Kiwi Nationals Day 3
I apologize to my loyal following (read "mom") that I've taken so long to get this up. I've had some pretty bad writers block and just keep putting it off. I guess we'll have to collectively accept this is going to suck...
OK, now that we're in the spirit, here we go... Today is the final day of this culminating Kiwi meet. So far the weekend has been going well, but as I put weight on my feet this morning I knew I was in for a tough race. What a difference between wearing spikes and not. I'll have to look into my spike's affect on my stride in more detail in the future... Today though, it was all about squeezing the last drops of performance out of my calves.
So I got to the track feeling fit but not too springy. I took a great deal of time before hand just lying in some obscure corner of the locker-room listening to some tunes and massaging my calves. Finally, about 45min before the race I went out for a nice jog. Temperature was cool, clouds were heavy, and despite the calves, I was feeling pretty sharp physically.
What I wanted (ideally) was a good pace where I could get dragged around to the fast time I knew I could run and drop some of the big competition with the process. Unfortunately, that dream lasted about 100m. I went out at the usual slow acceleration, taking in the competition's movements and interpretting their intentions. Unfortunately for me everyone slowed up on the turn and so I just slowly took the lead after a slow 62 first lap. I was actually happy when I found myself in the lead because I still didn't feel like I was exerting as much energy as the pack jostling in back of me and 63s felt mad easy. I broke the waves for everyone through 1000m and just about at the bell Brett Tengay (sp?) absolutely bulled his way out of the pack to dead sprint kick with 400 to go. From my perspective I just saw Matt Smith grab at Brett's singlet to prevent being blown out of the water. Within 10 steps, I was passed by 6 athletes. I finally got my chance to move out and push into pre-kick mode. I was still in good position with 200m to go and I'm convinced I could have had second place with a little more strength in my achilles. But you can literally see in the footage how flat my feet were landing. I had good turnover but it's almost like I stick in place unnaturally. I finished 5th behind all the big guns minus Tengay who paid pretty dearly for his aggressive all-or-nothing attitude.
The race result brought me back from Cloud 9 (where does that saying come from!? I hear it everywhere), but all in all, it was a successful and confidence-building weekend of racing. I'm proud to say I was the best doubler and therefore in some ways the most fit (recovery wise) of the competition (though carson might have been able to pull off a double victory but I completely understand his choice to focus on winning the 1500m). From here on out it's all about falling back into 3 weeks of base-like building full of calf exercises, plyos, and strengthening drills. When I next emerge onto the track for some workouts, the big thing I want changed is I want to be able to crack 25 in a 200m (I happen to have tried a few all out 200s recently and I failed to even break 26). But huge room for improvement in my stride and my power, something that I've never been super impressive at. Get excited!
Twice the Usual
Before I get down to business. I must mention one good thing has come from my blackberry debacle. Let's start with this:
Quick, say 7 digits out loud!
.
.
Creepy Over-Zealous Guy
Well whatever you came up with, it probably had a sequence in there. And if you're a hot brunette trying to quickly ditch a over-zealous creepy guy (see right), you may be left saying something like, "Oh, my number? Why it's... 123... 1.. 34.. 7! Can't wait to hear from you!" And cackle all the way back to telling your girl friends how cute you are.
The number that I received for my Vodafone cell is... 123.1347. And as you've guessed by now, I have received a couple mysterious and sometimes funny txts. I then proceed to add to contacts as Poor Bloke1, Poor Bloke2, etc... I do that in the event that they call (and they have). At which point I let them down easy via txt. Anyways, it's Saturday night and I just sent this fellow a txt after he called. He responded, "Ouh. I'm S0ry." Drunk at 9:30? Standard...
So now the race of twice the usual distance, 3000m. I ran 53min yesterday to prep for it. Felt a bit fatigued but got this surge of adrenaline thinking that NCAAs would be the next day (today). That got me fantasizing about running 8:19 and just keep going to 5k. Hah! Anyways... who starts a race writeup talking about the day before? Oh yeah, I felt a bit fatigued.
