What a weekend! Atlanta Track Club won the Master's Team Championship with 22 points and I won the Overall Title in a kick finish.
Coming into the race I had put together a pretty good training cycle after recovering from The Twin Cities Marathon ten weeks prior. I had trained pretty hard but had not benefited from that one race or session that said "I'm ready". In fact, the week before the race I actually felt a little tired mentally.
On race day I kept telling myself that I had put in the work and actually felt quite confident. The race started in cool temperatures but no wind. I immediately went to the front to ensure a steady pace. We split through the first 3 Miles in 5:05, 5:10, and 5:14. Even though I was predominately leading, we still had a decent size pack so I decided to drop the pace a little by inserting surges. The result was a 4th mile (5:06) and 5th mile (5:04) which set-up a thrilling last 2km lap.
Approaching the final lap Sandu Rebenciuc (formerly of Romania, who made the 2005 & 2006 U.S. Team for the World Cross Country Champs) made a move with Tracy Lokken (US Masters Marathon Champion in 2011 and USATF XC Champion in 2009) and I covering. There were an additional 4 or 5 other runners, including my team mate Chad Newton, fighting to stay in touch.
As we pushed up the small hill with about a mile to go Tracy took off, but the move was quickly covered. We pushed the pace down the back side of the course before I made another move with about 1km to go. Sandu made a very good counter move with 800m to go that seemed as if it might be enough. However, I had trained too hard to allow my lack of concentration to cost me the win.
As we approached the last 600m I clawed my way back to Sandu. We came through the 6M (4:58) mark and I started to close pretty quickly, then with about 100 yards to go 'I opened it up'. I have always tried to have a good quick and now I had a great opportunity to use it. With 50 yards to go I caught Sandu. I saw him look over his right shoulder as I passed him. Coming into the line I continued to push, finishing in 32:13 to win by 3 seconds. It was a wonderful moment to realize you have finally won a US title after 4 consecutive 2nd place finishes.
I had a microphone put in front of me as I tried to catch my breath. While doing the interview I was trying to watch the finishers to see if we won the team title. After watching the first 20 or so runners I realized we must have as we placed 6 in the top 13 team scorers. What a moment. We were so happy as a team. That was a moment I will treasure for a very long time. It is so nice to enjoy personal success with that of other team mates. All ATC runners appeared to run very well, especially Robin Rogers who really only started to train seriously 5 or 6 weeks out.
That night we had a lot of fun reliving the race, where the 'kicks' got a little better and the 'surges' more devastating as the night wore on. However, I'm proud to say that at 6:30am there were 10 ATC'ers in the lobby ready to do a recovery run.
Here are a couple of links regarding the Masters USATF XC race:
Race - http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=56600-Men-039-s-Masters-Race-USATF-Club-Cross-Country-Championships-2011
Post Race Interview (Cold mouth, sounds funny) - http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=56584
Post Race Team Interview - http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=16&do=videos&video_id=56581
Alison Gittleman's Interview - http://www.racingtales.com/exclusive-interview-with-masters-mens-national-club-xc-champion-malcolm-campbell/
Running Times Article - http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=24750&cm_mmc=Facebook-_-RT-_-Content-Racing-_-USATFClubXC
What a blast!
Malcolm
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Summer Running - Part 2
As I write this article, I am about 6 weeks away from the U.S. Marathon Champs (Twin Cities on October 2, 2011). This summer has been pretty hot and tough to train for the marathon distance. Originally, I had planned on running the World Trophy 50K in Holland (8/20/11). However, after feeling a little run down with training, work and life, I decided to just focus on Twin Cities.
Secondly, I felt I needed to re-dedicate myself to better nutrition. By this I really mean the replenishment immediately after a tough run or workout. I have pretty much tried every type of Gel out there, but lately I have had really good results from using the GU Energy Gels (www.guenergy.com). I also tried a product of theirs called GU Recovery Brew, which is loaded with lots of really beneficial nutrients such as carbs, proteins, potassium and sodium.
Another great product is the JuicePlus line (www.juiceplus.com), especially the Juice Plus Complete. This is a shake that you can drink immediately after exercise. These products will take you an extra 5 minutes to prepare before your run but are well worth it. I typically make them up the night before and leave in the fridge, as I typically run very early in the morning. I then scoop up a couple of bottles and head out the door. I have experienced much quicker recovery time when taking a recovery drink and Gels during and after my hard or longer efforts. I also noticed a little weight loss as I 'fill up' quicker from the shakes and do not crave as much food.
These little tips all helped me get through the summer while training very hard. I spoke with a local female athlete this week, who is also training for Twin Cities. She started her training cycle a week or two before me. It seems the weather and training have both hit her pretty hard lately. If, like her, you hit that rough patch, don't be afraid to take a workout off and replace it with an easy paced run. If that doesn't work, consider taking one or two days off completely. In a typical 12-14 week schedule one or two days off in a row will go mostly unnoticed by the body, but the benefits are often dramatic.
