Sunday, February 28, 2010

New England Champion

Well, I had a pretty good week. On Saturday, thanks in large part to the ACC meet being this weekend and Riley Masters chasing a fast mile time in New York, I was able to win the New England title in the mile over a still pretty darn good field (just not quite as excellent as it might have been had Masters and Tim Ritchie from BC been there). Still, though- you can only race the people who show up.

The race was a pretty good competitive effort- I tucked in and just tried to stay out of trouble. The pace wasn't anything particularly hot- 63.8, 2:07.0, 3:08.8, 4:08.57- a .04 PR and my second little shave of the season. I had to make one defensive move in lane 2 just after 800 to tuck into a good spot, then waited until about 150 to go to kick for home. I ended up winning by a handful yards, about .6 up on Pat Fullerton, who hopefully got his mark for DII nationals with his 4:09.19.

I watched the race on flotrack afterward, and the commentators mentioned this blog. It's nice to know I'm not just shouting into cyberspace :p It was a relief to finally win a damn race-- I was 3rd in the NE mile two years in a row. Besides, after a season of running backwards in the last half of the race, it was satisfying to run a significant negative split PR (2:07.0-2:01.5). Next week is the IC4A mile, and I'm hoping to PR again- maybe even by more than fractions of an eyeblink!

Unfortunately, non-running stuff isn't going quite as well. My easy fall semester has reared its karmic fangs and bit me firmly where my butt would be if I didn't run as much as I did. I swear, too, that professors plan to make their papers and projects due on the same day. Bah, who am I kidding- I procrastinate like I work for the government. Right now I have a paper on Plato's philosophy of learning I need to write for 9am tomorrow. What am I doing? Writing this blog and watching Family Guy.

I guess it goes to show you can't take a college kid's complaint at face value. Well, screw it. I didn't do any homework this week, but I got to win a race, set a PR, and my mom and siblings got to see it!

Here's the race:

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236628/310046

Here's the interview flotrack did after the race:

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236628/310053-craig-macpherson-1st-mile-new-enland-championships

Log-

Monday- Noon- 4mi solo shakeout in between classes, right hamstring pretty sore, decided not to double.

Tuesday- 10mi easy with Ken, big group for the first 3mi, Eric for 7. Felt much better today.

Wednesday- 7:30PM- Busy day student teaching and afternoon class. Downpoured all day. 30 minute walks to and from class sucked. 25min up, 3-2-1, 1-2-3 with 300 jog rest, then 6min jog, and 4x150.

300 45 (target 45)
200 30 (target 29)
100 14 (target 14)
100 14 (target 14)
200 29 (target 29)
300 43.3 (target 45)

4x150- 20.2-20.9 (target 21)

3mi down. Felt good, ran with James, who also had class.

Thursday- 3:30PM- 9mi easy in a cold, windy downpour with Ken and some of the freshmen. Not the funnest run I've had in a while. 9:30PM- 30min solo shakeout indoors. Sick of being perpetually damp all day.

Friday- 11AM- 5 miles, some with Erin, strides, two miles with Peter and Andrea. 7 tot. Watched my self-appointed press secretary, Kevin Gilmore (Peter's twin brother) ran an 8 second PR in the 5k- 15:20 with a 29.x last lap. Then he hacked my dyestat account. Then he spilled maple syrup all over his pants like an ass. Who gets in the way of maple syrup? It spills in slow motion!

Saturday- All Division New England Championships- 3mi up, mile race 4:08.57 PR, win, 4mi down with Ken. Later that afternoon- 4mi shakeout with Ellie, who lied and ran fast.

Sunday- 7 easy with Ken before work. I thought about going longer, but my season has one more week, then I'm getting back into mileage. I think at this point staying fresh and sharp is the name of the game.

Tot- 63 miles.

