tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34238199381651414632024-03-12T23:37:53.120-04:00Just a RookieRookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-5904364486079961502012-05-21T20:24:00.000-04:002012-05-21T20:45:16.080-04:00Bumpy RoadsI landed in Toronto about a week ago, after finishing up the last few meets of my freshman year down south. They didn't quite end up the way I had hoped. I ran two 5000 races a week apart, but blew up big time in both of them. I haven't even put in the effort to actually find out what the times were, but it was pretty disappointing. I think I was around 15:40 in the first race, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was close to 16:00 in the second race. To be honest, I'm still a little confused as to what has gone so wrong in the past few weeks to go from 14:45 to 16:00, but I'm back in Toronto with a few more weeks in the racing season to figure things out and get back on track. <br />
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This whole year has been filled with pretty inconsistent performances going all the way back to my injury in cross country up until the problems I've run into over the past couple weeks, but there was a lot more to the year than what the times showed. I could write pages and pages of blog posts about how much I've learned from my first year in university but it still wouldn't be able to convey the knowledge and experience that I've gained from spending a year in this program in Alaska. I guess you could say that I came to Alaska as a big, dry sponge and spent the year absorbing everything around me. I got a really good feel for what it takes to be a part of a successful university program, and I have a really clear image of what I need to do in order to continue improving and developing on and off the track. I am already feeling eager to get back to school and put this years knowledge and experience to work for more success and consistency next year. <br />
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I still have about 11 weeks before I fly back, so I will have quite a bit of time for redemption on the track and base building for cross country. The rest of the season will have a little stronger focus on 1500 work, maybe tossing in a 3000 or 5000 but I'd really like a few cracks at getting below the 3:58 zone I've been stuck in for a while now. Not certain about the racing schedule for the rest of the season, but I'll definitely be doing some of the <a href="http://www.londonrunner.ca/page.php?content=RCLDS">RCLDS</a> races. <br />
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On a completely unrelated note, a guy by the name of Erik Van Ingen (3:38 1500) released a film today called "The Real Maine" documenting a summer of training in Maine featuring a bunch of the NCAA's best distance runners. Pretty inspiring movie, and I definitely recommend all you runners out there check it out when you get a chance. <br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/42523717">Click here</a> to watch the movie<br />
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Last but not least, I definitely need to give a shout out to the ten UAA Seawolves have qualified for NCAA's this year. They're taking off to Colorado tomorrow to show the nation what they can do. You can find results up at <a href="http://www.goseawolves.com/">goseawolves.com</a> after the meet this weekend. <br />
Give 'em hell Seawolves!<br />
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<br />Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-59975538194406751652012-04-24T01:17:00.000-04:002012-04-24T01:17:13.484-04:00When Running in Alaska...Yesterday I flew back to Anchorage from California after a few solid meets. I ran 4:00 and 4:01 down south, so nothing spectacular but good efforts nonetheless. I talked it over with the coaches a few times, and we discussed the fact that we haven't really developed any pure speed yet in practice, focusing more on the 5000 and building aerobic fitness, so there shouldn't be any concern that I'm not dropping time in the 15 like I am in the 5000. I think it's a great approach, as I've seen 46 seconds dropped off my 5000m PB in the span of 2 races, something that makes me really excited to put in some further specific 1500m work.<br />
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Today I got a start on some of that raw speed work in a pretty interesting way, a different kind of workout that I had never had a chance to do before. Today's workout was a long run since we didn't get one done in California, and we were all looking to get into the 90 minute range. I know you're thinking this has nothing to do with raw speed, but believe me when I say I had the pedal to the metal on today's run. Many of you may not know this, but this was one of my first runs outside all semester. When I had my Achilles problem last October, I started back by running on the treadmill and next thing I knew the snow had started to accumulate on the ground. I spent almost all my winter training runs on the treadmill as it offered better footing and a nice temperature. When we got back from California though, almost all the snow had melted, and the temperature was right around 10 Celcius (50 Fahrenheit). The trails were still a little bit sloppy due to the melting, but it was perfect running weather so today we all decided to stick to the paved shoulders of some of Anchorage's roads. <br />
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Six of us took off, and quickly broke off into 2 groups of 3. The first group was going a little quick but I went with them anyways, and spent a lot of time yoyo-ing off the back of the two up front. The other group missed a few lights early on in the run, so I didn't really want to go back and wait for them a few minutes behind. About 30 minutes in, I fell back a little as I didn't think I could hang on for 90 minutes, so I tried to keep the pace comfortable to get through the whole run at a decent clip. I could still see the others up ahead, maybe 100 meters or so. A couple times I thought about trying to get back up with them, but I decided I would wait until they turned back to run with them instead of trying to bridge the gap then. A few minutes later, both of them went up a pretty sizable hill that went around a curve just before the top, with some short guardrails on either side. On the outer edge, you couldn't really see anything beyond the rail, as the terrain dropped off pretty quickly. At this point in the run, there wasn't any traffic on the road, maybe a pick up truck every few minutes, but hardly anything. <br />
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As the other two approached the curve in the road, I took a glance up at them, thinking "this is going to be horrible", as my legs started to tire. So I put my head down, and started to grind away at the hill. About halfway up, I lifted my head to see how much more of the hill remained. As I looked up, I caught a glance of a big dark figure right behind the guardrail at the curve in the road. I did a quick double take, as I thought it might have been a bear or moose. The dark figure turned to look at me, and sure enough it was the face of a black bear. It was the first time I had seen a bear in Alaska, so I really had no clue what to do. The other two were out of sight, so it had become a Kevin Vs. Wild showdown. For a split-second I wasn't sure if I should follow bear protocol (Yell, back away slowly, make flailing arm movements, don't run etc...) or if I should just start booking it down the hill (being a runner and all). It didn't take long to make up my mind. As soon as it hopped over the guardrail onto the road, I took off sprinting down the hill. <br />
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I figured I had 30-50 meters on the bear, so if it was going to catch me at all, it would take at least 150 meters. I quickly looked back at the bottom of the hill still in full stride to see it in the middle of the road still coming towards me, so I kept on hauling. I was hoping a car would come around the corner as I was running away, but no such luck. By the time I ran into the second group of guys, I had to have gone 400 meters. I stopped to turn around with the other group, and thankfully the bear was still only about halfway down the hill walking around aimlessly. It's pretty unreal to think that if I had held on to the other two for a little longer, or tried to bridge the gap I would have been almost face to face with the bear as it jumped out onto the road. The other two actually had no idea there was a bear on the road at all as they had just gone around the curve, and thankfully didn't have an encounter with it on the way back. <br />
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I'd like to believe that when the bear saw me bolt off it was discouraged and slightly stunned by my unbelievable turnover, but it was probably more amused by the look of terror on my face and the blurts of profanity as I took notice of it at the top of the hill. Let me tell you that was easily the fastest I have ever run, it's too bad nobody was there to clock a 400m split. I certainly would have been well below 4:00 in a 1500 if I was being chased by that sucker a little further. Maybe next race I'll hire someone to jump out unexpectedly onto the track dressed in a bear costume with a lap to go. It would almost guarantee a closing lap under 60, and possibly a need for a second pair of shorts post-race.<br />
