300s, hills

Keeping the volume low, I did everything hard today.  29º, sunny, and very little wind at a very quiet Sewanee track today.   Back to shorts and t-shirt.

Just out of the box, I got my new orange pair of Hoka Clifton 3's, last year's model on discount.  This is my fifth pair of Hoka Clifton's purchased since spring '16.  Third pair of 3's.

Hoka trainers on 

400m warmup, stretches, drills 

300m - 41.8 

'split 400'  300m - 43 / rest 1 min / 100m - 15 

3 x 100m hill sprints - 18-19

300s were straight - turn - straight.  The first one was really hard, pushed the whole way, not a realistic 400m pace as I felt a bit of tying up toward the end.  Splits were about 13.5/14/14.3.  Second 300 felt much better, better form, not as hard but a second slower.   After this, I put my older blue Hokas on for some sprints up Roarkes Cove Rd.


Vanderbilt Meet
As I suspected, I was able to register for the meet without coach's permission likely due to a flaw in the system.   Coach Keith emailed me today, asking me how I got in.  I replied:

Steve,
I entered through DirectAthletics.  It looked as if entires were open and since I've run in this meet several times, I assumed it was ok.
Still OK?
Thanks,

-Bill

Actually, it was probably because instead of registering as 'unattached', I registered as 'USA Masters' under 'team'.   I paid $39 to run this one race in this meet, and the website never refunds money.  It would be such a hassle to refund my money, I'm expecting he'll let me run.

Fellow M57 masters, Duane is trying to get in and he got a response telling him he'd hear something Monday.  Usually, if they don't let you in, they don't even respond... how's that for courtesy?

As I told Duane, there are some coaches who welcome masters athletes, but Coach Keith is generally not one of them ... and he controls the best tracks in the state.  I'm thankful that I've been able to race there both indoor and outdoor several times, so he's not completely unwelcoming, just generally ambivalent.  Vandy's indoor track is the site of my masters 400m PR 55.11.   That was a good day, also ran 24.80 in the 200m.  Not to say I'm in shape to do it now, but I've always run decent 400s there and never finished dead last, although I did finish last in the 200m last yr.   You would think coaches like Keith and others would be more supportive of masters because it supports the sport.  Last year, there were 3 kids from UT Martin that ran 58+ in the 400, 2 were well over a minute.  Seems like there could be a spot for me.

Weekend after the Vandy meet on Jan 20, there is the Samford meet at the Crossplex.  Big meet, I ran ok 56.66 last year and finished 70th of 72 competitors.  I just registered for it again, 400m only.  Strangely, no fee was required to register.

Still not losing much weight.  Going to resort to more austere measures.  Doing something every day, alternating track, weights, every other day.  Feet are holding up OK.  Keeping the volume low and not training in spikes.