Team Updates & Getting into 5k Shape!

A lot has happened since the last time I took the 30-90 minutes it takes me to update this blog. It seems like during cross country season I always find one more thing I deem more important to do than the little things like cleaning, organizing, and of course writing my blog (Mentioning those first two was for Ryan). So hopefully my Twitter and Facebook updates have kept those who want to see updates on my running and the team's progress this season in the loop.

First, an update on the team:
We have now hit the halfway point of the season. For the ladies the next race is the Conference USA Championship which we are so excited to be hosting again on Saturday, November 1st! That means the training the next two weeks is going to be tough as we try to get all the fitness we can before the championship portion of the season! The Women are currently ranked 11th in the South Central Region and are the 3rd highest regionally ranked Conference USA team! Charlotte Wilson also took a big step towards her individual goals this season taking 7th at the Chile Pepper Festival.


The ladies at Chile Pepper last weekend. So proud of this group & what they can still accomplish this year!

On the Men's side we added a meet this year and the Top 7 guys and I will be heading to Terre Haute, Indiana for the Pre-National meet on October 18th! The men are still putting in plenty of hard training like the ladies, but their last regular season meet is one we're looking forward to taking full advantage of  and trying to run on a bit less tired legs to capitalize on the opportunity of getting to race some nationally ranked teams.

Troy (8th) & Alejandro (6th) took Top 10 finishes at Chile Pepper 

The men will enter the meet with the program's highest regional ranking ever of 5th in the South Central Region! (And they're currently tied with Middle Tennessee State as the highest regionally ranked Conference USA Team).

The Men leading the race at our Home Meet

Now for an update on my own running:
Since Mid-July I have been very pleased to have kept my weekly mileage between 45-65 miles per week. Making my average much higher than what I managed to put in last fall. I also had some fun the last 3 weekends before official practice started running some local 5ks and was pleased to run 18:22 and 18:20. This week I'm running another local 5k and I'm hoping to see a bump in my fitness since August as I have actually managed to get in some workouts over the past 6 weeks. This race is the last "fitness test" before I really try to focus on getting in some quality training for the USATF Club Cross Country Championships that I plan to race on December 13th in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The last time I was pleased with my Club XC performance I was in the best 5k/10k shape of my life having just run my 10k track PR (33:57) at the end of October. So the plan for the next 9 weeks is to gain as much 5k/10k fitness as I can while also setting some realistic goals for my performance in December. I know I at least need to be in sub 17:30 5k shape by then, but I'm hoping by the Turkey Trot 5k I race in November that maybe I can be in 17:00 5k shape to give myself the best chance of a Top 50 finish on December 13th (My highest finish was 18th in Seattle in 2011).

Running with the front back in Seattle 2011: My best XC race since High School