As feared mother nature stuck her oar in today and put the kybosh on a run of any discription and threatens to do so manana.....................
So why the sunny disposition?let me count the ways shall I,1 Spurs beat Burnley 4.1 in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi finals and we,re 90 mins away from a March 1st Wembley final,2 my blog entry for PGI was reprinted in Ken Stone,s Masters Track Blog,the second time in two years my blog has featured{Hartshorne 07 being the first}on the daily Masters Track Blog.
3,I,ve gotten two comments on my recent blog entries,unlike someone like my soon to be former housemate Seebo who seems to draw comments like some draw breath on his blog I tend not to get much in the way of feedback so it,s always nice to see somebody has read my blog,mad props to a former running buddy/Evil Killer Bunny team mate Ian aka Lindsey Lohan who now lives in Brooklyn,he read my top ten and passed on congrats for my year,then a comment form Runsweeney who congratuated me on my 4.09.27. 1,500m at The Armory,nice to know my efforts were appreciated all the way down under in Australia,fair dinkum mate!
4,After a week w/out a visit from the love of my life{sob sniff :( }The Queen Of The Slipstream stopped by today to see me,another day when no matter how busy I am work grinds to a halt as we catch up w/ one anothers trials and tribulations of the past week or two in this case.
I swear the more we talk the more I,m convinced we were seperated at birth,we,re that much alike.
If I can,t run tomorrow because of more rain at least I,ll be rested going into The Armory Thursday nite for the mile/800m double.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
After The Lord Mayors Show
Just like Eminem said in one of my battle anthems "8 Mile""snap back to reality"
Like all great races yesterday you should savour the moment but then move on so today it was the reality of a 5 miler around Clark Park post work in the dark at 5pm,these are the runs I,ve laid the foundations of my season upon,after a few weeks of work and weather knawlsing up my schedule I feel a new committment to my training now,I never lost sight of Worlds but post 5th Avenue Mile and my first 6 xc races when it should be pointed out reality came crashing down around my ears I now wake up every day thinking "World,s in July/August"
I can,t help but feel writing my reviews of the 08 season and my preview of the 09 season has heightened my awareness of what,s on the horizon and while there,s alot of miles between now and then and I need to focus on the next race first b4 looking at the bigger picture,that said one eye on the present,one eye on the future never hurt either.
I,d like to repeat my 4x400m repeats tomorrow,mother nature might have a say in that so we,ll have to see what developes
Like all great races yesterday you should savour the moment but then move on so today it was the reality of a 5 miler around Clark Park post work in the dark at 5pm,these are the runs I,ve laid the foundations of my season upon,after a few weeks of work and weather knawlsing up my schedule I feel a new committment to my training now,I never lost sight of Worlds but post 5th Avenue Mile and my first 6 xc races when it should be pointed out reality came crashing down around my ears I now wake up every day thinking "World,s in July/August"
I can,t help but feel writing my reviews of the 08 season and my preview of the 09 season has heightened my awareness of what,s on the horizon and while there,s alot of miles between now and then and I need to focus on the next race first b4 looking at the bigger picture,that said one eye on the present,one eye on the future never hurt either.
I,d like to repeat my 4x400m repeats tomorrow,mother nature might have a say in that so we,ll have to see what developes
Pale,Paddy And Proud,Ole Blue Eyes Is Back
For me there,s something magical about running in New York City,w/ the exception of two 3 hour plus New York City Marathons,I,ve always turned in great performances in "The Big Apple"but never more so than on the track at MSG,5th Avenue Mile{yes I know it,s a road race but it,s a road race for track guys!}and my favourite venue in the world The Armory.
I always talk about the great Irish/New York connection and tapping into "the spirit of Eamon Coghlan"whenever I run in NYC but indoors over the mile/1,500m....c,mon!!
A downside of my stress fracture last December/ January was not being able to run at The Armory,in my humble opinion the mecca of indoor track on the east coast and maybe all of America,I came into this meet looking to run somewhere between 4.15-4.20 for 1,500m based on my 4.23 1,500m split the week b4 running 1,600m and seeded myself at 4.20 which got me into the fast heat.
14 of us w/ yours truly the elder statesman in a field of high schooler,I,m sure to the casual observer it wasn,t "youth getting served" more the old guy getting his arse served to him.........
Unlike the debarcle of last week I made sure to put myself on the outside of the starting line to avoid a repeat of a week ago and since runners 11-14 were moved upto the second line on the turn I got a clear run around the opening turn and positioned myself on the outside of lane 1 in third place.