Thank you to everyone who reads this! Hope everyone has a great end to their season!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Conference Championships

Well, it wasn't difficult for this week to be better than last. We had the America East Conference meet, which ended up being pretty fun. I took part in a very nervous, jostle-y, fartlek-y kind of mile- everyone and their dad was making moves at random times and I would bounce to the front of the chase pack to the back without feeling like I had changed pace at all. The mile field was quite good- there a sub-4 miler in Erik Van Ingen (whose beard impressed this facial hair aficionado almost as much as his seemingly-effortless 4:04 victory), two jumped 800 meter runners from Albany who had run in the 1:49-1:50 range for 800 and in the 4:06 range for the mile, and Alex Felce, a former English Schools 1500m champion, who Eric tells me has run 8:53 in the steeple at one point. I actually felt terrible from the gun and had one of those "grit your teeth and grind it out one lap at a time" races. It was a very good effort on my part- but, unfortunately, the best I could do was 5th place, behind all the very talented gentlemen I just mentioned. My time was 4:09.8, which was disappointing, but I was glad I "hung in there" mentally when I felt terrible, especially after the way I folded like a bad poker hand like week. I actually believe the race played out fairly close to the on-paper seedings, which is neither good nor bad. On one hand, I would liked to beat some of the guys who on paper were faster runners. On the other hand, at least I didn't run worse than "expected." Bruce keeps telling me (because I seem to have trouble getting it through my thick skull) that the only thing you can control on race day is your own effort. Even though the time wasn't quite what I hoped for and my place less than what I wanted, my effort was good, so I'm taking this as a positive step.

The real money of the weekend, though, was the 4x800. I ran 2nd leg and surprised myself with a 1:53.6 split, significantly faster than my open PR of 1:54.11. My legs felt pretty awful after the mile, but as soon as that baton hit my hand, I knew it would be a solid leg. My opening quarter of 56.4 was the fastest 400 I've run in over a year, haha. Also, the splits are from Bruce, so they're more accurate than F.A.T. timing. Since I won't be doing any open 800s for a good while, I'm counting it as an asterisk'd PR! That we won the relay in 7:38 made my PR leg all the sweeter. Relays are always fun, especially at meets like a conference championship.

Anyway, the log-

Monday- 70' easy with Ken and James, more than 10mi but eh, who wants to measure things.

Tuesday- 5PM- Solo workout after class- 3 up, 2x(800, 600, 400) then 4x200, all with about 300 jog (90 seconds or so).

800- 2:14 (target 2:16)
600- 1:38.5 (target 1:39)
400- 63 (target 63)

800- 2:14 (target 2:16)
600 1:39.0 (target 1:39)
400- 62 (target 63)

4x200- 29s (target 29s)

All in all, a good workout- somewhat shorter rest than normal, but the paces were much less aggressive. I love doing this type of work, it makes me feel strong and easy. 3mi down, mostly with Fish. ~10mi tot

Wednesday- 11AM- No student teaching today because Mass has winter break! 9mi easy, first 7 or so with Eric. Nice weather, felt good. 9PM- 31' shakeout indoors, definitely more than 4 but who cares.

Thursday- 9PM- 56' easy indoors, really busy day! I signed some forms to pursue two degrees simultaneously (Secondary Education and English Literature) so that was fun. Felt pretty good.

Friday- 7mi easy before Day 1 of the meet. Felt ok.

Saturday- America East Day 2- 3 up, mile race 5th place 4:09.8 (2:04.9 at the half, but that doesn't do the very uneven, pace changey nature of the race justice). Decent last quarter to avoid getting too buried. 2mi down. 1 hr rest. 2mi up, 4x800 leg 2- 1:53.6 (56.4/57.2) lost contact with the guy I was racing, but came back a bit in the last 50m. Good competitive effort, nice PR. 3.5 down, 12 tot.

Sunday- 13 easy with Eric, some with Ken, James, Peter, and Tom Osbourne. Felt ok, but my quads were really heavy by the end.

tot 73

Next on the horizon is the mile at the All-Division New England Championships- I'm still optimistic about a good mile in these legs!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Valentine's

Well, I'll get right into it. I DNF'd the Valentine meet. I felt like crap from the gun, got gapped early, was out faster than I had hoped, questioned myself, got down on myself, and stopped. I don't have any excuses, explanations, or commentary beyond that. No amount of bitching or whining is going to undo it, so I might as well stop mewling and focus on making sure the rest of my season goes well.

Log-

Monday- AM- 4 easy with Eric. 5PM- 3 up, 2x500 76, 76, 2x1000 2:47, 2:47, 2x500, 76, 75 with a couple minutes jog in between. 3 down- felt pretty good.

