XC-season has started - but not for me!

Now that the track season is over, it's time to gear up for a new season. I am really happy with how my track season went, because for the first time since running for Portland I significantly lowered my 1500 & 3km PB's, as well as improving in the 5km. I ran 4:22.47 in the 1500m (was 4:32.97), 9:16.39 in the 3000m (was 9:39.00), and 16:06.07 in the 5000m (16:32.42). I also was able to run my best races on the end of the season instead of being in great shape early, and burned out when it matters, and had an awesome experience running in Crete where I made my senior debut in orange.

Of course, the highlight was qualifying for the European Championships. Unfortunately I was not able to 'put the icing on the cake' in Tallinn, which was heartbreaking. Some people wondered if I was too tired and if the season had been too long, but I don't think that that's what it was. I was really excited for this race, and really wanted to fight for a top-8 position. After watching all the other Dutch athletes doing so well, I couldn't wait to stand on that starting-line myself. Unfortunately, I had to get acupuncture twice before the race, in my hip and in my calve, because my body started to stop cooperating (the explanation for the nice orange tape on my leg). But that didn't bother me in the race. I just went out too fast, because I so badly wanted to run with all these other speedy ladies, and I had to pay for it later. A good lesson!
Through this link you can find a little impression of the last workout Jip (who ended up winning the 10k!!!) and I did before our races:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-sDZ3tJgRY
And here is an interview after my race (Sorry English speaking people, it's in Dutch!):
http://losseveter.nl/2015/07/12/anne-luijten-ik-probeerde-het-wel-maar-er-gebeurde-gewoon-niks/

I was really lucky to go on vacation with my family 2 days after Tallinn, which helped me to put the bad race behind me. We flew into Vancouver, Canada, where we bought tents and camping gear and rented a car, and had an amazing month in the Canadian National Parks, Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons, Portland, Olympic National Park, and Vancouver Island. It was perfect timing, since I didn't have to worry about running (Some people didn't believe me when I said I would take a 2-week break, but I really didn't do a single run ;) ). We did awesome hikes, saw a lot of wildlife and the most gorgeous nature, enjoyed beautiful weather and explored a lot.

Coming back in Portland, I was months behind my teammates in terms of training: their season had ended in May, and they had been running high mileage all of summer. This wasn't a big deal because I am redshirting this season (= not running for the team), just like I redshirted the track season, so that I can run XC next year. It is quite sad to redshirt yet another season, but I really want to be able to run next year because that's when I should be at my best. It means that my teammates are flying out to Spokane for the first varsity-race of the season this Friday, and I am staying in Portland. It also means that my teammates are kicking my butt in workouts right now, because I am only doing one workout a week to work on my base first, and am not quite in shape yet. But... I have something to look forward to because I am probably going to do two local non-varsity races, unattached, on October 3 & October 23. I might also do a 10km road race, but I really have to look into that first.

So although I won't have any super interesting stories to tell in the next months, because I am not racing a lot and basically just putting miles in to create a strong base for the indoor & outdoor season, I will keep you up-to-date about other things that happen!