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Pretty exciting run overall, and a wonderful way to work on my turnover, but I'm not looking forward to running that route any time soon. <br />
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<br />Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-34470070524766581372012-04-08T20:16:00.000-04:002012-04-08T20:16:07.441-04:00All Aboard the PB TrainAnother couple of solid weekend races are in the books. Last week I was in Oregon for the Willamette Invitational, where I ran another 4:00 in the 1500. I was hoping for a new PB, but it wasn't meant to be. I went back to Alaska with a little sense of urgency to make a breakthrough that I believed I was fit for. This weekend was spent at San Francisco State, where I ran a 5000m in a great heat of 25 or so guys all seeded between 14:40 and 15:00. Going into the race, the plan was very simple. Get on the rail, and follow the pace train. Almost right away, everyone was settled down into a pack running the exact paces I was looking for. 72, 72, 36 for 3:00 at the 1st km, and then lap by lap the pace began to gradually drop bringing me through 2k at 5:56, and 3k at 8:54. If you recall in my last 5000, I went out in 8:57 and held it together for the most part to finish in 6:08 for the last 2k. I was a little uncertain about how the last 5 laps would play out going through 3k a little faster this time, but I felt great. 4k was hit in 11:52, and still feeling good I had a 2:53 left in the tank for the last km. 14:45.08 was the final time. <br />
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Apart from breaking 15 for the first time, I was excited because this is the breakthrough I had been searching for since last year. It's pretty clear to me now that last year I wasn't running the mileage I needed to in order to keep it together in a 5k, but with the additional 15 or so miles/week, I am definitely stronger, and able to put up a fight in the last 2km. It gives me a little more confidence in my aerobic fitness and it puts me in a good position to get into faster races. One of my big goals this year was to get into the 14:30's and it now seems a lot more realistic and certainly attainable. Additionally, the NCAA DII provisional standard is 14:35, so I've now set myself up nicely for another shot or two at that time. <br />
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For those of you who didn't know, this weekend was one of Stanford's big track meets they host each year, so the Seawolves split up our squad to go to both San Francisco State and Stanford. All weekend, everyone was getting texts and calls from the athletes and coaches at opposite meets about the big breakthroughs everyone was having. It almost seemed too good to be true, as personal bests, national qualifiers, school records, and conference records were dropping all over the place. I'm not even going to try to remember how many records were broken, as there were so many that I'm bound to forget to mention a few. The full results will be on the Schedule/Results page ASAP. The coaches agreed it was right up there as one of the best overall weekends for UAA track and field, and that's definitely a great sign to see such solid performances from the whole team. And the best part is that there is still about 5 weeks to the conference championships, and 7 weeks to nationals for everyone to put in a few more big weeks of focused training. <br />
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One of the benefits of being in the San Francisco area is that after my race I got to head over to watch the big boys running the 1500s, 5000s, and 10000s at Stanford. It was pretty sweet getting to watch some of the Seawolves rip it up with some of the best runners in the country. It was also great to watch guys like Tegenkamp, Jager, Bairu, Ritz, Levins, Derrick, Bauhs, and a bunch of others get after some quick times. Getting to meet Lawi Lalang after his race, and going out onto the track with Alberto Salazar as he gave Ritz splits during his 10k was just a bonus to a great day. Then, as if the first day wasn't enough, on our run the following morning, the Kenyans on our team ran into Bernard Lagat's brother (27:50 10k), so he joined along for our team long run. Pretty awesome weekend. Now it's time to get back to business for a few more hard workouts the next 2 weeks. Not 100% sure when I'll race next, but I'll keep you posted.<br />
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P.S. One thing I forgot to mention was that Anchorage just broke the record for the most snow in one season in the history of the city (just under 12 feet). Adding that to the coldest January in Anchorage's history made for a pretty chilly, snowy winter up in the Big One, but spring is certainly on it's way.Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-20460423563506743742012-03-23T23:31:00.001-04:002012-03-24T13:21:57.379-04:00Go Time Round 2Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, but I've been pretty busy this past week getting caught up after the trip. Anyways, the race went really well on Friday (The Saturday meet was cancelled, so I didn't run the 800). Once again, there was no problem getting into a groove to try and get after a fast time. Perfect weather, perfect pacing, and it ended with a 4:00.06 for me. In my last post, I made it pretty clear that I was fit and ready for a 1500 PB, but after the 1500 it was pretty apparent that I'm not quite sharp enough to beat 3:58.25 YET. I got a little caught up in how well things were rolling that I sort of forgot that it was still the first week of what I hope will be a very long season. <br />
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I took a look back to my 1500 season openers in my past two years and realized that it always took at least a few races to get into the 4:05 range each year. Those years ended with a 3:58, so that really put things in perspective. Another way to look at this race is that I was almost exactly the same time that I ran at my final 1500 last year. So to start where I left off last year is pretty exciting. About 10 days from now, I'll be racing again at Willamette in Oregon. I think it will be a 1500, which will be really exciting to get another crack at it. A few pics from California below, you can click them for a larger image.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ncAMRXgP1N4/T207vQN3neI/AAAAAAAAAkg/ROcv2Ve4wwI/s1600/UAA+California+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ncAMRXgP1N4/T207vQN3neI/AAAAAAAAAkg/ROcv2Ve4wwI/s400/UAA+California+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team Picture in San Diego</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAxZxrB5T04/T207wu-U9zI/AAAAAAAAAko/y5qzz2i-bow/s1600/UAA+California+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAxZxrB5T04/T207wu-U9zI/AAAAAAAAAko/y5qzz2i-bow/s400/UAA+California+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebration after watching the UAA Basketball team win an NCAA Regional Championship </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLambWA4yMM/T2078DkfMJI/AAAAAAAAAkw/RY7mGrlCf1s/s1600/DSCN0464.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLambWA4yMM/T2078DkfMJI/AAAAAAAAAkw/RY7mGrlCf1s/s400/DSCN0464.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Granddaddy of Them All</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1NFYMTuZHao/T208BcpdUoI/AAAAAAAAAk4/DahPnwdamzg/s1600/DSCN0472.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1NFYMTuZHao/T208BcpdUoI/AAAAAAAAAk4/DahPnwdamzg/s400/DSCN0472.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rose Bowl</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0RiLaoEFDrI/T208HF-SOjI/AAAAAAAAAlA/wslWj1iasHA/s1600/DSCN0489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0RiLaoEFDrI/T208HF-SOjI/AAAAAAAAAlA/wslWj1iasHA/s400/DSCN0489.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown L.A. to catch a Kings/Wings Game</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NJrDnmaDkRo/T208MtZUdeI/AAAAAAAAAlI/LRswH3Z20Ck/s1600/DSCN0503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NJrDnmaDkRo/T208MtZUdeI/AAAAAAAAAlI/LRswH3Z20Ck/s400/DSCN0503.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chirpin'</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KwtlxI44cBU/T208SHge3LI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/yejMIzScJv4/s1600/DSCN0505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KwtlxI44cBU/T208SHge3LI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/yejMIzScJv4/s400/DSCN0505.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D8ER8dLM3Sg/T209ajfuDzI/AAAAAAAAAlY/577ynJ9iCN4/s1600/DSCN0487%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D8ER8dLM3Sg/T209ajfuDzI/AAAAAAAAAlY/577ynJ9iCN4/s400/DSCN0487%5B1%5D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">San Diego Coastline</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-75568385754773784662012-03-12T01:09:00.000-04:002012-03-12T01:09:37.781-04:00Go TimeI ran a pretty solid one last night. I was entered in my 2nd 5000, and if you recall on my blog last year I didn't have a very good outing the first time. 9:00 through 3k and a 6:31 last 2k to be exact. But this time was different. I went 8:57 and hung on better with 6:08 to finish in 15:05. Of course there's a lot of work to be done if I want to sneak into some big races this year, but as a first race of the season and a sizable PB, I won't complain. Another reason not to complain is the fact that I'm in Southern California for 10 days to get some fast races in the warm weather. <br />
