Good evening, internet. Before I talk about myself AGAIN, I have some observations regarding this weekend.
Shalane Flanagan proved yet again just how good she is in picking up a bronze medal at the World Cross Country Championships. The United States showed good its female distance runners are by putting 4 women in the top 20 and nabbing a team bronze medal. Lisa Koll, in an uncharacteristic off day, STILL placed 40th in the deepest distance race in the world. Without a doubt, this is HUGE for American running. I hope that their performances are given the credit each one deserves. Unfortunately, I think professional cross country gets a bum rap in America and I'm not entirely sure why. Rarely do the very best Americans elect to go, but today is an important insight as to what cant when they DO decide to show up and the chips fall just right. I obviously have no way of knowing this for sure, my wager is that if you asked the US women what they thought of their experience at World Cross, none of them would say "sweet Christ, I wish I had run a road race."
Don't get me wrong, the NYC Half is a great event. I don't think a single American athlete "owes" it to anyone to compete at World Cross. I'm just saying that, as a fan, it would be COOL if the best Americans (men and women) made it a habit to compete there. World Cross is the single deepest race in the sport; what better measuring stick can there be for an athlete? We know that Solinsky, Teg, Bumbalough, and Rupp are all in amazing shape right now. I believe Salazar has already said that his plan this year was for a late spring racing period followed by another rest/buildup cycle for the World Championships. I get that Rupp probably made some serious scratch for showing up to the NYC half, but how sick would it have been to see a ~27:10 shape Rupp (his spring was focused on getting the AR in the 10k) duking it out in the lead pack at World Cross?
Anyway, I understand that elite athletes have their racing schedules for a reason, I just think that it would be awesome to put 5 of America's top 5000m and up guys on the line at World Cross, fit as hell, and see what would happen. (note: I didn't leave Lagat out of this discussion out of ignorance. I just think that as a track focused 1500-5k specialist, he might not have the same XC chops as, say, Tegenkamp).
Enough grasping at what-could-bes, though. I still have some Spanish homework to do and I want to get to bed early, so on with the blog. Wait! One last thing- local yokel Ruben Sanca ran 65:23 to win the New Bedford Half Marathon today. Not too shabby! He's running the Rotterdam Marathon and I'm very interested to see how it goes.
Monday 3/14: 3:30PM- Fartlek on a flat stretch of Lane Rd in Derry, NH. 2.5 up
Run (jog)
2x (80" (80") 65" (80") 46" (3'))
4x 22" (80")
extra 3:40 after the 4th one (so 5min total jogging)
2x (80" (80") 65" (80") 46" (3')), 4.5 down. I was assigned sets of 500, 400, 300 and 4x150 followed by two more sets of 5-4-3, so I had to improvise a little due to a still-snowed-in track. I went back and measured my 80" and 46" segments since both of them began and ended at conveniently distinctive driveways. I got 518m and 312m for each segment, so I was moving pretty fast for wearing a borrowed pair of spikeless XC racers on a road. (total 14mi) Longer cooldown because I ran into an old HS teammate.
Tuesday 3/15: 2PM- 7mi easy with Trethewey, very tired, sore. 8PM- 4mi easy, planned on 7 but cut it short- dark, cold, tired, hungry, whiny. Got a new pair of glasses though! This was much-needed, since my old pair were about 4 years old and barely held together by tape and good intentions.
Wednesday 3/16: 7:30PM- Back in Boston, managed to get into the TTC despite it being closed. 3 up, 2mi on the treadmill, 10:36, half mile jog, 8x100 FAST with 200 jog, 1/2 mile jog, 2mi on the treadmill in 10:36, 1/2 mile jog, 3mi cooldown. Tot 13 Since the workouts were pretty close together, Bruce had me keep it easy.
Thursday 3/17: 4:30PM- 2 laps of Fresh Pond from the house, I had only planned on running 8-9 but it was about 65 and sunny out and therefore too nice to run short. I cooked a traditional New England boiled dinner for some friends and my roommates, and we all concluded that "thank God we're not expected to eat boiled corned beef every Sunday."
Friday 3/18: 11AM- 4mi easy with Amy, who was on her own spring break and came into town for St Patrick's Day. Beautiful out again, 65 and sunny. 4PM- 11mi easy, first 3 with the T-Dawwg, last 8 solo at about 6:30 pace meandering around Brookline until I found JP. I was originally scheduled to work out today, but when I got the Brookline Reservoir, Bruce looked at me and said "I had you work out Monday and Wednesday? What, was I living in a fantasy land? Work out tomorrow, that's makes more sense." I record his exact words because they struck me as funny.
Saturday 3/19: 10:00AM- Nearly overslept for this one, which is impressive considering I was asleep by 11:30PM the night before. 3mi up to the Brookline Reservoir, then surges of 4:00, 3:30, 3:00, and 2:30 with 4:00 normal training pace rest. It was a little different than a normal fartlek in that each hard part was sub-divided into three parts: the first 1:00-2:00 of each rep was at the normal fartlek "hard" level (maybe about 4:30-4:45/mile if I had to guess), the next 45-90 seconds of each rep was at a fast but not so hard gear (maybe 5:20-5:30 pace) followed by a 45 second segment at 1500m pace to end each rep. This was a pretty tough workout, and Bruce gave me the option of doing 0-5x30 seconds at a very fast pace with 90 seconds jog afterward. I did 2 of them and figured enough is enough. 3mi down, 11mi on the morning. 7PM- 4mi easy, 1xlarge cheese pizza, 1xviewing of The Fighter with Sean.
Sunday 3/20: 2PM- 3mi on the fast end of easy for heading out the door with Peter and Joey (both of whom can hit 6:35 pace from stride 1, something I've always been envious of) who were warming up for a workout, then about 6 and a half miles working it pretty good on the river. I was a little grump about 5mi into the run because it was windy and it cooled back down to the low 40s, but I split my watch to get a pace check going and was surprised to see I was running 5:35/mile, which cheered me up. I added on a few minutes inside to get 10 on the morning. 8PM- 4mi at a super slow Kenyan shuffle pace, partly because I was full from dinner and partly because I misbehaved and ran basically 10mi under an hour this morning after 3 workouts in the preceding 6 days.
