Florida Relays 1500

Hi there, Internet. While New England was still in the grips of winter's death throes, a few of us Terriers were given the opportunity to fly down to Florida and test our fitness against all comers. Unfortunately, as fun as the trip was, my performance in the 1500 revealed two things: 1) my racing legs are definitely rusty and 2) my left achilles is acting up. I'm not worried in the slightest about #1, because it has the funnest solution possible- race more! I'm a little more concerned with number 2, since if I'm not careful, it might impede on my ability to race more. However, I've had minor achilles things before, and it's almost always due to running in old shoes. My Asics piranhas hit the 1000 mile mark a week or two ago, and I'm pretty sure everything will be fine when my new shoes get here. As proof of how long-view I'm being, I didn't race on the Distance Medley on Saturday (which was tough to swallow, since it means my air fare went to one so-so race) and took today OFF from running.

Here's what I got up to:

Monday 3/28: 3:30PM- 3 up with the Melon, then a solo track workout.
600 1:36 (2:30jog)
400 63 (2min jog)
800 2:14.5 (4min jog)
600 1:35 (2:30 jog)
400 61.5 (2min jog)
800 2:13 (4min jog)
400 61.5 (2min standing)
400 60.2 Great workout, just felt like I was cruising through. Bruce said that I looked like I was in "MacPherson shape." I don't know what means. 3mi down with the Melon.

Tuesday 3/29: 3:30PM- The Up Run with Rob, Melon, and Brian for some. Great run, plenty of running uphill (duh). We headed up Comm Ave and whenever we came to a hill, we ran up the hill. Pretty innovative, huh? Pace was pretty quick, despite the hills.

Wednesday 3/30: 2:30PM- 4mi up, 2 sets of 6x150 with a 250 jog, 800 jog between the sets, 3mi down with Rob. I ran on the outdoor track with no watch, so I couldn't tell you how fast I was going. Well, I could: pretty fast, but not too fast.

Thursday 3/31: 8PM- 9mi easy with Billy, some with James, from the hotel in Florida. We had a pretty easy travel day; we didn't have to leave BU until 9:30, we only had one connecting flight, and the layover was long enough so we didn't have to rush but not so long that we had tons of time to kill. My left achilles was pretty sore on this run, but it seemed to ease as we ran on. We didn't intend on going 9, but got a little lost on the way back.

Friday 4/1: 10AM- 3mi easy to shake the legs out and see how the achilles was acting. It seemed to be ok, so I didn't mention it. 7PM- 3 up with James, long delay with dozens of strides because the meet was behind schedule, 1500 race in 3:58.43, 3 down. My achilles didn't bug me warming up, but it was pretty tender cooling down. Like I mentioned, this race revealed my racing legs were rusty. I got out fine and settled against the rail in about 5-6th in my heat of 17. I was through 400 in 63.0 and then the pace got glacial. I was around 2:09 for 800 and at that point kinda sighed and tried to position myself for a good last lap. I got the bell in about 2:58 and made a decent move, but at that point I had been boxed too long and wasn't able to get involved in the race itself. It stung that the winner of my heat was an athlete in my conference, but what can you do? Assuming my achilles tendon is ok, I'll jump in the 1500 at the George Davis Invite in Lowell, MA on Saturday and try to chip away at that time a little.

Saturday 4/2: 11AM- 3mi jog with James to see how my achilles held up, and while it didn't hurt, it was tight and tender, so James took my 1600 leg on the DMR for me. 8PM- We were a little shy on room in the van, and rather than try to squeeze in, James and I just ran the 4mi back to the hotel. I was pleased to note my achilles wasn't bad at all heading back, but when I talked to Bruce on the phone, I said I'd take Sunday off just in case.

Sunday 4/3: weren't you reading that last sentence?!

Total- 57 miles plus a season-opening race. Hope everyone has a good week!