Superstitions

Yesterday was the official open to my 2010 track and field campaign. In all honesty, I was fairly nervous about how it would go. Training has been going fairly well, but jumping in to a fast 800 for an opening race can be a daunting thing (especially considering my training has been geared towards making me stronger and the only thing I had done faster than 60 pace all year was this past Monday when I did some 160 striders at 52 pace). However, the show must go on, and you've got to race to get better, so I got out there and went after it.

There were good and bad parts to the race. The good: thankfully the pace didn't feel unbearable. I was through in probably 52.8 and it didn't feel that terrible. The bad: I didn't position myself well enough in the first 200 meters and ended up tripping up over a runner I should have been in front of with 150 meters to go. I finished in 1:49.08 and had probably the best opening race to my season in recent memory (or ever, since all of my memories are fairly recent). I'm definitely upset that I didn't position myself, but pumped with the start to the season and knowing that I can pop a 1:48low right now. But, 1:49 will have to do for now, and definitely excited for what's about to go on the rest of the season.

While I was warming up for the race I had the newest Lady Gaga song stuck in my head (ra ra, ga ga ga-ah, ra ra, ga ga)...which brings me to the title of this journal entry, and a question that I pose to the reader. In terms of superstitions, when do we kick them and when do we keep them?

During my warmup I thought to myself: "What if I run really well? Does this mean that I need to have the Lady Gaga song stuck in my head for every race?"

And its a very interesting little conundrum. If something works for you even if you don't like it that much do you do it still?
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Training this week went well. Other than the snow that shortened my long run, I was pretty syked about how it went. Got in 68 miles and even with a race did a tough 4xmile workout on Tuesday. Ran 4:52, 4:47, 4:40, 4:37 with two and half minutes rest in between each one. Tough stuff for a guy like me, but got through it and then was ready for the race.

We also made a little progress on my racing schedule. It looks like I will be up at the Armory for a mile next weekend at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational and then will be heading to Boston for my last tune-up before USA Indoors to do an 8 Valentine's weekend. Pretty excited about what's to come....Let's Go!

(ps - enjoy yet another dunk as this week's picture)

Nerf Hoops

As I mentioned last week, pretty much everything that is cool in life has to do with basketball. And just today, my life got a LOT cooler. My roommate, Mike Krisch, bought a Nerf Basketball Hoop. Morale in the apartment is at an all time high (while our downstairs neighbor's is simultaneously dropping from the pounding of our jumps).

After suiting up in Bath High team shorts circa 2003 and my 24KOBE yellow headband I found myself on the losing end in the inaugural game of H-O-R-S-E to Krisch. Then, I put on a clinic in the dunking category (see above video: After a failed first attempt, I straight dominate the next dunk right in Krisch and Christine’s (she took last in Horse) laughing faces).

There is only one rule on our Nerf Hoop: if you don't break the rim at least once in a game, you haven't done your job.
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I also have been doing some running and getting pretty pumped for my first race next weekend at Penn State. It looks like its going to be a pretty quick 800 and even though I haven't really busted the rust off the old legs, they're going to have to be really ready to go come next weekend. Should be a fun time though as even though I hate the state of Pennsylvania (far too many drives across the extremely long state) I seem to run pretty well there.

Hit 67 miles on the week with some morning cross training as well. Ran some tempo miles on Tuesday and then some 500s and 300s at 3k pace and mile pace on Friday in what turned out to be an extremely hard workout.

Can't wait to spike up and race for the first time in 2010...Let's Go!

Let's Go!

So I ended up not racing this weekend. My calf was sore after Thursday's strides and the trainers told me I had a micro-tear on it, which led to some bruising and soreness. We decided that since it was only mid-January, there was really no point to test the thing and make me miss more than I needed to. So instead we decided to just go for easy runs and get in some elliptical running on the weekend. I'll be heading back up to Penn State in two weeks to get after an 800 again. Being at a meet all day is a boring thing when you're not running, and I definitely found some reasons to get moving and racing again (Penn State had a runner go 2:19 in the 1k, he'll hopefully be in the 800 in a couple of weeks as well).

