Great dane miles

Easy Pre-Meet, very solid pre meet according to the guys, toured the course, looks fast, ready to run fast.  Not feeling particularly sore, or stiff, or congested ect.

I went into todays run with as much of a positive mental attitude as I could give myself.  I got an excellent nights sleep, I wasn't sore, tight or hurting anywhere.  I had a plan of taking the first mile much easier than Bostons first mile, which I executed well.  Immediatley off the line I let Kieth, Jordan, Cook and Cal run away from me.  I hung tight comfortably the first mile crossing through in 5:06, about 3-4 seconds behind the other guys.  Naturally I felt really good after that, so I began to slightly move up the 2nd and 3rd miles.  I moved around several Williams and St. Josephs kids while slowly gaining ground on Kieth not too far ahead of me.  The ground was wet, and at some points muddy, so my cautuius nature showed itself on those parts.  About 5k, I began to lose focus and just get generally vcrossed ery tired.  I worked as best I could through it, at first only a couple kids were passing me, but once I hit 6k those numbers grew.  Every time a Williams kid would pass me (Purple and Gold uniforms), I would think it was either Liam or Herold, but that never happnned.  With about 1200 to go, my old teamates Eric Waterman passed me, at that point I knew that this race was a bust for me, however that's not to say I didn't continue fighting all the way through the finnish line.  I did end up passing a couple kids over the last 400 meters, and crossed through in a dissapointing 26:52.  This was about 50 seconds slow of what I would have considered a "great race", and 20 seconds slow from what I would have considered a "satisfactory race."  

Overall, not a great day, I'm hitting the dullness that has come with every cross season i've ever had.  I think this is laregly a result of how I've always approached summer training: Lots of workouts that will keep me sharp for the first month of cross, then burn me out by October.  Next year I'm going to make a change and keep the mileage, but scratch the intensity, alot of my teamates that did either little summer training, or no workouts are now doing much better than I.  But since I can't go back in time and change what I did over the summer, I will gladly work with the fitness that I currently do have.  Over the next 2 weeks I'm going to work on relaxing myself during easy runs, so I can do what I need to do in workouts, whithout feeling like I'm killing myself in them.  I can still make this season a great one,I  have 3 races to do it.

Easy long with Matt, Austin, and Cal through Pine Bush.  Cal and I broke off after 45 minutes and began to pick up the very slow pace after that.  Last 3 miles or so were under 6:30 but certianly in my comort zone, nothing too crazy, Overall felt fine afterword, going to try to relax again tomorrow.

Easy continues run, felt really tired in my legs, but I just ran through it.  Tried to stay calm for the majority of it.  Tommorrow should be slightly more agressive, but still calm.

Trully easy running in the neighborhoods of Albany with Kieth and the freshmen.  Felt very good overall as the run went on.  

Workout day:  3 x mile + 3 x 1K around Indian Pond, 4 minuts active rest between the miles, 2 minutes active between the K's.  I went into this with the goal of keeping the Miles under control, and feel still feel less of a racing feeling for the K's.  First mile was very comfortbale despite going out in 72 but under control with Tyler, Cal, Liam, and Matt at 5:14.  Went into the 2nd one also overall comfortable, we went out slightly slower in 74 yet we ended up running 5:12 so the pace was picked up a bit that second half.  Last mile Jones encouraged us to stick with Cook + Yung Jordan who had been a good 5-8 seconds in front of us for the previous 2.  I stayed with them for the first 600, but the hill hit me hard, and by 800 in I was losing ground.  I mantained a quick pace down the hill and crossed in 5:07 alone:  Hard, but not killer.  Cook and Jordan flew off quickly in the 1st K, I mainly stayed with Tyler as we went through 400 in 70, I slowed down significiently in between the hills, and hit 3:15.  2nd one I was off, I fell behind Liam and Kieth about 400 in, but managed to stay within 2 seconds.  Last one I went into very agressively for the first 600, I died a bit last 4, but I kept myself together overall as I brought my time back down to 3:16.  Overall solid workout, at no point did I feel I was over extending myself.  Going to relax a bit for the next couple days.

