First race of 2010

Last weekend I competed in the 2010 New Balance Games. This has been one of my favorite meets since college for many reasons and this year was another good step for me.

I love to race, just as much as I love to train. After missing a lot of last year it was a lot of fun to see the other athletes again and go through all of the emotions of getting ready for the race, racing and afterwards. I was excited to be out there. I had not done a lot of speed work and little to none lactic threshold work so I was nervous about how my body would react racing a mile. (I’ve been tentative on the indoor track with speed work due to previous Achilles injury). New York is always filled with energy and the armory is no different. The elite mile races are in the middle of a high school meet which means the place is packed and very loud.

In the race I had a pretty typical bad start but moved up and felt really strong. It was a very loaded field but I new I wanted to be aggressive and not worry about anything except running as fast as I could. As we were rounding to 400m to go, I was in second place and felt that I had a good shot at taking the race, everything felt great and I was excited. Somewhere close to 100m later I fell apart, unlike I ever have before. I tried to gut through it but my legs filled with lactic acid so fast it was all I could do to keep them going. I got passed by a lot of the field in the last lap and faded to an unfortunate 10th, with a time of 4:36. the race was won by Erin Donohue in 4:28. (Yes that means I lost 8 seconds in around 300m…) Watch the race here.

Although my performance was not what I had hoped I really was not upset because I ran my best and I felt it showed good promise of where I am and where I am heading. I do get upset after bad performances, especially if I felt that it was because I did something wrong or mentally quit or something along those lines. My reflection after the race was that I did a lot of the right things, I was aggressive and went for it and my body was not yet prepared to handle the race. That is something I know how to fix and am fixing as the season progresses. So I was able to catch up with the other girls on a long cool down lapping around the neighborhood and enjoy dinner with the New Balance gang that evening.

Next weekend I will be racing the 3000m at Boston Indoor Games. I have put in some great training over the last week and will get one more key workout before I race. I have hopes of qualifying for the World Indoor Games in my mind but I also know its going to a race lined with the best and my goal is going to be to compete and prove that I belong among the best.

Meet info:
www.bostonindoorgames.com

January has kicked off and is flying by, and it has been pretty good so far. I’m applying for a green card and so at the moment I am not to leave the US and I’m also not allowed to work. This has forced me to be a full time athlete and so far I love it. The biggest difference I am noticing is that I am able to rest in between sessions and wake up rested not forcing myself out of bed to run in the dark before work. I have had the luxury to spend more time doing all the little injury prevention stuff that tends to take up a lot of time and before would get squeezed into veg out at the end of the day (and maybe did not always happen). Another luxury has been to be able to plan out my diet. Ive been trying to plan it out the day ahead so that I have all the groceries on hand and so that when I finish a workout I know what my recovery meal will be without wandering around the kitchen starving and eating the first thing I see. Hopefully I am able to keep this up because I know nutrition, rest and taking care of my body play a vital part in both performance and staying healthy.

Stress is very minimal and I am getting excited to race. I will open up 2010 in New York City with a mile at the New Balance Games. I have ran this meet before and love racing in New York. It is an incredible city with great energy and this meet is fun as it’s a low pressure meet. There will be big names in the race, including Erin Donohue (US 1500m Olympian), Hilary Stellingwerff (Canadian 1500m star and good friend of mine), another Canadian stud Nicole Edwards as well as quite a few other athletes with impressive resumes. New Balance has sponsored me since I graduated university and I feel very lucky to have had such a great sponsor for so long. Preview of meet here.

My second race is at the Boston Indoor Games on Feb 6th, and this is the premiere indoor meet in the USA (I would say North America as well). I will run the 3000m. I have not seen the entries but a world record attempt from Tirunish Dibaba will not be out of the question. This will be a star studded event and hopefully will get me out on the track running as hard as can for 15 laps.

It’s the New Year. Starting a year fresh is one of favorite things. I open a new day planner and look at all the possibilities that lie ahead. I start a new training log and know that it holds a lot of my hopes and dreams. 2010, and it can be anything that I make it.

2009 was a great year for me personally and I’ve looked back at the memories (and many, many pictures) with a warm heart. Jonathan and I were married in the fall (a couple of times!) and throughout the year there were a lot of great things happened. Athletically it was the first year that I started the sport of athletics that I did not set a personal best in an event. The first time ever, and I would say I’ve been involved in the sport for almost fifteen years. So obviously I hope for better things in 2010.

