Pre race day - the season begins

All systems go for tomorrow.

I did a brief workout tonight. Mainly to go through my stretches and drills and get a light sweat. Also to do some thinking.

1200m warmup, stretches, drills

Adidas spikes on

Sprints at 80-85% effort

400m - 62.5

200m - 27.5

5 starts from blocks - last one accelerating to full speed

cool down jog

I found it a little difficult to maintain form on the extended turns at the Murphy Center. Definitely felt the centrifugal force competing with the forward speed. Just a slight tinge of muscular soreness from Tues workout remaining. Should be gone tomorrow.

Coach Page just emailed me, warning about going out too fast and 'rigging up,' like I did in the last 100m of the M50 400m National Finals. (BTW - "rigging up" is the term 400m runners use to refer to that point where the body becomes so fatigued that it feels swollen and stiff, like rigor mortis has set in, and it becomes impossible to run fast).

After the M50 400m National Finals, I swore I'd never again run a 400m race. It just isn't fun. So, why am I doing it? Do I like to cause myself pain? Well, I see it like this: the pain is very short lived, as compared with a 5k or longer race. During the race, it only starts to hurt after about 30 seconds, and persists only a few minutes afterward. This is a distance where training, experience, strategy, and technique loom larger than the short sprints. I am weak in some of those categories, especially strategy and experience. I see it as a challenge. And, it's about leaving the comfort zone to achieve, which I discussed earlier. It's also a rare opportunity for someone my age. Out of a few hundred athletes, there will probably be less than five over 40 competing (I know of only one other). Likely, I will be the oldest guy on the track.

Weight is good: 139.8 after dinner. Probably be 139 by race time.

Looking forward to donning the lime green uniform and Nike R3s. It should be fun and a learning experience. Hope it's a good and safe one.

Here's a good strategy session, the guy talks about 'rigging up' ... he also talks about going out fast.