5,000 indoor nationals recap

 

 

I'd say it was a pretty successful day for me and my athletes!  AJ won his second junior national title and was third US male.  He continued on to 10,000 for an official PR.  More importantly he learned a lot about himself, racing issues, and how to improve going forward.  That's worth more than any PR to me!

Michaela had her first race longer than 1500 and boy did she kick it!  28:08 for a junior nats qual time.  She unfortunately learned the hard way about the joys of chaffing, but also did a fantastic job pacing.  She also learned a ton and with a few more solid months of training we're going to see a HUGE improvement from Michaela!

Katie had a solid race.  She continued on to 10,000 for a strong sub hour time.  Sometimes life gets in the way of training as hard as you may like, and it's how an athlete deals with that that really shows their metal.  Katie's mental toughness is so impressive, and I know her dedication to reaching her goals will make her such a tough competitor.

Dave had a solid 5,000.  He was first master and second US competitor.  He also smashed his age group record. 

I had a strong day.  I claimed the silver in the 5,000, just snagging the age group record by around a second.  Along the way I hit the qualifying time for indoor nationals.  And I continued on to 10,000 and broke my American record by around a minute.  I almost stopped at 5,000, I had some serious tummy pains.  But I thought I'd lay back for a bit and see if it righted itself.  After an easier K I started feeling better and so picked it back up bit by bit.  I never got back to where I was at the start of the race, but finished strong.  I am a bit disappointed in myself that I didn't push harder.  I think I could've pushed more.  I think I went into "comfortable mode" during part of the race instead of really giving it what I had.  It did seem to knock some cobwebs out of my system as my workouts seem to have jumped up a notch. 

I leave Monday for the final preparations for the Olympic Trials.  There's 7.5 weeks left, plenty of time for lots of hard work and improvement. 

Happy New Year!!