Long Continues run to Colonie Central High, felt tired in my legs, last half with Matt and Liam kept it very easy.  Lots of drills made me a bit tired, but alright day overall.

Another very long Continues run.  This was almost a mini long run , the core part of it was 9 miles done in around 55 minutes.  Went through Pine Bush, and to the major intersection a little over 4 miles in at 7 minute pace, then took the pace down to 6:34, then 6:10ish for the 6th, then 5:56 for the 7th, 5:43 for the 8th, and the last mile was in the low 5:20's.  I made sure that I wasn't out of my control zone at any point, to be ready for tomorrow.  Focusing on really trying to avoid burning out tomorrow.  

Workout day: 2 sets of 400, 600, Mile, 1k, 600 with 400 job in 2 minutes rest after each rep.   (It's been a few days ago so I'll try my best to recall all the splits).  I was in a group with Liam, Kieth, Matt, and for the first set Austin too.  Our 400 pace was 71 (To sinulate the dynamic of a race), we were right on.  The 600 was at 77 pace, we hit 1:56 or so.  We were right on the button for the mile in 5:32.  1k was where the workout began to feel a little tough, we hit 3:12, Last six Austin and Matt took it out slow, but we still managed to run a decent 1:48 (71 pace was the goal.)

Second Set:  400 was right on at 71.  600 I pushed it a little we hit 1:53 so slightly fast.  The mile we all worked together feeling good and hitting 5:23, fast but it felt great.  1k Liam and I really worked well together going through fast (74) but keeping it to hit 3:07.  Last 600 I threw myself against the wall from the start and pulled away from the other guys to hit 1:43.  I can safely say at no point was it super straining, I really went to work, The T7's held up well (I don't have them as a shoe on my shoe tracker, but they took in a big 7-8 miles today).

Supposed to be my real long run day, but I was really feeling tired in my legs, so although I went 90 minutes, it was at slower pace and probably a mile short of what my feeling good 90 minutes would hav e been.  Ran from Terrywile around the mall and through downtown and Rogers park, starting and finnishing with the 2 mile loop in the park.  It felt really great to run back home again, Loved it.

Nice easy Longer run with Ansel on the Bridle Trail,  Legs felt great, ran even out and back on very soft terrain, Beautiful CT run in the fall.

Workout day: 10 X 600 repeats on the Indian Pond loop with 150 meter active rest.  Pace was designed to start at race pace, so idealy 5:15 miles pace so 78-79 4's, and 1:57ish.  We started the first few together I hit 1:55, 1:56, and 57, 57, and 55 for the first 5, at that point the workout seemed not too bad.  However, the very short rest began to catch up with me the second half.  The rest was literally anywhere from as low as 35 seconds to no more than 50.  I hit 57 consistantly from 6th through 9th.  At this point Z Cook and Liam were working with me.  The first 200 would always seem the toughest, but after that it wasn't too bad, within the rep we were pretty even (77's at the quarter.)  The last one I went after hitting a clean 1:54.  This was harder than Fridays effort mainly due to the rest.  Overall:  Successful workout, going to relax tomorrow and Thursday for Saturdays race.

Easy running on the home course, which seems to be pretty flat, yet there are some sharp turns that may make it slow, overall looking forward to racing it.  However, towards the end of the run my hip was bothering me, upon stopping I was in some pain, I went to go Ice / roll it out, felt better afterwords.

Workout day:  Progressive 5 mile tempo pace dropping 4 seconds a mile starting the firt mile at 5:32, last mile goal at 5:16 to give a goal total of 27:00 (20 seconds faster than when this was done 2 weeks ago). I went in much more controlled than I did the last time this workout was done. first mile was right about 5:30.  the wind was rough, and I remained sheltered by the other guys from being direcly hit by it.  I went through 2 miles at 10:53, so it was a quick 2nd mile, yet I still felt in myself.  About halfway through (10 laps), the group began to disperse with Kyle, Jordan, and Cook pulling away from me, I hit 3 miles in the 16:20's.  The 4th mile was rough with the now harsher wind.  I must have dropped pace down to as slow as 5:40 crossing through 4 in just under 22 minutes.  I stayed mentally in tact, as Austin came to block my wind for the 3rd and 2nd to last laps.  I picked it up the last 400 closing in around 77 hitting 27:17.  We then had 2 sets of 2-2-4 with equal job rest.  2's were at 33 for the most of them.  Both 4's I hit in 66 even.  

