HEPS Preview: The Art of Celebration

They interviewed my buddy Erison on HepsTrack.com (an extremely thorough "all things Heps" website) a while back. He's an Olympian and all, so it was pretty warranted. This question and answer, however, was a little more out of left field:

Q: The headband-wearing anchor on that Championship of America team was a guy who we hear had never beaten you in a head-to-head matchup. Is it true that in practice Liam Boylan-Pett would conclude his training runs with a wild celebration?

A: I don’t know about all that, but I think he practices them in the mirror before races.

In the mirror before races, Erison? It's true, but why tell the public?

Irregardless, HEPS is one hell of a day to win a race. I was lucky enough to do it three times. Each time had a little bit different celebration, and, to be honest, each one was in all likelihood subconsciously planned.

Indoor HEPS at the Armory 2007. No one from Columbia had ever won the mile. So when I won, I decided to rep the school:

Pop!

Subconsciously this one started with the 2006 NCAA BBall tourney when the Jersey-Pop became commonplace. (Please check out that link, its a bayd-ass pic. I only didn't put it in the body of this post because it makes my jersey-pop look extremely weak.)

Indoor HEPS at Cornell 2008. I had a stress fracture that winter. Winning wasn't going to be the most easy thing in the world. I ended up bombing in the 4x8 later that day, so I still have somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth about the whole meet, but rocking that mile win was fricken awesome. Plus, there was a great Columbia Cheering section so I had to point at them to thank them as I crossed the line:

That was a fun/intense race.

The crowd in that one was the subconscious planning. It was one of the most intense races I have been a part of. I'll be the first to admit that I don't like Cornell, but they packed their gym and it was raucous in there. The first turn was one of the loudest turns I've ever run around. Plus, the mini-dog pile the us Columbia kids formed was awesome.

Outdoor HEPS 2008 at Yale. It was my first outdoor title. I don't have a picture of the win. Ben True was pretty much untouchable my junior and sophomore year outdoors (although I fought valiantly with him for 2 second places in the 1500). He wasn't his normal self senior year, but that didn't mean I couldn't be jacked with the win. I took the lead with 300 to go. By the homestretch I was clear:

Don't ever look back.

It was pretty much relief down the homestretch. I smiled, raised my arms, and was genuinely happy. If I wouldn't have won an outdoor title I would have been pretty upset.

So there you have it. College Basketball, Intensity, and Relief were the reasons I celebrated. And practicing in the mirror never yielded results as good as the actual race.

And to end this pat-myself-on-the-back-for-winning-a-few-races post, I'll say that HEPS is going to be sweet. My entire HEPS preview almost read like this: "IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!" It's back in the Armory, kids are ready to run fast, and the Columbia Women have a shot at winning the team title. HEPS is a fantastic meet where times don't matter, but you sure as hell better run fast if you want to win...

Here's my favorite post-race HEPS pic. This one wasn't planned at all. And that's why it's my favorite. It's Coach Wood and I pumped we got a win at HEPS:

In All Honesty

First of all, some housekeeping information. Due to the lack of ability for me to get a comment box using iWeb as my program for creating runLBP.com, I will also be using a blogging service to post my articles. This way it will be easier to navigate the entries and check out my posts. Plus, you’ll be able to post comments, and if you’re a google user, it will be easy to subscribe or “follow” my blog. So now you can head to http://runLBP.blogspot.com, or click on the link at the top of each page that says, “Head to Blog!” (The articles will all still be on runLBP.com, so just head to the archive link at the bottom of the homepage to find it.) But back to some regular programming…

Apparently, I say the words, “in all honesty,” all the time. I hadn’t ever thought about it, but a freshman that I was spending too much time with called me out on it. And in all honesty, he was right (see, I did it right there! I can’t control myself). The saying really isn’t a problem, but it does imply that I lie enough to make a point of letting people know when I’m telling the truth. And once I started looking into the way I speak, and stopping myself every time I started saying it, I thought about the etiquette in telling someone something like that. A freshman told me after about a year of hanging out with me and just then had the nerve to say something. Oh I’m upset with him because now I stress about the way I talk, but he felt comfortable telling me, so you gotta give him credit for that.

Running etiquette is a funny thing. There are a few unspoken rules when you’re running with someone. You don’t one step when you’re running with someone (one-stepping being the act of running the same pace as someone, but one step in front of them), you go silent when the other person clearly doesn’t feel like talking, and overall, you try to go with the flow when running with someone. Sure, there are exceptions to these rules, you may be the one who doesn’t feel like talking so your running buddy better get the drift.

This week, I faced a running etiquette snafu while out in Rock Creek Park. I was running along minding my own business and on the way back of an out and back 55 minute run. I was charging up the last little stretch of a long hill and noticed a gentlemen to my right who was walking. I waved and nodded at him and continued on. But he started running and latched right onto me. Not a word crept out of his mouth, just footsteps crunching on the dirt trail behind me. I was upset. Had he asked if he could jog with me for a few minutes, I would have been upset, but I would have obliged. But without a word he was sitting on me like I do to someone I am trying to beat in a mile.

For a brief moment I thought about dropping the hammer, but I was tired from my workout the day before. Finally after descending the hill I had just run up and heading towards home I turned around mid-stride:
“Are you kidding me right now?” I said to him.
“I was bored running by myself,” he responded.
“You don’t just do this,” I shot back.
“No one’s ever had a problem with it be—” I cut him off.
“Well you’re pissing me off,” I snapped back and jogged to the right as he stopped.

