There are no shortcuts to any place worth going

A Famous quote by Beverly Sills.

Definitely pertains to what I'm doing right now. I started doubling this week and it's been working out really well; Ive been feeling much better doing it than I did during the fall cross season.

Sunday, the day after the meet, we got up at 10AM and ran a long run on Comm. Ave. It was a tough run up the hills, we were running about 6:50 pace but it felt like a harder effort. I was pretty dead for the rest of my day. I made sure to do a little foam rolling in the suite before I went to bed.

I did my first double of the winter the following day. Mondays have been good days to get a double in since my first class starts at noon. I woke up, headed down to the gym, ran a quick 5 miles, stretched, showered, and headed up to Usdan to get a quick sub before class.
I then doubled back to run 8 miles at practice at 3:30pm with a bunch of guys. I felt a lot more loose on my second run. It was a good decision to start getting some doubles in. I'm trying to run around 70 miles a week and hold that for about a year. In the long term that will help me become a better distance runner.

There are no shortcuts to where I want to be now and in the future. I have to put in the work. To start looking at running times in the 4:10's for the mile I have to put in some smart and solid training. I have a few solid races under my belt at a few smaller meets, so it's time to get sharp and prepare myself for the bigger meets, Tufts, BU Valentines, D3 Northeast, All New Englands, UAA's at the Armory, and possibly D3 Nationals.

Tuesday, I felt really refreshed. Matt Jennings was right in telling me that the double would help me recover. Sunday night I felt like I could barely walk, and on Tuesday I had a ton of energy and my legs felt sharp. Doubling indeed, has been a good idea.

I ran about 54 miles total last week since it was a down week. Interestingly enough, I'm only 5 days into this week and I'm already past 54 miles for the week.

I doubled today, an interesting choice since I was scheduled to run a workout at practice.
Me, Matt Jennings, Devon, and Marc ran 7x400 and 2x200.
It was a good workout, we started off at 66 and made our way down to 61 for the 400s, and finished with 27 in the 200s. My legs definitely felt a little tired in the middle of the workout, but towards the end I felt like I could still do more. The recovery was 2 minutes.

Overall, I ran about 15 miles for the day, which adds a nice amount of miles for my week total. I'm not too concerned about hitting 70 for the week necessarily, I just want to get 2 doubles in a week and manage to feel okay and stay healthy.

A few members of the team are racing at Wheaton Invitational this Saturday, I will not be racing. Other then that We have a lot of good meets to look forward to.

I'm still pumped for Valentine's day. Not because I have anybody in particular that I want to be my valentine, but maybe something else that will grasp my attention, like a race at a fast track.
Can you say BANKED??


Lookin Ahead.

Ive been waiting a good amount of time to say this...

"Mile PR", there I said it!

4:22 this weekend, a 4 second PR.
Those who I am close with, and those who I talk to about my running know that I've been waiting a good while to say that. Ive had my share of struggles, injuries, and setbacks within the last two years trying to get back into my rhythm and good racing shape.
Well, I have a system where I can maintain my body effectively and produce good training which is pleasing.

Leading up to the race this weekend, I had a slightly down week.
The 800 last week left me feeling surprisingly good. I got a quick picture from the meet from a bowdoin website:

Pretty cool pic. I think it's the final turn, I ended up winning the race by barely catching Stein from Bowdoin and out leaning him at the line.

This week, I ran about 58 miles and I didn't do the major workout this week. Also, I took a day off on Tuesday which was needed since I hadnt taken one off in about a month.

On Thursday, I did a mini-workout. Ran 4x200 with Matt Jennings, Marc, and Chris.
We ran 27 seconds for each one. Felt pretty smooth, it was more of a workout to get the legs going. A workout that hits the right buttons and leaves you feeling sharp for the race.

