Alarm was set for 5:15 to run in Raymond, NH for 6:45. But the train goes by, blowing it's horn at 4:30 and I'm up and getting an early breakfast!
Arrive at Pat Ard's place around 6:20. Brandon rolls in at 6:30, and by 6:45 we're on the road. I basically followed Brandon's lead since he has a lot more experience at the Marathon. The recipe called for 2 miles up, 10 at "general aerobic pace" and then 8 miles at sub-goal Marathon pace.
Ard warmed up with us, but with some tightness going on with his Achilles, he made a good call and worked more gradually into his long run of 14+.
The 10 mile segment was smooth, as we traveled west on the old dirt railroad bed right off Main St, Raymond. Our first split was around 6:20 and then down pretty quickly to sub 6:10. Hit 10 miles around 61 minutes, grabbed the water we stashed and jogged another half mile to avoid a low culvert we needed to pass. The pace was solid but I felt really smooth and it was good to catch up with B, so the miles ticked by pretty effortlessly.
Then straight into the important portion of the workout. Mile 1 right at 5:30, most of it on dirt. Mile 2 again right on 5:30 but moving uphill, now on roads and following a really hilly loop. Mile 3 climbed a bit and then began to roll. we hit 3 miles around 5:25 followed by a really steep uphill that just absolutely crushed me. It hadn't occurred to me that the challenge to this run was not bonking!
I didn't want to bag the workout or mess with Brandon's rhythm so I ducked out for a 20 second pitty party/attempt to recover from the hill and the miles. Slammed a gel and then back into it. Kept Brandon in sight, but I knew 5:30 or faster was no longer in the cards. I tried to relax my upper body, work the hills with consistent small strides and then open up on the longer, gradual downhills. This worked relatively well and I kept the effort sub 5:50 although I swear I was seeing stars if I allowed myself to lose focus at all. At 7 miles of total of hard running I called it a day and listened to my body by slowing to about 8 minutes pace and began my cooldown. Met Brandon about a mile down the road, jogged to where we threw our bottles and headed back to Pat's place.
Pat was already enjoying his Sunday, showered up and hanging on the couch. He had a great run, moving pretty darn quick overall and just shy of 15. I was satisfied with the effort, but pretty darn zapped. An hour later I was just plain HURTING. My stomach was a mess. Despite pounding fluids, my eyes were so glossy it hurt to move them around. I devoured a turkey sandwich, about $5 bucks worth of grapes graciously offered by Pat, some awesome OJ (extra pulp!) and got to the store in time to veg out in the car for about 20 minutes before my final regular shift. 6 hours on my feet and then home to relax. I'm really glad the guys at the store cancelled the store bball tourney scheduled for the evening!!
It's good to have this effort in the books as I hope it will build my strength and toughness for the marathon distance. It occurred to me for the second time this year that I was only a few miles shy of the full distance at a much quicker pace than my debut last year. Cape Cod is finally feeling more like a reality than just a far-off goal. 9 weeks to go!
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