Bit of a weird one today,that whole Feb 29th thing to begin w/ coupled w/ the culmination of "the week from hell",if Monday through Thursday had seen me getting tarred and feathered then today was the 16 pound sledge hammers getting broken out as work went in for the kill.
W/out getting too caught up in all the work crap....that,s what it is at the end of the day crap I,m proud of the fact througout all the lows this week I somehow kept a lid on my volatile emotions,no mean feat when you,re as "celtic cursed" as I am,it must be in my paddy dna to get angry but somehow right royal rollockings were strangely absent from the loading dock all week,maybe I was just too tired to get angry,maybe I,m tired of gettting angry,maybe I,m tired of the masses expecting a firework show when things go pear shaped,or maybe I should keep listening to Kate Voegele and Missy Higgins on my ipod.
Which leads me to my running{finally this after all a running blog!!!}GP said he wanted a 5 miler,an easy mile and a half to open, half a mile of striders,2 miles of fartlek and a mile cool down,for this I needed something w/ some omphf on my ipod,Linkin Park seldom let me down,there,s enough angst and anger to get me firing on all cylinders but some hints of subtlety to soothe even the most savage celtic pagan so that I don,t go off half cocked,I shanked one workout this week I could ill afford to blow this one.
I,ve got to say by workouts end I was pretty pleased w/ my afternoons work,where I,d been somewhat conservative in my pick ups last week on the fartlek section today I was managing a good 10 to 12 per loop at 5 second intervals which I think is what GP had in mind when he set this workout,if Wednesday had seen me leave Franklin Field beaten today I left Clark Park beaming,20 miles for the week w/ a 5 miler on tap tomorrow morning b4 attending the PACTC lunch to pick up my Male Runner Of The Year award.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
That,s Why I Have A Coach
Following yesterdays hugely frustrating repeat session I had doubts about even running at all today,my legs which had failed me so badly last nite felt like two lead weights from the time I woke up,it took a couple of hours of walking at work for them to begin to loosen up but coupled w/ below freezing temps I couldn,t see getting out there this afternoon.........................GP had other ideas!!!!!!
The long and the short of it was he felt I needed to suck it up,bundle up, grab my ipod and get myself over to Clark Park and run 4 miles,I had no problem w/ that afterall isn,t that the point of having a coach?
It,s all well and good been patted on the back and being told well done by your coach but once in a while you need to be kicked in the rear effectivly that was what GP,s email was and I had no problem w/ it,I,m sure there were times Jumbo Elliott had to crack the whip w/ Eamonn and to GP,s credit after I said I,d run the 4 miles he emailed me back to say I should be greatful Spurs hadn,t beaten Chelsea 5.0 or I,d be doing 10 miles!!!!
I,m glad I got out there and ran the 4 miles,it was nowhere near as cold as I thought it was and by the time I finished my legs felt better than they had almost 24 hours earlier,I,ve said more than once that left to my own devices I,m my own worst enemy and today would,ve been a prime example of that,is this the corner I needed to turn?
The long and the short of it was he felt I needed to suck it up,bundle up, grab my ipod and get myself over to Clark Park and run 4 miles,I had no problem w/ that afterall isn,t that the point of having a coach?
It,s all well and good been patted on the back and being told well done by your coach but once in a while you need to be kicked in the rear effectivly that was what GP,s email was and I had no problem w/ it,I,m sure there were times Jumbo Elliott had to crack the whip w/ Eamonn and to GP,s credit after I said I,d run the 4 miles he emailed me back to say I should be greatful Spurs hadn,t beaten Chelsea 5.0 or I,d be doing 10 miles!!!!
I,m glad I got out there and ran the 4 miles,it was nowhere near as cold as I thought it was and by the time I finished my legs felt better than they had almost 24 hours earlier,I,ve said more than once that left to my own devices I,m my own worst enemy and today would,ve been a prime example of that,is this the corner I needed to turn?
The Lesser Of Two Evils
The game plan was to hit the track Tuesday to conduct a 3x1,200m repeat session.........however mother nature had other ideas and I was faced w/ a choice of either attempt a track workout in the rain or ride it out for a day and see what Wednesdays weather would bring,granted it,d be colder and windier but it would be drier and since I feel I can ill afford to waste any track workouts I opted to burn my rest day early in the week in the hope it wouldn,t come back to haunt me.....................................
There were tell tale snow flakes falling as I made my way to Franklin Field but it was going to have to snow a darn sight harder than this to put me off,the plan was a couple of 150m to get some snap in my legs b4 3 1,200m repeats 1st lap 1.15,2nd lap 1.30,3rd lap 1.15,3 mins recovery and repeat twice.
