End of the Spring Season

There is not much else to report with regards to Broad Street. I went out in 4:55 and slowly started to creep up on people before slowing down to 5:18s at which time I was still passing a runner per mile. My objective at Broad Street was to PR and run a fast time, but that wasn't going to happen in those weather conditions. I knew that shortly after mile 3 (15:18). At best I could have slugged it out and run 52:50-53:30 (estimate) but what would have been the point? I pondered pulling up for a few miles before I finally did the deed at mile 7 (though I actually did finish running home with teammates Mercer and Wiegner)...at which point my spring racing season came to an abrupt close.

I've been racing hard since late March and training hard since November, now it is time for a break. I'm not going to run another step until I want to. I am mentally whipped. It's damn hard to get fired up week in and week out about racing each weekend; curbing one's social life, going to bed early on Friday and Saturday, waking up very early for a race, racing and then wandering around for the rest of the race day without energy. Don't get me wrong - I love it, I love it more than most things, but it's time for a break. A few months ago I would have felt guilty for taking a day off. Not anymore.

My objective this year was to lower my PRs from 3k thru 10 miles and make major "advances" in races this year that I had done last year. In doing so, my goal was to break barriers such as 25:00, 51:00 and 31:00. If I were lucky I could get in the 8:30s and 14:30s, but I knew this would be tough going.

Below are my gains from 2009 to 2010

3k - 6 seconds

5k road - 10 seconds

5k track - 21 seconds

5 miles - 25 seconds

10k - 26 seconds

10 miles - 19 seconds (33 seconds from CUCB09 to CUCB10)

According to 3 separate race calculators 10 miles is my best distance.

I would not have gotten any of these PRs without the Georgetown Running Company. With GRC I have a willing and able group of training partners throughout the entire week. There are at least a dozen guys I run with on a weekly basis who I've come to regard as stable training partners, but more importantly friends. Since November, I've run most of my weekly mileage with Karl Dusen. I've learned a lot from Karl but more importantly his ever-optimistic personality kept me going during brutal weather and early mornings. At 6:59am on a shit-cold day, when I feel like giving the finger to the world, Karl will come bounding along with a "hey Jake!!" and from here it usually gets more friendly. By the end of the run I'm ready for the day and eager to meet him the next morning for more. Misery loves company. I also have to give a special shout out to the Dutchman, the Beastman, Dirk de Heer. I share Dirk's opinion and insight on many a matter. He (and Karl) brought workouts to a new level and I spent many a Wednesday (and sometimes a Saturday) chasing them around an oval or down a road hitting times in workouts that would have made my jaw drop a year earlier. Without these workouts, I'd be nothing.

What's next? May will be recovery and June will begin the build-up. I am running the Falmouth Road race in August, the Philly Distance Run (13.1) in September and the Chicago Marathon on 10/10/10. I have a few questionable races I might do in June/July, but I'll make those decision in due time. The big picture plan will focus on Philly and Chicago. I have the beginning of a training plan on paper which will be fine tuned in the coming weeks.