David Nightingale's Journal

January 12, 2009 (Posted January 16, 2009)
 
A lot has happened since I wrote my last journal entry in early September. Some of the highlights include: the Redskins going from Super Bowl contenders to nearly firing their first-year coach, the dramatic deterioration of our economy, Madonna and Guy Ritchie going their separate ways (no thanks to A-Rod), the Yankees’ decision to drop $423.5 million on three free agents, the exciting end to an interminable presidential election, the engagement of two fellow ZAP athletes, Charles Barkley’s DUI and incredibly bizarre interaction with the police officer, the Princeton men’s and women’s cross country teams each pulling off the Ivy League three-peat, Plaxico Burris shooting himself while out at a club, and most importantly the Detroit Lions’ unprecedented 0-16 season (sorry about that Nate). During the same time span, I have also done a lot of running. Since the middle of August, I have made significant increases in the volume and intensity of my training. My “up” weeks have usually been in the 90-95 mile range, and nearly all of my workouts have been longer aerobic efforts (fartleks, tempos, hill cycles, etc.). These workouts have also incorporated a lot more hill work and pace changing than I had done in the past.
 
This past fall also served as my introduction to professional racing and the road racing circuit. My “Welcome to the Big Leagues” moment came in my racing debut at the Applefest 4-miler in Erwin, TN when I lined up next to an 8-year old girl on the starting line. I gestured to her that I wasn’t afraid to use my elbows and had no trouble getting off the line. Next, I ran a low-key cross country race at Appalachian State in mid-October, where I finished second but committed the ultimate professional runner no-no, losing to a college runner. My first real test of the fall came at the Ntelos 8K in early November, where I was hoping to have a breakout race. While I managed a 25-second PR, this was definitely my most disappointing race of the season, as I really struggled over the last three miles. I raced in front of a home crowd on Thanksgiving Day at the Manchester Road Race, and for the first time of the year, I felt like I raced the middle 1/3 of a race well. Even though I struggled home in that race, it was a positive step forward. My best race of the fall came at the US Club Cross Country Championships in Spokane, WA. Despite the ridiculous racing conditions, I felt much stronger aerobically than I had at any point earlier in the year and managed to move up steadily throughout the race. Overall, I would say that my fall racing followed a pretty standard trajectory—as I became more comfortable with the workouts and the higher mileage, my results began to improve steadily.
 
Following the end of fall racing, I took a little down time and spent a few weeks at home. For a couple days, I was able to put running on the back burner and focus on other important things like my ping-pong game. I also saw “Slumdog Millionaire” in the theatre, which I would highly recommend. Right now, I’m back up to high mileage and gearing up for a solid winter of racing. My schedule includes a 3K at Terrier, the US Cross Country Championships in Baltimore, and two cross country races in Ireland. We’re also heading down to Tallahassee in a week, which should provide a nice escape from the cold and a great setting to continue our training.

Introductory Entry (Posted September 15, 2008)

I’ve been down at ZAP for about a month now. I spent my childhood and college life in the northeast, so it’s definitely a new experience coming to the south, the true heart of America. We found a copperhead snake at the end of the driveway during my second night here—let’s just say there aren’t too many of those in Connecticut or New Jersey. Even better, some of the guys threw it in the freezer and were dead set on cooking it up for dinner the next night. Unfortunately, we never got around to feasting on the snake or using it to mess with some of the teams that have come through here (despite my insisting that we throw it on one of the Duke girls’ beds). Florida State and NC State have also visited in the past few weeks for their preseason training. Otherwise, nothing too exciting has gone on around here recently. Most Boone residents were hoping that Appalachian State could shock another top-10 Division 1 opponent, but lightning certainly did not strike twice for the Mountaineers. For the record, I was somewhat close, having predicted that they would lose to LSU by a score of 52-24 (the actual score was 41-13). Speaking of football, I feel obligated to go on a minor rant about the Redskins’ dreadful season opener against the New York Football Giants (I was born in Washington DC, and upon moving to New England, I chose to stick with the ‘skins rather than sell out and become a Patriots fan). Not only was Jim Zorn’s clock management shockingly amateurish, but I’m not too happy about his west coast offense considering the team’s top two wide receivers are both only 5’9”.

Anyway, considering this is a running website, I should probably say a little bit about my own training. After being relatively injury-free during my first three years in college at Princeton, last year was pretty frustrating because I was hurt for a significant part of the cross country and indoor track seasons. Since my senior year brought some surprises but mostly disappointments, I’m excited to get back to some solid, consistent training here at ZAP. Other than a minor foot problem, which forced me to take about ten days off last month, I’ve been training pretty well here so far. At this point, I’m basically just gradually increasing my mileage and building up my aerobic base. Over the next month, I’ll mostly be doing a bunch of tempos, progression runs, fartleks, etc. I don’t focus too much on specific mileage, but I’ll most likely be in the mid-80s next week and in the 90s and low-100s throughout the fall and winter. My first race will probably be the Applefest 4-miler in Tennessee in early October. After that, I’m planning on running a local cross country race at App. State, the Ntelos 8K in Richmond, and the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day.