Off to Ireland...

The last 20 hours have been very crazy. The end result is that I'm walking out the door to head to Chicago to catch a flight to Dublin. Against my better judgment and definitely against the advice of Coach Ihmels I'm racing a 5k road race on Thursday and then a 6k cross country race on Sunday. One thing that I haven't said much about is the injury that I sustained while in New York. Before my race that day I went out for my usual shake out run, but slipped on some ice. I hit my knee on a curb and it stung like mad. I don't think it effected my physical performance but I didn't run the next day because the pain was pretty bad. After getting it looked at by our trainer, Travis McCathie, I went ahead and ran easy mileage last week. Thankfully on Sunday I had my loyal chiropractor friend, Dr. Reggie Clifton, look at it and reassure me that it would be fine (after a small adjustment). I just did a few light 200's on the track and that's the first "quality" running that I've done since the USATF 4k championships. Hopefully there is good news to report the next time I find a computer.

"Coaching" a national champ...

I forgot to mention in the last post that in the junior race on Sunday ISU had a huge day. Our two runners both had great races with big personal bests. Kiel Uhl won his first national championship in 23:50 and will be respresenting the US in the world cross country championships in Japan in April. Jory Zunich was 24th (yep, one spot worse than me) but he had a great race and got a new personal best of 25:08 for 8k. Considering that I only ran 27:01 as a freshman for that distance I'd say they're both doing pretty well. Here's a link to a video of Kiel's race: http://dyestat.com/3us/5xc/USA-Champs/video/index.htm

Indoor/Cross Country Summary

As you can tell, when I'm running well the posts come quickly and frequently. Lately I've been pretty reluctant to post. The 3000 meters at the ISU Classic was a four second personal best but a disappointing race. It definitely reassured me of my fitness level but my tactics were flawed and my confidence was still pretty low for some reason. I went out controlled and near the back of the pack of 20 runners in 64 or 65 seconds for the first quarter. I moved my way up through the pack and by 1500 meters I was in a small group in a distant third to Gruber and Chesang who had gone out with a rabbit to start the race. I'm not sure exactly where or how long I led the pack for third but I distinctly remember making a stupid move with 1200 to go. I went hard to the lead but once in front I didn't continue chase down Gruber and Chesang. The end result was a group of guys following me for a couple laps and then with about two hundred meters to go one guy went around me and then there was a parade of guys passing me before the finish. I was happy with the time but I definitely feel like I didn't compete up to my fitness level. The US cross country championships were disappointment at another level. Coach Ihmels and I had determined a race plan to go out in the first 500 meters and put myself in the top ten or fifteen. When the gun sounded I unconsciously threw that plan out the window. I definitely ran too conservatively and I wish I could have another opportunity to compete at the 4k distance. I'm not sure exactly where I was throughout the race but I don't think I was in the top 30 at the half way point. I did finish well and it was a great learning experience and that's all I have to say about that.

USATF 4k Cross Country Results

Here's a link to the results: http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USAXCChampionships/results/om4km.asp

Headed to New York City

We leave today for the USATF cross country championships in New York City. The group from Iowa State includes two freshmen, Kiel Uhl and Jory Zunich, who are running in the under 20 race, the head cross country coach, Corey Ihmels, his wife, Michelle, and me. Kiel's family is traveling with us and Jory's parents are meeting us in New York. I'm racing the 4k on Saturday and the other guys race the "junior" 8k on Sunday. To find out more about the event check out the website: http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USAXCChampionships/ Also, it will be televised on Sunday night at 11:00 pm on Sunday, February 19, on ESPN 2. I'll post results and a summary as soon as I have computer access. I'll also post about the ISU Classic last week.

ISU Classic 3000 Meters Results

1 Charlie Gruber Unattached 7:57.57* 2 Benson Chesang Kansas 7:58.05* 3 Mircea Bogdan Texas - El P 8:03.96* 4 Augustus Maiyo Alabama 8:04.14* 5 Coby Wissel Kansas 8:04.19* 6 Paul Hefferon Kansas 8:05.01 7 Blake Bolden Isu Unatt 8:05.11 8 Trent Hoerr Illinois 8:05.73 9 Jordan Davis auburn 8:07.80 10 Dan Taylor Iowa State 8:09.29 11 Barnabas Kirui Ole Miss 8:10.45 11 Patrick Mutai Texas - El P 8:10.45 13 Nick Oertel Michigan Sta 8:11.91 14 Maciej Sniegorski Illinois 8:12.00 15 Abraham Kutingala Alabama 8:12.07 16 Kiel Uhl Iowa State 8:13.29 17 Jason Bill Illinois 8:16.25 18 Antonio Vega Minnesota 8:17.46 19 Dan Haut Iowa 8:17.83 20 Kyle Walsh Indiana Stat 8:18.08 I'll post more about the race soon but here's a link to the complete results: http://cyclones.collegesports.com/sports/c-track/stats/2005-2006/classicday2results.html