ADELANTE!

Alpha Level 18, Week 4 Monday, 7-30-2007 10 Miles Relaxed to Cheatham Hill in 1:08:25 Tuesday, 7-31-2007 AM: 10 Miles around Pigeon Hill in 1:00:48 + 8 x 100M Strides Up-Hill PM: 5 Miles in Kennesaw Mountain in 35:05 Wednesday, 8-01-2007 AM: 10 Miles Relaxed through The Reserve and Pigeon Hill in 1:05:37 PM: 5 Miles around Ed Warner Park in 33:29 Thursday, 8-02-2007 AM: 5 Miles around Ed Warner Park in 35:02 PM: 3M in 24:26 + Nashville XC 5K+, 17:01 (1st), Add on to 4M+ in 21:41 + 3M in 20:20; 10M Total Friday, 8-03-2007 14 Miles Easy in Percy Warner Park in 1:31:28 Saturday, 8-04-2007 11 Miles Relaxed to Cheatham Hill in 1:17:05 + 8 x 100M Strides Uphill Sunday, 8-05-2007 20 Miles around Kolb Farm in 2:02:24, after 4 Miles Pick-Ups of 1', 2', 1', 10', 1', 5', alternating 3' & 4' Recoveries Total 100 Miles

And so, here is my new plan for a successful 2007 XC Season: Friday, 7-27-2007 AM: 9 Miles Relaxed around Pigeon Hill in 57:04 PM: 5 Miles through The Reserve in 31:57 Saturday, 7-28-2007 10 Miles Relaxed towards Cheatham Hill in 1:06:32 + 8 x 100m Uphill Sunday, 7-29-2007 18 Miles, at 4 Miles Pick-Ups of 1', 2', 1', 10', 1', 5' alternating 3' & 4' Recoveries, to the Illinois Monument and Back through The Reserve 10K in 1:53:13 Total 86 Miles July 30-August 12 2 Weeks of Alpha Level 18, Weeks 3 & 4 Average, 96 Miles August 13-November 4 12 Weeks of SWEP Level 19-21 Average, 94 Miles November 5-November 25 21 Days of Dellinger Cross Country Training Pattern November 26-December 9 14 Days of Dellinger Cross Country Competition Pattern

That's all I'm saying. I hate being sick. Dry cough. Malaise. Low-grade fever. Just no energy. Got home at 7PM tonight, so I will see if I have the motivation to get out for my secondary run. This morning's run went much better, as mentally, I realized that I have to relax on my moderate runs, as I've been going too hard, especially with the volume I want to hit. So... I finished at 9:15PM tonight, but it was great. Ran real relaxed and finally feeling like, "listen, if you want to be serious about qualifying, you need to accept volume into your life, just for now." And so, hopefully, I have. Brutal. I am so absolutely dead tired. I have to keep reminding myself of Canova's caution at this phase in training: " The athlete often reaches a state of general fatigue which attenuates muscle vigour, but this condition can be considered normal and should not be mistaken for an inadequate physical condition or for over-training." Because without that war...

This "vacation" can't end soon enough, as the 101-degree weather and nasty humidity, mixed with the necessary family engagements have caused me to lose all the work I had done leading into this trip. Anyhow, I have taken it as a much-needed break from it all and a much-needed impetus for training and working hard over the upcoming months. I will have a full plate. So, I got back from Miami, completely tired and in need of rest. So, now I am getting sick with a low-grade fever and aches (flu-like symptoms), but am just trying to get through the week as healthy as possible. Tried to make the fever break today after my run, as I was absolutely wasted (was supposed to run 55:00 for 10M). Anyway, just plugging away. Canceled my PM run last night in favor of rest and am considering bagging my long run today as I am still having flu-like symptoms. Just feverish and achy. I hate being sick. Tracked it down to just too much stress on vacation and travel, how do you like that? Sh!t...

Alright, so I am prepared to work. I spent all weekend psychologically programming my mind to accept the future workload that I must carry out if I am to be successful in Chicago. The mental part of this sport is vital to success. Looking back through my training logs when I felt I was in sub-2:22 shape in 2004, I did not even realize the mileage I was putting in... it wasn't even a thought. I was just running before work, managing OTR from 10-6:30PM and then running after work in the dark. There are 13 weeks before Chicago. In the 13 weeks prior to my 7th Place finish at the 2005 Houston Marathon, I had mileage weeks of 105-81-78-110-75-117-114-77-123-106-100-66-65 (93M Avg.), and the biggest lesson learned was that I tapered way too much after having a freak ankle sprain a week from the race. However, that summer I also placed 16th at the US Half Championships, raced a 31:04 10K, 35:22 7M, 37:44 12K, and had peak mileage weeks of 137, 132, and 128 miles of insane workouts (8 x 2 ...

Doomsday approaches. The Peachtree Road Race is the largest 10K in the world, registering over 55,000 participants. I ran this race in 2005 and it promptly caused my brief retirement from the sport after getting absolutely embarrassed by Lornah Kiplagat, as I crashed to a now-respectable 32:10. The goal for this race is to improve upon that time, and hopefully, it will translate into other niceties, including one of the Top 3 Georgians. We will see. I will have to run smart, as I am not near top form, but I am quite strong. Not fast yet, but in 2005, I split 15:26 / 16:44. This time around, I may want a 15:45 split on both ends. We shall see. This year, I am working 11-8PM at the Peachtree Expo and on Tuesday night, will be tearing down until 10PM, so I will understandably be a bit tired when I line up, but so will everyone else in a way. Alright, so finally some pub from Peachtree . A couple of concerns: 1) the bib number I have is 326 and yet I am listed at 140. And 2) I woke up wit...