Quickly looking back at 2014...it was a solid year for me. But the competitor in me is not pleased. I set PB's (personal bests) in the indoor 800 (1:46.71), indoor mile (4:00.6) and outdoor 1500 (3:40.46), but didn't feel like my training really showed itself on race day. Things started off with a bang and then seemed to go stale. It left me wanting more out of myself.
After taking some time off, I'm back training harder than ever. One thing about this sport - or any professional sport for that matter - is that you never really know when your career is going to end. We all hope and believe that we will have long, prosperous careers, but the fact of the matter is nobody really knows. With that approach, I have hit the fall training hard, in hopes to reap the rewards later.
We are changing my running workouts and lifting workouts in hopes to strengthen some weaknesses that I have. If I want to be a 800-1500 athlete, I need to strengthen my aerobic fitness, so we are focusing on that a lot more this fall. There are some other tweaks that we are making to the training program...but I can't give you all the secrets, especially if they work!
The big focus for the upcoming year is obviously the Outdoor World Championships in Beijing, China. Each year I have progressed towards the podium and with the top 3 athletes in the US Championships making the trip to Beijing, I plan on cracking that top 3. My indoor season is still up in the air, but with US Indoor Championships coming back to Boston in 2015, I can't see myself NOT heading to Beantown to throw down. But we will see how my fall season progresses.
In other news, I started coaching! I joined the coaching staff at The College of New Jersey this fall as a part-time assistant coach. It has been a great experience so far working with the cross country athletes. I will also be coaching during the indoor and outdoor seasons, primarily with the middle distance athletes. The kids have been great so far and we are hoping to bring the New Jersey Athletic Conference titles home next weekend for both men and women! Stay tuned for results!
I'm going to continue posting workouts each week and to kick things off this year I'll post my last two weeks of training. Thanks for following everyone, and don't forget to check out my other social media pages! Twitter Facebook Instagram
Week of 10/13-10/19
Monday
5xmile@5:00 pace w/ 2:30 rest
Afternoon weightlifting session
Tuesday
8 mile recovery run
Wednesday
2x2mile tempo w/5min rest
6x100m hills
Thursday
8 mile group run at Boulder Running Company
Friday
11.5 mile run
Saturday
OFF / Travel day
Sunday
10 mile run
Total Mileage: 58 in 6 days
Week of 10/20-10/26
Monday
10x1000m w/ 2:00 rest
Afternoon weightlifting session
Tuesday
8 mile recovery run
Wednesday
AM: 5 mile tempo (5:22, 5:18, 5:20, 5:19, 5:11 - 26:32)
PM: Weightlifting and 6x120m hills
Thursday
8 mile recovery run
Friday
2x(200, 300, 300, 400) @ mile pace
Afternoon weightlifting session
Saturday
15 mile long run
Sunday
6 mile recovery run
Total Mileage: 70.5
For questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to post below or email me directly at mikeruttrunning@gmail.com!
