OXY recap

It has been a week since my 5k at the Occidental/USATF high performance meet. That race was a bit of a surprise. I have trained well for the weeks leading up to the race but I did have a small hiccup which forced me to spend two weeks on the alter-g treadmill and I missed a few workouts. I debated about running it because I had only done two workouts on the track in the week leading up to the race. So Alberto said to run in flats and to just shoot for 13:30.

My training partners Mo Farah and Galen Rupp had already ran awesome in the 1500, going 1-2 in 3:34 which to those who don’t know is equivalent to around 3:52 for a mile, not bad for a couple 10k guys.  I got so excited watching that race, I was worried that I used up all my adrenaline. I owe those guys tremendously because they came back just 60 minutes later to pace me for the 5k.

The pace was suppose to go out for 13:20 so we started at the back of the pack and just slowly worked our way up. Honestly, I can say it felt effortless, which is a good sign for this stage in the racing season. Galen dropped out after 4k but Mo just kept going. I felt smooth throughout the race, but in the last 600m it started to feel like a race.

I get excited thinking of how well my training is coming along and I am just trying to be patient and stay healthy. My first thought after that race was, “I’m ready to run fast next weekend”! Then Alberto must have seen that look on my face because he said to just run the A standard next weekend and no faster. Of course I want to run faster but it is important for me to just stay healthy and get back to hard training.

There are big gains ahead for me if I can start working out more on the track and back into spikes. There are 10 weeks to go until the Olympic Games and if I practice patience and stay healthy, I will be there and in better shape than ever.