Saturday, March 20, 2010

Movin' On To The Next One

"She is liberty and she comes to rescue me,hope faith her vanity the greatest gift is gold
Sleep comes like a drug,in God's country,sad eyes crooked crossed in God's county
Naked flame,she stands w/ a naked flame,I stand w/ sons of Cain
Burned by the fire of love,burned by the fire of love"
In God's Country U2

First up,apologies for having to combine two reports into one but frankly not getting home till 2.10am meant a blog entry on my race was highly unlikely.
Up by 10.20am,most weekends I need a good hour to kick start the engine,today I took three,more due to a live Spurs game at 11am till 1pm{we won 2.1 to hold onto 4th place and the final Champions League spot}but also to recover from another long evening in The Big Apple.
B4 I relive last nite a quick nod to today's workout,an easy 9 miler,w/ the emphasis on easy,as my former coach often reminded me post race workout"no matter how slow you're running....it's probably too fast"and w/ that in the forefront of my mind I took full advantage of a beautiful summer like lunchtime in mid March{did we turn the clocks forward more than an hour last Sunday??}to ease my way through my 9 miler to put me at 30 miles for the week w/ a 10 miler on tap tomorrow.

So back to last nite,we arrived at The Armory at 5.30pm and yet it was close to 10.30pm b4 I set foot on the track to run,the meet got put back half an hour to allow people stuck in traffic time to get to the meet so ok it would've been a 4 & 1/2 hour wait which would've been long enough but the fact the powers that be decided to split the field into two heats,not by seed times but by age dumped me into heat two.
I would've preferred heat one,the younger guys would've pulled me to a fast time which was the whole idea but I saw no point in debating the issue w/ the official,once they've made up their mind that's it and why use up energy asking them to change their mind when you know they won't?
That said it was crystal clear come the end of heat one that runners in that heat should've been in heat two and vice versa but I'd made my mind up once the dye had been cast to focus on my race and not ponder"what might've been"

Another good reaction to the gun,gotta stay on top of that just because it's a 16 lap race doesn't mean I can zone out,if it becomes habit forming over 3,000m and 2 miles it'll become habit forming over the shorter distances.
I tucked in behind Armondo and let him pull me along,the plan was sit tight for the first mile and go from there.
We went through the opening lap in 40 seconds{you have to allow for the extra 9 meters} b4 dropping down to a 37 seconds and 1.17 at 400m and thus began a metronomic 37 seconds per lap pace,although we went through the opening mile in 5.02.
I was hoping for 4.50-4.55 pace but providing we stayed on pace a 10.04 was on tap and I'd sneak under the club record which was all I cared about.

I forget when the eventual winner went by me,for the longest time I though team mate Neil Clark was on my tail,I briefly worried that if he out muscled me b4 the line he could claim the club record,this proved unfounded as Neil dropped out.
Laps 11 through 15 proved to be tough going,12 through 14 were 39s and I'd now fallen to 4th though frankly position was the least of my worries,hanging in there was my main concern.
As each lap went by I clocked the time on the scoreboard but frankly I was too focused on holding it together to worry about where I was in relation to the club record.
9.32 at the bell,just like two weeks ago I was able to launch into a furious kick over the closing 200m,going into the final turn I reclaimed 3rd and drove hard up the home straight to the finish line.
I glanced up at the clock and saw 10.06 and though I'd missed the record,however Ray had me at 10.05.6. but in his words"I was all the way over on the other side of the track"
I sat patiently and waited for the scoreboard to post the times......9.56 for the winner,10.02 for Armondo.......................3rd place.................10.05.58.

By the skin of my teeth I'd taken the club record 10.05.8. to 10.05.5. as Chuck joked w/ me "it's not so easy"he was right and I can thank my final lap of 33.6 for sneakin' under the old record.
I also have to thank my team mates for their support,Ray and Sean down the back straight and Chuck and Dave on the infield at the top bend,their support was a big help and the fact I had someone to share the record w/ unlike two weeks ago made it a little bit sweeter.
Cool down completed I picked up my bronze medal,an added perk from the evening,it was never about the medal,next weekend however is a different story,but a podium finish is always welcome.
Home by 2.10am after we drove Neil to Ardmore since the last R5 had long since stopped running and a chance to reflect,granted not a Jay Z lyric worth performance but not only another in a long line of memorable NYC races but also another club record.
On the track I own the club records for 1,500m,3,000m and 2 Miles,prior to Nick coming along I also owned the 800m and mile records but it's because of Nick and Bob Mc and soon Dave Brown that I'm moving up to the longer distances and now that I have the 3,000m and 2 mile records it's time to eye up the next one,5,000m,16.29.7.based on tonites 5.02-5.03 10.05. 2 miles I have to believe a sub 16 min 5,000m is on tap....like HOV said"Onto The Next One"

2 comments:

dinklesnaps said...

Congrats, Kevin! That's awesome. What a kick over the final 200!
By the way, it looks very unlikely that I will be at nationals! I have suffered a fairly serious calf strain w possible tearing. So much for ny season and registration money! I am down about it but I must accept what is. I will blog it off soon.

Keep up the great effort!

kevin f forde said...

Delve,
thanks for the props.
Clearly my kick helped get the record the other nite but obviously the weeks of 40-50 miles a week training went a long way also,I had to have the strength over the previous 15 laps to be there or there abouts come the bell.
So sorry to hear about your injury,we've all been there,I know it sucks now but once you heal up you'll start to train again,chin up,hang in there.