Chris Solinsky will open his racing year at the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame University tomorrow night. A few thoughts from Chris before the proverbial rust buster.
Why this meet is his opener: “Originally Jerry and I had decided to open up at the Tyson Invite to get in a real competitive 3K, but then we found out that they eren’t going to have a 3K this year, so we reevaluated our plans and decided to return to the Meyo Invite because it has treated me well in the past, plus it is a good place to go get a good
effort on a fast track without having to travel too far.”
What he wants from the race: “Basically, I want to go into tomorrow and get an indication of where my training is. I don’t really have any times in mind other than to try to get under 7:50. Anything beyond that would be bonus. I’m not really sure where I’m at yet with
my fitness, so figured that would be a good starting point for the year. I mean we did
a 1200 time trial a few weeks ago and I ran 2:56 with relative ease, but this will give us
a good race effort indication.”
How this year feels compared to when he was on a college race schedule: “Actually it doesn’t feel too off at all, because this has been my starting point my last two years. If anything I’m more confident coming in because I’m in better shape then I have ever been at this time of year. In the past I’ve rushed back into shape because of my break from
cross country. This year I’ve been training for 5 months plus, with the best base I’ve
EVER had. I’ve been over 80 miles now for 4 months, when normally I would have maybe
2-3 weeks over 80, so I’m real excited about tomorrow to see what I can do!
How that Madison, Wisconsin winter is going: It has been a rough winter to be doing my first winter with such high miles. I heard on the Weather Channel that we are a matter of
inches away from it being the snowiest winter in Wisconsin history! We just got 13.5 inches
of snow a few days ago, so luckily I have the indoor turf, track, and some treadmills to
train on when I need to. It has also been quite cold as of late. Last week we had a day
that went from 40 in the morning to -30 at night! I’ve been here my whole life,
so I’ve gotten used to it.