Yeah, I’m not usually a mean guy while out running, but when you mess with the running etiquette, you might hear some words from me. So if you want to run with me, just ask…
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Raced in Indianapolis this weekend. Hearing the timer call out 23, 24 as I passed the 200 mark, I thought I might be in trouble. Coming through in 51low, I really knew. Yet for some reason I tried to make a pass during 4-600, and it ended up biting me in the ass. I still ran 1:48.97 while rigging home. And while I think that I can run in the 1:46’s in the right situation, this will be a big help come USAs. Coach Henner always likes it when we rig, because, he says, the next time we go out that fast we wont.

Also, the meet in Indianapolis sucked. Due to some serious thunderstorms, I didn’t get to race until midnight. Meanwhile, I traveled out there with some Gtown girls (the picture for this article) and stayed with my brother and the Columbia folk. They were all running the 1500 and didn’t get to race until 1:30 am. It was awful. But they all ran pretty well, and I was able to see Jeff Moriarty break my school record in the 1500 at Columbia. He ran a tough race, leading from 1k out and dropped a 3:42.51 for 3rd place, eclipsing my mark of 3:42.91. So congrats to him, even though he didn’t even know my website existed and the wind in Indy wasn’t strong enough at all.

Only two weeks until USAs. I can’t tell you how excited I am getting. Des Moines here we come! Let’s Go!

The PTFL

“With the 27th pick in the 2009 PTFL Draft, the Detroit HorsePower select Liam Boylan-Pett of Georgetown and Columbia University…” (it sucks that in my own fantasy I understand around where I would have been picked in a 30 team draft of last years Track and Field Draft…)

I stand up and button my jacket. I give the obligatory hug and kiss on the cheek to my Mom and Dad and brother and sister and step-dad and cousins and friends (I roll with an entourage); then walk up to the podium, shake the commissioner’s hand and pull the black hat down over my mop of hair, it’s logo – a golden horse with track spikes on it – glowing.

I show up to Detroit a few days later, sign my three-year contract (I get the added bonus of a POWERBAR deal mixed in as well), and get to work. The Horsepower just signed Dathan Ritzenhein as well (they like Michigan talent), to cover the distance events, but I’ll be expected to carry the load from the 8 to the mile.

Little Caesar Stadium is nestled in next to Ford Field and Comerica Park, I run interval after interval and then cool down with a run along the river and a view of Canada.

Then, the season starts, I travel all around the country on chartered jets from St. Louis to Salt Lake City competing in sold out stadiums in events like the 1k one night then the mile the next. I run great some nights; then I struggle the next.

This is life as a rookie in the Professional Track and Field League.

That’s what it could have been. If only I’d have chosen a cooler sport…Or if only track were more popular.

OOOORRRRRR, things could have been terrible. What if I was a kid who didn’t know what to do with a lot of money at a young age? What if I turned into a sports star A-hole who was all about drugs, sex, and rock n’ roll? (Although, I think in the nerdy world of running, I would have maybe only had to worry about rock n’ roll.) Hopefully the PTFL wouldn’t have destroyed me. We’ll never have to find out…
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I was pretty jacked about my last week of training. I did some 5k stuff on Tuesday (7x800, all around 65-66pace) and then came back on Friday for my tougher workout of the week. I am finally starting to get to do some speed stuff, or as my coach calls it, speed endurance work. This is the stuff that makes me, well…me.

The workout was pretty simple – 3x1k at 75-76 (easy pace for 1ks) and then 2x150 at 19 seconds (~26 second 200 pace). This was all part of the warm-up though…next up was a 500. I was working out with Dylan Sorensen, a freshman at Gtown who has been having a great season, and he led us through. It was a hot morning, but I passed him with 200 to go and ran a 64.3 second 500 –which is a definite PR, and you can never complain about PRs in practice. Then I rested up about 9 minutes and ran a 51flat 400 to close out the workout. I was STRUGGLING afterwards (aching head, cotton-mouth, burning legs), but it wasn’t supposed to feel good.

Getting ready for an 800 in Indy on the 12th as my last tune-up before USAs…getting excited.

Let’s Go!

FOUND

Blink! An eye opens wide; the pupil expands then coils back in, the dark, monarch brown iris twinkling. Gasp! A deep breath beckons as the eye blinks and focuses. Where the hell am I?

To go along with the rest of the blogging/twittering/facebooking/anythingonlineing world, this week’s post is a LOST extravaganza. Writing this, I am on a plane across the country back to DC. I am supposed to land at 7:10…then I am getting picked up from Dulles, and hopefully making it back to my place in time for the finale of one of the greatest television dramas of all time.

(Side note: I enjoy comedies so much more than dramas, while I love Lost, it probably doesn’t even crack my five favorite tv shows of all time…in order:
5. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (crude and hilarious)
4. The Wire (the best overall television show I’ve ever watched, just not funny)
3. Southpark (Cartman may be the best character ever)
2. Seinfeld (Not original in terms of favorite show choice, but classic)
1. Arrested Development (Short lived, but if you haven’t watched the first two seasons, I pity you))

But don’t worry, since this is a running blog, it will only be Lost themed. And how will I do that? By comparing my season of running to Jack’s arc on the Island. (There will be some serious reaching in what follows, but like I have done with the last two seasons of Lost, just go with it.)

