FLOAT ON

enjoying my downtime…

That’s the end of my 2007 track season.  In both of my last two races I came up short of my time goals but, when I look back on the season as a whole I can say that I’m happy with how it went.  The highlights for were my three PB’s (3:40.38, 13:21.53 and 27:56.92), and winning the Canadian 5000m title for a fourth time in a row.  I was also very pleased with how my last month of training went.  I definitely got to a new level of fitness in my workouts.  Before if I was to run 5 X 1200m in 3:12 that would have been good, a few weeks ago I averaged 3:08 for 5.  Most of all, I am healthy, motivated and enjoying the sport.

A little more on my last race in Brussels…  After Heusden in late July I simply was not done with my season as I never fully tapered and got to that last peak (I was hoping to end in Osaka).  I went back to Guelph and kept training without a race in mind.  After looking at the Canadian Olympic draft it was clear that getting the 10 000m “Eh” standard would set me up well for next year (much better than the 5000m “Eh” standard).  I looked over the rest of the track schedule and there was only one 10 000m left, Brussels Golden League.  Normally I wouldn’t bother asking to get into a Golden League race but I figured they can always throw one more person in a 10 000m (I’m not taking anyone’s spot) and maybe they want at least one runner on the line who was not born in Africa.  So thanks to Chris and Mark’s work at Total Sports I got a spot on the line.  I sat down with Dave (Scott-Thomas) and he came up with workouts and a plan to go after the “Eh” standard. 

The best case scenario was that there would be a few guys also looking for A standard. The most likely scenario was that the second pack would be out in 13:30 and I would ave to run solo and pick up the pieces of the pack that fall apart.  That was the chance I had to take.   Here were the things I had going for me; best month of workouts ever, coming off a 13:21 5000m, spiking up (27:56 was run in flats), tapered (100km last week vs. 150km in final week for 27:56) and 47 000 fans!  The thing I had going against me, that turned out to be much harder and worse than expected, was running alone.  I went out in 64 point (easiest 64 ever) and was at the back of the pack, then I settled into my 66.XX’s and fell off the pack quite quickly.  The back of the second pack went through 5km in about 13:35 (27:10 pace) whereas I was through in 13:53 (27:46 pace, on track for the 27:47 “Eh” standard).  Then things started to get a little harder and the 67’s turned to 68’s then to 69’s.  I passed one Kenyan very quickly and then caught up to another around 7km.  This guy would speed up when I went to pass him and then slow down when I settled behind him.  This went on for a couple of laps then Bekele was came up.  I moved out to lane two and thought he’d fly by us.  After a bit of a straight, a full curve and then half another straight he finally went by us.  I then moved right behind Kenny and I found myself running with him.  Maybe it was part adrenaline, part having a pacemaker but I broke the string of 69’s and rolled out 900m with Kenny.  Once he got to 500m to go he picked up the pace and that was it for my pacemaker.  I came to 800m to go and calculated I needed a 1:56 for “Eh” standard.  At that point I, maybe, had a 2:10 in my legs and I lost all motivation and drive and ran 2:23 for my last 800m.  At least the 2 Kenyans I passed didn’t catch me so I beat a couple of guys.  I’ll tack it up as a good experience and hopefully an 85% solo 10 000m in 28:14 will toughen me up.

This was my third trip to Europe this summer and usually I don’t get to see too much more than the tracks and hotel/dorm rooms.  So this trip I decided to do a little sight seeing since my season is definitely over.  I went to Paris (I’m in Charles De Gaulle Airport right now) and caught a Razorlight concert on Saturday night.  Wandered around Paris all day Sunday, checked out Champs Ellyses, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame etc.  Yesterday I took a 3 hour guided bike tour from the Eiffel Tower all over Paris.  Our guide, Taylor,  happened to be a runner so we talked track a bit.  He ran XC and track for Texas A&M a few years ago and was a great wealth of knowledge on Paris. Taylor spewing out info by the Grand Palais. I ate wayyy too many crepes while I was there, yesterday I had 3 pains chocolate and 4 or 5 crepes.

