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4 on the Fourth.. I'm on a Mission from Gawd.. The Olympic Trials.. Just Thought I would share the Results..
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4 on the Fourth
I realize it has been longer the usual since my last post, but I have gotten lazy recently. Lets get to the race.
I was sure I was gonna have a bad one. I went to bed late last night, after having to work late, and ate pizza for supper. Then I woke up at 1 a.m not getting back to sleep until about 2 a.m because of the heat. I woke up at 5 a.m to head out for the race. After I got up the one last time, I soon realized I felt like absolute shit. I also realized I wasn't hydrated, and had a headache when I got moving around.
Luckily it was not all that hot for the race though. I started my warm up early, because of the way my legs felt. I knew it would take me a bit longer then usual to shake out the lead. After maybe a 2-3 mile warm up, I started to mingle with people I knew. At this point it had been the first time I felt good.
I kind of knew how I wanted to run the race early on. I wanted to take it out at a conservative pace, and when I hit the hills in the second and third miles, charge them, and work through the pack. I did just that. My first mile was a little bit fast, at a 5:30, but I had enough in the gas tank to keep moving well. I eventually made my way through the pack to where Tim Even and James LeFage were running. It was at about the second mile marker where I think Tim started to drop off the pace a little bit, and it soon became a run between James and I. We were sitting in 8th and 9th place, working off each other fairly well.
We came through the 3rd mile in 16:56, and it was an easy run from there. I felt great all the way through. I closed my last mile in a 5:17 if I did the math right, which is a very fast closing mile for me. James ended up running about 5 seconds faster then me, my final time was 22:13, and ninth place, which isn't bad for the 1,700 person event. I got second place for my age group and won a medal. Not what I was hoping for (gift certificates are nice as always) but worth it since it is a huge PR and I had free registration in.
I'm on a Mission from Gawd
"I feel like that's what God created me to do. And so, when I'm out there doing that, is when special things happens" - Ryan Hall I think that religion has an important role in everyone's life, but maybe even more important in the life of a runner, or any other athlete. Everybody has to keep faith in something, it's a part of who they are, and what keeps them going. When someone like a runner, is ruining 100 miles per week, a lot of times you need that faith to keep you going. I think this is why you find so many athletes, endurance athletes in general who are highly religious. As for me, I have no set religion that I follow, or believe in. I am very skeptical of faith, and am in no rush what so ever to find something I believe in, but have always been interested in religion in general. Just as of last year I had become interested in Buddhism, and what they believed, and while I found that I agree with many of the things preached in Buddhism, but there practices are to extreme for me, in how they worship, and how they practice what they believe in. I know though that as time goes on I will most likely find something that catches my eye. All though I do not agree with much of religion's practices or contradictions. While most religions "believe" that killing is bad, they will contradict it and kill in the name of their religion. (And I'm not just talking about Muslims here.) I find one of the most contradicting things for a religion to do is something like bombing an abortion clinic. If you believe in the right to life, you most certainly should not be bombing a public building, and ending the life of others. Or the fighting in the Middle East. Both sides "wish" for peace, yet they cannot come together and talk about what needs to be done as a next step towards peace. No matter what happens there will always be religious differences. But, in the end those religious differences do not call for violence. Now that I have gotten side tracked from what this blog is supposed to document I'll talk about running, and what ever else comes to mind. Today I continue to just log mileage, I will be going out for a eight miler. I am not sure right now what I am trying to hit for exact mileage this week, but I am continuing to build up until I reach about 65 miles per week. Wednesday I might go into Bridgton to run the 4 on the Fourth course, and get a sense for how I need to run it to reach my goal. It is going to be a fun race, with over 1600 people expected to run it, so it is the biggest race of the year for me as well. An age group win would be nice, but I know my competition will be pretty stiff. One of the top milers in the state will be there, Mr. James LePage, and Tim Even a 4 time state champ in the 800, will be pretty quick as well. And with 1600 people, anyone could be there.
The Olympic Trials
With the Olympic Trials going on right now for the USA Track and Field team, it is a pretty exciting time. A lot of great runners are fighting for one of only three spots to get into there respected events, and represent the USA at the Olympics in China. It'll be fun to see who really come out of there shell, compete well, and make the teams.
The women's 10k sounded like it was a very good race, and I am excited that both Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagen will be both in the Olympics. Now I can't wait for the finally to the men's 5k and 10k race. Chris Solinsky obviously at this point is the big favorite in the 5k, and I really hope that Galen Rupp fails to make the Olympics in the 5k and 10k.