On Saturday, I woke up with my roommates, ate, and we headed down to the gym at around 10:30Am. The Reggie Poyou Invitational (A memorial meet named after a Brandeis track and field athlete who drowned in Africa while studying abroad) was scheduled to start at noon.
Me, Matt, and Chris were scheduled to run the mile. We spent a lot of time warming up because we didn't really know what time our race would go off. Well, the race went off and Matt and I ended up battling two Amherst runners for most of the race, until 400m to go when Matt took the lead. I was in 4th at the time behind the two Amherst runners. We had been running split 33's, it didn't feel exceptionally fast but I hadn't really been feeling well from the start of the race.
As Matt made his move, the first amherst runner followed him and opened a short gap on the rest of us. With 200m to go, I passed the other Amherst runner in 3rd and started to make up a little ground on the two up front. It was a crazy finish. I ended up catching the Amherst runner in 2nd and then Outleaning Matt at the finish. We both ended up running 4:22.
I knew with 50 meters to go that I would catch the Amherst runner, but that final effort also propelled me 1st which was surprising.

Matt seemed like he was pretty happy that it was me who ended up next to him at the line, and not a runner from another school.
pic on the line:


It was a pretty good effort. I'm eager to get under 4:20, but it was a good opening mile of 2009. Plus, I'm under that 4:26 barrier that I seemed to have in my senior year of high school.

Me, Matt, Marc, and Mike (all those m's) doubled back after our events to run the 4x800. We ended up winning in 8:07 which was neat. I came out of the day with two wins, pretty good stuff. Matt and I felt pretty tired after our mile race, Marc and Mike even more so after their 1000m. Mike led off in about 2:04-2:05, then Marc went out in 27 but finished strong to run 2 flat, I ran 2:01, and Jennings with a decent lead anchored us with a 2:01 to win.

I probably ran one of my best doubles ever, 4:22 mile and 2:01 800 split.

Things are looking good. I'm looking forward to the BU meet on Valentine's Day to hopefully get another shot at the mile.
Sinead Evans (Coach John's wife) praised me for my race.
She said "Sam, at BU in a couple of weeks you’ll take about four seconds off that time. It’s a lovely fast track they have there! "
Now, I'm definitely looking forward to it.

To those who are not familiar with Sinead, she was an Olympic runner for Ireland. Her personal best in the 1500m is 4:04,(REALLY FAST!), her mile best is 4:22, and her 3k best is 8:58 ( AMAZING).
Things have been working out well, and I'm going to keep training smart and look forward to more good races and PRs to come.

A very quick Weekend

I raced the 800 on Bowdoin on Saturday. The night before, I had trouble going to sleep. I was too jittery as I lay in bed. I had too much energy and didn't get efficient sleep.
Well, come Saturday at sun-rise, I wasn't feeling too tired. We got on the bus, and I took a long nap on the 2 1/2 hour bus ride up to Maine. I ate the usual Honey bunches of Oates, and a bagel with peanut butter a few hours before I was scheduled to race and was ready.

Felt okay during the warm up, but overall I was a little tired and a tad bit nervous. I was just wondering what to expect out of myself, as usual. Chris and I got on the line with a small field of competitors from University of Southern Maine and Bowdoin. The gun went off, and we got off pretty slowly, allowing the others to take it out. John and I had discussed a race plan, in which I was to sit on the leading runner and kick hard the last 200 meters.
Well, I got out slow and tucked into 4th place during the first lap. The race got out pretty slowly, 60 for the first 400m. I moved up to second, and going into the last lap the lead runner, Brett Stein of Bowdoin (Coincidentally, A former Wayland and DCL runner) had a slight gap on me and the rest of the field. With about 100 meters to go, I had no made much progress on him, but Chris started to come to my outside to pass me.
I woke up a little, and started to turn over. It was a pretty exciting finish. Brett held strong until the line while I kicked strong, made up the ground, and outleaned him at the line.
Times: me - 1:58, b. Stein (bowdoin)- 1:58, Chris - 1:59

It was a pretty exciting win. Even though the race was slow, it was nice to see that I could outkick a strong 800 meter runner. What made the win more thrilling was the fact that this was the event and location of my first collegiate win, which happened last year when I won the 1000m at this meet as a frosh.

