USA XC Championships Recap

Ryan Hall going to Kenya, Oregon Elite's Emily Infeld, another record for Mary Cain, and Shalane and Chris Derrick triumph in STL.  And Brent Newman's pictures from XC and other local races.  Quite the amazing photographer!

Friday, February 1st - 4 miles.  Ran after work nice and easy.  Looped 270 and a little extra.  I don't remember the pace but it was pretty slow effort.  Went to dinner at night at a new Italian place called Sugo's in Edwardsville.  Decent pasta and huge portions, but they really stuck it to you on the wine - expensive, and not that good.  I'll go back here again, but not to drink.  Picked up my buddy Ryan late at night, and proceeded to have a long night.

Saturday, February 2nd - 8 miles (A.M. 1 up, USA XC Championships 4K Community Race, 2 down; P.M. 3 miles).  Was really tempted to stay in bed since I wasn't feeling too hot, but eventually got up and made my way to Forest Park for the USA XC Championships!  My race kicked off the festivities, and did a quick warmup/strides before lining up.  Same course as last year - you line up in the middle of the Central Ball Fields, run out, then loop around the perimeter of the park.  Hills on the back stretch of the loop with a couple steep uphills, but nothing too terrible.  Anyways, goal was to run in the 6:20's and hopefully feel controlled.  Cold and windy, but not nearly as bad as last year.  Went out with a hard effort (felt like 5K pace), but was a little dejected to see my first mile split at 6:17 so pretty much knew this wasn't going to be my day for an all out effort.  Let up slightly, and fell into tempo pace.  Split 7:57 for the first 2K, and looped around running in between 2 groups so pretty much ran by myself.  Ran 8:04 for the 2nd loop (16:01 total for 50th place overall I think?), so pretty much hit my goal on the dot.  Felt pretty tired overall, but made it through relatively unscathed - really need to work on hill work as I felt like I was struggling a little bit on the back stretch.  But regardless, fun times, then cooled down with Gibbs and TVR post race.  Watched the masters women and men run (including the awesome duel between Joe Shea and Craig), went to grab food and came back in time to catch the junior boy's race (quick story - was parked at the 2K mark watching the runners, then saw Shalane and Emily Infeld warming up.  Yelled at Shalane and waved at her, and she smiled and waved back so there was my elite women brush with fame for the day (very sad I know, but made my day)), then it was elite time!

Women - awesome race.  Was walking around the start area when low in behold, who do I run into?  Ryan and Sara Hall!  Had a nice, quick conversation with him about his training/Boston, then he took off.  Anyways, watched the girls start then ran all around the course trying to catch them.  The beauty of XC is that it's so easy to spectate - you can hit multiple points within a short distance, so it wasn't unusual to see spectators sprinting from side to side.  Not to mention, you are so accessible to all the athletes since they are basically walking the same paths as everyone else.  Shalane took immediate control of the race/pacing, then made a strong move more than halfway through which only Kim Conley and Deena Castor covered.  Well, Shalane continued on with the punishing pace and by the last lap, she pretty much strung it out and finished strong to become National Champion!  Really impressed with Kim Conley's strength (she was an Olympian 5Ker) and her ability to hang on until almost the end.  Deena thrilled the hometown crowd with a solid performance, and she looked very strong throughout her race - just didn't cover the move, and motored through the second half almost solo.  Shalane is just a warrior, and looked like one of the world's best out there - I didn't expect anything less.  Really impressed with her ability to take complete control of the race and stay strong throughout.

Yearly meeting

Elite Women's Start

Shalane takes control

6K - still motoring along

Deena!

Champion!

Men - another awesome race.  Guys came out pretty slow with Dathan leading the pace but trading off with Tegenkemp and a few others.  The guys stayed in a pretty big, close-knit pack for the first 8K or so (split 24:08, I think?) before Ritz made his move.  Well him, Tegenkemp, Ben True, Chris Derrick, and I think Scott Baugh covered but that group got whittled down to just a few.  Ritz took a lead, but was closely pursed by Teg and Derrick on the last 2k.  Well, Chris Derrick ended up making a pretty big move on the back stretch which no one else could cover, and ended up coasting in for the victory!  Even more impressive was this was his first pro race, and he looked pretty amazing out there.  Can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Elite Men's Start

Right after the first 2K

8K move

Final Thoughts - I thought STL hosted an amazing event.  Last year was a little messed up with horrific weather and the lack of elites due to the Olympic Year, but we had much better weather this time around and got in some big names.  The course was well marked and in great shape despite previous crappy weather, and the race went off without a hitch.  Big kudos to the Big River staff/volunteers for providing us with an amazing experience!

P.M., took a monster, well deserved nap, then woke up to finish my cooldown.  Before we left, saw Shalane  and Emily Infeld running circles to get in miles.  This really hit home for me as Shalane was coming off winning a major rest, but there was still work to be done.  These circles were like 200-300 meters tops, and they ran for a good 15-20 minutes.  Anyways, guilted myself into a slow 3 mile 270 loop - if Shalane can do it, so can I, and I felt a lot more with ease with myself post run.  ~24 minutes.  

