It Didn,t Rain On My Parade

Not only did I defeat all b4 me in the 1,500m but I also had the satisfaction of beating the rain,for my race and my post race 6 miler.
Even after 32 years of running it,s still reasuring to feel nervous the morning of a race,today was no different,being a National Champion and a 5th Ave Mile winner doesn,t stop me from feeling that nervous antisipation from the time the alarm goes off till the gun gets fired,I,ve said b4 and will probably say again,I,d get nervous if I wasn,t nervous!!!.
So much for the 1,500m going off at 9.45am,it was closer to 10.10am b4 I toed the starting line,in the general scheme of things no big,however when you,ve timed your warm up to be primed and ready for 9.45am and it,s still another 25 mins b4 you,ll run it,s a tad frustrating,as I ,ve stated b4 adversity presents it,s self in several forms,it,s how you handle it,rather than get flustered I mellowed out to some Coldplay on my ipod b4 switching to one of the several battle anthems on there,DMX,s "Who We Be"I,ve often listened to that on my way to a repeat workout at Franklin Field,anytime "Who We Be" gets dialed up I know it,s business time.
Was seeded 2nd of 6 runners,I put down 4.21 as my seed time so I was curious what the runner inside of me had put to get the pole,I,m glad I didn,t use up alot of energy thinking about it,from the gun he hit the front only to slow to a pedestrian pace....sorry I wanted this to be brisk even if it meant hitting the front myself and going into the first turn I hit the front.
Unbelievable no clock at the finish line for a Championship meet,I only know my 400m splits because Mike,a team mate of second place Phil Reiley was calling them out 66 seconds at 400m.
When Phil went by me at 600m I was happy to let him,if I didn,t have to do all work up front then so be it,2.16 at 800m, a 1.10 lap.
I know Phil from several 800m races we,ve had,I wasn,t sure what his 1,500m credentials were but I was happy to tuck in behind him and not panic,the bell rang and I took off,I would love to know what my final 400m split was I went through 1,200m in 3.26,another 1.10 lap and covered the final 300m in 48 seconds finishing in 4.14.04,my second fastest ever 1,500m and a 6 second improvement on the 4.21.39.I ran here three weeks ago,I got my two pre race wishes a win and a sub 4.20 time.
I know I can run faster,letting Phil take control of the race between 600m and 1,100m allowed me to back off a little had I,ve continued to push the pace who knows what my finishing time would,ve been,a question for another day,NJ C,ships in Monmouth in two weeks time I hope.
Todays medal marks 5 for the season,109 for my career,the 1,500m victory marked my third over the distance since an indoor meet at The Armory in Dec 06,I,m still a novice at 1,500m since high school I,ve only got 9 1,500m races to my credit but I,m continuing to learn how to run this race.
Next up time to drop down to my other distance the 800m,having opened my account for the season w/ a 2.03.07 five weeks ago it,ll be interesting to see what I can do off of my recent training,guess we,ll find out Friday evening.

Trifle Not W/ Tired Tigers

Not the most ideal prep the day b4 a c,ship meet having to rush around the loading dock like the Tazmanian Devil doing the work load of two peeps but there you go.
Hopefully there,s some gas left in the tank for when the gun goes off tomorrow morning at 9.45am,I,ve aided and abetted the situation by eating a whole bowl of pasta w/ Texas Toast,how seriously do I take being Irish?I eat tricoloured Tortalini and I count out the green,white and gold pasta,now that,s a paddy for ya!!!!.
Nice easy pre race three miler this evening,dispite feeling the urge to "give it large" at times while listening to Coldplay on my ipod I kept a lid on it,save something for the race tomorrow felt like an ideal mantra.
As for the race it,s self tomorrow I don,t know what to expect,or who,ll show up,it may come down to who handles running in the rain best if the weather reports are anything to go by......yes I,m going to make another Paddy reference aren,t I???but c,mon who,s got more running in the rain experience than me??!!
Winning the race would be nice,going sub 4.20 would be nicer still,tomorrow and NJ C,ships in two weeks time represent my final two 1,500s b4 Spokane so it,s imperative to give my best effort irrigardless of elements or opponents

