David Krummenacker's Journal:
Transition to Outdoor Training and Racing

On the plane ride home from world indoor champs I sat and thought about the competitive road lying ahead of me. I laughed because I knew it was time for a vacation mentally, but a runner not thinking about running is personification of the word impossible.

I mused about the saying "once you win, everyone's after you". It seemed fitting as I remembered Kipketer's lighthearted parting words when we'd left the medal stand. He told me he was going home to train to get the five meters back that I'd beat him by.

There's an amazing sense of comradeship that exist amongst many distance runners. It must have something to do with the war we all go through in our training.

Speaking of training, Luiz (my coach) had graciously given me a few days off (although I'd finagled them) and they were going to be much welcomed.

I arrived home in Atlanta and spent four days there visiting friends, my college coach, and an accountant to settle things with our dear friend Uncle Sam.

After the short stay and hiatus in training I was headed back out west to begin outdoor preparations.

Luiz and I talked about the lengthy indoor season and we decided I'd wait until May before I began competing again. I would have almost two months of straight training ahead which meant it was time shift the focus back to the base period.

The first week back in training was very light. I did some 30 minute runs, a few 200's, some sessions of easy weight training, and an hour run. It felt good to be back in Arizona and in the flow of things again.

My training partners Patrick, Fidele and Thomas were very excited. We push each other to new limits day in and day out like a team. When one of us achieves something we realize good things are on the horizon for all of us.

They were a little bitter that I had deliberately left the gold medal in Atlanta and not brought it to Arizona with me. I told them when the season was over we could sit around and admire our accomplishments. Hanging a medal on the wall and oohhiing ahhhhing about it now would only bring on complacency. They all laughed and agreed it was time to get back to work!!

The next several weeks of training went really well. I continued with the 30 minutes runs and once weekly ran an hour. On the days I wasn't running mileage, I had either track sessions, easy biking and weight training, tempo runs, or power training (on hills).

The track sessions have consisted of step downs, long interval repeats (800m or 1000m), and change of pace work where we focus on being able to accelerate the latter stages of the race.

There's a saying that 90% of running is staying healthy so that a solid framework can be put in place for the road ahead. I haven't had any setbacks in my preparations thus far, and with grace of God things will continue to go well heading into the next couple months.

I'm excited about the outdoor season. This competitions mark the beginning of the road to Athens 2004.

I'm going to a meet in Brazil in about two weeks time and I've just realized traveling there is further than traveling to Europe. I have a 3 1/2 flight to Atlanta, a 9 1/2 hour flight to Sau Paulo and a 4 1/2 hour flight to Belem where the meet is being held. I always thought races won the right of being the difficult part, but somehow I get the feeling on this trip, our travel is going to be leaning for the tape.

Thanks for reading,

David Krummenacker

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