93 mi on the week. This will be my last "up there" week for a while, since it's time to start focusing on doing some workouts near 1500m speed and preparing to race. I've averaged over 80 miles a week for the last six weeks and have really only had 1 or 2 bad workouts, so I'm feeling very fit and ready to get down to business.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
I'm going to get a stern email for this
Ok, internet. After 3 weeks (a month?) of late entries, I'm back on schedule. BU is this week, and I'll be working on my tan in Derry, NH until Wednesday, when I'll be off to L.A.! (Lower Allston, that is) for my last week of high-mileage conditioning before it's time to get down and dirty with the 1500 again.
The big news this week is that two of my BU teammates, Dickie Peters and Katie Matthews, competed in the NCAA D1 Indoor National meet in College Station, TX. Rich had a rough run, just missing the final by a few hundredths of a second. He'll be back harder than ever outdoors, though, and if I know Rich, he's more motivated than upset. It was kind of strange to see a guy I run and work out with duking it out with the nation's finest on the live stream, but I don't want to gush too much, since I have to see Rich in the dining hall after practice. Katie, on the other hand, ran a great race to grab 6th in the 5k and her first All-American award! If you can catch the race, Katie is the one who stays pinned to the rail the whole way and picks off athletes as they fade rather than go into lane 4 in an attempt to pass as many athletes attempted. Of course, now, until I knock about 10 seconds off my mile PR, I'll have to be patient as she tells me "this one time, at nationals. . ." Proud of both of you!
I'd also be a fool if I forgot to mention my former teammates at Keene State, who traveled to Columbus, OH for the DIII Nationals this weekend. The women's distance medley notched a 3rd place finish, followed up by senior Amy Knoblock's 3rd in the mile and a near-miss 9th place finish by junior Paige Mills. Amy and I were the same class at Keene and often ran together on easy days, so congratulating her on double All-American weekend is something I've looked forward to doing for a long time. Paige is a raw talent who has been bitten by bad luck worse than any runner I know, so for her to make the meet and anchor a 3rd-place DMR in a PR is both a great achievement and indicative of greater things to come.
I had a great week of training complicated only by an annoying little cold. I didn't alter my training any because of the cold, but I felt like crap for a few days and will probably get a talking-to from wiser men than I about skipping a double-run to sleep when one is sick. I know, I know, I know- but this time, it didn't bite me in the butt!
My log:
Monday 3/7- 3:30PM: Decided to give my achilles one more day to rest, even though I felt fine. 9mi moderate, started with the group but just couldn't hold back, 55 and chance for a run that's closer to 15k than 9.
Tuesday 3/8- 3:30PM: Bruce assigned an easy workout on purpose today with the instructions not to hammer it "or you'll be useless for a week." 3 up to the BC Reservoir, 10min hard, 5min easy, 5min hard, 5min easy, 5min hard, cooldown til I was back at school (11mi). I averaged roughly 5:30/mile for the 30min of the workout, figure I was just a touch slower than 5min/mile for the hard parts. Boring workout, since it was so easy, but Bruce knows a thing or two about a thing or two. 9:30PM: 4mi easy on the treadmill after work.
Wednesday 3/9- 3:30PM: 10mi easy around JP twice with Eric. Woke up sick, very sore throat but no swollen tonsils or white spots, so I figured it was just a cold. Vitamin C, tea, etc. 9:30PM- 4mi easy on the treadmill after class.
Thursday 3/10- (still sick, a little worse than yesterday) 3:30PM- To Fresh Pond and back with the group, 7:15s down to 6:15s by the end, 4x150m strides and a 200 in 29.6, plus a short cooldown for 10mi. Billy made a Galaxy Quest reference and I didn't even need 13 seconds to think about backing him up. 9:30PM- 27:23 light progression on the treadmill, 7:30/mile down to 5:30 for the last one.
Friday 3/11- Amber Day! (whoa-oh) Rest all day as much as possible, today was the peak for the sore throat, headache, and congestion. 3PM- 3.5 up, 5x3min on, 2:30 off, 2.5 cooldown. I might have been sick for this workout, but it didn't hurt me as I split 21:06 through a measured 4mi during the course of this workout. That puts me through 5mi at what, 26:30? I'll definitely take it, since I didn't feel like I was pushing above 7.5/8 on a 10 scale. Good day, sir.
Saturday 3/12- 1PM- 7mi easy, Slums to Mass Ave, everybody left Boston :( Ran slow, felt fine, not quite as sick today. 9PM- Same loop, same comments, feeling better as the day wore one. Tired, though.
Sunday 3/13- 12:30PM: 12 mi easy building to moderate. Ran to JP from the house and did 3 laps and came back, just under 78' for a healthy 12. I'm still not sure if Bruce is going to have me work out tomorrow or if I was supposed to do a longer run today, so I hedged my bets. 8:30PM- 4mi out and back in Derry, with 5 good strides incorporated into the run.
Total- 93 mi
No one get in trouble over break!
The big news this week is that two of my BU teammates, Dickie Peters and Katie Matthews, competed in the NCAA D1 Indoor National meet in College Station, TX. Rich had a rough run, just missing the final by a few hundredths of a second. He'll be back harder than ever outdoors, though, and if I know Rich, he's more motivated than upset. It was kind of strange to see a guy I run and work out with duking it out with the nation's finest on the live stream, but I don't want to gush too much, since I have to see Rich in the dining hall after practice. Katie, on the other hand, ran a great race to grab 6th in the 5k and her first All-American award! If you can catch the race, Katie is the one who stays pinned to the rail the whole way and picks off athletes as they fade rather than go into lane 4 in an attempt to pass as many athletes attempted. Of course, now, until I knock about 10 seconds off my mile PR, I'll have to be patient as she tells me "this one time, at nationals. . ." Proud of both of you!
I'd also be a fool if I forgot to mention my former teammates at Keene State, who traveled to Columbus, OH for the DIII Nationals this weekend. The women's distance medley notched a 3rd place finish, followed up by senior Amy Knoblock's 3rd in the mile and a near-miss 9th place finish by junior Paige Mills. Amy and I were the same class at Keene and often ran together on easy days, so congratulating her on double All-American weekend is something I've looked forward to doing for a long time. Paige is a raw talent who has been bitten by bad luck worse than any runner I know, so for her to make the meet and anchor a 3rd-place DMR in a PR is both a great achievement and indicative of greater things to come.