When Jack first got to the Island, he wanted what anyone who was on a stranded Island would: off. So, he did whatever he could to try to get him and his people off the Island. Then, he finally gets off the god-forsaken place, and he wants to go back? Meanwhile, some smokemonsters and dead people did some weird things, and now Desmond and Penny might not end up together and I’m pretty upset about that. However, back to Jack.

In Seasons 5 and 6, and the dude was pretty lost (pun intended), in terms of what to do with his life. He was more the man of science that that of fate. He always forced things, and sometimes it worked out well, others, not so much. This was me the first part of the season. I was forcing it, trying to make it work out way too well. I was lost. I didn’t know what exactly I was running for. It is a transition no longer being a part of a team and running on your own. I struggled to find meaning in my races.

Now, Jack finds himself with a mission. He is focused, and he is ready to protect this Island. I’m back on track too. I may not officially be on a team anymore, but in actuality, I am still on a ton of them. The opening eye that Lost so often uses is focusing (which reminds me of another awesome tv show, Friday Night Lights, and its awesome motto: Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose!).

I’m still a Bath runner, still a Columbia Runner, still a Georgetown runner.

Now I can only hope that I find out what the hell Jack is, and what this damn Island means in tonight’s LOST finale…that is if I even catch it due to this stupid flight.
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First PR of the year! Gotta like that. The race was at Occidental College, just north of L.A. I figured if it was good enough for the President to hang out there a few weekends, it would be good enough for me to race there. Sure enough, it was pretty awesome. Getting ready for the race I was listening to my music and gazing out at the mountain range in the distance. I couldn’t complain.

In terms of the race, I am a little upset that I wasn’t a little more aggressive for the start, but overall it was good. I let the main pack get a little too far ahead of me, and then found myself in too much traffic the last 300 meters of the race. I was still really happy with my last 100 and I definitely think there is a lot more left in the tank. Plus, I was starting to become the Sam Bair III of 3:41s, so it was nice to run 3:40.15 (why couldn’t I dip under!?!).

Now is time to find out the rest of the season, for now I know as much as everyone else…I’ll be sure to update once I know what’s up with my season.

Let’s Go!

Race footage: http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&event_id=3423&video_id=26724&folder_id=-2

UPDATE: I did make it back in time for the finale...it was totally AWESOME.

That's The Midwest For Ya...

If you followed my journal during my European travels this summer (you can find that starting here), then you’ll remember that I always pack two extra things for each track trip:

It was April of 2007, and the Columbia Middle-Distance Crew was getting ready for their trip out to California for the warm weather and the prestigious Mt. Sac Relays. Senior Kent Collins was the captain of that team.

If you know Kent, then you will know that this conversation actually did take place. (My family had the pleasure of meeting Kent this year when the Final Four was in Detroit and he and my brother went. I will not be surprised if he is a topic of conversation at family dinners for years to come.)

It was the night before we left on an early morning flight, here is how the conversation went:

KENT: Hey man, make sure to bring two extra pairs of underwear.
ME: Haha, why?
KENT: dude, you always bring two extra pairs of underwear…one in case you poop your pants, and one in case your roommate poops his. (He said it as if I was stupid for even asking.)
ME: Well, what if we both, um, you know? And then one of us does it a second time?
KENT: Well you pray to God that both you and your roommate followed the rule…otherwise, two total pants poopings is all you get.

So yeah, I always pack a few extra pairs of undergarments. However, I was a little nervous heading into the USA Road Mile Championship in Minneapolis this past week. That’s because I wasn’t sure who my roommate was going to be, and I definitely wasn’t sure if he new about the Underpants Rule.

Upon arriving in the Twin Cities, I had no worries at all. But that’s because the race directors took such good care of us, that I figured they’d have extra tighty-whities up the whazoo. I roomed with Jordan Fife, and he was a great guy.

It’s pretty fun when you’re on the elite level because everyone is so professional and does their own thing so that they can run fast. Jordan was coming from Flagstaff for some altitude training, so we were on different schedules, but we made it work. And I’m pretty sure we had no problems in regards to briefs.

As far as the race, I am happy with it, but definitely not pleased. I was waayyyyy too close to some guys not to nip one or two of them at the line. I felt like a group of 7 of us separated from the pack in the last 400-meters, and I happened to take last out of that group. It was good to be a part of that group, but I need to beat a few of those guys next time I am there. But 7th place in a race stacked with middle-distance talent, and I cannot complain too much.

Now, I just have to get ready for Occidental and what promises to be a fast 1500 next weekend in LA. Other than Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong, it is pretty much a USA final in the event, it is going to be really fun. I’m treating it like my Big East Meet and HEPS combined…

LET’S GO!!

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Check out race footage here: http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=26167

Also, for an article I wrote for Columbia College Today, check it out:
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/may_jun10/alumni_corner

Rudyard Kipling was a 4:30 Miler

It is tough being at home when Penn Relays is going on. As you can see from my Penn Relays post earlier this week (and be sure to check that out), it is one of my favorite weekends of the year. However, sometimes you have to pay attention to the bigger plan and hope that you’ll be able to see Usain Bolt in person some other time.

