Alumni Track Gathering

This past weekend there was a gathering unlike any other in Umaine Track history. With the creative thinking of some of the Alumni, a new Alumni group has finally been started. The goal of the group is to keep relations with new and old alumni and in the process have get-togethers and raise money to benefit the team. Pretty sweet idea. I will soon post a picture of the first gathering, which was a bowlathon. I will also say that I had the high score of the day, 193. Now if I had my boy Ryan's ball which is back in NY, the score could have been quite a bit higher. There were probably about 25 people that showed up, which on short notice, is a great success. Afterwards, we all went out and partied throughout Portland.


We started at The Great Lost Bear, and apparently this place is ranked as one of the top 10 bars in the country. They did not have pitchers of beer, but they did have TOWERS of beer which stood around 3-4 feet high. Pretty sweet. Towards the end of the first bar experience, Lansing and Guerette decided that they were gonna drive back to Worcester, MA, and we were none too happy. So a deal was struck where I would drink the last 1 liter and something of a TOWER right out of the spigget without stopping. I kicked the towers ass, but did not take into consideration of how I would feel 2 minutes after finishing that much beer. Long story short, I sucked it up and soldiered on.

Other than that, it is business as normal here in Maine. Its snowing now, and I have a feeling that the snow is not going anywhere anytime soon. It does look cool though I do have to say, hopefully the temperature stays above 0 degrees this Winter though....not looking foward to that.

Sun Dec. 7 - 1 hour 45 min. Around Orono/Old Town....snowing all day....easy run
Sat Dec 6 - 3 mile warmup, 1 mile tempo, 800 in 2:10, hard 400 and 4xhills, 3 mile cooldown. (5:20, 2:10, 55) It was a pretty easy workout.
Fri Dec 5 - 1 hour 8 min around town, strides and drills
Thurs Dec 4 - 6 miles then 21 minutes of Diagonals then 2 miles back to the apt.
Wed Dec 3 - 3 miles in the AM, 7 miles in PM
Tues Dec 2 - 3 mile warmup, 4 x 800, 4 x 400, 3 mile cooldown
(2:15,2:18,2:17,2:17)(62,64,64,63)

BACK IN MAINE

I decided that leaving NY on Monday morning would be best at around 5:15 am. I was thinking to myself, yeah there will be no one on the roads, I will flyyyyy up to Maine. I also forgot that I live in NY and there are always a ton of people on the roads. I also hit a ton of traffic in Mass. The drive, which consisted of 2 pieces of Chapati (Kenyan Bread) and 3 pretty big cups of tea, took about 7 hours with 3 stops (to get rid of the tea). I also stopped at Whole Foods in Portland, ME and grabbed some good veggies and 2 Growlers of Beer that had the type of beer written on the cap in permanent marker....so thats how I know its gonna be good. Once I got back up here I took a sweet 3 hour nap, and woke up to the final fight scene of Karate Kid II. The one bad thing about the nap was that I woke up when it was dark out and had to run in the dark, which is what I was trying to avoid the whole time. Then ate dinner with Brenna and Steph and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall....which by the way was friggin hysterical.

In the previous couple of days I worked a ton at the Bronxville Running Company and did my training. Nothing crazy really happened. I think that I started getting a handle on my gambling issues, and started cutting out all the sweets. I am trying to make a good start to the indoor training.

I ran a race the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Bronxville. It was the Katie Welling Memorial race and I won the 2.5 mile race, which was pretty hilly in the beginning, in 12:17. I really couldn't get into a groove the first mile but after that I was all set. I did get a sweet Silver Plate for winning.


Also while I was home, I was playing manager for the Kenyans. They would ask me to book their plane tickets to their meets on my credit card, which gives me bonus miles, and they pay me in cash. No big deal right? Well, when there is a mistake and you book the flight one week early and you don't know if it was your mistake or theirs, thats where it gets fun. I had to pick one of the guys up at 5:45am and he was like ummmmmm the race is next week. I went home and had to make sure that i cancelled the flight and rebooked for the next week. This was very stressful because I had to change the flight before the actual fight took off. Then I had to pay a $150 fee to change the flight. Let's just say I had a rough morning. I guess everything worked out in the end.

Mon. Dec 01 - 8 miles easy, after traveling to Orono and napping.
Sun. Nov 30 - 13 miles with Joseph, Elijah and Beau. Relaxed first half and balls out second half
Sat. Nov 29 - 3 mile warmup, Bronxville's Katie Welling Memorial Run 2.5 miles, 3 mile cooldown (12:17, 1st place)
Fri. Nov 28 - 1 hour around Bronxville and on the BXR path
Thurs Nov 27 - 3 mile warmup, 15x1 min on 1 min off at Vanny, 3 mile cooldown....The second half felt like balls and I had to convince myself to keep working.
Wed. Nov 26 - 6 miles easy
Tues. Nov 25 - Off - not feeling too good
Mon. Nov 24 - Off - not feeling too good
Sun. Nov 23 - 11 miles with Abiyot, Stephen, Stanley and Elijah. I was dying after 45 min, and don't know if it was because I hadn't eaten anything or just because I wasn't feeling too good. We were going at a nice comfortable pace for a while too, and when they picked it up, I felt terrible so I ran by myself for the last 30 minutes and actually had to walk once or twice. I think alot of it was because I didn't eat in the morning.
Sat. Nov 22 - 3 mile warmup, 4x1200-1300, 3 mile cooldown. I ran this with Elijah and Stephen. We ran a pretty consistent workout at the Rockies and the intervals were somewhere between 1200 and 1300 meters. I led the first 3 and then Stephen pushed a little bit on the 4th which wasn't really anything that I worried about. Afterwards I did 4 x 150 meter hill strides.

Back in New York for a bit

One of the major issues for me right now up in Orono is a lack of money. So on last Thursday I decided that coming home to work at the Running Company would be the best best in order to pay rent. Having $40 in the bank account is not necessarily the best thing. Running has been getting better over the past few weeks as well. I have been somewhere between 70-80 miles a week I believe. Nothing crazy, just slowly increasing the miles, and started doing workouts about a week to a week and a half ago. More tempo and five minute pace right now than anything. I am gonna focus on Aerobic strength over the next few weeks to few months with an emphasis on hills. I believe that hills really make me, personally, stronger than any other workout. Jeff Caron is back in New England and look forward to beating him in the first thing that I can think of. Most likely will be drinking related but not guaranteed. OK I will guarantee that it is drinking related.

I also think that since I have been home I have developed a smaller than normal gambling problem. I also think that the way to get out of a gambling problem is to gamble more.

Fri 11/21 - 3 pm - 10 miles on Colonial Greenway, 1 hr 5 min. 6xstrides
Thurs 11/20 - 8 am - 5 miles on OCA. 4pm - 7 miles on Treadmill at store.
Wed. 11/19 - 9 miles on Bronx River Bike path
Tues 11/18 - 6:30pm - 2.5 warmup, drills, 4x1200 (2:37-2:41), 3.5 cooldown
Mon 11/17 - 7am - 10 miles w/ Joseph, Stanley and Mike at Rockies, Pretty dam fast
Sun 11/16 - 9am - 16 miles with Stephen, Richard Kiplagat, Aidan Walsh and some other 2:09 marathon guy at Rockies. First part was pretty relaxed but then we hammered the second half of the run.
Sat 11/15 - OFF - Watched NCAA DI Regionals at Vanny
Fri 11/14 - 1 hour at Vanny with the Maine team
Thur 11/13 10 miles at Colonial Greenway, felt pretty relaxed after 7 hour drive back to NY
Wed 11/12 - 9 miles from apt in Stillwater. 4 min faster than normal
Tues 11/11 - 3 mile warmup, 1 mile 4:55, 27 min of 2 min on 1 min off, 3 mile CD
Mon 11/10 - 7 miles in AM with Donny real easy, 5 miles PM with Jette
Sun 11/09 - 14+ miles at Eagle Lake, Bar Harbor with Goode and Judson Cake, ridiculously hilly run, but I really liked it. Jette and Bridget came with us and they did their own run. Ate a very expensive breakfast afterwards.
Sat 11/08 - 3 mile warmup, 5x1000 (3:06) on Bangor track with Goode and Brenna, 3 mile cooldown
Fri 11/07 - 9-10 miles

Total Recall.....Alas this will not have Arnold

I will attempt to recall all the things that have occured in the past 3 months in the shortest time possible. 1st, I continued to run for 3 weeks after the Beach to Beacon, ran the 5 mile Club Road Race Championships at Central Park...26:20. Pretty sweet time for not really training and running at like 8am, but I did end up with about 12 NASTY blisters on both feet that were there for literally a month. I'm pretty sure in the month of August I picked up a slight drinking problem, but countered that with a large eating and running problem. I wasn't taking anything too seriously in August because on Sept. 3rd I was having my Deviated Septum fixed. 2nd issue: I had my septum fixed from the time I broke it in 2nd grade. I will be pretty dam honest and say that this procedure SUCKED. I will also say that the doctor who did it was one of the best in New York and he said that within his 30 year career with this, I was the 2nd person to have the complications that I had. 3rd Issue: Because of how badly deviated my septum was, it caused a blood clot to form at the top of my septum. This caused more bleeding, longer recovery time and numerous/extremely painful visits to the doctor's office. Hopefully I can get one or two of my pictures up. Pretty much I had thick long Gauze pads shoved up towards my brain at all times and when I went to get the blood clot taken out, he had to inject my Septum with novacaine like 6 times, then sliced open the septum then sucked out the blood clot.....NOT COMFORTABLE. Now it is November 7th, and I have to go back next week with the high chance that he is going to have to remove scar tissue...pretty excited about that.