I heard 61 seconds at 400m,a seven second improvement on last week and soon after I took the lead,not what I planned and tactically a bad move,that said today wasn,t about executing tactics it was about getting as fast a race as I could,there,ll be faster races this season and also more tactically astute races too.
I forget where I got overtaken all credit to him he hit the front w/ conviction and I couldn,t match his speed at this early stage of my season,if we were to run this race again in late Feb/early Mar I know I could answer that challenge,ditto for the second runner to overtake me,what I lacked in speed and sharpness I didn,t lack in inner drive, when a third runner overtook me I automatically responded not once but twice,first race of the year or not when third place was being wrestled away from me I dug deep to hold onto "bronze".
3.34 at the bell I felt strong enough to dig deep for one last 200m lap,rounding the final turn I looked up at the digital clock at the end of the track,4.04,50m to go dare I dream a sub 4.10 in my first race of the year?...."to dare is to win" according to the Spurs motto on the club crest....
4.09.27.......................holy mary mother of god!!!!when I won the 1,500m at Nationals in Spokane I ran 4.10.78 which was close to my peak in early August,my 1,500m split at 5th Avenue Mile was 3.56 so to run 4.09.27.on Jan 4th off of next to no speed work is amazing.
It,s a long season I can,t get carried away w/ this but yes it,s an unbelievable start to the year,I,ll enjoy it for now but come Monday it,s back to training for the next race which will be here at The Armory Thursday,based on a 4.09.27.1,500m a 4.24/4.25 mile is there for the taking.
I always talk about the great Irish/New York connection and tapping into "the spirit of Eamon Coghlan"whenever I run in NYC but indoors over the mile/1,500m....c,mon!!
A downside of my stress fracture last December/ January was not being able to run at The Armory,in my humble opinion the mecca of indoor track on the east coast and maybe all of America,I came into this meet looking to run somewhere between 4.15-4.20 for 1,500m based on my 4.23 1,500m split the week b4 running 1,600m and seeded myself at 4.20 which got me into the fast heat.
14 of us w/ yours truly the elder statesman in a field of high schooler,I,m sure to the casual observer it wasn,t "youth getting served" more the old guy getting his arse served to him.........
Unlike the debarcle of last week I made sure to put myself on the outside of the starting line to avoid a repeat of a week ago and since runners 11-14 were moved upto the second line on the turn I got a clear run around the opening turn and positioned myself on the outside of lane 1 in third place.
I heard 61 seconds at 400m,a seven second improvement on last week and soon after I took the lead,not what I planned and tactically a bad move,that said today wasn,t about executing tactics it was about getting as fast a race as I could,there,ll be faster races this season and also more tactically astute races too.
I forget where I got overtaken all credit to him he hit the front w/ conviction and I couldn,t match his speed at this early stage of my season,if we were to run this race again in late Feb/early Mar I know I could answer that challenge,ditto for the second runner to overtake me,what I lacked in speed and sharpness I didn,t lack in inner drive, when a third runner overtook me I automatically responded not once but twice,first race of the year or not when third place was being wrestled away from me I dug deep to hold onto "bronze".
3.34 at the bell I felt strong enough to dig deep for one last 200m lap,rounding the final turn I looked up at the digital clock at the end of the track,4.04,50m to go dare I dream a sub 4.10 in my first race of the year?...."to dare is to win" according to the Spurs motto on the club crest....
4.09.27.......................holy mary mother of god!!!!when I won the 1,500m at Nationals in Spokane I ran 4.10.78 which was close to my peak in early August,my 1,500m split at 5th Avenue Mile was 3.56 so to run 4.09.27.on Jan 4th off of next to no speed work is amazing.
It,s a long season I can,t get carried away w/ this but yes it,s an unbelievable start to the year,I,ll enjoy it for now but come Monday it,s back to training for the next race which will be here at The Armory Thursday,based on a 4.09.27.1,500m a 4.24/4.25 mile is there for the taking.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Pale,Paddy And Proud In New York City Abridged Version
3rd overall,1st masters.....but more importantly 4.09.27.
Full account to come tomorrow but to put it in prespective at last years World Indoor Masters 4.09.27. would,ve earnt me a silver behind the world record holder in 45-49 who won in 4.02.24.
Full account to come tomorrow but to put it in prespective at last years World Indoor Masters 4.09.27. would,ve earnt me a silver behind the world record holder in 45-49 who won in 4.02.24.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Keep On Keeping On
An unexpected surprize in the old email bag this morning,a second successive Mid Atlantic High Performance Masters Track Athlete Of The Year award...the email not the actual award it,s self!!!
I say it,s a surprize in 07 I learnt of my award in early December,when Dec 08 came and went w/out word of it I thought someone else had won,turns out my efforts and endevours for 08 were recognized and now duly rewarded.
