Living/Running in the "figurative" valley simply sucks. I tried to think of another way to say it but that pretty much sums it up best in one word.

I went to University of Washington to open up the season with a solid 5k. I know I have not done the VO2 Max workouts, but considering my goals for the end of outdoor I felt that 14:30 or so would be realistic. On Wednesday, Holts, Phil Mac and I did a 2k at race pace and I felt like I was sprinting all out at the finish. Not a good sign considering in the race I would have another 3k to go!

Races are another beast, as with probably all of you reading this you never know what can happens on the actual day. Sometimes I feel that my body is on it's own agenda. You could nail that last workout and fell like lead, on the other side of the coin, you could struggle in the workout and when Saturday rolls around you're a different runner. Obviously I was hoping for the second scenerio.

In the back of my mind I was frustrated that I was "hoping", I think about someone like Benard Lagat, or any high level elite. They can't possibly feel great every race but those ahletes are able to squeeze out all of their fitness once that gun goes off.....that's a entire discussion in itself...

I went through the quater in 72 and I thought the split reader would be yelling a 66, I knew it was going to be rough. I battled as much as I could and went throught the mile in 4:45, and didn't hear the 2 mile split...

On my cooldown run I tried to understand why I've been in this slump since November. My conclusion is my attitude has been negative.

I still haven't let go of the fact that the Olympic Trails went so bad in that marathon. I'm actually bitter. In order to get anywhere this year, I need to find enjoyment in this sport and not fear failure. You hear that term a lot from motivational coaching speeches to psychology books. The more that I think about fear of failure, the more I understand hope important that mindset can be dangerous to training and competing. In order to get the most out of the genes God gave me, I feel I have jump in full-force and not look back.

Too many times seasons can be ruined by letting negativity snowball into a road block.

Training Log (Rest Week Overall)

Mon: 8 miles easy in morning w/ BAC guys on hilly road in 56 min 7 miles with group of guys on roads, upper body weights, 2 sets of plyo's, core, 15 miles total

Tues: 2k in 5:51, even splits, 2 x 1k in 3:05, 4 x 400, 66,65,64,63, 2 x 200's in 30. Felt like complete dog shit the entire workout

Wed: day off

Thurs: 1 hour on trails, 10 x striders

Friday: Prerace run on campus, 4 miles, striders

Sat: Race

Sun: Long run w/ Brooks guys, Paul Michel, Mike Nicks and Ian Cronin around Seattle. Great weather out, I had to crap so I turned of and of course got really lost, I don't know how far I ran but it was too far.

69 miles for the week.