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I'm racing again next week - a 1500 on Friday, and an 800 on Saturday. I'm certainly looking for a couple more PB's next week, and there really won't be any excuses not to. If any of you readers have ever attended the London Runner's distance races in the past, you know what a perfect race is like. Tons of runners all looking to run fast times under the lights with no wind and perfect temperatures. That's what it was like yesterday. It's no wonder everyone comes to California every spring to run blazing fast times, it's perfect weather every single day. There were 5 heats of men's 5000 runners each with 30 runners and there was definitely no sitting and kicking going on. Just a bunch of dudes running really quick. The Seawolves had some really solid performances last night and I'm going to start putting results up on the schedule/results page as soon as I get a hold of them. <br />
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I'll post another blog after next week's races - hopefully some big times to talk about!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-24712399551907536752012-02-11T01:50:00.000-05:002012-02-11T01:50:11.425-05:00I Said It And I Still Mean ItThings have been going really well up north since school resumed almost a month ago. Firstly, I couldn't be more satisfied with the way I've been running lately. As I was talking a lot about in my last blog, I got to put in some solid work back home over the holidays to get ready for this season and it's starting to pay off. Since Christmas, it seems like every workout has been better than the last. I've just been in a really nice groove where it seems like everything is falling right into place. Cross country and track seem like night and day already, and the outdoor season hasn't even begun. The Kevin from cross country season seems like a distant memory that I would really like to forget about. But the truth is that I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't run so poorly in cross country. As time goes on, I'm beginning to understand that the cross country season wasn't a failure at all. Just like Good ol' Thomas Edison said, "I haven't failed, I've just found 10 000 ways that don't work." Let's be honest here, I found a whole load of ways that didn't work in cross country. But those mistakes I made were the ones that needed to be fixed for this season, and I think that because I'm taking care of what I need to I've been able to get back on track and I couldn't be more psyched for the season to begin. We're about a month out from our first race, so now it's all about consistency in workouts and stringing together good, hard weeks of running. As soon as I get racing, I'll try to throw up some more blog posts and update the Schedule/Results page. Until then, you can be sure that the Seawolves are working hard for a big season and that we'll be ready to rock and roll in California 27 days from now.Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-27508931832481556522012-01-16T00:51:00.000-05:002012-01-16T00:51:51.157-05:00Back to SchoolI just landed in Anchorage yesterday, and I've got to say that I'm pretty disappointed with this weather. For a month, I've been spoiled with no snow and daily temperatures above freezing making it perfect for some solid running in Toronto. But sadly, my good luck didn't follow me up north. I arrived in the Airport to hear the pilot say "Welcome to Anchorage, where we have clear skies and a temperature of -6 Fahrenheit". It's almost a 40 degree drop in the temperature I had when I left Toronto, and understandably I wasn't really excited at all when I walked out of the airport. The only other time I've spent outside so far has been to go to and from the treadmill in a building across the street, and honestly I really didn't even want to walk that far. Hopefully things warm up in the next few days for school on Tuesday. I have to say that I'm pumped for this semester. Maybe it was the long break or the idea of getting back to training with the team, but either way I'm ready for school to begin. <br />
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This time around, I'll be coming into track season with a good idea of where I'm at in terms of fitness, and what I need to do to translate my fitness into fast times on the track. Over the break I had a chance to run some of the major workouts I did in high school, as well as running some longer tempos faster than I ever have before. The good news is that I've never been this fit in January. One of the ways I've always been able to track progress is by looking back at myself one year ago at the same time in my season and comparing my fitness to this year. In cross country season, I was definitely behind on my grade 12 fitness albeit due to an injury, but things have really gone well this past month and now I can certainly say that I'm ahead of January 2011. Also, apart from a little turnover, I feel that I'm just as aerobically fit as I was in the beginning of April last year. It's obviously a good sign that I've been able to develop a significant base, but now I've got about six weeks where I'll need to focus on gearing up and getting into racing shape. I'm still not sure what I'll be running as my main event, but I don't think there is any question it will be either the 1500 or 5000. I guess time will tell. Apart from training, there really isn't too much going on in Anchorage to talk about. I'll try to put up another blog as soon as track (and hopefully the weather) starts to heat up.Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-90126740069241494102011-12-17T18:50:00.001-05:002011-12-18T04:15:03.977-05:00It's Been a WhileSorry for not updating this blog in a while, I lost internet access in my apartment for a few weeks right before nationals, and just recently got it back in time for finals week. Let's start things off with Nationals. The meet was a great experience. Both teams ran solid races in the snow, and finished the season off with a 6th place on the women's side, and 8th place for the men. I didn't get the opportunity to race, but I think the coaches made the right call as I wasn't close to the fitness I had before my Achilles trouble. However, I still got to go and get a feel for what it's like to be at a National Championship, and I know that will pay off over the next few years. <br />
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So that brings me to my season in review. Overall, I had pretty mixed feelings about how this season went. On paper, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that I didn't race well. In fact, I'd go as far to say that the Kevin from last year would have destroyed me in every one of my races. But there's a little more to it than that. One year ago I may have been running better times, but I was doing the same stuff I was used to for most of my high school years. This season I got to test out doing some higher mileage. It's something that didn't work out for me at first, but something that I knew I needed to continue to build on in order to keep improving. And in order to keep building volume, I knew I needed to start taking all the precautionary steps to staying healthy. I would have to say that the things like post-run naps, deep massages, stretching consistently, strengthening, and staying hydrated are some of the things that I think had the biggest impact on my running, and will continue to have an impact on my track season. In a sense, I think that getting injured so early on in the year really helped me understand some of the stuff I need to be doing to stay healthy, and I don't think I would have learned any of these lessons had I decided to run another year in high school. So I guess you could say that the season had it's ups and downs but I know that I've learned from all the mistakes I made earlier in the season, and I can't wait to get after some fast times on the track. <br />
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On another note, this is my last day in Anchorage before I head home for the holidays. Pretty unreal to think that 4 months ago tomorrow I settled down in Anchorage and now it really does feel like a second home. I have to say I really had no idea how I would like living in a totally new city initially, but I really enjoyed it. I gotta give a shout out to my roommates for putting up with the constant smell of burnt food in the apartment and to all the people on the track team who helped me get adjusted to the university life in Alaska this semester, you know who you are. Now it's time to head home to Toronto for some snow-less running and a pretty relaxing month hanging out with friends and family. <br />
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Time for me to get ready, I've got a flight at midnight and I haven't started packing yet. Oops!<br />
Later ANC, see you in a month!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-4120611739013753082011-11-13T23:06:00.000-05:002011-11-13T23:06:12.928-05:00"We Needed a Miracle and We Got One"I think it would be an understatement to say that this past week has been a hectic one for the UAA cross country family. It seems like an eternity ago that we were all in Spokane, psyched up for the West Regional Championships that awaited us, yet it was only eight days ago. It's hard to believe, but packed into those eight short days were the unpleasant emotions of anxiety, stress, fear, uncertainty, and restlessness coupled with the sensations of relief, joy, tranquility, comfort, and euphoria making for an emotional roller-coaster ride for all of us at UAA. <br />