I had a great week of training complicated only by an annoying little cold. I didn't alter my training any because of the cold, but I felt like crap for a few days and will probably get a talking-to from wiser men than I about skipping a double-run to sleep when one is sick. I know, I know, I know- but this time, it didn't bite me in the butt!
My log:
Monday 3/7- 3:30PM: Decided to give my achilles one more day to rest, even though I felt fine. 9mi moderate, started with the group but just couldn't hold back, 55 and chance for a run that's closer to 15k than 9.
Tuesday 3/8- 3:30PM: Bruce assigned an easy workout on purpose today with the instructions not to hammer it "or you'll be useless for a week." 3 up to the BC Reservoir, 10min hard, 5min easy, 5min hard, 5min easy, 5min hard, cooldown til I was back at school (11mi). I averaged roughly 5:30/mile for the 30min of the workout, figure I was just a touch slower than 5min/mile for the hard parts. Boring workout, since it was so easy, but Bruce knows a thing or two about a thing or two. 9:30PM: 4mi easy on the treadmill after work.
Wednesday 3/9- 3:30PM: 10mi easy around JP twice with Eric. Woke up sick, very sore throat but no swollen tonsils or white spots, so I figured it was just a cold. Vitamin C, tea, etc. 9:30PM- 4mi easy on the treadmill after class.
Thursday 3/10- (still sick, a little worse than yesterday) 3:30PM- To Fresh Pond and back with the group, 7:15s down to 6:15s by the end, 4x150m strides and a 200 in 29.6, plus a short cooldown for 10mi. Billy made a Galaxy Quest reference and I didn't even need 13 seconds to think about backing him up. 9:30PM- 27:23 light progression on the treadmill, 7:30/mile down to 5:30 for the last one.
Friday 3/11- Amber Day! (whoa-oh) Rest all day as much as possible, today was the peak for the sore throat, headache, and congestion. 3PM- 3.5 up, 5x3min on, 2:30 off, 2.5 cooldown. I might have been sick for this workout, but it didn't hurt me as I split 21:06 through a measured 4mi during the course of this workout. That puts me through 5mi at what, 26:30? I'll definitely take it, since I didn't feel like I was pushing above 7.5/8 on a 10 scale. Good day, sir.
Saturday 3/12- 1PM- 7mi easy, Slums to Mass Ave, everybody left Boston :( Ran slow, felt fine, not quite as sick today. 9PM- Same loop, same comments, feeling better as the day wore one. Tired, though.
Sunday 3/13- 12:30PM: 12 mi easy building to moderate. Ran to JP from the house and did 3 laps and came back, just under 78' for a healthy 12. I'm still not sure if Bruce is going to have me work out tomorrow or if I was supposed to do a longer run today, so I hedged my bets. 8:30PM- 4mi out and back in Derry, with 5 good strides incorporated into the run.
Total- 93 mi
No one get in trouble over break!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Catastrophe Averted!
I'm late again, Internet. I've been on quite the streak lately. School has been merciless lately, so I guess I'll have to use that as a blanket excuse. I had what began as a very solid (if notably sluggish) week of training and tapered off when I tweaked my left Achilles tendon a little. It wasn't anything serious, but I cut my running way back for two days and that patched things right up. I ended up with fewer miles and a canceled long run on the week, but things have been going really well for a few weeks now and an easier week is probably for the better in the long run. I had a fantastic run this afternoon and will be working out tomorrow, so I'll chalk this one up in the WIN category.
Here are some specifics:
Monday 2/28: 9PM- 3mi shakeout indoors, tired, but needed to get some junk out of my legs. Definitely settling into that "hard training" mode. 3PM- 3.5 up, strides, two sets of 600, 600, 800 and then two extra 600s with one lap in the green lane (236m, I think) after the 600s and two laps after the 800s. I was pretty tired today and didn't press very hard. Yesterday's triple wiped me out. 3mi down. Bruce kept asking if I was ok to work out, and I was, but boy was I tuckered out.
600- 1:39
600- 1:40
800- 2:20
600- 1:41
600- 1:40
800- 2:15
600- 1:39
600- 1:38
Tuesday 3/1: 9AM- 4mi easy indoors, very tired and heavy, but better as the run went on. 3:45PM- Downtown run with Ken, Chris, and Rob. Felt suspiciously excellent today, given how sore I was when I woke up and how sluggish the morning run was. 6:20s all day after the first 2mi, 57:30 total after a minute or two indoors for padding.
Wednesday 3/2: 7:30PM- 75' easy indoors, some around the track, some on the treadmill, some more on the track but more barefooter. Felt pretty good, the 24 hours off wasn't planned (skipped a morning run and practice to study for a macroeconomics midterm) but it was nice regardless.
Thursday 3/3: AM- Doctor's office for shots and back, like normal. 3:30PM- With Rob and Ken for the first part. 20' up, 6x75 seconds HARD up Summit- Bruce said run the hills "moderate" but you can't run up Summit Ave "moderate." You can't even walk up Summit Ave "moderate." Anyway, Ken ran the hills with us. Then we jogged back to the TTC and Rob and I spiked up for 6x500 avg 81 with 1:40 jog rest. We both thought this workout would be harder than it turned out to be. The first 500 was the worst, but then we were fine. Great to have someone to push with for once. 1mi down since I was rolling in miles today. Walking home from work that night at 9PM, my left achilles started whining a little. I iced it and begged God for mercy, and didn't feel it the rest of the night.
Friday 3/4: 12:30PM- 7mi before traveling all day. Sweet Jesus was I sore and tired from yesterday. Left achilles was complaining, uh oh. 9:30PM- 4mi easy with Owen from his place, achilles was quieter, but still wimpering.
Saturday 3/5: 4mi easy from Owen's place with his roommate, Eric, for some of it. The achilles was still whispering, so I didn't run my planned 14 miler, but I was pretty certain that it was doing better. I've never really had achilles trouble before, so I wasn't too worried as long as I didn't do something dumb.
