Workouts in August

August 2009:

Sun 08/09 - 63 min run

Mon 08/10 - 52 min run - Drills/strides

Tues 08/11 - 50 min run

Wed 08/12 - AM - 49 min D/S Bodyweight exercises
- PM - 30 min

Thurs 08/13 - 56 min run

Fri 08/14 - AM - 54 min run

Sat 08/15 - 42 min faster run

Sun 08/16 - 70 min run

Mon 08/17 - AM - 45 min run D/S + Bodyweight
PM - 25 min faster run

Tues 08/18 - 60 min run

Wed 08/19 - AM - 45 min run
- PM - 40 min run

Thurs 08/20 - AM - 50 min run
- PM - Drove to Ocean City, MD

Fri 08/21 - 50 min in OC...Painfully hot, exhausted after 35 min. Hung out with Hodge which was really fun.

Sat 08/22 - Did not run

Sun 08/23 - Did not run

Mon 08/24 - AM - 50 min run D/S + bodyweight
- PM - 35 min run easy

Tues 08/25 - AM - 15 min warmup, 30 min 1 min on/1 min off, 15 min cool down
First workout with John of the year and it went very well. We were cranking.

Wed 08/26 - AM - 45 min easy
- PM - 40 min easy

Thurs 08/27 - 1 hour run, very easy at start and faster at the end. (our new philosophy)

Fri 08/28 - AM - 50 min D/S + bodyweight
- PM - 48 min up in Mahopac

Sat 08/29 - 18 min warmup, 17 min tempo (5:15-5:20), 18 min cooldown

Sun 08/30 - 90 min run

Mon 08/31 - AM - 50 min D/S + bodyweight
- PM - 35 min

August was a a good start up month with the training. John is a good training partner who is always at our runs and workouts and rarely complains, which is a huge benefit. I think one of the benefits of our training is the easy days. When we are not planned to run hard, we run pretty easy. To be honest, it was hard to do this at the beginning but I have gotten used to it and it has been working great. I don't feel like crap most days and when I do workouts I can usually crank or run pretty hard and actually recover. All of my runs and workouts are done at the Rockafellers in Sleepy Hollow, NY, which are all trails and dirt. Also, I do everything in my heavy ass trainers and not flats. What makes running in the size 13's harder are the bricks for orthotics that I have, and they really do add a good amount of weight to the shoe. The plus is, when I run in flats, it just feel that much better.

The Fill in - 3 months later

It has been a while since I last updated the blog, so I thought I would give it a whirl. I was most disappointed with this whole year of training/racing/everything else related to running. I really did not have one good performance throughout the year and from what I can see looking back, my training was never really leading up to anything and the intensity was just not there. When I look back on the workouts that I thought were good or did something, really were not specific to the event I was running and did not have an end goal. Any workout you run can make you feel tired or get you thinking that you worked hard, but this past year was just a joke...truthfully a joke as far as my training toward goals went. That being said, I have decided to change things around these upcoming years as far as training and everything that coincides with it. My fellow Westchester Track teammate John Byrne felt the same way about his training for the past 2 years so we decided to do something about it and work together. We will now be our own training duo. Every morning we will be meeting in Sleepy Hollow at 7am to do our runs and workouts. I have never really been that much of a morning person, but it will be a great benefit getting things done early and consistently.

This upcoming Fall I plan on doing a lot of strength related workouts but not getting too far away from the speed aspect. Long slow runs, make long slow runners. Very good quote from Tim Kaijala. They also say that the things you hate doing the most are the things you should do the most of. So there will be alot of tempos, long hill workouts and pretty much painful long workouts. I suck at the longer stuff, so it is time to work on it. Another great quote came from my friend Jon when we were out one night. He said, "S*** or get off the pot". Coming from him that did make a big impact on me. So I will really try to step it up this year with everything I am doing.

For the past month and a half I have been building back up to the higher mileage and just started workouts about 2 weeks ago. We have started out conservative, and plan on building up over the Fall to pretty solid workouts. I am creating the workouts for both of us and plan on tracking them from the physiology point of view, with heart rate monitoring and other good stuff. It will be interesting to actually be keeping track of alot of different variables in training. So I will update more consistently from now on.