I cannot find a picture of myself and Bekele running together in the 10 000m.  If my memory serves me right I was with him for at least 800m and I remember seeing tons of lenses around the track.  If anyone can find a good picture of myself and Bekele from the race then I will give them my Memorial Van Damme T-shirt (its a medium Adidas tech top).  It has to be a professional type picture of just myself and Bekele and you have to be able to see my face.   Best pic wins and if the same pic is submitted twice the first person wins. 

Now I’ll take two weeks of down time.  That means 10 days with no running (a little mountain biking and skateboarding for fun) and then a couple 20 minute runs before an easy week of running to ease back into it.  It also means pigging out a little on the foods I’ve stayed away from for the past 9 months.  I can’t even remember the last time I had on order of french fries, but I can tell you the next time will be soon.

Speaking of diet, check out the pic below of the 10 000m boys… eat your fruit kiddies if you want to run like these men.

5000m at Memorial Van Damme

tried to solo at 10 000m tonight.  I split 13:53 for 5000m, right on pace.  Then I threw in a bunch of 69’s and completely ruined all chances of A standard, 27:47.  I got lapped by K. Bekele and then latched on to him for a couple laps, man it felt good.  I’m confident if I had people to run with a 27:45 would of been possible.  I had some of my best workouts ever in teh past month so I decided I had to make a run at A standard for 2008.  Well, back to the drawing board and reload for next year.  Oh yeah, I ended up in 11th with 28:14. 

You gotta check out CBC tomorrow, hopefully they’ll show a recap of the last 4 laps.  I’ll have some airtime… a lap behind, but still some airtime.

When I got behind Bekele I felt great, didn’t even feel like I was running a 65.  I talked to him after and asked him if he was scared… no clue who I was.  Man its fun bugging Kenny.   

What would this blog be without the element of suprise…

Lots going on right now so I don’t have much time but here’s a quick update.  Big race, fast pace (Bekele wants 13.05), fast second pace and I feel good.  Time to get after it.

I got confirmation on Brussels 10 000 entry last thursday, flew out saturday.  Tapering, checking out the city, watching Entourage and getting ready to rock. 

THANKS for the support everyone.  Check out the action here.  http://www.sport.be/memorialvandamme/2007/eng/

I’ve been quietly going to work here in Guelph and its been going really well lately.  Now its time to get things rolling!  I’m off for a week and I may not have much internet access but, stay tuned for more exciting blog entries in a week’s time. 

http://www.weltklassezuerich.ch/default_en.asp  My afternoon looks like it will be filled watching some Golden League action.  Hopefully the LIVE content works well.

OK, this blog entry is lame, I apologize.  Maybe a little Mitch Hedberg will spruce it up.  Mitch died at 37 and maybe this quote of his shows why “I used to do drugs… I still do, but I used to, too.”  Anyways, he was fricken hilarious and if you don’t think so then I feel sorry for you.

“I’m against picketing, but I don’t know how to show it. ” 

Worlds has come and gone and I can now get some uninterrupted sleep in the mornings.  It was definitely worth getting up this morning at 6:20 to watch the men’s 5000m, 800m and Women’s 1500m.  The 5000 was so slow it was pretty painful to watch.  8:36.99 through 3000m is a walk for those guys and the race didn’t really heat up until the last 600m.  Bernard Lagat probably couldn’t have asked for a better set-up, which begs the question…  why would Tariku Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge and Craig Mottram let it go that slow?  A fast pace ensures the 1500m runners don’t have an advantage and many of those guys would have wanted a fast pace… provided by someone else other than themselves.  No one wants to lead the majority of any race at a fast pace.  We’ve all seen runners lead a race to get out-kicked at the end (Women’s 1500m today), everyone wants to follow, until the end.

The real highlight for me was Gary Reed’s run in the 800m.  The race went out in 25 sec through 200m and then settled into a 29 sec 200m to come through 400m in 55.08 with Gary in the lead.  Once another runner made a move on Gary (with 170m to go) he responded and went back into the lead.  He had the lead all the way until the last couple of meters where he was out-leaned at the line.