Sunday 3/6: 36:30' easy from Owen's place again, solo this time. My achilles felt 100% and was displaying no creakiness before or after the run, so I figure I'm good to go. Like I mentioned, today's run was very good, so I'll probably go for some quality running tomorrow. My cautiousness cost me a long run and a one-day workout delay, so, overall, a tiny tiny cost for what could have been a big issue if I had let it. I swear I'm learning- it's only the rate that's questionable.
Total- 74 miles
Ok, everyone, time to start petitioning the weather to begin the en-spring-ening.
Here are some specifics:
Monday 2/28: 9PM- 3mi shakeout indoors, tired, but needed to get some junk out of my legs. Definitely settling into that "hard training" mode. 3PM- 3.5 up, strides, two sets of 600, 600, 800 and then two extra 600s with one lap in the green lane (236m, I think) after the 600s and two laps after the 800s. I was pretty tired today and didn't press very hard. Yesterday's triple wiped me out. 3mi down. Bruce kept asking if I was ok to work out, and I was, but boy was I tuckered out.
600- 1:39
600- 1:40
800- 2:20
600- 1:41
600- 1:40
800- 2:15
600- 1:39
600- 1:38
Tuesday 3/1: 9AM- 4mi easy indoors, very tired and heavy, but better as the run went on. 3:45PM- Downtown run with Ken, Chris, and Rob. Felt suspiciously excellent today, given how sore I was when I woke up and how sluggish the morning run was. 6:20s all day after the first 2mi, 57:30 total after a minute or two indoors for padding.
Wednesday 3/2: 7:30PM- 75' easy indoors, some around the track, some on the treadmill, some more on the track but more barefooter. Felt pretty good, the 24 hours off wasn't planned (skipped a morning run and practice to study for a macroeconomics midterm) but it was nice regardless.
Thursday 3/3: AM- Doctor's office for shots and back, like normal. 3:30PM- With Rob and Ken for the first part. 20' up, 6x75 seconds HARD up Summit- Bruce said run the hills "moderate" but you can't run up Summit Ave "moderate." You can't even walk up Summit Ave "moderate." Anyway, Ken ran the hills with us. Then we jogged back to the TTC and Rob and I spiked up for 6x500 avg 81 with 1:40 jog rest. We both thought this workout would be harder than it turned out to be. The first 500 was the worst, but then we were fine. Great to have someone to push with for once. 1mi down since I was rolling in miles today. Walking home from work that night at 9PM, my left achilles started whining a little. I iced it and begged God for mercy, and didn't feel it the rest of the night.
Friday 3/4: 12:30PM- 7mi before traveling all day. Sweet Jesus was I sore and tired from yesterday. Left achilles was complaining, uh oh. 9:30PM- 4mi easy with Owen from his place, achilles was quieter, but still wimpering.
Saturday 3/5: 4mi easy from Owen's place with his roommate, Eric, for some of it. The achilles was still whispering, so I didn't run my planned 14 miler, but I was pretty certain that it was doing better. I've never really had achilles trouble before, so I wasn't too worried as long as I didn't do something dumb.
Sunday 3/6: 36:30' easy from Owen's place again, solo this time. My achilles felt 100% and was displaying no creakiness before or after the run, so I figure I'm good to go. Like I mentioned, today's run was very good, so I'll probably go for some quality running tomorrow. My cautiousness cost me a long run and a one-day workout delay, so, overall, a tiny tiny cost for what could have been a big issue if I had let it. I swear I'm learning- it's only the rate that's questionable.
Total- 74 miles
Ok, everyone, time to start petitioning the weather to begin the en-spring-ening.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Keep it in the Family
Hello, Internet. The big news this week relates to me only tangentially. My teammate, junior Joey Greenspun, executed a well-run tactical race to win a New England Intercollegiate title in the mile. The time (~4:12.8) doesn't tell the story of a race that went out in 2:10.x and saw about 8 guys in it with a shot to win with ~150 to go. Once Joey made his move down the backstretch of the last lap, though, it was the Greenspun Show on every channel. I was kidding Joey earlier this week about "keeping the title in the family" since I won it last year, and the fact that a teammate won somewhat mitigated the sting of being unable to attempt to defend the title. Perhaps next year we'll a battle of two NE champs! (if we do, I'm going out fast- Joey's last 200 was like 27.9, I'm pretty sure, all in the last 135m)
My week was solid- plenty of running, a good workout, a bad workout, and an unplanned mishap that resulted in three runs totaling 18 miles on a recovery day (whoops). Here we go:
Monday 2/21- 3:30PM- 3 up, 4xmile w/3min jog indoors: 4:46, 4:46, 4:44, 4:45. 3mi down. I was just floating today, couldn't be bothered to go any slower. Tot 11
Tuesday 2/22- 10mi moderate, 62:30 with Peter and Eric, mostly. I had planned on running slowly, but we were having a good conversation and I didn't notice we were moving along pretty good.
Wednesday 2/23- 14mi easy solo around Fresh Pond 3 times from the track, no watch because I wanted to keep things easier. Verrry tired today, sluggish.
Thursday 2/24- 3:30PM- 7 miles easy including a pitstop at 5.5, 4x150 strides, 200 in 28.3, half-mile jog. I thought I was gonna to pass out on this run, had no idea how I could feel so bad running 6:45 pace, but after I stopped to use the bathroom, I suddenly felt like I could run all day 6:00 pace. I didn't, of course, but I was relieved to know I wasn't that tired, just. . . burdened. Too much information? Yes.
9:30PM- 4mi easy on the treadmill after work, felt really good but I was disciplined and kept the treadmill on 7:24/mile because the last 3 days hadn't been particularly easy.
Friday 2/25- 3PM- 4mi easy on the treadmill, started my planned tempo run at 3mi, ran a mile at 5:25 pace, felt crappy, figured I'd do it after the meet. (Day one of the New England Championships) 8PM- 3 up, 3mi tempo 15:4? (forget what it was, hit "Delete" instead of "store" on my watch- yes, I'm an idiot), 3mi down. Too tired to tempo right today, I was really hammering and you're not supposed to do that on a tempo. Long day, stressful week, yadda yadda yadda.
