Got on the track again today – probably my last true level five effort for a while. The protocol was 4 times (200/200 rec; 200/400 rec; 800/400 rec). I ran all the 200s in 34 (with a couple slips down to 33) and was solid at 2:19 for the first three 800s, then fell apart and ran 2:23 on the last one. The next couple efforts will be in level three, then a 5k race in 12 days, and then reevaluate.
On another note – there is some interesting discussion about the role of college in skier development. I will probably write at greater length about this in the future, but it is an interesting question. I obviously took the college route, and given that I hadn’t qualified for JOs as a high school skier there clearly wasn’t any other option for me. I developed quite a lot in college, and while I might not have “made it” I was beating everyone (except Kris) who skipped college for a few stretches in there. In fact, I made all that progress as a three season athlete (cross country running and track on top of skiing). My guess: college skiers don’t fall behind because of college, but because they just aren’t as committed as the guys who take time off and just ski. That thought doesn’t mean the Ski Team is making a mistake with their new recommendation, but it is something to think about. Or so it seems to me at a little before midnight, after grading 30 exams and 10 papers and cranking out 40 comments!

I haven’t posted in a week as I spent five days in the White Mountains leading 9 sophomores (at least 7 of whom had never hiked before) over four 4000 foot peaks and some rather gnarly sections of the Appalachian Trail.
We got back on Thursday, the seniors graduated on Friday, and my grades and comments are due on Tuesday. Time to get to work! I’ll update you all again on Wednesday.
Last running workout: 30 min level three on a mix of trails and roads. Followed up today with 15 miles of trails.

Raced today at my first New England Grand Prix event of the year. It was a solid race. I ended up 6th place in 39 minutes even. That is the same pace as a 32:30 10k, and given how hard I died I have little doubt I could run sub-32:00 the day after tomorrow. Which means I simply need to get a minute faster to reach one of my season’s goals. Given that last year – in a race three weeks later than this – I was 50 seconds from my 5k goal, this sets me up quite well.
Also, for the at least one reader who is following my track workouts, the one from last weekend was six by 800 meters, 400 meters recovery (sub-2 minutes) at 2:32, 2:31, 2:30, 2:28, 2:27, 2:24.

That’s my hour total for the year. Tomorrow the new training year begins! Right now, it’s time to go to bed.