Overall, the effort was pretty good. It was a small meet, but there were many strong individual performances for a meet this early in the season. Just to name a few highlights: Marc outkicked a Bowdoin runner in the last 50 meters to win the 1000m in 2:38, Paul and Devon raced well in the mile to come 2nd and 3rd with respective times and personal records of 4:21 and 4:24. Dan won the 3000m in 8:55, with Zack close behind.

I personally think the Bowdoin track is as hard as cement. That's a bit of an exaggeration but it really isn't a fast track. It's flat and has a hard surface. This meet never produces the fastest times usually.

Well, to my surprise, I came off the meet feeling pretty good.
Yesterday I ran 12 miles on the indoor track since there was a good amount of snow coming down on us. 12 miles on a 200 meter track sounds pretty boring, however, I ran with a bunch of guys, and the run went by pretty quickly. We turned around every 10 minutes so that we would put equal amount of stress on the portion of our bodies that was produced while running on the turns. I ended up running about 6:30 pace with Ryan and Marc. Pretty neat stuff.

This week will be a down week. Ive had about 4-5 weeks of solid training and I put in a good deal of quality work. Im pleasantly surprised that I havent been feeling tired or that I havent felt a need for a day off like I used to in prior seasons.
This week, I'll take a day off, and run easy.
The Brandeis meet is this Saturday, and it will be my first mile of 2009. I'm more than anxious to get the race underway.
Next week, I might start doubling twice a week if I'm feeling up for it. I've been running about 62 miles per week and I think it will be good for the long term to increase it to 70.

We'll see how things go. I want to focus on staying healthy, running consistent paced runs, and training smartly.
Racing season is underway, it's going to be a fun time.

Taking down the Polar Bears

I've been really happy to settle into my routine at school. I've been going getting sleep, going to classes from 11am- 1pm, eating well, hanging out with my buddies, watching the Celtics get their stuff back. It's been great getting back.

On Tuesday I ran a solid workout. I warmed up with the team, then John told Me, Devon, and Chris that we'd be running 3x800,2x300, and 2x200. I felt pretty good during the 800s, actually we were running under 2:20 for them and it felt like I didn't exert much effort. Chris wasn't feeling 100%, he had come from the doctor's because he passed out at church a week or so ago and went to see if there was anything wrong, low blood pressure or anything. I'm not sure what they told him but it didn't sound like he had a serious problem or anything. Still, he wanted to play it safe.
I continued doing the workout with Devon, but during the 300s he said he wasn't feeling the best either so he decided to stop. I think they both ended up taking a day off the next day (Wednesday). I don't blame them, we've had a lot of quality training the past 3-4 weeks. The body can do only so much work. The element of recovery is crucial in running.
"Can't take the training more serious than Recovery"
- says Romania's Constantina Tomescu Dita (Olympic Women's Marathon Champion)

After the past few weeks I've surprisingly still felt on top of my game. During the Cross country season I would take a down week after 3 weeks of solid training usually, and I would feel like I needed it. Now, I feel pretty solid still even after a month of good work.
Well I finished the workout by myself, ran the two 300s in 44 seconds and the 200s in 27 and 26. I definitely felt pretty sharp.

At Bowdoin this weekend, I'm running the 800m. I'm actually pretty excited for it. I am in good shape, and I want to see what I can get out of it. This weekend is going to be kind of Low-Key. I haven't run the 800 in a long time, and my race plan isn't even to hammer it from the gun. It'll be a good meet to sit and kick for the win.
Last year I actually got my first collegiate win at this meet. In the 1000m.