Overall this was a much better workout comparable to the one 2 weeks ago.  Although my time for the tempo was 8 seconds fastr than last time, and I was technically 15 seconds slow of the desired total pace, I felt much more compfortable that last mile and on the mini workout that followed.  Goal is to get plently of sleep and rest over the next couple of days.  

Ran the course, took it easy with Jordan, Matt and Liam, starting to think about how I want to approach this race,  It's certainly slower than Paul Short, so a sub 27 minute race would be satisfactory.  I'm really feeling good, so we'll see how things go.

Pre- Meet, easy running around campus, went slightly fast mid run with Zach and Justin, then relaxed a bit on my own, ready to go for tomorrow.

The course today was very windy, and slightly chilly, overall conditions were not terrible.  Warmup was successful, felt ready to go.  The race went out the first 800 meters slower than usual.  I got out to a strong start, but by 600 in I had already lost a few meters on Cal and Cook.  I felt very comfortable that first 2k, I focused on running the tangents, and keeping with the people around me.  Kieth and Tyler passed by me as we moved out of the field, but I didn't let myself lose focus so early on.  at 3k I was passed by a few Marist and Binghamton kids, but I caaught back some of them as we progressed on the outer loop through 4K.  I was about 8-10 seconds behind Kieth and Calvin at 3 miles crossing through in just under 16:10.  i really began to pass kids on the lake loop, although I think they were slowing down rather than me speeding up.  I hit 4 miles in the high 21:40's.  With around 1k to go I felt myself weaken up and a few of the kids i had passed in that 4th mile took me.  When I entered the field with 600 to go I kicked it into a gear a bit, and re-picked off a couple, I crossed through in 26:56.

My time is certainly nothing to be too proud about, BUT, this was a big step in the right direction for me in terms of racing right, in regards to this season.  I would place my satisfaction of this race above Beantown and Paul Short, but still below colgate.  Time was only 4 seconds slower than PS, which is a noteably faster course.  Realender from Ridgefield was just a couple seconds behind me, Matt only 10 seconds back.  A great race at conference is setting up for myself, I just need to keep my focus over the next 2 weeks, hip bothered me on the cool down, I'm staying cautius with it for tomorrows shorter than normal LR.

Shorter Long Run through Pine Bush, I figured i would cut the run down about 10 minutes just to easen up with championship season approaching.

Easy run with the guys through Guilderland area with the guys, legs feeling good to go for tomorrow's interval workout.

Workout day:  8 X 1K with 200 jog rest (60-80 seconds), on the Indian pond loop.  The T7's took me through one of my most successful workouts in a while.  Goal was to keep it at race pace to start (3:22 technically for me).  I hit 3:21, 3:23, 3:21, 3:21, 3:21 for the first 5 which actually felt decently easy.  I had a systematic way of breaking the loop down.  I would go out very hard in about 76 for the first 4, settle until the hill at 600, attack the hill, I would lose some ground after the hill as I naturally don't have long legs to run downhills well, then at 800 I'd attack the 2nd hill, and just push it through the last 150 which was flat/downhill.  I ran these with Cook, I'd lead him through 6, then he's take me on that downhill I couldn't run so well down. For the 6th one, I decided to start pciking the pace up, Cook still caught me at the 6, but we finnished the rep up together in 3:18.  I was slightly worries I wouldn't be able to move the pace any faster at that point, but Liam jumped in and helped me really hammer that first 400 on the 7th in 74.  I tried to mantain pace and finnished alone in 3:16.  The last one I was solo practially the whole way.  Went through the 4 in 74 again, but I chose not to settle afterword, I really moved my legs up and down the hill, and let the legs loose the last 150 to hit 3:13.  Overall I averaged around 3:18 for the whole thing. 

