Chris Derrick: NON and Return to Running
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 4)
Posted July 9th, 2008 at 10:52 AM by Chris Derrick
Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Chris Derrick
Welcome to the official blog of Chris Derrick; the 2007 Gatorade High School Cross Country Runner of the Year and 5k record holder! Make sure to bookmark chrisderrick.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Tuesday for Chris’ latest entries as he completes his senior year of high school running and begins his NCAA career at Stanford!
So after a couple downer weeks I had a pretty good stretch for these last two. It began with me going to NON to do some reporting for dyestat.com. It was a pretty cool experience even though I wasn’t running. I got to hang out with some of the friends I’ve made throughout the year at National meets and meet some pretty cool people. I also discovered that asking good interview questions is a lot tougher than it looks. In pretty much every interview there was a point where the athlete was talking and I was just like, “Crap, what do I ask next?”. Despite putting the microphone in the wrong place a few times, asking some dopey questions, and getting Jordan Carlson’s name wrong I think I managed to avoid looking like a complete fool. Although it was a little weird and disappointing to be at the meet but not able to race I think that being there and being able to take part in it in small way made it less depressing. And on the plus side I got to meet Pascal Dobert, John Dye, Larry Rawson, and Carl Lewis.
The best news of the past two weeks, however, was that after weeks of sitting around my house in my underwear playing pokemon and 26 days off, I could finally return to running. I’ve always had the great fortune of being able bounce back quickly from lay-offs and the bad habit of not being able to run truly easy by myself.
So with those two things combined I ran a few runs outside what is probably prescribed for people coming back from mono. Luckily I didn’t train myself into a relapse and I’m feeling strong. My first week back I ran 17 miles in 4 days and the following two weeks I ran 42 and 52 miles respectively. This week I have run 33 miles through 3 days and am feeling really strong. If you’d like to see more detail on my training I am keeping a log on logarun.com. The specific address of my calendar is:
http://www.logarun.com/view.aspx?username=CDerrick
In the middle of my 9 miler this morning I just remembered how much I love summer training. It was my experience with summer running that got me into cross country in the first place and each and every summer I renew my love for the sport with the ritualistic journey to Knock Knolls Park each morning. There is just something about the easy speed of cruise 1200’s, about the pleasant exhaustion of a long tempo or hard run, about feeling fit and strong that just feels so right and perfect in the carefree environment of summer. If there is ever a time that I have a sense of destiny and purpose it is during these summer training months.
Besides waxing philosophical on the merits of base work I’m also working at Naperville Running Company, playing some Frisbee golf, helping my ultimate Frisbee team, The Fighting Crabs (we have red and white striped jerseys with our name on the back so you know we are legit), and just generally hanging out.
- Chris
To comment on this entry and to to send questions and/or feedback to Chris, please please click here.
***Note: We encourage EVERYONE to see a doctor before altering their diet, taking a supplement and/or performing athletic, fitness or other strenuous physical activity. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, instruction, opinion or advice contained in the content. Please also see our complete disclaimer.***
Tags: carl lewis, dyestat, dyestat.com, John Dye, Jordan Carlson, Larry Rawson, log a run, logarun.com, Naperville Running Company, nike outdoor nationals, non, pascal dobert
Like what you see? Subscribe to our feed!
The Final Sprint
[…] Chris Derrick created an interesting post today on Chris Derrick: NON and Return to Running (Elite Athlete Blog Entry 4)Here’s a short outlineBesides waxing philosophical on the merits of base work I’m also working at Naperville Running Company, playing some Frisbee golf, helping my ultimate Frisbee team, The Fighting Crabs (we have red and white striped jerseys with our name … […]
July 18th, 2008 at 2:01 amu shud check out www.running2win.com its a lil better than logarn
July 18th, 2008 at 6:28 pmI think it’s so cool that you’re posting your running log for everyone to see!
July 19th, 2008 at 11:59 pmHopefully you check these comments. Love the blog, keep them coming, I was wondering if you could touch on the supplementary things you do for your running. Maybe your diet, strength training or drills, Im not sure but it would be great to see what you do in that regard.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:42 pm