Triathlon on TV is sooooooooo freakin' boring. Figure it is good background noise to blog to.
Got back from vacationing on Shelter Island (the island between the north and south forks of Long Island NY) a couple days ago, and I got quite a bit of running in. I ran with the Shelter Island Running Club, which consists of any high school athlete who summers on the island. They were nice enough to have me, and I got to know all of the guys pretty well, as we suffered through a checkpoint workout of two one mile repeats, and then two half mile repeats.
I think I ran OK, but there was one runner, Tyler Cardillo from Florida who the week before dropped a 15:44 in a road race 5k. He was a very talented, very polite boy, and when I asked him what is favorite workout was, he talked about progressive runs, which are essentially what we call Kenyan runs. It was pretty cool to hear him talking about them, as he does them a mile at a time, for 5-6 miles, but it is the same principle we use when we do them for 800's.
Update: triathlon is still boring.
So, with my school starting next week, I know most of you are preparing to go (or go back to) college and run, or get ready for the HS XC season. I hope lots of you have gotten lots of miles under your belt. Time spent running has no substitute for success in racing. Whatever the distance, 800 meters to 10,000 meters, the only way you can hope to improve is to have a huge base under your proverbial belt. If you many miles have passed under your shoes, or your watch has a huge number on it, then you are all set. You will be able to handle the intervals, handle the tempo runs, and be able to recover quickly so you can do it all over again. Good luck to all of you, I know you will all do well, and I will be stalking your results over the internet!
SEP