I will also update from what I did over the past few weeks:

- Gabe Rivards Bachelor party
- Gabe Rivards wedding
- Beach to Beacon and Jeff's Jeffapolooza and then went to Jackman, ME



- Yonkers trip to Ocean City




- I now coach at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY
- I built my own Cornhole set...pretty dam sweet
- had a Homebrew BBQ at my place which turned out to be awesome

June 15 - 21

Mon - 33 min easy and some strides at Rockies w/ Ryan Schinnerer

Tues - Tuesday Night Speed Series @ Icahn Stadium - 1500 meters - DNF
- 800 meters - DNF
2 mile warmup, drills/strides, 20 min cool down
I felt okay all day and when I finished my warmup and got ready to race my body felt terrible. We went through the first quarter in 59 then right at 1:59 at the half and that was it for me, so I stopped. I felt HORRIBLE. Then I decided to come back like 15-20 min later and run the 800. Yep I DNF'd that too. 55 through the quarter and then 1:24 through the 600 meters. SO then my legs locked up on me so I just stopped.

Wed - Easy jogging

Thurs - 1 hour at Twin Lakes Trail - Legs feel terrible

Fri - 50 minutes easy at BXR path - not feeling very good lately

Sat - 30 min + strides

Sun - MAC Championships @ White Plains HS - 3k steeple - 9:28
My race was supposed to start at 9 am. I got there at 8 and my race, which was the first, did not start till 10:30am. Worst run meet I have ever seen. I went out a little too fast in the race, 68 first then 2:20 then 4:46 at the half. I just felt very tired and was really the only one in the race. Then I actually fell on the last water jump. When I landed my foot slipped on the incline and came to a skid on the floor. That did not help anything. I am getting very frustrated.

June 8 - 14

Mon - 22 min - Traveled back to NY from LAX at 7:30am and landed in NY at 4:30pm. Wasn't that bad of a trip but I was still tired from the steeple. So later on in the evening I went for an easy jog at a very very easy pace.

Tues - Tuesday Night Speed Series @ Icahn Stadium - 1500 meters - 3:52.7
2 mile warmup, drills/strides, 20 min cooldown.
I truthfully felt very tight and a little tired all day just from traveling yesterday and was very surprised how I ran. It did not feel very good but not that bad either. Just went out in 60, 2:02, 3:05, and 3:52. I was happy with that race.

Wed - 50 min easy

Thurs - 1 hour easy

Fri - 1 hour easy

Sat - Greg's Wedding - no running

Sun - Greg's Wedding - no running

June 1 - 7

Mon - 1 hour and 5 min w/ Beau at Rockies

Tues - PM - 3 mile warmup, drill/strides, 3 mile cooldown
1 mile 4:53, 4 x 35 sec strides @ Rockies. Mike wanted me to do an easy workout before I traveled out to Cali.

Wed - Travel to Los Angeles....no run today

Thurs - 55 min at the Redondo Beach woodchip trail. Ok pace...not too slow, not too fast. Probably around 6:30-6:45 avg

Fri - PM - 30 min easy + 4 strides

Sat - Jim Bush Invitational @ Mt. SAC - 3k Steeplechase - 4:35pm
- 15 min warmup, drills/strides, 20 min cooldown
Going into this race I did not know what to expect. I felt that I could run 9 minutes or better but really had not had any REAL indicators. So my goal was to be tough and hang with the front group as long as I could. I truthfully wanted to run around 9:05 pace for the first mile or so......bbuuuuuutttt that did not happen. I was right about 4:42 for the first mile, which actually felt pretty good and I thought I was going to be able to keep that pace up. I was right behind the lead pace at 2k and I was in 4th place. 3rd place was falling off the lead and I thought I would be able to move up to him and just sit behind him. Also during the race I heard the announcer say there were 5 laps left and I was like ohhhhhh shit...cause I thought I had miscounted or something, but when we came back around there were 3. With 800 to go, i realized that I was no longer gaining ground on 3rd place and with 600 to go realized that I was pretty much slowing down. I was at 7:50, roughly, with a lap to go and closed in almost 85 seconds for the last lap. I was not breathing heavy but my legs were just shot and would not go faster. I think it was just because I was not used to the jumping and crap like that. I am not happy with the race but I am not disappointed. It was a descent attempt at my first steeplechase. I ended up running 9:14.45. The link at the top is the start and finish of the steeple. Pretty weak that it is the only race that does not have a full video.