I,m greatful for any and all nominations and subsequent awards my running bring,to be regognized by ones peers is always rewarding,I,m greatful that "divisional politics" didn,t effect my nomination or subsequent victory,I,m only sorry I won,t be on hand to collect my award as it clashes w/ Hartshorne Memorial Mile,hey ho I won,t be the first awardee not to be present to claim his or her award.
An early afternoon 5 miler around Clark Park to clean out any leftover lactated acid from my legs that yesterdays 4x400m repeats that might,ve remained.
Dib gave me his honest opinion on yesterdays efforts,short term far from what was required,long term a step in the right direction if that sub 4 minute mile at 45 is about to become reality.
W/ workout and shower taken care of all that,s required is the time honoured tradition of getting my bag ready,having a big arsed pasta pre race meal,copping some FA Cup footie{big up to the N.17 boys last nite,much shite was talked b4 kick off and yet come the final whistle we not Wigan go into the 4th round draw.....YIDS!}and continuing to work on my running log,ah yes long b4 the days of the blog was my trusty running log which I still unhold.
The Armory and New York City beckon manana.....it,s good to be alive!
I say it,s a surprize in 07 I learnt of my award in early December,when Dec 08 came and went w/out word of it I thought someone else had won,turns out my efforts and endevours for 08 were recognized and now duly rewarded.
I,m greatful for any and all nominations and subsequent awards my running bring,to be regognized by ones peers is always rewarding,I,m greatful that "divisional politics" didn,t effect my nomination or subsequent victory,I,m only sorry I won,t be on hand to collect my award as it clashes w/ Hartshorne Memorial Mile,hey ho I won,t be the first awardee not to be present to claim his or her award.
An early afternoon 5 miler around Clark Park to clean out any leftover lactated acid from my legs that yesterdays 4x400m repeats that might,ve remained.
Dib gave me his honest opinion on yesterdays efforts,short term far from what was required,long term a step in the right direction if that sub 4 minute mile at 45 is about to become reality.
W/ workout and shower taken care of all that,s required is the time honoured tradition of getting my bag ready,having a big arsed pasta pre race meal,copping some FA Cup footie{big up to the N.17 boys last nite,much shite was talked b4 kick off and yet come the final whistle we not Wigan go into the 4th round draw.....YIDS!}and continuing to work on my running log,ah yes long b4 the days of the blog was my trusty running log which I still unhold.
The Armory and New York City beckon manana.....it,s good to be alive!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Cannonball
It,s conventional wisdom when testing the waters to, A stick your big toe in and see how the water feels,B inch your way in slowly but surely of C take a running jump and cannonball it,three guesses which option I went w/ for my long overdue return to repeats???
Upon arrival at St Joe,s my first reaction was "good I can get on the track" which isn,t always the case here,after a mile warm up w/ much emphasis on warm I stretched b4 conduting a mile of strides and preparing for my 4x400m repeats.
The plan was open w/ a 70 second first 400m,take a 90 second recovery,run a 69 second second 400m w/ a 75 second recovery,a 68 second third 400m w/ only 60 seconds to recovery for the final 400m in 67 seconds.
Never one to judge pace nor pay attention to intermediate splits I made a point of checking my opening 100m split,I was aiming for 17/17.5 secs,I got 15 secs,31 seconds at 200m I tried to ease up on the home straight only to clock 64.02....so much for 70 seconds!!!
It was more of the same on repeat #2 and dispite telling myself to ease up I clocked a 61.17,it was going to take some doing to get the final two repeats to continue to come down period especially w/ deminishing recovery time.
At 200m on repeat #3 I felt the acid lactate in my calves, I still managed to finish strongly albeit in 62.85,w/ only 60 seconds to recover there was precious little in the way of time to think about anything.
At 200m in on repeat#4 that acid lactate build up in my calves became more pronounced,where I,d been able to cruise the botttom bend on the three previous repeats this time it was a struggle as was evident in my final 100m,where I,d flowed on repeats #1,2 and 3 this time it was a laboured effort,67.32.
While I,m a little disappointed in my final repeat overall I,m delighted to be back on a track and doing speed work,alas next weeks overall schedule isn,t favourable but from the following week I do feel weather permitting I can hit the track two or three times a week depending on my race schedule.
In general I,m pleased to be back in the mindset of repeats,I,ll stick w/ the 4x400m thro Jan b4 upping to the more conventional 6x600m come Febuary.
While my timing on the track needs some work,my timing getting off the track b4 the snow shower was priceless,the first tell tale flakes began to fall as I lumbered up the home straight one final time!!!
