TEAM Together Again

After being sick last week I was ready to start another week with hopefully better luck. On Tuesday, Bruce and Trevor Barron arrived in San Diego for a 2 week stint of training with Tim and I. Immediately they showed relief of not having to train in the cold winter conditions in Pittsburg. Trevor spent 5 months with Tim and I last year training with lead to his success at the World Youth T&F Championships in July. We are hoping for another successful year for him with the World Junior Championships in July in Canada. It was nice for Tim to have Trevor back so that he would have a daily training partner.

My week started out well as I felt back to normal on Monday. We did our first "fast" workout of the year this week. First, Tuesday we did 12 X 500 "fast"/500 "medium". It went really well for me. It didnt feel like I had to really work hard to do "fast" and I didnt break down throughout the workout, I got faster with each one. I started out in 2:26 and finished in 2:18 and did my "medium" ones in about 2:55 average. It felt good to move my legs a little faster which will help me not feel so stale at the Millrose Games in under 2 weeks from now. As the week went on I started getting a little sick again for some reason but this time it was just through my nose and throat. It started to affect my breathing in training, especially for our first speed workout session of the year. We were doing the Mexican speedwork (1k, 800, 600, 400, 200) and I was supposed to do 3 sets. I started off my first set well but it was hard to breath because of being sick. After the first set my breathing got better but then throughout the 2nd set, my hamstring started to feel like it got pulled so we decided for me to stop after the 2nd set. I had felt some tightness after the workout on Tuesday but hadnt felt it the rest of the week so I hadnt worried about it. Here is how my sets went:

1st set:

1000m: 4:43

800m: 3:31

600m: 2:46

400m: 1:46

200m: 0:49

2nd set:

1000m: 4:35

800m: 3:37

600m: 2:43

400m: 1:46

200m: 0:48

It was all feeling very comfortable and I was hoping to be able to push a bit more on the last (3rd) set but unfortunately I was forced by my hamstring to call it a day early. It ended up being a good decision because today (Sunday) I was able to have a really good 25k workout. It was the easiest 25k I think ive ever done. I ended up walking 2:23:31 for my overall time and it felt very comfortable and my heart rate was really low. This is even more promising since I am still a little sick so I feel very happy with how training is going so far. I did 135km's this week and I am hoping to have a little bit higher week this coming week before we lower the mileage a bit for the Millrose Games. We are looking forward to some good races in NYC again this year.

Keep on walking,

Rachel