Friday, April 30, 2010

The 800?



Good Morning All!

Well Coach Dave took the liberty of consulting with legendary track icon Coach Truce about the current training regime. The Lion of Binghamton gave his approval and believes the month of May will be exciting with Greg's potential even going below 51. He also provided some exciting highlights about our beloved Bearcat team this year. The Binghamton 4x400 ran a sparkling 3:11 at the recently concluded Penn Relays with a 46 and 47 quarter leg. We also boast a sub 4:00 miler (3:59.8) who is currently red shirted for the spring season. Coach Truce is also sitting on a faculty senate panel examining the costs of competing in Division I and whether it makes sense for Binghamton to stay there.

As for local news, our head coach has now decided to test Greg in the 800 to see if he could bolster our 4x800 relay. The thought is that if he could run a 58-60 second first lap and then hang on for the second, he could come in the low 2:00 or better. I have to admit the idea makes sense but at this stage of the season, I really don't like the idea as I believe it will take away from Greg's 400 potential and any potential shift in events in the post season could take him out of the 400 altogether. This is by no means a done deal and is more speculation than anything else. Question for the group: am I letting my own bias get in the way here? My wife says absolutely "yes" and that I should go out for a long walk! She may be right.

By popular demand, I have attached a photo of Greg running the anchor on our recent 4x400 plus an additional bonus of the proud parents (Yours truly and my lovely wife Marcy along with Greg at Senior Presentation Day.) A splendid time was had by all!

Regards,

Dave

4 comments:

Sub 5 at 50 miler said...

Dave:

I like the idea of him trying an 800, maybe because of my distance running bias. As for being a parent/coach, well, I don't want to get into that too much. If I were you, though, I would relax a bit, and let the head coach make the call. After all, it's only running, not life. The 4 x 800 (actually 4 x 880 in our day) was one of my favorite events in high school. Of course, I usually had to run it after doing the 2-mile, then only about 10 to 15 minutes rest before the 4 x 880 began. I was the anchor, so I got another 7 minutes extra rest or so!

Let him try it!

Mark

Sub 5 at 50 miler said...

Oh, and I'm surprised Truce didn't say something about having Greg relax his face. That was his primary advice that I remember today. Great photo! Keep them coming!

I vote for Binghamton dropping out of Division 1. Their runners (ther than the sub 4 guy) are really not that much better than we were, so I think they are out of their league.

Mark

Eric said...

Greg is potentially a very good 400 runner. Greg is potentially an excellent 800 runner. He's fast, but not super fast. Take that speed and combine with a bit of endurance and you have the ingredients for wonderful middle distance accomplishments.

My concern is that it is late in the game and he isn't going to have time to learn how to run the 800. Now, if he runs in college...

Speedo said...

Hey Dave!

More action photos please! They're great.

Chris Lennon