Hi everyone! It was a big weekend for racing- I had the All-Division New England Championships and they went well for my first races back from a pretty serious illness.
First, to address some letsrun rumors (since Peter prefers I don't post on letsrun about the team/myself):
I did not have bronchitis, I had some kind of lung and sinus infection. I was on meds for a few days and on a lung capacity test, I was performing at about 85% below the "average" lung capacity for a guy my height and weight. Assuming my lung capacity is a little above average (which I would hope) I would think my lungs were working on about 75% of normal the last 2-3 weeks (including when I ran that 1:54 800 a few weeks ago). I'm all better now and hope to be racing at full capacity next week and the week after at D3 Nationals.
Anyway, the log-
Monday- PM- 2mile wu, Baker St- 1x660 (1:27, 60 seconds at 440), 220 jog, 440 in 61, 440 jog, 440 in 61, 440 jog, 440 in 62, 4x220 in 29, 29, 28, 27 with 220 jog. Felt like poo. 3 mile c/d. Total 8.5
Tuesday- 3pm- 7 miles easy, 49:20
8pm- 3 miles easy indoors, including strides. 5 min abs with Amy
Wednesday- 2 miles wu, Baker St- 6x440 in 66, 64, 64, 63, 63, 62, 61 220 jog. Cold and windy, felt like shit again. 2 miles c/d.
Thursday- 3pm- 7 miles easy (45, probably a little short by a min or so) 5xstrides. 5 min abs with Amy.
8pm- 3 miles very slow with Amy, 25:02
Friday- AM 3.5 easy in Boston- 57 out!
PM- 3 mile wu, DMR Anchor- 4:11.8 (2:11.5/2:00.3, last 400 in 57.high), felt pretty damn effortless. 2 mile cd.
Saturday- AM- 2 mile shakeout, 16:33.
PM- 3 mile wu, mile race in 4:08.62 pr, (61, 2:03, 3:06) 2 mile c/d. 2 hours rest, 2 mile warmup, leadoff leg, 4x800- 1:55.5, (58.5/57.0) handed off in 2nd, team ran 7:55 for 16th. 1.5 c/d.
Sunday- AM- 10 miles very slow, 82 minutes, nice big group. We're thinking the run was a little longer than ten but who knows, we might have been going that slow.
Total- 64
Overall, a pretty good week. We ran an "A minus" team in the DMR- Elias (our 400 leg from the A team) and I ran, but Corey Loonan and Eric MacKnight ran the 1200 and 800 legs, respectively. Our goal was to run about 10:15, ensuring we'd be in the fast heat at ECACs next weekend, which should be a fast enough race to get us to nationals. Corey split 3:07 (pr-ing by 6 seconds through the 1000) and Eric split 1:58.7, his first sub-2 800 and showing pretty decent range for a guy who runs the 10k. I got the baton a little behind the anchor from Umass Dartmouth and just sat for the first half of the race. Once I heard 2:11, I did some math and figured out I'd need to run about a 2:06 to hit 10:15, so I went by and with three laps to go, decided to open up a little and see what I was capable. I ended up striding out a little the last three laps in 30, 29, 28 feeling very easy. I stepped off the track feeling like I had run a 4:16 or so. If the pace is slow at D3 nationals, I have confidence.
The mile on Saturday was a weird race. Some Uconn kid took it out real fast- my 61 and 2:03 barely left me holding contact with second place. Through 800, I was thinking "ok, ok, the Uconn kid is going to come back, just wait til 1200 and make one decisive move." Unfortunately for me, the Uconn kid ate shit a lap early and came back to me within about 100 meters instead of 400. With three laps to go, I took the lead and figured I was probably screwed but determined to beat the odds and just grind the field down. 3:06 is the fastest I've ever split through 1200 and peeking at the clock, I thought "shit, I'm going to run 4:05!" and started revving up. Unfortunately, with 300 to go, the rig set in and the rest of the rest was me attempting to sprint but doing little more than resisting deceleration. In the last 150, I was holding on, barely, to second place when a freshman from Maine came past me. In the end, I had to be content with a 4:08.62 PR, 3rd place again in the All-Division Meet. I was happy to come back from being sick with a PR, but again, 4:08 is slower than what I'm capable of. My consolation was that I'm now the fastest miler in Division III this season.
Off the 4x800, I won't say much. I felt like crap, got an awful start, and hung out in the back through the 400 in 58.5. With 300 to go I weaved my way through traffic and kicked well on the last lap (about 27.xx) to hand off in 2nd place and split 1:55.5. Unfortunately, the rest of the guys were tired from their third race in two days and while we ran respectable, we didn't really run up to potential.
Next week we'll be running our A team in the DMR at ECACs, hoping to make it nationals. Fortunately, Tufts is a flat track so we don't have to worry about conversions, we can just run. I'll also be running the 800 the next day- if we make it in the DMR, it will just be a speed day for nationals. If we don't make it in the DMR, I'll be hoping to qualify for nationals.
Have a good week, everyone. Oh, and please excuse any typos. I'm an English major. . . I do enough proofreading to want to comb over a blog entry.
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when it comes to D3 nationals BE CONFIDENT! no matter what the pace or tactics. recover and rest from this weekend, stay focused and keep your priorities clear. best wishes. - wc
ReplyDelete1:54 is good enough to be "noticed" in D3?
ReplyDeleteJeez, talk about baby nationals.
Very constructive. Did you bother making a blogger profile to post a letsrun injoke?
ReplyDeleteha. what a dope. making the account for that. Solid race at all new-englands. you looked real comfortable in the dmr. The last lap looked compeltely at ease. Congrats on the p.r in the open mile too. You could def see you tieing up a bit on the last lap, but the uconn kid didn't make the race all too easy with his attempt at a 4 min mile in the first quarter to running backwards the rest of the race. Good luck at ECAC's.
ReplyDeleteHey, this really has nothing to do with this particular entry, but I've actually been following your blog. Out of boredom? Sub-conscious homesickness? Perhaps, but it's been really interesting to see the way you talk about running and training. I know that I don't care about running half as much as you (some might argue I don't care about it at all), but I can tell by the way you talk about it how serious and determined you are, and that's very admirable. Obviously I should already know this by just hanging out with you for a year and a half, but you know, sometimes an ocean seperates people before they realize things.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, over here I noticed for the first time in my life I might be actually gaining weight, and seeing as I have no desire to ever look like my dad, I've been running every other day. It's a start. Hopefully I got one more decent Cross year in me before I call it quits.
Hope all is well
-Brian