Following my stretches and mile warm up I got ready for my 150s GP said anything between 25 seconds and 27 seconds was good,28.76 for my first,I,ll cop to being distracted charging down the straight by the snow flakes as they fell,what can I say it seemed some how poetic but I,m sure reading this GP will think of it as more pathetic than poetic,he may have a point,my second 150 was 24.95,no snow flakes to distract me this time!
It,s been a while since I,ve done 1,200m repeats,back then the formula was 4.05,4.05,3.50 w/ splits of 70,75,and 80 seconds,of course I wasn,t coming off of a 5 week lay off back then.1.19 for the opening lap 4 seconds off,1.31 for lap 2 but a disappointing 1.25 for the third,the writing was on the wall.
Repeat#2,1.24,1.35,1.24 I just didn,t feel my legs had any zing in them,by the time I compleated repeat#3 in 1.27,1.36,1.28 I was besides myself w/ anger,I can,t recall ever walking off of a track following a repeat session feeling this disconsolate,I knew the road back would be tough but this just flat out sucked.
I hope this is the turning point for me,w/ 5 weeks to go till Indoor Nationals I need to be making strides forward not treading water.
There were tell tale snow flakes falling as I made my way to Franklin Field but it was going to have to snow a darn sight harder than this to put me off,the plan was a couple of 150m to get some snap in my legs b4 3 1,200m repeats 1st lap 1.15,2nd lap 1.30,3rd lap 1.15,3 mins recovery and repeat twice.
Following my stretches and mile warm up I got ready for my 150s GP said anything between 25 seconds and 27 seconds was good,28.76 for my first,I,ll cop to being distracted charging down the straight by the snow flakes as they fell,what can I say it seemed some how poetic but I,m sure reading this GP will think of it as more pathetic than poetic,he may have a point,my second 150 was 24.95,no snow flakes to distract me this time!
It,s been a while since I,ve done 1,200m repeats,back then the formula was 4.05,4.05,3.50 w/ splits of 70,75,and 80 seconds,of course I wasn,t coming off of a 5 week lay off back then.1.19 for the opening lap 4 seconds off,1.31 for lap 2 but a disappointing 1.25 for the third,the writing was on the wall.
Repeat#2,1.24,1.35,1.24 I just didn,t feel my legs had any zing in them,by the time I compleated repeat#3 in 1.27,1.36,1.28 I was besides myself w/ anger,I can,t recall ever walking off of a track following a repeat session feeling this disconsolate,I knew the road back would be tough but this just flat out sucked.
I hope this is the turning point for me,w/ 5 weeks to go till Indoor Nationals I need to be making strides forward not treading water.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Infected Mushroom
The prospect of a 7 miler was never an issue,the prospect of having to do it via 14 loops of Clark Park was but then my team mate Ray stepped in w/ a unique cd to help get me through it.
On the ride home from Landover Ray asked if liked techno music,I,m not a big fan but listening to "Vicious Delicious" by Infected Mushroom I must confess what I heard I liked so Ray said borrow it,download it onto your ipod.
What,s interesting about Infected Mushroom is they,re from Isreal,Ray travels to Isreal for work quite a bit and heard the cd,who knew there was such a thing as Isrealie techno?,of course I kidded Ray about having visions of him getting his groove on in nite clubs in Isreal on his trips there but frankly when you can blister the 200m and 400m like Ray can we should all be getting jiggy to "Vicious Delicious"!!!
W/ said cd downloaded to my ipod I made my way to Clark Park,it was a nice change of pace not to be bundled upto the nines for a run and dispite the mind numbing prospect of 14 loops of Clark Park I set the tone early on,track one of the cd is"Becoming Insane"...I kid you not but it helped get me on my way.
By lap 9 and again on lap 12 the "mushroom" effect was begining to wane a little more so from a mental aspect not the physical side,I needed something to lift me,just getting through this workout would be enough,the prospect of seeing Kate Voegele at World Cafe Live tomorrow helped and then the memory of Spurs skipper Ledley King leading the Lillywhites up the steps at Wembley to hoist the Carling Cup aloft.....to quote Flavor Flav of Public Enemy...."yeah boy!!!"and suddenly lap 14 had been compleated.
Last week I put in 19 miles,22.5 the week b4 and w/ no meets this week I,m curious to see what kind of milage I,ll log but after this weekends races I realize what I need is to increase my speed,tomorrow,s a 3x1,200m repeat at Franklin Field let,s hope it,s another piece of the puzzle.
