A Change of Plans

20 mins. core
59 mins. + 6x30m strides
8 miles

My day started off somewhat frantically, as I arrived at the Austin airport for my 7am flight at approximately 6:36am. Thankfully I wasn't checking a bag and I made it on with moments to spare. Needless to say, my parents would be quite disappointed in my lack of cushioning.

After sleeping on pretty much the entire flight, I arrived back in Charlotte just after 10 and was greeted with the prospect of a day of homework. While I was procrastinating on the internet, I decided to check out the latest updates on the D2 performance lists. Apparently some times from this past weekend just got posted, and I was most unpleasantly surprised to see that my 5k time from the Armory had dropped from 9th to 18th on the list. This is of concern because I'm now basically right on the bubble for getting into nationals provisionally, which is something Jeff and Scott and I hadn't thought would be a problem a few weeks ago.

After consulting with Jeff, we decided I should go after the 5k auto standard at the Virginia Tech meet this weekend. I was previously planning to pace Jess in the 5k and then race the mile, but I would feel much more comfortable about my chances at nationals if I could bang out a faster time. In all honesty I will probably be safe if I can just knock 10 seconds off my previous time, as there seem to be quite a few girls hovering around 17:25, but I would feel better if I could lock in the auto time of 17:09. This is 18 seconds faster than I ran in NYC, but I feel confident that I can hit it if I have a good race. I will be two weeks fitter, two weeks healthier, and will have a much shorter car ride to the meet. Besides, 18 seconds is only 6 seconds per mile, which is slightly less than 1 second per 200-meter lap. When you look at it that way, it doesn't seem like such a big deal.

So, now that plans have changed, I'm going to make a conscious effort this week to get plenty of sleep, eat well (and often), and keep doing the little things like strides, stretching, pool, massage, etc. The game face goes on immediately.