This week we'll do things a little differently in that I'll go over my training for the week first (since I thankfully didn't miss that much by not racing) and then I'll explain what "Let's Go!" actually means since I have used it a few times on this site. The week was a good one of training even though I had to take a few lighter days. Tuesday we did some 5k type work. This is the kind of stuff that makes me cringe. It's in between the tempo pace and the fast pace, so it hurts like a B. We did 4x (400, 800, 400) and each set had the pace of the 400 move down starting at 69 and moving down to 65. This is the kind of stuff where not one interval gets you, but they all start adding up and you definitely question if you'll be able to finish it up. Thankfully for us, we hit the times pretty perfectly and would only go a little too quick on the 400s.

Then on Thursday we did the old double workout trick. This isn't the most fun trick in the book, but it is one that I had seen before. I had to wake up and go run a 20 minute tempo on the treadmill in the morning. Then, we came back to the track in the afternoon and did 8x150 meters at a pretty quick pace. Neither of these workouts really gets you, but then when you're sitting at home that night you realize that you are pretty tired indeed. I like the two workout days though, they make you feel blue collar. Then, we had to take a few easy days to let the calf heal, and its definitely feeling better. In total I hit 65 miles for the week with some cross training mixed in there as well. And after the meet i'm feeling ready to go. Which reminds me: "Let's Go!"

My Uncle sent out an email wondering where "Let's Go" came from. Its origins I do not know, but I do know that my cousins Joe and Dan got me hooked on it. I have a small theory that everything in life that I think is cool comes from basketball (much more on that in future posts), and "Let's Go" came from exactly that. I originally started saying it when my cousin Joe and I were about to street race in downtown Boston after USA Indoors last year and he kept on talking trash to me saying, "let's go." The word quickly became a staple in my lexicon. After winning an early season 1500 at ASU (see video page) I was quite excited and kept on shouting "Let's Go!" to my teammates. One of them said to me, "Dude, the race is over, there's nowhere to go anymore." Fair enough.

However, This is a thank you to my cousins for letting me take some of their basketball coolness and bring it to the short shorts and tight tights world of nerdy track and field. And as always: Let's Go!

4x4s

I have been reading Bill Simmon's The Book of Basketball. It has been an entertaining read, especially in his ranking of the top 96 NBA basketball players of all time (even if it was completely Boston skewed and he either berates a really good player for his fallbacks - Kobe doesn't seem all that great - or praises him as the greatest ever - Kevin McHale is written as being astoundingly good). One thing that Simmons keeps on bringing up is his Mt. Rushmore's. So, as Mt. Rushmore is home to the faces of four of our nations greatest presidents, Simmons has Mt. Rushmore's for fast food, sports movies, and so on.

The track world has an equivalent to a Mt. Rushmore hypothetical game, only way better. Ours is the 4x4.

The 4x4 is the most exciting race in track. Even back in middle school people loved the 4x4. I remember lining the fence to watch the high schoolers run the 4x4 when I was in middle school. And in hypothetical games (of which runners are very familiar due to spending hours with one another on trails, roads and tracks), it adds a fun layer.