Saturday 2/26- 1:30PM- 3mi easy with the newly crowned NE mile Champ, didn't intend on doubling today but couldn't resist the shakeout. 8PM- 8mi easy, some with James indoors while he warmed up for a workout, last 40' or so solo on the river. Cut my planned 12 way back since I doubled and yesterday was a stinker, kept the pace real easy too.
Sunday 2/27- Ok, so here was the shitshow day. I did 6.5 or so with James and Ken on the river at about 1PM. It was perfect winter temperature, about 38 with minimal wind, but there was all kinds of snow on the ground due to a late night storm. It was well packed and not slippery at all though, so it was a nice run. Later that evening, I had planned on running about 7 miles to meet up with a friend of mine from Northeastern for dinner. It took me about an hour to get to her apartment, but I figured ah, no big deal, now that I know where it is, I know it's not much more than two miles from my place as the crow flies. Well, about three hours later, after dinner, I figured it'd be an hour on the bus to get home, 75 minutes on the T, or a 15min jog. I figured I could jog really slow and not be too affected. Well, I got all turned around leaving the Northeastern campus and ended up way the hell down on Mass Ave. I wandered around for a while before I found some direction signs to Fenway and made my way back to my apartment some 28min after leaving my friend's place. I ran at least 18 miles on the day, which is what I logged it as. I was shooting for 13 in two runs, but sometimes, things happen. In this case, "things" was my combination of confidence in my sense of direction and ignorance as to what Mission Hill looks like at night. Whoops.
Total- 89 miles
I am so very tired now, even a day later. And before anyone asks, I didn't go to dinner in my running clothes. I carried regular people clothes with me in a plastic bag, which was both annoying to carry and appreciated by my friend.
My week was solid- plenty of running, a good workout, a bad workout, and an unplanned mishap that resulted in three runs totaling 18 miles on a recovery day (whoops). Here we go:
Monday 2/21- 3:30PM- 3 up, 4xmile w/3min jog indoors: 4:46, 4:46, 4:44, 4:45. 3mi down. I was just floating today, couldn't be bothered to go any slower. Tot 11
Tuesday 2/22- 10mi moderate, 62:30 with Peter and Eric, mostly. I had planned on running slowly, but we were having a good conversation and I didn't notice we were moving along pretty good.
Wednesday 2/23- 14mi easy solo around Fresh Pond 3 times from the track, no watch because I wanted to keep things easier. Verrry tired today, sluggish.
Thursday 2/24- 3:30PM- 7 miles easy including a pitstop at 5.5, 4x150 strides, 200 in 28.3, half-mile jog. I thought I was gonna to pass out on this run, had no idea how I could feel so bad running 6:45 pace, but after I stopped to use the bathroom, I suddenly felt like I could run all day 6:00 pace. I didn't, of course, but I was relieved to know I wasn't that tired, just. . . burdened. Too much information? Yes.
9:30PM- 4mi easy on the treadmill after work, felt really good but I was disciplined and kept the treadmill on 7:24/mile because the last 3 days hadn't been particularly easy.
Friday 2/25- 3PM- 4mi easy on the treadmill, started my planned tempo run at 3mi, ran a mile at 5:25 pace, felt crappy, figured I'd do it after the meet. (Day one of the New England Championships) 8PM- 3 up, 3mi tempo 15:4? (forget what it was, hit "Delete" instead of "store" on my watch- yes, I'm an idiot), 3mi down. Too tired to tempo right today, I was really hammering and you're not supposed to do that on a tempo. Long day, stressful week, yadda yadda yadda.
Saturday 2/26- 1:30PM- 3mi easy with the newly crowned NE mile Champ, didn't intend on doubling today but couldn't resist the shakeout. 8PM- 8mi easy, some with James indoors while he warmed up for a workout, last 40' or so solo on the river. Cut my planned 12 way back since I doubled and yesterday was a stinker, kept the pace real easy too.
Sunday 2/27- Ok, so here was the shitshow day. I did 6.5 or so with James and Ken on the river at about 1PM. It was perfect winter temperature, about 38 with minimal wind, but there was all kinds of snow on the ground due to a late night storm. It was well packed and not slippery at all though, so it was a nice run. Later that evening, I had planned on running about 7 miles to meet up with a friend of mine from Northeastern for dinner. It took me about an hour to get to her apartment, but I figured ah, no big deal, now that I know where it is, I know it's not much more than two miles from my place as the crow flies. Well, about three hours later, after dinner, I figured it'd be an hour on the bus to get home, 75 minutes on the T, or a 15min jog. I figured I could jog really slow and not be too affected. Well, I got all turned around leaving the Northeastern campus and ended up way the hell down on Mass Ave. I wandered around for a while before I found some direction signs to Fenway and made my way back to my apartment some 28min after leaving my friend's place. I ran at least 18 miles on the day, which is what I logged it as. I was shooting for 13 in two runs, but sometimes, things happen. In this case, "things" was my combination of confidence in my sense of direction and ignorance as to what Mission Hill looks like at night. Whoops.
Total- 89 miles
I am so very tired now, even a day later. And before anyone asks, I didn't go to dinner in my running clothes. I carried regular people clothes with me in a plastic bag, which was both annoying to carry and appreciated by my friend.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Conference Meet
I'm in the middle of midterm season, and the fact that I'm not a diligent studier is biting me in the ass right now (hence the late blog). I have a Microecon exam tomorrow that's like 35% of my grade in the class, blech. Anyway, the last week was very good to me. I got in two good workouts and a moderate long run and got to watch most of my teammates set personal records or otherwise compete with distinction. BU placed third on the men's side and the 141 points my teammates racked up were the most ever scored by BU at the indoor conference meet. The women were a little more plagued with injuries than the men's team, but I do want to mention my friend Katie's solo 16:06 win and automatic qualifier for indoor nationals. Our coach summed it up perfectly when he called it "the perfect example of mind over matter." I don't want her getting a swelled head, though, so I won't say anything further :)
Here's what I did this week:
Monday Feb 14- 8AM: 30min easy indoors, outside pants were in the wash. 3:30PM: 3mi up, 4mi tempo on a measured two-mile section of the Charles, 20:13, out in 10:20 into a 20mph headwind, back in 9:53 same effort, but with the wind at my back, 3mi cool down. It was like 50 degrees out and I figured I could run a little under 5:15s if I was feeling good. I felt so good that I was sure the course was about 100m short (200 total, obviously, since I ran it twice) but a re-measure on mapmyrun confirmed it. It felt great to have some nice weather.