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It all started on the race course Saturday morning. Seven Seawolf men, and seven Seawolf women toed the line against the best runners in the west region for an opportunity to compete at the national championships in two weeks time. The seawolf women ran strong races showing that they had something to prove. Right from the beginning each one of them ran their race, as they dominated the field and finished the job off right with a big win! The men had similar ambitions, and never gave up on a tight battle with Chico State. It was honestly one of the most exhilarating races I've ever seen, where each of our top 5 runners ran the whole race within striking distance of at least one of Chico's top 5 runners. With a few gutsy surges in the final mile, the Seawolves managed to pull off a 37-39 victory over Chico. Two huge races were great measuring sticks for both our men and women teams, showing that we are fully prepared to take on the nation in Spokane on the 19th! <br />
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The rest of the weekend came and went as we all celebrated our victories in Washington, but by Monday morning, all of that changed. After practice we found out that Marko Cheseto, one of the runners on our team had gone missing. From that moment on, the minutes felt like hours, and the hours felt like days waiting to hear news on his whereabouts. For two days, search groups all over Anchorage spent hours on end searching the snow-covered landscape, yet no signs of Marko appeared. It was only until 3:15 AM on Wednesday morning that Marko was found and rushed to a hospital. I think I can speak for the whole team when I say that waking up Wednesday morning was like Christmas. We were all overcome with a huge sense of relief as we heard messages that Marko had been found and is recovering in the Hospital. <br />
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By now, everything seems to be settling down as we approach our final week of training before the NCAA championships. The race will be held on the same course that we ran on at Regionals, so there will be no surprises on race day. Both teams are ready to rock and roll, and there really isn't much else to say. Off to the big dance we go!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-13424796205225830612011-10-29T23:45:00.000-04:002011-10-29T23:45:56.626-04:00Three Weeks to Nationals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a-NjZid89xk" width="610"></iframe></div>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-5611392407402313232011-10-26T00:37:00.000-04:002011-10-26T00:37:04.937-04:00GNAC's and the marathon menReady for another blog? I sure am! The Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships (what a mouthful) was the latest race for the seawolf squads held in Yakima, Washington last Saturday, and things went very well. Both of the Seawolf teams came out on top, extending our undefeated streak to 5 races. Throw in a couple individual titles, as well as two freshman of the year awards, and you've got a pretty solid weekend for the Seawolves in Yakima. This weekend was also a little redemption for me personally, after my sub-par effort in Bellingham, Washington two weeks prior. I have been dealing with a little bit of an Achilles problem and it's thrown a few curve balls in my training plan, so I've been stuck doing a lot of cross training for the majority of 3 weeks. I've never done any serious cross training before, so I was pretty skeptical as to how the benefits of being in the pool or the gym could compare to the benefits of running, but after Saturday's run I have a little more faith in all this supplemental stuff. I put together a few decent workouts in the pool in the span of a few weeks, but didn't even manage to get in an outdoor run with the team between my last two races. I had a couple of days on the treadmill and one on the track, then it was off to Yakima. I really had no clue how my fitness would compare to everyone else, so it was really exciting to get in a positive race in Yakima without any issues. Now it will be all about gradually progressing back into a normal routine with the cooperation of my Achilles, and moving towards Regionals. Now, onto some road racing fun from the homeland! Some serious Canadian marathoners toed the line in downtown Toronto ten days ago to get after some Olympic Qualifying standards at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Mother nature wasn't very friendly however, and threw in some wicked winds on the streets of T-Dot to try and slow them all down. But this time, Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis were too much for mother nature to handle, and came through with some big PB's and 2 Olympic qualifying times. I actually got up at 5:00am in Alaska to watch the whole race. The only problem was that CBC's international race feed wasn't working, leaving me to rely on twitter updates from the race to keep up with the action. Usually I would have gone back to bed in a situation like this, but the Canadians definitely made it an exciting race to <strike>watch</strike> read about. Also in Toronto was Fauja Singh, the oldest marathoner in the world. He's 100 years old! Pretty impressive stuff! Equally as impressive is the length of his beard. I can only dream of growing facial hair at a fraction of the rate that he does. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zuiezWLDQOY/TqeKOXycHhI/AAAAAAAAAkA/ehquCgEYL1w/s1600/Fauja+Singh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zuiezWLDQOY/TqeKOXycHhI/AAAAAAAAAkA/ehquCgEYL1w/s320/Fauja+Singh.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Legend"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-56524436343146767442011-10-11T22:16:00.001-04:002011-10-11T22:19:26.025-04:00Getting ChillyThis is a first for me, below zero by the beginning of October. For about a week now, I've woken up to frost on car windows, frozen puddles in the parking lot, and a lack of morning sun. When I got here in the beginning of August, the sun was still up after 10:30, but for 6 weeks or so, we've been consistently losing about an hour of sun each week. The walk to my evening lab is getting darker, and the walk back home is pitch black. I think the sun is setting somewhere around 7:00 now, and it's usually not up until 8:15 or so. Last week the Seawolves travelled south to Washington for our last invitational of the year. It was definitely nice to get a break from the cold weather, and a great chance to run fast! It was a 10k for the men and 6k for the women, the longest one of the year, but that wasn't enough to stop the Seawolves. The men and women were 1st in the team score, as well as pulling off the individual men and women titles. In 2 weeks, it will be GNAC time where we will begin our post-season racing on the path to the National Championships. Until then, we'll be putting in some heavy work up north. Still no snow up here but it certainly isn't far off, and I've got my winter gloves all ready for some serious snowball fights as soon as the white stuff falls. So I guess the cold weather in Alaska has it's ups and downs, but there is one thing I'm really not liking up here. Our apartment has a T.V. with about a hundred channels (twice as many as I had at home), leading me to believe that I would have access to roughly twice the hockey coverage. Not in the USA however. It's all football, football, football. Don't get me wrong here, I enjoy watching a football game or two on Sunday, but if it's not accompanied by a leafs game on Saturday night, something's up. Let's get real here, winter is not nearly as fun if you can't cheer for the good ol' blue and white! As a loyal fan, of course I've been keeping track of the scores online and I do believe they are rocking a perfect record at the moment, but the lack of live hockey is making it tough to follow the soon to be 2012 Stanley Cup champs. Yeah, that's right, I said it! This is the year! Or maybe next year, or the next. Either way, this drought is bound to end one of these years. Do you beLEAF?