Boo Yah!

So today's race.... Bromka, Rosen, Hog, AK, Skip and I rolled up to Gantch at about 11:30. The mile was scheduled to start at 12:45. There were a bunch of alumni there, which was great. JR, Slams, Sharpe, etc etc. After warming up on c-loop, we made our way to the start line.

I figured the race would go out relatively slowly, which would set me up perfectly to beat Hog with a kick in the last half of the race. This is exactly what happened, as Nate led JR and I though 400m in about 70 seconds. I felt pretty comfortable at this point, chilling right behind Nate. Hog decided to surge a little at this point. We got some good separation from the pack over the next couple of laps. With 600 to go I made a pretty big move and opened up some daylight on Nate. I figured with 400m to go I could let Hog catch up, and really kick right when he made contact again. With 300 to go I really let it rip, and beat Hog 4:30 to 4:36. I felt awesome during the whole race. Nate, if you're reading this.... I pretty much smoked you. Having beaten Nate and won Has-Been's, I got to check off the final goal on my to-do list, which made me 4 for 4 on the week. Awesome. Now I'm off to John Harvard's for a Tufts Cross Country/Track and Field dinner with our old coach Connie Putnam (Connie is a guy). This should be a great time.

Oh, I totalled 8.5 on the day to give me 65 for the week. Nice.


PS I have to give another shout out to the Saratoga Boys distance runners. Last night at Yale they ran a DMR in 10:09. That's NASTY. They were less than a second off the NY State record. Great job guys....

Pre-Race

Quick post. 6 miles this morning with Hog. It was wicked nice out. Downtown Boston was beautiful.

Tomorrow is going to be great. I went out for about an hour right after work with Sarah and Andrea, which was fun. Hog doesn't even know what's coming.... I'll report back tomorrow.

Thursday

Nate and I ran our Brookline loop this morning. It was fine.

On Saturday, I'm running at the second Tufts Invitation in the annual 'Has-Been's Mile'. One of the many traditions of Tufts Cross Country/Track and Field is an annual mile "race" for all the alumni of the program. During my 4 years at school, I always enjoyed watching this. It was pretty cool to see all the alumni of the program come back and hang out, reminisce about old times, etc. etc. Well, this is the first year that I'll be on the alumni side of the track, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Usually the race is a low key afair, with the winner usually running about 4:35-4:40 in a sit-and-kick type race. This year, however, will be different.

Nathan "Hog" Brigham and I, roommates since freshmen year at Tufts, and both members of the 2005 class of Tufts University will be squaring off at the Has-Been's Mile. Each of us comes from similar backgrounds. Both of us were Varsity athletes all 4 years at school (with Hog being the better runner), and were captains of the cross country team as seniors. (see right...) Nate is better at longer distances (5k, 10k), and I'm better at shorter distances (800, mile). The race on Saturday puts us right in the middle of our respective distances. While I might be better at the mile, Nate does have the 1-0 lead this "season" by virtue of him beating me at the BU mini meet on 12/31/05. Now, since then, I've run a 4:04 1500 (equivalent of a 4:23 mile). I'm relly excited for the race for several reasons. First, I think it would be awesome to win Has-Been's. Second, I really don't want to lose to Hog. Third, if I beat Hog, that means I get to check off one of my goals on the To-Do List, and Nate doesn't. Sweet.


Now, there are some extenuating circumstances for Saturday. Tomorrow after work, a bunch of my friends from Foley (aka the "A-Team" (see below)) were thinking of going out for drinks with some of the attorneys right after work. I could do this and still race well on Saturday, I just couldn't stay out very late. Unfortunately that night, AK's employeer, Digitas, is having a holiday party. They've rented out Ned Devine's, and AK said we could crash it no problem. It would be wicked fun to go out the with Foley people and then roll up to Ned Devine's with AK. Beating Hog the next morning would be considerably more difficult if I did go out though. We shall see....

Not much

Not much going on today.... Hog came back, and our apartment is already better. He's a huge fan of the the To-Do List, which is great.

This morning Bromka and I ran around Fresh Pond. It was warm and wet out. 8 miles...

And, so you don't get too bored, here's a video I really like. I'm actually secretly in love with Ellen Feiss... click the link to watch...

"I was writing the paper, on the PC, and it was like 'beep beepbeepbeep beep...'"

Bummer

This morning Bromka and I ran 9 miles around Jamaica Pond. It was pretty freaking cold out (like, teens...) and we went pretty fast. I think we were running around 6:20-6:30 a mile. My legs felt sort of crappy.

In other news, law school news has not been very good to me recently. To make a long story very short, I've applied to law schools for the second time (the first being during senior year last year at Tufts). Well, last time I didn't get in anywhere I applied, except for Villanova, and that was off the waitlist, and I found out after I had been working at Foley for 2 weeks. Well, I gave it another shot this year, and, despite a better LSAT score, a better GPA, and work experience at a very good firm, I'm striking out again. I've been rejected by BC, George Washington, and American (which sucks). I applied early to Northeastern, and have been deferred to the regular admission pool, and have to wait until April 15th to find out now. I've also applied to BU and Fordham, but I have almost no expectation of being accepted at either. I'll spare you the whining, but the whole thing is sort of bumming me out. I hope I get in somewhere (read - Northeastern).