Also the steeple chase should be good, mostly because I'll be rooting for one of my favorite runners, Fam. I really hope he does a lot of damage at the Olympics in August. Steeplechase has always been one of my favorite events to watch, it is almost like bringing XC to the track.
As for me I did an easy 6 miles today, continuing to get good base mileage in. All my runs for the most part of been easy. I took the first five miles at an easy, light pace, and hammered the last mile just to see how it felt at the end of a run. I had fun with it though, as this particular goes right through the center of my town, and all the side streets, instead of doing my normal runs in the hills and country side of McFalls, and Minot.
Thursday will be 4 on the Fourth, and I am attempting to break 22:30. I am just going to go for even splits, maybe a little bit faster early on, because thats the only way I can tackle it right now. I need to work on holding an even pace through out a race, and not getting jumpy in the first half mile of a 5k, because the half mile could ruin you right there.
I also took the time to read an old interview of Brian Sell, that dates way back before the marathon trials. I thought it was amazing that he was averaging 110 mile weeks for such a long time, even working up to 170 mile weeks. He talks about how he wasn't ever the most talented runner, and didn't have super studded genes like the other top dogs in running. Thats why he likes the marathon so much, because more of your success is determined by how well and hard you train. If you want to read the interview is is the first link on my favorite links section off to the side of the page.
Just Thought I would share the Results
So I took some personality test to find out which famous distance runner I would be. Turns out I got quite the legend...
Your result for The What Famous US Runner Are You Test... Gerry LindgrenYou scored 35 Kick, 45 Toughness, 70 Endurance, and 53 Pain Tolerance! 
The first American ever to win a distance event at a U.S.-Soviet Union dual meet, Gerry Lindgren was the U.S. national champion at 3,000 meters in 1967 and the 1964 national 10,000m champion. One of the most dominant collegiate athletes in history, Lindgren won 11 of the 12 NCAA events he contested while a student at Washington State University. He placed ninth in men's 10,000 meters at 1964 Olympic Games and was the 1967 USA 3,000m champion and the 1964 USA 10,000m champion. A three-time NCAA 5,000m/3,000m champion, Lindgren was also a three-time NCAA 10,000m/6,000m champion, a two-time NCAA Indoor two-mile champion and a three-time NCAA cross country champion. He set the six-mile world record in 1965 and set U.S. 3,000m & 5,000m records twice each. On July 25, 1964, in the event he is best known for, Lindgren outran two seasoned Russian runners, Leonid Ivanov and Anatoly Dutov, to win the 10,000 meters at the USA-USSR Track Meet in Los Angele Take'>http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-what-famous-us-runner-are-you-test">Take The What Famous US Runner Are You Test at Looking Ahead
Today was a pretty intense work out for me. I did six repeats of the hill on the Pottle Hill 5k course. It was the toughest work out I have had of the summer so far. It seems so easy going after the hill in the middle of a race, but it will really get to you if you even go up it just once during a run. Despite it being tough, I felt very good though. I kept my pace consistent, and didn't have to stop for extra recovery at any point.
I forgot to highlight my work outs yesterday, in last night's ranty post. It was actually my first double session of the year. That morning I went out and did an easy two miles, followed by 4x200 at my 400 race pace. Later that night I did a 5 mile tempo run at 7:00 pace. They both felt great, I hit marks on both runs with ease.
I guess we can move on to my next race. It is on July 4th, chances are it will be hot, and is 4 miles. I will be shooting for 22:30, which was decided by myself and one of my coaches. My 5k time off of Pottle Hill converts in 22:09 for a 4 mile, but I don't trust time conversions unless you are converting a 1500 into 1600 or 3000 into 3200, things like that. Either way the 22:30 would decrease my PR over 4 miles by about 2 minutes. I have not really thought of a race strategy yet, but I do know what I want to work on. - Don't get excited early and go out to fast.
- Stay with my pace the entire race.
- Better kick at the end.
As you can most likely tell, these are all more mental mindset goals then physical ones. It seems like my form has improved a lot, so I am done worrying about that for now. I just have to get my head in the game, and keep it in the game to have a successful Independence Day.
