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