That's it for now.... I took a picture of my office, so I checked that off the To-Do List. It's 10:05 and Skip isn't back from work yet. So even if he leaves work at 4 for the rest of the week (doubtful), he'll still have a really tough time convincing the rest of the apartment that he deserves to check off the "Don't Work too much" box for this week....

To Do List

AK and I ran this morning after sleeping in... no work b/c of MLK day, which was sweet. Hog is still in Arizona, and Bromka and Skip had to work (haha... suckers), so it was just AK and I. Pretty chilly out, about 17, wind chill felt like 8. Brrr... I did 8.5 on the Charles and through Boston. Felt fine.

In other news, here at 35 Brookline Street, we've decided to start a weekly to-do list. I live with Aaron "AK" Kaye, Dan "Skip" Wolchonok, Peter "Bromka" Bromka, and Nathan "Hog" Brigham. These are all my best friends, and were all distance runners at Tufts. The To-Do List now gives us goals to shoot for. (I have to give credit to Sean Curran at Colgate for inventing this. You can check out the original here and here.) So, withoout further ado, the 35 Brookline Apt #5 To-Do List for the week of 1/14-1/21.

The Plan

Today Bromka and I ran 17 miles. We went out on Beacon Street, past BC, Heartbreak, and the Johnny Kelly statue (here, and here... on a side note, Johnny Kelly was pretty much the man. He ran the Boston Marathon 61 (!) times, and won it twice back in the 30s. An inspiring dude....) to the 18 mile mark on the course. We turned around after 8 miles and made our way back to Boston on the same route that the marathon takes. Heartbreak wasn't so bad, it's just a really steady hill at a point in the marathon when you really don't want to be running uphill much. We went all the way out to Kenmore square and backtracked to BU to add an extra mile, giving us 17 for the run. It was 1:55:03, which is about right considering we were splitting between 6:25 and 6:35 per mile on the last 5 or 6 of the run. My legs weren't too sore from the race yesterday, which is good.

And now, the long overdue training plan for the 2006 Boston Marathon. This plan isn't really based on anything specific, such as Runner's World, Running Times, or anything suggested in a book, but more on my own running experiences over the last 10-11 years. My goal for the marathon is to run under 2:50. This averages out to 6:28 per mile. Now, this pace isn't really that fast, it's only slightly faster than we run on our daily training runs. However, 26 miles is a long way, and this is my first marathon, so 2:50 seems like a reasonable goal. The chart below (hopefully it's readable) outlines each week from now to the marathon, what races I'm planning on running, what mileage I'll total each week, and what kind of workouts I'll be doing. This is obviously a flexible plan. (Read this as weeks to go, Sunday date and run, mid week workout, Saturday race/workout, and approx. week mileage total)

Weeks to Go

13. Jan 15th (17 miles) / no workout / Mile race @ Tufts (65)

12. 22nd (16-19) / workout (1000s? ladder?) / No race (60-70)

11. 29th (15-17) / faster intervals / 5k race @ Tufts (60-65)

10. Feb 5th (14-17) / short, fast workout / Mile race @ BU (55-65)

9. 12th (15-20) / tempo? longer intervals? / No race (65-75)

8. 19th (15-20) / tempo? longer intervals? / No race (65-75)

7. 26th (Hyannis Half Marathon) / No workout / No race (70-75)

6. March 5th (16-22) / intervals? / No race (70-75)

5. 12th (Boston's Run to Remember 5 miler) / No workout / No race (55-65)

4. 19th (16-22) / Faster track intervals / No race (65-75)

3. 26th (14-18) / Easy workout / 5k at Tufts Hillside Relays (50-60)

2. April 2nd (14-18) / workout? / No race (50-60)

1. 9th (13-16) / No workout / No race (45-50)

Monday, April 17th Boston Marathon



I think this plan is good for several reasons. First is that it won't leave me overtrained for the race. It's very easy over the course of training to not take enough recovery time, and you end up with very tired legs at the end of a training cycle. Almost everyone I know at Tufts has had this happen at least once over their 4 year careers. I want to be in great shape on April 17th, but I also want my legs to feel fresh. In terms of racing, I'm really excited for the upcoming indoor track races. After those are done I'll have time to really focus on my long runs and getting in some good workouts and tempo runs. Hyannis will give me a good indication of what kind of shape I'm in, at least in terms of longer races. It'll also be a good way to get used to the prolonged and drawn out pain that is racing longer distances. Racing a 10k, or half-marathon or marathon is waaay different from racing a mile, or 5k, or even a 5 mile xc race. Totally different beasts. Boston's Run to Remember should be a lot of fun. It starts right near Foley Hoag LLP, where I work, and has an awesome course through downtown Boston. The 5k at Hillsides (weather cooperating) could be really really fast... I'm hoping to suprise myself. And that just leaves Boston in mid-April. Cool....