Sunday, February 3rd.  Super Bowl Sunday!  12 miles, out and back towards Troy.  Got an impromptu blizzard the night before (4"-6" of snow), so roads/trails were in poor shape as the sun was rapidly melting Mother Nature's leftovers.  Pretty tired of this inconsistent weather as it's hot, it's cold, it rains, it snows, it does everything.  (btw, this may have been the most inconsistent week of all time with 74 degree temps on Monday, heavy rain on Tue, 20 degrees on Wed, 9 degrees on Thur (both days with a heavy wind so even colder), blizzard on Sat., then warmer on Sunday!!!)  Anyways, Devin was in town, so he texted me to do a long run and invited Harry along since he had asked too.  Legs were pretty pooped from the heavy week and had planned on going pretty slow.  Well, we went out with a pretty hard tailwind which in retrospect was a bad idea to go that direction.  Felt ok, but hit some heavy snow drifts in the shaded areas where the snow had piled up a good amount, so was doing some high knees to get through.  The last mile out was all covered, so worked hard going out and coming back.  Hit the headwind coming back, and was getting pretty tired.  The pace picked up slightly, so my misery was compounded and the hangover wasn't helping.  I was a mess.  But got it done, and spent a long time stretching out and taking a monster nap.  Spent a fun Super Bowl Sunday night at a friend's house.  Won $350 with a couple squares, and Megan won $80 herself so a very fun and profitable night!  49.5 miles this week, 24 miles in February, 189 miles in 2013.  Slowly building back fitness, but on the right track.

Monday, February 4th - 0!  Exhaustion from lack of sleep, and legs were just destroyed.  Skipped group run, and took a day off to get more sleep.  I really thought about getting out there, but was that tired.  

Tuesday, February 5th - 8 miles (2 up, Ladder - 2K, 1 mile, 1200, 800, 400, 2 down). What a difference a day makes!  Got out of work pretty late, but eventually made it out the door.  Decent weather as it was in the 40's and breezy, but almost shorts weather. Had problems trying to figure out a workout, but happened to be in mid-text with my buddy Pifer so asked him for a quick workout in lieu of the RNR 1/2 coming this weekend.  So he suggested a ladder with 3-4 min recovery in between reps (2K at half pace, 1 mile at 10K pace, 1200 at 5K pace, etc.) to get a little bit of everything without taxing my system.  Ran down to Village Circle, did an additional loop before doing the workout.  Felt pretty good but was running with my Nike watch which has a crappy light so going mainly by feel when I wasn't running under a street light.  Split my 2K mile at 6:08 which made me feel better because it wasn't feeling too easy.  Anyways, the rest of the workout went pretty well, and felt strong.  Took 2-3 min recovery in between reps, since it was pretty late and just wanted to get home.  I went too hard, but I blame my crappy pacing for it but the effort felt decent.  Cooldown, then corework and stretching at home.  Goal for splits were: 8:08, 6:20, 4:30, 2:55, 1:25.  My actual splits were: 7:50, 6:09, 4:21, 2:48, 1:21.  

Easy mileage the rest of this week.  Headed to FL tomorrow and looking forward to seeing good friends down there.  Rock n Roll 1/2 on Sunday, and the weather looks warm.  I am going to run without a watch and just go by effort since I am not fit for this race.  If I'm not feeling good at the 5K, it will most likely becoming a glorified long run.  But should be a blast, and can't wait to head to warmer climates!

USA XC Championships Eve

Favorites of the USA XC Championships, how to pick a good running buddy, Rupp running an upcoming indoor 5K, last week in the world of running, and the upcoming London Marathon field which is being considered the strongest marathon field of all time.

Wednesday, January 30th - 8 miles (2 up, 4 x 1 mile, 2 down).  Got to Forest Park on a pretty windy and cold evening.  Since my mile repeats workout on Tuesday fell through because of the rain, rescheduled with Gabe, Craig, and Harry.  Got up to FP early, so did a quick mile jog to try to warm up since it was pretty chilly.  Met up with everyone at the Visitors Center before running over to Gabe's 1 mile loop which was basically a big circular loop that circled around the Muny.  Gabe also wisely parked his truck as a reference point (right by our start/end point, and was awesome since we could see the proverbial "finish line" about 300 meters out).  Warmed up to get a lay of the land, then stretched a bit before the workout.  Wind was really starting to pick up, and a little bit of snow so was having to deal with these gusts.  Anyways, goal pace was 6:15/mile with 3 minutes rest in between splits.  Motored through the splits while taking turns leading.  Legs felt pretty good, but the last quarter (uphill and into the wind) was pretty tough on all reps.  Regardless, pretty happy with the workout, given the conditions.  2 mile cooldown afterwards.  Splits were: 6:12, 6:07, 6:14, 6:09.

Thursday, January 31st - 8 miles.  The awful weather continued on, as temps dropped to sub 20 with wind gusts of 25 mph.  Temps felt like 2 degrees out there according to weather.com, but probably was colder.  Recruited Mike to run with me but he ultimately backed out like the baby he is, so had to do solo.  Did my 270 loop, ran back then looped around the neighborhood around Village Circle, then looped around some more to hit the mileage.  It was miserably cold, miserably windy, and I was very miserable every step of the way.  Despite uber laying for this run, I was still miserable.  Almost quit 15-20 times during the run, but soldiered through and got in the mileage.  Shivered for a good hour or so after the run.  Really reminded me of last year's XC Championship conditions (ironically this weekend), and glad to have this over with.  No time splits since it was too cold to have any part of my skin exposed to the elements.  163 miles in January.  Ok start to the year, but still in rebuilding mode.

Cold again today, and I need to get in some mileage later tonight.  Picked up my XC packet and shirt today over at the Crowne Plaza in Clayton.  Wanted to get an early jump on it and avoid the rush, but it was already getting congested.  Lots of college athletes around and about, and really excited to see them race tomorrow.  No time goals for tomorrow, but would be nice to run at tempo pace.  PR is definitely possible, as I didn't run very well last year so may give it a go if feeling well!