Also turns out that I had some work to do this weekend. I am closing in on the end of the semester, which for me means the end of the line and hopefully a Master’s Degree at the finish. But I am working on my capstone project, and yes (surprise!) it is running based. I am doing a little piece on the mile and what it means to me and what it should mean to others. Part of it looks like it is going to be published so things are looking good on that front.

I bring this up because I have been reading any book I can find on distance running, and especially the mile. I would bore you with quotes that I found interesting, but then I was glancing back through Once A Runner, the book that many claim is the best running book ever written. In all honesty, it captures the essence of the sport and I think does a fantastic job. One section at the beginning of the book is introducing the protagonist, Quenton Cassidy.

On the third floor of Doobey Hall a battered oak door held two three-by-five index cards neatly thumbtacked one atop the other.

The top one said in Smith Corona pica:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling, 1892

The other card read:
Rudyard kipling was a 4:30 miler.
-Quenton Cassidy, 1969

Now I laugh at this quote because here I search long and hard for quotes that will help my piece out and then this Cassidy character tells me that they all mean nothing unless the guy who wrote it is fast.

But Cassidy is full of it, because Kipling can write. Sometimes that’s better than running fast.
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Had another good week of training and getting pumped to head out to Stanford to race this coming weekend. Should be a nice 1500 heat and hopefully I can get another good race in. It’s all still leading up to hopefully being ready to go come USAs…so just gotta keep on the grindstone and get in some races in the meantime.

Workouts this last week were strength based with some 800s on Tuesday and then some split 800s (5-3) on Friday at more 1500 pace effort. Probably wont back off too much this week and then pop a nice time out in some Cali weather…definitely looking forward to it.

Let’s Go!

20 Bucks

Mayfield Drive between Maplegrove Ave. and Forestdale Rd. in Royal Oak, Michigan was home to many an athletic endeavor for my young self. This was the block in front of my cousins’ house. Whenever my brother and I visited, there was bound to be a sporting event. Whether it was road football (I was like the Randy Moss of Boylan Backyard Football with glue-like hands), street hockey (where my cousin Joe once turned into Dominik Hasek and allowed him and my brother to win a huuuuge upset over the neighbors Jeff and Matt), or wiffle ball, we got after our sports.

But one sporting event stands out on that strip of road: The famous races against my Uncle Gerry. They started when we were fairly young. We would line up at the neighbors driveway under one of the humungous Oak Trees and race to the stop sign at the corner. We wouldn’t beat him. He had an amazingly quick start and then would pull away from us. The catch was, if we ever beat him he would give us $20. That was a lot of dough to a 9-year-old kid.

Then something started to happen. We started getting bigger and faster.

At the same time, Gerry’s first step slowed a little. So, he did what any Uncle would do who didn’t want to just give $20 away. He shortened the race and started to “improve” his start.

We moved about 10 feet up from the driveway, then 20…soon it was only a 25-yard race. He would also false start pretty much every race we ever ran. He would be called out, return to the starting line, and we would re-start the race. He would false start again, and the process would be repeated. Soon enough we would just let him false start and accept that we were going to have to come back from three meters down in a 20-meter race. (ed.’s note: my Uncle Gerry would, and certainly will, vehemently deny any false start accusations.)

My brother, Will, was the first to beat him. A few years passed and he tried to avoid my cousin, Joe, and I since it was clear he was in trouble. We eventually talked him into it at Uncle Gerry’s lake house in Empire. Yeah, he got a false start, but we still caught him. And, yes, Uncle Ger gave us the 20 bucks.

Now it’s hard to compare $20 to $10,000, but the Puma Mile on Friday night kind of reminded me of those races down Mayfield. Mainly because that mile on Friday night at Mt. Sac was one of the funnest (yes, I know that’s not a word) races I’ve run in a while. Also, some girls got a head start.

I’ll let you watch the race and the interview on your own and take what you will from those. But know that I was pretty broken by that loss. I threw what I had on the track, and it just wasn’t quite good enough. Sometimes that is how it goes.

But also know that I needed that race. I hadn’t raced like that in a while, where it was all out there, nothing held back. I “Let’s Go!”ed and it felt good. The best races of my life have been the ones where I just ran, nothing else. Didn’t give myself time to think, just tried to win a race. I did that again on Friday night, and even though it wasn’t worth $10,000, it worked out in different ways.

And I do think that was one of the best races I have raced. Now I just have to make sure I can pull out a few more of those the rest of the year.

And as for my Uncle Gerry, he may have twenty more dollars to give away, my little sister just ran her first track meet as a 7th grader…and she’s ready to roll. Let's GO!!

Race footage: http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236734-2010-puma-mt-sac-relays/326815-m-mile-h01-2010-puma-mile-trackside

Post-race interview: http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236734-2010-puma-mt-sac-relays/326898-liam-boylan-pett-runner-up-at-2010-puma-mile

Headbands

As some of you may know, I do like to wear a headband when I race. I also like to wear a headband when I am busy doing super awesome LBPjams in my living room. But some of you may not know why I wear a headband for competitions. Well, this entry will have some answers.

In the past I have mentioned how basketball players have an affect on me. Cool basketball players especially. This has been true for an extremely long time. Growing up, I was sure I would be the next Isiah Thomas. Then, I realized I was white and probably not going to be taller than 5’10”, so I adopted the hope of being Dan Dickau instead. Even so, my basketball skills dwindled as I decided to run more and more. (I know, hard to believe after seeing some of those nerf hoop dunks.)

