McMillanElite :: Training Blog - New Blog Every Monday and Thursday!
Entry #131
I am sitting on a plane flying home from the U.S. Track & Field Championships in Eugene, OR. What fun! As always, it was great spending time with our adidas family. We also had the good fortune to see two of our other sponsors at the race—NYRR and Houston Marathon Foundation. There were some fantastic distance races on both the men’s and women’s side; great tactical racing and some amazing finishes. The Schumacher group sweep in the men’s 5,000m was impressive—I hope they all are able to get the standard they need to go to Berlin for the World Championships. On the McMillanElite side of things, I am so proud of our athletes that competed over the past few days in Eugene. Jordan and Matt raced really well in the men’s 5000m. It isn’t easy performing on that bigger stage, particularly when it is your first time, but they did a great job. Jordan put himself in a good position early on and Matt really made some good moves in the middle of the race, enabling him to finish in 13th place. Not bad for a guy whose qualifying time was about 30th on the list!
Lindsay showed everyone that she is one of the top steeple chicks in the nation. She sailed through her semi and then in the final she put herself in a position to compete for one of those top three spots. Others had better race day legs than her on Sunday but she still placed high in 7th. Again, not bad for someone who didn’t make it to the final last year in this same event! Plus, Lindsay ran faster in every steeple race she competed in this year than her personal best from last year, and dropped that PB from 10:01 to 9:40.83 (she also dropped her 5K PR by about 40 seconds!). Not a bad spring…
Things will now get a tiny bit quieter for a few weeks around McMillanElite. Several athletes are taking a much-deserved break, or are just starting to run again after taking one. Ian is still racing and will make some road race appearances in July (Peachtree, along with AC and Trina; and Bix7). Paige continues to put in the miles in preparation for the World Championships marathon on August 23rd, and Emily is starting her base build-up for her fall racing. She’ll join us over in Germany for a few weeks in August to help Paige in her final race lead-up. I’m so looking forward to that trip; my next blog will likely be written from Herzo, adidas headquarters! I’ll also post updates on our German adventure to the McMillanElite fan page on Facebook. If you belong to Facebook and aren’t yet a fan of ours, please look us up! (here) Before I sign off on this week’s blog, I want to thank the Painter family for watching Angus while Greg and I went to Eugene. It sounds like he had a great time with them but I’m sure they are tired! It was nice to have some Greg and Tracy time but we missed him dearly. He’ll be with us when we return to TrackTown in 2011! Now I better take a nap to get some Angus energy…
[Have a question for the McMillanElite Athletes? Let us know, email us here and we would be glad to give it an answer in the next blog!]
Entry #130 We had some of the younger runners from the adidas McMillanElite competing at the US Championships this week including Jordan Horn, Matt Clark and Lindsay Allen. They all stuck their noses in the action and got some great experience for their future running careers. Next week we are sending some runners off to the July 4th Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia. The weather there in summer is usually hot and the competition for Ian Burrell and Andrew Carlson should be hot as well with the race serving as the US Mens 10k Road Championships. Ian is having a homecoming of sorts as he spent his college years attending the University of Georgia. As for my running, I am coming off an early summer break and I am beginning the buildup to fall marathon season. I am not sure yet which marathon to go after with New York being the US Championships and many of the top Americans headed there. I’d like to mix it up with that kind of competition this fall. Other possibilities are Toronto (fast course), Detroit, Vegas, California International, and Houston. Regardless I am looking forward to putting in some higher mileage weeks and getting the marathon body ready. Yesterday’s run was awesome as visiting runner Tim Jeffries and I headed up to the backside of the peaks here in Flagstaff. This area is known as the inner basin and mountains on 3 sides surround you. It was an easy recovery day so we just went to take in the scenery and get in some miles. Just 6-8 miles being the plan, we decided to head up the inner basin trail which starts at 8500 feet and 3.9 or 4 miles later you arrive at 11000 feet and not quite tree line. The trail basically goes up what would be a glacial field at higher elevation except that it has some trees. It is a wider trail most of the way and a good bit rocky but that made it feel like a stair climber with a great view. The last 5 minutes we got into some single track trails, my personal favorite and basically ran straight up the side of the mountain for a couple minutes. Since I grew up in the front range of the Rocky Mountains I was perty in tune with what pace I needed to ascend. However, Tim was going in and out of pushing with determination and saying things in his head like “Are you kidding me!”. He’s from sea level and really did incredible on this run. We carried no water but at our turnaround one of the hikers we passed offered us some Gatorade and we gladly accepted. We took in the view and stopped my watch at 53 minutes before turning back down the steep trail for what surely would be a quicker descent. Sure enough, 30 minutes later we were back at the bottom of one of my most scenic Flagstaff runs to date. Sometimes people think this type of running serves no purpose but it comes highly valued in my book. It isn’t something that I do everyday but every once in a while a dose of high altitude scenic running at an easier pace just refills my passion for being healthy, fit and fast. I can’t do this type of running as I near a race and need to be more specifically trained but during base building it keeps my motivation high and gets in some enjoyable mileage at the same time. On another side note, I just want to encourage people out there to look outside of yourself and find something good, admirable or incredible about someone you spend time with. Borrow that good, admire it and help it to fuel your motivation to rise to your own individual success in your life. I have teammates and friends that I look up to for their abilities and mindsets about certain things. It invigorates me knowing that I too can be as strong, persistent and passionate. One passion that continues to come up in my athletic endeavors is the pureness of being the best athlete that we can be. Can I do more? Can I eat better? Can I train smarter? Can I recover and rest better? Can I do what I must? Can I be a better athlete than I am right now? If so, then train and go get it! This is why McMillanElite is a great asset. We surround ourselves with these types of people. And, as a bonus we live in Flagstaff where we continue to have visiting runners with equal ambition. We have that always important support crew of family, Coach Greg McMillan and family, Coach Trina Painter and family, and the adidas family as well. Best of luck out there, Trent
For an understanding of Greg's philosophy of training and coaching, please visit his website www.mcmillanrunning.com. You are also encouraged to read the works of Arthur Lydiard (read everything you can by Lydiard), Joe Vigil (Road to the Top), Tim Noakes (Lore of Running), David Martin (Better Training for Distance Runners), Jerry Lynch (The Total Runner), Gabriele Rosa (Paul Tergat - Running to the Limit), Russ Pate (Training for Young Distance Runners), Guy Avery (past issues of Peak Running Performance) and Ed Burke (Optimal Muscle Recovery) for insight into optimal training and coaching for distance running. |
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