Given that the next 4 days are looking way too cold to be out running period,muchless track workouts I made sure to take full advantage of the 43 degree temps this afternoon to knock out a 5 miler around Clark Park.
Given the debarcle of yesterday,and the fact I may not run again till Sunday if I,m lucky it would,ve been all too easy to blow today and the week off and say rest up................bullshit! I,m reasonable confident reigning world indoor and outdoor 1,500m 45-49 champ Jose Burrego dosen,t adopt such an attitude and while the eastern seaboard of the mid atlantic can,t compete w/ sunny Spain I need to be ready to train each and every day,at the drop of a hat if need be.
Tonite allowed me to visulize the upcoming Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile,as of today I don,t know who,ll be there so I need to work on several different potential sinereos of how that race might pan out and how I,ll deal w/ that,but as they say that,s for another day,for now I,m on weather watch.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
FFF
The final 2 F,s stand for Franklin Field,since said facility is still off limits till Wednesday and then only open till 6pm thro March 13th you don,t need to be an Ivy League student to work out the first F,for those slow on the uptake it rhymes w/ sucking!!!
I feel it may be time to switch my track workouts to St Joe,s,I love Franklin Field but the agro trying to workout there isn,t worth it anymore,by the time I returned from there last nite it was 6pm,too late and too damn cold to be going out for a 5 miler.....hindsight being what it is,had I,ve know FF was a no go I,d have hit Clark Park upon my arrival home from work......my first work day since Nov 7th w/ Chris along side,it,s AWESOME to have him back.
Losing 5 miles today is a pisser to put it mildly,the weather forcast from Wednesday onwards is NOT looking hopeful,as "Dibble" and I discussed Friday based on the fact I,m running late season times this early on we won,t fly in the face of it or temp fate w/ the conditions.
I feel it may be time to switch my track workouts to St Joe,s,I love Franklin Field but the agro trying to workout there isn,t worth it anymore,by the time I returned from there last nite it was 6pm,too late and too damn cold to be going out for a 5 miler.....hindsight being what it is,had I,ve know FF was a no go I,d have hit Clark Park upon my arrival home from work......my first work day since Nov 7th w/ Chris along side,it,s AWESOME to have him back.
Losing 5 miles today is a pisser to put it mildly,the weather forcast from Wednesday onwards is NOT looking hopeful,as "Dibble" and I discussed Friday based on the fact I,m running late season times this early on we won,t fly in the face of it or temp fate w/ the conditions.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Half And Half
Technically I,m in limbo,half my stuff is still here on Hazel Ave,the other half over at the new house on Cedar Ave,I hate moving it,s that "up in the air"feeling,not being 100% sure where all my things are,had things gone better today I,d be 100% moved into Cedar Ave but I,m not and probably won,t be till next weekend,such is life.
One upside Clark Park is still my stomping ground so it was off out this afternoon to get a run in,laughingly I went "long" at 6.5 miles,I had 13.5 miles for the week so I figured the extra mile and a half today would give me an even 20 miles for the week.
Originally I was going to tack on three small loops after the 6 big loops of Clark Park that I conduct for a routine 5 miler,but at the end of the fifth big loop I opted for 5 times on the smaller loop,however I sliced or diced it it was going to come out at 6.5 miles on the day,20 miles for the week.
"The Big Fella"aka Chris returns to work tomorrow,while I,m obviously happy to have him back w/ a clean bill of health it does mean I can weather permitting return to hitting the track twice,three times a week depending on my race schedule
Based on recent pr,s at 1,500m and the mile my lack of speed work hasn,t hindered me too much but I want to get faster and the only way to do that is get on the track......I feel the need for speed!!!
One upside Clark Park is still my stomping ground so it was off out this afternoon to get a run in,laughingly I went "long" at 6.5 miles,I had 13.5 miles for the week so I figured the extra mile and a half today would give me an even 20 miles for the week.
Originally I was going to tack on three small loops after the 6 big loops of Clark Park that I conduct for a routine 5 miler,but at the end of the fifth big loop I opted for 5 times on the smaller loop,however I sliced or diced it it was going to come out at 6.5 miles on the day,20 miles for the week.
"The Big Fella"aka Chris returns to work tomorrow,while I,m obviously happy to have him back w/ a clean bill of health it does mean I can weather permitting return to hitting the track twice,three times a week depending on my race schedule
Based on recent pr,s at 1,500m and the mile my lack of speed work hasn,t hindered me too much but I want to get faster and the only way to do that is get on the track......I feel the need for speed!!!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Last Waltz
It remains to be seen if Fridays 5 miler around Clark Park was my final hurrah on my favourite 5 mile course.
This weekend I move,not far one block over and ten blocks up to the 57 hundred block of Cedar Ave,if Cedar Ave sounds familiar I lived on 46th and Cedar when I first moved up this way some 28 months ago,anyways it might be a hike to walk 10 blocks now to conduct ye old recovery run so I may utalize the nearer Cobbs Creek,this can all be worked out tomorrow or the next day.
If this was my final jaunt around Clark Park then let me say I,ve enjoyed my runs around there for the past two years,the onset of shin splints forced me to switch to grass and two years later my shins feel fine,I look to continue to stay off the side walks and protect my shines and if it can,t be Clark Park anymore,Cobbs Creek it is.
W/ the move on Saturday I doubt I,ll get out to run,Sunday is a stretch also but I ,d like to get out period muchless get a feel for my new location,fingers crossed Monday will see a return to the track at Franklin Field.