But just because I wasn’t going to play bball in college didn’t mean that I was going to stop trying to be like a basketball player.

It so happened that my sophomore year of high school my cross country team had a fairly good shot at winning the State Championship. My brother had left for Columbia, but we had some older guys on the team who stepped up in a leadership role. Jimmy Watkins was our team captain and he and I were watching the basketball playoffs the summer before that cross season. The Charlotte Hornets caught our attention. The entire team wore headbands. And as Sports Illustrated put it: “their headbands, a symbol of solidarity that they adopted for the postseason.”

We were in: Headbands it was.

And so, we rocked headbands as a team that year. All seven that toed the line each race. Bright white ones that turned brown and yellow as the season wore on. A stench would surround our pack as we huddled together for the pre-race chant. And a stench would follow us as we made our way through the finishing chute after the race.

In the end, we didn’t win our state title. It was the year that my appendix burst three days before the state finals. The team ran valiantly for a 9th place finish without me (even with a terrible finish from me we would have been 2nd). But I’ve worn a headband ever since, and I don’t plan on stopping soon…
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Had a nice week of training in the HEAT of DC. Friday was the big workout this week and was able to have one of my better 5k type workouts that I’ve ever put together.

400-66.2, 800-2:12, 1200-3:17, 1200-3:21, 1200-3:15, 800-2:04, 400-60(31-29)

That was the workout…hopefully the track fans can understand what it means. The first number is the distance run and the second is the time it took. I was sucking wind by the end, but I’m definitely in some good shape.

Have the Puma mile this weekend out at Mt. Sac. Flotrack will be showing it live, so be sure to check it out (10:45 Eastern Time). http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view/236732-puma-mile-2010

LET’S GO!!!!

Easter With the Fam and April Fools Runion

Sorry for the delayed post on this one. Yes it is Tuesday. And yes I did promise posts by Monday, but it was Easter Weekend and my family was in town, so you’ll have to give me a break. It was a big week last week, so there is a lot to update on.

I had a race, a tough workout, and some serious PowerBar eating, so all in all it was a pretty good week.

The race wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done for what we were trying to accomplish this weekend. I was supposed to make sure that it went pretty quick from the gun. This way I would get some lactic acid buildup and remember what it felt like to rig home the last hundred of a race. So, this meant that I was going to straight lead a race for the first time in a loooong time. The problem is, my first step isn’t crazy quick, and I was out the back the first 100-meters. But I could tell people were settling so I rolled through the next hundred and found myself in the lead at the 200 mark.

Yikes, it wasn’t that much fun to be in the lead. You notice the wind more, you notice the speed more, its tough. But it was definitely something I needed to do. I came through 400 in 54low and then rolled around the 600 in 1:21low. I tried to hold off the field around the turn and a runner went by me with 120 to go. Now normally in that situation I would throw in the towel. But I fought my way through the last 80 and even started catching the leader with about 40 to go. Alas, the track ran out of room and I found myself in 2nd, but a 1:49.82 opening 800 leading the whole way will have to do for now.

And looking at what else what down this week in terms of training I was pretty happy with how it all turned out. Tuesday was a 5xmile workout with the last mile at 4:30, so I ended up being pretty tired heading into Friday’s race. Got in my 72 miles for the week and now in the midst of another big week. With Some big races in Cali coming up, we’ll cut down the mileage a little bit, but the season is still very young, so there’s a long way to go.

As a special treat, enjoy this April Fool's Runion! article. It’s a nice little piece I drew up back in the day. Remember also to check out the Runion! archives to see any of the other pieces.

Let’s Go!

Addendum: For footage of my Stanford 1500 Opener, check out:
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&year=2010&pg=1&event_id=57&video_id=22793&folder_id=1430&offset=3#video
Thanks to Columbia grad John Sun, for the email!

POWERBAR

Jackpot! So in some awesome news, I am now a member of PowerBar Team Elite. What this essentially means is that I get to replenish after workouts with PowerBar. I’m pretty syked about it as it is my first official sponsor and who wouldn’t love some free energy bars and drinks? Plus, I’ll get to put a cool little logo on my jersey and rock some PowerBar gear around at meets. You can check out my PowerBar Profile.

Also, opened up the season this weekend out in Stanford. It was a good opening race, and definitely showed that I come June and July I can be hoping to do some serious damage out there. I ran 3:43.92 and ran a tough race. I thought I was going to win the thing with a hundred meters to go, but when I told my legs to go, they just didn’t do it. I think the training made it so I didn’t have any pop in my legs. But the good thing is that its only March and there is a loooong ways to go before I need to get really going and flying around the track.

Right now I can’t find a video of the race on Flotrack, but they did post a nice little interview of me. There is some talk of a personalized headband, so we’ll have to see what we can do about that the rest of the year.

(Also, in great news, Michigan State made the final four…I’m extremely jacked up about this one. Izzo is an amazing coach…if he coached runners I’d definitely call him up. Winners are winners.)
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Training was good last week. Ran a pretty tough 300-250 workout on Tuesday where we were alternating between 3k and 1500 pace, then didn’t really rest up before Friday’s race. With a few more weeks of training and a few rest days, I’m going to be ready to pop a big one….Let’s GO!

