Video Blog: Speed Workout

Today I went to the track with my family and did a speed workout that we captured it on video.



NYC Half 2012 Video Blog

Here is my video blog on my trip to the NYC Half Marathon.

A big thanks to Mary Wittenberg, David Monti, Sam Grotewold and the entire NYRR staff for such a great race, such a great time, and so much hospitality. 

My Result:  1:16:46  (5k splits: 17:39, 36:00, 54:15, 1:12:53)  1st AG, 31st Overall, 11th American



Typical Training Week - Video Blog

Alana Hadley Video Blog 25-Feb-2012

FootLocker South Region

(South Region Top 10)



Hey everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

This weekend has been awesome in my opinion!  This past Saturday, November 26^th, was the FootLocker South Region Cross Country Meet.  The meet is held at McAlpine Park and has multiple races for everyone throughout the day.  I was running in the girls seeded (championship) race, where the top ten runners qualify for the national championship race to be held in San Diego in 2 weeks.  To say I was excited for this race was an understatement, I was pumped! 

When I got to McAlpine race morning, I loved walking around and seeing all the great runners from all across the 14 states in this region.  I did a nice warm-up run and prayed while I psyched myself up for the race.  Then I did some drills and sprints to get the ole engine rolling.   When it was race time I went and got in my spot on the starting line that my Mom had saved for me, and mentally got ready for the start of the race.  I had a plan going into the race that I wanted to try and hit.  I was prepared for a quick start but wasn’t prepared for exactly how fast it really would be.

Everyone was on the starting line (all 200+ of us) waiting for the gun to go off.  I knew I needed to be ready to go fast to get up towards the front so I don’t have to spend energy weaving around people late in the race.   When the gun went off everyone took off at seemingly full speed for the first quarter mile.  I was able to get to the front of the pack as we ran down the opening half mile straightaway.  We went through the 1k point in 3:14-3:15, a full 5 seconds faster than I planned and most of that in the first quarter mile.  Despite the speed, there was a huge group as we weaved through the forest.  After so fast a start I could feel the lactic acid building up in my legs, but I knew this was a race not a biology lesson.  So I continued to be the one to push the pace up front as we went by the 1 mile and 2k points because I knew I was strong enough to hold on in the last mile even if I wouldn’t necessarily get the win.

As we came to the hill at about a mile and half, there was a pack of about 11 or 12 of us.  Seeing as how there are only 10 spots that make the finals each of us attacked the hill.   I powered up the steep hill and flew on the downhill, we all did.  Coming off the hill I was in about 6^th place.  My body kept going as we rounded the lake, knowing that it wanted to slow down but shouldn’t.  I was passed once going around the lake as the field started to stretch out.  As we passed the 2 mile point I was in 7^th place.  As we enter the back section of the course we passed pockets of people cheering like crazy.  Just before we reached the 4k point Sammy George (another NC runner) zoomed past me and caught and passed the girl (Bridget) just in front of me as well.   I knew I was in 8^th place and that I needed to really start pushing it and not let anyone else pass me and to not let Bridget get any further ahead of me.  As we got to the last 800 meters of the race I heard people yelling for the runners behind me, encouraging them to catch me.  I never looked back so I had no clue how many there were or how close but I did know I really wanted a spot on the South Region team for the nationals.  So I started to really focus and push as I returned back to the lake for the final 600 meters.    As I turned onto the lake all I could hear were cheers and people telling me that the girls behind me were trying to gain on me.  I sped up some more, and my arms started feeling like lead, but the only think I could think of was “you can’t get passed now, you got to make it to San Diego!”.    As I made the final turn and started down the last 200 meter straightaway, the noise was deafening and I kicked it in to the finish line in 8^th place.

When I crossed the line I was so tired but I couldn’t have been happier, I had made it on to nationals!  The top ten girls were then escorted to a tent where we were given some water and had some forms to fill out for Nationals, had our pictures taken and did a few interviews.   Man it was truly amazing and I was so happy!  The top ten girls were all awesome and can’t wait to go to San Diego and run with them.  Go Team South!!!

Racing In Savannah

Award ceremony in Savannah

Hey everyone, hope all has been going good for you.  Well this past weekend was sure a running weekend for sure with the Savannah Rock n' Roll Half & Full Marathon on Saturdy and the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday.  Congratulations to all who ran.

Well, I went to Savannah to do the half marathon, last Saturday.  I went with my mom, as my dad was in NYC because one of his runners, Molly Pritz, was running her debut marathon.    There were quite a few people from Charlotte there in Savannah so I saw alot of familiar faces.  As you know from my blog, my last race didn't turn out very good, but I had figured out why.  Well, I must report that my race in Savannah went awesome!

As I ran my race I was calm and confident.  While I ran I stayed focued on trying to stay on pace and I turned any thoughts in my head to positive ones.  When I slowed down slightly in the 7th mile, insted of getting upset, I just said "okay, now lets try to get back on pace."  Instead of letting negative thoughts of slowing down consume me like in the last race, I looked at the positives and knew I could do it.  So I continued to push knowing God would be proud.  I pushed all way to the final straightaway.  That final straightaway was about 300 meters long and with a strong head wind against us.  My goal in the race was to get under 1:17:00 and as I passed the 13 mile point I knew it was going to be very close.  I was tired but motivated to give it my best so I sprinted in the best I could that last .1 miles.  I kept saying to myself  "come on, come on, you can do it" in my head the whole way.  As I pushed across the the finish line, I was close but wasn't sure if I had done it.  I did't care, I had run a great race, gave it 100% and was happy.  My gun time ended up as 1:17:01 and my chip time was 1:16:58 and I had finished as the 3rd women overall in a pretty big race.

