Rounding Into Shape

by Antonio Vega on November 16, 2012

It feels great to be back racing and training. As I mentioned in my last blog, I had decided at the last minute to race in the Twin Cities 10-Mile last month. Given what I’ve been through and the amount of time I’ve been training, I was pretty pleased with how I raced.

Believe it or not, I was only 10 seconds off my 10-mile PR which might say more how soft my PR is then how I actually ran. Still, it was a joy to get back on the roads and race in a very competitive field.

Now, I’m back in Des Moines (where my wife is going to medical school) for a couple of weeks before heading back to Minnesota for another block of training. Being home with my wife and dog is obviously great, but training alone can be extremely difficult.

Today, I had a workout of 8x1 mile in a downpour with wind gusts of 15-20 mph. Just doing this workout alone is tough enough, but toss in the conditions and it was not a lot of fun. There was several times throughout the workout that the thought of stopping and going back to my warm, dry house crossed my mind.  But I sucked it up and finished because I know there will be times when I will have to race in less than ideal condition. So, even though it was brutal, finishing the workout was good practice.

I don’t have any immediate races on the horizon.  Without a doubt, I am further ahead in my training then I thought I would be at this point. But, I still have a lot of work ahead of me in order to get in prime racing shape again.

I’ll get there again. All I need is time.

-Antonio