Next topic: Orono. So I am back in the ridiculously large and underpopulated state of Maine to finish the last part of my Masters. All I have to do left is finish a small internship with the Maine XC and Track team. As of right now I have not done too much because there are already 2 coaches and there is only so much you can do in XC. It is definitely weird being back up here. Everything is as I remember: Quiet, slow and wooded. I won't lie, the first couple weeks up here were pretty cool because I was just running and exploring again and it was pretty sweet, but that gets old quick when you really don't have anyone to do this with. I more or less just hangout all day, get my run in and then don't hang out with anyone. I do talk to one or two people on the team on a frequent basis but the age difference is very apparant and those peeps are doing their own thing, which is cool, but sucks for me. Whatever. I will finish my hours and then figure out what I am doing. (This is the typical Mainer by the way)


Next topic: Running. So all I have been doing for the past 2 months is running, no workouts. It has taken me a while to feel comfortable with my running that I am gonna start attempting to do workouts this week and from here on out. I also am going to get a nice little blood test to see where my iron levels are, because I have not been feeling that good for the past few weeks and I have had issues with Iron in the past. One plus is that I get to run with Adam Goode on frequent occasions. The only down side is that it is usually at 6:30 in the AM. Goode on the plus note was just elected to the Maine Legislature this past weekend. Now if you don't believe the strength of Flannel and a beard, that is all the kid wore when he campaigned and waited at the polls. Its amazing. He is one of the positives of being up here, getting to run with him has been fun.


So I have been running between 50-80 miles a week for the past 5 weeks and plan on being consistent around 80-85 for the next few weeks.

Oh yeah, plus I have not really been making money since I have been here...subbing is on the block but have not been called to frequently. I am gonna be heading back to NYC for 2 weeks to do some working and then come back up. That will be pretty sweet cause I can run with my old teammates back in NY and they can kick my ass into shape.

Beach to Beacon

So this past weekend I was up in the upper upper Northeast, Maine. This was the weekend of the great Beach to Beacon. I got to see so many people that I have not seen in so long and it was tough leaving. The weather was pretty good for the most part, a little rainy on the race day but that helped to keep it cool. Anyways, despite a quick poop break after Mile 4, and not running for 3 weeks, I ran as well as I had planned on going. After the race we went back to Jeff Caron's parents place in Auburn and took pretty sweet naps while Jeff prepared for his annual Jeffapalooza. I will quickly take you back to two years ago where the party was first initiated. The party was rainy and 55 degrees the entire day, I was partying EXTREMELY, first one naked in the pool and then yelled at Sean Steinhagen for about an hour at the top of my lungs. So there were some big expectations...

This years party started pretty early, roughly 5pm with the arrival of Tony Morgan, Troy Irvine, Pat Guerette and Donny Dizzle. They went at the beer early, which led to much more fun night in my eyes. Maybe an hour or so later more people showed up and then began the volleyball. Tony and I lost to Kaili and Dallas, Kaili being a former Umaine dominator in V-ball. So there were no hard feelings. We partied all night and I can truthfully say that it was the most fun I have had in months, maybe a year. I was very sad to leave Maine, but its all gravy cause it had to be for now. I also did get to see LV and she was my partner for all the games that we played throughout the night. With a combined height of 12'5" we dominated and set a new standard about what it takes to win.

The next day was a rough one, but getting woken up to eat is always a great way to start the day....after a long slow breakfast I took a nap and headed off back down to Worcester, MA to hang out with Pat for the night and play video games. The next morning I was awoken by Pat @ 7 am cause he had caught a bat in his bedroom. It must have taken skill so I don't know how he did it. Now I am back in NY and getting back into the training and trying to get myself to be happy again.

Tues. Aug 5, 2008
45 min - OCA

Mon. Aug 4, 2008
45 min - BXR bike path

Sun. Aug 3, 2008
OFF

Sat. Aug 2, 2008
Beach to Beacon
2.5 mile warmup, 10k, 2 mile cooldown
34:09

Fri. Aug 1, 2008
4 mile run with Jeff

Thurs. July 31, 2008
9.5 miles with Josh and Jeff - Fells

Running is now on a Break

SO I have had a long period where I have not taken more than 1 day in a row off, since August of 2007. My training has been steadily declining and I feel that now is a good time to call it quits for the season. I am most likely going to take like 10 days or so completely off and just relax and then get back into some easy running for a while. I can't say that I am completely or remotely happy with how my season went. I raced just about 2 times, 3rd time ending abruptly, and just trained more or less all year. The worst part was the fact that I did not run as fast as I wanted to in the season. I was very disappointed with myself, but such is life.

I will have to reconsider my goals for next year and I will make 2 nice scheduled breaks after the seasons, so hopefully I can make it further in the year feeling fresher. This was a little bit of a transition year for me, coming back to NY and training with the Westchester Track Club and all the crazy runners here.

Also from June 28th - July 7th I was out at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR with Jeff Caron, Lansing, Ira, Fenton, Brendan Carr and many many others that we knew. It was friggin sweet being out there. All we did was run, eat, sleep and watch track......and drink. I will also say that probably one of the coolest runs that I have ever done was at the McKenzie River National Park I believe. We went for an easy 10 miles along the river, and it felt like we were in the EWOK Forest from Star Wars, it was NUTS. The trail would go along the water for a while then go back inland and then back to the water and so forth. Everytime that we got near the water the air temp cooled about 10 degrees at least and it was really awesome. The Men's 800 was the race of the trials with the Men's 100 also being unreal. So in retrospect, I was so happy being out there with everyone and wish that it did not have to end.

I am going to try to recall what my running has been over the last 5 weeks, I can remember the workouts no prob but the running might be tough.

Thurs. July 17, 2008
Off

Wed. July 16, 2008
Off

Tues. July 15, 2008
Off

Mon. July 14, 2008
Off

Sun. July 13, 2008
Off

Sat. July 12, 2008
3 mile warmup, 2x mile, 7x40 sec hills, 2.5 mile cooldown
4:43, 4:34
Felt ok, not great, it was really hot and I have not been sleeping very well the past couple of nights since coming back from Oregon.

