NB Twilight Meet #2

The past couple of weeks of training have been a little up and down as far as how I have been feeling. I have been having some really bad back, piriformis and hamstring tightness, and it has been affecting how I have been running. I noticed it a few days before the 1st Twilight meet, but just thought it was because my legs were just feeling tired. I took it fairly easy this past week with workouts, just trying to keep the runs up without all the workouts. It made my legs feel a little better, but the tightness was still there going into the 1500 at Bentley.

The weather was pretty good the night of the race. I think it was about 70 degrees and nothing really for wind. There was also a good field assembled: Thomas Morgan of ZAP, Matt Debole, Steve Hallinan and Pat Mellea as our Pacer...planned 2:28 through the 1000. Mentally, going into this race, I was a touch nervous but nothing out of the usual. I knew that it was going to be a fairly fast race, and I had nothing to lose by trying to run fast. My plan was, with the race going according to schedule, to hang out in like 4th or 5th in hopefully around 2:33 for the 1000, which is 61's per 400, and then work the last 500. The gun went off and everything felt pretty easy, probably the easiest 61 I have ever run...that was because the first 400 was 64 for me....very very slow. Thomas Morgan never really attached himself to the Pacer, and I feel that everyone else was queing off of him, so the Pacer was hanging out waiting for someone to go with him. So, first lap done, the pace quickens and our next lap was about 59-60, so back on track, but the harder way of doing it. At this point, I started moving up into 4th and then 3rd by the time I reached the 1000. When I was at this point, I felt okay, but I was hoping that my legs could handle a very hard last 3 laps...which I have not been training at this pace yet. With 400 to go, I moved up along side the leader and started pushing the pace. We hit the 1200 in 3:03-3:04, so a 60 3rd quarter. After I started pushing with about 250m to go, my legs became very very tight and unresponsive and from here on out was in max range of speed and movement. I faded very badly the last 150 meters and finished 12th. 3:53.59.

I am not disappointed with much of the race. I am unhappy about the time, but I am happy with how I raced and how I treated everyone else in the race...which is not caring how fast or good they are. My back and legs were so tight the last 200 meters and the entire night and following day.

I had a massage today...which was brutal by the way...on my back, piriformis and hamstrings, and hopefully over the next week or 10 days, everything can loosen up.

Upcoming Races
- NB Twilight Meet #3 @ Bentley - 1500 - 06/05
- American Milers Club @ University of Indiana - 3k Steeple - 06/12

NB Twilight Meet #1

I had been gearing up for a good fast 3k outdoors for a few weeks, but when the race came, my legs had other intentions. I have been having great workouts for a while now and was hoping that my first flat race of the outdoor season was going to reflect the training I have been doing. I did not have a concrete time goal in mind before going into this race, but I felt it would have been nice to go under 8:20 for my first 3k. All I know is that my body just felt like a lump of crap a good portion of the day and no matter how much or what I did for a warmup, nothing changed. I just tried to block out all of that negativity, because regardless, I had to run the race. Races, and better yet, other runners, do not give two craps how you feel on that day, so you just have to deal with it. The plan was to have Chris McCann lead us through 1200-1600 at 67's. He was perfect through 1200 and because of the wind, which was hefty, decided it was in his best interest and ours to step off. Once off the track, no one really had any aspirations of leading into the stiff wind, so the pace slowed. I did not care one bit. The race could have either been super fast or super slow and I would not have cared because of how I felt. The race came down to a very hard last lap where we ran a nice 58, with a 27 last 200....and I got 3rd. Craig Macpherson and Andrea Sorgato on my team got me at the end. I ended with an 8:27.45, which is a PR, so I guess I cannot be too upset with it. It is only one race and there are still 7 weeks left till the Irish Nationals for the 3k steeple. My next race will be this upcoming Saturday at the 2nd NB Twilight meet and I will be doing the 1500.

The premier race of the night was the 10k. The women started it off with a nice fast race that was negative split the entire race by the leader. The men's 10k was set up to have 3 guys attempting to break 30 minutes, which is always fun to watch. Like I was saying before, the whole day I felt like crap, and this is always fun when you are called back to rabbit a 10k. I have no problem doing it for my teammates because I know they would do the same for me. The plan was for Andrea and myself to rabbit 3k-5k of the race depending on how we felt from after our races. I felt like crap so I was hoping to make it through 3k at 72's per lap. I was able to help out till about 2k and then I felt usless, so I stepped off the track. Andrea on the other hand was very tough and was able to go through 3 miles right on pace. I give him a lot of credit because he was very very sick about 10 days before and training was not great for him. The pace stayed on 72's the entire race with Dan closing in a 62 for the last quarter to run 29:53...a PR...and his first track 10k. He ran amazingly! We have a great team and hopefully I can step up in my distance and run as tough as he did. I know I have been having great workouts and for the most part feeling good. Everyone has a time where they feel a little sluggish and tired, but that is just part of the training and sport. I still have like 2 months left of racing so I just need to keep everything in perspective. I can't let every little feeling or thought interrupt my training or thought process. You have to take the ups with the downs right?

Running for NB Boston

It has been about 9 months since I last posted something, so I figured since I have moved my life again and have been enjoying it, I might as well share.

I moved up to Boston about 7 weeks ago and have been running with NB Boston. I couldn't be happier with the training I am getting and the team with which I am training. This is what I feel that I have been missing for the past few years with my running. Also, in addition to me missing a team, I have apparently been missing Iron over the winter. For a long time I was feeling really crappy with my running and things were just not going well. I eventually felt I needed to take Iron, so I took Iron for a few days and then decided to get blood work. I had been taking the pills for about a week before I got the blood work, and when I got the results they said everything was normal. This I could not believe for the life of me, so I asked for a copy of the results. Like anything with blood work, there is a range. The thing I was looking for was my serum ferratin levels and the "normal" range is 15-300 for men. Typically, they say that an athlete cannot function below 20, mine was 23...after a week of Iron. So I have been taking Iron since, which has been about 3 months and it has made an amazing difference. I just feel that I can do all the aerobic work that I couldn't do all winter.

I am not going to go crazy with this post, because its just an update. Currently I am living in Lexington, MA with Jeff Caron and things are looking up.

I also had my first race of the year.

Penn Relays Olympic Development 3k Steeplechase - 9:07.56

....and it felt pretty aerobically easy

2010_05_01_nbb (34).JPG

Click here to view these pictures larger