Pic of Bowdoin track (It actually strangely resembles the Brandeis track in the picture):


It'll be a fun meet. Their track actually isn't really a fast track. Also, this meet generally doesn't produce the fastest times. It will be a good first meet to get back into the racing ambiance.

Yesterday I ran 8 miles, and today I actually ran four 200s. We've been doing this for a while. On the Thursdays before a meet, John will have us warm up 20 minutes and run a few 200s. I think it's good, just to get the legs sharp. I ran them mostly in 28, which I think is good. I didn't feel that sharp today, but John and I agree that it's okay, and I've been working hard. We also agree that I'm in the best shape I've been in for a while, so it's time to get racing. Gotta beat those Polar Bears.

I'll probably have a day off next week, and then look forward to our Home Meet. The Reggie Poyou Invitational. It will be my first mile race since getting back and I'm more than eager to race it. My 1200m time trial two weeks ago ( time 3:08) was about 62-63 pace for 3 400ms. I think I might be fit enough to go for 64s each 400m. Time will tell. My legs have been feeling ridiculously strong lately, so I'm excited.
First, Bowdoin. Go Deis!

Getting back into the swing of things at Deis!

Got back to school yesterday at around 1pm. My buddy Ben was already there. We decided to go running, so we brought our stuff down to the Gym and re-packed our lockers.

The weather was not very suitable for running. It was Sunday, our long run day, so we bundled up pretty well. The temperature was about 10 degrees below freezing, and snow was coming down lightly. It didn't help that the sidewalk was not well plowed and the roads had a lot of ice on the grooves by the sidewalk. Ben's knee was bothering him again so he decided to play it safe after 5 minutes of running and turn back to school to ice and stretch.

Needless to say, I was by myself running with only a little less than a mile out of the way. Running down Norumbega was quite a scene. The light snow gave the windy road a sense of some barren paradise. There's a view of the Charles river from the top of the incline on the street, and the river was frozen over with snow beginning to cover the ice. It was a very white and bright spectacle.

I didn't feel like running up Comm. Ave, which probably would have been the safer option, so instead I headed towards Wellesely and ran the Livingston Taylor run. I made up a little extra and ended up running 11 miles in total. I wanted to run 12-13 but I didn't feel that comfortable. I was pretty tired from not having eaten much, and my hands were in a lot of pain from being outside in the cold. Apparently, I need warmer gloves for the cold weather. When I got back, I did the usual stretching out.

Well, I saw the final moments of the Brandeis Basketball team beating Carnegie Mellon which was sick, I got food and hung out in the suite with Ben for a while, watched the Eagles win, watched the Steelers win, and then waited for friends to get back to school.

It's been great being back, I just feel like it's easier to get into a good routine when I'm at school. Today, we got books, hung out, saw people, then went down to practice at 3:00pm. I ran 8 miles today with Chris, Ryan, Marc, and Alex.
-We start off our runs usually as a group, but eventually there are some splits in the group as people who are running different mileage split up. We started off with about 15 guys, and eventually it dwindled to 5 in my group who were running 8 miles-

We ran Meadowbrook 8 on-the-roads which is a version of Meadowbrook 8, but instead of running on the trails (which were covered up by snow) we had to alter the course to have it be on the roads. It ends up being about 8.5 miles. Meadowbrook 8 is one of those runs that you love if you're feeling great and one that can seem forever if you're not having a feel-good day. It has it's hills and it's sights. I actually ran it in 47 minutes in one run at the end of cross country. I know, it was not very smart of me to run a 5:50 per mile paced run but it was one of the last days of November and I was about to take a few days off anyways and get ready for track.
I found a pic of the golf course we run through on Meadowbrook 8 loop which is on Meadowbrook Rd:


Anyways, we ran 8.5 in around 57:30. Felt great. Hopefully I keep training well. It was a little faster than I'd like to have gone the day before a workout, but we ran it and I stretched out and used the foam roller and my legs feel great. Workout tomorrow.

