Ain't No Sunshine

I almost wrote this Saturday night after hitting up the Beer/Music/Food festival in Leuven after the race. It would have been my first slightly intoxicated entry on here, so I thought that, maybe, I should hold off. Although, it probably would have been a bit more entertaining to read…

The last few races didn’t quite go according to plan. It’s tough to hit some fast times when the weather is such garbage. I think the past 12 days in Belgium has been filled with some form of rain every single day. I’ve never seen a summer so cold and rainy in my life. Basically, the weather has sucked… I knew I was ready for a good race after the pacing job in Oordegem, so I was hoping the meet in Ninove would be the place to do it. The guys were going after the A standard again, so all I’d need to do was hang on for as long as I could. Unfortunately, I was put in the B race and ended up leading through about 1000m. It was also pouring rain and about 14/55 degrees. Other than getting introduced on the line to the Monday Night Football theme song, it was pretty forgettable.

After that, I decided to head off to England again for another 800m in the BMC series. I arrived in the UK on the 9^th, amidst all of the rioting; not the best timing for my first trip to London. Luckily, I didn’t get raped or robbed. The 13 year olds were too busy pilfering the shops and fire bombing police cars...I stayed with my roommate from Scottsdale, Darren St. Clair, who showed me how real driving is done on the wrong side of the road. The race itself was mediocre. After a beautiful day, it decided to get cold and windy in the evening (again!). I ended up 3^rd with a 1:49.68. Only .27 behind 1:43 man Chepkirwok! Ha. I had agreed on doing some more pace work here, little did I know what I had gotten myself into. After I crossed the line, I spoke to the meet director about my duties and found out that I had 6 minutes recovery before pacing the women’s 800m in 62. I then had 12 minutes recovery before pacing the men’s 1500m in 2:02. Surprisingly, I was bang on. But, the 2:02 hurt more than 1:49. A painful experience, to say the least. I’m not sure it was worth the money!

The race Saturday night in Leuven was the last one of the season. I was excited for another chance to finally run something fast. It was raining all day, but by the time the race rolled around it wasn’t actually too bad. The first 200m was fine, but then it felt like we came to a crawl as I chopped my stride and had to slow up several times over the next 600m. The leaders were through in 2:00 and I was about 2:01. Way too slow. It seems like I have no finish right now, regardless of the pace. So, it would have been much better for me to come through 2-3 seconds faster and just hang on. I don’t think it would have made me close any slower. I ended up 7^th, I think, in 3:45.18. The pacing Wednesday night probably didn’t help matters…Oh well, I guess.

And so ends a very frustrating season.

I’ll be taking a couple of weeks off before easing back into things again. Can’t wait to have a proper, healthy fall under me for once! Looking forward to it…

    - Linc

Field Of Dreams

We were surrounded by farm fields in the middle of nowhere, Belgium. It seemed as if we were driving in the wrong direction. I can’t recall even seeing a sign for Oordegem. We were lost... Then, poking up just beyond the tops of the trees ahead to our left were some light standards. Really? This is where the track is? This is where we’re going to try and run some 3:34’s for 1500m?

It was hard to believe.
The track itself was actually really nice. There was a small stadium, a bar, a short woodchip trail for warm up and a very fast surface.

It reminded me of Field of Dreams.

The temperature was perfect and it was dead calm. Other than a couple of random raindrops, you couldn’t ask for a more ideal setting to run a race. Kyle Smith and I were meant to set the pace. He was going through 800-900m and I was going to 1000-1100m depending on how we felt. The agent who set up the race gave everyone a specific order to run in. I’ve never heard of anything like that before. It seemed a little weird. When Nate mentioned that he didn’t want to be right behind me in 3^rd, he almost got tossed to the B heat. That was that, everyone had their positions.

We went through the first 400m in 56 high, 57. We put in a bit of a surge there after getting yelled at to pick it up and my legs didn’t feel too good. I was worried I might not make it. Then, by 600m, they felt fine again. We came through the 800m mark in 1:54.0 and I felt great. Kyle swung out at about 850m and I took over from there. I hit the 1000m mark in 2:21 low (a new pb! Ha) and felt fine. I kept it going up the home straight and hit the bell in 2:36.0. The race was on.

Nate continued to push the pace up the back straight until the Ethiopian athlete took over at maybe 200-150m to go. Ciaran O Lionaird (Irishman) came flying up out of nowhere around the turn and battled the Ethiopian all the way to the line. Nate was hanging on and Taylor was making a late push…

1^st and 2^nd were both 3:34!? I couldn’t believe it. There was certainly some magic in the air on this night. Now we just had to hope Nate and Taylor weren’t too far back…Unfortunately, they came up just shy of the standard with a 3:35.80 and 3:36.71, respectively.

