Trackside News Now!

Wow, I really wouldn't have thought that Florida get as cold as it has since I've been there. It has been continuously below 35 at night and in the mornings it doesn't break 50 until maybe 11-12. A lot of people have said that this is the worst winter FL has ever seen. fortunately, we'll be clear from the cold in another week or 2. One of my friends told me that at one point last week it was snowing somewhere in every state except Hawaii. Also, a weatherman said that there have been over 300 record freezing temps in the country and more than 200 were from FL; now THATS CRAZY!! Things need to go back to normal next year.

Aside from record lows, my third week of training since the knee problem has been pretty great. We definitely picked up the pace on some 400s earlier this week, and my body about went into shock. We dropped the target time 8 seconds, which is a whole lot! Needless to say I only made one of them the rest were about 3 seconds off. That lactate was building up in my legs too quickly for me to do much about it. As bad as I felt I think the extreme change helped jump-start my body because the next days were fine.

My endurance is coming back quickly and I have been running some times just under where I left off. Coach has been happy with my practices so I love that. I've heard horror stories when pro coaches rip holes in their athlete because of what they're doing wrong or if they're not performing to the expected level. I've gotten my coach mad a few times already, but the whole cussed out in front of a crowd type of thing I would rather avoid altogether! I could see why some athletes run fast and often even when they're severely hurt; sometimes the motivation is not to piss off your coach.

In other news Im flying home to see my family tomorrow morning. The trip was for a track meet at the University of Michigan, but that was prior to the knee problem. I bought the tix in advance so I wasn't going to let $200 go for nothing. I figure that I can enjoy some family time since I was unable to oblige during Christmas. I know my mom is Xtra excited and I can't wait to see my two brothers. My dad hasn't said too much yet, but he's always good for some strong advice so Im also looking forward to that. Until next time...this is the life of a man back on schedule!