Fri. July 11, 2008

Who cares if I like gambling

Wed. June 11, 2008
20 min warmup, 2x Vanny flats, 15 min cool down
7:14, 6:53

Tues. June 10, 2008
48 min with Joseph at Vanny
(ran early cause it was 87 degrees at 7am, rough start to the day)

Mon. June 09, 2008
Got a late start to the day, no running, 101 degrees throughout the day

Sun. June 08, 2008
10 miles with Bo up @ Rockies. Riduculously hot and humid at 10 am, 94 degrees and humid. Bo was not used to the heat and we had to pack it in early, and I will admit it was a rough day with the heat

Sat. June 07, 2008
Ran 5 miles from the store after working 8am - 6:30pm (sidewalk sale, absolutely CRAZY.....also 97 degrees)

Fri. June 06, 2008
1 hour run

Thurs. June 05, 2008
52 minutes with Joseph and Bo at Vanny (quick pace)

Wed. June 04, 2008
25 min warmup, 2x1 lap of Vanny flats, 20 min cool down
6:54, 6:59

Tues. June 03, 2008
1 hour at Vanny with Joseph

Mon. June 02, 2008
No run on (Calf was KILLING)Calf cramp in middle of night

Sun. June 01, 2008
12 miles from Teri's to Vanny

Sat. May 31, 2008
3 mile warmup, 2x80 second hills, 6x90 second hill, 1x50 second, 2.5 mile cooldown
Jeff came down to watch Reebok Grand Prix....nothing like missing a World Record cause you left early

Fri. May 30, 2008

Thurs. May 29, 2008

Wed. May 28, 2008

Tues. May 27, 2008

Mon. May 26, 2008

Sun. May 25, 2008
Off, BACK WAS REALLLLLL TIGHT

Sat. May 24, 2008
2 mile warmup, drills, Boston High Performance 1500
3:59....Got tripped up and thought I pulled something in my Hammy

Fri, May 23, 2008
30 min, massage, drove to Boston

Thurs, May 22, 2008
45 min

Wed. May 21, 2008
off, massage

Tues. May 20, 2008
3 mile warmup, 1 mile tempo, 3x90 seconds harder pace, 2x25 seconds quick, 3.5 mile cooldown

Mon. May 19, 2008
1 hour run

Gearing up

Things are gearing up and I am getting ready for the next few weeks of races. This upcoming Saturday I will be racing the Boston High Performance 1500 meters up @ Bentley College. Should be a good race and it will get me some more preparation for my race out in Cali in 3 weeks. I have been rolling along in workouts and runs. Right now I am working to make up some hours I missed and working to prepare for hours I PLAN on missing in the next couple of weeks.

I have begun my slow transition of moving into my new apartment with my new roommates. The past few nights we have eaten together and had a great time. I am really looking forward to the living situation. There will be great training, eating and conversations. It is a basic eating situation where we eat, meat, vegtables and Ugali (Kenyan cornmeal).


Sun. May 18, 2008
1 hour 20 min on Colonial Greenway

Sat. May 17, 2008
8am. watched Healthy Kidney 10k
1:30 pm 3 mile warmup, 4x400 58, 8x25 sec hills, 3 mile cooldown
(58, 58, 58, 58)

Fri. May 16, 2008 - 6:45am
1 hour run with Joseph at Van Cortlandt/ Van Cortlandt Golf Course

Thurs. May 15, 2008 - 6:45am
56 min run with Joseph @ Van Cortlandt
(Today was a ROUGH run, first time I had really run early in the am in a while, and first time doing the back hills at Vanny a couple times. Those hills are hard when your body does not want to run).

Wed. May 14, 2008
1 hour run from BRC on BRX bikepath

Tues. May 13, 2008 @ Rockies
3 mile warmup, 2 x mile, 5 x 300 (51 secs roughly), 3.5 mile cooldown
(4:54, 4:44)

Mon. May 12, 2008
50 min run @ Colonial Greenway (Saw some old couple getting it on in the middle of the trail)

My Trip to Hayward Field

So I set a new PR this weekend. 3:50.78 for the 1500 meters. Am I happy with that? NOT AT ALL! I felt I had a terrible race, and felt like crap too. Everyone says that you cannot be upset with a PR, but I disagree. I did not want to travel to Oregon to PR by 1 second. I am ready to run 3:47 and I had a bad race. I will start from the beginning of the trip first.


So I traveled out on Wednesday at 5pm from JFK to Salt Lake City. From there I met up with Jeff Caron and then we traveled to Eugene, OR. We shared a hotel room which was pretty cool cause it was right on the edge of campus, so the track was within walking distance. The next morning I went for a run with Jeff's teammate Mario on Pre's trails for an easy 30 minutes and did some strides (Mario was also sleeping on our floor). The scene out there was AWESOME. Everyone was really into running and really seemed to know their stuff, and the area was so runner friendly. The only downside I can see to that place is the winter being cold and rainy, but so is Ireland, and that is where I have thought of living. Pretty much we just hung out all day and walked around campus and checked out the Oregon chicas and drank Chai. It was a nice relaxing day. After our day hiking around we went and picked up Brendan O'Keefe at the airport cause he was also doing the 1500. We ate dinner later that evening and pretty much called it a night. Oh yeah, I also forgot that there was a moment of tension for me when I found out there was a "B" Section of the
1500 and that I might not be in the fast heats. It worked itself out and I was all set.

Race Day:
One issue that kinda sucked about the whole trip was the fact that we could not really sleep in past 6 am. The first morning we were awake at 5:30 and the second day was a late 6 am. SUCKY! So we went down and ate a nice big breakfast at Deb's diner which was like 4 buildings away, I also think that I ate a little too much. Like most people imagine, we went back to the hotel and pretty much did nothing. Ate lunch, then did more of nothing. At 5pm we walked over to Hayward and then I did nothing for the next 2 hours. It was a very productive day. Once it was time to warm-up, I got my ass moving and lightly jogged around the cemetery on campus for 15 minutes and then began my pre-race warmup. I however, did not realize that there was going to be a guest appearance at the meet that would throw my event back 25 minutes. Barack Obama showed up at the meet and delayed the meet 25 minutes. I think it is very cool that he showed up and supported the meet, but there could have been a better way of doing it then just showing up and messing people up who are planning on racing well. There were actually 400 meter hurdlers IN LANES, ready to run when he came on, and then they had to get off the track for 20 minutes. NOT COOL! Anyways, I was already pretty much done with drills and decided to wait another 20 minutes before starting my strides, cause I wanted to be somewhat warm when I started my race. I did not feel the best doing my warm-up or strides, not really sure why, but I just felt choppy. Once I got on the track and did a stride or two I felt pretty relaxed and said to myself that this will be pretty good. We lined up and BANG, we were off pretty fast and found myself in last place pretty quickly, which I had no problem with. I was in last place at the end of the first lap in 60.5, and when I tried to move up on the second lap I found alot of resistence from people in the back and couldn't really move, so I just hung out being patient. 2:02 at the half and tried moving a little bit to get into better position, but with no avail. I ran the 3rd lap almost in lane 3, the whole time I was on the far side of lane 2 and COULD NOT get around people, it was really annoying. 3:03 at the 1200 and I moved around a few people, but with like 150 to go I was already tying up and dying. So I walked home in 3:50.78, a new PR, but a shitty effort. I felt very tight and tired the whole race, not smooth whatsoever. I am not making excuses at all, just did not feel great and raced the best my body was letting me. It was just a little disappointing.

Jeff also had a rough day. He had not run the whole week due to extreme pains in his shins, which had been thought to be stress fractures at first. He toughened it out and tried to due what he does. He went through the first mile at 4:34 I believe, and then the shins kicked in and he was forced to back off. He finished up at 15:12, and for all of those who know Jeff, that is a time that happens EVER for him. He will bounce back and get fast again at his next couple of meets.

Brendan O'Keefe was 2nd in the fast heat in 3:40.9, which was a nice PR for him.

We went out afterwards and had a beer and some food then hit the hay cause we had a long day the next day. My flight was at 10:30am and I decided to go for an easy run with Mario before we left. So we got up at 6:50am and went for 55 minutes. We ran along Pre's Trails, out by Autzen Stadium, and then back where we ended up going to Pre's Rock, where he died. The hill to get there, SUCKED! It was very cool to see it though.


Sun. May 11, 2008
11 miles on Colonial Greenway (easy run)

Sat. May 10, 2008
55 minutes with Mario in Eugene, OR. Pre's Trail/Pre's Rock

Fri. May 9, 2008
Oregon Twilight Meet - 1500
15 minute warmup, drills + strides, 20 min delay, 3:50.78, 3.5 mile cooldown

Thurs. May 8, 2008
30 min + strides, Pre's Trail

Wed. May 7, 2008
30 min on OCA, 5:30 pm flight to Eugene, OR

Tues. May 6, 2008
3 mile warmup, 2x800 1x400, 1 mile cooldown, STOMACH ISSUES
2:10, 2:12, 65

Mon. May 5, 2008
50 minutes + strides BRX path

Sun. May 4, 2008
1 hour 15 minutes at Rockies

Coming soon to an Oregon track near you....

So I am leaving this Wednesday for my first visit to Hayward Field, and I am pretty excited. The past 2 weeks have been a little bumpy for me as far as consistency but nothing to worry about. I have just been feeling a little sluggish on runs and the past few workouts but I know after a few easy days I will be good to go. Once I came back from Boston I only had 1 day off in 11 days of working and I think that it made me feel tired without even really knowing it. So I had the past 2 days off which was nice and I am only working today and tomorrow. I am racing the 1500 and believe that it will go well as long as I follow my plan of hanging out the first couple of laps.

