Revenge of the 39!!!

Hello all,

Dallas here, just wanted to drop a line and catch everybody up. Things here in WA are going well. The spring-like temperatures are finally starting to arrive. It is still rather moist for my liking but we are getting more sunshine at least.

Asher, as many of you know, is spending a month in Colorado Springs at my sister Edi's house. Asher and her training partner, Brie, were convinced by coach (and it didn't take much convincing I might add) that this time in the season was the perfect time to go score some high altitude training. I am so happy for them and glad they could get away. I miss Asher, but I know it's important. I am gonna go visit over the holiday weekend coming up, so I will see her soon.

Things at work are going well, we had a change of command so I have a new boss. He works me hard but I like it. With the change of our Commander, we did some reorganizing in the Company. So the big change for me is that I am now in charge of the Snipers. Needless to say, I look forward to some awesome firing ranges with them.

There is never a dull moment up here in WA. Andy is one of the top candidates for a job that would have him moving to either Portland or to North Carolina as soon as mid to late June. He would be the national rep for a prominent trail shoe company called Montrail. He is perfect for the job, I hope it works out.

Mark and I posing together at outdoor track nationals his
Senior year.

Mark is considering moving up to the area and he is for sure going to visit for a good portion of June. He currently lives in L.A. but is looking for a change. As a side note, Mark is racing amazingly this year and will hopefully get the chance to be signed with a shoe company in the near future. There are a few coaching positions that he is looking at up here, and you know I would love to be able to train with him again. There is no telling who will end up where... like always, there is never a dull moment.

Things are going well for me in regards to running. This past Saturday, I had my first true test since I have been on the mend. I had 4 300's then 1k at mile race pace then 3 300's all out. The first set of 300s felt great and I felt as relaxed and smooth as I have since I lived in MO. The 1k at race pace was awesome... I ran very comfortably and was able to close the last 400 in under 60 seconds. My total time was 3:36 which is pace for about a 4:09 mile. That is a good pace for me right now and there is no reason to think I won't continue to improve over the next 8 weeks.

Then came the last set of 300's...

And with it came the ''revenge of the 39'' as my coach so aptly put it. I laid into the first 300 with all that I could muster. I came through the 200 at 26 low and hit the 300 at 39 low. From then on that 39 took its revenge!! The next two 300's were just this side of torture. My hamstrings and calves filled up with the concrete that runners refer to as 'lactic acid' which all out sprints will bring.  I battled to posted a 41, and a 42 and my coach, Matt Ellis, just laughed and kept saying "the revenge of the 39" over and over hahaha. Despite my train-wreck-like-run-in with lactic acid there at the end my workout, Coach was very pleased with the day. As was I, it was a great workout as I work back towards racing June 10th in Portland with Asher.

Thats all from me, I hope everyone is doin well and I'll post again soon. Take care all.

Baby Monkey!

So it has been quite the two weeks since we last updated the blog. Many things have changed/are in the works of changing... Events for later posts, I'm sure.

After leaving Mark in the land of sunshine and sunburns, we arrived to a blistery and rainy day.... shocking. Looking back it was actually quite ominous. Soon after, Dallas found out that certain hormones as well as his vitamin D stores, were at rock bottom levels... Right next to where his energy lied.  He has since been on a combination of supplements that make him feel exponentially better. He is being lifted from the fog that had slowly thickened for the last... well, maybe years.

We raced at the Oregon Relays just days after he heard the news, and hours before he started his supplement routine. Needless to say times were not great,  but the effort was consistent, and that is all that counts in the long run, no pun intended. :) Dal took a week "off"-- only running 35-60 minutes depending on how he felt on the particular day. However, he could only make it till the next Saturday before he was itching to put in a good effort, and because of such, hit the track again. He is now slowly increasing his effort in workouts and daily runs. Hopefully he will be back to full force in a few weeks... and very likely blowing times out of the water when, after his levels are normal, he is able to run at full capacity.

At the same meet Dal found out of his insufficiencies, Brie and I found out that coach is kicking us out of the state for a month. High altitude training is common with athletes in our sport--Brie actually went to Mexico early this year for just that thing--and after hearing that one of the elite athletes at the meet just came down from high altitude, and watching her demolish the field, Matt decided it was just what we needed.

So we set to finding a good place to head off to as quickly as possible. Flagstaff was the first inclination, however, we soon realized that CO Springs is the appropriate height and the Pettegrew's made the location even sweeter. We started figuring out ways to bribe them into letting Brie and I invade their house for 4 weeks. :)

They obliged with little coaxing (thank you!) and we will be starting our visit this coming Tuesday. Although leaving Dallas for a month is awful to even think about, it's going to be great for training and finally getting to see Edi, Travis and all the chillins will be awesome. Brie and I have already planned out the month in movies, tween books and sparkle finger nail polish. When you are training there isn't a lot of wiggle room for exploring or outings, even when you are in an amazing state like CO.

Much news to write about in the upcoming month so keep checking back in! :)

Oh and if you happen to be bored, check out our running group(+mark weiczorek) YouTube favorite for the past couple of months. It will not disappoint:

Baby Monkey!