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Pay It Back

My perusing of Let’sRun.com’s “World Famous Message Board” depends on how well I have run. Yes, as vein as that is, it is true. I check the message boards if I’ve run well so that I can see what people are saying about me. If I’ve run poorly, I stay the hell away from it. It is not a confident booster to read that you don’t have what it takes. But I’m not solely self-centered, I actually check the message board if a teammate or friend has done well too.

So when Kyle Merber broke 4 last night in a race I rabbitted, I made sure to check out Let’sRun. While he was receiving his due praises, there were also some notes that mentioned breaking 4 doesn’t mean anything anymore. That too many Americans are doing it. That it has become too easy.

I beg to differ.

While the University of Washington may be excused, where sub-4 miles seem to come a dime a dozen, the mystique is still there. The problem with Washington is that no one races. Everyone sets one another up in a line and then runs accordingly to a really fast time. And don’t get me wrong, the fact that people run that fast is just amazing, I am jealous that I haven’t run a 3:57. But then watch Kyle Merber’s race from Friday night and tell me that it isn’t a little different running 3:58 for the win than running 3:59 to take 8th place in your race. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pitqexSNLcQ)

What happened at the Armory on Friday night was a sight to see. Kyle was able to accomplish a goal that he most likely set when he was in 6th grade when he first laced up his running shoes, and he was able to do it in front of and with people that mean the world to him. If he had run 3:58 at UW he would have been able to hug Coach Wood at the finish line and that would have been it. Instead, he was able to share it with his entire team.

So congrats Kyle, and congrats to anyone who ever breaks 4. A Syracuse coach came up to me after I rabbitted and thanked me. I asked him what Brad Miller ran. “4-flat,” he replied. I apologized. He said I didn’t need to, I did my job. I went on my way. But I hadn’t apologized because of my job, I apologized because I know what it feels like to break 4, and I wish that the Syracuse kid who I have talked to maybe twice in my life could have done the same.
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There are more stories from last night, but they are ones that may be kept secret for a while, ones to be told later when they make more sense. My training is going well. I am pretty excited to see what can happen this outdoor season. I have begun my training block and am discussing what my outdoor season will look like with coach. I’ll post up what I know as soon as I do. But I’m going to hit 73 miles this week and got in a nice tempo run of 7 miles on Tuesday before this pacing job last night. It’s going to be fun come April, May, June and July.

Let’s Go!!

Ps – check out two added LBPjams…BOO YAHHH.

Disappointments

(editor’s note: please excuse this if any of it is odd, namely the picture...I wrote this entry while lying on the floor of the Denver airport really hoping that my plane would skip its layover in Detroit and fly us straight back to DC...alas, it didn’t.)

They don’t always work the way you draw them up. That seemed to be my indoor season. As I mentioned last week, I hate almosts. This indoor season was full of almosts.

I flew into Albuquerque with the main goal of making the final of the 800. It was a doable goal, but nonetheless a tough one. Then I found out that they only took 6 runners into the final. Making the final was going to be tough, but why fly 2000 miles across the country just for one day of racing? Especially after seeing my heat was full of guys that I could beat on a good day.

The only goal was to win the heat, regardless of how fast or slow it was so that I was guaranteed a spot for Sunday. Discussing the race beforehand with Coach, we decided that we would count on what has worked for me so many times in the past: my kick. It’s a gamble a lot of times, to rely completely on a kick, but sometimes what makes it fun is also what bites you in the ass.

That’s what happened on Saturday. I found myself in a pretty good position with 200 to go, but come 100, the gamble hadn’t paid off and my kick wasn’t what it can sometimes be. Hernandez and Gagnon pulled away and I just didn’t have the pop to stick with them.

It was disappointing for sure, as was the indoor season as a whole. Penn State almost worked out with me finding a kick but I got tripped up and slowed down, New York was almost quick enough, but turned out to be a jog, Boston I almost felt good but felt terrible instead, and USA’s turned out to be a struggle in the thin air of New Mexico.

Now, it’s back on the grindstone and I am hungry for what is to come Outdoors. I’ll finally get to run some fast 1500s after the year of six 3:41s and hopefully dip below that solid yet un-phenomenal times.

(And yes, that picture may not make sense, however, I cannot wait until it is warm again and the snow in DC is gone, so just go with it and enjoy the setting Oregon Sun.)
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It was a down week of training, but over the next five or six weeks of pure training I will keep you updated on what I’m doing with some nice descriptions of the workouts.

Hopefully we can see the progress that gets me nice and ready to pop some nasty ones on the 400-meter oval. Let’s Go!

Conference Meets

The video below, albeit shaky and blurry, is proof of why I love Heps. It is video of my first Heps Title. It was junior year and a 4:08 mile beat out Princeton’s Michael Maag. Yes, I love it because I win. Yes, I love it because the “LBP” chant and nickname was born. But more than that, I love it because this video is Heps.

How can an athlete not get up for a competition with that kind of atmosphere? I brought it that day because it was impossible not to. Other than Penn Relays, there isn’t a place I would rather race (sorry Heps, the 46,000 strong on the Saturday of Penn is unparalleled). Heps was the spot to go. If you didn’t have it that day, I don’t know when you would. I would win two more Heps titles, and both were great, but that first one, with chants filling the Armory, that one is extra sweet.

