Road to NBNI Blogs, 2015: Logan Wetzel, Week 4

by Steve Underwood

Logan Wetzel's Road to NBNI Blogs, Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

At lower right, Logan Wetzel with his trophy from New Balance Boston Indoor Games, where he won the mile (photo from Logan's Twitter page).
 

 

Having just arrived in New York City, I am more excited than ever to be running both the distance medley relay, and the championship mile at New Balance Nationals Indoor this weekend.  The drive from Michigan was a long one, but definitely worth the opportunity to come out here and compete on the nation’s biggest stage.  The past couple of weeks of training have been going very well and, after touching on some more speed work last week, I feel very prepared for my races this weekend.

My first race of the weekend will be the DMR with my teammates Kevin, Brian, and Josiah.  This race is going to be a lot of fun for the whole squad, because it came as a bit of a surprise that we were going to qualify for nationals at our state meet.  We went into our state meet with the mindset of just trying to run well and compete for a state championship, and came out of the race with a qualifying time for NBNI.  After the state meet, everything else just fell right into place, with every guy being on board to come out to New York, and all of our training and races going very well.  I think all of that puts us in a very good position to compete for one of those All-American spots – and possibly a national championship if everyone races well.  Regardless of the where we finish tonight though, I know it will be a great experience, as well as a really good learning experience for the four of us.

After the DMR tonight, I’ll have a rest day on Saturday and hopefully be able to see some of the city before my final race on Sunday.  I have been looking forward to the championship mile at New Balance Indoors for a while now, and I know it is going to be a very fast and very fun race.  The meet organizers have put together a fantastic field, with a lot of very talented runners, and I am very excited to compete against some of the nation’s best milers.  Having not had the chance to run the open mile at the Michigan state meet, this will be my first open mile in a couple of weeks. M y training has been going great, and I am feeling very confident in my fitness at this point, so I know that Sunday’s race should be a good one.

As both the races grow closer, most of my final preparation is mentally preparing myself so I can go into each race with confidence and with a relaxed mindset.  Throughout my running career, I have found that not focusing too much on your race, and just relaxing and keeping yourself busy will help with any nerves or doubts that can come up in your mind during big meets.  Staying relaxed shouldn’t be too hard, as I have four of my good buds with me, keeping my mind occupied while playing GameCube or just watching TV in our hotel rooms.  My coach and I have walked through what each race will may come together like, so I think we have a pretty good grasp on how each race will play out.  Even so, you can never be certain as to how each field will play out in these championship races, so we both know that I have to be able to adjust and respond to whatever may happen in both races.

All in all, I am looking forward to a great weekend of racing, and the chance to both watch and compete against some of the country’s best runners.  It is a very cool opportunity, and I know that it is going to be a lot of fun, while also giving myself and my relay team some great experience and the chance to learn a lot about competing at the national level.

Our Partners