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L-qgUT1aLMw" width="560"></iframe>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-52023015045721362272011-10-04T01:44:00.000-04:002011-10-04T01:44:18.071-04:00The Simple LifeWake up, eat, class, practice, eat, nap, eat, class, eat, homework, eat, sleep. Throw in a bit of travelling on the weekends, and you get the life of a university runner. In the span of no more than 6 weeks, I have completely altered my views on what it means to be doing serious training, and I'm certain my views will continue to change throughout my university years as I learn to adapt to the added workload. It's a huge jump from the high school running scene in almost every aspect. To start with the obvious, the running itself is much more demanding. No longer can I expect to be running at the front of the pack on 40-45 miles a week. This was probably the biggest jump for me personally, since I had been consistently in between 40 and 45 miles most weeks in my last 2 years of high school. Just like every other college freshman in the nation, I understand that a jump in mileage will be the key to prepare myself for faster races down the road, but I also understand that when you are working harder, you need to recover harder. While it may sound cliche, I know that recovery has played a huge role in helping me adapt to a more intense program. I always thought that I was pretty good at recovering from workouts in high school, sleeping a lot, taking an occasional ice bath, stretching, and maybe a bit of core tossed in there too. But once again, I was only running a fraction of the mileage that I am now. It's a whole different story in the world of college sports. Daily ice baths, saunas, deep tissue massages, structured dynamic stretching and core programs, pool running, and naps after each practice are only a short list of the recovery tools that are required in order to keep my legs feeling fresh throughout the season. But all of this running and recovering doesn't mean a thing unless equally strong efforts are made to stay on top of classes. In a world where professors don't nag you to take a make-up test or prompt you to hand in your assignments, it's not hard to fall into a never-ending struggle to keep good grades. It's much more work than high school and it comes with much higher expectations, but the key to getting good marks in school is not at all different from that of running. Success follows hard work. Study, Run, Recover, Repeat. That's the key to success. That's the simple life.Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-77878207243475531822011-09-20T01:05:00.001-04:002011-09-20T01:06:54.146-04:00Lots to blog aboutSorry for the lack of blog updates lately fellow readers, but I've been pretty busy trying to finish up assignments, study for tests, doing lots of running, travelling, and adjusting to the university life in general. Did I say travelling? Why, yes I did! Where did I go? Well, a couple weeks ago the Seawolf cross country team headed down south to the Islands of Hawai'i for 9 days to get rid of all the racing cobwebs, and get this season underway! I've never been to Hawai'i before, so I should probably start off by telling you all how awesome it was...Or maybe I'll just show you. After all isn't a picture worth a thousand words or something like that?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AewYTL_ty5U/TngNUZV-sxI/AAAAAAAAAi8/3UkFwMw5RmI/s1600/DSCN0380.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AewYTL_ty5U/TngNUZV-sxI/AAAAAAAAAi8/3UkFwMw5RmI/s400/DSCN0380.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first race site (Jurrasic Park Film Location)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xtx6H4ur_J0/TngNaR92ehI/AAAAAAAAAjA/IogDl9qImFw/s1600/DSCN0390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xtx6H4ur_J0/TngNaR92ehI/AAAAAAAAAjA/IogDl9qImFw/s400/DSCN0390.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Team</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YXNFe8QeYvA/TngNhPAqmVI/AAAAAAAAAjE/Su932AbUOsE/s1600/DSCN0395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YXNFe8QeYvA/TngNhPAqmVI/AAAAAAAAAjE/Su932AbUOsE/s400/DSCN0395.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a bad beach eh?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IlxLKLCzG9c/TngNn30WqQI/AAAAAAAAAjI/xIw6JsD1nmQ/s1600/DSCN0408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IlxLKLCzG9c/TngNn30WqQI/AAAAAAAAAjI/xIw6JsD1nmQ/s400/DSCN0408.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Couple of Flamingos</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0TzfEH6qFoI/TngNuaduDCI/AAAAAAAAAjM/QDWVC9obZ1A/s1600/DSCN0425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0TzfEH6qFoI/TngNuaduDCI/AAAAAAAAAjM/QDWVC9obZ1A/s400/DSCN0425.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q5WosarOO1U/TngN1Pgzd0I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/BCn7SS4IF6E/s1600/DSCN0442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q5WosarOO1U/TngN1Pgzd0I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/BCn7SS4IF6E/s400/DSCN0442.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Men's team</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZSFwiK3Z8E/TngN7W5BljI/AAAAAAAAAjU/3MH5GIpasEI/s1600/DSCN0443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZSFwiK3Z8E/TngN7W5BljI/AAAAAAAAAjU/3MH5GIpasEI/s400/DSCN0443.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The backstretch of the race course A.K.A the 13th fairway</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;">You can click on any of the above photos for an enlarged view.</div><div><br />
Yeah, so those were a few of the photos of the trip, but they definitely don't serve justice to this island paradise. Hawai'i is definitely another one of those places that belongs on a bucket list, and I could literally spend hours writing about how the whole experience, but we have some running to talk about! (And I need to get some homework done tonight) Anyways, the Seawolves definitely brought their A-Game to Hawaii. Race #1 went a little like this: We had a real early morning after a long flight and a race 2 days before, so it's safe to say that we were all a little beat up going into it, but ran good races overall and managed a couple W's for the men and women. Time wasn't really relevant here, especially with the 90 degree weather, the goal was to get in a solid tune-up race that would prepare us for the race the following weekend, and as a measuring stick for the rest of the season. So basically goal accomplished, +1 for the Seawolves. By the way, this race course was in the park that filmed movies like Jurassic Park, 50 First Dates, and You, Me, and Dupree. I'll try to get some official team and individual results up on the results page when I get a chance, so stay tuned. After Race #1, a few of the guys happened to notice yellow fruits hanging on some of the trees during our cool down, and jumped at the opportunity to have an exotic fruit feast mid-run. So we picked some guavas off the tree, and continued on our cool down with handfuls of tasty fruit. WIN! Then, we got to stay in Hawai'i for another 7 days to train and wait for our next race. Pretty rough life, eh? If you can't already imagine, we had tons of fun running along the waterfront trails, climbing mountains overlooking Honolulu, and ripping out some fartlek sessions under the palm trees. In between all that, we also got to work on our Alaskan tans, got to swim in the big pool with all the sharks, ate lots of pineapples and got rocked by the massive waves at the north shore of the island. Then came Race #2. Just like the first race, the men's and women's teams both jumped to the front and finished the job off right. 2 more wins gave us all the confidence we need that we're on the right track, and ready to rumble come October. Note the golf course pictures above, that was our race course, no complaints from me! We also brought home some wicked Tiki Man trophies and flowery necklaces, which was pretty sweet as well. That night we flew back home to the Big One, and we're here for a couple more weeks before Western Washington in early October. We're in the middle of our big uninterrupted training block right now, doing some serious work. This past week has probably been the best week of training for me, as I'm coming to adjust to the higher mileage, and on a couple of occasions I've felt like I had that extra gear I was missing in the first few weeks. I'll try to update this blog at least once more before the next meet, but for now I have some anatomy studying to be done! Talk to ya later!<br />
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P.S. Below is the Hawaii Five-O theme song, and from 0:15 to 0:18 into the video where the guy is standing on the balcony is the hotel we stayed at. Our hotel is famous! Once again, note picture above for our hotel view. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="400" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AepyGm9Me6w" width="530"></iframe></div>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-13290325984870212832011-09-02T02:37:00.000-04:002011-09-02T02:37:21.930-04:00I'm so fresh, man!"What a freshman!"<br />
Definitely the most common phrase heard on college campuses all across the nation this week. It's safe to say that the freshmen have arrived. The confused faces, the "oops, wrong class", and the "hey, how do I get to _____ (insert name of the building on the other side of campus)" are all sure signs that school is back in session. I've had a few of my own freshman moments this past week, most notably causing the dishwasher to overflow with soap bubbles, spewing them all over the floor due to adding excessive amounts of dishwashing liquid. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kcuhiBerHY8/TmBsl37r_iI/AAAAAAAAAi0/15kDMq5mLPo/s1600/DSCN0342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kcuhiBerHY8/TmBsl37r_iI/AAAAAAAAAi0/15kDMq5mLPo/s320/DSCN0342.