Track and Field Blogs - Ryan Warrenburg

The road racing scene is something that is relatively new to me, being a track runner. However, I do find myself really enjoying the atmosphere of running on the roads. Last year I was a total newbie to road racing, and this year I am hardly seasoned vet, with a whopping 4 under my belt. Four of us from ZAP went down to the Ntelos 8k in Richmond, VA last weekend to race.

The race is notoriously fast, with the course being a slightly net downhill, due to the enormous cliff you drop off the last 1/2 mile of the race.
Rod Koborsi ran a really strong race taking the lead early on into a stiff headwind and going on to win. I was happy with my 4th place showing and new 8k PR. The race was just so fast it felt borderline out of control the entire way, but my fitness is definitely headed in the right direction as we head into the Manchester Road Race and the Club XC Championships in the next few weeks.

On the way back from Richmond the guys and I stopped in Chapel Hill/Durham to stay with a couple of my college roommates who have also relocated across the country to attend Duke and UNC. It was great to see them, hang out, and get a long run in at the Duke Forest.

Training leading into and out of the race has been going really well. This fall is all about putting in a big aerobic base in preparation for the spring and summer track season. We have been doing a lot of uphill sustained runs, if you checked out the Ohio State footage on Flotrack from when they were at ZAP we have run that course a few times this fall, a continuous 5-6 mile climb. I am excited about putting in the long work, we haven't really done any interval based work yet, although we might get one in before the Club XC Championships, which will be the culmination of our fall.

Before that we head up to Manchester, CT for the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving morning. The race will be loaded again this year, I know that Reid Coolsaet, a regular blogger on Flotrack, will be in attendance again among many others. After the race we will visit our coach Pete's family for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great time last year, and the Manchester crowd is better than anything I have seen on the roads, and that was with 40 degrees and pouring rain last year.