Nobody Went Into Cardiac Arrest,Nobody Cried Uncle

Or alternatively titled"How I ran 6x600m w/ Nick Berra and lived to tell the tale"
The frequency w/ which I do track repeats w/ someone else is matched only by the frequency in which I go out on dates.....hardly ever,so when the opportunity presented it's self to share a repeat yesterday I jumped at the chance.
My friend and team mate Nick Berra was in Philadelphia thanks to his work schedule so we hashed out a plan to meet up in the afternoon and head out to Roxborough to conduct the always fun 6x600m repeat....or as I lovingly refer to it as the Death Cage,I think it was another of my team mates Ray Parker who once coined the phrase"mind numbing,gut wrenching,lingering death.....repeat"for 6x600m,and the even older adage that"misery loves company" crossed my mind on the bus ride across Philly to sunny Roxboro.

Sunny was the operative word,the previous days AOL forecast called for thunderstorms today but it was clear blue skies and warm sunshine as Nick and I arrived around 2.30pm.
More or less had the track to ourselves,the beauty of an afternoon workout,I'd played "hooky" from work to take the day off but done it the legit way and scheduled a day off rather than call in "sick" although there was every chance post workout I may've been in need of medical assistance,by our own admissions Nick and I are warriors when we run be it on the track,during a cool down or warm up or if we run into one another like we did in early December along Kelly Drive so there was every chance that we'd push the envelope as far as we could today to push each other.

We both agreed pre workout that by running together today we'd be faster than if we conducted the same repeat by ourselves,the question was how much faster? by myself I would've been looking at 1.50s for all 6 given I haven't done a 6x600m repeat in a while,Nick is probably more than capable of doing them in the low 1.40s so we set 1.45 as our target time and agreed to rotate who'd lead off,Nick would take #1,#3,#5 while I'd do #2,#4 and #6.

#1 600m 1.40.9.Normally on my 6x600m repeats I take my 400m split but knowing I was either chasing Nick or would have him hot on my heals I felt there be little or no time to check my 400m split....if I had've I'd have seen I was on for a flyer to open,I often laugh reading Nick's blog http://nickberra.wordpress.com/ when he says he often gets his first repeat horribly wrong because 9 times out of 10 I feel I do the same thing.....today being a classic case in point!
#2 600m 1.45.5.More in line w/ the pace I was looking for I wish w/ hindsight now I'd checked my 400m splits but oh well!
#3 600m 1.41.8.Another brisk one,down the back straight Nick had opened up a gap on me but I was able to reel him back in on the home straight b4 400m and then do something very few runners ever get to do..pass him in the final 200m,I was playfully chastised on #1 for doing so but how often in this lifetime...or any other for that matter will I get to the finish line b4 Nick???
#4 600m 1.43.7.Still under the 1.45 mark but was beginning to feel it....but I sure as hell wasn't about to cry uncle....if my return to center city had to be in an ambulance then so be it,maybe the ent would be cute and I'd get a rare date along w/ a rare non solo repeat!!!
#5 600m 1.51.3.Clunk! the deafening sound of my wheels falling off!!Once again Nick opened up a lead on me down the back straight but unlike #3 when I was able to close the gap and reel him in this time Nick was gone and going away.
#6 600m 1.49.6.At least I closed in sub 1.50 but it was dejavu on this repeat as it was on #5,Nick took off down the back straight and there was little or nothing I could do about it.....shades of the final 1/4 mile at last years 5th Avenue Mile.

All in all a good workout,sure I'm pissed that I folded like a tent on the final 2 repeats but frankly having clocked the 4 sub 1.45s on #1 thro #4 that might've been expected and I know damn well had I've come out here by my lonesome yesterday I wouldn't have ran anything remotely close to what I did today.
Post workout Nick and I enjoyed the mother of all burritos....seriously this thing was the size of my fist and then I finally got to watch the video of last years 5th Avenue Mile race,I must've been the only person in that race who hadn't seen it!

For shits and giggles check out Nick's version of events in his blog and stay tuned for a few recaps over the summer as I'm sure Nick and I will look to repeat repeats when his work schedule brings him through Philly.