GETTING BACK TO WORK: MAY 3-16

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 February 8-21 in this post. To learn more about Alvarado click here.

Workouts for the Week: May 3-9

Monday: 6 miles 6:51 pace

Tuesday:

- 2 mile wu

- 5x800 with 1 min jog rest (2:20-2:18)

- Switch to spikes 4 min total rest

- 4x200 with 1 min jog rest (28-25)

- 1.5 mile cd

Wednesday: - 6 miles 6:52 pace

- PM: 4 miles

Thursday:

- 2 mile wu

- 10x200 with 60 sec jog rest (28 down to 25)

- 1.5 mile cd

Friday: Travel day

4 miles 7:05 pace

Saturday:

4 miles 7:45 pace

Sunday: - 10 min shakeout

- 2 mile warmup

- USATF Golden Games at Mt. Sac, 1500m in 3:42

- 1.5 mile jog

- 5 x 1 min on (mile pace), 90 sec jog

- 5 x 30 sec on (mile pace), 75 sec off

- .5 mile cooldown

Commentary and Reflection on the Week: May 3-9 It’s race week, I’m pumped, and we are going to my home state. I get to run a fast 800m again. Or at least I thought. This week was one of the most stressful/unpredictable weeks I’ve had. Usually I don’t care about heat sheets, but for this one I did since I wanted the best competition. I was entered in the 800m but wasn’t in the fastest heat. So at the last minute we tried moving into the 1500m and didn’t find out until two hours before the race that they were able to move me. I tried to not let this affect me but it actually drained a lot of my energy. Not knowing what I was going to race took mental energy away from my actual race. I don’t like excuses and I tried to be competitive, but my body just felt flat. I am hoping this never happens again because it sucks knowing I’m super fit and having a $^&* result. My coaches and I will keep working hard since the Trials is what matters most.

Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: May 3-9 This was a hectic week for Abe. We planned to come out to California to do two races. Our original plan was to run in two 1500’s. However, Abe got talked into switching to the 800 at Mt. SAC. It didn’t matter to us which events he did. We just wanted a little practice at racing two fast races back-to-back. He was promised he could get into the top heat. We didn’t see that happening, but sometimes it’s better to let an athlete learn a lesson, than to always tell them what to do, so we let it play out. They didn’t seed the races until late the night before the meet, so he was stressed. We worked to get him switched into a different race, but that ended up happening a couple hours before he raced. We could tell he was mentally exhausted, but hoped his toughness and competitive attitude would pull him through. The mental side of racing is equally important to the physical. He was fine through 1200 meters. However, when they made a move, he struggled and gave up. He was thinking about how he was screwing up an opportunity that the Club provided, and not about chasing down the pack. We didn’t get anything out of the race. His performance ultimately caused him to get bumped to heat 2 at the next meet. However, he did learn a lot from the experience, and that will help him to take the next steps toward the top of his event. Stick to your plan. Always finish hard, even when the race doesn’t go how you want it to go.

Workouts for the Week: May 10-16

Monday: 50 min hike

Tuesday: 6 miles easy

Wednesday: - 2 mile warmup

- 5 x 400m with 4.5 min jog rest (53.1, 52.7, 52.7, 52.6, 53.5)

- 1.5 cooldown

- PM: 4 miles

Thursday: 8 miles

Friday: 6 miles

Saturday: - 2 mile wu

- 3 x 1200m with 4 min jog rest (3:19, 3:17, 3:20)

- 2 x 600m with 5 min jog rest (1:32,1:29)

- 2 mile cooldown

- PM: 4 miles

Sunday: Travel day (off)

Commentary and Reflection on the Week: May 10-16

This week we were able to put in some quality work and keep building on my strength. After having a bad race sometimes the body takes a while to bounce back and feel confident again. However, I did just fine on Wednesday having done my best ever 400 repeats at 800 pace. In the past, I had only done 3 x 400 slightly faster but with more rest. On Wednesday, I was able to do 5x400 with half as much rest at about 52 second average. I felt really smooth and strong running that pace for 5 reps. I’m excited and ready to race another 800 soon.

Commentary and Reflection From Coaches Amy and Andrew Begley on the Week: May 10-16

We decided to get back to work this week. At this point, we cannot get caught up in chasing the Olympic standard. A lot of athletes went to California, hoping to hit the standard, and none of the Americans got it. The best laid plans don’t always pan out.

Our primary objective is to get ready for both the 800m and 1500m at the Olympic Trials. Right now, chasing a time isn’t the best preparation for achieving that plan. As such, we decided to train hard this week and skip the Sound Running meet.

Abe had five hard 400’s with moderate rest on Wednesday. Former Oregon Duck Danny Mercado was kind enough to let us on his high school’s track. Abe started at 54 and comfortably worked the pace down to 800 pace. He looked smooth and easy. More importantly, he felt good the next day, meaning that his strength is in place to recover between rounds.

Saturday, Abe’s friend told us about a community track and we snuck in a hard session before Allie’s race. He had pace changing intervals. We did a few 1200’s with the first part at 5k pace, and the last part at mile pace. Then, we ended with a couple 600’s with the first part at 3k pace, with the last part at 800 pace. This wasn’t designed to be a killer workout, but we want to get Abe ready to consistently produce good performances.

Abe will do another solid workout on Tuesday, and then race Friday/Sunday next week. We are fine tuning the training at this point, and getting ready for the big show in June! He’s on track.