So I woke up this morning and did my standard calf exercises but no morning run. Sat around passing the time 'til 10AM: Division III Indoor Champs kickoff with the mile. Connor was in the first heat and ran solid, qualifying onward. As the day progressed I started flipping between DI and DIII. Over the next 3 hours I got the chills watching the races and was incredibly pumped for mine!
Got to the track and warmed up for 15min followed by leg swings and drills and strides. I still felt a bit fatigued but I've felt the same before sooo many races. The good thing was my calves weren't knotted anymore (slowly working themselves out over the past few days). So I put on the victories and waited for the gun.
You'll have to excuse me, this writeup may be a bit scatterbrained as I'm watching the Phoenix vs. Sydney soccer game right now. So a bit distracted...
The gun goes off and immediately our pacer (Josh Van Dalen) went to the front. The target: 67s.
First lap: 66.high. Awesome.
Second lap 2:14. Nice. For these first two I was riding right on his shoulder, feeling strong and really expecting a harder time dealing with the paces. Made me get a bit close to him at times, each time forcing me to mentally relax, chop my stride, and stop tailgating so hard.
The 3rd lap felt perfect and we came through the 1k in 2:48 and the 1200 in 3:22. Unfortunately, this is where Josh pulled out with a "Sorry mate." I think his calf must have been bothering him a bit. Well I got the lead at that point and while Stefan had offered to try and take 400m after Josh pulled out, he was a step behind and I didn't want to fall off the pace at all so I took it at that point.
I don't know any other splits except 2k -- 5:36. So perfect 2:48 - 2:48. I had planned to start dropping the hammer here pre-race and maybe that was a bad thing because I went from feeling average with 1200 left, to feeling awful with 800m to go. I really felt like I should be kicking at that point. It was horrible. The result: I basically hung on to my stride for 600m and then couldn't muster the mental or physical effort (or both) to get on my toes and close hard. Plus I came through to the bell lap in 7:20 so I knew I wasn't going to hit my mental goal of 8:19. Anyways, I closed out the last lap in 70......... Hardly elite closing speed... For all you arts and humanities students out there: that's an 8:29.
Post-race I walked around for 12 minutes trying to stop my sides from aching before finally getting jogging. And I emphasize jogging. I was supposed to do a bit of a 45min tempo after the race but 10min in to cooldown I knew that wasn't in the cards. So 13min easy cooldown followed by 20min chat. Then 10min light jog home to watch the D1 DMRs.
About 30min later though, with some recoop food/lactate drain, I got back out and finished the session. 40min starting 6:30, finishing ~5:40 by best estimate. Done.
Thoughts afterwards are mixed. I certainly would like to be a bit faster on my own but... with the sun, and wind, and fatigue from the week, and leading over a mile... I'm not suicidal. New goal is to just break 3:50 at ITM though.
Later mates.
Beware The Tsunami
Yesterday there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile. I was unaware of said event as it would seem unlikely to affect my life. However, while I was out on my long boring solo Sunday run I came across a Wellington civic worker, decked out in what I would have mistaken for firefighting gear, who put his hand up to me as I was about to run by onto a nice gravelly beach path.
"Beware, En Zed. Beware!"
"I'm gonna have to stop you mate. There's a Tsunami warning in effect."
"What? Wow, uh, thanks!... Good to know."
I immediately got a surge of adrenaline before realizing that the threat was probably pretty minimal and a ways off if this guy was still on the beach. And I know I'd seen other people on the beachfront sidewalk (though indeed no one was on any of the beaches I ran by, a fact that I chalked up to there being absurd gusts of wind). As I ran along, eager to get away from the cliffs trapping me on the waterfront, I actually realized there was no way a wave was just going to rush in and dominate me. The two main reasons being I was on the downwind coast (I didn't know it was earthquake induced at this point), and the South Island was barely shrouded behind misty low-hanging clouds across the channel. Surely it would block most of the raging Tsunami, all I would get is a gradual swell of water and some flooding. Indeed, the whole global incident proved to be quite subdued and I laughed when I read the media's post-"Tsunami" reports which were decidedly disappointed in tone.
