McMillanElite :: Ian Burrell
::BLOG ARCHIVE:: Entry #200 It’s been a good run here in Flagstaff with McMillanElite and Team USA Arizona, but unfortunately it will come to an end on August 1 when I run my last race for the group. I will be attending law school this fall and will be leaving the team and Flagstaff for the University of Arizona in Tucson. This was a decision I struggled with for a long time. My original plan was to defer school for 1-2 more years to continue giving running everything I had, however, a disappointing and embarrassing indoor season caused me to look back at my professional career as a whole. I realized that the highs weren’t high enough and the lows were far too low. I was tired of being frustrated with running and feeling completely unproductive when things weren’t going well. So I decided to go back to school. I plan to continue running during school. Although it will be difficult, there are plenty of examples out there of people who have competed on a high level athletically while pursuing a higher degree. I think it just comes down to time management and how dedicated you are. I suppose I’ll find out soon enough. I do want to thank Greg and Tracy for starting this group and giving me the opportunity to run professionally. I have learned a lot during my time here and had many great experiences that would not have been possible without their efforts. I also want to thank all the adidas personnel that support us and for always being there when we needed them. Entry #190 Winter is slowly leaving Flagstaff as the snow drifts are slowly being transformed into streams and puddles by the warmer temperatures. In a recent drive back from Phoenix, I noticed many creek beds normally dry as a bone were raging with snow run-off from the mountains. It’s amazing how green the desert can get with a little water. The departing snow has made life a little less stressful for my house because now we can finally let the dog in the back yard without having to worry about her climbing the snow banks and jumping the fence. It seemed like every time I dug a trench to keep her in the yard, she found a new way to get out. Thankfully, she made it through the winter unscathed although I’m sure my neighbors are getting sick of being asked if they’ve seen Chilidog run by. After a disappointing winter running-wise, I decided to take about a week and a half of down time to let the body and mind recover. My legs had been sore for a little over a month from early February to mid-March so a period away from running was necessary. Today was my first day back, and the legs felt ok, as you would expect on an easy, 7 mile run after 10 days completely off. Hopefully the break will translate into rejuvenated legs and a successful spring on the track and roads. In other news, our team is getting ready for its first major fundraising event on Friday. There will be live and silent auctions and plenty of great donations to bid on. Of course, the main event will be when we auction off drum lessons by yours truly. I just hope we hired enough security to keep the masses in check when I do my Keith Moon impression on stage. Entry #180 The start of 2010 is looking awfully similar to the start of 2009 for me. I’m preparing for a full indoor track season, flagstaff is covered in snow and I am still trying to figure out how the Broncos blew the playoffs by loosing their last three games… again. Granted, if someone told me Denver was going to be 8-8 at season’s end, I would have been pleased, but when you start 6-0 and need to defeat the Chiefs and Raiders to make the playoffs, c’mon. Aside from football, my training has been going well as of late. My body took a little longer than expected to recover from a Thanksgiving race in Japan, but after a week off and another two weeks of light training, my legs are starting to feel normal again. The Northern Arizona Lumberjack Invite (1500m & 800m) will be my first race back to serve as a tune up/speed work out followed by a 3k at the Boston Indoor Games (hopefully) and a 5k at the Tyson Invite. If Boston doesn’t work out, we’ll find another meet somewhere between NAU and Tyson to go for the indoor 3k “A” standard, 7:54. This indoor season will determine the direction of my running career. It will give me a better idea as to whether the shorter track races are something to continue pursuing or if it's time to start focusing on the longer distances on the road. To escape the snow and