On the ride home from Landover Ray asked if liked techno music,I,m not a big fan but listening to "Vicious Delicious" by Infected Mushroom I must confess what I heard I liked so Ray said borrow it,download it onto your ipod.
What,s interesting about Infected Mushroom is they,re from Isreal,Ray travels to Isreal for work quite a bit and heard the cd,who knew there was such a thing as Isrealie techno?,of course I kidded Ray about having visions of him getting his groove on in nite clubs in Isreal on his trips there but frankly when you can blister the 200m and 400m like Ray can we should all be getting jiggy to "Vicious Delicious"!!!
W/ said cd downloaded to my ipod I made my way to Clark Park,it was a nice change of pace not to be bundled upto the nines for a run and dispite the mind numbing prospect of 14 loops of Clark Park I set the tone early on,track one of the cd is"Becoming Insane"...I kid you not but it helped get me on my way.
By lap 9 and again on lap 12 the "mushroom" effect was begining to wane a little more so from a mental aspect not the physical side,I needed something to lift me,just getting through this workout would be enough,the prospect of seeing Kate Voegele at World Cafe Live tomorrow helped and then the memory of Spurs skipper Ledley King leading the Lillywhites up the steps at Wembley to hoist the Carling Cup aloft.....to quote Flavor Flav of Public Enemy...."yeah boy!!!"and suddenly lap 14 had been compleated.
Last week I put in 19 miles,22.5 the week b4 and w/ no meets this week I,m curious to see what kind of milage I,ll log but after this weekends races I realize what I need is to increase my speed,tomorrow,s a 3x1,200m repeat at Franklin Field let,s hope it,s another piece of the puzzle.
Gold,Silver And Bronze Under The Terrordome
Hard on the heals of Saturdays mile at Eastern Regionals in Landover Maryland it was up Route 70 today through the Pine Barrens and over to Toms River New Jersey for the New Jersey C,ships and the 800m.
When I rewrote my indoor schedule to accomodate my stress fracture the idea was to pick back to back meets to replicate the Indoor Nationals schedule,Mile on Saturday,800m on Sunday and although my schedule has since altered to run the 3,000m on the Friday and the 800m on Sunday GP saw no need to deviate from the back to back race weekend to help get me ready,even if it meant me having to do the unthinkable......miss a cup final w/ my beloved Spurs!!!!!!!!.
As much as a bleed blue for my beloved N.17 warriors I,ve missed too many races through my injury to be able to blow off this one,I,d known since we clobbered "the enemy" in the semi final on Jan 22nd that the Carling Cup Final and the NJ C,ships both fell on Sun Feb 24th and there was little I could do about it......the delicious ironic twist{and we all know how deliciously ironically twisted I am!!!!!}was we were playing Chelsea....GP,s team,on the same nite as the Oscars could Hollywood have written a better script???
By the time Chuck and I arrived at Toms River it was 12pm,5pm back home in London,the game should,ve been over,when GP and I met he asked if I wanted to know the score....I did and I didn,t,if we,d won it,d be a boost to my morale,if we,d lost I,d have to haul myself up by my shoe laces for the race....ah what the hell!!!
GP told me last time he checked it was 1.1 and w/ the aid of his Blackberry he could look up the latest score.........you,ll have to imagine the tension setting music......2.1 to Spurs......but the game was still in extra time.By the time GP checked again it was official,we,d won 2.1,our first trophy in 9 years.....and I,d missed it.
Credit to GP he was a good sport about it....although I can,t help but feel had Chelsea had won 2.1 my workout for tomorrow would,ve been a nice easy 3 miler on account of my back to back races,suddenly we win and it,s "7 miles tomorrow"I type this w/ a smile on my face cos GP knows I,m only teasing,his actual quote was "shoot for 4 or 5 miles but if you,re feeling ok 7 would be good".
As for my actual race I,d rather not get into all the bruhaha about which heat I,d be allowed to run in,let,s just say I,ve yet to run a NJ C,ship meet where there wasn,t drama,I got into heat two but it was touch and go if I,d get in,the field was practically lining up on the starting line as I was allowed to join them,here goes nothing!!!
The game plan was to just go after it from the gun,if yesterday had been about easing my way back in in the paddling pool today was a full blown cannonball into the deep end,splash,drown or swim to shore!!!
I came through 200m in 30 seconds,great if I weren,t weeks behind where I,d like to be but I needed this test to see where I was,400m in 62 seconds,I knew lap 3 would be the killer and it was I,m not even sure what I came through 600m in but I knew I was feeling it,in an indoor 800m that 3rd lap is key,today I failed but two weeks from now when I run the 800m again at the Mid Atlantic C,ships I hope to much stronger and faster and then again three weeks from then in Boston at Indoor Nationals I aim to be even stronger and even faster again.
