Felt weird to begin the week w/ a recovery run but following on from yesterdays 4x1 mile repeats it was important to go out and do a nice easy 5 miler today.
Will confess to being slightly concerned during the day that my right hamstring was feeling a little tender all day to the point where I wraped it and iced it and will continue to monitor it over the next few days.
Nothing out of the ordinary to report on my run,grooved to Bob Dylan,s "Infidels" on my ipod as I did the six big loops of Clark Park.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
All,s Well That Ends Well
In a week that,s seen me have to switch both location and rotation not to mention lose a repeat session and come up short on my weekly milage I at least ended things on a positive note.
I,m no stranger to the four hour round trip Sunday trek to Roxboro to execute a repeat I did a few back in Febuary,however back then I wasn,t doing 4x1 mile repeats like I was today.
More often than not in a "short"week my mile repeats suffer,not so this week having accepted that the shuffle of my location and rotation had cost me the Mon,Wed.Fri rotation to Wed,Fri,Sun and then lost out on Fri due to the rain I opted to stick w/ mile repeats today,more often than not when a week ends w/ a meet the mile repeats go by the wayside so I was gung ho about doing them today.
Conditions were grey and mild when I arrived at Roxboro just b4 11am,following my stretches and mile warm up it was"have at it"time and boy did I have at it in that opening mile!!splits of 1.12,1.16,1.21,69 gave me a 4.58.31 mile,I had to wait untill July 27th last year to nail my first sub 5 mile repeat and today marked only my third series of mile repeats this outdoor season.
Me being me however I wondered how I,d top that over the remaining three repeats,mile#2 I went 1.13,1.19,1.20,1.14 for a 5.06.95 mile,on my last mile repeats on May 5th I went 5.12.24,5.06.38,5.12.47,5.02.38.
I was begining to feel it on mile repeat#3 1.16,1.17,1.21,1.15,5.09.77,it says something when I can turn my nose up at a 1.16 opening 400m dispite being 4 seconds inside target pace it was a dip albeit a not surprizing one in pace from the opening 400s of 1.12/1.13 but just like I,ve been tweaking my 6x600m repeats to start out fast and dig deep to maintain that I,m trying to do likewise on my mile repeats.
Final mile,granted I was slowing each mile however I was on pace for 4 sub 5.10 miles,not too shabby period but conside this on May 18th of last year I conducted my first mile repeats of the summer season here at Roxboro and went 5.26.88,5.28.21,5.25.59,5.08.51,the words chalk and cheese spring to mind!!
1.16,1.17 to open again b4 a woeful 1.26,to put me at 3.59 at the bell,in the past year of mile repeats I,ve prided myself on that final lap,today I was feeling the pace but w/ 200m to go I found a burst of speed that I wish I,d known was there say 50m/100m earlier,a 1.10 final lap to clock 5.09.75.
Personally I,d have prefered to go 5.09,5.09,5.06,4.58 but again that,s just me,it,s something to think about and ponder this upcoming week when hopefully my Tue,Thurs,Sat rotation will allow me all three track workouts and a 30 mile week and not the rain effected 2 track workouts 26 mile week I just put in.
I,m no stranger to the four hour round trip Sunday trek to Roxboro to execute a repeat I did a few back in Febuary,however back then I wasn,t doing 4x1 mile repeats like I was today.
More often than not in a "short"week my mile repeats suffer,not so this week having accepted that the shuffle of my location and rotation had cost me the Mon,Wed.Fri rotation to Wed,Fri,Sun and then lost out on Fri due to the rain I opted to stick w/ mile repeats today,more often than not when a week ends w/ a meet the mile repeats go by the wayside so I was gung ho about doing them today.
Conditions were grey and mild when I arrived at Roxboro just b4 11am,following my stretches and mile warm up it was"have at it"time and boy did I have at it in that opening mile!!splits of 1.12,1.16,1.21,69 gave me a 4.58.31 mile,I had to wait untill July 27th last year to nail my first sub 5 mile repeat and today marked only my third series of mile repeats this outdoor season.
Me being me however I wondered how I,d top that over the remaining three repeats,mile#2 I went 1.13,1.19,1.20,1.14 for a 5.06.95 mile,on my last mile repeats on May 5th I went 5.12.24,5.06.38,5.12.47,5.02.38.