John also informed us that the Guy's team is actually not running the BU terrier meet in 2 weeks. (Sorry Steve! I'll invite you to a different BU meet if you can make it!) We will instead run our Home invitational, the Reggie Poyou Invitational, which will be held in Gosman Gym at our indoor track.
This is exciting news, I find our home meet to be pretty fun. Even though it conflicts with the Terrier Classic, it will be a good meet to run and get a good time in, plus we will have other trips to BU.

Feel free to post comments! Special thanks to anyone who reads my posts, and especially JWald and H Finch for providing the influence for me to start bloggin.
Their blogs are located in my links.

3:08

I am not writing this at 3:08Am or Pm.. however the number in the title does pertain to my post.

Last Tuesday, after our really solid 6,4,2 x 3 workout John told us that we should run 5 on Thursday because we would probably have a time trial on Friday.
Well, not surprisingly, I didn't feel 100% on Wednesday and even for my 5 miles on Thursday. The workout on Tuesday definitely took a lot out of me, but I recovered very well from it.

I got a decent amount of sleep this week. I've been trying to get 9-10 hours every night. I woke up on Friday feeling pretty drowsy as I usually do in the morning, but my legs felt pretty fresh. John told those who wanted to workout to meet at the Gym at 1:00pm. I got dropped off (since my car is still in need of being fixed) and walked in. Found Devon, we chatted for a bit, waited for Chris to come, then John. John told us we were doing a 1200 meter time trial; Just the three of us.

As usual, we warmed up about 21 minutes and stretched. We also brought our race spikes today. Chris would later inform us (to Coach John's disdain) that he actually only had one spike in total in his 2 racing shoes. I thought this time trial would be a good little event to break in my Christmas present: Nike Victory s.
pic:


So we warmed up, did our strides, and went to the back straight of our 200m track to start the time trial. Why did we head to the back straight for our start? Well the bleachers were covering all of the track lanes except for lane 1 on the home straight because there was a Basketball game scheduled a few hours later. So we couldn't make any passing on the home straight, just run in lane one. John decided that we should start from the back straight since he would have the person in front move to the back every 400m.

For some reason, when working out with Chris and Devon (and occasionally Marc) it has become custom for me to take the first interval. I don't know how it started, but now I always end up with the first interval. John asked who out of us wanted to take each 400, so Chris goes, "Sam has the first 4". I guess I was okay with that. Devon ended up taking the middle 400, and Chris the last 400 to complete the 1200m distance. John told us that we should run strong the whole way through, but have it be more like running a mile effort. Trying to run around 3:12. I think this was good because that mindset would prevent us from going out in anything crazy.

So we began, got out, passed the home stretch running in lane one with all the bleachers out and our few fans (Kerwin, Beth, and Alyssa) cheering. As we were coming to the first 200m I was expecting to hear 32 but John says, " 30 ". Hmmm.. it almost felt too comfortable to be true. We kept going, I tried not to slow it down too much. Right before the 400m, I went out into lane 2 on the backstraight and let Devon and Chris pass me.
At 400m John says, "62"
Now, I'm behind Chris, with Devon leading both of us. I can make a ton of parallels between the effort I felt during my first mile a few weeks ago (4:31) and how I felt now. After 400m in that mile in December, I was already feeling like I was struggling.
At this point, with Devon leading us, I didn't feel any struggle, I felt VERY awake. We must've went through the 600m in around 1:35, but I don't remember hearing John yell out the time. I remember John saying something like "Halfway, alright get stronger as you go along". During this lap I definitely felt like I was very comfortable in my zone, I didn't feel any struggle in my legs, but my breathing had increased a little. As we got to the 800m, John said something along the lines of "400 to go, lets get going". I don't think he said our time, but he told us the split later was 2:08.
Devon moved out into lane 2, and Chris took over. We picked it up a bit this lap. I felt like this was the pace we needed. Going to the 1km mark and 200m to go, something went off in my head. I was thinking that I was little too comfortable and that the pace needed to be even faster.
So, with 200m to go I decided to pass Chris and I really started to turn over. I remember John being like "Keep it going" or something to that extent. We passed through the 1000m in 2:39, but John didn't give the split till we asked later. Well that last 200m really flew by, I just remember picking it up even more. I held the pace all the way through the line and John yelled out "3:08". Chris and Devon were right behind both in 3:11. I ran the last 200m in 28 high.