A classic finish line picture came from Sully’s semi-final where he narrowly missed qualifying.  Juan Luis Barrios who missed by even less than Sully can be seen praying at the finish line for the last spot.  Maybe he should of leaned instead of praying?

Some other personal highlights were Hilary Stellingwerff making it into the semis and being very close to making the final.  Great running for her first World Championships.  Her fellow Wisconsin Badger, Matt Tegankamp, coming 4th in the 5000m final was also good to see.   I can hardly believe that in 2004 the U.S. only had two guys run the 5000m at the Olympics and now they have three guys in the final at the World Champs.

The Names and numbers of this conversation have been changed to protect the guilty:

WSCN: Hi, how may I help you?
Red: It seems as though I’m getting a blackout message on my screen and I cannot view the World Championships?
WSCN:  That’s because there is a National blackout in Canada for the World Championships.
Red:  I’m calling from Michigan.
WSCN:  Oh, your IP is coming up from Canada.
Red:  That’s because I live right across the border.  Even my cell phone roams in Canada from my house.
WSCN:  Can I get you to go to whatismyip.com and read off your IP number?
Red: sure, just a sec….   70.74.50.51
WSCN:  And what is your ZIP code?
Red:  48127
WSCN: Ok, I’ve cleared your IP address.  You should be able to view now.
Red:  Thank you very much.

Haven’t missed an event (at least the ones I want to watch).

Here’s the CBC schedule… the weekend coverage will be on the TV Sat. and Sun.

Wed. Aug. 29

6:30 a.m. ET                        Women’s Triple Jump                    Qualification A
6:30 a.m. ET                        Women’s Triple Jump                    Qualification B
6:40 a.m. ET                        Women’s 200m                                Second Round
6:45 a.m. ET                        Women’s Discus Throw                  Final
7 a.m. ET                              Men’s High Jump                             Final
7:05 a.m. ET                        Women’s 5000m                              First Round
8:05 a.m. ET                        Women’s 100m Hurdles                Final
8:25 a.m. ET                        Men’s 400m                                       Semifinal
8:50 a.m. ET                        Women’s 400m                                Final
9:05 a.m. ET                        Men’s 1500m                                     Final
9:20 a.m. ET                        Men’s 200m                                       Semifinal

Thurs. Aug. 30

6:30 a.m. ET                        Women’s Hammer Throw            Final
6:35 a.m. ET                        Men’s Pole Vault                             Qualification A
6:35 a.m. ET                        Men’s Pole Vault                             Qualification B
6:40 a.m. ET                        Men’s 800m                                       First Round
7:25 a.m. ET                        Women’s 400m Hurdles                Final
7:40 a.m. ET                        Men’s Long Jump                            Final
7:45 a.m. ET                        Men’s 5000m                                     First Round
8:30 a.m. ET                        Men’s 110m Hurdles                      Semifinal
9 a.m. ET                              Women’s 200m                                Semifinal
9:20 a.m. ET                        Men’s 200m                                       Final

Fri. Aug. 31

5:30 a.m. ET                        Men’s Decathalon – High Jump Unique Round A
5:30 a.m. ET                        Men’s Decathalon – High Jump Unique Round B
6:30 a.m. ET                        Women’s Triple Jump                                    Final
6:30 a.m. ET                        Women’s 1500m                                Semifinal
7:05 a.m. ET                        Men’s 800m                                           Semifinal
7:40 a.m. ET                        Women’s Javelin Throw                                Final
7:40 a.m. ET                        Men’s 4x100m Relay                              First Round
8:15 a.m. ET                        Women’s 200m                                                Final
8:35 a.m. ET                        Men’s Decathalon – 400m                   Unique Round
9:05 a.m. ET                        Men’s 400m                                                       Final
9:20 a.m. ET                        Men’s 110m Hurdles                                      Final

Worlds coverage starts tomorrow night and I have to say I’m getting pretty excited for it.  I filled in my fantasy team on IAAF.com, spent the $4.95 to get the WCSN.com coverage and thankfully Eliterunning.com put up a schedule of the distance events so I don’t need to add the 13 hours for every event I want to watch.  CBC will have TV coverage here in Canada on the weekends and Mark will surely have some good interviews on Flotrack.  Yes, it would be safe to say I’m a big track fan, and, I’ll admit, a bit of a stats geek to boot. 