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I haven't bothered to use the dishwasher since. I've been teaching myself to cook, as well. I guess my freshman culinary skills are lacking as well, because after every meal I make, my room mates rush to the kitchen window to let out all the burnt food fumes, and then proceed to evacuate the kitchen for a few hours. Then, on my first day of school, I made another fatal freshman error. I failed to correctly read over my schedule, and I walked into the wrong class! I left as soon as I noticed everyone was staring at me kinda funny. After that, I made sure to read my schedule twice. But perhaps my most embarrassing freshman moment this week was on my way home from school yesterday. The walk back to my place is about 15 minutes, and it's pretty lame. So I figured I would go ahead and take the quickest route home, and try to play the angles and stuff like that. But mother nature wanted me to walk the long way back home. It was a really rainy day, so I was thinking I had just one-up'ed mother nature by packing an umbrella in my backpack. But she had another trick up her sleeve. As I was walking back I noticed that there were fewer intersections on one side of the street than the other, so I quickly jumped onto that sidewalk instead of the bike path running through the woods along the side of the road. What I didn't notice was that the warp in the road that forms over time in the bus lanes, where the tires produce added pressure in certain spots had completely filled with rain water. Also, this sidewalk was right on the edge of the road, which is probably why I was the only one walking on that side on a rainy day. Anyways, you probably see where this one is headed. I got drenched. A wall of water soaked me from head to toe as a bus flew by, and my umbrella couldn't do anything about it. I bet the bus load of people got a good chuckle about that. To make things worse, I had my brand new, insanely expensive textbook in my bag at the time. The miracle that it wasn't wet when I got home was definitely the best part of that day. I'll take the longer way home next time. But, I've had some pretty cool freshman experiences as well. I had my first day of training last Monday, and we ran up a mountain. Can't do that in T-Dot! My ears were popping constantly, and we even ran through multiple layers of clouds on our ascent to the top. You could almost call it altitude training by the time we got to the top, as we were about 3000 feet above sea level. Not too shabby for a 50 minute run! Then, a few days later while running in the forest, we encountered a massive moose in the middle of the trail. It was big. We decided it would be best to run the other way. Pretty cool experience still. As far as running goes, we're putting in some pretty solid work up here in the big AK, and feeling a little flat is going to be a part of the game for the next little while as I adapt to a heavier work load. But that's cool, because the real racing is still months away. </div>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-79341552935861738252011-08-20T03:18:00.000-04:002011-08-20T03:18:18.166-04:00Alaska Part 2Where was I again? Oh yeah, Homer. The tiny fishing village with lots of bears! Well, I've made it through another week in Alaska without any serious wildlife confrontations. The only bear I saw all week was a dead black bear in the back of a pick-up truck, but that's fine. I got to see lots of wildlife this past week. Bald eagles were all over the place, lots of moose, strange long-legged birds, and variations of fish being hauled in by the fishermen. Speaking of fish, I ended up doing a little fishing myself. I mean how can you go to the "Halibut fishing capital of the world" and NOT fish? Let's get real here! So I went out with my dad and brother to reel in some monster halibut. For those of you unfamiliar with halibut, it's expensive. Really expensive. You won't find many places that will sell you a pound of uncooked halibut for less than 20 bucks. So I was thinking I was going to pick up a rod and begin to reel in fish after fish all day long. But there's a very good reason that halibut is so expensive. It really isn't that easy! The easy part was getting my line to fall 200 feet down at the ocean floor. Within 20 seconds I was getting fish biting. But that's just the beginning. Then I had to haul that sucker 200 feet up to the boat, while it's thrashing about. And believe me, these fish aren't small. I was bringing in 15 pound halibut, and I could have sworn I had a great white on my line. But apparently those are just the babies. Big halibut can get over 300 pounds. Check out the pictures to compare for yourself. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ugTUlDIFObk/Tk9e3lvZIKI/AAAAAAAAAig/8nj9KM_SOTg/s1600/Halibut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ugTUlDIFObk/Tk9e3lvZIKI/AAAAAAAAAig/8nj9KM_SOTg/s400/Halibut.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big Fish</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wwMx8FccVQI/Tk9fA4gH1zI/AAAAAAAAAik/RgU9GXIEFBM/s1600/IMG_4234+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wwMx8FccVQI/Tk9fA4gH1zI/AAAAAAAAAik/RgU9GXIEFBM/s400/IMG_4234+%25282%2529.jpg" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small Fish</td></tr>
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I'd hate to have to reel one of them in! I couldn't feel my arms by the time I was done fishing (notice the struggle to pick up the fish in the picture). But I sure felt them the next morning! But in the end, I came off the boat with enough halibut for...well...a long time. My freezer at university is filled with frozen fillets, now I just have to figure out how to cook them! But that's what Google is for, right? And on the topic of university, it's sweet! Even though there are more moose than people on campus so far, I'm already liking the place. Lots of running trails! I went on a run with a few of the guys on the XC team this morning, and I had no idea where we were going. I was lost 10 minutes into the run. For all I know, we could have been running in circles, because there were trails everywhere! Way too many to comprehend. Once I figure them out, I'll be able to fully appreciate the multitude of running trails, but for now I'm just plain confused. Maybe I should bring a map tomorrow. <br />
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Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-65455059169379956502011-08-13T03:11:00.000-04:002011-08-13T03:11:00.955-04:00AlaskaLast week I departed from the Motherland, and landed in Alaska well before my University training camp in order to tour a little bit of the state with my family. As I mentioned in the previous post, we were to spend one week in Wasilla and one in Homer before heading back to Anchorage, where I will be going to school. So, where do I begin? Oh yeah, the airport! Fun stuff always happens at the airport. That day, the airport excitement began when our first flight was delayed by half an hour, and with a connecting flight waiting in Philadelphia, it was shaping up for an exciting sprint for the awaiting gates at the opposite end of the airport. It was only a couple minutes before the gates were closing that I saw a couple of figures in the distance absolutely hauling it down the hallway. I then realized that it must have been my family who had been waiting for their bags. I really wish I had a watch ready, because I'm almost certain my dad dropped a sub-60 second 400 with sandals and a suitcase to get to the gates with seconds to spare. In the end we all made it, and our excitement was over just in time for our 7 hour flight. Then, the next thing I knew I was in Wasilla. Where Sarah Palin lives. It's a pretty small town, and I figured it wasn't too big of a long shot to see her at the grocery store or driving around town. Until I found out she was in Iowa. Not cool Sarah Palin, not cool at all. But other than that, Wasilla was really cool. There were mountains absolutely everywhere. And animals too. One of the big concerns I had when I visited Alaska was the bear population, and being in a relatively wooded area, I was sure a bear was going to jump out at me while I was running. I decided I would stick to the gravel path alongside the only road close by, and run up and down that road all week. The first day, I decide I would keep my run very relaxed and low-key to flush my legs out after the long flight. 6:30/mile pace was where I hoped to start off, but with fear of bears occupying my mind, I proceeded to start off with my first two miles each in 5:40, before somewhat settling down towards the end of the run. I didn't actually see any bears at all in Wasilla, but I did see some moose-s? meese? as well as bald eagles and unbelievable amounts of salmon spawning in the streams. All these animals were awesome, but there was one animal that wasn't awesome. Basically every house had a guard dog that barked and barked and barked and barked and barked and chased me down the road until I reached the next house with a dog. I think these dogs sort of adopted the road as an extension of their property, which didn't make it very fun for me. But now they have nobody to chase! I left Wasilla 2 days ago, driving to Homer. I heard good things about this place all week, and it has lived up to expectations so far. From what I've seen so far, it seems like a small fishing town with lots of old fishermen sporting bad-ass beards. It's really scenic too, as the entire town is built on a hill overlooking the inlet, with no shortage of mountains and glaciers. However, I hear that there are plenty of bears all over the place, so I've elected to do all my runs this week on a spit that goes 7km out into the ocean, where I don't need to worry about bears or a lack of scenic views. And that's basically all I've been up to the past few days. Just chilling in Alaska. Get it? Chilling...Alaska? AHAHAHA...ahaha...ah...never mind. It's a good thing I picked up running, because I wouldn't have made it far as a comedian. But for real, 18 C in Alaska beats 30+ C in T.O. any day. <br />
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So basically, what I'm trying to say is if you're searching for a spot to take a vacation, definitely consider Alaska. It's awesome! There really are no other words for it, just awesome. Go see for yourself if you don't believe me! And if you do believe me. <br />