This weekend I move,not far one block over and ten blocks up to the 57 hundred block of Cedar Ave,if Cedar Ave sounds familiar I lived on 46th and Cedar when I first moved up this way some 28 months ago,anyways it might be a hike to walk 10 blocks now to conduct ye old recovery run so I may utalize the nearer Cobbs Creek,this can all be worked out tomorrow or the next day.
If this was my final jaunt around Clark Park then let me say I,ve enjoyed my runs around there for the past two years,the onset of shin splints forced me to switch to grass and two years later my shins feel fine,I look to continue to stay off the side walks and protect my shines and if it can,t be Clark Park anymore,Cobbs Creek it is.
W/ the move on Saturday I doubt I,ll get out to run,Sunday is a stretch also but I ,d like to get out period muchless get a feel for my new location,fingers crossed Monday will see a return to the track at Franklin Field.
Friday, January 9, 2009
New York,New York,Dublin,Doubling
There,s something about "Thursday Night At The Races"at The Armory,I can,t explain it,something that brings together middle distance track runners not just from New York but New Jersey and Philly it truly is a remarkable evening and one I hadn,t been able to enjoy since Feb 8th 07.The 4 hour journey from work to The Armory {2.20pm-6.20pm}seemed to fly by the old walkman/ipod routine plus my dairy not to mention a well thought out letter to"The Queen Of The Slipstream"not only kept me occupied but didn,t allow me to over think my races.
I seeded myself at 4.25 in the mile and 2.03 in the 800m,my recent 4.09.27. lead me to believe a 4.24 mile was doable.
I need to give a big up to Andy Elken for giving me his spot in the fast heat of the mile I was still stretching when they seeded it and probably wouldn,t have gotten in unless Andy offered me his spot,thank you bud!
I was oblivious to what the rest of the field had seeded themselves at which actually served as a blessing as it made me focus on my race and nobody elses,up on the second line again at the start which suits me I had a clear run as we broke after the first turn and quickly found my stride and a clear run in the 12 man field.
Scott was calling out my splits and I did check the clock on each lap but to be honest I don,t recall any of them,I do know that Sundays 61 second opening 400m set me up nicely for the race and lack of speed work be damned I felt right at home up front w/ the leaders tonite.
W/ two laps to go I moved into third but lack that little bit of top end speed right now to close the gap on these younger guys,but trust me it,s coming once I get back into a regular three speed workout/two speed workout 1 race weekly schedule hopefully begining next week I,ll maximize my strenght and hone my kick finish.
Third again in 4.28.1,it wasn,t till the ride home w/ Scott and Chuck that I realized not only was this an indoor pr beating my 07 Hartshorne time of 4.29.12 but also my fastest track mile eclipsing the 4.28.9. I ran at Plymouth Whitemarsh on July 1st,two pr,s and two club records in 5 days....only at The Armory!!!
W/ little time to recover I soon found myself back out on the track for the 800m,I knew not to put myself into the lions den of heat one,most of these guys were running fresh and to compeat w/ a 1.54 winning time I,d have to be fresh,2.03. earnt me a second heat.
Disaster almost struck from the gun,the draw had seen me pick lane 5 as we broke from the gun and I caught my team mate Scott,s heal a few strides into my start,it thankfully didn,t effect him but stood me up momentarily,I was cast adrif of the 7 man field going into the first turn.
To my credit I didn,t panic and still went through the opening 200m in a brisk 30 seconds,I believe we went through the 400m in 64,down the back straight I made a move of epic preportion "T" maybe the "Queen Of The Slipsteam" but I slipstreamed the entire field in the space of just over 100m,from 8th to 1st and w/ 260m to go I was away,too preoccupied w/ winning the race to look at the clock for my 600m split I was focused on my form and my speed,neither let me down and I finished a good 3 seconds ahead of Scott in 2.05.8 to notch my second 800m victory of the season.
I,m telling you there,s electricity in the air when I race in New York,I arrived home at 11.50pm to a message from "Charlie Dibble"wishing me luck and also expecting"Chairman Of The Boards"behaviour,I think he got it!!!
No #2 of "Distance Nite At The Races" in two weeks time as I need to save myself for Cornell and the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile two days later,I will be back for #3 in a months time,fingers crossed my next race in "The Big Apple" is the Masters 4x4 at Millrose in three weeks time.
A Taste Of Things To Come
Since independant wealth,nor an over abundance of days off from work are in overstock a blog entry last nite when I arrived home at 11.50pm was not prudent,I,ll address another stunning New York City performance later this evening,4.28.1. in the mile a pr and 3rd place finish
2.05.8. in the 800m and first place.
Seriously if I,m in the market for a third tattoo I think "I Love{Running}In New York" would be on the money!!!
2.05.8. in the 800m and first place.
Seriously if I,m in the market for a third tattoo I think "I Love{Running}In New York" would be on the money!!!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
It,s Just Not Cricket
On a day when English cricket was rocked by the resignation of their captain and the firing of their coach how ironic I should choose a cricket analogy to sum up my run....or lack thereof.
Very much a case of rain stops play again today,at least I,ll go into tomorrow nites"Distance Nite At The Armory"rested as I chase a fast mile time in my final race b4 Hartshorne.
Obviously it,ll be a late one tomorrow so it,ll be Friday b4 I can blog my exploits but based upon recent history in New York and The Armory it,ll be worth waiting for.
Very much a case of rain stops play again today,at least I,ll go into tomorrow nites"Distance Nite At The Armory"rested as I chase a fast mile time in my final race b4 Hartshorne.
Obviously it,ll be a late one tomorrow so it,ll be Friday b4 I can blog my exploits but based upon recent history in New York and The Armory it,ll be worth waiting for.
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