Upon arrival at St Joe,s my first reaction was "good I can get on the track" which isn,t always the case here,after a mile warm up w/ much emphasis on warm I stretched b4 conduting a mile of strides and preparing for my 4x400m repeats.
The plan was open w/ a 70 second first 400m,take a 90 second recovery,run a 69 second second 400m w/ a 75 second recovery,a 68 second third 400m w/ only 60 seconds to recovery for the final 400m in 67 seconds.
Never one to judge pace nor pay attention to intermediate splits I made a point of checking my opening 100m split,I was aiming for 17/17.5 secs,I got 15 secs,31 seconds at 200m I tried to ease up on the home straight only to clock 64.02....so much for 70 seconds!!!
It was more of the same on repeat #2 and dispite telling myself to ease up I clocked a 61.17,it was going to take some doing to get the final two repeats to continue to come down period especially w/ deminishing recovery time.
At 200m on repeat #3 I felt the acid lactate in my calves, I still managed to finish strongly albeit in 62.85,w/ only 60 seconds to recover there was precious little in the way of time to think about anything.
At 200m in on repeat#4 that acid lactate build up in my calves became more pronounced,where I,d been able to cruise the botttom bend on the three previous repeats this time it was a struggle as was evident in my final 100m,where I,d flowed on repeats #1,2 and 3 this time it was a laboured effort,67.32.
While I,m a little disappointed in my final repeat overall I,m delighted to be back on a track and doing speed work,alas next weeks overall schedule isn,t favourable but from the following week I do feel weather permitting I can hit the track two or three times a week depending on my race schedule.
In general I,m pleased to be back in the mindset of repeats,I,ll stick w/ the 4x400m thro Jan b4 upping to the more conventional 6x600m come Febuary.
While my timing on the track needs some work,my timing getting off the track b4 the snow shower was priceless,the first tell tale flakes began to fall as I lumbered up the home straight one final time!!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year,New Goals,Same Ole Top Cat
True to my word I took today off from training,if only thanks to a barometer that read 31 degrees,had the mercury risen higher I,d have been out at either St Joes or Clark Park,that said it was 2am b4 I hit the zzzs{not bad for just me and Hobbes....the other cat down here in the basement!!!}and 11.30am b4 surfacing today so prehaps the tone was set for an all too rare fuck off day,I think Thanksgiving was my last one b4 today and lord only knows when the next one is coming from!!!
Having reflected on the year that was in my previous two blog entries allow me to look ahead to the coming year,Jan knuckling down to hard serious training and rebuilding upon the solid foundations I laid in 08,successful ventures to The Armory,Hartshorne and Millrose.
Feb,more hard work on the track in training as I only have one scheduled meet at the Armory, however there,s XC Winter Nationals in Md to look forward to.March Masters Invitational in Boston,MAC C,ships in NYC and Masters Nationals in Md as Top Cat logs some serious travel miles!!!
April,outdoor track beckons,I antisipate a wicked Penn Relays for GPTC w/ the current crop of 400m guys we have on the roster,May kicking training up a notch for the summer,June warm up races at 800m and 1,500m,July Masters Nationals at 1,500m and the 4x800m b4 jetting off to Lathi Finland to take on the world.
August,hill repeats on Belmont Plateau in prep for the up coming XC season,Sept 5th Avenue Mile,October XC season,November,more XC but one eye on the up coming indoor season which kicks off in December.
It,s a lot to take on but it,s what I do,each year I set the bar a little higher for myself by my own acomplishments the previous season...it,s fortunate heights don,t scare me!
Having reflected on the year that was in my previous two blog entries allow me to look ahead to the coming year,Jan knuckling down to hard serious training and rebuilding upon the solid foundations I laid in 08,successful ventures to The Armory,Hartshorne and Millrose.
Feb,more hard work on the track in training as I only have one scheduled meet at the Armory, however there,s XC Winter Nationals in Md to look forward to.March Masters Invitational in Boston,MAC C,ships in NYC and Masters Nationals in Md as Top Cat logs some serious travel miles!!!
April,outdoor track beckons,I antisipate a wicked Penn Relays for GPTC w/ the current crop of 400m guys we have on the roster,May kicking training up a notch for the summer,June warm up races at 800m and 1,500m,July Masters Nationals at 1,500m and the 4x800m b4 jetting off to Lathi Finland to take on the world.
August,hill repeats on Belmont Plateau in prep for the up coming XC season,Sept 5th Avenue Mile,October XC season,November,more XC but one eye on the up coming indoor season which kicks off in December.
It,s a lot to take on but it,s what I do,each year I set the bar a little higher for myself by my own acomplishments the previous season...it,s fortunate heights don,t scare me!
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