I will also be sharing a room with Mr. Jeff Caron at the Days Inn right next to campus. So I will be buying ear plugs for the loud noises that erupt from his mouth hole.

On Saturday I rabbited for Abiyot on my team in an Invitational Mile at a HS meet near here. My job was to take him out in 3:05 for the 1200. It was a cold, windy day but I still ROUGHLY did my job. I was planning on going through in 62, 62, 61. We went 62-63 for the first lap, 60-61 for the 2nd lap, so about 2:02-2:03 through the 800 and then he took off on me. Apparantly he didn't know that I was supposed to lead through 1200. Kind of a rough mistake for him, cause he came through the 1200 in 3:03 and then ran 4:07. If he had waited one more lap it might have been a little better, but who knows. So I kept going for a little bit trying to catch him, but at 1000 meters I looked behind me and saw that no one else was near and that it was pointless for me to keep going, so my job was finished. I also got $50 for doin my job which was nice.


Mon. May 05, 2008
50 min run BXR path and strides

Sun. May 04, 2008
1 hr 15 min run at Rockies

Sat. May 03, 2008
15 min warmup, drills, rabbited 1000 meters, 3 mile cooldown

Fri. May 02, 2008
50 minutes on Colonial Greenway Trial - strides

Thurs. May 01, 2008
Off

Wed. April 30, 2008
9 miles

Tues. April 29, 2008
3 mile warmup, 6 x 800, 3 mile cooldown
2:19, 2:19, 2:18, 2:18, 2:18, 2:17

Mon. April 28, 2008
8 miles

Sun. April 27, 2008
1 hour 30 min @ Rockies

Sat. April 26, 2008
3 mile warmup, 3 x 2 min hill, 5 x 1 min hill, 3 mile cooldown
Legs did not feel 100% today

Fri. April 25, 2008
1 hour run

Thurs. April 24, 2008
1 hour run

First Race of the Outdoor Season

Ok so on my last post I talked about how the competition down at the Larry Ellis wasn't going to be that crazy....I was wrong. In order to enter the race I had to seed myself at 3:50 for the 1500. I thought this was obsurd! Then I found out that I was the 13th seed in the 4th section, which I also found obsurd. Whatever, people like to lie. So I wasn't really too worried about where I was seeded, just annoyed that I was that far back with my seed. There were some really good runners at the meet. The winning time in the first section of the 1500 was 3:40 and three peeps ran that: Andrew Bambalugh from Georgetown (forgive the spelling, I don't want to look it up), Sam Burley and Matt Debole. I was real nervous before my race as well just due to the fact that I haven't raced in a while. Coach Mike and I talked the night before and we agreed that it would be best that I go out slower and come back harder since I have been working on a lot of strength work and not much speed work. He told me that it will feel fast and not to worry about that during the race. The goal was to hang out till the last 300 and then start picking it up and work hard the last 150 and try to win, where ever I was just to be in contention to win. The race SUPPOSEDLY had a rabbit from Iona who was supposed to run 2:02 for the half. He ran 58 for the first quarter then dropped out....WEAK. So I was 60 at the quarter and I actually wanted to be a little slower so I backed off a tiny bit. We were 2:04 at the half and somewhere around 3:07-3:08 at the 1200. I had slid up into 3rd I think with 300 to go and felt really comfortable, and with 200 to go I felt really in control and just took over the lead and cruised in to run 3:52.5. Aerobically I felt great, my legs felt pretty good as well but on the last 50 meters or so I could feel them, but I know it is because I am not used to that pace. I was happy with the results for the day and then went for a nice and easy 4 mile cool down along the river and then stretched out while watching Bobby Curtis run 14:02, no big deal. The weather was beautiful, sunny and about 80 degrees. I did my normal 15 minute run 1 hour before and then my drills, followed by 4 slower longer strides, and then a couple of quicker ones on the track right before the race.

The next day I worked and then drove up to Boston to stay with Jeff and watch the Women's Olympic Trials marathon followed by the Boston Marathon on Monday. It was my first Boston Marathon experience and I felt that it was AWESOME and worth the trip. I didn't sleep as much as I wanted to or eat exactly what I wanted but it was still awesome. Rich Heffron and Jay Lumpkins were staying with us and they were running on Monday. They both ran awesome! Jay ran a 35 minute PR and ran 2:28:15 good for 38th overall and Rich ran 2:45 while only training 20 miles a week for the past 6 weeks due to injuries. It was awesome to watch. Then I drove back yesterday afternoon and followed up my drive with a workout up at Irvington. My legs felt heavy but it still went well for having driven 4 hours right before a workout.

Next on the schedule is the Oregon Twilight Meet on May 9th at the University of Oregon. I am pretty excited for that meet, it really should be fun. Plus I am gonna be staying with Jeff Caron more or less while I am out there. We are on the same flight from Salt Lake City to Eugene and then will be in the same hotel. Hopefully won't need to mooch too much off of his team for rides, but the possibility is there.

Wed. April 23, 2008
9 miles easy after work on BRX bike path

Tues. April 22, 2008
DROVE HOME FROM BOSTON
3 mile warmup, 3x800 1x400, 3 mile cool down
(2:13, 2:10, 2:05, 60)
Legs felt pretty heavy from driving

Mon. April 21, 2008
OFF - watched Boston Marathon

Sun. April 20, 2008
13 miles @ Fells in Boston with Jeff, Nieskins and Lansing

Sat. April 19, 2008
Easy 1hr run, legs are a little heavy

Fri. April 18, 2008
LARRY ELLIS INVITATIONAL, PRINCETON NJ
1500 meter Elite, 7:20 pm, 13th seed 4th heat
3:52.5, 1st in heat, 31st overall

Thurs. April 17, 2008
4 miles + strides

Wed. April 16, 2008
1 hour on BRX bike path

Tues. April 15, 2008
3 mile warmup, 2x800 2x400, 4 mile cooldown
(2:07, 2:06, 59, 60)
Nice night, felt very smooth

Mon. April 14, 2008
8 miles + strides

Sun. April 13, 2008
13 miles w/ Bill on Palisades path in NJ over GW bridge

Sat. April 12, 2008
3 mile warmup, 3x2 min hill 5x50 second hill, 3x25 second hill, 3.5 mile cooldown

Fri. April 11, 2008
9 miles easy with Kirby at Rockies
Kirby raced at Bear Mountain and won the 10k in 52:15.....WOW that is friggin painful

Signed up for a few meets

Ok, so the other day I booked 2 plane tickets. The first one was to LA to race on June 7th at the USATF Southern California Championships, which was the first meet that I ran at last year out in Cali. The other plane ticket is for the Oregon Twilight meet on May 9th. The only worry that I have about the Oregon Twilight is that I booked a plane ticket buuuuuuuut I am not sure whether or not I will be accepted. Kinda risky, but I would think that my times are good enough, but I just have to wait to hear back.

My first race is lined up for next Friday down at Princeton at the Larry Ellis Invitational where I will be running the 1500. Should be a good opener, not too crazy of competition but should still be very good. Then probably one more, maybe the Yale Springtime Invite where I would run the 800. Then off to Oregon. The Oregon meet will be sweet cause I will be meeting up with Jeff Caron on the 2nd plane that goes from Salt Lake City to Eugene, then hopefully we will be staying at the same hotel which is right across from campus. I hope that everything works out with the meet because I am really excited thinking about it.

New news about my housing as well. In a few weeks I will most likely be moving into an Apt. in Riverdale down in the Bronx like 1.5 miles from Van Cortlandt with Stephen and 2 other guys on the team. The apt. is pretty kick ass, really roomy, ridiculously nice area, quiet and really close to great training.


Thurs. April 10, 2008
9 miles w/ Josh at Rockies at 7 am

Wed. April 09, 2008
9 miles by myself on Bronx River Bikepath

Tues. April 08, 2008
3 mile warmup, 2x1200 1x800, 4 mile cooldown
(3:26, 3:24, 2:05)

Mon. April 07, 2008
8 miles on BRX bike path plus strides

Sun. April 06, 2008
14 miles w/ masters crew at Rockies - legs were a little tired. Ran the hilly side of the park and were moving at a good clip.

