2016 Eastern Illinois Friday Night Special 800m

2016 Eastern Illinois University Friday Night Special
Indoor 800m 
2nd Place
1:56.05 

 I was able to head back to my old stomping grounds and jump in an 800 at the Friday Night Special. Such a good feeling heading back to EIU where I had so many memories with teammates and friends. Speaking of friends, I was able to spend the night at and see a couple old teammates and spend some time hanging out with them. Even got a nice 10 mile run in on a Walt's run with them on Saturday morning. I laughed so hard for two days straight I left with my side aching. Love the running culture that has been created at EIU and I try to make every effort to come back and race a few times a year. Im very thankful theres a coaching staff that is willing to let alumni come back and race as well.

The streak continues...12 consecutive years of breaking 2:00 flat in the 800. Its a long term goal of mine to break 2 flat for as many consecutive years as possible. Its a goal of mine just to keep me motivated to stay in shape. The race went great. I was super relaxed and feeling good. Funny thing about running events now is that theres absolutely no pressure. Went out and stayed in 2nd place for 3 laps. Went through in 27. Then 56ish through the 400, 1:25 ish at 600. Last lap on the backstretch 2 guys passed me. 100m to go I was ready to pass them and felt an amazing kick in my legs but I go boxed and had nowhere to go. Turning on the homestretch they shot out wide and I took a chance diving down in lane 1 inside the guy. Leaned for the line and came up .04 second shy of first. Can't be upset though, I was thrilled with my race and effort. Considering where and what my training is/has been geared towards just building miles for trails and an ultra in March.

Overall great weekend of racing and seeing old friend. Really tempted to try and put together another attempt at a PR next season. Well see how things pan out. Till then Im just taking one race at a time and enjoying the ride.

Results: http://sw1.s3.amazonaws.com/10/docs/8/friday_night_2016_results20160220_013613.htm?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJYSLMQM4G575BCAA&Expires=1456025072&Signature=%2FB5K8G0qY81x3oIuGgUV%2BaTgS%2BY%3D

Stair Climb Workout Update (2/14/16)

Stair Climb Workout Update (2/14/16)
Location: Springfield Wyndham City Centre (Formally known as and always will be the Hilton)

Photo courtesy of EB Photography

With the Springfield Fight for Air Stair Climb just around the corner I thought I'd share some of my stair workouts Ive been doing the past few weeks in order to prep for the event. Ive been slowly building my miles over the winter because of the Clinton Lake 30 miler coming up in late March. So in order to get in some stairs and keep my mileage up I've sandwiched in some stairs between some miles. The stairs have also, like always, provided an extra strength base to my base milage running wise. They go hand in hand in my opinion. Here are just a few samples of what I like to label in my log as "stair climb runs." Overview: most of my daily workouts during the winter time have consisted of incline treadmill (15% incline @ x mph for x amount of minutes/miles), trail runs, stairs, lunges, endurance strength based lifting. For me in the dead of winter means pure strength based endurance where I harden the legs to as strong as I can possibly get them so it can carry me through the spring, summer and fall months. I enjoy racing year around and in order to do that I must put in work like this in the winter time.

Workouts: 

1/3/16 
2.5 mile warm up
11 x 32 floors (5,852 steps, 3,630 vertical feet)
2.5 mile cool down

1/11/16
3 miles up
15 x 32 floors (7,980 steps, 4,950 vertical feet)
3 mile cool down

1/17/16
5 miles up
10 x 32 floors (alternating single steps and double step)
5 mile cool down

2/7/16
3 mile tempo run
10 x 32 floors (mixed intervals)
4.5 mile tempo run

2/11/16
3 mile tempo
3 x 32 floors hard (2:45, 2:46, 2:50) rest was just 90 sec elevator ride down then straight into next one
3 x 32 floors (single, double, triple step)
5 mile tempo run

2/14/16
10 x 32 floors (all under 3:30 rest just 60 seconds)

Photo courtesy of EB Photography

These entries aren't nearly all of them but they are just a few to give you an idea of what stair workouts I do. There much more to my training schedule. Many more miles, workouts, lifting routines, ploys, and other supplemental work. If you would like specific workout plans and other tips comment at the bottom and I will try to help. Enjoy and see you in the stairs or on the road.