Bear with me while I relive the glory days. Understand that my sense of self-splendor shuts down when I remember other Heps races: The fall in the prelims of the mile sophomore year followed by a dismal DMR where I stupidly allowed everyone back into the race after Erison ran one of his patented Pass Everyone In The Field relay legs at Dartmouth; sophomore and junior year failing to pass Ben True in the final straightaway of the 1500; or senior year when I failed to anchor a 4x800 relay team to victory and give a surely deserving Jonah Rathbun a Heps Title.

“Almost” – the worst word in sports. I almost had a second gear after getting myself into the race after falling; I almost still outkicked the field to win the DMR; I almost caught True; I almost pulled myself together in the 4x8 to put up a fight.

Even though I no longer have a Heps to run in, even though I hopefully have bigger things on the horizon, I think about these races. They, along with many others, are the reason I’m still chasing.

I am haunted by almosts.

(Video shot by Colin Pile, Columbia ’03)
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USA Indoors are next weekend. I am entered in the 800 and am looking forward to it. After three weeks of travel and racing I finally was able to have a good week of solid training and a weekend at home. On a snow shoveled track (with banks the same height as me) I was able to pound out some quick 150s and 300s on Friday to hopefully have me sharpened up a bit for some quick 800s this weekend. Still hit 68 miles for the week and I’ll back off this week in order to get nice and rested for the weekend. As always, Let’s Go!

State College, New York, Boston

Race, Race, Race. That was the point of the last three weeks. So we traveled, and we raced. While none of the performances were great, a lot of progress was made.

The week before my debut for the 2010 season I was thrust into a workout with Andrew Bumbalough (aka, Bumbi). We were doing 500s and 300s with the 5s at 3k pace and the 3s at mile pace. I was nervous about the 500s and Bumbi was nervous about the 3s (both of us scared of the other’s prowess at longer (him) and shorter (me) distances). The problem was, I wasn’t ready for either. Sandy Roberts jumped in with us (no slouch himself being a 4:01 miler) and we got right after it coming through the first 4 of the 500 in 63 and then running the 300 in 43high. Heavy breathing commenced, and I knew I was in for it. I struggled through the first 3 sets before being dropped like a bag of rocks in the 4th. I watched helplessly and cursing at myself as Bumbi and Sandy glided through their final 300 in 42low. How the hell was I going to race when I couldn’t finish a workout? Especially against a kid who just ran 2:19 for 1k from Penn State in an 800?

Coach mentioned jumping into the 1k so I could be in a little more relaxed first race. I half-heartedly agreed and then went home to get my mind off the terrible workout. In all honesty I was pretty worried about the entire season.

But then I remembered something. If you want to get good, you have to go out and race people. Even when you’re not ready. Last fall after I struggled through the 5th Avenue Mile, Coach sat me down in his office and told me: “If you really want to do this, you have to be ready to race at all times. If there’s a race, we’re going to run it, and we’re going to do the best we can that day.”

I emailed coach that night after the workout: “I want to run the 8 next weekend. If I rig, I rig, but let’s get out there and race some people, it’s the only way I know how.”

So that’s where we are. I haven’t popped a great one yet, but after having never cracked 1:51 in the 800 indoors I have two sub 1:50s under my belt this year. Now I’m going to get back on the block and get ready to race my ass of at USAs. The altitude is going to suck, the race is going to be hard as hell, but its go time, and whether I’m ready or not, I better get out and get after it.
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Training has stayed consistent even with the racing and the buttload of snow that has been dumped on DC. Definitely did some treadmill running and definitely got stuck in Georgetown (away from my Columbia Heights home) for a few nights, but snow running makes you tougher, at least that’s what I keep telling myself. The race up in Boston didn’t go exactly as planned…The UConn guys (Rutt and Gagnon) worked me and pulled away from me the last 200 meters. I just couldn’t find that extra gear, but the plan is for it to be there in 2 weeks in New Mexico.

68 miles on the week and planning to hit 70 next week before backing it off a little bit for USAs…Let’s Go!

Road Racers

I ran two races this weekend. One was the more conventional route, being on a track with the set distance of a mile (I won in the easiest 4:04 I’ve ever run) and the other was on the warm-up for the actual race against some old man who drafted behind me as I slogged through my 7-minute paced jog.

Going up the hill on riverside drive back up towards NYC’s Armory the dude legitimately locked in behind me and let me block the wind without humor or malice. I continually shook my head and laughed out loud to try to send the dude a hint, but he didn’t get it. He was unrelenting and remained tucked in, void of any wind, behind me. Around the crest of the hill he moved beside me, but clearly wasn’t still running with me as he was about 3 feet to my left. He got a few feet ahead then cut right in front of me. So I moved to my left and remained on the constant pace I had been at for the entire warm-up. Now I was catching up to him and his breathing cadence quickened and loudened (no, loudened is not a word). Then all of a sudden, he was gone. The dude turned around with no word or hint.

The only thing that bothers me is that I’m not sure who won and who lost our race, since I think only he knew the finish line.

