Robbienox Race Report II

This post will take you all through my running from October, 2006 to May, 2007:

October 28, 2006: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Championship, Como Park Golf Course, St. Paul, MN. 28:37.87, 75/189, 12th on team. Hilly course, ideal weather conditions. Course PR: 27:34, 2003.

November 2, 2006: The Great Karhu Shoe Race, Upper Cowling Arboretum, Carleton College. 28:40, 12/x, 8th on team, varsity 8 held out. Hilly course, very cold temperature. Course PR: 27:28, 2004.

While my achilles injury prevented me from getting any faster as we tapered because I was already training so much less, I did not noticeably increase my performances at the end of the season. However, I did provide good pacing to a pack of freshmen and sophomores on the team, so I felt happy with how I was able to contribute at that point. I took two weeks off after the season, and my achilles felt much better right away.

December running began well, but the achilles injury I suffered in October came back and built up. My mileage dropped precipitously down to 0 in early January. Did not compete indoors. I ran inside or on the treadmill most of the time, and I never ran more than 4 miles. I'd aim for 60 minutes of cardio each day, rotating between the stationary bike, the elliptical machine and running.

I took 5 days off during winter quarter finals because I had 5 days to write a cumulative assigned 51 pages of papers for my classes. During spring break I tried to be more aggressive with running by doing multiple 4 mile runs in a week instead of just 1. My achilles couldn't take that.

I decided that since my achilles was halfway useable and that is was my senior year that I would compete in outdoor track. I only ran the workouts and would warmup and cooldown on the machines. Recovery days were almost always on the machines, but if we didn't have a meet that week I would mix running and machines. Here are my performances:

March 31, 2007: St. John's University Invitational, McNeely Spectrum, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN. Race moved to indoor track due to incliment weather. 4:48.3 for 1,500i, 42/45. Converts to 5:11.36 for 1 mile using Track and Field News conversion factor of 1.08.

April 14, 2007: Lee Krough Invitational, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN. 4:46.5 for 1,500 meters, 32/33. Converts to 5:09.42 for 1 mile. Sunny, moderate temperature, low wind, good weather.

April 21, 2007: Carleton Relays, Laird Stadium, Carleton College, Northfield, MN. Scheduled to run 1,500 meters, but scratched due to the flu I had the entire week before.

April 28, 2007: St. John's University Quadrangular, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN. Ran 4:55.64 for 1,500 meters, 23/24. Converts to 5:19.29 for 1 mile. Did not run the previous week due to flu, so lost some fitness. Sunny, slightly warm, fair weather.

May 1, 2007: Rolex Classic, Laird Stadium, Carleton College, Northfield, MN. Ran 17:34.98 for 5,000 meters, 6/6. Good temperature, slight wind but good racing conditions. This was my final race for Carleton College as I will not make the conference meet. It was a great way to end it all in front of a home crowd. Everyone knew this was my last hurrah, so people were extremely supportive during the race. The homestretch was lined for me, so I gave a really good kick down the final straightaway to cap it off. Very emotional for both me, my coach and some of my teammates who I've been with for three or four years.

Most of my teammates and I are running a road relay in northern Wisconsin at the end of May, so I will continue training for that. I have every intention of continuing to train seriously for competitive racing after college. I had alot of injuries my last few years after starting off so well, so I have alot of unfinished business.