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On a separate note, I figured I should probably be taking a few pictures here and there to share a fraction of the awesome-ness of Alaska with my fellow readers, so I'll be posting some pics for you all to see. It's a good thing that I'm in Alaska actually, because this is one of the only places I've been to where you only need to know how to click the button on top of the camera to produce postcard worthy pictures. And you can keep clicking that button everywhere you go, because the scenery is endless. I can't even imagine how amazing these pictures would be if they were taken by someone who knew a thing or two about photography.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/113966833594539269906/AlaskaTrip">Click Here</a> to see a few of the pics I took<br />
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To be continued...Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-71812771970937506712011-07-28T00:11:00.002-04:002011-07-28T23:15:28.145-04:00Get Moving!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OPlhhiVjtjk/TjDKEh99bsI/AAAAAAAAADk/5YtFtB_EXII/s1600/Time+to+play+Ketchup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OPlhhiVjtjk/TjDKEh99bsI/AAAAAAAAADk/5YtFtB_EXII/s320/Time+to+play+Ketchup.jpg" width="439" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>It's Time. Time to Play. Time to Play <strike>Ketchup</strike> Catch up. That's right. In the next few days, I will once again begin my yearly XC adventure with a couple of light runs to work the rust off before I submerge myself into some real university training. A few days ago, I started to get that little itch to start running again, a sure sign that I have done a good job recovering, and that I'm good to go. A lot of the Americans will be quite a bit further ahead in their cross country prep schedule, as most of them shut down in the first half of June before starting to train for XC season. This puts me quite a few weeks behind their fitness level, but I am confident that I've given myself more than enough time to be fit as a fiddle when the real racing starts. After all, there is no point in blowing everyone out of the water in September, if you can't perform when the chips are down in November. So for now, I'll be playing a little catch up until I've piled 3 or 4 good weeks of running together. This season will be long compared to my high school cross country seasons as my first race will arrive about 20 days earlier, and I plan on continuing racing through the end of November, compared to mid-November in previous years. This season ahead will also open new doors for me. Getting an opportunity to race against some of the best college runners in North America is sure to be an eye-opener, but also something that is required in order to continue excelling in athletics. Being pushed by the big boys this year is something that will pay off for me down the road, and something that's necessary if I ever want to be able to push them back. I've set very high goals for myself this season, and with smart, hard work I know I will be able to run faster than ever before, and shock more than a few people this year. Also, after my university season, I will try to set myself up for an opportunity to challenge at the Canadian XC Championships. This will be my last year to try to make the Junior National XC team, and I can't wait to give it my best shot! Finally, the title of this blog serves a dual purpose, as I am packing my bags to head up north 7 days from now. I know I already gave you a long speech about how excited I am in my last post, so I'll keep that to a minimum. I'm going to be spending one week in Wasilla, Alaska A.K.A. hometown of Sarah Palin! Then, I'll be off to Homer, Alaska for a week, before I make my way back to Anchorage for the 17th of August. I really don't know when I'll get the chance to update my blog, but you can be sure that when I do I'll have something exciting to talk about. This is going to be my last post before I leave, so when you read my next post I'll be thousands of kilometers away, living in my igloo, riding my pet polar bear to school. Until next time fellow readers! Adios! Farewell! Au Revoir! Bye!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-30699861038746240722011-07-22T00:54:00.001-04:002011-07-25T21:38:40.086-04:00The Countdown Is On!Less than 2 weeks from now, I will be in Alaska, and my journey up north couldn't have come at a better time! I have a feeling mother nature has been mad at Toronto for a while, because she has been trying to set the city ablaze. Today was 38 degrees! No, not Fahrenheit... CELSIUS! That's over 100 Fahrenheit, and with humidity included, it felt like 49 degrees. Not a typo there folks, 49 degrees! 120 Fahrenheit! I am so happy I didn't have a run planned today, or at all this week. The past few days have all been north of 30 degrees without the humidity included, making it a perfect week to stay inside and turn on the air conditi...oh wait. Broken A/C, that's right. And to make matters worse, our car A/C broke a few days ago. Yes, so I'm left to spend as much time as possible in the basement where it is marginally cooler, where I can be jealous of all the people living in Anchorage today. It's about 20 degrees up there, and I hope it stays that way for at least a few more weeks. But apart from the weather, I'm getting pumped for Alaska, and maybe a little nervous, but mostly pumped. I'm sure it's going to be a wild couple of days, weeks, possibly even months in Anchorage getting all the new stuff sorted out, but I can't wait. New country. New state. New <strike>city</strike> cities (good band). New school. New teachers. New classes. New friends. New team. New coaches. New home. Everything will be a little different living on my own, and while I may end up burning a couple of meals and forgetting to do laundry a couple of times, I'll get the hang of things. Eventually. <div>By the way, since I've been spending so much time inside, I figured I might as well be productive, so I taught myself how to use Photoshop to design a new blog layout. Anything to stay out of the sun. If we get any more of these heatwave days, I may just have to start up a whole new blog to complain about the weather!</div><div><div>Let's make this post a little bit running-related by saying that there is one heckuva track meet going on in Monaco later today, with guys like Bolt, Solinsky, Farah, Rupp, Bekele, Lagat, Tegenkamp, Wheating, Centrowitz, Armstrong, Rudisha, Symmonds, Uceny, and a whole bunch of studs competing at the Louis II Stadium. Going to be awesome! Just for the record, I'm calling Solinsky.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>I think the following is a pretty appropriate and relevant song from the New Cities. </div><iframe width="600" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hdAzqe6B2F4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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</div>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-5256321446719358122011-07-17T17:05:00.000-04:002011-07-17T17:05:11.456-04:00I Think I'm Coming Down With SomethingIt seems as if I have come down with some sort of disease. From what I know, it's called michaeljordan-itis, also known by some as lancearmstrong-nia. The symptoms of this disease have caused me to call off my "recovery time", and get back on the track one last time to go for a final PB. And a PB is exactly what I did*. Yes, that asterisk is there for a reason, as this PB was hand-timed because it wasn't even an actual race. In fact, it was more of an 800m time trial with a little help, being paced for the first 500. I ended up negative splitting a 1:57.9h (59, 58) which is only marginally more respectable than my previous best of 1:59.64. But as the old saying goes, a PB is a PB (Maybe it's not an old saying, but you get the point). My training partner also had a watch on me for 1:58 flat, so it's definitely a PB. After my last race on Wednesday, I felt as if I was fit enough to run an 800m PB on my own, even if it wasn't going to be an official electronic time. Also, I didn't really have enough time to wait for an 800m race, because I still want some solid time to recover before I gear up for cross country. So, I went to the track on Friday, and finished the season for good. No more track season comebacks for me, I'll wait for next year. It actually feels a little strange not getting up every morning to go for a run, so I've been relying on the Tour de France to keep myself occupied for at least a few hours of the day. Apart from that, I've basically been doing a whole lot of relaxing, and i'm cool with that. GO SCHLECK!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-20423766238074974272011-07-14T12:46:00.001-04:002011-07-15T14:18:22.988-04:00Time to RecoverMy track season is done. I wrapped things up last night with a 1500m at the <a href="http://www.totrack.ca/">Toronto International Track and Field Games</a>, and I came away with another mediocre performance, running 4:00.11 for 7th place on a windy night. It's too bad that I wasn't able to break through and go under 3:58 last night, but I raced well, and closed in 46 seconds so there are a few positives to take away from the race. Apart from the actual race, the entire day was awesome! Nike put on a full-day clinic for all the high school runners where we got to chat with some of the Pros before the race, as well as getting decked out in new race gear, and a runnerspace interview! (see below) Not to mention watching the actual meet, which was great to see in Toronto. Walter Dix, Perdita Felicien, Dylan Armstrong, and Jared Connaughton highlighted the meet, and numerous fast times and big throws made it really exciting for the fans. Hopefully the National Track League will continue to grow next year, and help raise the sport of Track and Field in Canada. So now that my racing is officially over, I will completely shut down for the next few days, and get fully recovered before my build up to the upcoming cross country season. Also, I only have another 3 weeks until I head up north to Alaska, and begin my University running career!<br />
