Doug's Running Thingy

Three mile warmup on the ravine trail and north loop followed by 1X1K at 3:23 and 1X300 at 49, then four barefoot strides and two laps around the infield.  Travis joined me after that to work on block starts for a 400 meter time trial tomorrow.  He is attempting to make the 4X400 for the state meet.  The squad has three guys between 50 and 53 seconds, but they lack a fourth that can consistently run sub-55.  He hasn't run a 400 since 8th grade when he would usually go 56-57 as anchor on the 4X4 - we'll see.

Steamy early evening run on the trails today - never really felt comfortable.  Started at the gardens trailhead and ran ravine trail clockwise to the north loop.  Tried to press a little on the north loop and dropped to 6:45 pace for the .8 mi section.  Last mile and a half was at 8:30 pace.  Really need to shift to morning runs again - light enough by 6:45 to get rolling, so will work on that.

Two and a quarter miles warmup at about 7:45 pace before doing two sets of 4X200 on the track.  First set was intended at goal mile pace (37-38 seconds) with 200 jog rest - hit them at 35, 37, 37 and 36.  Full 200 walk before second set - intended to be goal 800 pace (32-34 seconds) with 50 walk and 150 jog between - I hit them at 31, 34, 32, 32.  Finished up with two barefoot laps on the infield.  Fine workout on another steamy evening.  Heading to Winter Park tomorrow afternoon for the big State Meet on Friday - wooooooo.

Ran the neighborhood streets by the hotel in Winter Park before heading to the State Meet at Showalter Field.  Ran about 1.75 miles before feeling ready to do the planned 8Xquarter mile with 3 minutes jog/walk rest.  First 4 were still a little rough at 86, 87, 87, 85, but the last 4 were all at 81 and felt pretty good.  Bit over a mile back to the hotel after the last quarter.

The meet was an absolute blast.  Maclay had a boy and/or girl in just about every event, so our little contingent of parents/coaches was fired up all evening.  I think Travis relied a little too much on his senior teammate through 1200 (they went 68, 71, 72), and really didn't pay enough attention to the pack.  He easily could have stuck to the back of the lead pack (he did 68 for last lap) and run 4-5 seconds faster, and maybe grab 7th-8th place for a spot on the podium (8th was 4:37.8 and T ran 4:40.2 for 11th place) - live and learn.  The boys' team was leading by 10 points before the 3200, but the expected team winner placed 3 guys in the top 3 spots for 24 points to seal the deal.