Looks like I have figured our how I race best.  Those negative thoughts can kill you in a race so I have to stay positive.  I took what I did wrong in my last race and learned from it.  I had taken my focus away from giving my 100% best effort and praising God, and instead started focusing in the negatives and shut down.  But in Savannah, I made sure I focused on looked at the positives and gave it my 100% best effort no matter what.  When I slowed down some, I made sure I kept my focus and made sure I was giving it my best effort in the race.  The only thing you can control in a race is giving it your 100% best effort, and if you do that the time and place will take of themselves. 

Everything Happens For A Reason

Just before the hill on the McAlpine course



Hey everyone, I hope all is going well for you.

Well yesterday I went and ran my first 5k cross country race.    It was the UNC Charlotte Invitational college meet at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, and I was running as an unattached runner.  This was the first 5k cross country race I had ever run and I was excited.  As I got there I marveled at all the colleges setting up tents for their runners.  How cool is that!

Going into the race I had a game plan and was ready to race.  After I got checked in, I went and jogged the only major hill on the course so I would know how the footing was that day.  I run the course enough to know it can change on a daily basis.  Then I found my assigned box on the starting line and mapped out how best to get out cleanly and work my way over to the main path.    Then I did my warm-up jog on the course and ended it with an up-tempo lap around the lake.  I knew the conditions of the course, I was very fit, and I had a good game plan.  I was ready in every way for this race, or so I thought.

As start time approached I went to the starting line and got my place and got ready to go.  When the gun sounded I took off and followed my plan and gradually made my way over to the main path without a problem.  I didn’t even have to sprint as much as I had thought.    I settled in with the lead pack of college girls and we made our way down the starting straightaway.  Around the 1 kilometer point our group was about 7 runners as far as I could tell and we went through the 1k mark in 3:22, right on pace.  As we went through the woods I worked my way up to 4^th in the pack and as we neared the mile point I could hear another runner come up beside me.  We hit the mile in 5:23-5:24, still right on pace as planned.  Right after that we swapped positions some in the pack and made our way towards the second kilometer point.  At the 2^nd k I forgot to get my split but I didn’t worry about it, the hill was coming up and I started thinking about not slowing down.  That was the wrong thing to think!  It put me in a defensive frame of mind and I needed to be aggressive going into the hill.  As I turned to go into the hill I was on the outside of the pack and didn’t accelerate into it like I need to in order to attack the hill.  As we got to the top, and began the very steep downhill I started worrying about my footing, as I didn’t feel to confident on it yet.  I was scared to fly down too fast and loose control.  I guess I ran it too conservative because at the bottom I looked up the pack had gapped me by about 20 meters.  As we came out of the woods and started around the lake, I started to dwell on the fact that I should have run that hill sooo much better.   As I passed the 3k point I forgot to get my split again, and just after that a girl had caught me and passed me just around the 2 mile point (11:04).  I was disappointed in that split and instead of getting myself back ito the race I started feeling sorry for myself and starting to get tired.  At the turn to go into the back loop of the course, my dad was there to encourage me to try and get me back into it mentally.  However I didn’t pay attention; I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and mentally took myself out of the race, and we all know that when we are mentally out our physical soon follows.  I went into survival mode and just ran at my LT tempo pace for that back loop as I listen to my mind say “I’m tired … I didn’t run that hill like I had planned … etc.”   With 600 meters to go I got passed again, but I never felt the need to care.  My dad was there, telling me to go with her to get myself back into the race.  But again I ignored him; I was too busy wallowing in self-pity.   As I went around the lake again I could hear the footsteps coming, the college girls were after the high school runner.  One, two, then three runners past me in the last 200 meters, but I didn’t put up much of a fight.  I just wanted to for the race to be over.  I crossed the line and saw my time was 17:30 and again I felt upset and dejected.  Worse yet I realized I wasn’t even all that tired.   17:30 wasn’t the time I was hoping for or what I knew I was in shape to run.  That just wasn’t a good race for me. 

We have noticed that I struggle to deal well with lactate build-up in 5k races and that I end up being inconsistent on my 5k performances.  But I handle things fine in workouts and time trials, so I know I can do it.  To be honest as I went to do my cool-down I was confused and just needed time to think.   As I started to think about it I realized I needed help to process it all.  So I began to pray.  I just talked it all out to God, how I was confused and didn’t understand how I could have raced so well in Virginia Beach and trained so hard in between and then didn’t run what I was capable of today.  How I didn’t know what I should do now, should I stick to longer races or run more shorter races?  I asked God for help, that I needed answers and that more importantly I just needed Him.    As I was talking to Him, something dawned on me, I realized why my race had gone wrong.  I had run selfishly, feeling sorry for myself when things had gone wrong, forgetting about why I race in the first place.  I am not the type of person who is too motivated by places or even necessarily the time I get.  I am motivated by knowing I gave it 100% my best effort, and left it all out there so that I could praise God for giving me this wonderful ability to run fast.  That is why even though people were congratulating me and telling me what an awesome time I had run, I was disappointed in myself, because I know I didn’t give it 100% and that I wasn’t a good steward of my gift out there today.   Instead I got caught up in me and how cool it would be to beat college girls and set records, and so when things started going wrong I had no strong motivation.  I wasn’t being true to who I was and why I race, like I was in Virginia Beach.  At Virginia beach I thought alot about God and how I love Him and was racing to show Him how much I appreciate the gift and opportunities He has given me.    But here in the cross country race, I had just thought of myself and didn’t even think of Him once. 

Well everything in life happens for a reason.  I believe now that this race happened so that I could remember the true reason why I race and love running – to praise God.  And now that I look back, I know what was missing at the beginning of the race as I was standing on the starting line, I didn’t bring my spiritual life.   Lesson learned.