After the race I drove up to Lake Arrowhead, by Big Bear, and hung out with my cousin and some of his friends. This place is at 6,000ft and is pretty awesome.

Sun - AM - 45 min EASY run. This run was actually not that great feeling. I ran fairly slow and I still felt like crap. The place is all rolling hills, at 6,000 ft and I am tired from yesterday

May 25 - 31

Mon - Drove down in the morning with Abiyot, Deresse and Joseph to Ridgewood, NJ for a day of races. They had a 10k, 5k and mile. I did not race but just hung out and watched all these guys kill each other...it was fun. I did run about 25 min w/ Abiyot and do some strides, but that was about the extent of it. Deresse and Joseph went 1 and 2 in the 10k, Stephen and Abiyot went 1 and 2 in the 5k and Abiyot was 2nd in the mile. All and all it was a good day. Then I went home and slept for a bit and had a nice Memorial Day BBQ with the Brosnahan's.
Also, tonight Jon and I initiated phase 2 of the homebrewing and we siphoned the wort (or unfermented beer) from the primary fermenter to the secondary fermenter. This gets rid of all the junk that is in the bottom of the 1st jug. I wish I had taken

Tues - PM - 1 hour 4 min @ Rockies after work, descent pace. It was a pretty good run, felt relaxed and smooth and really haven't felt this good for a few weeks. I have also been taking iron supplements for the past week and hope that the little boost of iron has a role in feeling better.

Wed - AM - 30 min w/ Abiyot @ Vanny, pretty descent pace.
- PM - 20 min warmup, drills/strides, 18 min cooldown
(2 x 2k - 72,72,72,70,70) w/ Abiyot
(71,70,69,69,68 - 5:47) (71,71,70,70,68 - 5:50)
5 x 200 - 30 w/ 100m jog
This was a good workout, I felt alot better than I did last time I did this workout. We went through the first mile of the first 2k in 4:39 and it felt pretty easy and relaxed. So I believe taking it easy those past couple of days helped and I will continue to recover the next week.

Thurs - AM - 1 hour and 9 min w/ Abiyot. I ran down to Vanny and met him and then we ran the OCA and a few loops at Tibbets Brook Park and then finished at my house. I do like running in the morning because it just gets it done and then you can relax for the rest of the day. I am just so friggin lazy in the morning.

Fri - Today we left for Greg's bachelor party up in Petersburg, NY (photos to come). We are staying at a lake house in the middle of nowhere with 10 dudes....NICE.
- PM - 1 hour 4 min easy around lake loop (2.2 mile rolling loop on dirt road)

Sat - PM - 20 min warmup, drills/strides, 15 min cooldown
(4.4 mile tempo run - 22:32 - (11:14 1st loop, 11:17 second loop) (avg 5:08 pace)
Very nice tempo. Ryan drove either behind me or next to me for the whole thing playing some sweet techno music....it was pretty funny.
- Also, we played alot of volleyball and other activities throughout the day. It was a pretty fun trip.

Sun - PM - 1 hour 15 min run back @ Vanny
- Played alot of volleyball again before we left to come home. My shoulder is a little sore from dominating the other car.

May 18 - 24

Mon - 30 min easy w/ Nuge at Hartbrook Nature Preserve and 5 x strides. My legs feel very junky.

