The First Full Year With The Gazelles (A Look Back)

I've now completed a couple of races (Capitol 10,000 and the Bun Run 5K) that I ran last year, so I've got true year over year comparisons from my running "Before Gazelles" and "After Gazelles." Plus, I've had a full 12 months of training with Gilbert, so the effects of such work should be more apparent. What do the numbers say?

I started with Gilbert only a week before the Capitol 10,000 last year. I had been training using the Galloway training method (scheduled walk breaks on all long runs) for a long time, and was coming off of a subpar Motorola Marathon. Frank and I joined Gilbert as an experiment, to see what having a real coach could do for us. I'll never forget that first workout, as I was almost left behind on the "warmup" run over to Austin High School. I thought the warmup drills were the actual Circuit workout at first. Frank and I just laughed at how different it was than anything we had done before in running, but we stuck with it. Now, a slew of PR's later, we're not going to train with anybody else!

My 2004 Capitol 10,000 was run using a couple of walk breaks at the water stops on a warmer and humid day. I crossed the finish in 53:24, 8:36/mile pace, and that was all I could do at that time. This year, I improved my time on that same course to 47:52, or 7:42/mile pace. A full one minute/mile improvement in a single year, and I never thought about walking once.

My 2004 Schlotzsky's Bun Run 5K was on a pleasant weather day. I had five weeks of Gazelles behind me when I toed the line last year. I did a pretty good job, and finished the 5K race in 23:10, 7:28/mile pace. My pacing was pretty solid, but it wasn't a negative split. This year, I improved my time to 22:03, 7:05 pace, a PR by over a minute, and each mile was faster than the one before.

The last year over year test will be at the Indy Mini Marathon in two weeks. I ran a pretty good race on a warm day last year, and finished in 2:02:24 (9:21 pace). I used run/walk throughout that race, because my long training runs were all run/walk efforts still. This year, I've already lowered my half marathon time to around 1:52 (8:36 pace) in November on a very hilly Motive course, and I expect to do better than that in two weeks in Indianapolis.

I now routinely do long training runs at paces that I couldn't even handle in races back then, and the idea of walk breaks is a distant memory. My times on the speedwork sessions have dropped dramatically, and I guess I'm one of the regular steady members of the Gazelles now. I'm no longer the slowest Gazelle, which is a big improvement for me. Most importantly, I think I've finally started showing more mental strength in the tougher workouts and in races. I still haven't put together a quality race above the half marathon distance, but that will come. I've rewritten my Masters PR record book over the last 8 months, and that's always fun to see a string of races where you set personal bests each time out. I did better in every Distance Challenge race this year than ever before, except for the last two, the 30K (I was sick this year) and Marathon (bad weather day).

The only blemish on my running since starting with the Gazelles is that I foolishly ran myself into an injury last May, which caused me to limp around for a couple of weeks, and then I had to shut down running entirely for 3 weeks. Including the slow recovery schedule after that, I lost almost 3 months of regular Gazelles training, which was tough to deal with. I've fixed the muscle weakness that was partially responsible for that injury, and I've gotten a little more intelligent about taking a day off now and then when I'm getting too tired.

Following Freescale Marathon this year, I finally started being regular about Gilbert's suggested gym workouts, and that has made a difference. My form used to collapse because I had no core strength, which caused other inefficiencies in my running. I've also been pretty good about the post-run core exercises that we are supposed to do every time out. I feel more fit, I've lost 4 or 5 pounds since the marathon, and all that is good news. Gilbert's only been suggesting that I do this since last March...sometimes it takes a long time for me to accept reality. :)

After Indy this year, I might do the News 8K in June, and possibly the Fathers Day 5K, but that's pretty much all the racing I'll do except for a 5K in North Carolina (late July) when I go over for guitar camp. This summer will be nice because I won't be training for a marathon, and I won't be recovering from an injury, so I can enjoy my running without the stresses of specific race training. Long runs will be in the 7-12 mile range, which will be nice in the summer heat here in Austin.

It's been a great running year since joining the Gazelles, and I've enjoyed becoming a part of such a great group of people. I can't wait to see what Year Two has to offer!