Double MPW

Sunday, April 25, 2010
week starting 4/11 -
Sun: off
Mon: 8.25 mi / 60 minutes
Tue: 8 mi warmup / cooldown / recov
6x800 2:30R - 2:20, 2:25, 2:22, 2:21, 2:21, 2:17
with kevin and colin. fuckin RAD!
Wed: 9 mi / 63 minutes
Thu: 6 warmup
6x200 60R - 29, 29, 29, 28, 28, 26
Fri: 5.25 mi / 37 minutes
Sat: 7 miles warmup / cooldown
1500 @ Northeastern 4:05.xx - 63 / 2:08 / 3:16 / 4:05
cold, wet. decent opener though - first half of the race was good, would have liked to race better in the second half.

49 miles / 339 minutes

week starting 4/18 -
Sun: 13 mi / 90 minutes
Mon: off
Tue: 6 mi warmup / cooldown
8x400 60R
66, 64, 67, 65, 64, 65, 64, 64
w/ Colin, Kevin, and Tim. another good one.
Wed: 10 mi / 71 minutes with Will in the morning
Thu: 6 mi warmup / cooldown
3x200 4x150 60R throughout
32, 31, 30, 19, 19, 19, 18
Fri: 9 mi / 61 minutes
Sat: 3.25 mi / 24 minutes - yes, i realize it's lame to only do as much as you need to get to 50 miles, but i was feeling a little trashy.

50 miles / 366 minutes

In general, the past three or four weeks have felt really, really good. I haven't had really any practices where I felt like mud, the weather has been mostly decent (compared to March) and I'm doing workouts where I feel comfortable at paces I haven't ever really run before.

In short, I am en fuego!

Eddy Lee

Friday, April 16, 2010
So Eddy Lee broke 4 minutes in the 1500m today.

Letsrun.com can probably explain better than I can:
http://www.letsrun.com/2010/eddylee0416.php
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2270504

But the long and short of it, to me - a college kid posts on a message board that he wants to break 4 minutes for the 1500m - not the fastest time in the world by a long shot, but not necessarily easy. He says he won't stop until he does. One year passes and he gets a little closer but still quite a ways off - not necessarily doing the smartest training in the world, but he's on a college team. It's difficult to succeed under the best of circumstances when, well, you're not the most talented runner in the world - I empathize with him on that count. And his coaching is not necessarily the best, nor is college always the most ideal environment to be running fast.

I  hopped onto the thread during my senior year's indoor season, because I was looking to do the same thing. I eventually ended up breaking 4 - not that year, but the next one. After, of course, moving to Boston, joining NBB, changing homes and jobs and cars and lives. And when I did, two of the people from that thread were at the meet, cheering. It kind of brought it full-circle for me - something I'd failed to accomplish in college was finally finished, and some of the people who knew what went into it were there to see it.

It's kind of the ultimate feel-good story - "Local boy does good." Except, as in almost all cases in real life, the 'doing good' is a lengthy process of years. Eddy Lee - whom I have never met in person - managed to take the really difficult task of actually doing what you say you will and made it happen. I'm always impressed by that. It's more about the dedication to the goal through tough places and long weeks than it being an Olympic quality time.

Eddy Lee - the running everyman! Through the rough California weather, the coaching, the illness, the altitude, the nay-sayers, the injuries, and everything else - you have persevered. You said you wouldn't give up, so you didn't.

AMEN!