Tues - 7 pm 1500 meters @ Icahn
I sat around all day and just rested. I felt tired all day, but just tried not to think of the race. I thought there might be some competition but there really wasn't.
I got there around 5:15 and hung out and warmed up at 6:15. I was the better person in the field by almost 15 seconds. So I just tried to run an even pace through the whole thing. It was about 70 degrees and pretty windy. 62 point and 62 point which rounded to 2:05 at the 800, then followed by a 64, so 3:09 and then I just finished up and ran OFFICIALLY 4:02. It was probably the slowest race that I have run in about 6 years. I did not feel very good, and yes I did win by about 12 seconds but that is irrelevant. I expected to run at least 3:55 even with no competition. I just felt very sluggish and tired and it is beginning to get frustrating because this is the second race in a row this has happened. Mike just assured me that I am probably still fatigued from a few previous weeks of good running and I must accept it. Jen Metz is also going through a similar tough stretch of racing where she knows she is in good shape and has been doing great workouts but it is just not clicking. We have both tried to figure it out together but to no avail yet. "It will happen" is all that we can say to each other and "keep plugging away". We just have to beleive it. Afterwards, Mike, Beau, Kelly and myself went to Arthur Ave. and had some kickass Italian food.

Wed - PM - very easy 45 min at Twin Lakes trail. My goal is to take it very easy this week and recover. I have a steeple that I am trying to get ready for in like 2 weeks and want to do well.

Thurs - PM - 48 min w/ Beau and Stephen @ Rockies. We started nice and easy and worked into a comfortable pace for the whole run. Talking and joking most of the run. Afterwards, I did 200's on the track w/ Steve. I did 10 200's w/ a 200 jog. I would run a 200 at 30-31, a 200 jog, a 200 at 33-34 over 2 hurdles and then a 200 jog. We did 5 sets of these and it was pretty comfortable.

Fri - PM - 50 min at a comfortable pace at Twin Lakes.

Sat - AM - 3 mile warmup, drills, 3 mile cooldown
(10 min tempo w/ Steve and then 8 x 60 seconds at a hard but comfortable pace w/ a jog back rest). This was a good workout. No real distance but a pretty good effort.

Sun - AM - 1 hour and 30 min w/ Beau @ Rockies.

May 11 - 17

Mon - OFF - very very very hungover...had a depressing weekend and partied too hard

Tues - PM - ran a very fast 7.5 miles in the evening on BXR path. Normally this run is somewhere around 48 min, but today it was 43 something.

Wed - AM - 5 miles easy in Vanny woods
- PM - 20 min warmup, drills and strides, 20 min cooldown
7 x 400 between 58 - 60 w/ jog lap rest w/ Abiyot
(59, 59, 60, 59, 58, 58, 57) This was a great workout, probably one of the better quarter workouts I have done, and I felt fairly smooth the entire way. The only problem was that we started pretty late, and the track gets extremely crowded on Wed night, so we were dodging and weaving.

Thurs - PM - Ran 1 hour and 5 min, probably quite a bit faster than I should have. I really should have taken this as a recovery day and I didn't.

Fri - AM - 30 min in the Vanny woods. Started very easy and finished fast. I can feel that my legs are tired and really should have gone easier.
- PM - 45 min easy from the woods to Vanny and back. I can feel that I might have been overdoing it the past couple of days.

Sat - AM - 20 min warmup, drills and strides, 20 min cooldown
2 x 2k (72,72,72,70,70) w/ 6 min rest
(72,72,69,70,70 - 5:54) I felt TOASTED during and after this.
(72,72) (70,73) DONE
SO i modified the workout and did 2 x 800 afterwards at 2:24 pace....which should have been easy....BUTTTTTT NOPE. I really struggled during the workout and realize that I should have taken it easier through the week.

Sun - 60 min at Twin Lakes train along the Hutchinson River Parkway...Mike wants me to race on Tuesday night @ Icahn for the Tuesday night series.

