It would've been easy to draw a line in the sand under the Indoor season three weeks ago in Albuquerque off the back of my two silvers in the 800m and 1,500m......Paddy DNA we don't subscribe to "less is more" in our culture so when the New York Frontrunners announced their 17th annual meet at The Armory on Easter Saturday I said "feck it" why not?
One last race indoors,one last chance to tread the "hallowed boards" till January was motivation enough but also the chance to leapfrog Landen's 4.31.55 from Albuquerque which lead the US M50 rankings was also a motivator.
7 laps at 36 seconds and a closing 100m in 18 seconds would give me a 4.30......simple enough when you say it....actually pulling it off......now that's the time honoured "horse of a different colour"......which tends to lend it's self to the classic "don't tell an Irishman he can't do something cos he'll go out of his way to prove ye wrong" mindset.....
I skipped Friday's scheduled 10 miler,my legs were feeling it a tad having had three weeks of taper,Indoor Nationals and then a fortnite off and while "keeping my gunpowder dry" for Saturday I also figured a 5 day/50mpw this week off the back of that was prudent,not to mention going 0 to 50 b4 going 50 to 60 mpw was also wise.
Maybe I erred in putting 4.30 as my seed time,based on my 4.47 at Hartshorne in mid January a 4.29 subtracting the "industry standard" 18 seconds was "par for the course" but I'd set my sight on going after 4.30 so that's what I put....which earnt me the #8 seed of heat #2.
12 man field I was on the left hand side of the yellow line in lane 4 and while no indication was given about we could/couldn't cut in from the gun I stayed in lane 4 till the top of the home straight b4 making my move up to 3rd as we went through the finish line w/ 7 laps to go.
Sadly no clock nor anyone calling splits but I remember my former coach more than once telling me "run on feel" don't worry about the clock,splits,pace etc,if you feel good.....go for it!.
As we completed the first lap I moved to the front,shades of my 1,000m victory here on Jan 28th.....sure I had that nano second moment "oh feck have I gone too soon" but over 1,000m I hit the front and never looked back 8 weeks ago,surely eight weeks down the road I was stronger and faster......???
As I said no clock,no splits,actually someone was calling 200m splits unofficially but I was too focused on maintaining my form and rhythm and speed to worry.
Hearing the bell I gritted my teeth and tried to kick hard for the final 200m,I did hear 4.11 at 1,400m....4.12 would have given me 7 laps at 36 seconds......which is pretty feckin' consistent if I say so myself and I continued to drive the final 100m to cross the line in first,I went 17 months w/out a victory from Aug 2014 to Jan 2016 and now in the space of 8 weeks two wins......feckin told ya getting back into that Eamonn Coghlan mindset would pay dividends......
Off for a cool down run out and back over the nearby George Washington bridge w/ my good friend and fellow Paddy Conor O Driscoll b4 returning to the news I'd ran......4.28.37.....JAYSUS!!!!!!
What can I say? the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and my decision to up my mileage from what now feels like a paltry 40 mpw to 50/55/60 mpw is paying off.....doubt me???? I then lead off the DMR w/ a 3.34.17 1,200m which earnt my team bronze and then ran the third leg of a 4x800m in a semi respectable 2.13.62 which helped us to a win
Throwing in a mile cool down w/ my fellow "multi eventers" Mark Williams and Francis Burdett I logged 6 miles for the day.....which means I only need 10 on Sunday not 12 to round out my 5 day/50 mpw......which is probably a good thing as I have a feeling I'm going to feel "shagged out" tomorrow whenever I choose to get up......but feck it if it wasn't worth it!!!!
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