some of the pressure from the upcoming track season, my wife and I spent the last two week ends in Sedona and Havasu. The warm temperatures were welcome, and it was nice to run in a t-shirt. Sedona, in particular, is one of my favorite places to run. The red rocks and red dirt remind me of home, and the twisted, rocky trails offer a constant stimulus that breaks up any kind of monotony. It reminds me of why I started running. Entry #169 Well, it's about 1 in the morning as I am trying to adjust to the eastern time zone after returning from Japan yesterday. Sleeping for 15 hours last night probably wasn't the best idea, but at least now I have a chance to write my blog for the website. As I mentioned before, I had spent the weekend in Japan with a few of my teammates to compete in Chiba Ekiden. The beginning of the trip wasn't the smoothest as our car was broken into the night before our flight and all of my things were stolen (computer, camera, USA gear, ipod, everything). All I was left with was my passport, wallet, phone and the clothes on my back. Obviously, not going on the trip wasn't an option, so I departed to Japan with the bare essentials and a police report. Luckily, we have an amazing sponsor in Adidas and a rep that is second to none in Eron Osterhaus. Eron was able to set me up with my favorite pair of flats before race day. A big thanks to him and Adidas for that. Besides the initial drama, the trip was fairly low key. Our team was great to hang out with and the mood was always light which is always nice in a high pressure setting. Although we didn't get to see much of Japan while we were there, I still enjoyed representing the USA and competing internationally. As for the race itself, I was extremely satisfied with our team's performance. I don't think we were favored by many (besides us) to finish in the top five, and it's always nice to surprise people. That's about all I have to say for now. I'm going to see if I can get a little sleep so I can be fully awake to see the Broncos get their butts handed to them tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving. Entry #155 Well, I’m sitting in a plane coming back from the US 10 Mile Champs held in Minneapolis, MN, and I figured this would be a good time to do my blog for the website. Looking back, I was pleased overall with my performance, 5th place with a time of 47:41. Going into the race, my goal was to be in the top three and see if I could be in position to win in the final mile. Although I wasn’t able to accomplish that, I still thought it was a solid effort- just not the breakthrough race I wanted to have. The pace was pretty quick for the first couple miles, and by mile 5, we were all strung out and in the positions we would eventually finish in. The course was definitely a grinder and had plenty of hills, however, the downhill sections were the parts of the course that I found particularly difficult. All the pounding that comes with running down an incline was pretty brutal, and by mile 7, my calves were shot. In hindsight, wearing flats built for 5k-10k might have been a bad idea. Fortunately, there was enough distance between me and the 6th and 7th place finishers that I could just cruise it in without having to dig too deep. Now that I have a couple decent races under my belt for the fall, it's time for putting in some serious miles- a very relative term for our group. My legs are fairly beat up right now so after I gimp through this week, I’m planning to break into the hundreds for my mileage totals for the first time in my life, and I have the rest of October and most of November to enjoy life in the triple digits. The highest I’ll go will probably be 110 depending on how the body feels. My next race is probably going to be over Thanksgiving, so we’ll see how my body responds to all that mileage. Entry #140 Break time, Whooooooooo. As you may have guessed, I am currently on some much-needed down time from running and am fired up about it. I obviously enjoy running and love to race, but it’s always nice to take some time off to refresh the body and mind. Because Flagstaff is relatively close to my home in Colorado Springs, I decided to visit the family during my break. It had been a while since we had last spent time together, and a good friend of mine was getting married so I was pretty excited to get back. The wedding was awesome, and it was great to see some of my old friends that I don’t get to see that often.