I was begining to feel it on mile repeat#3 1.16,1.17,1.21,1.15,5.09.77,it says something when I can turn my nose up at a 1.16 opening 400m dispite being 4 seconds inside target pace it was a dip albeit a not surprizing one in pace from the opening 400s of 1.12/1.13 but just like I,ve been tweaking my 6x600m repeats to start out fast and dig deep to maintain that I,m trying to do likewise on my mile repeats.
Final mile,granted I was slowing each mile however I was on pace for 4 sub 5.10 miles,not too shabby period but conside this on May 18th of last year I conducted my first mile repeats of the summer season here at Roxboro and went 5.26.88,5.28.21,5.25.59,5.08.51,the words chalk and cheese spring to mind!!
1.16,1.17 to open again b4 a woeful 1.26,to put me at 3.59 at the bell,in the past year of mile repeats I,ve prided myself on that final lap,today I was feeling the pace but w/ 200m to go I found a burst of speed that I wish I,d known was there say 50m/100m earlier,a 1.10 final lap to clock 5.09.75.
Personally I,d have prefered to go 5.09,5.09,5.06,4.58 but again that,s just me,it,s something to think about and ponder this upcoming week when hopefully my Tue,Thurs,Sat rotation will allow me all three track workouts and a 30 mile week and not the rain effected 2 track workouts 26 mile week I just put in.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
What Is That Big Orange Ball In The Sky??!!!
I realize it,s a typically English/Irish trait to moan about the weather but dear god,to lose two workouts due to the rain in one week.................GER :(
One of the ironic things about yesterdays wash out was the date,May 16th I bring this up only because upon referencing the "Great Oracle"ie my diary I found last years entry,May 16th fell on a Wednesday and inspite of the rain I did indeed trek all the way out to Roxboro to conduct my 2x1,000m,why I didn,t yesterday is prehaps best left to psychcologists,if I,m being 100% honest here the issue of Coldplay tickets going on sale at 10am yesterday and not today{sidebar whos dumb arse idea was that???,how are the likes of me and I,m sure I,m not alone in this meant to score concert tixs going on sale on a week day????!!!!}probably played a big role in that.
Granted it seemed to rain all day yesterday to the point where dispite taking my running gear w/ me to work w/ the intention for hiking to deepest,darkest Roxboro post work it just seemed pointless,when I left work at 3.40pm as it was still raining but by the time I got off the #34 trolley at 4.25pm it had at least eased to a soft rain,the type I could ,ve dealth w/ had I,ve gone to Roxboro,deep down I know if the Coldplay ticket issue hadn,t have been on the table I would,ve gone to Roxboro,as it was I didn,t and I,m now gonna come up short not only on track workouts this week{2 providing I get to Roxboro tomorrow to do my 4x1 mile repeats} but also my weekly milage 25 not 30.......at least getting home at 4.30pm and not 7.30pm meant still managing to snare a floor seat for Coldplay so it,s not all bad.
Today I opted in a week of change to again change things up re my 5 miler,having had meets the past three Saturdays it was nice to enjoy a lie in till 10am which nixed an early morning run,I opted post food shopping to conduct my 5 miler,it,s rare to get out and run in the early afternoon,most of my workouts tend to be early morning/early evening so I hadn,t factored in the Farmers Market in Clark Park,rather than do the tried and tested 10x bottom loop I wanted to stick w/ the 6x whole loop I,d been doing doing this week but the prospect of having to go wide past the Farmers Market lead me to reroute myself up Woodlands Ave upto the VA Hospital and back down to 43rd St three times,however one slices and dices it a 5 mile run is a 5 mile run and I for one was happy to say I,d done mine for the day.
One of the ironic things about yesterdays wash out was the date,May 16th I bring this up only because upon referencing the "Great Oracle"ie my diary I found last years entry,May 16th fell on a Wednesday and inspite of the rain I did indeed trek all the way out to Roxboro to conduct my 2x1,000m,why I didn,t yesterday is prehaps best left to psychcologists,if I,m being 100% honest here the issue of Coldplay tickets going on sale at 10am yesterday and not today{sidebar whos dumb arse idea was that???,how are the likes of me and I,m sure I,m not alone in this meant to score concert tixs going on sale on a week day????!!!!}probably played a big role in that.