Sat. April 05, 2008
2.5 mile warmup, 1200 tempo, 6x400 hills, 6x150 hills, 3.5 mile cooldown
Good strong workout

Fri. April 04, 2008
9 miles w/ Stephen at the Rockies - River loop - Strides

Thurs. April 03, 2008
9 miles

Back to the routine.....no more sickness

Ok so last post I put up involved a rough few days for myself, but everything seems to be back in place now. It was weird, I was sick on Wednesday and was cautious on Thursday so I took the day off, ran a steady 9 on Friday feeling very good, and then later that night I started feeling crappy again. So "the sickness" as I call it, hung around for a few days, but it was of a very low intensity after Day 1. Since it started catching up with me on Saturday, I decided to take Saturday's workout nice and steady and not really hammering. It was still a quality workout, but it was in control. Then Sunday was a nice easy long run with Stephen and Bob, but my stomach again was giving me problems and made me feel kinda crappy for most of the run. Half way through I had to take a pit stop, and from there on....MUCH BETTER. That was the deal breaker for that run. Once I stopped and got the bad JUJU out I felt much better. We went for a solid 1 hour 30.

Afterwards we joked around and stretched which was then followed up by a kick ass massage. In the past, all the massages I have ever received from women have really lacked in relation to how deep I want them to go on my legs. So I went to a local woman that many people have recommended from the Westchester Track Club, Julie McElroy, and she was PHENOMENAL. She really did an extensive job on my legs, and it was at a really good intensity. It lasted probably like an hour and 20 min, which consequently made me late to brunch with the boys, but it was well worth being late.

Monday was another day that I ended up taking off becuse it was supposed to be Yankee's Opening Day. We got down there nice and early and were tailgating in the parking garage next to the stadium with the DIEHARDS. Every few minutes there was another chant or cheer going out. Such as PAPI TAKES IT UP THE ASS DOO DAA DOO DAA....and so forth. However since the sky pissed all day the game was postponed till Tuesday night at 7:05pm. This presented a problem for me since my workouts are usually Tuesday night at 6pm. I called Barnow and told him that I would workout with the guys from the Bronx on Wednesday morning at Van Cortlandt, and he was cool with it and told me to enjoy the game, which I did. YANKS won 3-2 over the Blue Jays. It was a kick ass game, and was very happy to be able to attend the last ever opening day at the current Yankee Stadium.

So this morning I woke up and ran a nice workout with Abiyot at Vanny in which he kicked my ass. His workout was a 3 lap loop of the flats, with each loop being 1.5 miles. My workout was do one loop with him, jog till he finished the 2nd loop and then do half of the loop on his 3rd. The first words from Barnow to Abiyot were "don't kill Paul on the first one Abiyot". Thats when you know its gonna be a quality workout. First I will start by saying that Abiyot ran his 4.5 miles in 21:30....yeah so that is pretty dam quick by yourself and with 30 MPH WINDS!!! Ok so we ran the first loop together and it was 7:30 for the 1.5 miles, which was a nice tempo pace, especially dealing with the winds and being in trainers. Then having him HAMMER me on his 3rd loop. It was good to get my ass kicked cause it made we work hard and will make me work harder. After all that we did 2 x 2min at a good clip. He dropped me on the 2nd one....Awesome. Next time I will be in light weight trainers, not those bricks that I wear for everyday runs. All and all a good workout, which was followed up by a nice day at work. First Outdoor race??? In a couple of weeks, not 100% where yet but it will be in a few weeks.

Wed. April 2, 2008
3 mile warmup, 1.5 miles (7:30), 7 min jogging, 4 min hard, 5 min jogging, 2 x 2 min with 2 min jogging in between.

Tues. April 1, 2008 (Yankee game)
58 min @ good clip on Railroad bed Vanny

Mon. March 31, 2008
Off

Sun. March 30, 2008
1 hour 30 min with Stephen and Bob at Rockies
(Stomach still a little messed up)

Sat. March 29, 2008
2.5 mile warmup, 4 x 90 second hills, 5 x 60 second hills, 2.5 mile cooldown
(stomach was bothering me still)

Fri. March 28, 2008
1 hour at a nice pace at the Rockies with James

Thurs. March 27, 2008
Off (Sick yesterday)

Nothing Like Catching Something

So Yesterday morning I woke up for my normal 1 hour morning run with Josh before work. Well I only went about 32 minutes. During the run I started getting more and more tired, my stomach became mroe and more unsettled and just overall started feeling shitty. So I decided to cut it short today and cut my loses, well that wasn't really the start of my loses. The routine on Wednesday mornings usually consist of Josh and I running, going to my house, eating breakfast and showering up for work and leaving by 9:40am. Today we got back to the house a little early from cutting the run short, and as soon as I got home it started hitting me. I began getting real dizzy and nauseated. So natural things happened from that point, which I call puking and the Black Crap of Death. Naming those things should be good enough for visual interpretation. So at about 8:30am I gave Josh my car keys and told him to stay as long as he wanted to because I was going to bed and not to work today. I then went upstairs and slept for a good 6 hours straight. I was not hungry, not thirsty, only a dead weight in my bed. I woke up at like 2:30 and began to move around, and by move around I mean I went down to the basement with gatorade and watched my 40" TV while laying on the couch. So eventually I ate some toast and honey, then some eggs and toast, which was followed later by; you guessed it, toast. By the end of the night I was feeling a lot better and ready to rejoin the world, and by that I mean play video games.

I am not really sure what did that to me yesterday. It could have been a 24 hour bug or some new honey that I had tried the night before. I know your thinking well its only honey. Well this was as raw as honey can get; I mean it still had the pollen and honeycomb on it. So in my opinion it was one or the other. Either way I am feeling better today, but might still take the day off to fully regain my strength.

Other than that running has been going well, and there is an option of racing next Saturday down at Duke for the Duke Invitational. Other than that things are pretty much the same, Easter came and went, Spring is coming quick and racing is gonna be here soon. I have no idea what kind of shape I am in, I feel strong, but not fast yet, which is alright with me at this point. I am not hurt and my body actually feels pretty dam good. Now if I can only sack up and do all my strengthening stuff after work I will be a lot happier. Mileage you can probably figure out if you read the blogs is roughly around 70 miles a week, sometimes a little less if I take a day off or if I am dying with Honey poisioning.

Wed. Mar. 26, 2008
32 minutes easy (Sick)

Tues. Mar. 25, 2008 - 35 degrees and VERY windy
3 mile warmup, (1200, 2x800, 400), 3 mile cooldown
(3:34, 2:13, 2:13, 60)

Mon. Mar. 24, 2008
50 minutes at a steady clip - Bronx River bike path

Sun. Mar. 23, 2008 ( Easter Sunday )
1 hour 15 minutes at Kensico Dam

Sat. Mar. 22, 2008
2.5 mile warmup, 2x2min hill, 5x80sec hill, 3x40sec hill, 3.5 mile cooldown

Fri. Mar. 21, 2008
1 hour 9 minutes with Stephen and James at Rockies, Felt really relaxed and had great run.

Thur. Mar. 20, 2008
1 hour run

Wed. Mar. 19, 2008
1 hour run with Josh - Other side of Rockies, hilly side

Tues. Mar. 18, 2008
3 mile warmup, 1 mile tempo, 4x800, 3 mile cooldown
800's were supposed to be 2:18, 2:18, 2:15, 2:15, with a slower first lap and a quicker 2nd lap, like normal. It was pretty windy and we were a little slower on the first couple. (2:21, 2:20, 2:18, 2:11)

St. Patty's

So yesterday was St. Patty's and it was a grand old time down in the city. The festivities started the night before at Rory Dolan's down on McLean ave in Yonkers, right down the street from my house. There was a band from Dublin that was playing, the Dublin City Ramblers, and a couple of us got together and had great hoolie. The band was all Irish folk music, and they had some great sing along Irish tunes that most people in the bar knew. The only problem for most of the guests was the Irish Brough. The band threw it on thick and most people just smiled and tried to sing along, but all the locals knew what was goin on.

St. Patty's consisted of Matt Longarzo and myself going down to the parade at 10 am and pretty much partying all day. We met up with Matt Ellis at 4pm at his place, played some Halo 3 and POUNDED some beers. Matt Longarzo on the other hand took a small nap and woke up feeling terrible, so that pretty much ended his good times for the rest of the day. After some sweet sweet games we took of for the bars to meet up with the Kev, Chris and Mateo. I was very impressed, Matt Ellis got a girls number, but we shall see how that works out.

I also took yesterday off, it was nice.

