PB...WHAT WHAT!!!

Saturday was a a good day. I had my Brother and Dad visiting for the week and had a solid race weekend with a 1000m and a 4x400m.  It's been quite a while since I've done either of these events, so I was pretty excited.  I couldn't ask for a better race setup.  We had a good field (basically every guy in my training group), a pacer, and great weather.  The talk within the group was sub 2:20.  Which is basically 1:50-1:52 at the 800m mark and close hard.  I'll be honest, seeing the splits on paper seems easy but getting after it, that's always the challenge.

Take a look at the vid (I'm the Orange).  I was around 1:53 through 800m.  I made a strong move with 250m to go but what can I say....too little too late. Lincoln had a good surge early and when I finally got up to him held me off well.  I need come off the turn HARD and BELIEVE that I can push through the line.  The win would be great, but a PB's a PB.  You can't be disappointed when you run faster than you have before. I ran well and closed hard.  The way I look at it is my race is 200m less. I closed well in this, so I gotta have a stronger kick in an 800m!!!


4x400m was 3 hours later (yup long day waiting around). The order was Myself, Daren St.Clair, Andrew Ellerton, and Matt Lincoln.  I opened in a 48.6.....I'll take it.   And we went on to win in a 3:15 (2nd was 3:20).  I started way out there in lane 7 with the closest guy to me in 4.  As soon as the gun went we were in first and stayed there. ha ha.  Not bad for a couple MD boys.  Put us in a pack and I think I'd have a faster time.

BEETS THE DEMON VEGETABLE!!!

This past weekend I've been K.O.  Thursday was good; had a decent workout and a fine PM recovery run.  I had a great meal- Steak, Quoinoa, and Beets.  But Friday morning 2am...OH MAN I WAS HURTING!!  Ran to the bathroom...and have you ever eaten beets.... boy was I in for a surprise.  It was red!!!...WTF?!?!?  But that was the least of my concern. I ended up getting food poisoning and spent the entire day in a clouded haze in bed or the toilet.  I ate and drank basically nothing because I couldn't stomach a thing.  Day 2 wasn't much better, I had nothing in my stomach but that didn't stop the cramps.  "East Coast" said by day two my body smelt like the top floor of the geriatric ward....

Sunday was a new day, I sprang up and out of bed to the sound of East Coast head first in the toilet, then it hit me....No cloudy haze.  Through the sounds of her suffering, I actually felt okay.  I still had this bubble in my stomach and my appetite was light, but there was improvement. I was up and moving about.  The end of the day I decide its time to try the legs out.  My 4 mile run was okay.  That balloon in my stomach stayed with me the entire run bouncing with every step, but it did deflated each step as well.....IT FELT GOOD!!!!

Tuesday is a workout day, lets see if I'm 100% ready to workout again.

Day 69: What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it, that's another matter

This is the quote my father sent to motivate/inspire me on this journey. The one you're following me on.  This quote really hit me today after today's workout.  It was an 800 specific workout meaning we're shooting for times similar to that what we want to race at.  My coach's guiding words are simple, "relaxed pace" or "comfortable pace".  I'l just be honest.....this shit never feels relaxed or comfortable.  What feels comfortable ....a warm up.  But I get what he means,  "don't go to the well".  Don't push it to max effort and tighten up.  You waste energy when you tighten up.  So its the balance between fucking fast-and staying relaxed.

Back to the story.  Today we had two sets of 800m specific.  The first set was great.  Great times, felt good (well except for the last 15metres).  As soon as the first set was done I ripped my spikes off and pain surged through my ass and legs.  Holy shit did I ever hit lactic acid.  I probably had about 5minutes where I could barely walk.  I slowly jogged the remaining rest to get it out.

Second set I choked a bit.  I'm not sure if I died or just shut it down a bit (probably a little of both).  Shit happens. and you can't dwell on it.  You've got to pick the goods and the bad and fix what needs fixin'. Workouts come in shitty, decent and great.  This was a decent one.  Nothing spectacular but not shitty.

I've just got to get it in my head to not think of the next rep or next set.  If I die, I die, but I'll never know if I can handle it if I hold back.  It's not about "going to the well" for every workout, but about pushing through when shit gets tough.  

It's almost there.  Workouts are clicking, the speed is there, and Saturday will show me where my strength is.  Either way its 16 weeks till the trials and even sooner till I need to be racing fast....so it's going to have to.