Track and Field Blogs - Flotrack Blogs

"Run and Destroy" Contentment is the enemy of every competitive runner. You may not know this yet, but if you're serious about your running you will come to understand this. The moment you let satisfaction creep in, even in the slightest, is the very moment your performance level will begin to slip. The question you may ask then, 'How to fight it?' A good question, but an even better one is, 'how do you fight happiness and why?' I can almost see the puzzled look on your faces. What the hell am I talking about? I'm talking about gratification, complacency… more »

7 days to go. I leave for NY City in a couple of days to race the ING NYC Marathon on November 1st. The excitement and challenge I will face in one week is gradually sneaking up. I will be racing through he streets of New York's five boroughs: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. I am looking forward to testing myself up and down the 5 bridges, and ultimately finishing at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. How can you not get excited? My mileage has been lessening each day, my workouts are shorter and my… more »

Since I began running in college I have always been intrigued by the marathon. I quickly gravitated to the longer events because I enjoyed the tempo runs, long runs, and longer repeats. Since I had never run before college I tried a few different events during the indoor track season. Believe me, my 400 and 800 are pathetic. I love watching the sprinters but I knew a long time ago that those weren’t the events I would be running. When I came out to Hansons I wanted to focus on getting my 10k and 5k times a bit faster before… more »

With Pre-Nationals behind us, fans got their first real look at how the many of the top teams in each region measure up to each other. Perennial powerhouses and last year's top dogs were all back at it, while many other teams and individuals showed they are ready to make some waves this year, either on the regional or national scene. For this second installment, we are going to look at the those who took one step closer to NCAA's this year by picking up some experience, confidence, head-to-head wins and possible at-large points as we head into the championship… more »

For the past week or so during my daily commute on the D-Train, swaying back-and-forth in a crowd of 9-to-5ers and fans lucky enough to have Yankee’s playoff tickets, I had my head buried in a new book. When I got home, I often had to resist the urge to finish it. The subway ride can be boring and it is nice when I have something to read. It is even nicer when that something is about running. I picked up the book, An Honorable Run, after a few recommendations. From what I had heard about it, I was intrigued.… more »

"Why blog after a two-year hiatus?" you may ask. Several reasons come to mind, but the primary purpose is to plug my brother's new running tourism venture - www.kiwrun.com (more on that later). I've been out of action for the whole of the 2009 outdoor season, rehabiltating from hip surgery (April 10th). Recovery took a while, but by June I was allowed to start jogging, albeit four minutes a day. Adding a mile each week to my daily runs, I was running ten miles a day by August. The freedom you experience running ten miles on trails pain-free is incredible… more »

While Cooling down my last workout I passed a UPS truck. Normally this would be a pretty ordinary occurrence but today I started sprinting after the truck. Luckily the truck stopped pretty quickly at a house and I was able to ask the driver if he had a package for me. That package contained my Passport that my wife over-nighted to me from Chico. Now I am ready to go to Birmingham. I know a lot of people are excited to see what Dathan Ritzenhein can do. How could you not be? This is his first race since he broke… more »

At the risk of sounding like a complete bro by quoting O.A.R., this weekend's NCAA cross country action was a crazy game of poker. Now that teams can start earning points for possible at-large bids to nationals, fans begin to get their first real look at the majority of teams eyeing Terre Haute come late November. Many top-ranked teams, however, held their cards close to their chest. They sat key team members, or trained through these meets. Quite a few runners placed worse this weekend than they did at the national championship last fall, giving us no real indication of… more »

Only one month to go til the big day. My emotions are spinning around crazily, one moment I’m excited, then nervous, then eager, then exhausted, then about 10 other random feelings. I can’t wait until race day, I want to get it over with, I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself which is making this a Do or Die type race. The good news is that my training has been going great, I have had consistent high mileage for the past 6 weeks, with 2 more until I finally cut back. Needless to say I am going… more »