Sun. Mar 16, 2008
13 miles with Bill Grogan

Sat. Mar 15, 2008
2.5 mile warm up, 3x1200 4x250 meter hills, 3.5 mile cool down
Ran at the Rockies (3:31, 3:31, 3:21)

Fri. Mar. 14, 2008
9 miles

Thurs. Mar. 13, 2008
Publish Post
9 miles

Wed. Mar. 12, 2008
9 miles with Josh

Tues. Mar. 11, 2008
3 mile warm up, 10x400 w/ 200 meter jog, 3 mile cooldown
(66, 64, 64, 64, 64, 64, 64, 63, 62, 61) Pretty windy out on the track and fairy chilly, but I felt alright.

Mon. Mar. 10, 2008
Off

Sun. Mar. 09, 2008
13 Miles w/ Stephen and Ross

Sat. Mar. 08, 2008
3 mile warmup, 2 x mile, 4 x 400 hill, 4 x 300 hill, 3 mile cool down
(5:00, 4:53)

Not so early today

Fri. Mar. 07, 2008

5pm - 10 miles w/ Steve

Yeah so I woke up at like 6am and was like F this, so I changed the alarm to 8. It was a very good move on my part. I had to go into work a tiny bit early cause of shipments and other crap, so I did, not too happy about it but whatever. Did a bunch of stuff around the store then at 4 I took off to go run at the Rockies with Steve Chemlany. We had a good run at a good clip. Then tonight was Greg Longarzo's bday, so we pulled the typical went over and played video games....I kicked his ASS in the first fight of Fight Night...not so much the next one.

Good Things are happening

The only thing that kind of sucks about the running right now is that I have to do most of my runs at 6:30 am. Not gonna lie, it is tough to get yourself moving for 9 miles when you really don't want to. The few good things that I see about working out that early in the morning are: The run is over for the rest of the day, I can eat what I want for the rest of the day and not worry about an upset stomach during a run, and it keeps me modest on days that I know I should run easy....because its 6:30 in the morning. Like I said in my last post, I have only been running once a day for a little while and I feel that it has really been making me feel better. I also finally got a massage yesterday for the first time in like 5 months...not gonna lie though, $125 IS A LOT OF MONEY. It was good but not $125 good.

Also since the last post, I was able to run at USA Indoor Nationals in an Exhibition race, the DMR. I didn't know what to expect since I have done NO speed work, but I was feeling fairly strong. So the couple of us that went up were myself, James Kopcsky, John Byrnes and Abiyot Endale. John has run 1:50 for the half when he was at Seton Hall, James has run 4:16 for the mile and Abiyot has run 3:57 for the mile, 7:45 for 3k and apparantly I just found out placed 11th in either the 2003 or 2004 WORLD XC 4K Championships....NO BIG DEAL. We stayed up in Bean Town the day before at the athlete hotel and it was pretty nice. So race day, I ran the 1200, James the 400, John the 800 and Abiyot the 1600. Now before I talk about it, the teams in the race of being note-worthy were University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin and the Oregon Track Club Elite. Before the race I listened to alot of jabber about how these team wanted to go for the Indoor World Record....I am so mad at myself for listening to this garbage. Totally took me out of my game and this shit will never happen again. I don't know why I even THOUGHT about listening to people before a race. So the race went off and I ran between 3:01-3:02 for the 1200, not bad considering no speed work, James ran 51-52, John ran 1:57 and he was not happy with his performance, and Abiyot ran 4:11 because the next closest person ahead of him was like 80 meters. The leaders splits were 2:56, 47, 1:47 and right around 4 minutes. We ended up 4th with 10:03. Not terrible but definitly not even close to our potential. Then we got to watch the rest of the sweet National Champs.

Since then I have been thinking about my training and workouts and everything that I need to focus more on everythign to bump my performances up to another notch. I have really been focusing on the eating and rest aspect more lately and running in the AM really makes me focus on that as well. So here is all teh running that I have forgotten to post in the past 2 weeks.


Thurs. Mar. 06, 2008
7-8 miles in the AM @ Saxon Woods park

Wed. Mar. 05, 2008
9 miles in the Am @ the Rockies, a little sluggish from the workout last night
PM massage

Tues. Mar. 04, 2008
3 mile warmup, 3 x mile, 2 x 200 strides, 3 mile cooldown
4:54, 4:47, 4:37...felt really comfortable

Mon. Mar. 03, 2008
9 miles in the AM @ Saxon Woods Park

Sun. Mar. 02, 2008
13 miles in Am @ the Rockies w/ Stephen and Ross

Sat. Mar. 01, 2008
3 mile warmup, 8 x 400 hills at Sleepy Hollow HS, 4 mile cooldown

Fri. Feb. 29, 2008
9 miles easy pace

Thurs. Feb 28, 2008
9 miles easy pace

Wed. Feb 27, 2008
9 miles easy pace

Tues. Feb 26, 2008
3 mile warmup, 4-4.5 mile tempo run at the Rockies, 3 mile cooldown. The weather was REAL SHITTY....cold, really rainy and the footing was all slush and ice....Not too much fun.

Mon. Feb 25, 2008
9 miles nice and easy

Sun. Feb 24, 2008
15 min. warmup, 1200 in DMR - 3:01-3:02, 5 miles easy running
USA Indoor Nationals - Reggie Lewis Center, Boston, MA. 3:25pm

Sat. Feb 23, 2008
Easy 4 miles with John and Abiyot plus 4 strides.

Easy day at Work

Fri. Feb. 22, 2008

So right now I am just hangin out at work reading a kick ass book and about to go eat lunch. I haven't written in a few days, which has been the common thing as of late. I was going through a rough patch with my training over the past few weeks and I feel myself coming out of it. I was doubling every week day since last year and when I upped my mileage upon coming home from Cali I took a nose dive. I felt great for a while but the lack of rest really caught up with me. So I talked to my coach Mike Barnow and figured out that I needed to back off a little bit and stop the two a days for a while. I also had a run where I talked out loud to myself trying to figure out what was wrong with me. After some blood tests and everything else turned out normal, the only other logical explanation was that I was probably a little overtrained. I was having the most difficult time waking up in the morning. Coming from my past of running all my runs at around 6:30 pace or better, I was now having a hard time running like 7-7:30 pace for even 3 miles. So I now am running about 65 miles a week and I am really starting to feel better. My eating has been able to be controlled and everything is looking up. This sunday I was also informed that I will be competing at USA Nationals in the DMR. Obviously it is not an individual event, seeing as if I did not race yet this indoors, it will nonetheless be an awesome/fun experience.

Also, Jeff Caron is over in Ireland racing for Team USA which I am pretty jealous about. No big deal, I will turn the tides over our rivalry somehow and sometime soon. He right now though has the upper upper hand.

Also it is snowing and the weather is pretty crappy so I will see if I will be running today or just taking it easy before my race on Sunday.

Also alot of my run have been taking place up at the Rockies after work which requires me to wear a headlamp. The trails are pretty even and there is not much concern for rocks and roots, but there are still some rocks. The only thing I think I really have to worry about is running into some pissed off/scared deer and hungry Coyotes.

Thurs. Feb. 21, 2008
1 hour run at Rockies with a headlamp

Wed. Feb 20, 2008
1 hour run at Rockies with a heaplamp

Tues. Feb 19, 2008
Irvington HS track
20 min warmup, 7x400, 20 min cooldown
66, 64, 63, 62, 62, 62, 62

It was a solid workout, and it was tough to hit the splits in the beginning cause it was cold out and we were not used to that fast of a pace with heavy clothes on.

Mon. Feb 18, 2008
1 hour run at Van Cortlandt in the morning before work

Sun. Feb 17, 2008
1 hour 30 min at the Rockies with Stephen Chemlany and the boys.
This was a nice and relaxed pace, Stephen and I chatted alot about upcoming races and previous ailments....apparantly he was also Iron deficient...Its nice to see that I am not the only one to go through that. We also agreed that we never want to go through that again.

Sat. Feb 16, 2008
2.5 mile warmup, 1.25 mile tempo, 3x400 hill 3x300 hill 3x250 hill, 3.5 mile cooldown
Tonight I went to Madison Square Garden and watched St. John's get destroyed by Villanova with Rebecca. We had some kick ass seats in the 5th row, aaaaathank you.

Fri. Feb 15, 2008
1 hour run before work, Met with Dr. Ruck in the am. A.R.T.

Thurs. Feb 14, 2008
1 hour run

Wed. Feb 13, 2008
1 hour run

Tues. Feb 12, 2008
Practice was cancelled tonight because of the shitty weather, so we ran for an hour at the Rockies with headlamps. It is awesome becuase of the scenery and how even the paths are.

Mon. Feb 11, 2008
Offf, Hamstrings were real tight

Just catching up

Ok so I am just gonna go down the list of miles since i have been terrible at keeping up. PS I have been feeling terrible running for the past month, so I have decided to back of a little bit which means no more long runs for a little bit.

