Tuesday Night Speed Series

Today: 3 miles

Week: 7 miles

Workout: 1500 meters & 800 meters race at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island.

I completely forgot to get my splits on my watch and won't even know my official times until they get posted on the NYRR website. But I think I recall my splits for the 1500 being something like this: 76, 2:38 (82), 3:56 (78), 4:54 (78). I was in Heat 3, the slowest heat. There were some really fast guys in the other heats. That 2nd lap was horrible. I was afraid of pushing the pace but probably should have. David and George ended up in my heat. It was nice seeing people I knew.

I think I went through the first lap in 4th place. On the second lap, I moved ahead of a couple people and tucked in behind George, who was leading the race. There was a pretty good breeze on the backstretch. I started feeling a little guilty for drafting off him, so I pulled ahead and found myself leading the race. I hadn't planned on that. On the last lap, I wasn't sure how good George's kick was, so I tried to pick up the pace. I obviously didn't pick up the pace, according to my splits. But it FELT like I did. I ended up winning the heat, which was a surprise. In the last 100m, I was just waiting for someone to go by me. (I used to go by the name of "No Kick Mike" in high school.)

My arms and back felt tight on the last lap. The next time I have a race, I need to make sure I do not do pull-ups with Farbod the day before.

I ran my 800 in around 2:24. It was the slow heat again. I think I did a 72 first lap and another 72 for the second lap. I felt like I finished strong, but once again, my arms were tight down the final 100m. I came in 4th place. The first 3 guys were so far ahead of me that I had no hope of catching them. I was satisfied with my times but hope to improve on them during the next indoor series of races in the winter.

Official times for the 1500 and 800 were: 4:52.6 and 2:23.6