Peaceful Easy Feeling
I suspect everyone has a moment, at least once in a while, when they just feel... good. Like everything's just alright. For me this time, it's some combination of contentment, relaxation, and achievement. A good friend of mine, Julie McNamara, captured it well with her catch phrase, "I have a peaceful easy feeling." It's this sense that everything is as it should be, with no work to be done (if only for the moment). Unfortunately, this does not generally describe me. I've been told my brow is usually furrowed, and even if I'm physically at rest, I usually catch myself scheming about something or other upstairs. One of my brothers often claims he'd be content with whatever direction his life took him, a statement I find troubling and have often skeptically needled him about. However, right now, even my little netbook is in a state of serenity, as a leaf just blew up and is now arched (I'm tempted to say artfully) over the rim of the bezel. Interestingly enough, just writing about it is heightening my sensation. Let's investigate...
Today is an sublimely beautiful day. The sun has been out regularly this past week, so I can't complain, but most times, it has been accompanied by an energetic wind that forces you to chain all your belongings to the ground. Today however, there is only a lazy breeze, just enough to breath fluttering life to the scenery. I've actually gone out and just walked around the city a couple times on these really great days, following my nose and allowing any street vendor to capture my attention (such is the luxury of setting your own minimal working hours). Heh, I remember a week ago I had a bit of a chat with a woman handing out free books on Hinduism. Her opener was, "Today we're giving free books to anyone dressed in white!" (I was athletically geared in white adidas shorts and a plain cotton T), "Here, have a look!" I eventually declined her products, but I found her sales method particularly interesting as she claimed, upon learning my nationality, to have spent some time in Boston. A follow up question illuminated the bluff as she didn't remember the name of the bank she supposedly worked at for 4 years... but I had some fun (and good conversation) digging into her fictional character, forcing her to exercise her imagination. To her credit, she humored all my purposefully probing questions and we had a few laughs along the way. Upon reflection, I don't blame her for pretending at all. If I was trying to get people intrigued in my products (or in this case evangelizing), I would surely make up ridiculous stories about myself, not only to form a connection with the customer, but also to just stay entertained. Sales must be a pretty demanding job. I could never do it... not because I can't be devious, but because I would never be able to handle all the rejection.
Well that was some tangent... Anyways, back to the investigation. Most people have a pretty simple gage for how their life is going and at the moment I'm no different. Career, Hobby, and relationships. Looking at "the bigger picture", and if we take this popular measuring stick of success, things are looking up for me. Web work has been good to me, keeping me as busy as I could hope to be and allowing me to get rid of some of my substantial college debt. Recently, I've also been hitting some new ground in my track workouts. I'm feeling the speed returning and my calf/hip drills are starting to feel more natural.
So now I find myself, baking away, reminising about the week that was, both at the center of it all, and yet sheltered from the bustle. And so now you see why I say, "I have a peaceful easy feeling..."
Time for a nap.
Come on, Phoenix!
Wellington Phoenix vs. Perth Glory
Just got tickets and watched a pretty epic soccer match between the Wellington Phoenix and Australia's Perth Glory. Unfortunately for me, the Glory were in in purple so I had a hard time remembering who to root for (the Phoenix rock out in yellow and black). However, local fans did a fine job of helping me out. I haven't seen so much team spirit from so many perhaps ever... Understandably, the Phoenix are unique in that they have the entire nation behind them, not just a local city. This made for some interesting cheers too. Example situation: hard tackle, whistle blown, Glory player indignant, crowd chant:
"Saaaaaaame ooooold Aaaaaaaaaussieeeeees... Allllllllwaaaaays cheeeeeeeatiiiiiiiing!"
It was great fun and the game was really close. I missed "our" first goal while out getting a tasty chicken burger but did see the Glory equalizer (actually seeing the goal was fortunate, because there was absolutely no reaction from the crowd to the goal on the opposite side of the field. Some of my buddies were looking around, "Wait,... What?".
Game winning shot
Regulation ended with a 1-1 tie and the 2 15min overtime periods saw tons of opportunities but no conversions. Just as well though as I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on what happened next: PKs.