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Click the link below to see my runnerspace interview.<br />
<a href="http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=51520">Kevin Rooke - Be A Pro Clinic - Toronto International Track and Field Games 2011</a>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-30544699842246193352011-07-01T15:31:00.000-04:002011-07-01T15:31:12.141-04:00Baby StepsI had another solid race last night, with another PB. But if you were to tell me I would end up with a PB before the race, I would have expected something a little faster. I was trying to finally break through this 3:58 barrier, and through 1200m I was on 3:55 pace. In my last 1500m, I came through 1200m at 3:11 and closed in 47. Yesterday we had some great pacers that brought the entire field through in sub-2:06 with me near the back at 2:05. I reached the 1200 mark watching the clock turn from 3:07 to 3:08, and knew I was in good shape. But I lost my legs over the last 300m and closed in 50 to run 3:58.25. It's 0.02 seconds faster than I ran last time, so I suppose I can't be too disappointed because after all, a PB is a PB. One of the upsides of yesterday was the fact that I actually managed to split 3:08 in a race. Now the only thing missing is that extra gear to close in 46-47, which would produce a 3:54-5. Another upside was that my training buddy Phil (a Junior stud on the Ontario High School circuit) also managed to dip under the 4 minute mark last night, so we're definitely on the right track. He's been dropping big times all over the place, and it was just a matter of time before he broke 4. Actually, the funny thing about last night was that he wasn't even supposed to run the 1500. He was entered in the 800 earlier in the night, but he arrived so late that the race was already over by the time he got to the track. He always manages to find a way to be late for everything, but I guess this time it was worth it as he came home with another big PB. I'll be running a 3000m in London on the 6th, where I will be looking to get under that 8:42 mark I set last year. Also, despite getting a PB, I'm still a little annoyed that I couldn't hang on last night so I may just end up going for 3:55 one last time after my 3000m. It's getting a little late in the season, but when you're fit, you have to race. It's as simple as that. After all, almost all of the great world records were set when guys threw themselves into fast races sometimes only a few days apart, until one day it all came together. Look at David Rudisha's stretch of great runs last year. He ran 12 800's during his season, and 4 of them were run in a span of 14 days (2 of which happened to be world records). Now it's my turn to go after a few more big times. I'll be back with an update of London next week and a definite plan for the end of the season. <br />
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P.S. Gotta give a Happy 144th Birthday shout out to Canada!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-52173982792085235992011-06-21T22:28:00.001-04:002011-06-22T09:27:55.048-04:00Change of PlansThis past weekend went well at 1500m night. As expected, there were a few big breakthroughs for a handful of guys and girls this year. Among the notables, Rob Denault managed to run 3:45 mostly on his own, and a bunch of the other high schoolers got down into the low 3:50 range. I came in with a 3:58.72 PB, and left with a PB of 3:58.27. We had a pacer who led us through 800 in 2:07, which was a little slow considering we were 28 at the 200 and 61 at the 400, but nonetheless it was good to get someone else to run up front and let me tuck in behind. I was hoping that I would end up in the 3:56 range, as I am certain that my fitness is way ahead of last year, but at the same time a PB is a PB, and I can't complain about that. But, my coach and I have decided to change things up a bit. Originally, the plan was to try and hit the 5000 A standard, and try to snag a ticket to Pan Am Juniors at nationals, however being 31 seconds off the standard with only 2 more weeks left in the qualifying period makes it a little improbable, but not impossible. Additionally, the 1500m specific work that we've been doing over the past few weeks is another reason to scrap the old plan and go hunting for some PBs. We're aiming at a 1500m on the 30th, a 3000m on the 6th of July, and another 1500m to close out the season on the 13th. None of this is set in stone quite yet, and it may turn out that I can't even get into a few of these races, but that's the plan. I also have a series of ball-buster workouts on the horizon, so that should give me a real good idea of how the next few weeks will turn out. I should probably get back to studying. I have 3 more exams left, and I can't wait to scribble correct answers all over them!<br />
<div>I've been taking some tips from Mr. Bean, I should be fine!</div><div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-VM0XCvKNP0?rel=0" width="480"></iframe><br />
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P.S. The video of my 3:58 in London can be found <a href="http://k-rooke.blogspot.com/p/blog.html">by clicking here</a></div><div><br />
</div>Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-28217859261262236712011-06-17T20:01:00.001-04:002011-06-20T16:41:39.442-04:00Ready to RumbleWell, I'm heading out to London tomorrow for <a href="http://www.londonrunner.ca/page.php?content=RCLDS">1500m Night</a> and it looks like it will be a great day to race. There are 127 entries in the men's 1500m so far, and on the lightning fast Western track, you can bet on more than a few blazing times. I expect that I'll be placed in the 2nd heat tomorrow, with about 12 other guys with PBs of between 3:57 and 3:59. It's going to be great weather, so there will be no excuses tomorrow. I had a perfect week of workouts as well, so I'm excited. Wednesday was the big one where we started the workout off with a 3:08.2 1200m time trial, which is 3:55 pace. If you recall, in <a href="http://k-rooke.blogspot.com/2011/05/human-jousting.html">Human Jousting</a>, I was getting excited over a 3:17 1200m, which turned into a 4:03 at Metros. Clearly I'm in better 1500m shape now, but we'll have to wait see how things go tomorrow night. In other news I had my last full day of high school today! It's hard to believe that four years have gone by so quickly, but you know what they say, "time flies when you're having fun". I have to give a shout out to all my friends at Don Mills C.I. for keeping it real, and for 4 years of awesome memories that I'll never forget!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3423819938165141463.post-73111351496798336672011-06-13T20:05:00.002-04:002011-06-13T22:28:57.087-04:00Mediocrity at it's finest!Another mediocre performance in the books, and I'm just trying to break the mold. I was 4:02.97, and even though it was meant as a tune-up for next week, I thought I had a good shot at going sub-4. The upsides of Saturday were that I ran in lane 2 most of the race, and finished 6 seconds faster than I did at the same meet last year, the week before I broke through with my 3:58. I'll be running the same meet this year, and I'm ready for a new PB. I mean, 3:58 is so last year! And so is 8:42, but let's just take things one step at a time. <br />
I had a great idea last week, allow me to elaborate. With the summer heat upon us, 30+ degree days are soon to become the norm. Last year, mother nature got the best of me, and running went way downhill by the beginning of July. I closed my season out prematurely last year, after running 4:10 and a 2:07 800m relay split. But this year, I'm prepared. No matter how hot the weather gets, and no matter how bad I feel on my runs, I will have the upper hand this year. Mother nature gave me a taste of what she had in store for this summer a few days back, and I shrugged it off like when a ladybug lands on your shirt and you frantically scream and swat at it to get it off. I found a secret river deep in the North York Jungle (Sunnybrook Park), that will now be my primary method of defense against the heat. How, you ask? Well, this week I went on a run with a buddy from school in 32 degree heat, leaving us pretty gassed by the halfway mark (or at least I was). We continued to sweat our brains out for a few more miles until we hit the jackpot. An operating water fountain (very rare in Toronto), and a river! We drank a gallon at the water fountain, and went for a swim in the river. It was actually cold enough to give me goosebumps, thus defeating the heat (Like the Mavs)! I plan on spending many of my summer days cooling down in this river post-run, so bring it on mother nature!Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04787344483002711924noreply@blogger.com1