Click on the title for a good article that looks into the Hansons-Brooks team.
I found this article a bit reassuring that there are actually others out there that have similar feelings about life after college. I think many runners feel the stress of bills and repayment of student loans once graduated. This makes it even easier for these people to put the shoes down for two or three years to get settled in. I know several of my teammates have done that. Some have hung them up for good, but many realize that running is a part of their identity and they cannot stop. I guess I feel that need, but I also think that I have room for some drastic improvement. That is all up in the air though.
All of these articles about Hansons-Brooks make it sound like any decent runner can join the team if they are willing to work hard, but this is not true. First, the team has standards ("29:00/33:45 for the 10k, 14:00/16:15 for the 5k, and 2:20/2:42 for the marathon."-www.hansons-running.com). Those are not easy times to hit. I guess though that it makes sense since they are trying to get the second tier of elite guys and have them improve like Brian Sell has. Second, the coaches get in so many requests for runners who want to be on the team. Yes, I have inquired to see what I would have to run to be even considered and I haven't heard back for months. I guess I could just look back to the standards. Let me just get one thing straight. I am not trying to complain that Hansons-Brooks aren't being fair, I just think that the articles written about them often leave runners thinking they could hang with the Hansons' guys. Well, maybe that is the point though.
I am nearing the end of my first official week of training. I start my weeks on Sunday so I have logged 5 hours of training in this week. A few one hour runs and two half hour runs. I know this isn't technically Lydiard training, but, as I have learned from several years of running and coming back from injuried, I need to take the first few weeks easy so I don't blow it all now. Additionally, this has been a tough week for me. I recently starting giving vegan-ism (No meat, No Diary) a try, I train at 4am on weekdays, and work has been tough since I have been covering for my regular education teacher for Algebra II. Lots of changes and I just need time to adjust.
My team has OIA's (state qualifiers for Oahu) later today. If they qualify then we are heading to Maui. Wish us luck.
Training:
Friday:
Duration: 01hr 00min 07sec
Distance: ?
Comments: Felt pretty good.
Saturday:
Duration: 00hr 30min 16sec
Distance: ?
Comments: Had a long day on Friday and it had it's effects today. Went shorter so I could go longer tomorrow.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Good luck to you and your team.
As far as your current running, it's better to slow down (think 7+ minute pace) and get the time in, than to run the training paces you were probably used to in college and have to cut back on the total time (due to fatigue, soreness, etc.)
Good to hear it is going well so far.
Hey Justin! How is Hawaii? Your last blog really strikes a cord with a lot of college grads including myself. It is really tough to keep that training going to get to the next level. Some of those teams out there are great and assist you to continue to reach new goals. Others have good intentions, but sometimes it doesn't work. I have to say, mine decision did not work at as imagined it would. I still really miss my college team and wish I could go back. I do have some good guys to train with, but the support has not been great. The coaching also was very lacking and my performances were not improving. Now I have a new coach and the training is looking up, but trying to work full-time and run is not easy. I work an 8-5 job in an office, I come home run, stretch, shower, eat dinner, spend a little time with my wife and go to sleep. There is very little extra time during the week to do anything else. Plus the stresses of the job and bills to keep up on don't help. I have run good races, but I have not improved on what I have done in college (every year since I started running, I have improved until I graduated)I did run a 19:05 4 mile shortly after I arrived here, but my fastest 5k is a 14:31 which is close to what I ran my sophmore year, but off of my pr's from my last 2 years of college. Now I feel I am at a plateau. I just know there are a lot of people like me and as I get older, it may not get easier. Even though there are many obstacles, I am never going to stop until I reach my goals. I made a decision to go part-time at work now and focus more on running, even if it means I will have a very tight budget. I may not make the Olympic Trials, but I do not want to have any regrets, I might hit some great PR's on the way. Sometimes a race hurt so bad, you want to curl up in a ball on the ground. I just tell myself it will be worth the pain and it always is and I know all my efforts to improve will be worth it in the end too. Sorry for the long comment, maybe I should start my own blog :) Hope all is well and let me know when you will be in NY, I will probably be moving back this summer.
cool blog, I will also be a college grad in the spring and will be at a "running crossroads" in life. I hope to keep after it, run some big road races and see what kind training i can do on my own. It's good to hear you are a teacher and still finding time to take on some harder training, I hope to be coaching and teaching in a high school next spring as well. I have been a vegetarian for the past year and have thought about making the switch to veganism, but want to do some more research and not risk injury during my last track season. Anyway best of luck I'm pulling for you.
Eric, believe it or not, I never really trained that fast in college. I would say that most of my training ranged from 6:45 pace-7:45 pace. Nothing stellar, but it worked for me.
Ted, great to hear from you man. Looks like I will be heading back to NY as well. We should move near each other and train. I'm looking towards the Albany area since they have some great clubs (i.e. Willow Street)
Rem, a bit of advice, I just finished coaching my first season and it was great fun. I really loved that connection with the kids, but I learned two things. You may think you can train with the kids, but that rarely happens and you can kiss Saturday races and training runs good-bye. It sound selfish, but hold off on coaching if you want to pursue your own goals. My college coach helped me with that. With all that said, you will still see me out there coaching track. Oh, well.
ecanshul clearer barry oped zealands spirituality advicercn trainz referential catalyze permits
lolikneri havaqatsu
Post a Comment