(On a side note, I thought the level of play was pretty similar, skill-wise, to the MLS but with more intensity and penetration. To me, MLS always seems to play keep away, though they can hardly say they even succeed at that... The Phoenix goal tender was particularly atrocious, making some grade school decisions with his feet and regularly pounding the ball out of bounds to the skepticism of his teammates. Heh, he often didn't even watch the tail end of the ball's flight instead choosing to turn around, flex, and spit, surely thinking to himself "I'm a freakin' goalie, what do you expect...?")
Ironically he and his foot became the hero of the game as he leapt to the right guessing at the direction of Perth's 3rd PK. The Perth player chose to go up the middle and the keeper slashed his trailing foot in front of the shot, saving the goal. Crowd went nuts. Shirts off, yellow buzzing everywhere! So all in all, I guess he's OK in my book...
Oh, btw, the match was played in Westpac Stadium. (I think it seats something like 33,000?) Well the soccer fans here did a great job of packing it out. 24,748 in attendance (Remember, greater Wellington only has something like 300,000 people...). I also may have mentioned it before but the Phoenix are New Zealand's only A-league team (the rest of the league is comprised of Aussie teams).
Go Phoenix!
Return to Mondo
(Ah nuts, I thought I posted this a while ago... guess I just saved a draft)
Well its been a grizzly 6 weeks since I last raced, and I have a grizzled beard to show for it. The time since Jan 1st has been full of pain and stiffness from the work I'm doing fixing my stride (still no sickness though, woohoo!). It's not up to Coe/Bekele standards but so much better already. On the injury front, good news is my Achilles are officially back to 100% and my cardio is solid. It turns out that what I believed to be a nagging achilles has actually been a posterior impingement that I suffered sprinting down the backside of Pine Cobble 5-6 months ago. The injury happened because I was acting all gazelle-like, leaping and bounding over rocks. My legs couldn't keep up with my fantasy and I ended up clipping one of the boulders with my heel, causing massive shock to the ankle. Anyways, long story short, it's been cramping my style for 6 months. The only pain is a slight dull ache when I plantar-flex my foot, but that slight pain has lead to my body compensating by not flexing as hard (not pushing off). Slowly, it's also tried to maintain balance by not pushing off with the other foot either. The result is a stride that literally doesn't use the calf muscles. No speed. No power. I might as well have prosthetics (insensitive? meh). So since learning about my state of being 3 weeks ago, I've been on a nice little rehab plan for my calves, as well as correcting several other peripheral issues with my stride in general. The problems and the correction strategy:
- Mean crossover. To fix this is just a mental focus process. I can look at my legs and force the feet out a bit as I run. This will also cause less movement in my ankle leading to less... (next item)
- Over-pronation. Caused by crossover and... (next item)
- Over striding. I've been heel striking waaay out in front of my body. I also maintain contact with my heel for waaay too long. And don't push off.
- Glamor Hips (copyright). As I run, my hips sag a lot (especially when running slow) much like a model at the end of a runway, hand on the hip. Hence my coining -- glamor hips.
If I fix these issues I should have significantly more power. I'm certain I used my calves more before but the other issues still existed and I'm hopeful this will give me more efficiency as well as... dare I hope: a withering kick. Mwahaha!
Post Race Trimming to Goatee
Back to present reality, and the beard. I promised when I couldn't race Willis in the NZ 3000m champs (and started all this rehab stuff) that I wouldn't shave until I raced again. Well, a Chaffee's words are stone (not matter how depressed and loopy he is when he says it... except maybe when it comes to moderation on Friday nights...) and I persevered through to this saturday, intending to run a little 4x1500 relay at 6PM. On the day of the race, i woke up at 8:30AM and was immediately told, "Plans changed, 800 at 9:45..." Needless to say, there's a downside to the chilled Kiwi lifestyle. Anyways, the reason I mention the beard is because it played a pivotal role in my decision to actually race. You see, beards suck. They are fun to talk about and compare, but when it comes down to it, I don't think I could ever live with a beard. One reason: scratchy. Ugh, so annoying to sleep on. No wonder bearded men snore, they have to lie on their back just to fall asleep... Anyways, so yes, having not run a sub-60 quarter since July, I jumped into an 800m (oh, and while I try sometimes, when I fall back into my fundamental personality, I'm NOT a morning person). The race was pretty standard, here's the video.
