2 mile TT

Yesterday was the 2 mile time trial for the Hoggard track squad. I'm not running track this year, instead focusing on peaking for duathlon nationals, but I came out anyway to test my fitness and check in with the team again.

My first mile was a little [read: a lot] fast and it certainly showed in the second half, but I still ran a pretty decent 9:55 without any competition. I seem to be on track for February and look forward to putting in some speed work over the next nine weeks to come to nationals fully prepared. However, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that I didn't go sub-9:50, and thoughts like 'you would have gone faster if you didn't go out so hard' keep nagging at me. This is pretty typical of any endurance athlete; we are never satisfied with any performance. Even if I had run a P.R. I'm sure that I would have found something about my race to be disappointed with. Fortunately, this is one case where pessimism can be good- an insatiable drive for excellence has spurred a plethora of the moderately talented to achieve great things and rise to the pinnacle of their field. Until next time...

Train hard and race smart

Mason Boyles

Cape Fear Soccer Association Scholarship 5k (Phew!): Recovery From Off Days

Well, that was disappointing. First, the Winston Salem duathlon was cancelled for inclement weather (ice covering the roads!), so I decided to race a local 5k instead. Bad choice! I had a pretty serious off day. You never know when one of those is coming; a bad race can creep up on you with the skill of an unwelcome FBI agent. I felt fine going into the race, but it just lasted about a minute longer than it should have! Regrouping your confidence can be tough, and its easy to let a bad day mar your perspective, but getting it back together is critical for future success. So, despite running over a minute slower than I'm really capable of, I'm trying to leave the baggage behind and move on to the next step toward duathlon nationals. I just have to remind myself that my training sessions are on target and trust in my fitness; if I do that, then race day performance will come around eventually. At least the race was for a good cause.

The CFSAS 5k was held to benefit the Cape Fear Soccer Association's scholarship program for families with low income. In today's economy, many household providers are either laid off or facing salary cuts. The scholarship program gives kids from low-budget households the opportunity to play in the Cape Fear Soccer league. In fact, there are two refugees from Haiti playing on scholarship while their dad recovers from injuries sustained during the earthquake. In just a few months, they have been forced to leave the place where they had spent all their lives and move to thousands of miles a foreign country, not to mention losing most of their material possessions along the way. If nothing else, that should put a single bad race in perspective.