Track and Field Blogs - Nate Jenkins

This past week was the 26^th week of this year of 2008 we are living in. The half way point! Scary, think back to all those things you wanted to do this year, have you done half of them yet? Well get too it! But I digress, the reason for this is that it seems like a good time to assess how things are going and to tie it together and get a little perspective on all this running I do.

First the races, why? Well that’s what all the running is for to race well so it’s the most important measure of how things are going

January – Houston half- 1:08, Grade F. the time really tells the story here, chicks run faster then that with the regularity. Not cool ran ok but not well to 5 miles 24:17, then hammy went and I basically limped in cause it would have been weird to run the course backwards and the course was the only way I knew how to get back to my hotel.

March

USATF 8k champs 25^th place 23:55, Grade C+, I ran like **** cause I overestimated myself but for a tough little course and going out too fast that’s not a horrible time. That said 25^th!!! Listen this ain’t world XC or anything there is no reason to finish 25^th!

April

Cherry Blossom 10 mile, DNF, Grade F, well I had a great first mile and a half, bob. What can I say the hammy went it sucked. Nothing worse then a DNF, except maybe a DNF in a race where they paid for an airline ticket and a hotel for you to be there.

George Davis Invitational Track 2mile, 9:08, 3^rd, Grade C-, not a bad effort. But I lost to college kids and was only 6 seconds faster then my 2 miles split in NY for the 8k and there were hills there. Pace sense was poor and just wasn’t ready to race this short. Didn’t run with enough pride either.

May

RRCA 5k National Championship 5k, 14:52, 1^st, Grade B, I did what I could in this one there were really only two solid runners in the race and I beat the other kid. I was supposed to and I did. I pushed ok for running mostly solo. I struggled with the corners, so many corners! Not a great race by any stretch but I did what I could and should have with it.

Boston High Performance Track 3000m, 8:22, 1^st, Grade B+, Not a great time but I really raced strongly and felt real good running the last 2k in 5:30, which is quick for me particularly from the front. This felt like a real good stepping stone race, but I tweaked my Achilles and it ended up being a stepping stone to 4 weeks of 10 mile runs at 7min pace.

June

Steamboat 4 mile, 19:14, 11^th place, Grade C, well I ran hard. I don’t have much else to say about this one it was probably doomed from before the gun. Hey thems the breaks sometimes

Newton 10k(short), 28:38, 3^rd, Grade D, lacked focus, intensity, or energy. I do enjoy arguing with cops though. Tough to gauge with no mile markers and not running the real distance I’m left not knowing the pace I was running, I lost by a lot and didn’t run with race intensity, I hope it was for mental and not physical reasons.

Best Race BHP 3000m

Worst Race Cherry Blossom 10 mile

PR’s none

Close calls, 23:55 at 8k, my best is 23:26 but on a much faster course, 8:22 for 3000m, my best is 8:20 from college.

Next up TRAINING!!

First the numbers 2652 miles in 26 weeks for an avg. of 102

17 weeks of more then 100 miles (that leaves 9 less then 100 weeks)

High week 141

Low week 29

Most consecutive weeks over 100, 8

Best stretch 14 of 15 over 100

Now the problems, a lot of low quality miles there a lot of banged up jogging with no quality. No real tempo work at all because of hammy. That said miles are miles and for long term improvement they are always good news.

My objective review.

First the negatives (so I can finish with the positives and head into the second half of the year on an up note) I was banged up and raced really poorly. The hammy problem has been the real standard problem it hurts training, though it doesn’t hurt. But it really screws racing anything much over 10k which basically is everything I’m good at. Now I could have, and in hind site should have, focused on the short stuff this winter and spring and most likely would have ended up weathering the hammy a lot more successfully if I had. But I really thought I would get it under control sooner. But the last couple of weeks for the first time I have seen slight improvements and I hope that these are the beginning of the long road back to the marathon.

Now I also had tendonitis in my right knee, which I ran through painfully but successfully. That was followed by a bruised metatarsal head in my left foot. Again I ran through it again successfully, at a few points I was pretty convinced it must be a stress fracture but in the end it came around and with no time off. That was followed by the peronous/heel thing that I’m just getting over now. The heal hurt me mostly because of timing but which I have hopefully behind me. This one I sort of ran through, I seriously reduced miles. Hopefully I have taken a new will to do the small stuff as far as cross training to stay healthy and avoid these types of problems down the road

The long and the short is I ran like **** and trained acceptably but not well.

BUT…..

The positives

But I got through it. I trained through it. I lost no time. I’m tired and running like ****. But I’m strong as hell and I have this monster fitness in me just waiting to be unlocked. I’m getting better I really think I got the hammy on the run for the first time in 18 months and I feel that though my next few races may be piss poor it will all be ok because I am really only 6 good weeks from the best races of my life, why? Because I have persevered and refused to give in to the pain, to the desire to just quit, to the easy road. I am ready and able and I’m smarter for it. I believe that when I look back on my career, hopefully many years from now, that 2008 will be the watershed mark. It will be the year that made me. I may even race well this year, I may not. But I believe that surviving this past 26 weeks and really make that 32 weeks to include my training at the end of 2007 and the lessons I have learned will be key to the best racing of my life. The hammy will heal and I will train better, I will do a better job of taking care of myself and I will be better.