Moral of the story: 28s are FAST! I basically was just recovering speed throughout the race. Haha, we started and I was dropped pretty much immediately. Also, video footage shows .06s between most ppl starting, and me starting. Gotta improve that a little... Final time: 1:55.99. Not the way most guys start a season, but at least I broke 1:56. All things weighed and considered -- I'm happy. Looking forward to a 1500 this next weekend.
Ole Buddy, Ole Pal
Tonight's been a fun night. My old friend "insomnia" came over to hang out, and we wouldn't want to waste any time sleeping now would we buddy?... buddy?... (He's shy, only comes around like once a month, just to make sure I haven't forgotten about him.) Fortunately, whenever we hang out, I always feel like I have a good excuse to just browse. You know, just click on every interesting link I see, until my browser can't handle any more tabs.
Half of what I look at are stupid techy things on Slashdot, Digg, CNet, Engadget, PCMag, lifehacker... blah blah blah. Though I did discover that I can buy a desktop, roughly 3 times as powerful as my current machine, for ~$499. Love Moore's Law. Oh, and Google might buy T-Mobile? Say whaaaaa? Free phones anyone? And very few people reading this would be interested in what I learned you can do with a wii remote and some custom software (think Minority Report).
Anyways, this week is the Olympics and I can't wait! What's your favorite event? Gotta go with downhill (alpine) skiing, love it. Love it! As I may have mentioned before, we have 4 dedicated channels so you'll be guaranteed to find me minding my own business with that buzzing in the background. Men's downhill on at 11:45 PST. I only got 5 hours to go. Wonder if I'll still be awake...
Let's see, what else,... OH! Valentine's Day tomorrow (well, later today)? That's exciting. I wonder if Brooks is finally going to have to buy someone something. Some phrase with "...the harder they fall..." comes to mind... Moving on, here's an absolute gem I found in my YouTube plundering!
This video is incredible, one of the most brilliantly creative music videos I've seen in a while (and I watch a lot of them). A real feel good too... *sigh*
OK, well that's enough for now. I'm going to hack away at the igoogle weekly NYT crossword (though it's a freakin Saturday... basically I have no hope). Peace
Damn this entry is loopy...
State of the Nation — En Zed
Today I was just sitting around, feeling quite comfortable in my little American bubble -- I had my Skype up, GChat blinking, Superbowl ads rolling, and redneck beard growing (reference Steve VW's '08 WXC Newsletter for an all-too-critical review of previous attempts... I'm currently faring about the same, which pretty much dooms me to lackluster coverage for the rest of my life... maybe facial Rogain?...) Then, all of a sudden, the good Kiwis in the house flipped the TV to the government channel. Parliament was back in action after more than a month off! I curiously wandered in to see what was up and it turned out to be the State of the Nation address (by the prime minister). Well Josh nobly suggested we stroll next door and watch it in person. At first that sounded like the last thing I wanted to do, but then I realized, "Wait, I can't even get within 800m of our president... I can go watch the Prime Minister without changing out of my running gear? Heck Yes!"
Debating Chamber
Whether Josh was serious or not I convinced him this was a ridiculous opportunity that we couldn't pass up. Unfortunately, we couldn't rouse a shirtless Stefan Smith or drunken (still?) JP from their sprawling stupor. So I slipped on my slippers and we shuffled across the street, through a metal detector, and into the "Debating Chamber".
Wow, is that the Prime Minister right below me?
Yes. Yes it is. I could sneeze over the railing and he would feel it. Incredible!
(@&#^%$, I just finished writing several paragraphs on the craziness in the center of the chamber and then lost the network while I saved... Well, since this isn't College, screw it. I'm going for a run.)
Suffice it to say, I had a great time just watching! And I'd love the opportunity to compare and contrast this to the US Senate.
Special Recognition
Nick Alexander
Congratulations to Nick Alexander for dominating his sport of choice. You deserve it buddy!
The Author
I'm a runner who's managed to escape the NE winter for a NZ summer. This is a chronicle of my travels.
Cheers!
Cell: +64.021.123.1347
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