Nonetheless, a great race for everyone involved.

I know some people have been skeptical about the times, but I saw it happen and had 3:35 low on my watch for Nate. It was legit.

Time for the Canadian boys to take another crack at it Saturday in Ninove. This time, I’ll actually be racing. Hopefully, I didn’t leave my best effort of the season on the track as a rabbit!!

   - Linc

Da Dip

The last race in Gent didn’t really go as well as I had hoped for. It was cold and windy and you didn’t know what heat you’d be in until they called you to the line. I didn’t feel very good after about 800m and never felt relaxed. I think I struggled home in about 3:48.1. Hopefully, it was just the travel catching up to me. Writing about a race when it was crap is no fun, so I’ll leave it at that.

Our group was living in a little town called Kamen-Methler (about an hour north of Dusseldorf), Germany for a little while; it’s not exactly an exciting place. Aside from the Sport School where we were staying, there were about 2 restaurants, 1 grocery store, a train station, some soccer fields and a couple of Pharmacies. With boredom setting in quickly, Ellerton and I took to whooping up on some local German kids at their National pastime: Foosball. It was very satisfying, even if they were only 13.

With all the downtime we had, Wynn came up with a little routine that he’d lead us through to help with our flexibility. I think it turned out pretty well. Check it out below (I'd recommend full screening that bad boy):

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I’ve returned to good ole Turnhout, Belgium for the next couple of weeks. It feels good to be back, some familiarity over here is always nice! We’re heading off to Oordegem tonight so that Kyle and I can pace Nate and Taylor in a small local meet to hopefully hit the A standard! Best of Luck to them!!

    - Linc

Here, There And Everywhere

My apologies, it’s been a while since I last ventured into the world of online blogging. I’m sure all my faithful readers have been on the edge of their seats for weeks now, waiting for an update…Well, here it is!

I’m not really sure where to begin. There’s been a lot that’s happened in the last little while and I can’t even remember what I wrote about last! Ha. Quin just reminded me that our Sushi meal was in the last one. I guess that puts me back on the West Coast…

My second race out there wasn’t as good as the first one, but still my 2^nd best of the season. 3:45.90. Along with a solid first race, it was also great to see many familiar faces. We had a bunch of Penn Staters make the trip, with fellow Nittany Lions Ryan Foster, Cas Loxsom and Fawn Dorr all competing. As well Lisa Hopey who made the trip up to spectate with Mel!

The Toronto International Track and Field Games were up next, so I hopped on a plane to Toronto where I was able to spend about 10 days at home; my first time back since March. I had another mediocre performance at Toronto finishing 7^th in a time of 3:44.53. The results are still moving consistently in the right direction, but they’re still frustrating as well. The times are just not up to the level that I expect of myself. This was the final meet in the National Track League (NTL) which saw 10 different event Champions crowned. I thought it was a great idea and definitely hope that it continues in the future…If things such as running clocks, announcers giving splits/projected times, music, small entertainment between events, and a beer garden could be added to all the meets, then we’d really have something!!

Off to the Nations Capital. The Athletics Ontario Championships were held July 16-17 and I decided to delay my trip to Europe by a couple of days in order to compete. The 1500m was on Saturday, followed by the 800m on Sunday. The weather was scorching hot with temperatures reaching (without the humidity) 34/94 and 37/99 degrees, respectively, when I raced in the early afternoon each day. The 1500m on Saturday went well. I sat in second place for most of the race and had a strong last 100m to claim the victory. The 800m went much the same way. I ran the first 700m in second place before swinging wide in the home straight and powering home to another “W”. It had been far too long since my last win on the track and it felt really good to do it again. It also gave me some renewed confidence and an entirely new mindset in approaching the upcoming races.

I went straight to the airport in Ottawa after the meet and flew across the pond to Brussels after a connection in Frankfurt. I took the train up to a little town called Kamen-Methler where I settled in with the rest of our group that was already there. Tuesday consisted of a couple of easy 20 minutes runs to help shake off the travel. I think I found out Wednesday, that I would be heading to Manchester to race the Trafford Grand Prix, part of the British Milers Club(BMC) series. So, I had to book another flight and jump back on the train/plane Friday to head over to England; you know: Fish, chips, cup o’ tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary Freakin poppins… I was traveling with Lemlem and Ellerton and we decided we’d rent a car in Leeds/Bradford instead of taking the train. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. I’ve never been a passenger on the wrong side of the road, let alone driven there. Getting used to being on the left hand side, as well as shifting with my left hand, took some getting used to. I also found myself looking up and out the window for the rear view mirror on several occasions. We had written down some directions off the computer and somehow managed the 70 minute trip each way without one wrong turn. Somewhat of a miracle; and I only almost killed us twice.

