I’m a freshman in college, so I still have at least one more year to run here at the junior college… Relays here we come…
4/21/05
A bit sore today after yesterday’s 400… I did 8x100m on grass at 70%. Stretched good afterwards. Saturday conference finals, I will be competing in the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay.
Went to football meetings, then out to Spring Ball practice to just watch since we have our conference finals on Saturday. 2 minutes into stretching, head coach comes up to me and another receiver who is a long jumper and told us to leave cuz we were pissing him off that we don’t practice. Sometimes I wonder how someone can be so illogical about something. I balance two sports at the same time at the college level, that’s more than most athletes can say, yet he still doesn’t get it that we need to rest and that this is OFF-SEASON for football and IN-SEASON for track. . I’m so frustrated right now and pissed off… This shit makes no sense.
4/22/05
Extended warm-up today. It was real humid out, about 80 degrees, so that helped me get a nice sweat going. We worked on some quick exchanges for the 4x100 relay and that was about it. Did some strides afterwards. I’m ready for tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain, but shit what else is new? It always fuckin rains the day of a big meet here for some reason. Oh well, weather is not a factor anymore to me. 4x100 and 4x400, it’s on!!
4/23/05
Well the weather held up today. No rain, but it was cold at points. 4x100m relay final, we got out real well, when I got the baton we were in 3rd place, and I closed the gap to bring us into second place from lane 6. Go to handoff to 3rd leg and he takes out too early/fast and we get DQ’d for handing off out of the zone. What a way to start the meet. We were on pace for sub 43, first place was 41.5, 2nd was 42.98 and 3rd went 43.05… damn… I think we have next week at nor-cal trials to give it another shot. Felt a little pain in my hamstring again in the same spot as I tried to catch up to 3rd leg… god damn it.
4x400 relay- I got really pumped up for this race. So focused, I tried not to think about my leg. I wore the neoprene wrap, put a shitload of flexall on it, heat for 20 min… From the first leg we were in 4th place, and stayed that way the whole race. First leg opened up with 51.7, last week he ran 50.8 on the 4x4… hmm… 2nd leg went 50.9, 3rd leg was his first 400 of the year and he went 53.3, my anchor leg was sub-par at 52.6… I tried not think about the leg, but it was teasing me the whole way, so I couldnt really kick like I usually do… I think the overall time was 3:28 or so… Winner was 3:20.
This season has been an interesting one… Hampered with nagging injuries, bad weather, sub-par times, meets cancelled… I guess it was a learning experience. Things did not go the way I wanted them to this season… I still have one more to go at least before my eligibilty runs out here…
Your season sounds a lot like mine, Cortese. “Learning experience”… man, don’t you just wish you could say that AFTER you kicked butt? I wish I could.
4/24/05
Woke up today with a sore throat, hurts like hell to swallow food, yawn, etc… Damn it. Only got about 5 hours sleep last night, but I made up for it today by sleeping about 4 hours. Watched some NFL Draft coverage for a bit, but then I fell asleep during the Maurice Clarrett press conference. My hamstring is a bit sore, but only feels a little irritated I guess you could say. I’m gonna ice it later tonight. Just now remembered I have a biology exam tomorrow, and I havn’t studied for it at all yet. Great. Only 3 more weeks of school left…
4/25/05
Throat is still sore, but an improvement from yesterday… Hammy was a bit sore in a little spot today, but I ran in the workout. Extended my warm-up today. Workout was supposed to be 200, 200, 300, 200; I did 200, 200, 300 and called it after that. My hamstring felt a bit tight and sore so it was fine that I stopped. Finished in 23.7, 23.0, 38.2 (my runs were not at 100%; probably somewhere around 85-90). Got ice/stem on my hamstring later on.
Weights:
Incline Dumbbell Bench: 3x5 w/ 70 lb db’s.
Lat Pulldowns: 5x5 (140, 140, 160, 160, 160)
Back Squats: 4x5,5,3,3 (265, 265, 275, 275)
Single Leg Ham Curls; 4x6 each leg
Tricep Pushdowns: 3x8
Supplements: Cytofuse, 2000mg vit. C, 5-10g glutamine (increased both since Im sick), GROW!
4/26/05
Legs are sore from yesterday, since I havn’t done squats for a little bit. Extended warm-up today again, did 3x150m at 11.5 pace through 100m. Long warm down. At 5, went to spring ball. I havn’t participated in it for about 2 weeks, so I already am a bit sore from the stuff we did. I did really well in my opinion for not being there every day. In one-on-ones, I beat one of our all-conference db’s on a post route… felt good 
Cytofuse, GROW, vitamin C, glutamine…
Nor-Cal trials this weekend at Merrit College in Oakland; 4x100m and 4x400m.
