Blogs : Doug Caves

old men

Hey everbody, hope you all are having a great holiday season, sippin on the eggnog and eating a variety of dead animals and dead vegetables. Can life get better than that? Maybe, if you add in some ping pong tables and some moose statues in your front lawn, then id say yes.

            Anyways, I know I haven’t updated blog and all- but don’t get ya clotheslines all tangled up- when it comes to training, im extremely dedicated. This weather around these here parts has been quite atrocious for running, and in fact, I had to find other means of getting fit and legit the past week. I hit the bike hard, doing some workouts that had babies crying- Don’t ask me why the babies were there, I didn’t bring em. I did a hill workout that made a old guy puke while he was watching me- maybe he was just sick or really drunk, but the dude puked. And I did some cross training stuff on weird machines in the gym that I needed a instruction manual on how to use- but not because im stupid but just to make sure I was able to give my best to become fit and legit. As always, the weight lifting has been going great and I baked some damn chicken the other day which was great, as is the weight lifting, which is why I put them in the same damn sentence so relax. Also, with all the snow, you believe your sweet candy asses I was shoveling like I just got back from a all night $100,000 crack party.

            Basically, im ready to get back to Lowell so I can be away from all the ninja tortoises and the puking old men that surround me, and get training on some indoor tracks so I can best be fit and legit.  I will get back to my more detailed descriptions of my workouts once I get back to Lowell in a week or so, so just relax a damn second and just know I will be training my ass off while im home in Wormtown, Wortown, Wishta, Worcester- which ever you prefer, and eating peanut friggen butta and jelly between two friggen pieces of bread to make what we call a friggen sandwhich that I will put in my mouth like 5 times till I eat it all. Until the next time, be safe, eat grapes, and cheaply skate on frozen ponds.

Entertainment of the week- Terry tate baby- never gets old

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzToNo7A-94

12/8-12/13

I will take a break from my food poisening woes to update the blog for the past week. I ate some buffalo chicken pizza that did not settle well AT ALL last night and was up till like 6am throwing up, which normally sounds like a great time but i also raced yesterday so my body is not recovered, exhausted and my energy levels are zapped from the intense pukage that occured. Anyways, i had a race yesterday in a 4x440y relay, yes yards. It ended up being more of a training run. I was the last leg, and by the time i got the baton i was all alone, and ended up going out really really slow because i was running by myself, like in 23.2 through the 220y haha. But i split a 48 flat ( ends up translating to a 47.7x 400m split) and probably the best news is that it was very easy, and i mean very, running a 48 has never felt so easy and i probably should have just kept running cause i would have ran a nasty 500m. I opened up on this track a few years ago in January with a 49.6 and the next weekend ran 47.52. My opening race is usually a tuning up and assesment of my shape, so its good to do that now so that come race time once indoor really gets started, i will, God willing, be flying.

Training 12/8-12/13

Monday- 4x500 @ 1:27 in weather that was -2 with the windchill. then lift

Tuesday- 2x broken 600 @ 28-42-29, 27-41-28 w/ 6 min between sets and then 10 minute rest and 5x200 ladder- 28,27,26,25,24- ended up going 27.8, 27.01, 25.8, 25.01, 24.7

Wendsday- Bike , pool, and lift

Thursday- 8x120 on turf walk back recovery

Friday- pre-meet 3x200 @ 30-29-28 then light lifting

Saturday- Race- 4x440y- 48.0x split ( 47.7x split for 400m) - felt very easy

Sunday- Puke a lot and took a 5 hour final

Again, although the race wasnt blistering, im very happy because how easy it felt and am very excited for the season to get moving. Just thinking i havent had a full season of  indoor and outdoor since ive been in college, and just 6 months ago i was in bed with mono, motivates me to stay healthy ( with all my power- food poisening was out of my reach) and i know that if i can make it to May, when its really time to peak, i will everything in my power to run really fast.

12/1-12/5

11/24-11/29

training 11/17- 11/21 and road trip

What  a weekend. I am truly exhausted.  I just am getting back from  the D2 XC nationals in Slippery Rock, PA. Friday night, me and about 16 fellow UML track and field comrades took 2 vans and drove through the night to get to Slippery Rock. It was a bout a 10 hour drive, and i beasted out a fairly decent 11pm-5am shift, rockin out the whole way and taking random stops at small towns to load up on caffeine, snacks, meat pies, bullets, and converting our U.S. dolla bills to Wampum just incase we needed to make some payments in other forms of cash, and Wampum, we thought, was a fairly common form of currency. 