After the wedding, my family and I went camping for a couple days and climbed two of Colorado’s 14,000ft mountains (14er’s), a typical vacation for us. Growing up, I was never too found of these outings, but I’m pretty thankful that my parents persisted on dragging us out to the mountains. I am extremely fortunate to have grown up with the people that I did. My dad has a sense of humor that is even dryer than mine, and he never fails to crack me up. My mom is one of the most supportive people I know, and is always fun to be around. As for my sisters and I, I guess we’re just chips off the old block. With regard to my season, I can easily say that the US 10k Championship in Atlanta was the highlight. Coming into the race, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I knew I was in good shape, but I had just come off of a couple of races where I experienced breathing difficulty due to allergies and asthma problems, so I didn’t know if it was going to be the same story or if I was going to finally break through. At the two-mile mark, I had my answer. We came through in 8:49, and I couldn’t have felt any easier- no wheezing, no shortness of breath, nothing but smooth sailing. After the two-mile split, all I can remember from the race were the masses of people cheering on the side of the road (there’s nothing like racing on the 4th of July in the South) and sprinting like hell to kick down two Kenyans on the downhill finish. It was the race I had been trying to have for about three months, something positive to build off of and carry into the next race on the hopes of stringing a couple solid performances together. The US 7-mile Championship was next on the list, three weeks later, and we knew exactly how to prepare. We simply duplicated the training from the 10k, and I was feeling pretty good come race day. At the starting line, I was confident and ready to give the top guys in the race a run for their money. The gun went off and… I ran like crap. After the first mile, I knew I was in for a long day. My legs didn’t have any pop, I was wheezing like someone who smokes two packs a day, and some little kid along the course asked his mom if I needed an ambulance. I managed to place 10th, but mentally I was pretty disheartened. I thought I had finally turned a corner after the 10k, but instead I found the same problems I had faced for the majority of the track season. So I suppose my break came at just the right time. Now I can refocus mentally and try to get ready for the fall season. The two priority races on the schedule are the US 5k and 10- Mile Champs. Fall is usually better for me allergy-wise, so we’ll see if I can have two consecutive good races. Entry #126 Summer has almost arrived and with it, brings some of the most important races of the year for our group. Headlining, of course is US Track Nationals where we’ll be sending several athletes to compete. This is the biggest meet of the year for many on the team. It’s the most significant national championship in our sport, and a chance to make a statement on a national level. Needless to say, we’re all gearing down, doing everything we can to be at our best for the upcoming weeks. I can easily say that this has been the most intense stretch of training I have ever been through, not so much because of the volume or speed of the training, but because of what is at stake. Running fast and placing high at USA’s can open the door to many new opportunities so you want to make sure you are ready to go. The attention to detail, making sure to do all the little things right is at a premium. Currently, I am on a bit of a taper and am getting ready for a 5k in Portland this week. I won’t be alone as Brett, Jordan, Matt, Lindsey, Becky, Alvina and Trina will also be racing this weekend. Brett and I will be the McMillan contingency in the 5k, and most everyone else will be doing shorter, tune-up races for USA’s. Personally, the goal is work to run a solid qualifying time that will be good enough to get into the fast section at nationals should it come to sections. I’ve been feeling pretty good as of late and have had some solid workouts so hopefully that will translate into some good races. After a frustrating spring, I could really use a good race right about now. Entry #113 Setbacks, we’ve all had them. Anyone who runs recreationally or competitively has experienced the agony of not being able to do what he or she is capable of due to injury, illness, or fatigue. We try to minimize these things as best we can, but ultimately they are inevitable. Eventually, we all get sick, hurt, or tired. Although this is something everyone has in common, how we deal with these hindrances is almost entirely individual. In my opinion, it is how we respond to these roadblocks that determines how successful we are in running. For those of you who have followed our team throughout the past year, the success of the group as a whole has been apparent. We’ve had multiple top five finishes at national championships and plenty of pr’s to go around. Though these accomplishments are impressive, I feel the way each individual has responded to adversity is what has made our group special. Almost everyone on our team has gone through a rough patch during the past year and a half, whether it was time off for an injury, battling through illness or just a stretch of bad races. Yet, in each instance the individual bounced back to continue running well (I could go into specific examples, but I don’t want to turn this blog into a novel, and I don’t want to leave anyone