Tuesday Feb 15- 9:30AM: 4mi easy indoors, tired. I was more sleepy tired than fatigued tired because the heat in our apartment obeys no commands but its own whim, and so I didn't sleep much because the heater was imitating a wounded animal and keeping my room at a balmy 50 deg. Anyway, 3:30PM- 9mi to Fresh Pond and around with Rob, felt pretty good.
Wednesday Feb 16- 3:30PM: Too much homework for a morning run (worked Tuesday night and didn't get any school work done). A lap around JP with the Melon and Colin, plus two laps outside for 9, then 4x150 and a 200 in 28.9 with a few more minutes of jogging for 10 total. Felt tired on the strides, but that's to be expected.
Thursday Feb 17- 10AM: ~2 and 1/2 to the doctor's and back for my allergy shots. 55 out and you all better believe that no force of man or nature could wipe the shit-eating grin off my face all day today. I didn't have class, it was beautiful and sunny out, and I had not yet found out about the D on my Spanish exam (no me gusta). 3:30PM- 3mi up to Fisher Hill in Brookline, 8x60 seconds HARD up the hill with jog down rest. I ran to a convenient landmark on the first one, right at the top of the hill, in 63 seconds, and got down to 57 by the last one. Today was just one of those days, so I ran hard. 3mi down.
Friday Feb 18- America East Day 1. Lots of good performances. I did 10mi easy after the meet, mostly with another redshirt teammate, but some with cooling down DMR folk, too. Night runs are all well and good, but I wish I had woken up a little earlier to run before going to class all day.
Saturday Feb 19- America East Day 2. Even more good performances, which got me fired up to rejoin my friends outdoors. 3:30PM- After the meet I nipped out for a progressive 17mi long run. No watch, but I ran with some of the mid-D guys on their cooldown, pulled Bhatt along for about 10 and a half, then did the last 6 and a half solo, running increasingly faster as the run drew to a close. Part of it was coming home with the wind at my back, but it was funny how once I got to 13 miles, I just wanted to HAMMER. I've had some trouble with recovering from runs like that, though, and I tried to keep a lid on things.
Sunday Feb 20- 11AM: Snuck in 4mi before I had brunch with my mother, brother, and sister, who came down to visit me. We were celebrating my brother's 18th birthday and his decision to attend the University of Portland out in Oregon next year. As an approximately 4:30y/9:40y kid, he's not going to be having too much one on one time with the coach, but Kev met him on his visit and should be able to walk on. Hopefully he won't run afoul of roster limits or anything. I like what Connor has done with his athletes, and I hope my brother ends up one of those scrubs-made-good stories you hear about on occasion. At least it gives me an excuse to go out and visit him and run in Forest Park. 5:30PM- 8.5 nice and easy with James. There was a tennis match going on at the TTC, so I didn't get to do my strides or the short add-on I had planned to do, but I was hungry anyway.
Total- 90.5
A good week. All my best to all you folks readin'
Here's what I did this week:
Monday Feb 14- 8AM: 30min easy indoors, outside pants were in the wash. 3:30PM: 3mi up, 4mi tempo on a measured two-mile section of the Charles, 20:13, out in 10:20 into a 20mph headwind, back in 9:53 same effort, but with the wind at my back, 3mi cool down. It was like 50 degrees out and I figured I could run a little under 5:15s if I was feeling good. I felt so good that I was sure the course was about 100m short (200 total, obviously, since I ran it twice) but a re-measure on mapmyrun confirmed it. It felt great to have some nice weather.
Tuesday Feb 15- 9:30AM: 4mi easy indoors, tired. I was more sleepy tired than fatigued tired because the heat in our apartment obeys no commands but its own whim, and so I didn't sleep much because the heater was imitating a wounded animal and keeping my room at a balmy 50 deg. Anyway, 3:30PM- 9mi to Fresh Pond and around with Rob, felt pretty good.
Wednesday Feb 16- 3:30PM: Too much homework for a morning run (worked Tuesday night and didn't get any school work done). A lap around JP with the Melon and Colin, plus two laps outside for 9, then 4x150 and a 200 in 28.9 with a few more minutes of jogging for 10 total. Felt tired on the strides, but that's to be expected.
Thursday Feb 17- 10AM: ~2 and 1/2 to the doctor's and back for my allergy shots. 55 out and you all better believe that no force of man or nature could wipe the shit-eating grin off my face all day today. I didn't have class, it was beautiful and sunny out, and I had not yet found out about the D on my Spanish exam (no me gusta). 3:30PM- 3mi up to Fisher Hill in Brookline, 8x60 seconds HARD up the hill with jog down rest. I ran to a convenient landmark on the first one, right at the top of the hill, in 63 seconds, and got down to 57 by the last one. Today was just one of those days, so I ran hard. 3mi down.
Friday Feb 18- America East Day 1. Lots of good performances. I did 10mi easy after the meet, mostly with another redshirt teammate, but some with cooling down DMR folk, too. Night runs are all well and good, but I wish I had woken up a little earlier to run before going to class all day.
Saturday Feb 19- America East Day 2. Even more good performances, which got me fired up to rejoin my friends outdoors. 3:30PM- After the meet I nipped out for a progressive 17mi long run. No watch, but I ran with some of the mid-D guys on their cooldown, pulled Bhatt along for about 10 and a half, then did the last 6 and a half solo, running increasingly faster as the run drew to a close. Part of it was coming home with the wind at my back, but it was funny how once I got to 13 miles, I just wanted to HAMMER. I've had some trouble with recovering from runs like that, though, and I tried to keep a lid on things.