Caterpillar Girl

Another warm evening on the track as I conducted my 2x1,000m repeats.
There were a myriad of thoughts and emotions at play going into this workout,front burner my 1,500m race Saturday morning,back burner the fact I,m doing the work of two people this week while Chris aka my"Moral Compass" is enjoying a well earnt week off,I won,t front mine is a physical job and having two do twice as much this week is a concern going into this weekends meet,these however are the cards I,ve been dealth.
After my stretches and mile warm up and mile of strides it was straight into the opening repeat,1.10,1.10,31 splits would give me a 2.51 repeat,I went 69,1.13,30 for 2.52.56,that,s pretty damn close,last Friday I went 68,1.11,33-2.52.83.
Following my recovery and yes I take all 12 minutes I had to make a decision on repeat #2,balls to the wall or take a little off given the close proximity of Saturdays race,yes you want to push yourself in your workouts but you also don,t want to leave it all on the track in training,you need to keep something for the race......
1.11,1.12,35-2.58.24,last Friday I went 1.10,1.15,31-2.56.95,I,m reasonably happy w/ that,it,s the old chicken and egg syndrome,if I didn,t have the race Saturday I,d have pushed harder,but I,m in the same boat again next week,my preposed Mon,Wed rotation will put me in the same position again next week,a 2x1,000m repeat Wed w/ an 800m race Friday.
The hard work in training this week is done,tomorrow,s an easy 3 miler b4 the now mandatory big arse bowl of pasta,feet up reasonably early nite,I just hope tomorrow is an easy work day.

Caged Tigers And Brave Lions

Another day for enjoying my running,sometimes there,s no better reason to be out there other than the sheer love of it,today was such a day,no agenda,no pace, no goals just a run for the sake of running.
Glorious weather and a good cd on the ipod never hurt either,Kate Voegele,s "Don,t Look Away" provided the soundtrack to my 6 loops around Clark Park although I was responible for the "one caged tiger goes round the outside,round the outside,round the outside"ditty to the tune of Malcolm McLaren,s "Buffalo Girls"the caged tiger reference goes to my day long battle w/ the forces of nature that seemed hell bent on driving me to "maniacal macphisto"persona,in life it should be noted that"other people can push your buttons,only you can activate them".
My brave lion reference goes to John Terry of Chelski and England,last Wednesday in front of millions of people around the world he suffered the crulest of fates,slipping as he took what could,ve been the game winning penalty for Chelski in the Champions League final,his slip and subsequent miss allowed Man Utd to snatch the Champions League title away from them,fast forward seven days John Terry not only captained England for the first time in his career but he scored the first of two goals as the Three Lions beat the USA 2.0 at Wembley.
I recall when JT first broke into the Chelski starting eleven several years ago,I said then he was destined to not only replace Tony Adams in the center of the England defence but he,d also one day replace Tony Adams as Captain of his country,today that dream came true,in the face of a public and private hell John Terry hauled himself up by the boot laces and stared down his demons,my kind of hero,my kind of role model,mad props,big ups and much respect to him.

Generating Steam Heat

It was a hot one this evening,how hot?my bandana was soaked after my mile of strides!!!
Heat or no heat I wanted this workout to be full throttle since I may have to take a little off my 2x1,000m repeats Thursday as it,s close to Saturdays 1,500m at Widner in the Mid Atlantic C,ships.
What I wasn,t expecting was an opening 400m in 64 seconds and a closing 200m in 31 seconds,1.35.36,rather puts last Wednesdays 66/33 1.39.49 to shame,however w/ said genie well and truly out of the bottle how would I hold up on the remaining 5 600s?
Clearly I wasn,t going to be able to hold onto that pace as my 1.15 2nd 400m bore out,however I did close w/ a 33 second 200m to clock 1.48.33.
200m into repeat#3 and I was feeling it a 1.17 400m followed by a 35 second 200m to clock 1.52.64,no six for six tonite!!!!,in fact at this stage I briefly considered taking a 12 min recovery and throwing in a 1,000m repeat to go 3x600m/1x1,000m a mix and match of tonite and Thursdays workouts.....piss on that I believe was the answer I gave myself,I came here to do 6x600m and that,s exactly what I was going to do.
1.16 for the opening 400m of repeat #4 b4 a 33 second 200m,1.49.17,the words skin and teeth sprang to mind,a few other choice gaelic expressions came to mind but we won,t go there!!
Disaster on repeat #5 I was toast,I pulled up at 400m off of a woeful 1.25 lap,desperate times call for desperate measures,mulligan,I lay on the track w/ my legs up against the wall to drain the lactic acid out of them,I wasn,t taking the repeat lying down!!!
1.15/33 for a 1.48.07.alrighty one more,1.16/31 yep another 31 second closing 200m to finish in 1.47.47,five out of six for the third week in a row,last week I went,1.39,1.41,1.46,1.47,1.48,1.51 today I went,1.35,1.47,1.48,1.48,1.49,1.52,last week my closing 200s went32,33,33,33,33,36 today I went,31,31,33,33,33,35.
I,m pleased I had it in me today to see the repeats through even if I had to invoke a mulligan,given the choice of calling it quits after 4 600s or taking a lactic acid draining time out and compleating repeats 5 and 6 I have no problem w/ the latter,that said next time out I,d like the 600s all under 1.50 and w/out the mulligan.