Sun. 02/10/08
13 miles with Stephen Chemlany at a descent clip. My Hamstrings were sore as hell from the race.

Sat. 02/09/08
2 mile warmup, 800 leg of DMR, 3 mile cooldown
1:55
4 mile run later in the day

Fri. 02/08/08
Off

Thurs. 02/07/08
3 miles am
5 miles pm

Wed 02/06/08
9 miles at Rockies

Tues. 02/05/08
3 mile warmup, 5x800, 2.5 mile cooldown
2:19, 2:22, 2:16, 2:16, 2:11

Mon. 02/04/08
9 miles

Sun. 02/03/08
13 miles at the Rockies nice and easy with the boys

Sat. 02/02/08
2.5 mile warmup, 5x400 hills and 3x300 hills, 2.5 mile cooldown

Fri. 02/01/08
7 miles

Thurs. 01/31/08
easy 8 miles

Thats all i remember

Another not so good one

Thurs. Jan. 24, 2008

7am - 4 miles

Worked all day and planned on taking the rest of the day off so I think my body needed the rest in the afternoon.

I also made some kick ass Chai this morning. I was pretty excited about it.

Maybe I will share the recipe if I feel it is worthy after a few more trials.

Slow day for this guy

Wed. Jan 23, 2008

7 am - 3 miles (pretty easy)
7pm - 7 miles (probably pretty easier)

My legs didn't feel the best today so I just took it easy and did some easy miles. I haven't taken an off day in a couple of weeks so tomorrow might be the day.

Worked at the Greenwich store for the rest of the day and just hung out.

Workout

Tues. Jan. 22, 2008

9am - 4 miles
6pm - 3 mile warmup, 4x1200, 3 mile cooldown
The 1200's were supposed to be (72,71,70) (72,71,69) (72,71,68) (whatever I could do)

The first two started out a little slower, I think I was about 3:37, then 3:34, then 3:28. Coach Mike came up to me after the 3rd one and asked how I was doing, and truthfully my legs were pretty tired. He said if I couldn't do the 4th one faster than the 3rd that it wasn't worth doing. So instead he had me do an 800. It went 69, 65. It was nice changing the workout a little. Hopefully this won't have to happen very often. The weather was also about 28 degrees but it wasn't too bad.

13 miles today

Martin Luther King Day

Mon. Jan. 21, 2008

11am - 11 miles

Ran at the Rockies with Jon and James for an easy 5 miles, then met up with Joseph, one of the Kenyans on the team, and finished another 6 with him. He is a super nice guy and for a while we were going nice and easy and talking. After about 3 miles we started hammering and it was alright but I truthfully didn't want to hammer. Anyways we finished up and then afterwards I went to meet up with the boys at the El Dorado diner in Tarrytown.

Took a nap later in the day, then played video games. Good day.

Football day

Sun. Jan. 20, 2008

Noon- 15 miles at the Rockies

I met up with Jon Byrns at the Rockies and we went for an easy run. He ran about 10 and I tacked on a few more miles. I think we were cruising at a comfortable pace. The weather was a bit chilly at around 20 degrees, but not too bad. Afterwards I went out to eat a little lunch with Ryan and Kevin at Eileen's Country Kitchen on McLean.

Also today were some big football games, so after lunch I headed to Kevin's house in Woodlawn and watched the games for the rest of the afternoon. Most people would call this a very slow boring day....I couldn't have been happier.

Hills

Sat. Jan. 19, 2008

9:30am - 2.5 mile warmup, 1 mile tempo, 8x300 meter hills, 4 mile cooldown

Jeff came with me today up to the Rockies to do some running but he was only going for an easy run because he is racing tomorrow at the GBTC Invite . SO we got there and met with coach Mike and talked for a few minutes and met some of the new teammates that I never saw before. I will say some of the chicas are cute.

The Tempo mile was 5:02 and then the 300 hills were 51, 51, 50, 50, 50, 49, 49, 49. Didn't feel 100% again but I felt alright. I didn't try to kill myself on the hills either, I just wanted to put in the good work.

After the workout we came back to the house and I cooked some delicious steel cut irish oatmeal...I will put up a pic of what it looks like. Then headed down to the Armory to watch the New Balance Games and Jeff's teammate Jess Minty run in the professional mile. It was really cool to see her lined up against so many good girls....and my secret woman, Sara Bei....thats right BEI not HALL, in my mind she is still available. Her race didn't go as well as she had wanted but she still ran good for a season opener, 4:49. Then my teammate Abioyot Endale ran the men's race and ran 4:04.

Afterwards we headed to Coogan's pub to grab some food with the other athletes. I got a burger. After that Jeff and Jess took off back to Bean place and I went up to Nuge's to play UNO for money.....it was pretty sweet.

9 miles today

Jeff Came down to the Great State

Fri. Jan. 18, 2008

10:30 am - 4 miles
4pm - 8 miles

I didn't feel 100% today, i think it was the fact that my house was about 60 degrees and I had to sleep last night with like 18 layers on. My thumb has been purple for the past 3 days.

Later in the day after having a VERY uneventfull day, I went running with Nuge up to the Gates of Heaven cemetery. This cemetery is huge and never crowded, so it turns into a very safe place to run. This place is exceptionally hilly too, and just staying to the perimeter gave me 8 miles. Afterwards we had some pretty delicious pizza, and then I headed home.

Went to Greg's and dominated in Fight Night 3, even though he will argue that he was fighting better. All I can say is that he got KNOCKED THE F*** OUT.

Then Jeff came down. Jeff's teammate Jess Minty is racing tomorrow in the invitational mile at the New Balance Games at The Armory in NYC. So he is shacking up here and we will run together tomorrow then eat then watch some running then eat then he leaves. Good day in my opinion. Thats is, now I am gonna finish watching Gangs of NY and sleep.

12 miles today

Danny Devito Day....AKA Short Day

Thurs. Jan 17, 2008

10 am - 7 miles

Had a longer AM run with my new teammate Jon Byrns. Jon's a solid 1:50 800 runner and is a pretty funny dude. We went for an easy run around the Rockies and afterwards went to the dinner in Tarrytown and grabbed some late breakfast. He was racing on Friday so it was an easy day for him.

Afterwards I headed up to work up in Greenwich for the remainder of the day. Another relaxed day working with some funny kids. I had planned on running again in the evening, but when I came home the weather turned really sour and it just was not worth it.

Stopping the chocolate

Wed. Jan. 17, 2008

7am - 4 miles - at a little faster than I would have liked.
4pm - 8 miles - descent pace but had some stomach issues.

So my legs felt like crap this morning from the workout last night, and it just made me a little tired, so I ate more oatmeal.

Today I had to work at the Greenwich Running Co for a couple of hours, the manager there is this kid Kyle. I can honestly say this is one of the funniest kids I have known; he makes work alot of fun, if you want to call it work. Afterwards I headed home and then took a nice 8 mile run at the Saxon Woods Park. From what I ate for lunch my stomach did not really agree with me but I made it through it. The only problem is that I think I re-aggrevated the top of my foot again. I think I have a problem of tightening my laces too tight and it causes some issues. I had a hard time walking later in the evening.

After dinner I headed to the Longarzo's for some much anticipated video games. We rock it out to Fight Night 3 and Call of Duty 4. Fight Night goes up and down cause we got some pretty dam good fighters. However, in Call of Duty I tend to DOMINATE. I hope they all read this, cause my teammate Diesel is not carrying his weight, and he needs to get cracking on the practice. OHHHHH YEAH....the chocolate. Yeah so I have HUGE addictions to chocolate and GO TO TOWN on candy when I go to Greg's, so I really need to quit, this is my testimony that I plan on cutting the chocolate down to once a week and not nearly as much as I have been having. I mean I ate a whole package of Milano cookies last week....COMON

12 miles today


Tues. Jan 16, 2008

11 am - 4 miles
6pm - 3 mile warmup, 2x1200 2x800 2x400 w/ jog lap recovery, 3 mile cooldown.

The whole workout was pretty much relaxed for the first half then pick up the pace. So for the first 1200 we were 76, 75, 67 (3:39). Next was a 1200 in 74, 73, 66 (3:33). First and second 800's were 68, 65 (2:13)(2:13). The first 400 was 59. and the second was 61-62. The whole workout felt really comfortable and there was no wheez in my chest. Plus it was also 25 degrees on the track. So not too shabby. I do like working out with the team, they are a good group.