     The race itself was something to see. There was soo much energy from all the fans that it was just a great place to be. The course looked tough, and it was snowing .....aaaaand the temp was probably in the teens. Everyone who ran that day has to be proud of themselves for making it to nationals, so congrats to everybody. I felt lucky to be able to be there to support our Men and Women, and it was so worth the drive to see them compete, congrats guys and girls! cant wait for indoors ( well, really cant wait till outdoors, but one season at a time)

       After the race was a great time as well, although between the 2 days i probably only got 4-5 hours of sleep. Needless to say, the drive back home today was much like the drive to Slippery Rock- Meat pies, Bullets, caffeine, and more wampum. By the end of the trip- the meat pies had been consumed, the bullets used, the caffeine expelled by means of urination, and we were just left with a **** load of wampum. Wampum turned out to be a extremely bad decision as we cant find anybody to convert it back to American dollers and most places wont accept it. Mcdonalds almost cut us a break, 78 wampum for a double cheese burger ( with no cheese), but we felt we were getting ripped off so we called off the deal. The only thing the wampum was good for was the 30lb pack of squirrels i bought ( 20 wampum) and being able to brag about how much wampum i got.

TRaining for 11/17-11/21

Monday- 1x200 @ 29 (warmup) then 7x200 @ 26 with 2 min rest

Tuesday- tempo- 4x300 4x200 all with 1 min rest and lift

Wendsday- 6x300m hills jog down rest

Thursday- 20 min bike, 20 min elliptical and lift

Friday- OFF. I was so upset at the time cause my coach wouldnt let me practice because i had to drive later that night, but today i realized why he didnt want me to practice as im exhausted from the weekend. i apologize for any grumpy pants attitude i had during the hours of 3pm- 5pm this day.

The weather during this week was freezing. Although it really doesnt get to me anymore. Its always windy in Lowell, so whatever temperature it is outside, its always like -10 to -15 wind chill. Thus there was no fast workouts and we switched up the days of the workouts because Monday was the nicest day of the week at like in the 30's. In the 200 workout i felt awesome, my legs never really felt any fatigue, only a bit on the last one. It was a real confidence booster. The elliptical workout was a confidence booster as well becaue i went so fast i broke the elliptical and then set up a coal mining company 10 minutes later. That really didnt happen, but it would have been a real confidence booster if it had.     Thanks for reading.    

Shoutouts: TO our XC runners for toughing out the course and being awesome people and to everybody who drove down in the vans, it was a blast.

Entertainment of the week :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x9nDhwCAoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSa-xifKjs

check them out- Jim Gaffigan- hilarious

11/10-11/14

As im waiting for UFC 91 to start, i figured i would take the time to write a quick blog about the last week.  I got a NICE week of training under my belt, including a Workout with Cross country guys to which i might add they only do when they qualify for nationals ( boosts my self esteem). The Weather is starting to get COLD and the air thin, this is when the workouts become harder even at a familiar pace. We do not have a indoor track, so we often find ourselves doing workouts outside, rain, sun, snow.. whatever, we are out there. We Do get to go to Reggie Lewis track one night a week starting in December or so and we go to "THE DOME" in New hampshire, a oddly shaped track, for some track workouts. I know alot of people do not like running while its cold or snowy outside, but i dont mind it, as it builds character, toughness, and beards. My favorite time to workout is actually when its raining out. Anyways, this week:

Monday: 9x200 @ 29 1:30 rest and lift

Tuesday: 5 x broken 600 28-45-28  6 min rest    Air was THINNNN

Wendsday: 4x 300 on turf @ 47 1 min rest. This was supposed to be tempo, but running 47 on the turf is like a 45 efffort on the track so it was basically a mini workout, in my mind. But i like this workout so no complaints.and then lift

Thursday : Golf Course tennis ball workout with Cross Country team : let me explain.... there are about 10 teams of 2, each team has a tennis ball. Its on a actual golf course. Pretty much, you start at the first tee and you and your teammate must alternate throwing the tennis ball while running towards the green. When you get to the green, that is your rest time as you have to walk and try to tap the ball in with your hands, once you tap it in you and your teammate sprint to the next hole and do it over. The workout was for 8 holes. ITs pretty much Running really hard for 2 miles with 10 sec breaks every now and then. Once on the green, the rest was extremely short, literally 10-20 seconds. we were flying, but i felt great after, and it was extremely fun. I felt i definently held my own considering im a 400m guy and these guys are pretty nasty distance runners. My team finished 7th but we were literally a second behind 6th and 5th. Never say sprinters are LAZY!

