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

snOMG

As far as running goes, I don’t like snow too much. However, that is only because yesterday when I needed to get in my long run it was snowing too much to actually be able to move without slipping every step so I spent an hour and twenty minutes on a treadmill. There are only so many songs you can listen to or shows you can watch before you inevitably get bored on there. And I dare you to listen to Pearl Jam’s “Leash” and not amp up the miles per hour on the treadmill.

In terms of snow and not running, it is pretty awesome. DC shuts down. It is quiet as can be and even though it’s impossible to get around, you just accept that you’re not going to be doing much. I did get stranded for two extra days in DC and wont be making it home until Tuesday. I can’t really complain though since I’ll be chilling in my apartment without any roommates to stop me from listening to the music I want as loudly as possible. There is a good chance the windows break when I rock out to “Cowgirl in the Sand” tomorrow on full volume.

I’m pretty excited for the holidays and heading home for a few days. It’s funny how I was meant to not be in Michigan for too long because of the weather. Look at where that got me.
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The running wont be backed off too much. Still some serious base work to be done before I start racing again in January. Hit my usual 70 miles this week with the main workout being an 8 mile pickup run. We started out at 6 minute pace and worked our way down to 5:03 for the last mile finishing up the entire 8 in 43:50…definitely quicker than I’ve ever run that many miles before.

Pretty soon here I’ll get back to some fun stuff on the track…I’m looking forward to getting out there and actually doing some racing. It’s almost go time…

Let’s Go!