Overall, the effort was great. I definitely felt tired afterward. On our cool down we were on cloud 9 though, and admitted that we could run extra intervals if we needed to. Devon was like, "I could do another 1200!"... I think I responded with, "Well, maybe 800, a 12 might be pushing it". We cooled down about another 21 minutes and stretched out. Devon also said that he felt strong, but not that sharp yet. Which I think is a good thing considering it's early January. To be honest, I surprised myself with the turnover I had on the last lap. It bodes well. It'll give me a little extra confidence in my kick in my races.

Essentially, the time trial left us feeling pretty good. We all, including John, got what we wanted out of it, which was a good effort and a good indication that we were in good fitness. I guess if I had run another 400 meters in 70 seconds that would be a 4:18 mile. John says the workouts we've been doing and the time trial indicate that the three of us are in 4:20 shape, maybe better.

So this has been a really pleasing first step. I am pretty content with my 3:08, considering it was on a flat track, and that the three of us were in T-shirts and spikes. Racing will be another thing though. It won't just be with supporting teammates. There will be a lot going on, and I'm definitely ready for it. The trial didn't just leave me satisfied, but left me hungry for more as well. More fuel for the fire. The past few weeks of solid work have definitely payed off.
Now, time to bring the next few meets to attention. Terrier Classic @ BU in 2 weeks. Bowdoin Invite in a week. Time to get the racing season underway.
Good health.

Solid few weeks

I write this post after having an excellent past few weeks of training, which is what I wanted and hoped for going into break. The workouts have been improving, and Ive felt great on my runs.

Tuesday, I ran probably my best workout of my collegiate career. I'm sure better workouts will come, but this one stuck out in particular. I remember I did a few great workouts last spring when I was coming off injury and the past few weeks getting the work in, but this one left me feeling particularly strong.

The classic, 6,4,2,6,4,2,6,4,2. One of my favorites. I re-iterate what I wrote in my last post after having done this workout, I really enjoy the fact that this workout forces you to adjust pace again and again. I feel tremendously sharp after doing these intervals.

The best part of this workout in particular, was the fact that our intervals were run much faster than before and we were comfortable doing so. The last set was run in 1:36,62,28. I actually think the middle set was the most impressive since the times were very close to those of the last set, but I'm not going to post them unless someone asks.

Yesterday, I went with Kerwin to see my Newton South Lions take on the Hawks of Waltham High. It was a pretty fun meet. It's always exciting to be at Reggie as a spectator or as a competitor. I saw some good results, for instance: Yong Cho, a hurdler, won 3 events. Kelsey Karys doubled mile/2mile with a 5:18/ 11:11 and the NS 4x4 had an epic battle with the DCL and was neck and neck with AB until the end. AB took it, but it was exciting nonetheless.

I've got what I wanted out of break, which was solid training. I did not start doubling however, I've been keeping my mileage at about 65 in just singles and that seems to be working so I'm sticking with that for now. Anyways, John thinks that our training group is in great shape, so I can't wait to get some races in.
January 17th -- Bowdoin Invite, January 24th -- Terrier Classic at BU.
^Just to name the upcoming meets. Well, Carpe Diem.

Only about a week till I'm back in the dorms

Yup, only 8 days till I'm back at school, which I can't wait for really. It'll be nice to be back into the routine i'm in at school and running with the team.