May 4 - 10

Mon - PM - 8.5 miles at a 6:15 avg.
6 x 200 at 29-31, 6 x 200 over hurdles 33-35

Tues - PM - 1 hour from work

Wed - AM - 30 min
- PM - 20 min warmup, drills, strides, 20 min cooldown
(2x800 2:10) (2x400 59)
(2:06, 2:07) (57.8, 58.3)

Thurs - AM - Massage...In retrospect I wish I hadn't gotten this so close to my race on Saturday because the guy who did the massage is a friend of the team and did 3 hours worth of work...stretching and Massage. I felt so tight and sore for a couple of days.
- PM - 1 hour very very easy

Fri - OFF

Sat - 2009 NYC Qualifying Challenge at Icahn Stadium - 800 meters
- AM - super easy 3 mile run
During the day I decided not to go to work and just wanted to relax. But also I decided that this would be a good day to brew my first homebrew. Probably not the best idea the day of a race. It actually kind of stressed me out and made have to move around alot of pots and water and never really rested. Then it actually made me late to get to the track and then had to do a modified warmup. When I got to the track I found out the meet was 10 min ahead of schedule so I rushed even more. Then as the race was supposed to go off they never got the heat sheets down and then we went off 30 min later....it was BS. During this whole time I warmed and and was staying loose and NOT ONCE did I feel good. Truthfully, doing that brewing actually made my legs feel like crap and I think it took a lot out of me. I ended up running 1:55.96 I believe, which I have done as part of a triple in the past. I was quite frustrated with that. Cooled down and went out to eat with Nuge, Cola, Jon and Andy. We went to Riverdale and ate some nice Sushi. Sunday I did not get a chance to run due to work.

Sun - OFF

April 27 - May 3

Mon - Off - tired Kingston Classic 10k

Tues - AM - 40 min
- PM - 30 min (first 20 min very hard) then easy jog home

Wed - AM - 35 min w/ Abiyot @ Vanny
- PM - 20 min warmup, drills strides, workout, 20 min cooldown
(4 x 800 over hurdles w/ 2 min rest, 6 min rest, 5 x 400 w/ 2 min rest)
(2:20, 2:19, 2:20, 2:21) (63, 61, 60, 59, 59)
The workout felt pretty good today, minus the fact that I fell over my first hurdle that I strided over...felt like an ass. It was my first REAL hurdle workout and I felt it was pretty solid.

Thurs - AM - 45 min real easy

Fri - PM - 1 hour 5 min w/ Beau and Nuge

Sat - 20 min warmup, drills and strides, 9 x 50 sec. hills, 20 min cool down.
I did this with Beau and Libby. After the workout Libby and I drove up to Binghamton to watch the America East Champs in track.

Sun - 1 hour 40 min around the Binghamton campus....pretty hilly.

April 20 - April 26

Mon - 43 min in the rain on Van Cortlandt golf course with Joseph

Tues - Off

Wed - AM - 40 min @ Vanny plus strides
- PM - 20 min warmup, 3 x 600 w/ 5 min rest (1:30, 1:29, 1:29) 4x100 fast, 20 min cool down (it was about 48 degrees and ABSOLUTELY POURING)

Thurs - AM - 50 min w/ joseph
- PM - 30 min easy

Fri - AM - 40 min at good pace with Joseph and Barnaba
- PM - 30 min easy with Nuge at BXR path

Sat - 42 min easy from my house to Vanny - 10k tomorrow

Sun - Kingston Classic 10k. 34:31
20 min warmup, drills, race, 10 min cooldown
the temp was 91 degrees when we started at 1pm and it really felt easy for the first few miles. We were about 15:30-15:40 through the first 5k and then everything went down hill for me. I just couldn't handle the heat. This was my first race in a while and it was the hottest day I have had in so long, it just beat the crap out of me.

April 13 - 19

Mon - Off - feeling pretty tired and haven't taken a day off in about a month

Tues - 9 miles after work on BXR path. Fastest run I have done on this route.

Wed - AM - 40 min @ Vanny (9am)
- PM - 3 mile warmup, drills, 5 x 600 (1:38) 2MR 3 x 200 (30) jog 200 rest, 3 mile cool down @ White Plains HS. (1:38, 1:37, 1:36, 1:35, 1:35, 1:34) (29, 29, 29). The temp was somewhere in the 40's I believe with some pretty crappy wind. I ran the 600's into the wind twice and in retrospect would have liked to have switched the starting point but whatever. Nuge also locked his keys in his car...pretty funny. What was not so funny was me having to drive him back to his house to get his keys and then drive him back.

