Tommy Heikkinen's Blog (9)

Today the national weather service issued a heat wave advisory, meaning the heat index is up to 110...plus it is so damn humid running is nearly impossible. I've run through a hurricane so I'll face almost any type of weather, but heat stroke is not cool, especially when you can get heat stroke from running at 10 at night. Fun fact of the week, in 4 days I will be leaving florida for colorado springs and the air force academy. not a bad change in weather, though I will be going through basic tr… Continue

So today I went on a 7 mile run on some dirt roads (because panama city doesn't have ANY trails). I was running past some random house and a couple of dogs come running out to the road. I sped up a little because I though, like most dogs, they would just chase me until I was out of their territory. But instead of barking or chasing me they just ran with me. For 6 miles. It was an out and back course so they stopped when I got back to their house but I was pretty happy to have a couple of running… Continue

My high school running career has finally come to an end. I placed 6th at regions, running a 4:33 mile. I felt pretty good after it and I'm sure I could have gone faster and advanced...but I didn't. First lap was in 67 seconds, I was in about 4th place. Second lap no one really pushed at all so it was a 69. At the start of the third lap the clusterfuck started. Everyone and their mother surged. I tried to speed up with them but got boxed in around the first bend. I went from fourth to 9th place… Continue

So tomorrow is the district track meet, and it's kind of a big deal. Top 4 from each event advance to the regional meet, top 4 at regions advance to the state meet. So this is the first step on the path to success. Unfortunately it is one hell of a big step. I run the mile and the 2 mile. In the mile we have a kid who runs a 4:15, a kid who runs a 4:20 and a kid who runs a 4:30. I run a 4:35 so that doesn't give me much leeway in case I missed someone who would come and kick my ass. The 2 mile… Continue

I know there was big debate about whether runners listened to music while running. I used to be anti-music, but today for my long run I was rockin' out to some hardcore shit. All that remains, bullet for my valentine, underoath and so on. I ran 12 seconds slower than my half marathon pr on a 13.1 mile course. Thats 6:19 a mile, averaging 5:57 the second half with no rest. Thats pretty damn fast for a training run, i don't care who you are. I think I might start running to music some of the time… Continue

Ryan Hall is running the Gasparilla 15K Fun fact of the day...I'm also going to run the Gasparilla 15K. I had already been planning on it so this was just an added bonus. I'll be racing in the same seeded bracket as him, so I could practically pace him for the first 100 meters (if I could keep up). It's not every day you get to race with American record holders and Olympians. Anyone want an autograph ;] http://www.letsrun.com/2009/hallgasparilla.php Continue

For some reason I've just always wanted to run a 15K. The half marathon is just a little too long for me, and I've just never liked the 10K, so now I'm going to see how I like the 15K. I'm planning on running Gasparilla this year. Amazing course. Lots of competition. Hopefull if my training goes right I'll run under 50, 16:40 per 5K, 5:23 per mile. That would be fun, but I'm really aiming for under 51, which is 17:00 per 5K, 5:30 miles. Now I have about 3 months of base training to get ready! Continue

I'm going to the state meet in cross country! It's pretty cool because I'm advancing out of "the region of death" so I should do pretty well at state. I barely made it though. I was 14th where the top 15 advance, but in reality I was almost 10 seconds faster than 16th place. Also I was only about 5 seconds from a top 10 finish. Now I get to taper all week for the race, which will be a nice break to my regular training. Continue

Nothing brightens up my day like a new 5K PR! Especially since I haven't gone under 17 minutes since august! I ran a 16:34, a 10 second PR and a season best by 40 seconds! Beautiful course, perfect temperature, great competition...This is what I live for! Perfect timing too because the district meet is coming up and with my times previously being sub-standard (for me) I was worried I wouldn't make it to state. Now I'm ranked 9th in my district and 11th in the region! Top 15 from districs go to… Continue