Elitsm: Shut Up Track Dude
I believe that this will be the second time I will have been banned on Dyestat while posting on this blog. This time I won't be coming back. Or at least to the national boards. I think that on the national boards there is a bad case of elitism. If you run a 9:50 mile, you are not fast to these posters. In reality though you run a time that a very small percentage of athletes can match. You won't be considered fast unless you are from Wisconsin or California. And when you are "not fast" you all of a sudden don't have a passion for running. If you don't break 4:30, you are not a real runner, and have no passion for running. This is all BS I think. That's why I got banned. Because the person on Dyestat who crossed the line for me on this got negged twice by each of my three accounts, getting all three of them banned. I may come back, but only to my regional board.
I believe that you have as much potential as you want to believe you have. If you think you can only break 5 minutes in the mile, then you will only break 5 in the mile. If you believe that you can break 9:30 in the 3200, then one day, with lots of hard work you will do it.
This is what I was thinking about all through my run today. Who thought or even thinks now that I can achieve what I will achieve. No one thought I would even be a sub 20 5k person when I first started running, and now I am below 17, looking to increase my PR's exponentially. I am looking to this cross country season, asking myself, "What do I need to do to beat the top dogs?" and "How much faster can I get?" The first one is easy answer. Put in my summer miles, work out hard, and make good decisions. It doesn't get much easier then that. the second, well that is kind of a mystery. I guess we will have to wait and see.
Pottle Hill 5k
I ran the Pottle Hill 5k yesterday, and it proved to be a pretty good success. Coach Galipeau got me ready for this thing perfectly, when he gave me my work outs for this week, knowing that I had my toughest course to conquer of the summer on Saturday.
I got to the race that morning, not knowing who to expect to show up, and who out of those people were running the 5k or 10k. A bunch of UMaine-Farmington guys were there, but I found out they were doing the 10k, and not that quick anyways. I figured out that the big competition for the 5k would be PRHS and Northeastern Alumni, TJ Niles. He was bouncing off of some injuries, but still putting in pretty quick times. He beat me by four seconds at The Fit Fest 5k the week before.
Skip to the race start. Some kids from ELAN, a alternative high school in Poland, run ahead at a fast pace seeming to not know what was coming from them only 3/4 of a mile away. The hill. I almost go tricked into going with them at first, but I relaxed and let them go. TJ caught back up to me just before the hill, where we took the ELAN kids swiftly, and humanely.
We charged up the hill and kept an even pace from there. Things got boring. Turns out there were no mile markers. They told us there were mile markers. But no, there were none. I was a tad bit furious. Anyways neither of us tried to break away until we came down off of the hill, when I tried it. I pulled maybe a few feet ahead until he reeled me back in.
We hit South Main Street with less then a mile ago and he broke off, just about 10 feet in front of me where I held him until the final stretch. With maybe 300 meters to go, and the finish in sight, I reeled him back in and got just in front of him, only for him to catch me again, and this time for good. TJ passed me, and I had nothing left and coasted in just two seconds behind him for second place. I ended up with a 16:53, which is a one second PR.
I normally wouldn't be all that excited for this minimal of a PR, but since it was on a much tougher course then last weeks PR I will take it. I ended up winning a pair of New Balance flats, which tomorrow I intend to trade in for a new pair of trainers, which I desperately need.
My next race is July 4th. A four miler in Bridgton. I don't know if I will run it hard or as a workout yet, but we will see. If I do run it hard I will be going for sub 23.
Race Prep and the Great War
Today I am going to take it relatively light, getting ready for tomorrow. I am going to go three miles easy, and add some strides after. I'm going to do a little more carbo-loading tonight, and skip my core work, in hopes of resting up well for the race tomorrow. I still have no plan what so ever as to how I am going to run the race, mostly because I have no idea who is running the race. The race is to small to get an idea of before had for whose running, but in the morning anybody could be there. I do have the confidence though that I know the course better then anyone else who will be running tomorrow and that gives me the advantage going into the race.
I don't know what is at stake here. Could be any number of things. The prizes last year included Transformer VHS tapes, Coleman camping chairs, gift certificates to local restaurants, and DVD players. It is not a very runners orientated race. The people who officiate and run the race, I think could do a much better job advertising it, and making it a bigger then 20 person race.
The Great War has broken out. The Facebook war between myself and the entire Cape Elizabeth girls track and XC team has much glory and prize at stake. I have taken it to their front first, rick rolling them, and spamming their walls with Chocolate Rain, Ron Burgundy playing jazz flute, and Dragon Ball Z videos. I wait anxiously for their first moves of attack, but one has not hithered yet. I don't know what to expect, but Emily Attwood did threaten to crush my head with her abs.