For most of 2009 I was dealing with my Achilles injury which I made much worse then it should have been during the lead up to and during the 2008 Olympics. I have a lot of would have, should haves in my life but I would never risk changing the experience of the Olympics for me. On my comeback I hit a few bumps, getting sick and without a doubt many frustrations. I wish I ran great, but I did not and in the end I feel I learnt a lot about myself. Hopefully now I can develop into a stronger and smarter person.

I have big dreams for the next few years. Everyone in track seems to work on 4 year cycles, with the peak being the Olympics. On odd years it is the World Champs, on the off year Commonwealth games. This year the Commonwealth games are in October in India. This year I plan on changing quite a few things and see how it works. I hope to spend time training at altitude and to be on more of a team with fellow Canadians and in some ways with my competitors. I to sit here next year and know that I gave 2010 everything I had and move into 2011 knowing more about what worked, and probably also what did not.

So now its 2010, and I think it’s a year to see what I have inside me. I’m heading into it with a big heart, open eyes and a new name, Megan Wright. Lets see where it takes us…

It was a beautiful day in Rieti, a little windy but sunny and I felt inspired by the old town set amongst the mountains. My race prep was good and most importantly I felt really focused. I had all my favorites on my Ipod and had a swagger of confidence in my walk. I really love the pre race hype and little routines.

The race went off and although I got off the line well, I ended up at the rear but saw 33/34 and felt good with it. 400m was 68 and I was in a good spot tucked in the back of the back. The splits I saw were 219, 253-4, 443 (mind you these are from my memory and could be quite a bit off). I was in a mini pack with an Italian girl and Jenn who is a friend (and 3 time us olympian). The rest of the race I was focused, did not look at the clock and worked on staying aggessive. I didn’t shy away from the lead and passed with my eyes on the rest of the field each time working on reeling the others in. When I crossed the line I was beat and saw the time and could not believe it. I really felt that I ran a good 10 sec faster then what that clock was telling me. I felt like I put in a great effort and am not sure the reason behind the slow time. I don’t really think the reason matters. I ran tough and did what I set out to do. It wasn’t what I had hoped for, but this year was not exactly what Ive hoped for. I’ll take it and enjoy this tired post race feeling, celebrate with the gang and make my last night in Italy a happy one.

Over the next month there is a lot to look forward as Jonathan and are getting married. So a month of celebrating with family and friends and then in October it will be getting back to real training and eyeing the next goals.

Love Megs

I arrived in Rieti last night in one piece. I was a dispointed in my race in Gateshead but am now able to look at the positives points, the major one being that I am back on the track putting myself out there. I know I can better my performance in Rieti and am looking forward to doing that.

Gateshead was a great event and it was really fun to be at a race going through all the pre race nerves and excitement, being in a packed stadium and racing. I was upset and took 5 minutes alone to grieve and fill myself with should have, could have talk and then I joined the group of girls from my race in a cool down and watched the end of the meet. After icing and showering the gang of english speaking runners enjoyed dinner, a glass of wine, good company and unwinded from the excitedment (and caffiene?) of the day.
The next day I went for an easy run with a runner i’ve competed against since college and enjoyed the luxery of the hotel before I took the train back to London where I was staying the in the dorms of a University.
The next two days I feel into my normal routine of training, eating, sleeping and a few walks around the area. I had budgeted my pounds perfectly until the last day when I got distracted in the shops (but found a few cute things!) and found myself a little short on dinner money. I opted to treat myself at the cabbage patch, which is a local rugby pub and loved it.
Arrival into Rieti was a little disorganized but safe. The town seems neat with a big old wall surrounding it. I had a fresh fig, which my sister had told me was one of the greatest things ever and I would have to agree. I had a small run before dinner. The hotels are all small and old and full of character, and a lot of the athletes are split up. Dinner was in a little Italian restaurent and great.

Today is about tuning up and resting to get ready to race my heart out tommorrow. I do not know what to expect. I am hoping there is a pace setter. My main goal is to be able as hard as I can so that when I finish I know I put myself completly out there.

Love Megs

Megan is racing in Gateshead today at their grand prix meet. 3,000 goes off at 10:25am EST.

Results:
http://www.uka.org.uk/uka-major-events/2009/aviva-british-grand-prix-2009/

Start List:

1 Megan METCALFE CAN 8:51.97

2 Jennifer RHINES USA 8:35.03

3 Linet MASAI KEN 8:38.97

4 Laura KENNEY GBR 8:56.59 9:04.43

5 Grace MOMANYI KEN 8:57.10 8:57.10

6 Vivian CHERUIYOT KEN 8:28.66

7 Justina HESLOP GBR 9:07.62 9:07.62

8 Freya MURRAY GBR 9:19.00

I am very excited to be leaving next week to race two meets, one in Gateshead and the other in Brussels. Its been a year and a day since the semi finals of the Olympics and this will be the first time since then that I will lace up prepared and confident.