This was a very great workout for me, I need to learn to translate this into the race, I clearly am capable of having the fitness to run a 26 minute 8K, its just I can't seem to mentally execute it on race day.  That will change next Saturday at conference.

Pine Bush and back with Kyle, Calvin, and Kieth.  Pace was kept a little quick starting low 7's, wrapping up the last couple miles around 6:40, it felt nice and smooth though.

Easy run through Pine bush with pick up towards the end with the Freshmen crew.  

3:12, and 1:46 with 400 jog rest.  I used the T7's for the whole thing.  First mile was horribly paced I went out stupid fast, then settled it down a bit to hit 5:30.  1K was slightly fast at 3:10, 600 was a bit rough solo, I managed to hit 1:45 regardless.  2nd set mile was 5:26 but still compfortable, 1K I started out slow, so I had to pick it up which was effort, I hit 3:10.  Last 600 the wind was very strong on the back strecth so I went out really fast (32 seconds), so that when I hit the back stretch it wouldn't infringe on the time too much.  I hit 1:44 low.  This workout wasn't that bad at all, but it would have been better with people, next time I'll try to plan ahead when I'm missing practice on a quality day to potentially get a workout partner, but I hit all my times and faster, so success regardless.

Well I'm in Monsey NY home of many orthodox Jews and it happens to be the Sabbath, which means I had to do this run sort of secretly over on the Rockland County Community College campus down the road.  The first couple miles felt terrible, I've eaten a lot of food and feeling very fat this weekend.  But I felt much better as the run progressed.

Easy soft running on the course, left hip bothing me afterword, but after some ice and rolling it wasn't too much of a problem.

Workout day, 5 x mile at threshold on the first mile of the home course, (Grass field), with 2 minutes rest, followed by 2 x 4's and 4 x 2's for a total of 6 quality miles.  It went very smoothly, I ran the miles all between 5:32 and 5:35.  The field was very easy mentally, and felt just as threshold should feel.  The 4's were a bit tougher I hit 71, then 72.  The 2's were all 33-35.  Great Pre-race maintence workout, focusing on relaxing myself over the next couple of days.

Easy frosh run around campus, nice and relaxed pace.

Easy run again around campus, legs feeling sore still, rolled out a bit.

Pre- Meet at Stony Brook, course seems very repetitive yet fast.  Terrain is very ideal, My left leg feels very sore, but otherwise feeling very great mentally for tomorrow, I plan to hang with Kieth and Cal and help the team come in top 6. 

I went into todays race with a really positive attitude, legs are feeling great, course does not seem to be too difficult, and the field is small with only 90 guys, so not a very stressful atmosphere.  I got off the line just fine, but things got very bunched up very quickly, I was running tight with Kieth, Cal, Cook, and Tyler through the first kilometer.  Things began to open up at this point, I was feeling excellent and in a groove, I went through the mile around 5:05 which was perfect.  The second mile felt very long, but I mantained myself and was comfotable, I caught up to Cook and ran with him for a bit while Kieth was another 15 meters in front of us.  I remember crossing through the 4K and hearing I was in the high 40's for place.  Over the next kilometer I beagn to feel things start to slowly, gradually slow down.  I wasn't passed as badly as Paul Short or Beantown, but I fell back into the high 50's by the 6K.  Also the gap between myself and Tyler / Kieth grew from just 5 seconds to at least 15.  I worked around several Stony Brook kids on the 2nd long loop, and tried to remain mentally focused, Cook started to slightly pull in front of me and I worked hard to stay with him.  At 4 miles, a UMBC guy came from  behind me and literally shoved me, I was very weak so I took a tumble to the ground.  This killed my momentum, at first I tried sprinting back up to Cook and the pack around him but my legs just couldn't do it.  I must have ran 6 minutes for the last mile.  I fell back a few places, and in the last stretch Harold passed me.  

We placed 8th as a team, which was not desrieable, but we're a very young team and I personally thought we did alright as a whole.  The course was actually about 125 meters long, so I figure subtract 25 seconds, I ran roughly 26:50 for the 8K, if not for the fall that could have been at least 15 seconds faster, so I wasn't too dissapointed.  Looking forward to regionals, and getting soemk rest.