cross to track

cross country season has ended, so the focus has shifted to track. different distances and different running surfaces, ill still be running though... i want to focus on either the 800, mile, or 5000. coach gave us times we had to hit to compete in meets in each event. they are 1:59, 4:30, and 16:30 respectively. although i've never hit those times. i should be able to when i attemp it. they aren't too difficult, but it will take a little work...
we'll start out with indoor track, traveling to baton rouge, carbondale ill, and a few other places. indoor meets are different, but fun. the tight track is the main downside, but i love how the races feel more action packed.
i have thought about some goals to hit for the season, however i may adjust them depending on what event i train for and where my times are at the beginning of the season. i'd like to get down to a 1:56 or 1:57 800, a 4:10 1500 and a 15:45 5k. those times would take alot of work, but totally be worth it. ill get in some training between now and through christmas break, and when season starts, ill be ready.

break

thanksgiving break is here. i have almost a week to be free of school work. there are several things i would like to do during the break. first thing would be to visit my uncle. he lives about an hour and a half away. i always enjoy going to visit him and then walking into his 180 acre back yard and sit on a deer stand and get some meat. hanging out in the outdoors is always an easy way to relax.
i'd also like to hang around my house and spend time with my parents. i only live 2 miles from mc but i still rarely see my parents. when i do see them, it is usually on race day, and i'm not to talkative then... i kinda miss my house. now that i have moved away, i love that feeling of being at "home" when i go back to the house.
one more thing id like to do before i start back at school, is see my sister and her kids. she only lives a 20 minute drive away, but i do not see her that much. she has two daughters, 5 years, and 8 months. i haven't seen those girls in forever, i hope to see them and spend time with them over the break.

summing up the season

thursday, i boarded a bus headed to seguin tx.  saturday, we competed in the ASC conference championship race.  this race was one to let every team in the conference show what they really had.  we had a goal as a team, but also, everyone had an individual goal as we headed into the race.  our team goal, was to finish as best we could in the conference.  i guess you could say we were the underdogs, considering we are a team with 2 sophomores and the rest freshmen, racing against teams full of seniors and juniors, with lots of college racing under them.  my individual goal going in, was to pr, and to place decently in the field.  as soon as i finished, i realized, i had another goal...

i ran the 5 mile course in 28:14.  that was 51 seconds faster than when i ran that distance 3 weeks ago.  i ran the last half mile with the most guts than i ever have dug to find.  when i finished, i was glad to see i had a decent time... but that wasn't where i found the most glory

walking to the starting line of a race, causes a feeling tons different than anything i've ever been through.  when i walk to the starting line, i know that i am about to push my body to mental and physical exhaustion and that i will experience the closest thing to hell without actually going.  to know that feeling is coming, makes it way more difficult to run your body to death.  during the last half mile, there was an opponent about 20 meters ahead of me.  i looked at him, and thought to myself.. "i want to beat him no matter what it takes"  my mind and body took off after him, got around him and hung on.  with my heart and lungs feeling like they were about to explode, and my legs in shambles feeling like they were falling apart.... i did what i had to do, i kept running.

to know that i can push my body that far, and to know i have the mental strength to do absolutely anything is the best feeling in the world.  no matter if i win a race, or come in last, i find the most joy....not in where i finished, or the time i finished in, but in that i can make my body do absolutely anything, and have more mental strength than any other runner out there.

Blue for nothing

saturday, was a day full of events. from 630 am to well past midnight, something was going on. our cross country team ran the 5k race saturday morning as a tempo workout to tune up for our conference meet in one week. we all ran together thru the first two miles, but then everyone got a little spread out. we all had excellent times, which was good considering we ran it at workout pace and not race pace. our cool down was a run to the donut store and back, of course buying donuts on the way. i then headed back to my room for a short nap, because i knew the rest of the day would be a long one.

when i woke up, i headed over to where our cross country team was tailgating. we ate some food and talked about running for an hour or so. we then decided to paint ourselves for the game and make a huge flag. my friend and i headed to wal mart for supplies. when we got back to campus we and a few other guys painted ourselves up and constructed the flag. throughout the game we were trying to be the best fans possible. only later to discover, we painted oursevles blue for nothing. the game was a huge disappointment. like the paper said, the next game we attend, may cause us to wear paper bags.

later that night, after scrubbing off the blue, i went over to the bonfire. it wasn't much. i wandered around and talked to a few people for an hour or so. they started out playing good music, but later it turned into...not good music. so i left. i hung out with a few friends for a while, then we all decided we were hungry. we headed out for a bite to eat late that night. when we finally arrived back to campus, it was time to sleep. the day as a whole wasnt that bad, except for the fact that i painted myself blue, for nothing....

4 miles

this past saturday, as usual, our cross country team ran a race. however, this saturday, was a mile shorter than all of our other races. our coach decided to tone it down a bit, considering the damage a 5 mile race does to the body. going into the race the whole team was hoping this one would be better than our previous races, where our performances were not where they needed to be. as i walked to the starting line, i knew this race was the last before conference, so i had to make it a good one.

my first mile was about 10 seconds faster than it usually is for the 5 mile race. i knew i had to stay strong for the last 3, and if i did, then i would be pleased with my performance. the first mile is always a fast one, especially at our course, because it is all downhill. i hit 2 miles in 11 minutes flat, and hoped not to positive split. however, compared to the first mile i did, but my final 3 miles were all even split. i was pretty thrilled that i ran a race that smart. i crossed the finish line in 22 minutes and 30 seconds. averaging 5:37 a mile was about what i expected, even though i hoped for better

after the race, the team was fired up. we all came out and did what our bodies were capable of doing. the race was successful in everyones opinion. especially our coaches. to see our coach happy really set the tone. that is our goal of the season, to do what he asks of us. even though we may have let him down in the past..... we finally showed him what we can do. now we just have to repeat that in texas in two weeks.