I was racing an 800m in Manchester and I wasn’t sure what to expect with all the travel and being my first race off the plane. When all was said and done, I had another first place finish and a new PB of 1:48.73! Definitely feels good to win again…Even if it was the “B” race. I led from about 250m to go, so there’s still more in the tank! Hopefully, I can keep this win streak rolling…

The day following the race, Ellerton and I got in an easy 50 minutes before heading off for some Manchester sight seeing. I was pretty pumped to be able to head up United Road to Old Trafford for a first hand view of the Theatre of Dreams...Then we drove into central Manchester to take in the sights and sounds of the city. After walking around the city, taking some pictures, watching a fight and some little kids get smoked by the water fountains we settled in at an old English pub for some dinner. I figured I had to try Ye Olde Fish ‘n Chips with some local cask ale. It hit the spot.

Here’s a few pictures form our journey along with my race video:

I’m back in Germany for a couple of days before heading to Belgium for a 1500m on Saturday night!

Until next time, Cheers mate!

    - Linc

Walk Like A Champion

Alright, so writing this thing is a bit harder than I thought it would be amidst all this traveling around. You’d think there would be all this time, but it just seems to disappear…probably because I just sit here reading about sports; accumulating a bunch of completely useless, arbitrary sports knowledge and stats that aren’t actually very good for anything; except maybe wasting brain space…

On to the Finals at Nationals.

I’m not really sure what to say about it, other than I’m disappointed. 8^th place really isn’t where I wanted to be when I crossed the line. I was up at the front and allowed myself to get swallowed up and spit out the back of the pack in last place. I should know better than that by now. The pace was slow, which is what I wanted, considering my lack of fitness at the moment. The problem with a slow pace is that if you’re not towards the front when the kick starts, you just won’t make up enough ground on the people in front of you at this level.

I’m frustrated with myself for allowing that to happen, but I guess it can partially be attributed to my serious lack of racing over the past 2 years. It takes some getting used to again. It’s no real consolation, but if you told me in mid-January that I’d finish 8^th place at Nationals in 5 months time, I don’t think I would have believed it (considering where I was coming from)!

There are no real excuses for the way I ran, but I have to try and find the positives for now and hope to build on them moving forward.

We left Nationals Sunday morning and arrived in what seems to be a permanently overcast Vancouver. Nate, Ellerton, Quin and I settled in at the Hilton (yeah, that’s how we roll) for 5 days to get ready for Harry Jerome. It was a pretty quiet week where many hours were spent in restaurants and the hotel lobby for wifi(which was awful). Quin and I decided to try an all you can eat sushi place on Tuesday night. We went to town. There is no doubt they lost money on us. It will be difficult to accurately recap the enormous amount and vast array of fish and rice that we consumed. But, I’ll give it a try:

Miso soup, Gomae salad(x2), beef tataki, spicy tuna sashimi, tobiko sushi(flying fish roe), spicy tuna cone, yam tempura roll, California roll, spicy tuna roll, beef teriyaki roll, dynamite roll(w/ shrimp tempura), chopped scallop roll, BBQ Eel roll, Alaska roll, House roll(x2), gold sand roll, beef teriyaki, deep fried scallops(x2), Gyoza, BBQ short ribs, chicken skewer, breaded lemon chicken, Octopus w/garlic & butter, Salmon tempura, white yam tempura, and topped off with some mango pudding for dessert.

The High Points: Salmon Tempura, House roll

The Low points: The Octopus, Flying fish roe

A very satisfying meal.

The Harry Jerome 1500m was Friday night and I was hoping for a much better result than my previous encounters with this distance thus far in the season. It didn’t disappoint. My confidence has been a bit MIA lately, so I again found myself at the back of the pack. The pace was meant to be fast, so I was content with being there for the first couple of laps. I came through in about 59, 1:58 and then finished with a 3:42.21. Over a 5 second seasonal best. I’ll take it. It’s a Big step in the right direction and goes a long way towards restoring that ever so important confidence required when toeing the line. Next time I’m there, my mind will be in a much different state. Its time to start racing.

Victoria is on Sunday and I’ll be running a 15 again. Hopefully, I’ll be able to comeback off short rest to knock a few more ticks off my time.

Giddy Up!

   - Linc
 

p.s. Huge shout out to Ellerton for busting a 1:45.04 on Friday night!! A well deserved A standard and World Championships qualifier. “Very Nice”