By: Mizuno Race Team Member, Christo Landry
Going into the 2014 AJC Peachtree Road Race I was pretty excited: it’s the biggest race in the US, it had a fantastic field of Olympians and professional runners, and it was a chance to earn my third USA title of the year. Did I see myself as a favorite though? Nope. In fact, I counted at least seven or eight guys who could easily beat me if they had a good day. So it came as a surprise to me when I felt relaxed and very much in control running behind the leader going up the hills with people continuing to drop off the front pack. And then, even more surprising to those who’ve trained with me, I won the race in a kick!
Pre-race I had many reasons to doubt myself, 10k is a short distance for me, I only had six weeks of training under my belt, and hills are a weakness of mine (don’t you love Cardiac Hill?). But it turned out that none of it really mattered as when I hit the line I was focused and ready to run fast and everything fell into place. One reason that happened was that this was a great race mentally. Race day mentality has many parts and that was a day I nailed them all. The morning of the race I was calm, cool, and collected, only positive nervous energy allowed! During the race, which was by no means easy, I never let the effort or the pain enter my thoughts. Instead, I was concentrating on my connection with the leader(s), staying relaxed the entire race and, towards the end when I would make my move. I’ve been trying to recreate that mentality ever since with varying degrees of success.
It follows that my biggest take away would be to never count yourself out. Racing is just as much mental as it is physical. I’m sure you’ve known someone who is very talented or in great shape but the expected times or places never seem to materialize, or if they do, it’s only sporadically. Heck, it’s happened to me before. In high school and college, I was such a nervous wreck before some races that I’d predetermined I wasn’t going to run well or I was emotionally spent by the time the race actually started. But it’s something that you can practice just like running and I’m getting better at it each time I race.
As any Peachtree runner knows, the heat and humidity play a large part in the race so going into the race this year I’ll be doing my best to minimize its effects. This means that I won’t “hide” from the heat as I normally would by running very early or late in the day or finding mostly shaded areas. For the 10-14 days prior to the fourth, I plan to allow my body to adjust to the coming heat by working out in similar conditions. While this doesn’t mean the heat will feel great during the race, it will allow me function better than if I hadn’t prepared and give me an edge over people from cooler climates.
I hope to see you all out there this year having a great race day and running personal best’s! Don’t hesitate to come up and say hi after the race!
Christo Landry- Winner of the 2014 AJC Peachtree Road Race is one of the most respected long distance runners in the country. He is the American Record holder at 25K, on the roads, a former three-time D1 NCAA All-American and the 2014 US Road Champion at 10k, 10 miles, and 25K. This former William and Mary griffin currently trains under the direction of coach Alex Gibby in Charlotte, North Carolina, in hopes of achieving his goal of representing the US at the 2016 Olympic Games.