Cross country training started late in the game this year as I was focusing on preparing for the National Trail Half Marathon until mid-October. The following week I switched over to shorter mileage, fast workouts and barely long runs. While I am in some of the greatest fitness of my running career, I wasn't able to fully showcase my potential in cross country this year given the short season we had.
The Bellingham Distance Project
(BDP) débuted our new black and green jerseys at the Pacific Northwest Association
Championship meet at Lower Woodland Park in Seattle on November 2nd.
It's quite a shock to the body to go from racing for 2+ hours to just over 20
minutes. There is no time to lick your lips let alone have a life-changing experience.
I was third overall on a hilly course. A solid performance for me and BDP
placed second to Club Northwest. Full results here.
BDP Backsides. |
The second race of the season was
the USATF Pacific Northwest Region Championship at Lincoln Park in West Seattle
on November 23rd. Most people
chose to wear racing flats on this course, fooled by the packed gravel along
the perimeter of the course. The innards, however, were booby-trapped with
slick as snot mud pits from the recent downpours. Spikes were advantageous and I
was able to close the gap between me and 3rd place and open the gap
between me and 5th place at all of these spots. I am most happy
about my epic finish. Very rarely am I able to chase someone down in the
finishing chute, but I dug deep to the line and beat a girl literally by a nose
to keep my 4th place in 21:43. It wasn't pretty. Once again, BDP
placed second to Club Northwest. Lauren Fleshman took the win and greeted all
the finishers with good jobs as they came through the chute. She is as nice and
down-to-earth in person as her online persona. Full results here.
Top Americans. |
Our last race together was at the
Canadian National Cross Country Championship at Jericho Beach in Vancouver, B.C.
This is always a fun race for me because it is longer than women's cross races
in the U.S. (8Km versus 6Km) and it almost always promises a ridiculously muddy
course. I was really looking forward to seeing my WVU coach, Sean Cleary and
three of my Canadian ex-Mountaineer teammates (Jessica O'Connell, Sarah-Anne
Brault and Stephanie Aldea) who have been rocking it post-collegiately on the
international scene. The temperature was in the 20's with a numbing wind chill.
We put in 5/8'' spikes to help claw through the mud and wood chips. The course
was 4 x 2Km loops. The field went out screaming fast, flinging mud up in our
faces. I started in the back and began to pick my way through the field. Every
time I ran past Sean and he lovingly yelled out, "Dalzot!" I got a
feeling of nostalgia and my spirits lifted. At the 1Km a frozen clump of
snow/mud collected and stuck to my shoe causing me to limp awkwardly for a good
3 minutes until I could dissolve it in a puddle. By lap two I couldn't feel my
upper body and kept checking to see if my hands were still attached. By lap 4
the cold filtered into my hamstrings and I felt like one of those fire ants
that had smoke blown on them to put them in a dormant state. I crossed the line
and sharp pain immediately seized my hands. Have you ever had frozen hands and
then when they start to thaw it feels like a knife is splitting each finger
open? Yeah, that's what was happening. I stood there like a helpless whimpering
puppy until Tad could come and put two shirts and big mittens on me.
'Flynn' dressed appropriately. |
I placed 26th which
isn't bad in such a competitive field, but I know that I could have offered
more had I dressed appropriately. The course ran long and my splits were pretty
consistent, averaging 6 flat pace or 30 minutes for 5 miles. Lesson learned:
wearing less doesn't make you tough on a day like that. It makes you stupid.
And cold. Full results here.
With that, my 2014 racing season is
over. The (only) downside of not getting injured this year is having the
opportunity to race every month. I have been training and on the go from Moab's
Red Hot 33k in February all the way until the Canadian Cross Country Championship
yesterday. Admittedly, I'm tired.
I will be taking a break next
week from all forms of training while attending the annual USATF conference in
Anaheim, California as a Pacific Northwest athlete delegate. I am excited to be
a small part of the movers and shakers of the running world and to share my
thoughts and opinions on a sport that I care so deeply about.
And when I return, it's back to
work. Because February will be here before you know it and I have big plans for
2015.