Granted it seemed to rain all day yesterday to the point where dispite taking my running gear w/ me to work w/ the intention for hiking to deepest,darkest Roxboro post work it just seemed pointless,when I left work at 3.40pm as it was still raining but by the time I got off the #34 trolley at 4.25pm it had at least eased to a soft rain,the type I could ,ve dealth w/ had I,ve gone to Roxboro,deep down I know if the Coldplay ticket issue hadn,t have been on the table I would,ve gone to Roxboro,as it was I didn,t and I,m now gonna come up short not only on track workouts this week{2 providing I get to Roxboro tomorrow to do my 4x1 mile repeats} but also my weekly milage 25 not 30.......at least getting home at 4.30pm and not 7.30pm meant still managing to snare a floor seat for Coldplay so it,s not all bad.
Today I opted in a week of change to again change things up re my 5 miler,having had meets the past three Saturdays it was nice to enjoy a lie in till 10am which nixed an early morning run,I opted post food shopping to conduct my 5 miler,it,s rare to get out and run in the early afternoon,most of my workouts tend to be early morning/early evening so I hadn,t factored in the Farmers Market in Clark Park,rather than do the tried and tested 10x bottom loop I wanted to stick w/ the 6x whole loop I,d been doing doing this week but the prospect of having to go wide past the Farmers Market lead me to reroute myself up Woodlands Ave upto the VA Hospital and back down to 43rd St three times,however one slices and dices it a 5 mile run is a 5 mile run and I for one was happy to say I,d done mine for the day.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Brought To You By The Letter R
I could tell early on into my run my legs were feeling the effects of yesterdays blazing 6x600m repeats but I was ok w/ that,it told me that yesterday I,d done what I was meant to do,go to the track and drop the hammer,today was a recovery run,exactly what it says it,s meant to be recovery.
Again I opted for the bigger loop of Clark Park but unlike Tuesday I took my ipod w/ me,Rory Gallagher providing the soundtrack.....effectivly one hard rocking paddy helping another!!!
Three down three to go for the week,I,m at 15 miles for the week also half way in my weekly 30 miles,here,s hoping to get to and from Roxboro b4 the rain tomorrow although it wouldn,t be the first time I,ve gone to Roxboro and conducted a 2x1,000m repeat in the rain this time last year I did it,I,d make the crack about lightning striking twice but frankly rain.s one issue,lightning,s another,the only reference to lightning I want in tomorrows blog entry is a reference to my speed.
Again I opted for the bigger loop of Clark Park but unlike Tuesday I took my ipod w/ me,Rory Gallagher providing the soundtrack.....effectivly one hard rocking paddy helping another!!!
Three down three to go for the week,I,m at 15 miles for the week also half way in my weekly 30 miles,here,s hoping to get to and from Roxboro b4 the rain tomorrow although it wouldn,t be the first time I,ve gone to Roxboro and conducted a 2x1,000m repeat in the rain this time last year I did it,I,d make the crack about lightning striking twice but frankly rain.s one issue,lightning,s another,the only reference to lightning I want in tomorrows blog entry is a reference to my speed.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
I Laugh In The Face Of Death
The venue and day may have changed but the torture is the same,6x600m,welcome to The Death Zone.
Following on from my previous 6x600m where I cranked out 3 1.46s b4 seeing the wheels fall off I opted to go for it again tonite,call it wreckless,call it Hammer Time,call me crazy,call me Prime Time I feel it,s time to crank things up and see how I respond.
Conditions were grey and overcast when I reached Roxboro gone 5pm,mercifully the CYO brigade were in short supply tonite,I think their big meet is coming up this Saturday so hopefully my next three repeat workouts here won,t be too effected by them,following my stretches,mile warm up and mile of strides it was"have at it" time.....strewth a 66 second opening 400m,followed by a 30 second 200m....1.36.89,talk about your"starter for ten fingers on the buzzers"now could I keep that pace?
69 seconds and 33 seconds for my 400m/200m splits on repeat #2 1.42.56,this was boldly going where I hadn,t been b4,this continues and it,ll become manditory to listen to The Cure b4 EVERY workout!!!!I swear my feet haven,t touched the ground since Saturdays AWESOME show at The Spectrum,in fact they were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME I,m going to New York next month to catch them end the tour at Radio City Music Hall b4 hoping a subway ride to Ichan Stadium the following day for the MAC C,ships.
Anyways keeping w/ the here and now 1.11 at 400m b4 a 32 second closing 200m for 1.43.02 on #3,here,s where the wheels fell off last time,history however would not repeat today.....take that Death!!!!