I ran 13 miles out on the streets of Newton today at around 1pm. I ran for about an hour and 30 minutes. I tried to get onto the aqueduct trail run that we run in the summer over in Needham, but the trail was covered by too much snow for me to get any effective running on. I did get to run over the Dam by the mills on the border of Newton/Needham which was nice, the view from the top is excellent.

It was pretty exciting to see that a lot of people were outside running today, whether it was for training for marathons or races, or just the plain new years resolutions to get fit. I saw individuals, I saw packs of runners.. it was great, I got an occasional wave and smile too. There wasn't a cloud in the sky today, it was just a nice day for running; one of those feel good days.

Friday, I ran a pretty satisfying workout at Brandeis. I did 5x800,4x200 with 2 1/2 minutes of rest between 800s and 2 minutes between 200s. It was satisfying in the sense that it felt easier and smoother than my previous workouts. The 800s run in 2:20 felt really smooth, and running 28s for 200s was actually pretty exciting, and well just kinda fun.

I've been recovering well, getting a lot of sleep, drinking a ton of water; I've even been taking daily multivitamins. It's comforting that I've been running good-paced runs and feeling the effects of becoming physically fit.

Paul stayed over Friday night, and we went to the BU mini meet in the morning so that Paul could race a 3k. Paul placed 5th or 6th, in a fast race, with a time of 8:32 which is a PR of about 8 seconds. He said that he was pretty satisfied with the time given that the racing season is pretty much just underway. He also noted that the race itself felt like an easy effort and that it was nice to get back to the BU track again.

I'm pretty excited to get into racing, again. The way that I have been feeling now makes me wonder how out of shape I was only 3 or 4 weeks ago. Out of shape in the sense of lack of speed, and comfortable effort running on the track. It might just be a mental thing, but I really do feel (to give brief adjectives) fit and quick.

Training seems to be going well. First test is January 17th at the Bowdoin Invitational.. but the first real test will come the following Week at the BU track for the Terrier Classic which will probably be my first mile of 2009.

Good health and safety to all.

2009

Happy New Years to all!
Hope everyone was able to celebrate.
I havent made any clear-cut new years resolutions, yet. Maybe that'll come.. I don't think I have anything drastic I want to change, I've already put in my commitment to smart training.

Last few days have been pretty exciting,
Went to the DCL High School meet at Reggie Lewis on Monday and saw my Lions perform well.
Also got a snapshot with Coach Steve McChesney and alum Nick Laurence.
pic (Courtesy of Henry Finch):

The Lions won, boys NS 54 AB 41; girls NS 60 AB 35.
Photos of the events/races are on Henry's site: http://newtonrunningtimes.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, I went to the Brandeis Indoor Track to do a workout. We warmed up 20 minutes and then did 4x600,2x300 with 2:30 rest in between. I did the workout with Devon, Chris, and Marc whom I introduced in my previous posts. We took turns leading each intervals. The workout went pretty well; we hit 1:40-1:41 for each 600 and 45,46 for the 300s. It was solid, the only thing is that we would hit 1:40-1:41 for the 600s in a few different ways. One time we went out in 34, on the last interval we went out in 31. I thought that I had a pretty good feel for the pace by the end of the workout.

We had a bigger crowd today. Julia Alpaio (from RI), Kate Warwick (Acton, MA), Meaghan Casey , Ben Bray (Duxbury,MA), and Kerwin Vega (Waltham,MA) all showed up.
Paul Norton (Amherst,MA) had finished his workout by the time we got there since he had to be somewhere. Paul might be staying with me this weekend, he plans to run the BU mini meet this Saturday which should be exciting.

After having run 8 miles yesterday, my legs feel pretty good. I definitely took a lot out of the workouts and I've been recovering well and running pretty easy (7:05-7:10 pace for my runs). I'll probably run 5 miles today, per instruction of John.

I look forward to the races of 2009. I'm definitely ready to run some good miles, but I want to continue putting the good work in.