Sunday Feb 20- 11AM: Snuck in 4mi before I had brunch with my mother, brother, and sister, who came down to visit me. We were celebrating my brother's 18th birthday and his decision to attend the University of Portland out in Oregon next year. As an approximately 4:30y/9:40y kid, he's not going to be having too much one on one time with the coach, but Kev met him on his visit and should be able to walk on. Hopefully he won't run afoul of roster limits or anything. I like what Connor has done with his athletes, and I hope my brother ends up one of those scrubs-made-good stories you hear about on occasion. At least it gives me an excuse to go out and visit him and run in Forest Park. 5:30PM- 8.5 nice and easy with James. There was a tennis match going on at the TTC, so I didn't get to do my strides or the short add-on I had planned to do, but I was hungry anyway.
Total- 90.5
A good week. All my best to all you folks readin'
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sniffles and Valentine
How can I start this post with anything other than a reaction to Rich's destruction of the 4 minute barrier yesterday? Sweet Jesus, kid does a few 2:10 800s and keeps up with the strides and all the sudden he's running 3:58.2 indoors! Even stranger to consider is that the two guys in front of him are also in the America East conference. I picked a bad time to be out of shape and on the sidelines. Side note: the rabbit for the race was my roommate, James Weider, and his 1:58.1 half-mile was a personal best for him. Almost (but not!) lost in the shuffle was Rob Gibson's 14:18 5k PR near the end of the day.
My week was unfortunately not as stellar as many of teammates'. I mean, it was nothing terrible, but I picked up a little cold from my trip up to the mountains and had to take it real easy for a couple of days to nip it before it got worse.
Anyway, here's my log:
Monday 2/7- 5mi easy, partways with Matt and Eric, pretty stuffed and tired, but no fever or chest congestion yet.
Tuesday 2/8- 5mi easy on the treadmill after work, more fatigue, mild chest congestion, but feeling a little improved.
Wednesday 2/9- Nearly better, decided to take a day off to kick this thing before it got any worse. Chest congestion clear, not too stuffy, just tired as all get out.
Thursday 2/10- 10 hours of sleep later, woke up feeling like a million bucks. 3:30PM- 8mi easy/moderate, first 7 with Peter out and back on the river in around 45min, 52 min total after an easy indoor add-on. 9PM- Got sent home from work early, which was sweet, so I celebrated with 4mi on the treadmill at the indoor track, radio a' blarin'.
Friday 2/11- 8pm- God awful treadmill workout in the indoor track garage while the Lady Valentine meet was going on. 3mi up, 1.5mi avg 5:15/mile (going 2:40, 2:37, 2:32 for each half-mile), half mile jog, 4x400 at 4:39/mile with a quarter jog at about 6:00/mile, half mile in 2:40, stepped off the treadmill with a mile to go in the workout. Wasn't quite ready to push like that, oh well. Cooldown # 1 with my fellow Terrier Bree Potter after her 3k, then another cooldown after my old Keene teammate Paige's 5k. Bree didn't have the race she wanted, but Paige showed 2 weeks of running after being in a boot for 6 weeks was all she needed to dip under 18 with a 17:58. Unfortunately, Paige miscounted the laps and stopped at 4800, otherwise, she would have run about 17:52-3 easily. I watched almost the entire meet with Pete, the Keene coach. 11 on the day.
Saturday 2/12- 12:30PM- tried to do some homework before the guy's meet started. I failed, so I set out to do an easy 4 by myself. 7PM- 9 miles easy with Billy after most of the meet was over, with various teammates tagging along for various distances. Ruben Sanca was with us for a good bit, but didn't like my choice of route (mostly because I picked a route that was entirely ice, and a busted ass doesn't lead to any PRs).
Sunday 2/13- 3PM- 15mi easy, first 4 out and back with James, last part out to Fresh Pond and around twice solo. I didn't run with a watch, just started nice and easy and felt myself get going pretty good toward the back half of the run. I felt surprisingly good when I finished-- a little hungry, but not particularly tired. I debated going 17, but I had only planned on 15 and I think I'm tempo-ing tomorrow, so I decided against adding on.
Total- 61 in 6 days, one mediocre workout. I did core one day too, but, as per usual, didn't record which day. Wednesday, probably?
Anyway, have a great week, everyone. Also, I missed out on a bunch of great Terrier performances, and so I apologize to my teammates for not listing them all here.
My week was unfortunately not as stellar as many of teammates'. I mean, it was nothing terrible, but I picked up a little cold from my trip up to the mountains and had to take it real easy for a couple of days to nip it before it got worse.
Anyway, here's my log:
Monday 2/7- 5mi easy, partways with Matt and Eric, pretty stuffed and tired, but no fever or chest congestion yet.
Tuesday 2/8- 5mi easy on the treadmill after work, more fatigue, mild chest congestion, but feeling a little improved.
Wednesday 2/9- Nearly better, decided to take a day off to kick this thing before it got any worse. Chest congestion clear, not too stuffy, just tired as all get out.
Thursday 2/10- 10 hours of sleep later, woke up feeling like a million bucks. 3:30PM- 8mi easy/moderate, first 7 with Peter out and back on the river in around 45min, 52 min total after an easy indoor add-on. 9PM- Got sent home from work early, which was sweet, so I celebrated with 4mi on the treadmill at the indoor track, radio a' blarin'.
Friday 2/11- 8pm- God awful treadmill workout in the indoor track garage while the Lady Valentine meet was going on. 3mi up, 1.5mi avg 5:15/mile (going 2:40, 2:37, 2:32 for each half-mile), half mile jog, 4x400 at 4:39/mile with a quarter jog at about 6:00/mile, half mile in 2:40, stepped off the treadmill with a mile to go in the workout. Wasn't quite ready to push like that, oh well. Cooldown # 1 with my fellow Terrier Bree Potter after her 3k, then another cooldown after my old Keene teammate Paige's 5k. Bree didn't have the race she wanted, but Paige showed 2 weeks of running after being in a boot for 6 weeks was all she needed to dip under 18 with a 17:58. Unfortunately, Paige miscounted the laps and stopped at 4800, otherwise, she would have run about 17:52-3 easily. I watched almost the entire meet with Pete, the Keene coach. 11 on the day.
Saturday 2/12- 12:30PM- tried to do some homework before the guy's meet started. I failed, so I set out to do an easy 4 by myself. 7PM- 9 miles easy with Billy after most of the meet was over, with various teammates tagging along for various distances. Ruben Sanca was with us for a good bit, but didn't like my choice of route (mostly because I picked a route that was entirely ice, and a busted ass doesn't lead to any PRs).