1.13 at 400m, 34 second closing 200m,slowing slightly but 1.47.13,I was already ahead of two weeks ago,if the wheels came off now and I went 4/6 I could live w/ that as I,d improved on the 3/6 from April 29th.
1.17 at 400m and yes I was feeling it,a 37 second closing 200m,1.54.77,could I muster a final sub 1.50 on #6???
1.14 at 400m,I knew it was there for the taking but I,d have to work for it,b4 a 34 second closing 200m 1.48.18,yeah baby!!!5/6,did somebody say Granny Smiths?cos you gotta love them apples!!!!
Next week or the week after whenever I next step into "The Death Zone"I,ll aim to go 6/6 clearly I,m getting there and I aim to keep pushing the envelope.
Following on from my previous 6x600m where I cranked out 3 1.46s b4 seeing the wheels fall off I opted to go for it again tonite,call it wreckless,call it Hammer Time,call me crazy,call me Prime Time I feel it,s time to crank things up and see how I respond.
Conditions were grey and overcast when I reached Roxboro gone 5pm,mercifully the CYO brigade were in short supply tonite,I think their big meet is coming up this Saturday so hopefully my next three repeat workouts here won,t be too effected by them,following my stretches,mile warm up and mile of strides it was"have at it" time.....strewth a 66 second opening 400m,followed by a 30 second 200m....1.36.89,talk about your"starter for ten fingers on the buzzers"now could I keep that pace?
69 seconds and 33 seconds for my 400m/200m splits on repeat #2 1.42.56,this was boldly going where I hadn,t been b4,this continues and it,ll become manditory to listen to The Cure b4 EVERY workout!!!!I swear my feet haven,t touched the ground since Saturdays AWESOME show at The Spectrum,in fact they were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME I,m going to New York next month to catch them end the tour at Radio City Music Hall b4 hoping a subway ride to Ichan Stadium the following day for the MAC C,ships.
Anyways keeping w/ the here and now 1.11 at 400m b4 a 32 second closing 200m for 1.43.02 on #3,here,s where the wheels fell off last time,history however would not repeat today.....take that Death!!!!
1.13 at 400m, 34 second closing 200m,slowing slightly but 1.47.13,I was already ahead of two weeks ago,if the wheels came off now and I went 4/6 I could live w/ that as I,d improved on the 3/6 from April 29th.
1.17 at 400m and yes I was feeling it,a 37 second closing 200m,1.54.77,could I muster a final sub 1.50 on #6???
1.14 at 400m,I knew it was there for the taking but I,d have to work for it,b4 a 34 second closing 200m 1.48.18,yeah baby!!!5/6,did somebody say Granny Smiths?cos you gotta love them apples!!!!
Next week or the week after whenever I next step into "The Death Zone"I,ll aim to go 6/6 clearly I,m getting there and I aim to keep pushing the envelope.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A Date W/{The}Death{Zone}Will Have To Wait
A feeling of dajavu yesterday,another Monday lost to the rain,glass half empty my rotation is now thrown for a loop this week to begin w/factor in that Franklin Field is now off limits till next Thursday and I,m looking at hiking to Roxboro for my next three track workouts,glass half full, back to back rest days.
I knew the prospect of Franklin Field closing for Penn Graduation was coming so upon arrivial there this evening I was greeted w/ the news that it,s closed till next Thursday,had I known that yesterday I,d,ve headed to Roxboro this evening to begin my rotation for Tues,Thurs,Sat track workouts,as it is I now have to go Wed,Fri,Sun,no big in the general scheme of things.
Settled for a 5 miler around Clark Park,given my week of mixing things up I went w/ 6x the bigger loop vs 10x the smaller loop,shot for 30 mins,clocked 29.41.37.
I knew the prospect of Franklin Field closing for Penn Graduation was coming so upon arrivial there this evening I was greeted w/ the news that it,s closed till next Thursday,had I known that yesterday I,d,ve headed to Roxboro this evening to begin my rotation for Tues,Thurs,Sat track workouts,as it is I now have to go Wed,Fri,Sun,no big in the general scheme of things.
Settled for a 5 miler around Clark Park,given my week of mixing things up I went w/ 6x the bigger loop vs 10x the smaller loop,shot for 30 mins,clocked 29.41.37.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
It,ll Do For Starters
So my first 1,500m race of the season,the first of three on my schedule in my build up to Spokane.