13 miles today


Mon. Jan. 15, 2008

3pm - 9 miles with Nuge - Scarsdale Golf/ Bronx river bike path.

For some reason Nuge REALLY pissed me off today . DOn't know why, but he did. Not really gonna go into it, but I wanted to rip his head off. The run was fine.

9 miles today


Sun. Jan 14, 2008

8:30 am - 13 miles
Ran with the masters crew today at the Rockies for a steady 13 miles of not so flat terrain. We really didn't hammer, I think we averaged like 7:15-7:30 or so. It was a nice relaxed run where we all talked and had a good time. This was the first time I have had a group run in a LONG time.

13 miles plus strides


Sat. Jan 13, 2008

9:30 am 2.5 mile warmup, 1 mile tempo, 4x400 hill 4x300 hill, 2.5 mile cooldown

Good workout with the team at the Rockies. The hills were nice and quick but not overly fast, and the tempo was fine. Afterwards I went up to Greenwich running Co and worked for a few hours.

Things are getting back on target.....I guess

Fri. Jan. 11, 2008

10 am - 4 mile steady paced run around the woods.
4 pm - 8 mile run


Thurs. Jan. 10. 2008

10 am - 4 mile easy pace run, legs didn't feel super but they were there.
4pm - 8 mile steady pace run.

The steady run started off quicker I guess, and I really didn't feel too great but I just kept rolling with it and then it worked itself out to be an alright run.

Today was my boy Jon Brosnahan's bday. Hitting the milestone, 24. I went over to his place at like 9 and his family was just cuttin some cake, which I had to decline cause I eat way too many sweets. My gift to him was a box of peanut brittle that I paid 7 bucks for, which I bought off some kid in Bronxville, which he was selling for the New York Youth thingy. Not really sure if it was legit or not but the kid had a good spiel and I figured why not help out.

Also today Ryan and I hung out at Slave to the Grind in Bronxville, which is a pretty kick ass tea and coffee cafe right next door to the store that I am gonna be working at. We hung out for like 2 hours drinkin vanilla chai, which by the way I have become pretty dam fond of, and just talked about some stuff. Mostly we were BSing and talking about funny stuff that has been happening lately.


Wed. Jan. 9, 2008

11am - 7 miles with Nuge in Pleasantville ( NEW TRAILS ) I will get back to you with the name of them, but it was pretty sweet, and not flat.
4:30 pm - 4 miles with Greg Longarzo, but he biked.

The run with Nuge was pretty sweet, we had always known there was a little park area by Pace University, but we just never ran there. So we decided to hit it up. It was probably a 5-6 mile loop, for the most part it was awesome, but there were some really rocky patches. Which I did roll my ankle pretty dam hard once. Other than that there was a like 6 min hill near the end that was pretty steep too, but all part of the lure. Then we hit up a chicken parm sandwich on a roll.


Tues. Jan. 8, 2008

Today was day two of working down in NYC at the New York Running Co. It was like training for me for my upcoming managerial position. The commute is like an hour, not terrible, but the hours they want me to work, 4-9, are pretty crappy. Today I was able to persuade them to let me work from 10-4 because I was having a workout tonight with the Westchester Track Club for the first time.

The workout was at 6pm up at Irvington high school, which is like 15-20 min from me, so not too bad. This was the first time meeting a couple of guys on the team and the coach Mike Barnow, who I have been in contact with for the past couple of months. The only thing was was a bummer is that I still have that crap in my chest when I run, so it makes my breathing a little more difficult, but I came to BALL. Barnow had told me that I was going to be working out with Abiyot Endale, who ran 3:58 at the 5th aveune mile in the fall and has run 7:45 for 3k, so he is pretty good. Apparantly he had a race this Saturday coming up so it was an "easier workout" for him, which I am not really sure if that is true.

I told Barnow that I had been sick, so as an introduction day he was going to see how it went. The workout was 2x800 2:10 w/ a lap jog and 4x400 in 60 w/ a lap jog. Not too terrible i thought. So Abioyot and I did the 800's together alone and then a couple other guys hopped in with us for the 400's. The first 800 was 2:10 on the dot which felt pretty good, then the next 800 I ran 2:07 and he was 2:04. His first quarter was like 61-62, and that SUCKED. I was not ready for that, so I backed off and that took a little toll on the legs, but not too bad. Then the other guys hopped in and the were set up to lead the first quarter, and for all runners out there, this never equals something good, when fresh people jump into a workout mid-workout. So they led to a "comfortable 56sec quarter". Yeah it was not comfortable, and I had to back off if I was planning on finishing my first workout. SO I was about 60, and then Barnow told me that the next one was going to be my last. The next one I ran 58 which felt alright, just my chest had been tight for quite some time. SO I went ( 2:10, 2:07, 60, 58) not too bad, Abiyot was (2:10, 2:04, 56, 57, 57, 57). SO my new statement is that he is good. I am looking forward to working out with him over the next couple of months, so hopefully I will be able to stay with him for all the workouts, if so I have no doubt that I will improve to where I want to.

I also had a 2.5 mile warmup and 3 mile cooldown, then ate pizza at Nuge's house and told him about the workout.


Mon. Jan. 7, 2008

Today was my first day running in like 3 days because of this crap that I caught in my chest. I ran 9 miles down in Van Cortlandt, and it really didn't feel too great but whatever, I toughed it out and then laid down for a little while once I was finished.

Today was also my first day working with the New York Running Co. down in NYC. It wasn't too bad, all I pretty much am doing right now is learning the ropes.

LONG TIME

Jan. 06, 2008

Alright so it has been a while since I last updated this thing, but I am back on top of teh ball here. So I will basically start off by putting down what I remember from the past few weeks.

To start off, I am now in NY and continuing my training. I was up in Bean Town for 4 days for New Years with my counterpart Jeff Caron, Ken "I don't need no chocolate" Savary and Jeff's teammates. It was a great weekend, we ate some all you can eat Brazilian BBQ and saw some kick ass friends and did some drinky drink for the New Years. That list of friends that were seen were Katie Gwyther, Mark Driscol, John "flanel is my middle name" Neiskins, Gabe Rivard, Justin Maloney and Sarah Crispin. I won't go too crazy into stories cause it takes too long, but it was fun. Then I was also able to work out on the Reggie Lewis track with Jeff's team. UMMMMMM other than that I don't know.

Jan 05, 2008 - Day off, I have a bunch of crap in my chest and it really is making me feel like poo.

Jan 04, 2008 - 3.5 miles, took it easy cause I am feeling something not so good starting into my chest.

Jan 03, 2008 - 9 miles with Jeff at 9am in 6 degree weather. This run truthfully sucked early into the run cause it was -10 with windchill. When we did get the wind at our back it turned out to be nice.

Jan 02, 2008 - 4 miles in the am
3 mile warmup, 3x200, 2x300, 500, 2x300, 3x200 90 sec rest. 10min break then a hard 400, not all out, 3 mile cooldown. (30.2, 29.9, 29.7, 45.5, 45.1, 1:17.6, 46.0, 45.8, 29.9, 29.7, 29.7, 55.1)
This was a good workout, there were alot of people at Reggie so I had to work around the people too, and it was in flats.

Jan 01, 2008 - HAPPY NEW YEAR, I was feeling pretty crappy in the morning, so I did 12 miles in the pm with Maloney.

Dec, 31, 2007 -IN BOSTON- am - 5miles.....afterwards we at all you can eat Brazilian BBQ. I had planned on running again later in the day, but my legs felt like crap. SO we started drinkin early. We played 3 man all night and it was a FUN FRIGGIN time.

Dec. 30, 2007 - ran 15 miles in teh morning here in NY before heading up to Boston. I think I ran a little too far today, my body was feeling very crappy but I kept pushing it cause I wanted to hit the distance. I probably shouldn't have but what are you gonna do.

Dec. 29, 2007 - no am run. pm. 3 mile warmup, 10x1000 meter 1 min rest. 4 min between first 5 and second 5. I did my workout at Sleepy Hollow HS, first 5 on the track and the second 5 on the trails. On the track I averaged 3:06 for the first 5 with a min rest and then hammered on the trail for the second 5. It was a good workout, I did not feel the best but I hammered it out anyways.

Thats all I really remember in order of days I ran but I have been puttin in the miles and doing some of the workouts. My biggest problem right now is that I cannot get on to an indoor track down here. To get on the Armory it costs $300 and the Manhattan College track that I usually workout on apparantly is broken up and not good for workouts.