May 29th, Sunday, 6:45 p.m.   Waiting for the Mets….

Working at the sectionals

Well, for the last 3 days I have not been posting because I have been very busy.  Unfortunately this busyness does not include running workouts that I can report.  However, it has been interesting and my foot I believe is getting better all of which is good.  I spent two days at Hillsborough, New Jersey working at the Central Jersey Sectional Championship meet.  Both Friday afternoon and Saturday all day were very, very hot.  I’m amazed at the performance of the athletes,  the efficiency of the entire working crew and the dedication of the coaches.   My job was to try and make things a little easier for coach Rich Refi who was the meet director.  I checked in all the officials, helped the ticket takers justify the finances and fill out the meet report for the NJSIAA.  This gives me a good deal of time to observe the circus like the atmosphere of the track event. The timing crew and the officiating crew and the Hillsboro maintenance crew did a fantastic job of keeping this event moving and looking good. Thousands of athletes, male and female, competed in 18 different events over the two days. Rich tells me that there were no complaints or negative comments submitted after the meet was completed. That is totally amazing!

I am always gratified by this opportunity to reconnect with so many of the great friends I have made in the world of coaching.  I am always thankful that Rich gives me a job that takes me back into the mix where all the exciting track things are happening in New Jersey.

On the track side, which I am most interested in, the highlight of the weekend had to be the boys group IV 1600 meter run. It was touted as a matchup between the two best milers in New Jersey right now.  It is very unusual for the two best milers to meet in the first round of the state tournament,  but that was how it worked out  this year. It was a matchup between Brandon Tubby of Hillsborough and Tim  Bason  of West Windsor-Plainsboro South. Tim had a slightly faster time recorded this season than Brandon. The event lived up to its pre-race billing as Tubby and Bason  entersd the last 300 meters stride for stride.  Brandon passedTim, then Tim passed Brandon on the turn. Than, with 70 metres to go, Brandon unleashed a kick that buried Bason and won by 10 meters in an amazing time of 4:10.64 !

It was very exciting  to watch, especially if you are a Hillsborough fan.  But I think any track fan would have been impressed.

The late Saturday afternoon 2 Mile runs in the 98 degree Heat were quite excruciating for the athletes and for the fans watching.  A number of athletes were overcome by the Heat and had to be treated by the trainers. This set in motion the long-standing debate about how to handle the two-mile events in the late May weather at the sectional needs throughout the state. There will be much discussion once again and maybe the order of events will be changed so that these events can be held !under less grueling conditions.

Back to work out..

Today I had a very nice workout in the pool at the clubhouse. I spent over an hour in the pool with 1/2 hour of non-stop swimming and one half hour of non-stop running in the deep end.  I decided to add a little diversity to my pool running this afternoon.  I did the 30 -20- 10 workout I have earlier described.  I’ve never done it in the pool before but it worked out pretty well.  It is a workout that involves running for 30 seconds at 5K Pace, 20 seconds at Mile pace and 10 seconds Max Speed.  This is followed by two minutes interval of recovery running period. Today I did that x 5 in the pool.  Since I did not have a watch in the water I had to count strides as I remember from doing the work out previously.  I remembered that in 30 seconds at 5K Pace I ran about 55 strides,  in 20 seconds at 1 mile Pace I ran about 35 strides and in 10 seconds at Max Speed I ran between 20and 2 strides. So that’s how I did it today. I felt quite extended by the workout.  It was probably the best water workout I’ve done so far.

Stats

a.m.HR – 54BPM

  I-Mad – 2

Weight – 153#

SLEEP-   10 hours

Workout – 1 hour  in pool – 30 swim, 30 run ₩ 5 ×  30- 20 -10