My journey as a marathoner...

Monday 12 miles, 1:20min, drills, Middlesex st.,strides, core with Doug Tuesday 12 miles,1:25, strides, downtown Lowell Wednesday 13 miles. Workout: 10k tempo with Nate. Rex and Ethan went 5k. This tempo was supposed to be at 3:20 each km with a little pick up at the end of it. I was very happy with this. Had a lot left at the tank, but did not want to make this a complete hammer fest. Splits: 3:20, 3:21, 3:20, 3:19, 3:18, 3:16, 3:17, 3:15, 3:11, 3:03. total time 32:44 w/ about 26 flat last 8k. Thursday AM 5 miles, 36min, river, drills Thursday PM 10 miles at the Whirlaway weekly run, 58min, drills Friday 10 miles, 70min, route 38south Saturda AM 8 miles. Workout: 8x400 w/ 100m rest, 400 rest after the 5th. I tried to cover the 100 meter rest at about 22-25 seconds. The 400 meter rest after the fifth one was covered in 1:40. Little rests makes this workout tricky. Splits: 65,66,68,68,68 (400 rest),67,68,68. Including the rests, the total distance was 4200m covered in 13:12, which i...

This was a decent week of training for me. I was able to work on some long strength runs and also on my long strides. These runs teach me to work from effort rather than timing. Once I get used to putting hard efforts, times will come. I did one of my favorite t-mill runs, I call it a 7-5run, starting at 7min pace working my way down to low 5 min. It's a good strength run and also a lot of fun. Monday -10 miles, Davis rd, 66min, shorthill strides Tuesday - 12 miles,Davis rd, 1:16min, w/strides 2x(2-2-4)min, half recovery Wednesday - AM 5 miles,34 min, river, drills PM 10 miles, woods, 71min Thursday - 10 miles, t-mill, 61min, progressive: 7:13-6:53-6:39-6:27-6:15-6:03-5:52-5:42-5:33-5:07 Friday -AM 5miles, Roarke br,34min , drills PM 10 miles, 65min Davis rd Saturday - 10 miles, Jamaica pd, 64min, w/ strides 3x(1-1-2)min, half recovery Sunday - 15miles, t-mill, 1:39min, first 9miles @ 7:03, last 6miles @ 6:30-6:30-6:30-6:00-5:30-5:00, drills =87miles This upcoming week should be my...

From now until the race(s) in Portugal, everything is going to be crucial. There is little time to waste and I have to trying being as efficient as possible. On Monday night I was sick and was forced to take a day off to recover, something I hate doing, but it was absolutely necessary. Monday -AM- 5 miles,34min, drills PM-off, sick Tuesday - off, still sick Wednesday - 12 miles, shorthill strides, 1:14min Thursday - AM 5 miles 34 min, drills PM 10 (10:42 last 2 miles) Friday -12 miles, 1:13min, shorthill strides Saturday - Davis rd 10 miles, 54:29sec (2:27sec improvement) Sunday - 14 miles, 1:31min, Tyngsboro bridge =68miles This was not the best training that I wanted to do this week, getting sick at the beginning of the week threw things off a little. The 10:42 last 2 mile is an in-and-out way of finishing the run on the track where I jog about half a lap and spring half a lap. I will continue to do this until I get to 9:30. The shorthill strides just happen to be so often because th...

I have some great news. Earlier this week, I was contacted by the Cape Verdean Athletics Federation President, Antonio Ramos, asking for my availability to represent my country, Cape Verde, at the 2009 Lusophone Games in Lisbon, Portugal. The games will be run from July 11 to July 19. A couple weeks ago if asked this, I would have said no because of my recent injuries. However, I have been blessed to be having fast recovery and a quick progression to general fitness (partly because of my ability to cross train while injured) After talking things over with my father and Coach G, I have accepted the invitation. I will be making my first international race in about exactly one month from today's date at the University of Lisbon Stadium. Due to unexpected change in racing plans, there will be a lot of unexpected, high risk training that I will be doing in the next few weeks in preparation for Lisbon. I will be altering from "Base Building" strategy to a more "Race Fit...

Happy birthday to Sean Gelinas, who turned 21 today.

This was a great week of training. I finally feel like I am getting becak to regular "running". Injury wise, it's completely gone (knock on wood), but it was a week that I did not have to think about it. Monday -off Tuesday - 10miles, treadmill, 64min, drills Wednesday - 10miles, woods, 64min, drills Thursday - 10miles, woods, 66min, strides Friday AM - 5miles, woods, 35min, drills Friday PM -8miles, river, 49 min Saturday - 10miles, Davis rd, 56:56 Sunday - 12 miles, treadmill, 1:23min =65miles Saturday's Davis road was a good effort considering we ran 30min first 5 and 26 min last five. I must say I am extremely happy with how I am progressing to regular running. I'm going to continue to slowly raise the mileage to around 100 and hold it there for a while.

Hello everyone, it's been busy the last few days with graduation and countless awards banquet (check goriverhawks.com or uml.edu) . From the running aspect, things are going really well. I made some good progression last week that I am happy about. I also moved into my new neighborhood of Lowell and I am very excited to have a very nice set up here that will allow me to have a great summer of training. Here is how the week flew by: Monday -off Tuesday -7 miles , 47min, drills Wednesday - 7 miles, 48 min, drills Thursday - 8 Miles, 57 min,drills Friday - 8 miles, 55 min, drills Saturday - 8 miles, 52 min Sunday - 10 miles, 66 min =48 miles Last week I was a little shaky, but this week I felt awesome and for the first time did not have to even think about my injury when running. Hoping things can stay like this and Iwill slowly progress to the high intensity and high mileage mode like the old times.