I Need to Get Jacked.
 I know what I really need to do if I want to hit my 16:30's this coming XC season. I need to get ripped. My lungs are ready to go. There as good as they are going to get during high school. I need to build strength now. As you can see from the diagram to your right, I don't have any muscle mass. It is just a layer of skin covering my bones. I figure the best way to fix this is hill repeats and lifting. But since I don't have a weight set available to me, I guess I am going to have to settle for the hill repeats. And lots of them.
On another note, schools out for summer!! I am very happy, because I am officially a senior. One more year before I get out of this place, and get to make it to the big time in running. Well, I wish anyways.
With all this Olympic talk going on in the running world right now, I kind of figured out what my longterm goal is in this sport. I want to qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. As of this year I think you had to run a 2:40 to qualify, which I think I will be capable of as I get older. I want to start training for the marathon after college. During college I will probably run the 10k on the track or something ridiculous like that, just because I think I am better in the longer distances.
So tonight is the big night before my race. Two nights before is when you should get your best rest, and eat your best according to all my coaches now. That means I won't be able to wage war against the pesky Cape girls on facebook tonight, or watch my nightly lineup of late night TV shows. Conan O'Brien ftw.
So I think I am going to take a shower now, seems how I didn't take one yesterday, and that makes me feel kind of nasty. Then I am going to get a pizza to start the carbo-loading process, before I have to go into work again.
7 miles easy
I went seven easy today to start a new week of running. I'll be hitting about 7 miles a day for the rest of the week, hitting about 38 miles total. Not a lot, but I am still progressing upwards. It was alright weather out. A lot cooler then it has been, but it was very misty as well. I really didn't mind it.
It was a nice relaxing run to, a good time to think about It, and a few other things to, like all the random AIM conversations I have had with people who read this thing. I didn't even think my screen name was posted on here. I don't mind it so don't worry guys, but I think it is just kind of funny.
When I got home I logged it into my new running log I bought at Gee and Bee sports. It is pretty cool, and it was designed by Bill Rodgers which is a plus. If you are ever in Boston, you need to make sure to hit up his running store at Quincy Market. It has some great stuff, not only running gear, but memorabilia as well.
This week I have The Pottle Hill 5k. I have already talked about this a bit, but it really is a big road race for me despite the fact only about 25 people run it on any given year. This will be the races 27th running, and it has never been advertised that well, so no one ever does it. The Pottle Hill 10k, which is on the same day is on a different, but similar route, and is billed as New England's toughest 10k, yet it still only attracts about 30 people.
I finished second to Nick Williams last year, so since he is doing the Decathlon at USATF's this weekend, I expect to be fairly competitive, and go for the win. Saturday's race was a good start to the summer, now lets win a race.
The Race
My summer season started with somewhat of a bang today. In the first installment of the L/A Triple Crown series, I finished 6th place overall, 2nd for my age group, while running a PR of 16:54. This is a solid time, considering that I haven't trained for 5k's since XC and had barely run this week, taking most of it off.
We opened up at a comfortable pace. Thats the advantage of starting on the line of a road race, because you don't have to fight the "crowd" to work your way up to the leaders. We traveled up a gradual incline, until we turned onto a side street. We were being paced by a cop on a motorcycle, through the busy streets of Lewiston, and the traffic directors did a great job of keeping the traffic away from us.
We hit the first mile at about 5:15. The lead pack of the race was still together, but the front two had broken off a bit, and would keep going. The winner ran a 15:20, and runner up got a 15:21.
After that we strung out a bit more, and there were really no more position changes. I hung in sixth until the end. It was really good weather out I thought. I little warm for my taste, but I am going to have to get used to it being even hotter.
I am happy with the 16:54. It gives me a small, but reassuring PR. Now my real training begins on Monday, as I eye a race that I will be doing for the third year in a row, right in my hometown. It is the Pottle Hill 5k. It is actually one of my favorite training loops for shorter run days, and both of my houses are right on the route. With Nick not being there, I might actually have a shot for the win.
The XC Meeting
Yesterday morning we had our Cross Country meeting. I was ready to get pumped up. I know what my goal is, and I know I can achieve it. Now I find out that the coach who knows me the best as a person, and possibly as a runner as well is leaving the team. This is the second time I have lost coach's in track and cross country in the past year, which sucks, but I also know that I have a great coach who is staying with us.
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