Saturday, June 28, 2014

It occurred to me that I forgot to breathe

Sat, June 28-en route to San Diego.  No workout.  My back is killing me!

Friday, June 27-took the day off.  Worked all day in the yard: flagstone retaining wall, flagstone walkway, digging, weeding, mowing, spraying, etc.  My back is really tight, uncomfortably so.

Thursday, June 26-went to Westtown School's track in the early AM (6:00, later than usual on account of my summer hours) for "pick up reps" workout.  As designed for a 2:00 800m high school runner, the workout is 8x400 with 90 seconds rest.  400 #s 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7 are supposed to be 70 seconds, while 400 #s 2, 5 and 8 are supposed to be in 63.  Since I knew I didn't have the guns to do this workout as designed, I made an important modification.  I turned the faster 400s to 300s.  I wanted these 300s to be in 47:48.  In the past, I've take three minutes' rest.  I kept this the same.
400: 34/71
300: 31/47-mid
400: 34/70
400: 34/70
300: 32/50-low (oops)
400: 34/70
400: 33/69
300: 30/46-high

Tiring!

Wednesday, June 26-easy 2.2M recovery run. 17:30.

Tuesday, June 24-left work at 4:30 or so for the meet at Germantown Academy on this 85-degree, slightly windy day.  Arrived just at about 5:15.  I changed into my gear and then registered for the 400 and 200, seed times 52.9 and 24.2.  I'd later change the 52.9 to 53, as I took a sneak peak of the entry cards and realized I could be in the worst lane of the fast heat with a 52.9.  I also noted that there were several times in the 53-second range.  I wrote second heat on my card.  And that's what I got--second heat, lane 4.

My warm up went ok.  My stretching went well,  I felt pretty good, although I was a little flat when I did my strides.

As I was stretching, Phil Reilly expressed that he was ready to run fast.  He and I chatted about a recent workout the he believed demonstrated his readiness for a 2:02 800 meter race.  He did 500m in 1:15, walked a 100 (1 or 2 minutes' rest) and dropped a 28-second 200.  After a 10-minute rest, he followed this effort with a 57-second 400.  I told him to let me know that next time he's planning to do this workout.  I'd like to try to push him and myself while I'm at it.  I think I can do it!

After 14 heats of the 100 and 2 heats of the mile, the 400 was up.  I watched the first heat as a spectator, sort of forgetting that I was up next.  Immediately when the heat was finished I readied my starting blocks.  After a minute or two, we were on our marks.  And then the gun went off.  I took the guy in lane 6 within the first 50-60 meters.  I was then on to the guy in lane 5.  I caught him in the middle of the backstretch.  I could feel the Penncrest guy to my inside.  So I surged.  Bad move.  I was pressing.  I tried to maintain across the third 100, but I could feel that something was wrong.  At the 300 mark, the guy in my inside pulled even and then passed me.  I could see the clock...40, 41.  I really began to struggle; I had hit a brick wall.  The final 80 meters would be ugly and the final 40 meters my worst in a long time: 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55.  I haven't seen my time, but I wouldn't at all be surprised if I didn't break 56!  This would be my worst time in two and a half years.  I think the last time I ran 56 was during the 2011-2012 indoor season.

Once I finished the race, I felt so terrible.  I could barely stand and my head was throbbing something terrible.  It occurred to me that I forgot to breathe during the race.  Stupid me!

Just to think, I thought that skipping the 100 was a good idea so that I could run the 400 fresh and not chance a short recovery time.  As it turned out, I would have had plenty of recovery time had I run the 100.  I should have run it.  Another bad decision.  Speaking if decision, I chose not to run the 200.  I left for home, sulking like a baby whose toy had been stolen.

UPDATE (7/4/14): I wound up running 55.63.

Monday, June 23-took the day off in preparation for the meet at GA.

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