ease into the remaining five

Sun, 4/2-After a text last night from Bruce inviting me to the no-oval at Radnor, I decided to try my luck by attending the 8AM session.  The warm up was uneventful, and I wasn't quite as tight as I could have been.  On this 40-degree windy day, we decided to do 6x150.  The idea was to use the first run to ease into the remaining five, which were supposed to be about the pace of the second 200 of a 400 race.

run 1: 23.8 (warmup)
run 2: 21.9 (still easing into things)
run 3: 20.6 (pace of the second 200 of the 400)
run 4: 20.2 (pace of the middle 150 of the 400)
run 5: 20.4 (pace of the middle 150 of the 400)
run 6: 19.7 (pace of the first 150 of the 400)

get into great form

Sat, 4/1/17-

Left the Volunteer Summit at Swarthmore early to compete at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener.

I arrived at about noon and had to park across from Stetser Elementary School since the athletic lots were full.

I paid immediately and then met up with teammates before registering for the 400 and jogging around in preparation for the 1:30 race.  Chuck, John and I left our bags in the infield and made our way to the indoor track, warming up there.  With a seed the of 54.45, I'd be placed in heat 6 lane 5, to John's immediately right, as he was in lane 4.

Despite this cold and windy day (also wet from the deluge from the day before), I was pleased with my warm up.  I waited until the very last minute to take off all my gear.

Only four or five competitors comprised our heat--lanes 1, 2, (3), 4, 5, and 7.  I got out pretty well and caught the runner in lane 7 by the 100-meter mark.  The strong wind on the backstretch stymied me.  As expected, John caught me at the 200-meter mark.  At first, he appeared to overtake me going into the turn.  However, perhaps to his surprise, I went with him, bending into the turn as he did.  With 100 meters to go, I hung onto him, going stride for stride.  Clearly, he thought he was going to shake me off.  But, no!  At one point, we both sort of buckled under the weight of the wind.  Ten meter remaining, I made one last ditch effort to get him at the line.  It would not be so.  I posted 55.96 to JC's 55.93, disappointing times for sure.  I was hoping to run a second faster for sure.  (Chuck K. ran 59.58.  Wayne would later run 12.76 in the 10 meters.)

We hung out for quite a bit, even talk to Pete Carroll of Swarthmore for a while.  After quite a bit of time, I started warming up for the 200 meters.  I checked in and learned that I was in heat 12 (of 14), lane 5, with my seed time of 24.99.  At a later point, we had to re-register for the race, which needed to be re-seeded.  I wound up with the same heat and lane.

The wind and cold were still factors, but I was ready to "go under," you know, break the 25-second barrier.  There were six competitors in my heat.  I got out pretty well, catching the guy in lane six in the first 50-60 meters.  I could sense someone on my inside coming on.  As we hit the straightaway, I was flanked by two guys, one in lane 1 and the other in lane 8, who were well ahead of me.  They'd finish in 24.31 and 24.34, while I crossed in 25.06.  (JC ran 24.94.)

I have three-and-a-half weeks to get into great form for Penn.

A little (400m) math

Friday, 3/31-off

Thursday, 3/30-Went to Westtown School's track shortly after returning to town.  Decided to do some pace work via 100s.

I figured I'd do a few 100s, each progressively faster than the previous.

14.6
13.8
13.1
12.8
12.9

The last two were not meant to be all out; they were supposed to be a comfortable sprint.  In fact, in retrospect here was the meaning in all this:

14.6-last 100m of 400m race
13.8-third 100 of 400m race (second 200m in 28.4) OR
13.1-third 100m of 400m race (second 200m in 27.7)
12.8-second 100n of 400m race
12.9-first 100m of 400m race (first 200m in 25.7)

A little (400m) math:

25.7 + 28.4 =54.1

25.7 + 27.7 =53.4

(In the) short run

Wed, 3/29-Short run of 2M in 15:30.

tough day

Tues, 3/28/17- Florida

4M in 30:00 (pacing: 8:00, 7:40, 7:20, 7:00)

Mon, 3/27/17-

no workout; tough day in the household

I feel good!

Sun, 3/27/17

I wound up going to the Y.

6:55 mile on donut track
stretch/ leg lift (4:00)
6:50 mile on treadmill
stretch/leg lift (4:00)
6:40 mile on donut
stretch/leg lift (4:00)
6:40 on treadmill
arms only
6:25 on donut

I feel good! 

At my core...

Saturday, 3/25-Met up Chuck K. at Westtown School at 9AM for a good workout.

The options for today included:

4x200 in 28 (pace of second 200 in 400 meter race); 5 min rest 4x150 in 20 (pace of middle of 400 meter race); 4 min rest 4x100 in sub-13 (pace of first 100 of 400 meter rest); 3 min rest Or 2x450 (60' @ 400); 15 min rest 3x200 in 30; 3 min rest Or Sit 'n kick 5 x (400, 60 sec rest, 150, 1000m or 1200m jog rest -400s should be at pace of 2nd 400 of 800-meter race (64 for me) -150s should be close to 400 pace (20 for me) -1000- or 1200-meter jog rest should be between 8:30 and 9:00 We settled on the first option.   200s: 28.8, 28.2, 27.6, 28.0   150s: 20.6, 20.4, 20.2, 20.0. 100s: 12.8, 12.6, 12.6, 12.4 We kept to the rest period.  At my core, I know I can get back to 53.

Friday, 3/24-Ran easy 5M in 39:10, or about 7:50 per mile.

Thursday, 3/23-

"Worked out" with the track team.  The quotation marks are for the fact that the workout wasn't particularly great!

After warming up and stretching, I joined the crew that was doing 150s.  I did two with the group, confessing to them that they were actually doing only 140s!  We backed up about 10 meters and popped a couple in about 21.

I then joined the distance crew for 600s.  I completed one with Brandon, a freshman, and another with Elias.  I believe I did a third.  Who knows?  They were;t that fast, but they were tiring on this windy 45-degree afternoon.

I finished the workout with three 100s in 13-high, 13-mid, and 13-low.

And then we were off to spring break!