out). So of course when things are going fine, every McMillan athlete is talented and well trained and expects to be successful, as should anyone in our situation. However, when things aren’t going our way, we have the resolve and the grit to fix whatever is the problem and return to our original form. Currently, I am trying to find my original form and am hopefully near the end of a “rough patch” that has lasted for about two months. After a promising start to the indoor season, I felt ready to finally make that big splash on the national running scene that I have been pursuing for so long. At the end of January, I ran 7:52 for 3k feeling fairly easy and was poised for a sub-4 attempt in the mile and a solid Indoor Nationals. Unfortunately, a couple sinus infections and a surgery to correct a deviated septum destroyed my Indoor season and is now hampering my Outdoor season. To say I have been boiling with frustration would be an understatement, and I haven’t exactly been the most pleasant person to be around (my poor wife has had to endure a two-month bad mood - sorry honey). All that being said, I still remain focused and determined to turn my season around just as my teammates have done. The track season is long and there are many opportunities ahead. Really, all you can do is simply move forward, continue to give it your all and eventually things will start to go your way again. No one ever said this sport was easy. Entry #86 Winter has started off with a bang here in Flagstaff. The new season announced its arrival with about 60 inches of fresh snow in the past two weeks. The mountain is looking pretty nice for skiing and snowboarding, but places to run are becoming scarce. Luckily for me, the first storms hit while I was taking a weeklong break from running, and I spent the second week in Colorado Springs for Christmas, so I’ve been able to put off trudging through the snow for the time being. One thing I haven’t been able to avoid is the daily battle with the snowplows. Sure, they keep the roads clear, but all that snow and ice from the road is built into a four-foot wall at the end of my driveway. With gas prices the lowest they’ve been in years, I’m thinking of buying a six-gallon barrel and setting the barricade on fire whenever it becomes a problem. Although, shoveling has done wonders for my biceps and lower back, so maybe the plows are doing me a favor. As I mentioned before, I went back home to Colorado for Christmas. It was great to get back home to see my friends and family again, and I always enjoy running in the foothills of the Rockies. Although I now prefer training in Flagstaff, Colorado Springs still has some of the best trails and scenery in the country. You could easily run a different trail every day for two weeks (as long as you don’t mind hills). However, during my time there, all I wanted was easy, flat running. After taking a week off of running, it has been difficult to get back into the groove. Usually, it takes me about a week to start feeling decent after a break. Right now, the goal is to be in decent shape by the time mid-February and Indoor Track rolls around. Lastly, we’ve made an addition to our new family. Last month, my wife and I rescued a puppy from the Flagstaff Humane Society. We’re not sure of the different breeds that comprise this little mongrel (she looks like a jackal to me), but she has made for an excellent early Christmas present for the Burrell household. We named her Chilidog, and like her name, she always brings a smile to our faces (it would be nice though if she would stop peeing on the floor).
Entry #46 While Martin and Andrew are chasing their Olympic dream, the rest of us are at different stages in our training. Most of the 5k/10k group is coming back from a break and working to build the miles back up. The marathon group is in the heart of their training, and in the past month, they have probably logged more miles than I have put on my car. They are all looking exceptionally strong in workouts and should have solid performances in their fall marathons. In addition, there are about 4/5 McMillanElite athletes that have not yet arrived in Flagstaff. It's shaping up to be a great fall and hopefully an even better spring. Personally, the decision to join McMillanElite was all about getting back to the roots. I was born and raised in Colorado, and after spending five years at the University of Georgia, I was anxious to get back out west, back to altitude, and back to the norm. The amount of trails in and around Flagstaff is staggering, and I couldn't be more pleased with my decision to join the team. So far, the runs have been a little more intense than I'm used to. With so many talented runners, there is always someone who feels good and wants to push the pace. It's fun knowing that if I just hang on to the other guys, I will be able to get into the best shape of my life. This is the most optimistic I have ever been about an upcoming season. I honestly feel that Flagstaff and the McMillan team create an ideal atmosphere for anyone who takes running seriously. By the time you read this, I will have already finished my first race as a McMillanElite athlete. I run Saturday at the "prestigious" Colorado Springs Classic 10k (I needed to get some things from home and hopefully the earnings from this race can finance the gas). At the very least, we'll see what kind of shape I'm in. [NOTE: Ian won the Colorado Springs Classic 10k this past weekend in his personal record time for the course] |
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