When I began writing this log in January 2008, I had also begun my efforts towards becoming a member of the UMass-Lowell Cross Country team. A year has passed, and I am still working towards this goal. With this year review post, I hope to gain an overall feeling towards the year. Before I look back, I can recall simply that I was building my mileage, got a fracture, took horrible care of my leg, continued to make stupid decisions until finally getting back to the type of training that will move me forward.

January
I began by adding on mileage while also doing interval workouts as my indoor season came towards an end. My body came around for racing in this month as I PR'd in every meet, the times being a 5:33 mile, 3:18 1k, 12:11 2 mile, another 3:18 1k (along with another 5:33 mi, which was 0.3 seconds slower than my PR), and then in the league meet, I pr'd by 4 seconds in the mile (5:29) and 800 (2:32 split).

February
Training calmed down as districts on 2/9 marked my last HS indoor season. I PR'd in the 1000 by 4 seconds (3:14.52). One week off, then I began my heavy mileage increases by starting my first week back with 32 miles, 7 more than my previous high. The next week I went to 36mi, finishing off the month.

March
Started the month by going too hard on a tempo run and having to take an unscheduled day off. The next week included some intervals, and finished with a 4mi race in Oxford. I finished 3rd in 24:45 (6:12). However, I do believe the course is short, 3.9mi, meaning this was 6:20 pace. The next week was a beast for mileage, 50, followed by 55mi the next week. I found a nice set of trails behind my house during these weeks, which I continued to use throughout the summer.

April
My body began to break down at the beginning of the month. Not a surprise since I was running every day, running the highest mileage of my life, and then had to spend hours of energy at musical rehearsals, lose sleep for those, and also ride my bike in cold weather to and from rehearsals and performances. I was working my body hard, and my body took it, but not for long. I was sick the second week, and very tired. I had to take my first day off in a month. I believe I did my first two-a-day in April. I think where I really brought my body down was a Sunday in which I ran twice and rode a bike once. Three workouts, then my first meet a few days later (2mi and 1mi). I PR'd in the 2 and missed a mile PR by 2 seconds, which I felt was tremendous. Weird feeling in lower leg, I decreased my training, same events the next week, became unable to walk, and finally ended my season with a 1 mile race in which I heavily taped my leg and limped the last 600m, running a 5:38.

May
As I headed toward my 18th birthday, I also headed toward an awful summer. From 4/19 to 5/18 I ran three times; two meets, and then on 5/18, 30 easy minutes. The following week I ran 9 miles. Leg kept hurting every few days as the month ended.

June
Took a week and a half off before seeing a doctor. Started wearing a boot in the middle of the month.

July
Was cleared to take off my boot in the middle of the month, began running July 21st. Trained aggressively coming back, but the running felt good.

August
First half of the month were weeks of light mileage 10-15mi, getting faster and pushed too hard. Did a hard tempo with Neil, my track buddy, at 6:34 pace, and that finished me for the next week. Fibula didn't feel good for the rest of the month.

September
Got in 10 miles the first week, thought I was back to running, but the leg wasn't ready. I then got sick for more than a week.

October
During this month I was doing light mileage and letting my legs adjust back to running after that month of sitting down midsummer, followed by pushing it way too hard toward the end of the summer. Got sick again towards the end of the month.

November
Kept doing my light mileage (10mi/week), kept becoming more used to running. Then I did one of the most important runs of this intermediate stage; the one with Nate Jenkins. After this 5mi run, which was basically half the mileage total of my weeks until this day, I became more confident in my ability in increase my mileage and speed. That week I ran 20 miles, the most since my injury. Averaged 20mpw the rest of the month, which was regular running and a big step towards the type of training I am doing now.

December
Started off with a 33 mile week, was tired the following week, only went 15 miles and had tired lower legs (didn't risk it this time). Got in 36 miles the following week, and finished the year with a 39 mile week heading into the new year.

I finished the year with a four mile run in a heavy snowstorm, that can be viewed as a microcosm of that entire year. I set out with a goal, was given an intense inhibitor to accomplishing that goal, but worked hard throughout all the difficulties. While in this run it was simply being cold, wet, and hit in the eye repetetively with snow, for this year it was being given the most serious injury of my life.

The year can be broken down into these phases;

1. Indoor Ends: January
Doing a few extra miles, lots of intervals, and dropping many PR's as the racing season came to a close.

2. Outdoor Preseason: February and March
Started off training with a 33 mile week, got up to 55 miles.

3. Breakdown: April
Body got sick, I kept working it hard, it didn't take it, fractured my leg.

4. Time Off: April, June, and July.
I had to take time off from mid-April to mid-May. Got in a week of low mileage, but that was all from April 19th to July 21st.

5. Sprinting back into it: August.
I was cleared to run and went for a few weeks, but went too hard, took me out for the remainder of August.

6. Easing back into it: September to November
Doing 10-15mpw, backing off when necessary for leg to recover and become strong enough for the next level of training.

7. Intermediate Stage: November
Following the 5 with Nate, I did a few weeks that averaged 20mpw, serving as a bridge to the 30+mpw.

8. Beginning to Build, Pt. 2: December.
Same thing I started doing in February, except 10 months and a lot of frustration later.

2008 was the year where I lost 10 months to a stress fracture. While I only had to take off 3 months, which is a very long time to me, it actually took me 10 months to get back to where I had been before the injury, and that is why I consider this a 10 month injury. On the bright side (yes, there is one to a 10 month setback), is that I'll never forget to take care of myself. It's not so bad to take a day off if I'm feeling on the verge of an injury. It's not even that bad if I have to take two weeks off for myself to feel better. Whatever decision I make, it's not going to set me back 10 months like fracturing my leg did.