Sunday 2/13- 3PM- 15mi easy, first 4 out and back with James, last part out to Fresh Pond and around twice solo. I didn't run with a watch, just started nice and easy and felt myself get going pretty good toward the back half of the run. I felt surprisingly good when I finished-- a little hungry, but not particularly tired. I debated going 17, but I had only planned on 15 and I think I'm tempo-ing tomorrow, so I decided against adding on.
Total- 61 in 6 days, one mediocre workout. I did core one day too, but, as per usual, didn't record which day. Wednesday, probably?
Anyway, have a great week, everyone. Also, I missed out on a bunch of great Terrier performances, and so I apologize to my teammates for not listing them all here.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Progress and a trip up North
Another late entry, internet. Here's what I got up to:
Monday 1/31 3:30PM- 8mi, out in 27min, back in 25:40, with Peter, Eric, and Matt on the river. 9PM- At the TTC. 2mi easy, 8x100 in spikes avg ~14.5 w/100 jog, mile total in 5:58, 1mi barefoot in the green warmup lane. Felt good.
Tuesday 2/1 3:30PM- 3 up, 3mi treadmill tempo 15:27, 3mi down. 9PM- 36min indoors with Krinjak, felt good.
Wednesday 2/2- 3:30PM- 7mi easy indoors with the gang, felt terrible, absolutely terrible. Not sure why, but the weather wasn't cooperating much. 9:30PM- Strength circuit at the track.
Thursday 2/3- 3:30PM- 8mi out and back with Rob on the river, terrible footing, but good run regardless, 59:20. 5x150 strides in spikes after, short cooldown for 9. 9:30PM- 4mi on the treadmill in the TTC, first 3 at 7:30 pace, last one in 5:50, last half-mile 2:40 or so.
Friday 2/4- 3PM- 4mi up, solo workout indoors. 6x1000 avg 2:55, 2:00 jog rest. I felt much better than expected and was pleased to get in 6k of quality. I ran the last kilo in 2:49, closing in 29.5, just for the joy of it. Otherwise, I was only looking at the watch at the end of each interval, because I hate knowing intermediate times. 3mi down, ending at Harvard to watch the Battle of Beantown. 9:00PM- 3mi easy with Joey after his race. BU lost to the Battle of Beantown (the track version of the Beanpot) to Northeastern by a single measly point. You better believe stuff like that keeps a redshirt up at night.
Saturday 2/5- 10AM- leave for Keene, NH with James. 3PM- 10mi in Keene with James, some with old teammates George and Adam. I ran James up Drummer Hill and around town for 72 minutes- we got caught in an ugly hail/freezing rain storm, and James was introduced properly to Keene winters. It's funny, on our way out to Drummer, I got a familiar "oh, shit" feeling in my stomach. It was an ugly kind of foreboding I almost didn't remember- the old "on your way to Drummer" panic. I laughed when I recognized it.
Sunday 2/6- 10AM- In-Town 5 easy (39:40) with Pete, Andrea, and James. It was really good to talk to Pete again. Funny how quickly we slipped back into old rhythms and jokes, but when you spend the better part of two years working with someone every day, maybe it isn't so curious after all. 9:30PM- 2mi easy, 4x200 on, 200 off in spikes on the track, 5:44 total, 31.2 avg for the on parts, 2mi easy barefoot, finished just as they turned the lights out on me. Looong travel day, felt a cold coming on, which I woke up to deal with full force today.
81 mi
12 runs
Back to the grind. . .
Monday 1/31 3:30PM- 8mi, out in 27min, back in 25:40, with Peter, Eric, and Matt on the river. 9PM- At the TTC. 2mi easy, 8x100 in spikes avg ~14.5 w/100 jog, mile total in 5:58, 1mi barefoot in the green warmup lane. Felt good.
Tuesday 2/1 3:30PM- 3 up, 3mi treadmill tempo 15:27, 3mi down. 9PM- 36min indoors with Krinjak, felt good.
Wednesday 2/2- 3:30PM- 7mi easy indoors with the gang, felt terrible, absolutely terrible. Not sure why, but the weather wasn't cooperating much. 9:30PM- Strength circuit at the track.
Thursday 2/3- 3:30PM- 8mi out and back with Rob on the river, terrible footing, but good run regardless, 59:20. 5x150 strides in spikes after, short cooldown for 9. 9:30PM- 4mi on the treadmill in the TTC, first 3 at 7:30 pace, last one in 5:50, last half-mile 2:40 or so.
Friday 2/4- 3PM- 4mi up, solo workout indoors. 6x1000 avg 2:55, 2:00 jog rest. I felt much better than expected and was pleased to get in 6k of quality. I ran the last kilo in 2:49, closing in 29.5, just for the joy of it. Otherwise, I was only looking at the watch at the end of each interval, because I hate knowing intermediate times. 3mi down, ending at Harvard to watch the Battle of Beantown. 9:00PM- 3mi easy with Joey after his race. BU lost to the Battle of Beantown (the track version of the Beanpot) to Northeastern by a single measly point. You better believe stuff like that keeps a redshirt up at night.
Saturday 2/5- 10AM- leave for Keene, NH with James. 3PM- 10mi in Keene with James, some with old teammates George and Adam. I ran James up Drummer Hill and around town for 72 minutes- we got caught in an ugly hail/freezing rain storm, and James was introduced properly to Keene winters. It's funny, on our way out to Drummer, I got a familiar "oh, shit" feeling in my stomach. It was an ugly kind of foreboding I almost didn't remember- the old "on your way to Drummer" panic. I laughed when I recognized it.
Sunday 2/6- 10AM- In-Town 5 easy (39:40) with Pete, Andrea, and James. It was really good to talk to Pete again. Funny how quickly we slipped back into old rhythms and jokes, but when you spend the better part of two years working with someone every day, maybe it isn't so curious after all. 9:30PM- 2mi easy, 4x200 on, 200 off in spikes on the track, 5:44 total, 31.2 avg for the on parts, 2mi easy barefoot, finished just as they turned the lights out on me. Looong travel day, felt a cold coming on, which I woke up to deal with full force today.
81 mi
12 runs
Back to the grind. . .
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