Note from Hilary...

Feb. 8, 2010 -  Where do I begin...

I have to apologize for the long delay in updates - my computer crashed in early January and I'm still waiting to get it fixed. So I've just figured out how to update on here without accessing my files.

Anyway, my indoor season is underway and I have mixed feelings about it so far - in that I'm really excited about where I'm at in training, but have yet to achieve what I want in races. But from experience, I realize racing doesn't always match up to training right away.

A quick update since last time...I stayed in Guelph (Canada) for a few weeks after Christmas to train with Dave (Canadian coach) and some new additions to our training group - Dana Buchanan and Amber McGowen (Canadian girls who were training with Oregon Track Club), along with some of the collegiate girls. We did some great workouts and I really felt like this kick-started my fitness.

We did a little test in Toronto at a small indoor meet, basically switching leads to run 4:22 in the 1500m, which felt good. At that point I felt strong, but not sharp - pretty normal for the start of indoors when we still focus a lot on endurance training and just once a week on the track.

From there we headed to the New Balance Games, which is always one of my favourite meets. New Balance treats us well, as does meet director Ian Brooks - who always makes this early-season meet so much fun. I also got asked to do a high school training clinic for New Balance and was very impressed with the local athletes who attended - they challenged us with some great questions!

The New Balance mile featured a great field of women and ended up being a good test on tactics - it went out pretty slow (2:17 for 800m) and wound up for a fast finish. I ended up 5th in 4:34. I was aiming to run faster, but I made the mistake with 3 laps to go of not covering a move by Erin Donahue, which was a good reminder that when a gap forms in a 1500m race, it's pretty tough to get it back.

So, this past weekend I ran in Stuttgart, Germany which was a very different race than in New York - the pace was set to be at 4:00 (close to world record for indoors) at the request of Ethiopian Gelete Burka. There was only 7 of us in the race and all were strong competitors. The race split a bit and I was in the 2nd group, but we still hit the 400m in 64.9, which is right on my outdoor pb pace! So I knew it was going to be a matter of holding on and testing my fitness out. I know I'm fit, but realistically I know I still have work to do before I'm in pb shape so when we went through in 2:45 for the 1km I started to struggle. I managed to stay with the group until 1200m, but then things got pretty ugly. I finished in 4:17 so I really tough last 300m considering I split the 1500m (via the mile) in New York if 4:15.0.

But I know a race like that, although disappointing because of the overall time, is still a good race stimulus that will just prepare me better for races to come. My plan is to run the mile in Birmigham, UK on Feb. 20. So I have a couple weeks to get a few good workouts in and improve on my latest performances. I'm pretty confident about my progress in training and just want to get the most out of these indoor races to set me up well for the more important outdoor season.

Previous Blogs

Latest News

Dec. 12, 2009 - World-class women race in Sion

Dec. 6, 2009 - Hilary runs strong race for 9th in Geneva

Dec. 4, 2009 - Hilary featured on this month's New Balance homepage

Nov. 21, 2009 - Hilary places 7th among strong competitors in Bulle

Oct. 25, 2009 - Hilary second at Lausanne ¼ marathon, new pb

Upcoming Races...
Sharon Anderson Meet, Toronto, Canada - Jan. 10, 2010
New Balance Games, NYC, NY - Jan. 23, 2010
Sparkassen Cup, Stuttgart, Germany - Feb. 6, 2010
Aviva Grand Prix, Birmingham, UK - Feb. 20, 2010

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