles on the track just a little bit uptempo (supposed to be 9:00, we ran 8:40) and then ran barefoot easy on the infield for about 10 minutes to finish up. Despite being a little bit under-rested, I felt good.

Zilker 4 x 2k

Time: 91:30
Distance: 14.5 mi.

Target: 4 x 2k in ~6:00 with 3:00 rest
Workout: 6:05, 6:00, 5:57, 5:51



Very good workout... the type I didn't have last year (and would've garnered a "green" rating on Flotrack when I was using it). Did the intervals on an 800m loop, so we had 2.5 loops for each. Each interval seemed to feel better than the last as despite my legs getting a little tired I felt I was settling in well. The splits were fairly even and Jake, Leo, Kyle and I all took turns leading some. It was good to see BRD coming around and Jay looked really good too. Even JT Supreme (Joe Thorne) came out, which was a nice surprise.

Finished up with 6 diagonal strides when we got back to the track.

Morris Williams Hills, 300s

Time: 90:00
Distance: 13.5 mi.

Target: 16 steady to hard hills; 6 x 300m in ~48 sec with 100m rest in ~25 sec (~7:20-25 total)
Workout: 16 hills from 42 down to 35ish?; 300s from 48-49 down to 46 (7:26 total)

An okay workout, but I was feeling a little off of it on both the hills and the 300s (especially the last one that the guys blazed). Tried to keep under control on the hills, which meant getting dropped a little bit up and then catching up across the top of the hill. These are never my best workouts, and both hamstrings were very tight so I wanted to make sure not to over do it.

Town Lake

Time: 120:00
Distance: 18 mi.

The last 2 hour jaunt of the season... not going after it too hard. Headed out starting slow (it was hard to see at 6:30) but settled in to about 6:30s and then 6:00-6:10 on the way back. Definitely more sore than yesterday, but not too bad--mostly just tired hamstrings.

Summer running partners Steve Bogden, Ben Peisch, and Eric Reinauer ran in the Marine Corps Marathon today. Not sure if they were all happy with their times, all in the 2:50s, but it does make me excited to do a marathon at some point. Plus, it looks to me like Jordan must be sneaky-training for a marathon (why else would you do 30k of work in a morning?!).

2007 Big 12 Cross Country Championship

Time: 70:00
Distance: 11 mi.

Goals: run for top-10 individually and for the win as a team; give 100% effort.
Race: 14th (25:10), fairly good effort/race; 3rd as a team behind Colorado and Oklahoma State, who both ran well.


Stan, Jake and Me

An okay day, but a little frustrating to be third. We were a little too aggressive early in going for the win as a team (we were leading at 3k and in second just past 6k), which probably kept us from getting second as we all faded a bit after 5k. Leo sacked up bigtime after falling a bit back in the middle, and Kyle and Stan were both solid. I would've really liked to be in the top ten, but felt flat over the last 3k. Overall, though, this still ranks as one of the best cross country races I've run and there is still a lot of room for improvement in our races in the next few weeks. Our team performance was almost undoubtedly better this year than last (despite getting 3rd), with 4 in the top 15 this year and just 1 in the top 15 last year.

The rumor is that the course was 160m long in the last mile, which seems to make sense from my splits: first two miles were about 4:45, hit 4 miles at under 19:40 (~5:00?) and finished the race in 25:10 (5:30 for 1600m, just about 5:00 for 1760m). The course was surprisingly difficult: all those little bumps added up to making it hard to get into a rhythm. Also, it was dry as hell... and the altitude shouldn't be totally ignored.

Place   Team            Score   1   2   3   4   5   6   7
=====   =============== =====   ==  ==  ==  ==  ==  ==  ==
1       Colorado        34      1   2   4   11  16  17  24
2       Oklahoma State  48      3   8   10  12  15  25  40
3       Texas           58      6   7   9   14  22  45  55

Place  Bib #  Name              Team            Time
====== ====== ================= =============== ========
1      52     Brent Vaughan     Colorado        24:22.30
2      45     Kenyon Neuman     Colorado        24:36.50
3      225    Ryan Vail         Oklahoma State  24:35.80
4      47     Stephen Pifer     Colorado        24:64.30
5      110    Colby Wissel      Kansas          24:51.05
6      243    Erik Stanley      Texas           24:53.05
7      241    Kyle Miller       Texas           24:55.20
8      217    David Chirchir    Oklahoma State  25:02.60
9      240    Leonel Manzano    Texas           25:04.00
10     220    Sean Fleming      Oklahoma State  25:04.10
11     43     Peter Janson      Colorado        25:04.30
12     222    David Jankowski   Oklahoma State  25:08.50
13     302    Edwin Sang        Texas Tech      25:09.60
14     244    Owen Washburn     Texas           25:10.05
15     215    Matt Barnes-Smith Oklahoma State  25:11.80

22     242    Jacob Morse       Texas           25:30.75
46     238    Jay Heller        Texas           26:19.40
57     237    Darren Brown      Texas           26:33.50
61     236    Habben Berhane    Texas           26:37.45
84     245    Robert Wetzel     Texas           27:24.80

Coverage: Flotrack Video | TexasSports

Lubbock is pretty out there, but now I can't say that I've never seen prairie dogs of cotton patches.

Rawls Golf Course

Time: 38:00
Distance: 5.5 mi.


Checking out the course

Shakeout run on the Big 12s course after an easy flight from Austin. Body feeling pretty good, despite random soreness in my left foot (as Hanley observed, everything has been going too well... You can't race like that) and the usual stomach business.

I think we're ready. Not much more to say than that.

Short Possum Trot

Time: 70:00
Distance: 10.5 mi.

Morning run with the guys on the Possum Trot loop, cutting it a little sort on Enfield to get back to the track for some strides. Right hammy and piriformis tight/sore, but other than that feeling good.

Also, upon showing Colin the somewhat absurd picture that TexasSports is running right now he offered some fantastic wishes:

May your dominaysh be swift and thorough.

Morris Williams Speed Play

Time: 56:00
Distance: 8.5 mi.

Target: 3 sets of 3:00 (1:00) :30 (2:00) - long intervals at just under 3 min 1k pace and short intervals in about 32 sec 200m pace
Workout: Ran decently hard together and felt good, completed the fartlek


Morris Williams Golf Course

A chilly and clear morning in Austin. Got up early to finish an exam and while I was pretty tired heading to the workout, I'm happy to be done with everything up to Big 12s. Did the fartlek approximately on the 1k loop that we've used earlier in the season which at least gave us an idea how hard we were running... from what I could tell we were just about on the target pace. Everyone ran together well. Stomach continues to be an issue, but I was able to run through it fine.