In 2001 when the Worlds were held in Edmonton I figured it would likely be the only chance I’d ever get to see the big show.  I was a 14:28 guy at the time, I knew I was still improving but, I wasn’t even sure a sub 13:45 was in the cards.   With the help of my parents I flew across the country to see it firsthand.  I went for the last 5 or 6 days of competition and pretty much saw every distance event I wanted to.  I also got to the front row every day by moving into empty seats on the backstretch.  Four years later I was on the start line in the 5000m heats, even better than the front row for a track fan, haha.   

Here’s a pic I took of the 1500 back in 2001…

Even closer view of the action four years later…

Man I want to be back there! Even though I’m not I’m still very happy with where my running is this summer.

When I went to Edmonton Reebok was giving out these “SULLY” t-shirts and I was quick to pick one up to show my support (heck, I would of taken any free T at the time).  A few years later when I made a National team I would wear the shirt every chance I got when I was around Kevin.  Then we thought it would be funny to take some pictures… you can see that Sully really enjoyed the photo shoots…

Time to sit back and watch the action.

I hate to bring up the whole Athletics Canada standards issue again but this result stuck out…  Dana Ellis just pole vaulted 4.52 in a meet in Chula Vista, CA last weekend and is not on the team competing in Osaka next week.   That mark is the pending Canadian record and currently ranks her 21st in the world.  Her latest mark fell too late, by any rules, to qualify her for Worlds.  However, she already cleared the IAAF “A” standard, of 4.45, when she vaulted 4.46 in April.  By the way, Canada’s “Eh” standard is 4.54.  Its not like Dana has had a bad track record either, in the past three years at major championships she has finished 6th at the Olympics, 6th at Worlds and 4th at last year’s Commonwealth Games.  In Canada we are in need of track athletes who can perform well at these competitions for federal funding.  Dana is obviously peaking at the right time in regards to the timing of the World Champs and, at the wrong time to hit the Canadian Standards.  Its too bad the system doesn’t allow the peak to happen at the same time.  Its not like Canada is taking any other pole vaulters either.  Kelsie Hendry also had three IAAF B standards this year and is not going. 

I just finished reading Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins and although I find him very entertaining there is usually very little in the way of inspiration in his novels.  Here is a quote from the book that I found both entertaining and inspiring:

The fact that so much skill and effort and courage can be directed into something so ostensibly useless is what makes it useful.  That’s what affords it the power to lift us out of context and carry us – elsewhere.

Now that I’m planning my next 12 months I need to start getting ready for the possibility of Beijing.   Going to Flagstaff for a month in the spring is still in my buildup as I feel it worked well last year.  At an Athletics Canada team Beijing information session in 2005, (that I’ve since been kicked off of), we were told it would be a good idea to get over to China and experience the culture.  Its also going to be fairly hot there so maybe its a good idea that I get out of the Canadian winter for a bit.  This sounds very expensive and I don’t want to remove Flagstaff from my schedule.  Luckily last week I found a solution to many of these obstacles at the fraction of the price all right in my hometown of Hamilton. (click on pics for full size).

Looks can be deceiving but its more than just a variety store that sells “Canpops, fresh m¡lk, ice creamss, phones cards, beads, adulte movies“. Even once you’re inside it might not seem apparent but look a little above the lottery tickets in the background…

…state-of-the-art treadmill.

Now I’ll be able to train in a warmer climate than the harsh Canadian winters, immerse myself in the culture, language and smells of Asia and, all at a small fee.  Bonzai trees, beads(?) shrink wrapped shrimp, fortune cookies, how can I go wrong?