i am in the woods

on friday, my friends and i decided to get away for the weekend. we decided to visit my uncle, who lives an hour and a half north of clinton. since its bow season, we thought we'd go sit on a stand and get lucky. we figured we could basically have some time away from the city to relax. so saturday after our cross country meet, we started driving...

saturday afternoon as soon as we arrived, we headed to the woods. i was not fortunate enough to see any deer, however one of my friends did....i think..... later on, we ate, because we were hungry. we decided to hop on some four wheelers and take a ride thru the woods to look at a place. as we were driving, (me, my two friends, and my uncle) we suddenly noticed headlights shining thru the woods as opposed to shining down the road. we looked over and saw a four wheeler....rolling thru the woods...instead of down the road. one of my friends was laying in a ditch. he lived.

sunday we awoke and i was lucky enough to see some deer. they ran away because kenny was ugly. this other deer hung around because it thought kenny was cute. we didn't shoot it because it was a bit small. we then moved large objects thru the woods. i'm now writing this 5 minutes before the deadline because i have been away from internet for a good while. good story, the end.

home

this weekend, i decided to come home. since august 17th, everyday was full of at least one, and sometimes 3 practices. i was ready for a rest. friday afternoon, i came home, ate, and sat around the house to relax for a while. it reminded me of the summer, well, the days i didnt have to work. i pulled out my bow and arrow after a bit and did some target shooting. when my parents got home from work, i went out to eat with them and spent time with them for the first time in several weeks. however, i forgot the power cord to my laptop in my dorm, and had to go pick that up. the rest of the night. i took a long and much needed nap, and watched some tv for the first time in several days.

i woke up saturday with hopes of getting some things done. i went with my dad to buy some paint for the outdoor storage shed i built last year, but we never got around to painting it. one of the lights in our office went bad, so i replaced the needed part, rewired it, and got it burning bright again. later that night, we went out to eat with my old high school cross country coach. we got caught up on some running stories, then went to bass pro. we looked around at some guns that were close to 3000 dollars, although i did see one that was about 700 i liked. i may go buy it before too long. i got home around 10 and figured i would "study" . that never happened, i fell asleep instead.

sunday, i figured i'd wake up and go to church. i slept through church, which wasnt good, but i ate lunch started some home work. i'm writing this thing now. i have some more studying to do for 2 tests tomorow. ill probably finish all my english writings, then call up a friend to study with. i'm not sure what time i'd like to go back up to school, i guess it just depends on how the day plays out. right now, ill get back to my academic history essay and the tv.

first race

on a semi humid warm saturday morning, i woke up at 530 to get ready to run. i got a quick shower and headed downstairs to get some bread and peanut butter to eat. i got on the bus and began to go into extreme focus mode. i was not expected much out of the race considering my time out, but i still thought i should do fairly well. these situations are very difficult to prepare mentally for. for an hour or so i will sit there knowing that my body is about to experience a physical and mental hell. getting in a couple of miles to warm up and a few strides to get the heart pumping good, i stepped to the starting line.

the gun fired and i took off with the rest of the pack. my first mile was a little faster than i expected (5:28). because of the new and longer 5 mile distance i tried to go out in 5:35. the first 3 miles were not bad at all. but even then, at 17:30, i knew i had a good ways to go. the fourth mile was grouling, with sharp turns and intense sand piles. nearing the end, i began to be in a close race with a runner from uwf. i thought about all those times i was on the track and ran miles in four and a half minutes. i then tried to recreate that with a final surge. i broke away from him and beat him, however i let many people beat me.

as a whole the race was about a 7 out of 10. my time of 29:39 was somewhat acceptable, considering my lack of training. after i finished, i went through the usual hour or so without talking to anyone so i could regain the world of normal mentality. i quickly let it go and began my focus for oct 4. auburn.

running again

i recently started running again after being out for a month. i developed a stress fracture in my right shin the day before moving in. i did not enjoy the time off. running 60 miles a week, then quitting completely is a tough thing to do. i missed it. watching the team do workouts was somewhat depressing. however, i did do numerous pool workouts for a substitute. i was quite relieved the day i started to run and did not feel any pain.

i came back into running quite aggressively. i did 50 miles my first week back. it wasn't as bad as i initially expected. the first couple of days were a little tough, but after that it was quite enjoyable. i went through the first week without any pain. i did some intense workouts in there as well. i was very excited and thrilled that i could start running again. i also spent that week preparing for my first race, which i would run less than one week after starting back.

running a race takes tons of mental preparation. that week i focused before during and after workouts. friday was the day before the race. i thought about running all day. college races are longer than high school races. i was trying to mentally prepare myself for the extra two miles i had to run. late friday night, i cut off all contacts to internet, cell phone, and my friends. i got one last ice bath and went to sleep, ready for the race in the morning.

hello

If you have not already figured out (which you should have) my name is zak, not zach, nor zack, nor zac, nor zakk. The main title of my blog is Ukraine. I wanted to be different, not really to draw attention, but mainly to be random. I run a good bit. I'm usually at practice twice a day. My dorm room is cool. We have three bunk beds stacked on top of each other. The top bunk is nine feet in the air. I sleep on the middle, Casey sleeps on the bottom. Palmer sleeps on the top, he rarely comes down, I guess he doesn't feel like having to climb all the way back up to the top. In our room we also have a cooler. The cooler is one like you would see in a store. It is a Monster Energy Drink (i am allergic to beef) cooler that stands about three and a half feet tall. it is probably two feet in diamater. We keep drinks iced down in there. It is way cooler than using a refridgerater. This is the end of my first blahhhhhhg.