Finally, I just read the book Running for the Hansons (www.vo2maxproductions.com/the-book). The Hanson Brother's run a highly respected program out of Michigan. I met Kevin Hanson when he coached at Macomb in the early 1990's. We share a very similar philosophy on training. The book obviously spends much of its focus on the Elite level athlete, but the training is broken down in a way that is enables modification for a club level athlete. Kevin is a great guy and very passionate about the sport. One of his prized female athletes - Desiree Davila finished 2nd in the 2011 Boston Marathon. On a side note, I met Desi after the Naples 1/2 Marathon (January 16, 2011) - what a nice young lady. She is pretty spunky but very laid back.
Train hard, recover harder!
Malcolm
Secondly, I felt I needed to re-dedicate myself to better nutrition. By this I really mean the replenishment immediately after a tough run or workout. I have pretty much tried every type of Gel out there, but lately I have had really good results from using the GU Energy Gels (www.guenergy.com). I also tried a product of theirs called GU Recovery Brew, which is loaded with lots of really beneficial nutrients such as carbs, proteins, potassium and sodium.
Another great product is the JuicePlus line (www.juiceplus.com), especially the Juice Plus Complete. This is a shake that you can drink immediately after exercise. These products will take you an extra 5 minutes to prepare before your run but are well worth it. I typically make them up the night before and leave in the fridge, as I typically run very early in the morning. I then scoop up a couple of bottles and head out the door. I have experienced much quicker recovery time when taking a recovery drink and Gels during and after my hard or longer efforts. I also noticed a little weight loss as I 'fill up' quicker from the shakes and do not crave as much food.
These little tips all helped me get through the summer while training very hard. I spoke with a local female athlete this week, who is also training for Twin Cities. She started her training cycle a week or two before me. It seems the weather and training have both hit her pretty hard lately. If, like her, you hit that rough patch, don't be afraid to take a workout off and replace it with an easy paced run. If that doesn't work, consider taking one or two days off completely. In a typical 12-14 week schedule one or two days off in a row will go mostly unnoticed by the body, but the benefits are often dramatic.
Finally, I just read the book Running for the Hansons (www.vo2maxproductions.com/the-book). The Hanson Brother's run a highly respected program out of Michigan. I met Kevin Hanson when he coached at Macomb in the early 1990's. We share a very similar philosophy on training. The book obviously spends much of its focus on the Elite level athlete, but the training is broken down in a way that is enables modification for a club level athlete. Kevin is a great guy and very passionate about the sport. One of his prized female athletes - Desiree Davila finished 2nd in the 2011 Boston Marathon. On a side note, I met Desi after the Naples 1/2 Marathon (January 16, 2011) - what a nice young lady. She is pretty spunky but very laid back.
Train hard, recover harder!
Malcolm
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Training in the summer heat
It's been a long time since I posted here....too long. Upon reading Camille Herron's blog (camilleherron.com), she reminded me of how I had a revelation last summer training in the heat. On a 90F day, the first thing a runner typically does is to lose their T-shirt. For most, this seems to feel better than the expected heavy sweating, somewhat uncomfortable as your shirt starts sticking to your body. However, we quickly forget why we sweat and what its function is, other than an annoyance. Obviously, the answer is natures way of cooling our bodies.
Last summer we had a pretty cool Spring (for Atlanta), so I really got used to running in a T-Shirt until mid June, when the mercury started its rapid rise. I was training for Mt. Washington, thus doing quite a lot of hill running. If you haven't done much hill training, you cannot appreciate how much it makes you work.....and sweat. Therefore, as I resumed 'flat terrain' running I did not find the need to go shirtless, except for workouts. I started to feel cooler while wearing a shirt than without. I am not big into science but it appears this was due to surrounding my body with sweat on the shirt, thus cooling down my bodies core. It takes a week or two to get used to, but you forget the distraction in time, just as you did after getting used to wearing a watch for the first few times, or a wedding ring.
Last week it was consistantly 90-92F on my lunch time runs with quite high humidity. This week was a little cooler with the temperature averaging 85F. I actually felt quite comfortable running in a shirt. So go on out there in your favorite coolmax, afterall does anyone really want to see you with a shirt on?
Next Blog: Injuries, stretching and how to train post 40.
Last summer we had a pretty cool Spring (for Atlanta), so I really got used to running in a T-Shirt until mid June, when the mercury started its rapid rise. I was training for Mt. Washington, thus doing quite a lot of hill running. If you haven't done much hill training, you cannot appreciate how much it makes you work.....and sweat. Therefore, as I resumed 'flat terrain' running I did not find the need to go shirtless, except for workouts. I started to feel cooler while wearing a shirt than without. I am not big into science but it appears this was due to surrounding my body with sweat on the shirt, thus cooling down my bodies core. It takes a week or two to get used to, but you forget the distraction in time, just as you did after getting used to wearing a watch for the first few times, or a wedding ring.
Last week it was consistantly 90-92F on my lunch time runs with quite high humidity. This week was a little cooler with the temperature averaging 85F. I actually felt quite comfortable running in a shirt. So go on out there in your favorite coolmax, afterall does anyone really want to see you with a shirt on?
Next Blog: Injuries, stretching and how to train post 40.
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