This year has been interesting and very challanging in many ways. This week I have been glued to the TV watching everyone compete in Berlin. Watching Pricilla get the silver medal and jump for joy was incredible. There is nothing more motivating to me then watching someone who works so hard, smile and celebrate after a job well done.

Training has been going really well, although more inconsistent then I have ever been which is frustrating. However its been those good days, when I lay everything out on the track in practice and get to cool down excited and proud and know that I am progressing towards my goals. There is nothing in the world that feels as good as horribly painful cooldown shuffle because you just aced a great workout.

I’ve been incredible lucky to have the support i’ve had this year. Jonathan has been beside me, running on easy days and watching on workout days and most of all being there every day. Jay- my super awesome training partner, has been there to help me through the good, the average and the great workouts. Sean, my coach, has helped me to take each day at a time and has kept the big goals in mind.

I’ve had a few set backs this year and I am so incredibly happy that they are behind me. I did not write very often because i did not know what to say, or sometimes what to think. Now, I can say that i am ready to take on a big race and lay it out on the line. I’ve tried not to have too many expectations as I am grateful just to be ready to race, however I can’t help to hope for a fast time and a great race. When I am running easy I think of my upcoming races and its been so long since I’ve been this excited to race that I can’t help but to dream big!!

My biggest goal is to lay it out there. I want to run so that when I finish I can not take a another step and leave myself with do doubt that that was the fastest my body could have moved on that day.

I’ll try to be better with the updates. Thanks for all of the great support from everyone.

Love Megs

Things have been progressing well over the past month and a half. I am running good track workouts and, although I am not setting personal best in the workouts, I feel that every week I am getting stronger and closer to where I want to be. My emotions, like always, have been all over the place. One day I’ll get very excited about a completely average workout just because it feels so good to push myself as hard as I can, then the next day I’ll look at the times and know that last year I was running faster in the workouts with much less effort. I knew the progression was not going to be easy and am taking things one day at time. As my workouts get more intense and my body is able to take more love and abuse; I have been getting hungry to race.

My plan for the summer is to run a fun mile next Friday in Edmonton (it also happens to be that my wedding dress is ready to try on!) and then Canadian Championships are the last weekend of June. After that I want to head to Europe to run fast. I am not sure of the schedule yet, as I do not know what meets are holding which events. I am confirmed in London on the 24-25th of July, which is last chance to hit a standard for worlds. Since I think every week will help me get closer to make the standard for the world championship team in Berlin, I will probably need that late race.

For now, I have a lot of work ahead of me and I need to give it my all over the next couple months if I want a shot to do well in Berlin.

Its April now and this year has been like no other. It is the first year since 1996 that I have not run an indoor season. I have struggled with an Achilles injury since before the Olympics. I have never run through an injury before, but with Olympics I felt that I had no choice, and to be honest I would make the same choice again.

I still have the memory of running a personal best in the Olympics, being the first Canadian to make the final and knowing that achieved one of major goals. However, I have a lot more goals and my passion for sport is incredibly strong, perhaps stronger then ever.

The past many months have involved working hard with a great team of medical professionals, cross training and lots of support from Jonathan and my family and friends.
I have progressed well and I hope that the time off the track and in the pool and on the bike have helped my body heal. I have surrounded myself with great people and met others for cross training workouts often to take away from the lonesomeness of being away from my team. To motivate myself, I do similar workouts to my bread and butter workouts on the track, change it into minutes and try visualizing myself running as I splash away. This helps me stay intense and pretend I’m out on the track battling away.

I’ve now progressed to running out on the trails and I could not feel luckier to be a runner! For the intense workouts I’m still cross training and progressing slowly, taking time to listen to my body. I do not want to do this again! I started off with a slow progression of walk/jog, and have continued with the rehab.

I have high hopes for this summer and am looking forward to the progression back into running even better then ever. Last year was very difficult with the pressure of the Olympics, and in the end was one of the most rewarding years of my life. This year, I’m anticipating it to be just as difficult and to face a few more hurdles on the way. It wouldn’t be our beloved sport if it were easy.

Happy Running!

Megan was named female athlete of the year by Athletics Alberta over the weekend. The Edmonton Journal wrote a peice about the banquet here.Â

Megan is currently back in Morgantown training and wedding planning. I’ll let the reader decide which activity she is pouring all her efforts into…

–JW