And it is fun to challenge the weekend warrior once in a while, but I really wanted to tell this dude to come in and try to race me in a mile in 20 minutes if he was going to bother me so much on this workout. I’m pretty sure that he ended up throwing up somewhere because of the hard effort. At least that’s what I’m going to tell myself.
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Training for the week was great. Ran a 4:04 mile on top of doing a little tempo and stride action on Tuesday and still getting in 69 miles for the week. I’ll keep the mileage up in that area for the next couple of weeks and then cut it back some for USA Indoors, which is still remaining the main goal. I’m probably heading up to Boston this week and hopefully popping a quick 800…Enjoy the interview from Flotrack…Let’s Go!

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

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)

MAN MONTH

December has been a great month for me. I don’t mind the cold (that’s what being a Michigan boy does for you), school is almost over (just a 20 page story about racing trains due this Wednesday), and it is MAN MONTH.

Man Month is something my brother, our buddy Kevin Verge, and I started about a year ago. At the risk of sounding like a misogynist pig, we do everything in these months as manly as possible. So that means I’m running hard, lifting hard, eating steak raw…you know, the basics.

Man Month is a way for us all to make sure that we are getting things done, and getting them done right. Say it was today and it was rainy and cold and I didn’t really feel like going for my run…Man Month makes you go for your runs.

This year, Alan Weeth joined in with Kevin, Will and I for Man Month, he has done nothing but act manly. The champion of his bowling league, he has continually sent out pictures of him eating skyline chili, there is even rumor that his arms no longer fit in his shirts, because his muscles have become too big.

The funny thing about Man Month for me is that it really got things rolling for me in its original installment. February of ‘09 was the original Man Month. However, I knew that I was running in a fast mile on January the 31st. I moved the month one day up, and for the first time in my life, a 3 was the first number listed in my mile time.
God, I love Man Month…
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And now each week I’ll put a little bit more in there about my actual running life. Don’t worry, the completely non-running related topics (although in my life pretty much everything makes its way back to running in some way or another) will continue on, but there will be some more training oriented issues talked about.

This week was a pretty relaxed one, with some more strength based stuff that I have been working on as the main attraction. Tuesday we did a 6xmile workout that ended up being a pretty tough one. It was one of the times where coach had originally told me I would be doing 5, but then at the last second decided that 6 was better.

There’s no real secret to “by-mile” workouts, usually just 60 seconds rest in between each one. So my group clicked off miles of 4:56, 4:56, 4:56, 4:55, then instead of the 60 seconds, we were only given 45, and we ran 4:52 then were given only 30 seconds and ran a 4:49 final mile. The rest is what kills you on that one.

Hit my usual 70 miles for the week with a nice long run with the team down around the monuments. Let’s Go!

Hills

I hate hills. Running up them is awful. Running down them hurts. Frank Shorter may have said that hills were “speedwork in disguise,” but they aren’t nearly as fun as speedwork.

And I should preface this with the fact that my road mile this weekend was not nearly as fast a course as it should have been. And this is because from 100 to 900 meters, the course was an uphill through Lafayette, Calif.

Overall, I had a very solid race, and was able to take home 4th place and 250 dollars. Especially in comparison to 5th Avenue, I am very pleased with how it went. After doing a 6xMile workout on Tuesday I was able to chill a little bit before the race, but I definitely was not race sharp for something like this.

The weekend itself was a blast. With friends and other runners to hang out with all weekend, we had an amazing time. The race director, Priscilla Bailey, who is married to Tim Bailey (2nd place finisher in the race), proved to be a great host and I definitely plan on going back next year.

After the race sunday we made our way into San Francisco for the afternoon. I hate to say it, but San Fran is a pretty cool city. It is also hilly as hell, but it made for some good times.

And there is so much more news to put on here for this week, but most of the news will have to wait until next week.
1. A few of us have started wearing Phiten necklaces, these things are loaded with titanium and I feel recovered at all times.
2. I have barely passed my brother in terms of who has made more money as a professional runner, this is embarrassing to say the least.

So until next week, this is all I’ve got.

HP, Dud City

Not going to lie, yesterday was one of the most uneventful since I have been here. The only event that took place was a viewing of the new Harry Potter movie, and let me tell you, it was highly disappointing. It was a boring movie and in the grand scheme of things nothing really happened. And yes, this was a set-up book for the final movie, but since they are splitting that book into two movies, I don’t have that high of hopes for now. But it just goes to show that I shouldn’t have read the books, because I wouldn’t know what I was missing and I probably would have enjoyed it.

The only real bit of action in the movie came when about halfway through the movie the lights in the theatre turned on. I was pretty upset, and only calmed myself down once the screen showed that they were having a 10 minute intermission. This then made me more upset because I was hydrating for the race and really had to go to the bathroom but it costs 0.35euros to go to the bathroom, so I had to hold it in for an extremely long time.

Get to race a 15 at Ghent tomorrow. The women go off at 8:20 Belgium time, and we are after that, but there supposedly could be 5 heats of the women, so probably around 8:45 is pretty likely for my race time. The Ghent track is in the middle of this forest and is tree lined, its going to be pretty fun to run a race on. There are a few other Americans in the field, including my travel mate for the trip, Matt Debole. It will be nice to have someone to warm up with and everything. Hopefully I can put together a better showing than Heusden.

A lot more athletes are showing up for this one, and Ghent is a little more than just a small crew, so that has been a little exciting, but overall nothing to report.

And sorry for the lack of anything exciting in this entry, just a boring day, I’ll think up something to make tomorrow’s a little more entertaining. Wish me luck for the race…