Thurs - AM - 30 min and stretch @ Vanny with group (10:45am)
- PM - 54 min @ Rockies with group...had TERRIBLE stomach issues. We were hammering for a little bit and I had to stop about 3 times on the run. I was not happy about this.

Fri - AM - 30 min with Abiyot + strides, (7:30am). We started at a medium pace and got into a quicker pace by the end, I was quite tired by the end of the run...strides were tough today.
- PM - 45 min with Nuge @ OCA in Hastings on Hudson. Also felt like crap today.

Sat - 3 mile warmup, 8 x 80 sec hill, 4 x 100 meter hill strides (fast), 3 mile cool down. I ran these with Beau and we started fairly comfortably and worked into quite a bit faster of a pace on the last couple. We both felt really tired before the workout and as it went on we loosened up and started feeling good.

Sun - 1 hour 51 min @ Rockies with Joseph, Elijah, Barnaba and Mike Owens. We started the run real real easy for about 5-6 miles and then GRADUALLY started picking up the pace. By the end of the run we were hammering the last few miles with Joseph almost starting to race at the end, so we let him go and then he slowed down and started laughing. This run is also probably the hilliest run at the Rockies. It is more or less the perimeter of the park and it just does not stop going up and down. Really Really good run though.

April 6th - 12th

We are finally starting to get better weather and that is making a huge difference in training and attitude. We have had a couple of days that were in the low 60's, so we are getting there. Things have been slow getting on the track but it is in the immediate future. I have been doing a bunch of tempo paced workouts and hard runs, so the track will come as soon as the weather stays consistent.

Mon - 1 hour with Joseph and Barnaba @ Vanny

Tues - AM - 25 min warmup, planned on a workout, but the weather was cold and windy and my body didn't get going, so I only got through 2x400 and then just did some strides. It was too early for me and my body was not responding.
- PM - easy 36 min with Nuge on BXR path

Wed - 25 min warmup, 25 min tempo at about 5:30 pace @ Rockies, 25 min cooldown. The pace was solid but it was also very hilly so it was more of an effort pace.

Thurs - AM - 1 hour 8 min with Joseph and Barnaba on OCA trail. The second half of the run we were running pretty dam fast, with the last 3-4 miles at a much faster pace and my legs were pretty tired from the workout the night before. A couple of times I started to slow down just to run easy but Barnaba kept telling me to get back up, so I did.
- PM - 30 min easy easy pace with Nuge at Hartsdale Nature Preserve

Fri - AM - 50 minutes also very easy with Joseph and Barnaba at Vanny. My legs are super sore from the past 2 days and I needed to recover today. I would estimate the pace between 7:15 and 8 minutes for most of the run.

Sat - Rainy and 50 degrees - 3 mile warmup at Rockies, some drills, 4 x 1 mile loop (3.5 min hard, and recovery to the start)followed by 4 x 75 second hills. The first 2 min of each interval was a long hill and then flat and then gradual downhill. I started the workout with Joseph, Stephen and Stuart. The four of us ran together for the first one, Stuart fell off after the first, so it was the three of us till the middle of the 3rd one, then I fell off. I was trying to hang in there though. Stephen and Joseph did 6 loops and averaged about 5:50-5:55 pace. Stuart and I finished the 4th loop together and our 4 loops were 23:45. So a fairly solid pace.
Then I finished the workout off with 4 hard 75 second hills.

Sun - 13 miles on the Colonial Greenway. Had a little bit of a rough day caused by the fact that I was up drinking till 3 am with Jon, Matt and Ryan at Rambling House. I didn't really get going till about 1pm and that was only due to the fact that I had to be done by 4pm for Easter dinner.

Getting Going

Since I am back in NY and have a consistent group to train with I will keep better track of my workouts and run and so forth. I will try to put some pictures up and all that stuff cause apparently all my other peeps who are doing the blogs are doing a much better job than me. I will get on the ball here.

Also, tonight I will be attending the first ever game at the new Yankee Stadium...Pretty dang excited to go there. They are playing the Cubs and hopefully does not get rained out because it crappy right now.

