Real David H.

Nearly 3 weeks ago I quietly mentioned that I was joining Coach Caleb’s team, and I haven’t said anything since.
I wanted to see how the first few weeks went before I made any comments about him or get into too many details about specific workouts. I think it’s unfair to the both of us if I did so.

It’s also been a weird few weeks as I have transitioned to Cleveland Half Marathon training with a short, but specific time frame for it; threw in a “for fun” race in an orchard and another non-race that kicked my ass; and just tried to get into a normal routine of running in the morning.

All that crap aside, these first few weeks with Caleb leading the show have been awesome. I’ve missed a couple of runs mainly to me getting off schedule and I’ve changed/shortened a couple of workouts due to time shortage, but in these few weeks I have pushed myself to do things I haven’t done on my own in a long time.

My long run yesterday, for example, called for 12 miles with the final 3 miles at a moderate pace. After 4 relatively easy miles with my dog, I set out for 5 hilly miles; after 9 miles I was wiped out.

It kind of reminded me of last week’s race — as I entered the home stretch then I had nothing left. Yesterday I had Coach Caleb’s voice in my head (although I’ve never heard his voice) telling me to step it up in the final 3 miles.

I flattened out my route and finished the final few miles in an 8:36 pace. Not bad for tired legs in a “normal” long run. Normally I would have packed it in with the way I felt, and maybe cut it short.

Where I have failed, as I mentioned, it giving myself enough time in the morning. Earlier in the week, a workout called for 12 400-meter repeats, plus a mile at a hard effort. I started about 10-15 minutes later than I wanted and got in seven of the repeats.

That said, my repeats were mainly consistent at 1:47, 1:47, 1:45, 1:50, 1:50, 1:52, and 1:50 and my mile was in 7:37.

At next week’s Carytown 10k, I hope I’ll see this little bit of extra hard work pay off. It’s a race that I’ll actually race; I’ll set a specific goal time around mid-week as I assess how I feel.

Coach Caleb is doing some great things for me and others on the team, and I can’t wait to see how all this transpires over the next few weeks before the Cleveland Half and this summer for Richmond.