Friday: 2x3x150   2 min between each rep, 7 min between sets.... Now after my workout yesterday, i had to sprint.. haha i didnt do that bad, my times were pretty even with last weeks except .3 slower on the last 2.  then bodyweight stuff after

Overall, i got in a NICE week of training. Now for this weekend, i got to take it easy so my body can recover because my legs are definenlty dead. Doing these kind of  workouts make me sooo excited to start racing this year. Hopefully i can run a decent 800 as well at some point in the year. Anyways, i have to go. UFC is starting, ill leave you with a rediculous video that just amazing me the outrageous claims people make, which are OBVIOUSLY untrue.... check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIVCpzSQTPc   - thanks to my teammate Will for this

11/3-11/7 with time trial

The opening of this blog has to do with one thing, and one thing only. Techno Viking.  .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fvLs5KXWYI . Probably top 6 coolest vikings ever to live. ( the top one being King Canute the Great). Not gonna lie, i totally just googled famous vikings and threw that name in there. Im sure he was awesome though, and techno viking is probably almost as cool, so i feel safe saying techno viking is in the top 6 vikings ever. period.  I decided i will watch this video upon waking every day this week, a slight change from the usual " Circle of Life" lion king theme. By the way, if you never have woken up to " the circle of life" or started you day to it, i suggest you start NOW. 

Training: 11/3-11/7

Monday- 8x120 sprints, jog back rest

Tuesday- TIME TRIAL- 350m then about 10 min later ( i went too early on accident) 4x200 @ 27 w/ 2 min rest, the 200s sucked and were the hardest part . For the 350, we ran it as individuals so there was no racing eachother. I ran 40.4 for the time trial, not bad. I went out way too conservative though through the 200 at around 22.4, i would have liked to go 22 flat to 22.2 but w/e, its all gravy baby. I felt super strong though , and i wasnt too tired after at all really, which is good indicator that im in fairly decent shape for this time of the year. Theres much to improve upon but it felt good getting out to that distance again, and getting mentally and physicaly prepared to run the 400 since i havent raced a 400 since last march.

Wendsday- 4x300 tempo on grass @ 48-49

Thursday- Hills- Mamas-  400,jog down, 300, jog down, 200 jog down then 5 min rest and do it again. Had some serious buttlock on the second 400.

Friday- 2x3x150 relaxed. 2 min between reps, 7 between sets. First set in trainers 18.1,18.1,17.8 second set in spikes- 16.8, 17.1, 17      Felt great considering my legs were alittle heavy from the hills the day before, times werent hard to hit and i felt i was crusing at a nice relaxed effort

This week WAS CRAZY. I had to write a 10 page paper due monday, a 8 page report due friday, and a online test friday night due saturday that ended up being 11 pages long. I felt exteremly busy with track and school this week, but after i felt accomplished, and i think i did really well on all of my tests and papers. 

Shoutouts- MENS AND WOMENS CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS BOTH QUALIFYING FOR NATIONAL AND BOTH WERE NCAA EAST REGIONAL D2 CHAMPS!!!! Ruben Sanca and Christina Dalomba from our team BOTH WON the individual titles and both races were truly awesome to witness. Im very happy for both of them, as ive known them since freshman year and they both just keep getting better, not to mention they are 2 genuinely great people. 

Also, i must shout out my girlfriend, again, cause she makes me so proud. She finished 17th  and ran a tough 6k. I cant wait to see her run the 800 this year.

Quote of the week: The late George Carlin-

I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death. What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch and you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities. You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, spend your last nine months floating... and you finish off as an orgasm. 
- George Carlin

Weightlifting

Training 10/27-10/31

10/20-10/24

Monday 10/13- Friday 10/17

Week of 10/5- 10/11

Week of 10/5-10/11

As I sit here in front of my breakfast consisting of cinnamon toast crunch and a 8oz steak smothered in buffalo sauce, I can’t help but feel accomplished. Not only did I have a successful week in school and on the track, I am eating a breakfast of champions.  I feel as though all Olympic gold medalists eat this nutritious combo. I don’t know why I feel this way, it’s just a feeling I got this morning when I woke up from a dream where I manhandled a bear and then ate 7 pieces of cheese. But I am going with my intuition on this one, even despite the lack of evidence/studies done correlating athletic performance with the consumption of cinnamon toast crunch and steak at breakfast.

Training

Monday- 2x speedmakers ( about  120m) then 3x50m full recovery        weights

Tuesday- Hills- “2 streets over”- 6xfull (230m) and 6x100 all with walkdown rest and recovery circuit after ( light calisthenics)

Wendsday- Tempo- 5x100, 6x200, 5x100 and weights

Thursday- 6 x broken 600’s (200-200-200; pace-slow-pace) with 7 min rest between each . The mean of the times were roughly 29-42-28.