March 30th - April 5

Mon - 10 miles with Stephen from Van Cortlandt to the Railroad bed trail - easy pace

Tues - 7 miles at Vanny. Avg 6 min pace for the run

Wed - Vanny workout, 20 min warmup, 2 laps (1.44 miles per loop...so, 2.88 miles) on the flats with Abraham N'Getich, Joseph Ekuom, Barnabas and German guy
> 15:35 (7:53, 7:42) (5:24 pace)
3 min recovery
> 1 half lap, faster pace (3:30 hard)
> 4 x 30 sec hard 30 sec easy
This was a good tempo workout for me, felt pretty easy running that pace, so I feel that I am getting back into better shape.

Thurs - 1 hour at Vanny (4th day in a row here) supposed to be at an easy pace. Joseph, Elijah, Barnabas and I started out very easy and then gradually got into a quicker pace. Twice we had to tell Joseph to slow it down, but sometimes that doesn't always work. The last few miles were at a pretty fast pace...maybe 5:40's? With the last half mile - mile probably at 5 min pace or faster. Wasn't terrible but I was not really in the mood to be doing that. It was ok though, and gave a good laugh at the end.

Fri - Easy 1 hour run...I felt terrible. I wanted to cut it short after about 30 min, but I kept trudging. Also I went to the first ever Yankee game at the new stadium, it was quite awesome.

Sat - 20 min warmup, 18 min cooldown
> 2 x 2 min uphill
> 5 x 80 sec uphill
> 4 x 20 sec uphill (form work)
I am still building up the workload, but the workout was pretty good quality. I was working at a fairly good intensity.

Sun 15 miles at Rockies with Beau, Conor, John Cunningham and Mike Owens. We ran a pretty good pace for most of the run, I would say the average was around 6:20 pace or so. I did have to stop about 4 friggin times in the run for bathroom breaks...not the best thing cause I got cut up nicely by thorns. Also found a tick on me later in the morning when I got home.

I thought this was a good week, 70 miles on the dot. I wanted to do a little bit more but I thought back on how I had been sick and figured it was better to not kill myself this week. Next week I plan to be in the mid 70's, probably with a day off too.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results ~ Ben Franklin

Back in NYC

I recently arrived back here in Yonkers about 5 days ago and so far so good. It is still taking me a little bit to get over that crap that I went through for the past like 5 weeks. The flu, knee pains, calf pains, fevers and finally I am getting over a sinus infection and ear infection which was caused by the fever. The past couple of days have been good training, fairly consistent with one or 2 harder days in there, but nothing really intense enough to consider a hard workout. My second day back I went with Stephen Chemlany, Richard Kiplagat and Beau Bettinger on a 10 mile run up at the Rockies which started real easy and finished the last 3-4 miles at about 5:45 pace...Stephen and Richard estimated. I didn't feel bad, but not great either. It is just getting used to running faster again. I felt as though I was in strong form when I was in Maine early in the winter, but then lately just feel sluggish and slow getting used to workouts again. Workouts were spread out and inconsistent during the last 5-6 weeks but I do not feel as though I am in bad shape, just not good shape. I think it will only take a few weeks before I am fairly good shape again. Running with this group can always get you into good shape quickly.

The next day after that run was a hill workout at the Rockies. The workout didn't go that well for me, but it was still a good start. 3x2 min hills and then a couple 75 second hills. My legs were just tired and not used to the hills, but like I said, it will take a few weeks. Then ran 14 miles with Beau the next evening and felt fairly solid, so I need to take the good with the bad. I did a good amount of mileage this winter and I know that once workouts start clicking, I will have a good outdoor season.

I am also working on finishing my beer brewing equipment collection....Only a few more things to go and then I will be ready to make the first batch. So friggin pumped.