The great part of your very own 4x4 is that it also allows you to analyze your four favorites of something by the order you run them in your relay. So say I was going to do a 4x4 of my favorite fast food chains, it would go as follows:
Lead-off: Wendy's
Second: Taco Bell
Third: In N' Out Burger
Anchor: McDonalds
An analysis: Wendy's leads off my relay because it is a reliable fast food chain that isn't going to knock you out of the park but it always going to produce some nice solid food (no one can complain with a 5 piece chicken nugg and a frosty). As with a lead-off leg, your team is just looking for a solid racer who isn't going to mess up, but just hand off near the front of the pack. The second leg is when things usually heat up, most of the time the legs are going to be fast, and you have to be able to put a fast runner out there for the sake of staying in the race. Taco Bell is your second leg due to its ability to put forth fast times (crunchwrap supremes) and go. Then you go In N' Out, even though I have only been there a few times, because it is going to do pretty much the same thing for you every time, which is exactly what you want out of a third leg. It is going to keep you in position leading into your anchor leg. And the anchor leg is where you definitely put your big gun. Some teams put their big-gun second, but that is a way of hiding your strongest runner, and it ultimately means that you're a little frightened of what to do with that fast leg. McDonalds never backs down. The place is fast food royalty. It can run a race any way (McDonalds reference: cheeseburgers, big macs, chicken sandwiches, McNuggs, fries, salads and fruit for healthy options) and it closes hard no matter what the case (McFlurrys).

So, next time you're out for a run (or just bored sitting around) try to develop some of your own 4x4s. And for those of you new to the site, I usually end each article and then do a summary of my training for the week, here is that summary.
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Had a nice week with my first day off where I didn't actually feel like I needed a day off on Saturday. It was nice being back in DC with some higher quality weather and got in some good training for the week. I put up 65 miles in 6 days with a long run of 13. The workouts worked both some aerobic and anaerobic capacities as Tuesday I did some 1ks and then Friday saw Bumbi, Krisch and I running some hills and then 400s and 200s on a snow covered track. 9x1k is not a fun workout, even if it isn't super fast, but its one of those things I need to work on. And then the 400s were at a faster 3k pace while I got to run some 200s at mile pace on the hills and track combined workout. I like that stuff so much more than 1ks.

The racing schedule is still up in the air, but I do know that I am going to be opening up next weekend at Penn State! Not exactly sure what I will be racing, but definitely looking forward to getting out there and getting the competitive juices flowing again.

I hope you enjoy the site, check everything out and email me if you have any comments or suggestions. Let's Go!

An Introduction to runLBP.com

Welcome! This little blurb will be an introduction to what you can expect from runLBP.com and from me as I try to give you a glimpse into my life as a runner.

For those of you who don't me, I am Liam Boylan-Pett (also known in some running circles as "The Headband Kid" and "LBP" (hence the name of the site)). Having just finished up my collegiate eligibility last spring after some successful stints at Columbia and Georgetown, I'm trying to make it as a professional runner. With this website I'm hoping to give viewers a look into what I hope is what it takes to make the jump to be a successful professional track athlete.

I am also hoping that the site is entertaining. My articles (I hate the word blog for some reason) are not going to be purely training based, but rather some random thoughts as well. My goal with this is to show who I am not only as a runner, but who I am as a person. I always used to get this idea of people on Flotrack and Let'sRun as being larger than life, but as I met a good deal of them last year I realized they're all regular people too.

There will be a new article on the site every Sunday (most likely in the night). It will be a journal type entry that will go over something I have been thinking about on my runs, and then a look into my training and workouts from the past week. Also make sure to check out the archives in case you've missed an entry or want to check from my previous blog that goes over my European trip from last summer. On top of that, I will always be updating my "list" section with fun articles or books I think the public should enjoy. Be sure to check out race videos and interviews, along with a few projects I worked have worked on in the footage section of the site. And also, a special treat in the form of a Runion article (which are spoof type running articles I write for fun) can be expected every once in a while.

For now, this intro will remain the centerpiece of the front page, but soon enough, every new article will be the main attraction. Each week, the newest article will be available in full on the front page. The last three will also be available in snippets, and be sure to click on the “Archive” at the bottom of the homepage to check out my past entries as well.

This is my first attempt at a site on this web we call world wide, so bear with me in the coming months. But I am looking forward to adding even more pages and fun aspects to the site. Check out the site, let me know what you think by contacting me through the “contact me” at the bottom of the page. Stay tuned for more Runion articles, more Will Run For Food type videos. Most importantly, stay in touch to see how I survive my first year as a B-list Runner! As always, Let's Go!