I cannot believe it’s already here but welcome to USA Champs week. I wanted to get out a newsletter beforehand so everyone could get a glimpse into my psyche heading into (theoretically) the biggest race of my season.

Note- I normally take a little longer with the editing process on these newsletters so bare with me on this one as I fly out to USAs on the 4th and don’t want to be bothered making it perfect.

Better every week, but still not my best.

1. LA Grand Prix. 9th in 3:37.

   1. This was my season opener. I walked away from this satisfied but feeling distant from the real racing up towards the front of the race. 9th place is far from what I wanted and although the time was a great step in the right direction, I wanted more. I was proud of how I took the lead in the chase pack in this race going into bell lap. I had no business doing that and was quickly swallowed up in the last 300m. But, I walked away knowing I left it all out there. These first track races of the year always serve as a great fitness boost for the next few weeks. As hard as we can train in practice, it’s hard to run a 1500m rep at race pace with no rest in between. This is why we race.

2. Portland Track Fest. 7th in 3:35.

   1. This was progress and technically my second fastest 1500m ever. But once again, I felt like a non factor in the race. Yes, I was out there racing but not ever in contention for the win and not closing how I want to close. I basically stayed in 7th the entire race, passed a guy or two in the last lap and felt like I played it safe and conservative. This isn’t a fun way to run. It wasn’t a bad result, but certainly not one I am proud of. Regardless, I had a great weekend with Austin and Brian and felt really connected with the team, which is equally as important for these early season races where we’re all trying to gain momentum.

3. New York Grand Prix. 4th in 3:39.

   1. Feeling a little disappointed but not discouraged. I came into this weekend trying to win and thought that was a doable and realistic goal. So, coming up short with a 4th place finishing isn’t exactly how I envisioned a successful weekend. But, I ran hard the last 300 meters and was happy with how I closed. If I can clean up some tactics I’ll be ready to go for USA champs next week. It’s a long summer of racing so no point in getting too high or low right now. I had an interesting moment before this race I wanted to talk about. My back started to get tight like it has in the past; this makes racing more difficult than usual. This definitely disturbed mental focus before the race. I was discouraged and frustrated that I had another “little thing” bugging me on the starting line. 800 meters in I was struggling a bit, felt stiff and boxed in, and the thought of giving up was at the front of my mind. I had this very real conversation with myself about throwing in the towel. I said, “go 200 more meters and then decide.” I got to 1000m, and things felt the same so I just started racing. I said “go beat as many guys as you can” and sure enough I started to pass some people and feel my stride coming around. The reason I want to share this is because I think it’s important that people realize even professional athletes have these conversations with themselves. It’s not easy to show and run lights out every race but we can choose to show up and put forth the best effort on that given day.

Mindset heading into USAs.

We always circle this on the calendar every year as THE race. It’s the race that can re-define your running career if you make a team. I don’t want to head into USA champs feeling like my best running was behind me. At last years USA champs I was just getting my stride back and the previous year I was unable to run due to injury. So, we’re in a lot better spot coming into this year. Have things been perfect? Absolutely not. I have consistently put in a solid training foundation for 6+ months at this point. Nothing crazy impressive, but nothing crazy bad either. That’s a win in my book.

My track season has been steady, but not all I have wanted. Every race I feel more like myself, but am still missing the ability to muster out the strength for a victory. But, oddly enough, I still feel like my best running will happen this next weekend. I trust that the legs, fitness ,and body will be at their best on the starting line in my prelim. In previous years, my early season running would have been detrimental for my headspace leading into championship season. However, this year is different. Why? I think a lot of my swagger comes from the fact that I am not looking at what everyone else is doing this year. I know people are running fast; I just don’t care. I know what my life situation has been, and it’s been vastly different than the last few years. For maybe the first time ever, I have balance outside of my running. I come home from practice everyday and have a little girl to see and hangout with. So, I am not really thinking about what everyone else is doing in our sport. I feel calm. I am not comparing to anyone or even my past self. I have a clean slate racing at this years USAs. There isn’t anxiety around USAs like it has been in the past. This is freeing.

