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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