No pop or fizz

Saturday, 3/18-Went to the Y this morning with V.  Did 7:00 mile on donut track, 4:30 lift/stretch, 6:50 mile on treadmill, 4:30 lift stretch, 6:40 mile on donut track.

Friday, 3/17-Front Runners' Meet in NYC at The Armory. 
Met up with Rob, Bruce, and John at Home Depot in Willow Grove to drive up to NYC together.  Even though we waited for John to arrive and didn't depart Willow Grove until 4:20, we arrived in plenty of time, a little after 6:00 for a 7:00 start. 
Checked in and confirmed my events--400 and 200.
Did a quarter mile and stretched at about 6:45.
I chilled for a while.
After a total of three heats of the 1500, two heats of the 4x200, about 10 heats of the 60, and one heat of the distance medley relay, I warmed up some more during the mile leg of the DMR.  There was then the 800, only four total heats.   
I stretched well and lubed up with Icy Hot.

Eventually, I did strides and starts.
By this point, it was nearly 9:00.
With a seed time of 54.45, I was in heat 3, lane 5.  There was someone in lane 6, but I might as well have been in lane 6 since the guy on my outside didn't pull me through the first lap; I made up the stagger on him in the first 30 meters. Why do I always get an outside lane when I am at The Armory?  ARGH! 
At any rate, I was dealt a blow mentally and race strategy-wise. 
I was again too lax at the start.  My first lap was 26.5, which accounted for my underwhelming 55.36, nearly a second slower than what I ran at this meet last year and slower than my split at Millrose last month.  I was in search of 54xx., where my splits were 25.4x and 28.6x.  My first lap was all the difference! 


The 200 came up within 40-45 minutes. 
This time lane 4 would be my assignment, with the fastest in our heat (8 of 14) in lane 5.  I felt super flat with NO POP or FIZZ. More than a half-second slower than last year's time, my 25.43 was paltry.