Ray and I arrived at Widner by 8.30am which would allow me ample time to register and warm up and stretch b4 the 1,500m would start,it was my first time at Widner and I have to say I was impressed w/ the track and the facilities,I,ll be back here again in three weeks time for my next track meet the Mid Atlantic C,ships where I,ll again race the 1,500m.
I was seeded 1st in a field of 6 that included two team mates Neil Clark and Chris Carroll,a freshman, a masters runner and Kareem Lanier.
I,ve raced Kareem several times on the track over the past three years,I,ve never beaten him or his brother Kyle,today would see a shift in the landscape.
From the gun Kareem hit the front w/ me just behind him,w/in 150m I decided to run my race not his or anybody elses and promptly took over in the lead,to win a 1,500m from the front is a ballsey move but I wanted to sure of a fast time even if it meant doing the lions share of the pace and potentially getting out kicked at the finish.
I have no idea of my 300m split and frankly the official calling 400m splits was a good 7 seconds off so I wasn,t paying much attention to the splits he called at 400m or 800m,I don,t think he even called a split at 1,200m.
I felt comfortable out there today I also felt comfortable pushing whatever pace I was pushing,hopefully in three weeks time there,ll be a clock at the finish line and more accurate 400m splits being called out.
Never 100% sure where the field behind me was I waited till 200m out to kick,w/ hindsight I could,ve gone earlier and when I crossed the line in 1st in 4.21.39 I was ruing the fact I hadn,t It never hurts to put a tick in the win column and to do so this early in my second non relay race of the outdoor season is pleasing,to only be a second off of the time I was hoping for is also pleasing especially as I had to do it from the front by myself,I know Kareem is coming back from a long term illness and I have to keep that in prespective however I,m pleased that I didn,t allow myself to be psyched out of my game plan by his presence in the race,in order for me to hang w/ and hopefully out run the big dogs at 800m/1,500m/mile I have to have a No Fear attitude going in to each race no matter who I,m taking on.
Post race I did a 5 mile cool down to round out my weekly milage at 30 miles which means I can enjoy a rare rest day tomorrow b4 tackling my 6x600m repeats on Monday.
Ray and I arrived at Widner by 8.30am which would allow me ample time to register and warm up and stretch b4 the 1,500m would start,it was my first time at Widner and I have to say I was impressed w/ the track and the facilities,I,ll be back here again in three weeks time for my next track meet the Mid Atlantic C,ships where I,ll again race the 1,500m.
I was seeded 1st in a field of 6 that included two team mates Neil Clark and Chris Carroll,a freshman, a masters runner and Kareem Lanier.
I,ve raced Kareem several times on the track over the past three years,I,ve never beaten him or his brother Kyle,today would see a shift in the landscape.
From the gun Kareem hit the front w/ me just behind him,w/in 150m I decided to run my race not his or anybody elses and promptly took over in the lead,to win a 1,500m from the front is a ballsey move but I wanted to sure of a fast time even if it meant doing the lions share of the pace and potentially getting out kicked at the finish.
I have no idea of my 300m split and frankly the official calling 400m splits was a good 7 seconds off so I wasn,t paying much attention to the splits he called at 400m or 800m,I don,t think he even called a split at 1,200m.
I felt comfortable out there today I also felt comfortable pushing whatever pace I was pushing,hopefully in three weeks time there,ll be a clock at the finish line and more accurate 400m splits being called out.
Never 100% sure where the field behind me was I waited till 200m out to kick,w/ hindsight I could,ve gone earlier and when I crossed the line in 1st in 4.21.39 I was ruing the fact I hadn,t It never hurts to put a tick in the win column and to do so this early in my second non relay race of the outdoor season is pleasing,to only be a second off of the time I was hoping for is also pleasing especially as I had to do it from the front by myself,I know Kareem is coming back from a long term illness and I have to keep that in prespective however I,m pleased that I didn,t allow myself to be psyched out of my game plan by his presence in the race,in order for me to hang w/ and hopefully out run the big dogs at 800m/1,500m/mile I have to have a No Fear attitude going in to each race no matter who I,m taking on.
Post race I did a 5 mile cool down to round out my weekly milage at 30 miles which means I can enjoy a rare rest day tomorrow b4 tackling my 6x600m repeats on Monday.
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