6th out of 10 runners in 2.13 is not going to scare anybody right now,I,ve got 5 weeks to drop 10 seconds if I,ve any hope of adding to last years Indoor 800m bronze but if I didn,t think I could pull it off I wouldn,t be going.
Dispite my woeful 2.13 I earnt a gold medal since I was an out of state runner,2.13 and gold feels kind of cheesey but considering I had to drop $42 to race today I had no problem picking it up on my way out,gold for me,a hard fought bronze for GP in his 3,000m and a nice shiney silver Carling Cup trophy for my beloved Spurs,it,s all good!
When I rewrote my indoor schedule to accomodate my stress fracture the idea was to pick back to back meets to replicate the Indoor Nationals schedule,Mile on Saturday,800m on Sunday and although my schedule has since altered to run the 3,000m on the Friday and the 800m on Sunday GP saw no need to deviate from the back to back race weekend to help get me ready,even if it meant me having to do the unthinkable......miss a cup final w/ my beloved Spurs!!!!!!!!.
As much as a bleed blue for my beloved N.17 warriors I,ve missed too many races through my injury to be able to blow off this one,I,d known since we clobbered "the enemy" in the semi final on Jan 22nd that the Carling Cup Final and the NJ C,ships both fell on Sun Feb 24th and there was little I could do about it......the delicious ironic twist{and we all know how deliciously ironically twisted I am!!!!!}was we were playing Chelsea....GP,s team,on the same nite as the Oscars could Hollywood have written a better script???
By the time Chuck and I arrived at Toms River it was 12pm,5pm back home in London,the game should,ve been over,when GP and I met he asked if I wanted to know the score....I did and I didn,t,if we,d won it,d be a boost to my morale,if we,d lost I,d have to haul myself up by my shoe laces for the race....ah what the hell!!!
GP told me last time he checked it was 1.1 and w/ the aid of his Blackberry he could look up the latest score.........you,ll have to imagine the tension setting music......2.1 to Spurs......but the game was still in extra time.By the time GP checked again it was official,we,d won 2.1,our first trophy in 9 years.....and I,d missed it.
Credit to GP he was a good sport about it....although I can,t help but feel had Chelsea had won 2.1 my workout for tomorrow would,ve been a nice easy 3 miler on account of my back to back races,suddenly we win and it,s "7 miles tomorrow"I type this w/ a smile on my face cos GP knows I,m only teasing,his actual quote was "shoot for 4 or 5 miles but if you,re feeling ok 7 would be good".
As for my actual race I,d rather not get into all the bruhaha about which heat I,d be allowed to run in,let,s just say I,ve yet to run a NJ C,ship meet where there wasn,t drama,I got into heat two but it was touch and go if I,d get in,the field was practically lining up on the starting line as I was allowed to join them,here goes nothing!!!
The game plan was to just go after it from the gun,if yesterday had been about easing my way back in in the paddling pool today was a full blown cannonball into the deep end,splash,drown or swim to shore!!!
I came through 200m in 30 seconds,great if I weren,t weeks behind where I,d like to be but I needed this test to see where I was,400m in 62 seconds,I knew lap 3 would be the killer and it was I,m not even sure what I came through 600m in but I knew I was feeling it,in an indoor 800m that 3rd lap is key,today I failed but two weeks from now when I run the 800m again at the Mid Atlantic C,ships I hope to much stronger and faster and then again three weeks from then in Boston at Indoor Nationals I aim to be even stronger and even faster again.
6th out of 10 runners in 2.13 is not going to scare anybody right now,I,ve got 5 weeks to drop 10 seconds if I,ve any hope of adding to last years Indoor 800m bronze but if I didn,t think I could pull it off I wouldn,t be going.
Dispite my woeful 2.13 I earnt a gold medal since I was an out of state runner,2.13 and gold feels kind of cheesey but considering I had to drop $42 to race today I had no problem picking it up on my way out,gold for me,a hard fought bronze for GP in his 3,000m and a nice shiney silver Carling Cup trophy for my beloved Spurs,it,s all good!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Back To The Scene Of The Crime
It,s 10 weeks since my stress fracture and being the poster child of irony it should come as no great surprize I chose to return to the same venue and race the same distance as I did on Sun Dec 16th, Prince George Indoor {PGI} and the mile.It,s been a while since I,ve felt such a sence of nervous trepidation going into a race as I did today,I know every runner says "I don,t know what to expect going into my first race of the season"and while technically this wasn,t my first race of the season it was my first race* since my stress fracture{*technically Millrose Games was my first race post stress fracture so maybe I need to refer to today as my first race at my natural distance since the stress fracture}whatever I was still anxious about the outcome.