Friday- Tempo- 10x100 , 5x200 and weights

Overall, this week went great. Ive been recovering very easily from my workouts and it feels great, compared to last year when I had mono. I hit all my times I was supposed to, and even with the broken 600’s I felt as though I could do more. I don’t want to get ahead of myself though, as I know the toughest workouts are ahead. Nothing beats the feeling of getting in shape. All my workouts and times this year are better at this point than in previous years while the effort really hasn’t changed.  My lifts are excellent as well, as im a big fan of the weight room, and I’m at my strongest I’ve ever been.

Lastly, Since my first blog, numerous people have asked me to mention them in the blog. This is no problem, as long as one gives me a good enough reason to take up “blog space”. The problem is, people are resorting to negative ways to get “blog space”. For instance, Mr. Danny Wang, who was thirsting for blog space, decided it was a good idea to cut me in the pizza line at dinner. Doing so, he snatched the two pieces of pizza that I had my eye on, thus making my experience of dinner a less than satisfying one. So Danny, congrats, you got your mention, but now everyone knows that you can be a real jerk in the pizza line and I would be surprised to find you  allowed in any decent pizza line in the future.

I do have some shout outs: The first will go to my girlfriend Haley, who ran in her first cross country race last week ( shes a 2:10 800m girl) and did very well even though it was painful, love ya!

The second is for Nate Jenkins, who presented me with a autographed poster of himself. This is probably… no definently the best poster hanging in my room, and that’s not a weak statement. So, thank you Nate. And good like at NYC.

The third will be for the freshman sprinters on the team, for totally dominating the broken 600m workout. Nothing impressed me more than hard work and these kids worked their asses off.

Quote of the week: i dont remeber the exact quote, but im pretty sure Coach Gardner called me a loser for something i said that probably deserved a comment like that.

First blog entry and week of 9/28-10/4

This will be my first blog entry. Ive been debating for awhile whether or not to have a blog. i dont even like the word blog. But, after much debate(not really), i decided that it was necessary. I know Umass Lowell is already represented in these blogs by Ruben "Sanca" Sanca and Alumni Nate "hammertime" Jenkins. I should note hammertime refers soley to mileage.... but those guys run distance, and although both those guys are the in fact the  "bees knees" ( i think this means really cool?, if not thats what i was going for) , we got to have some sprinter blog up in here. So here i am. My name is Doug Caves. I run the 400m. I run track for Umass Lowell. I love it here, i love my coaches, i love my teammates. i feel fuzzy right now. 

Since ive been in college ive had many ups and downs, i wont give you my sob story just basically nagging injuries and mono( last year) have kept me out of track or sidetracked for a bit. Through it all i have progressed a lot, thanks to my coaches and staying focused, i went from  a 49.3 guy in high school to a 46.49 guy here in college, even through all the time i missed. My coaches really have never gave up on me and i really owe most of my success to their dedication and training methods. SO this year, im trying my best to make smart decisions, train smart, run smart, listen to Mike, and have a productive year! On with last weeks training

Mon-  10x50m full recovery on grass then weights

Tuesday- Hills, "2 streets over" ( its actually 3 streets over? whats the deal?) 2x6x100 and 4x full (about 230m) walkdown rest for each rep, 5 minutes between sets

Wendsday- Bike and Weights- did some nice circuits- had to bike today so i could go finish one of my papers.

Thursday- 3x800 6 min rest on grass field  2:23, 2:22, 2:22- felt good but huge headwind for the last 200m. 

Friday- 3x2x150 focus was on being relaxed; first two sets in flats, last one in spikes   5-7 min between sets, 2 min between reps; 17.8,17.3,  17.0, 17.1, 16.5, 17.0   then weights 

sat and sun- off rest

So basically this week went pretty well. i was really trying to focus on not 'trying' to go toofast but rather running relaxed... and well, not going too fast as its only the fall. . i was also trying to run consistent, especially with the 800s because last week i went 230, 225 then 218 so this week i was trying to just keep it in the low 2:20s which iwas able to do. I was pretty tired wends- fri due to lack of sleep because of school work and such, so i was happy with my results in the workouts especially becuase even though i was tired, i wasnt straining to reach those times. Now, the weekend is pretty much over, i got plenty of rest and im ready for another week of school/track/ harassing my roomates/ and claiming responsibility for inventions i didnt invent.  Ill probably update once a week, at the end of the week, unless somethign really cool happens like something with a helicopter or of that nature. Until then, stay safe, train safe, and God Bless.

Doug