What do I want to accomplish?

This is really easy— I want to run a race I don’t regret. Too often this season I have finished races thinking, “okay that wasn’t awful, but it was safe.” BORING. That’s not how I want to look back on my running career, and certainly wont help me accomplish anything courageous the next time I’m on the starting line. The best racing is when we’re tip toeing at the end of our comfort zone— daring to be bold despite not knowing what the end result looks like. I want to finish my race knowing I dared to be great.

The U.S is absolutely loaded right now over 1500m. That doesn’t mean that everyone running well makes the team. SO many things can happen in the prelims alone. And you really have to be firing on all cylinders come Saturday. The three biggest hurdles for me have been my health, consistency, and belief in my ability. I have all three of those this season. Do I need an A race to make the team? Absolutely. I’m going in as an underdog which is totally fine with me. I really don’t have much to lose—I haven’t done much in two years. So, I’ll be gunning for a world team spot. Top 3 is the goal.

The Final 10 Days:

I want to include a simple breakdown of what training looks like heading into a championship race. I think lots of athletes have no problem getting strong during the base season or training around regular season races but struggle to piece together a good last 10 days. I have no means the formula with my Mom figured out but want to include all of you on what it looks like.

6/26- 

am: 4 mile shakeout

pm: 3 mile pre race warmup. drills/strides. 800m, Big rest (5-10 minutes), 2×1k with 200 jog rest , 3×200 cut downs with 200 jog rest. Cool down to 8 miles total. Splits: 1:49, 3:05-3:04, 28-27-25. This was our last blowout session. The hard 800 was almost a time trial of sorts, trying to simulate the last 800 of the 1500m. The rest of the workout was to get in some added volume on the day. I was pleasantly surprised with this, as I have never run 1:49 in practice before. I raced on Saturday so to come back with a quick workout like this was a good simulation of what I’ll have to do in 10 days.

6/27-

am: 8 miles + treatment

pm: Weights

6/28-

am: 6 miles + drills/ 5×60m strides with full rest. Cool down Jog to 7 miles total in the morning.

pm: 4 miles easy.

6/29-

am: 7 miles + 6×60m turf strides.

pm: date night. First time since the birth of Ella. Long overdue. Thanks for babysitting Marc and Joan.

6/30-

am: 4xmile off 200 jog, 2×2x300 off 100 jog and 3 minutes between sets, 2×150 with full rest. 4:57-4:56-4:55-4:52.43-43-43-41.18-18. Nothing spicy. Just some threshold work to start and some race pace stuff and faster to finish. I do this stuff year round so nice to have the body ready to go with a familiar session. The work is done. 11 miles total in the am.

pm: 4 mile jog.

7/1-

am: short jog (6 miles or so)

pm: off.

7/2-

am- jog/drills/5×60m strides. 7 total

pm- short double + Weights. 3 total.

7/3-

am- 2x mile in 5:00-4:50. 2×3×200. 30-28-26 on both sets. 200 jog between everything. 8 miles total in the morning.

pm: short pool jog or off.

7/4-

am: 5 mile jog before flight out.

pm: A walk in Eugene with the boys (and momma.)

7/5-

am: Pre race day. Looks something like this.

3-4 mile jog, drills, 2×200, 2×100 with full rest between reps. 5 minute cool down or until I get to 5 miles

7/6-

am: 10 min shakeout

pm: race.

If you want to watch me race, click here for all the race information and streaming schedule.

Here is one of our final workout videos pre USA champs, here.

New podcast here.

Drew Hunter Training Plans here.

Did an interview with “The Hammer.” You can find that here.

Thank you all so much for all the kind words over the last few newsletters. I love writing these and want to keep you all in the loop as much as possible. If you ever have interest in a specific topic that you would like me to write about, please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know.