I hadn,t given much thought to time,splits or even how I was going to approach the race I just knew I had to get out there and run and hope things would take care of themselves.
I didn,t pay much attention to how many of us lined up at the starting line,I do believe they combined the 40-44 and 45-49 age group into one heat,there were only 2 of us in the 40-44 age group,somehow I got the pole which I didn,t particularly want since I,m not confident enough to go gun to tape just yet,the one stratagy I did have was to go out easy for the opening few laps to feel my way back into racing,going down the back straight on the opening lap I was 3rd b4 being passed by a runner whom I have a history w/,at the risk of dredging up old issues lets just say the adage "I have Irish alzheimers,I forget everything except the grudge" is seldom far from my grasp.....no matter what this guy was NOT going to beat me.....w/in a lap I overtook him for 3rd place.
By now the lead two had gotten away from me and I was in no mans land,I knew I needed to give chase but my killer instinct isn,t there just yet,off of splits of 39.35,36.18,36.75 and 37.74 I went through 800m in 2.30.02,while I felt comfortable it,s not like I,m pushing the envelope either and I know that god willing that will come in time as long as I keep putting in the work in training.
Unlike 10 weeks ago when the final 2 laps were agony today I was at least able to finish comfortably,splits of 36.92,38.37,38.62,35.85 brought me home in 3rd place,second in my age group in 4.59.78,at least todays 3rd place finish saw me break 5 minutes....not to mention walk off the track not hobbling.
It wasn,t earth shattering but it was never going to be or meant to be I had to start somewhere and where better than where it all began to unravel,w/ this one under my belt and out of the way I can turn my attention towards tomorrows 800m at the New Jersey and see where that goes.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Love Is The Seventh Wave
What a difference a day makes,kill mode at work had been replaced by kind mode and I was able to get my workout in b4 sundown since there are no jobsworths on duty at Clark Park telling you when you can or cannot run.
GP had emailed me w/ his thoughts,feelings and observations on last nites repeat session,the thought I came away w/ most of all was his surfing analogy,how a repeat not quite going to plan is like getting knocked off your surf board,you get back up and try again,if that wave knocks you off you get back up and you keep on getting back up till you eventually surf your way into calmier waters,it,s a simple analogy but an effective one.
As for todays workout it was a fartlek run 4 miles, easy opening mile and a half, a mile and a half of short bursts of speed followed by a easy mile.Dispite snow flakes begining to settle on the ground just b4 5pm I got myself over to Clark Park to get the workout in,w/ a rest day tomorrow and an easy day Friday this was my last chance to push it a little b4 my weekend of back to back meets.
The mile and a half of short bursts of speed was fun,I,d earmarked 5 points on the loop where I,d pick up the pace for 10 seconds and work on my knee lift and leg turnover,it felt good to do that again and soon I hope that knee lift and leg turnover will return full blast to my workouts,all in good time.
As much as I,d like to run tomorrow I feel I,ll benefit from a days rest,who knows maybe even a early nite since I,ve been up till 11pm/11.30pm the past two nites posting my blog,the seventh wave is about to take me to bed,sweet dreams
GP had emailed me w/ his thoughts,feelings and observations on last nites repeat session,the thought I came away w/ most of all was his surfing analogy,how a repeat not quite going to plan is like getting knocked off your surf board,you get back up and try again,if that wave knocks you off you get back up and you keep on getting back up till you eventually surf your way into calmier waters,it,s a simple analogy but an effective one.
As for todays workout it was a fartlek run 4 miles, easy opening mile and a half, a mile and a half of short bursts of speed followed by a easy mile.Dispite snow flakes begining to settle on the ground just b4 5pm I got myself over to Clark Park to get the workout in,w/ a rest day tomorrow and an easy day Friday this was my last chance to push it a little b4 my weekend of back to back meets.
The mile and a half of short bursts of speed was fun,I,d earmarked 5 points on the loop where I,d pick up the pace for 10 seconds and work on my knee lift and leg turnover,it felt good to do that again and soon I hope that knee lift and leg turnover will return full blast to my workouts,all in good time.
As much as I,d like to run tomorrow I feel I,ll benefit from a days rest,who knows maybe even a early nite since I,ve been up till 11pm/11.30pm the past two nites posting my blog,the seventh wave is about to take me to bed,sweet dreams
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