Dangit

So the past 3 - 4 weeks have been a nice up and down for me with sickness and injuries. First, I started with the flu and was unable to run for about 5-6 days...it was one of those knock you on your ass flu. Then after that, it took a few days or so to get back into running cause I felt terrible. Then once I got rolling again, I decided to get a new pair of Saucony Guide's...Ran in them for about 3 days and everyday my toes or feet would kind of go numb. Then on the 3rd day I went for an easy 9 miles with Riley and my left foot went numb then I felt a click in my knee and that hurts (mentioned this is the previous post). Then I went out to California with the Maine team for a week of training and a meet at Cal State Northridge. On Thursday I did workout with Riley where I used spikes for the first time in about 4-6 months. Then we did some fast 200's and 100's...and I strained both my calves and have been having a REAL hard time running this past week. Then today after trying to take it easy by cross training, I come home after the teams practice and I start feeling like poop again...yep, Definitely have a 102 degree fever....My awesome past month just continues...so this hopefully will be kicked shortly....Big cup of NYquil can always help too

Still up at Maine...but with a twist

So today my coach at Maine called me and told me that I will be helping escort the Maine team to a meet out at Cal State Northridge next week. SWEEEEEEET! So this weekend we go down to Boston for ECAC's and IC4A's and then we fly out on Monday and come back on Sunday from Cali. Not a bad deal. I may even get a race in out of this whole deal, but we'll see.

So for the past couple weeks my training has been struggling quite a bit. I believe that it is still due to the flu that I had about 2 weeks ago. I could not tell you the last time that I had the flu and I really don't know how long it takes my body to get over it completely. I took 5 days off from everything because I could barely even function with the flu. Then I slowly got back into running the next week maybe getting like 45-50 miles. I think I should have waited a few extra days, but what runner waits the whole time...ridiculous. So now I have just been playing catch-up with my body and it has been tough some days. Even normal everyday runs are sometimes difficult and workouts are quite rough as well. To add to the whole illness and lack of recovering, I believe there could be another small tear in my left meniscus. Same pain that I have had a number of times in the past and in the exact same spot....But I am just saying screw it and I am gonna soldier on cause there is either goin to the doctor and chance of surgery or run through/lift alot and hopefully it recovers on its own. I did the 2nd option my 5th year and it worked in the other knee, so lets see how it works. Since I have been soldiering on, I am back to my normal mileage and trying to get back to full workouts again. I think I am roughly back to 70-80 miles a week...roughly

Last Saturday I ran with Jeff a couple of times...1 hour on Friday and then a workout on Saturday morning...which sucked (if you didn't read the previous paragraph). We did 6 x 4min on 1 min off. My body just did not feel that great. No runner always feels great, so I just suck it up and am thankful I am still running. Jeff and I always have great convo's about running and normal life crap and how we are sick of it all and want to end it...just kidding about the normal convo's.

What I know is that I am getting excited for outdoor track and have some good thoughts about what I am gonna do.

A New Hope

Thought I would start the blog with a Star Wars title. Things have been moving right along up here in Orono, but soon it will be over. Only about 3 more weeks up here in the Atlantic Northeast and then its back to NY to plan what my move will be. Training has been pretty consistent up here for the past few months. Mileage has been roughly between 65-85 miles a week with 2-3 workouts a week. I have only had a few minor hiccups in the mix; one was the flu last week which caused me to take 5 days off from running because I could barely function. I am back to the grind now though, but I am taking these first few days fairly easy just so I don't get sick again within the first 2 weeks.

Recap:
- Weather up here sucks...I have know that for a few years
- -30 degrees = Frost burn (see picture)

- Running alone is annoying and makes me want to train with people every step I am running.
- Flu sucks
- I appreciate my friends more...except Lansing...actually Lansing too
- When you have nothing to do in the Northeast its normal to play ton of Halo.

That's most of the things i think about whilst I do nothing.

I have 2 more meets with the Maine team and then I am out of here, even though I do really like working with them, I have to do my thing and if I plan on continuing my running, need to get on with it and get serious. Not that what I have been doing isn't serious but I want to make my plan for the next couple of years and need to make sure my coach is going to be on the same page as me, if not, we shall see what happens.

Also, a very sad note. Just got a heads up today that my former teammate Carly, who survived brain cancer her Sophomore year here at Maine, has had the cancer return and her health has taken a serious turn. So if people could keep her in their prayers, this girl is awesome and it sucks to see this happen, so lots of prayers.