Always Looking At The Bigger Picture

It would,ve been nice to take compleat advantage of the fact today was a holiday,however the only concession I made in that department was to run at lunch time and not first thing in the morning.
Having hauled myself back on schedule w/ not only 3 track workouts and 30 miles last week the last thing I needed today was to blow off the whole day and put myself in a hole early on,frankly it was never an option,one I,d worked out hard yesterday,I needed a recovery run to remove any gunk my legs may,ve retained from that period but also given tomorrow is another track workout I need to be at my sharpest,and secondly providing this week goes to plan by the time I finish my 1,500m race Saturday I should have 24 miles in for the week meaning a 6 mile cool down will give me my 30 miles for the week and a rest day on Sunday.....of sorts.
Granted I won,t have to run Sunday but by virtue of spending most of Saturday at Widner for the Mid Atlantic C,ships I,ll have domestic duties that need my attention,the fact I won,t have to fit in a training run around them will be a testimony to not only keeping one eye on the prize but the other eye on the bigger picture.
Nothing spectacular to report today,a nice easy five miler around Clark Park,on a day that marks the official begining of Summer and on a weekend that has seen the masses head to the shore or the mountains,do picnics or cookouts I did what I need to do for me,sandwich in a repeat on the track between two recovery runs,very much business as usual for someone who when it comes to the track is all business,need I point out Nationals is only 11 weeks away?I thought not

See You In August

I hope today was the last of my journeys to Roxboro for track repeats,it,s not so much the hike it,s the attitude I have to put up w/ when I,m there,I swear to god these people have no concept of yeilding the inside lane to those who are actually working out,if I don,t return here till the annual end of season Wisahickon Wanderers track meet in August I for one will be happy w/ that.
Hoping to follow on from last Sundays 4.58,5.06,5.09,5.09 series I began the session w/ a 69 second opening 400m,and frankly I wasn,t trying to run that fast,slowing slightly over the next lap I clocked 1.20 b4 back to back 1.13s,4.55.69,very possibily the fastest mile repeat I,ve ever recorded.
I opened mile#2 w/ a 1.13 lap,sadly I have no clue to my 800m split thanks to some dumb kid who proceeded to dawdle in lane 1 as I reached the start finish line.....thanks!!!!!!3.52 at 1,200m and a 1.15 closing lap to clock5.07.66.
I opted for the shade of the far left corner of the track inbetween repeats, I wasn,t about to allow the heat to throw off my repeats also.
Mile#3 in keeping w/ how last weeks third mile went I opened w/ a 1.16 but unlike last week when I followed that up w/ splits of 1.17,1.21,and 1.15 to clock 5.09.77 today I went 1.20,1.21,69 to clock 5.06.13,I was aware of how fast I closed coming off the final turn,could I continue the trend of lowering repeats 3 and 4 unlike last week?
An opening 1.15 b4 slipping off pace slightly w/ a 1.22,I was already 4 seconds behind last weeks final mile,however unlike last week when a 1.26 cropped up on lap three today I clocked a more respectable 1.21.3.58 at the bell.
To close w/ a 68 some 15 400s after I,d opened w/ a 69 to me is impressive,5.06...and change I didn,t manage to stop my watch as I crossed the line,yeah!!!
Maybe it was all the angst and anger I,ve had this week,maybe it was the constant weaving in and out of people on the track today,or prehaps the knowledge that due to four meets in the next four weeks I won,t do another 4x1 mile repeat workout till June 28th that I recorded what I believe to be my fastest ever series of mile repeats.
The next 4 weeks represent a vital phase of my season,three of those meets are championship meets,Mid Atlantic May 31st,New Jersey June 14th,New York June 22nd I would expect my best times pre Spokane and Nationals to be ran then and I need to know I,m not only ready to run fast now.....but faster still come August 7th thro 10th.