Testing Your Mind

            My time in my favorite state is unfortunately coming to a close this week as I return back to the southeast Wednesday.  I have accomplished many of my training goals in Colorado and am looking forward to seeing the fruits of my labor in three upcoming races in May.  The first will be a 5k at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford University on May 2nd.  The second will be a 1500m at the USATF High Performance Meet at Occidental College on May 14th. The third will be a 1500m at Furman University on May 30th.  My goal in each of these races is to practice my positioning and racing tactics by solidifying a spot in the front half of each pack of the races I run.  Running standards and a personal best are (obvious) goals, but my coach Ruud and I feel that if I want to make a World or Olympic team my tactics have to improve.  Mentally, I must prepare in a concrete and intense manner to allow myself to feel comfortable with top level athletes going into the last lap of a race.  It is a great feeling to pass people in the final kick, but it will be a horrible realization finishing 4^th, 5^th or 6^th in a final or failing to qualify for a final knowing I have one of the fastest kicks in this country but failing in my tactical endeavors during the race.

            We all have pieces of adversity or daily adaptations that life may bring, and the choice of how  to handle and make the most of those situations.  We all have strengths that can help us overcome these “battles”, and we all have weaknesses that we need to address in order to help realize our full potential.  Colorado has been an extraordinary teacher in my life these past three weeks.  Although the weather is beautiful and sunny 300/365 days a year here--many evils that hinder running performance lie in this place!  Here are some of the elements of training in Colorado that create a beautiful struggle for the distance runner’s mind and body daily—ultimately providing the challenges that create a better athlete while seemingly breaking us down at every turn:

• Altitude—Training at altitude can create the highest of highs after a good workout and one of the lowest lows after a poor performance.  The good and bad sessions require a 2-3 hour nap to regenerate, and sleeping at 8,500 feet each night is another workout in itself.
• Wind—The average wind in Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas is between 10-20mph during the Spring season and over half of the days I have been here have had steady wind readings between 20-30mph.  The wind has frustrated me tremendously and caused me to become an infant mentally many days during this training block.  However, it has caused me to make appropriate adjustments to my training, allowed me to focus on effort instead of time and helped me focus at a deeper level than I could have reached otherwise.
• Weather—I have run in as cold as 22 degrees and as warm as 79 degrees during this training block.  I have experienced the driest conditions of my life at 9% relative humidity in Pueblo, CO, and seen over a foot of snow fall over night for the first time in Woodland Park, CO.  I am a very regimented person and like structure in all areas of my life.  This weather, however, has added an era of flexibility to my daily routine and helped me to become a more adaptable and tougher athlete.

Supporting Dr. Jay Kinsman's son at his track meet in Fountain, CO, when it snowed on April 18. #NoExcuses

• Excessive Monitoring—Training at altitude requires us to be even more conscious of their body.  Hydration is critical and slightly annoying as we must constantly drink water and isotonic solutions to keep our bodies functioning properly.  Going to the bathroom 2-3 times a day more than normal and multiple times throughout the night is hilarious at times—but worth it.  On a side note, I also am eating 200-300 grams of carbohydrates more per day here as the body needs more to fuel and recover because I am even “working” while resting at altitude.  Talking with my coach has been even more of a priority because at altitude it is much easier to overreach in training, and I risk losing all the benefits altitude provides by “going too hard.” 

79 degrees and sunny in Pueblo, CO.

One week later in Woodland Park, CO when it snowed over 12 inches.

     These challenges have impacted my life and all helped make this trip special in their own way.  I am very blessed to have a great deal of support to help combat these pieces of adversity.  I want to thank Brooks Running for funding a large part of this trip and for Dr. Jay Kinsman for opening up his home to me free of charge for 23 days.  I want to thank Coach Scott Simmons and the American Distance Project for allowing me to join them on many workouts and training runs.  I would like to thank Fred and Joe at Action Potential Physical Therapy for keeping me healthy as I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t seen them twice a week.  Many thanks to my new massage therapist in Colorado Springs, Lori, as she provided the most thorough one hour massages I have experienced to date.

Tempo run with the American Distance Project.

Dr .Kinsman, daughter Audrey, Meredith and I on our way to see Dr. Kinsman's son Colin at a track meet in Salida, CO.

     And lastly, I would like to thank my rock Meredith  Dolhare for coming to visit me for a week.  She sacrificed an immense amount of time away from her family and RunningWorks to visit me. She always wears many hats, but she was my training partner, my coach, my encourager, and my best friend to name a few.  One of the highlights of her visit was a helicopter rider over the Royal Gorge and Pikes Peak just outside of Colorado Springs.  Seeing the Rocky Mountains from this venue really helped me put this entire trip into perspective as their inexplicable beauty summed up how truly blessed I am to be able to take a trip like this and focus on my biggest passion in life—running the race that is set before me!