About Hometown Hopefuls Hometown Hopefuls follows Atlanta Track Club Elite Team members Abe Alvarado, Brandon Lasater, Keturah Orji, Yolanda Ngarambe, Jarryd Wallace and Allie Wilson as they continue their journey toward Olympic glory. Be there every step of the way from training camp to the Olympic Trials and to Tokyo with every workout, every split, athlete reflections and coaches' comments too. Six athletes. Six months. Six shots.
Alvarado reflects on his training period between May 24-June 6 in this post. To learn more about Alvarado click here.
Workouts for the Week: May 24-30
Monday: Off
Tuesday: 12 miles @ 6:47 pace
Wednesday: 6 miles easy
Thursday:
- 2 mile wu
- 1ks, 300s, 200s
- 1.5 mile cd
- PM: 4 mile double
Friday: 6 miles easy
Saturday:
- 2 mile wu
- 3 mile tempo
- 2 mile cd
- PM: 4 mile double
Sunday:
6 miles easy
Commentary and Reflection on the Week: May 24-30
This week was meant to be hard but my body handled it well. Coming off a busy weekend of racing, I felt really smooth and strong in both workouts. It was good reassurance that I'm fit and ready to go. When the opportunity presents itself I will be more than prepared.
Commentary and Reflection from Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley for the Week: May 24-30
We decided to have Abe focus on training this week, so he stayed home and did not race. He has one more tune-up race prior to the Olympic Trials, so we wanted to get in a few good workouts before racing next week.
We started the week with a long run. On Thursday, we did 300s at 800 meter pace, 1k repeats at 5k pace, and then 200s at 800 pace. Abe looked smooth and easy throughout the workout. This was the first of three workouts that were done with one easy day between.
Saturday, Abe came back with a light tempo run on the soft surface at the Chattahoochee River trail. This will be our last chance to stack up the workouts, preparing Abe for racing the rounds at the Trials.
This was a great week! We have a couple more workouts before his last regular season race in Texas!
Workouts for the Week: May 31-June 6
Monday:
- 2 mile wu
- 600 cut down
- 1.5 cd
- PM: 4 miles
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 6 miles easy
Thursday:
- 2 mile wu
- 12x200
- 2 mile cd
- PM: 4 miles
Friday: 4 miles easy
Saturday: 4 miles easy
Sunday:
- 2 mile wu
- 800 USATF Showcase: 1:46.11
- 2 mile cd
Commentary and Reflection on the Week: May 31-June 6
We had yet another solid week of training. After Monday and Thursday's workout my body felt sore but I wasn't really worried because our focus is on the Trials. Going into the USATF Showcase, my focus was to go and secure the win. It felt like it was over 100 degrees in Prairie View, Texas on Sunday. I felt like I was overheating during my warmup and was drained. I didn't feel a pop in my legs, but there are no excuses. So I lined up, trusted my fitness, and walked away with a little PR unintentionally. It was nice knowing that once I get in a race with perfect conditions, better things are going to happen.
Commentary and Reflection from Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley for the Week: May 31-June 6
Abe started the week with a Memorial Day workout. We did a ladder, starting at 800 meter pace and getting faster. He ran a 600, 500, 400, 300 and 200 meter repeat. Abe had to do the workout solo, but he looked great! He was in range on all his intervals, but is definitely feeling the accumulation of work.
We came back with 3 sets of 4x200 with 100 jog on Thursday. Normally, we would do a lighter workout before a race, but this is our last chance to get hard work in before the Trials. We know Abe will have tired legs on Sunday (when he races), but that will help his preparation toward racing three rounds in both the 800 and 1500 at the Trials.
Abe, Allie and Amy traveled to Prairie View, Texas to race in the USATF Showcase. Most of the top US athletes registered for several meets this weekend, so we weren't sure who would show up to race. In the end, the event only had seven athletes. There wasn't a rabbit, so Abe had to do a lot of the work. In the end, he ended a very hard week with a new PR (1:46.11).
One more week of training, and then the Olympic Trials are here!