Tuesday- AM 4 easy PM- 10 easy with Rob and Peter mostly, ran out to the Country Club and ran around the golf course for a while.

Wednesday- PM- 8 easy, solo. School got canceled because of an impending blizzard that turned into a sissy storm, so I got to sleep in.

Thursday- 3 up, 2x(5x150) untimed with Ken, 150 jog between each, 800 jog between the sets, 2miles down, 8 tot.

Friday- 7 miles easy, some with Eric.

Saturday- 3 up, Valentine Mile DNF, 2:01 at 800. 4 miles down.

Sunday- 9 miles easy around Fresh Pond with Eric, Peter, Elliot, and Tom Osbourne. Felt ok, nice weather out. Trying really hard not to get down on myself.

There you have it. An uninteresting blog entry. At the very least I've given some people in New Hampshire something to delight in.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Scritch, Scratch

I'm leaving for a Superbowl gathering with the lads soon, but I've got a fair bit to say this week, so pardon the rush in posting this:

Log-

Monday- 60min solo regeneration run after class, we can call it a healthy 8mi.

Tuesday- 3:30PM- 3 up, then into the milers for the "MacPherson Workout" which Bruce made up on the spot and named after me. Why? Who knows. 2min jog rest between everything.


"MacPherson"

500 1:18 (target 1:18-19)
300 45 (target 44-45)
300 44.7 (")

500 1:22 (target 1:22)
400 62 (target 63)
300 43.7 (target 44-45)

150 20.2 (no targets given)
150 19.4
150 19.7
150 19.0

(extra 2min jog)

500 1:16 (target: "run it without a care in the world, and marvel at how slow it feels after the 150s") 2min standing rest on this one to marvel sufficiently.

300 44.0 (target 44-45)
300 42.8 (target 43-44)

25min cooldown with Peter.

All in all, a pretty good workout. My gears are slowly coming back. 11 mi tot.

Wednesday- 58min easy River Loop at night with James, 8mi. Pretty nice out, not too windy and warm- about 25deg.

Thursday- AM- 4mi easy indoors, some with Kat, a grad student/volunteer. PM- 3 up, 10x150 in spikes with Ken and James, avg 21.5, took an easy 200 jog for rest. It was after this run that my lower left back, left hip, left groin, and left hamstring all started to crap out on me. They had been a little sore for a few days, but things really made themselves known when I was expending a little more energy to turn over with good form. 3 mi down.

Friday- 7 miles easy with a huge group, 47:30, left hip/back very bad until about 3mi in, then it felt ok until I did 8x100 strides w/100 jog after the run.

Saturday- Scratched from my planned 1000 and 4x800 double at the Battle of Beantown against Harvard, BC, and Northeastern. Team did really well- 2nd to Harvard and a thrilling 4x800 relay victory. Bruce said not to worry about my back and hip yet and just rest it.

Sunday- Ok, going this far might not have been the greatest idea I had, but I ran for an easy 90min with Eric (with a nice collection of teammates with us for varying lengths as well). I barely felt my back and didn't feel my hip at all- so I'm glad I didn't push things yesterday when Valentine and the America East Championships are in the next two weekends. I'm confident of my fitness and that my results will be very good in the coming weeks.

tot- 59 on the week.

Other stuff:

So on Saturday night, I got to attend the Boston Indoor Games with most of the BU guys and gals. It was awesome being about 10ft away from the pros. The 5000 was a truly impressive race, with Lagat leading early and Rupp trying to steal the show with a K left. Rupp tossed in like a 60-61 400 and really strung things out- for a guy who looked like he was about to throw up, I thought he made a really impressive bid to win the race. Lagat's last 400 was quite impressive as well- he just looks so damned effortless when he's running. What was especially awesome was that we just happened to be sitting next to marathon coach and US legend Bill Squires, who provided commentary for us the entire time. We even got to host a Kiwi miler (not Willis. . . but a friend of his!) at 15 Ashford St because he needed a couch on which to crash. All in all, it was a damn fun weekend that not even a bad back and a missed race could ruin.

Ok, this is enough- I'm off, now, and I'm sure I'll regret saving a bunch of homework until after the Superbowl! A nap will be in order tomorrow after class.

Have a great week, everyone- run FAST!

-Craig