4/27/05
Damn, that spring ball practice yesterday made me so sore… Erectors, lats, quads, hip flexors, calves; all very sore… The tempo workout helped a bit though today… 10x100m on grass, 70% intensity…
Weights:
Bench Press 4x5,5,3,3
Lat PullDowns: 5x5
DB Shoulder Press: 3x5
Seated Rows: 3x8
Time for bio… damn…
4/28/05
Felt lazy today… Warmed up, sprinters did 3x200m, I ran one at about 85%… no time… Decided to call it after that, since I had to go to Spring Ball later on… Hamstring is still sore in one tender area, might’ve aggravated it again today running routes… I plan on icing tonight/tomorrow, getting stem, stretching, foam roller… I might not run the 4x100 on Saturday and just run the 4x400… We’ll see how that goes…
Nor-Cal Community College Trials @ Merrit College (Oakland), April 30th… 4x100m?, and 4x400m.
4/29/05
Warm-up, two 100m strides, stretches… Heat/Stem on hamstring before practice; decided to go in the whirpool after since my legs were kinda knicked up and hamstring still was bothering me a tad. (52 degrees @ 15 minutes). I run tomorrow at 4:40 p.m. at Merrit College in the 4x400m relay. Decided to not run the 4x100 since I want to really give it my all in the 4x4 and last week I tweaked my ham again in the 4x1; so I don’t want to risk anything…
Shooting for a low 51, high 50 split. Our goal is sub-3:26. Coming in ranked #14 Nor-Cal 4x100, and #13 Nor-Cal 4x400. Top 8 advance on to Nor-Cal Finals @ Modesto Relays on May 7th…From there, top 4 advance to the California Community College State Championships @ American River Collge in Sacramento.
we’re rooting for you Cortese; Joe got his conference 1st’s… but it wasnt easy for him. his ham is fine so far.
hope you focus your energies for a pr.
4/30/05
Sigh… once again, another bad meet. I didn’t run the 4x100, but our team couldn’t get the baton to the 3rd leg AGAIN, so they didn’t finish… I couldn’t believe it… Would’ve qualified for Nor-Cal Finals had they finished… On pace for around 43.3-43.6 Im guessing… Sucks…
4x400, slow splits by everyone except 2nd leg… First leg was 52.6, second 51.1, 3rd 54.5 (totally screwed us after that), and my leg was 52.4… sucks… My season is over. 
3:31? oh well, we didn;t qualify in that either.
This season was not like I expected… Hopefully next year will be much better. Very dissapointed, but I’ll move on, and now it’s time to strap up and get ready for football… 
thats sucks sorry to hear that
its been a real pleasure Cortese, your stick with it attitude and insight has helped me and Joe a lot…
I dont know what joe will do after states, or how he will do yet… but I hope to check in now and then anyway.
best of good luck next year; I dont think you’ll need it… other than…STAY HEALTHY!
aloha
Cortese,
Youve tried your best and your training is obviously good. look after yourself in football and the only way to progress is to stay away from injuries. Goodluck.
Komy
thanks guy… yeah the only thing standing in my way now are the injuries… Man… what I could’ve done had I stayed healthy all season… Next season is mine… Football is coming up faster than I know it… I’m hoping for a breakout year in that. I’ll still be on the board, but thanks for the encouragement guys.
5/2/05
Today was kinda nice, having a break from track workouts since Late December. It did feel weird and finally hit me that this season is over.
Weights today:
Bench Press 5x5,5,3,3,3 (175, 175, 185, 185, 185)
Lat Pulldowns 5x5 (165)
Squats 4x5,5,3,3 (250, 250, 270, 270)
Single Leg Ham Curls 3x6 (50)
Seated Cable Rows 4x6 (120)
Supplements: GROW!, Cytofuse, Vit. C, ZMA later, Creatine.
5/3/05
Today just Spring Football practice. Spent majority of day reading/typing/going to the library, and will be reading some more tonight and typing some papers. These last 2 weeks of school are kinda crazy.
5/4/05
Weights:
Bench Press 4x5,5,3,3 (185, 185, 195, 195)
Squats 3x5 (300, 300, 320)
Lat Pulldowns 5x5 (150)
Seated Cable Rows 4x6 (130)
Barbell Curls 4x5 (75)
Supplements: Cytofuse, GROW!, Vit. C, ZMA, Creatine, Fish Oil, Multi-vit.