Training 12/23 - 12/29

Monday 10 miles / 68:10 easy cruising. Feeling run down but glad to be on vacation!

Tuesday: 10.1 miles / 63:10 Still have a cold. Felt good to clear the sinuses but in hindsight it wasn't smart to run. 5:30s the last two miles. Drained after. Christmas party with my mom's side of the family in the evening!

Wednesday: 5.5 miles in 33:20 sneaked it in between festivities. Merry Christmas! Faster run but pretty short. Christmas dinner in Westford and then up to Hanover, NH for skiing tomorrow.

Thursday Off / Skied for 6 hours at Killington with former Dartmouth guy Alex Hall. I knew he could run but had no idea how quickly he skied! It took me a couple runs to remind the legs how to go fast enough to keep up. Super fun day: 36 miles of trails and 34,000' descended. Still sick!

Friday: Off - sick. Hung in with friends and made a fire and watched some old fashioned slides. Sounds really cliche, now that I think about it.

Saturday: Off - sick. Visited home for a the day, exchanged gifts with my dad, thought about running but was talked out of it. Back late to Andover.

Sunday: 12.4 / 1:18:04 with Tim. Steady cruising on roads all over Andover. Progressed from 7:10 down to 5:32 on the last mile. After a few days without running I couldn't resist. Felt good to run and I have some energy, but still pretty congested. Passed on the Sudafed today and was much more more clear-headed.

Summary: 38 miles on 4 days of running and 1 day of skiing which definitely worked the legs. Hopefully relaxing for the last couple days of vacation and some easy runs for the next couple days will work out. Drinking tons of tea and eating well is the current outlook for next week!

Training 12/16 - 12/22

Monday: 3 miles up, 6:55, 6:34, 6:20. Cruise intervals: 6x800m at 2:27 on 400m at 6:45ish/mi recoveries. 23:31 for 5:31/mi average over 4.25 miles. 2.75 mi cool down to make it 10 miles in about 62 minutes. Ran in trainers to protect the feet. Focused on keeping the cadence high (180+) and good arm carriage. It was good to open up a bit. I learned that my body is NOT used to processing lactic acid... got the acid gut early and I wasn't even running very fast!

I'll be racing 3000m this weekend at the BU mini-meet. I'll have to be careful not to get out too aggressively and find myself in the hurt box by 1200m. I seeded myself at 9:05 but who knows... I haven't hit the boards in years! I'll probably try to be through the first k in 3:00 or so since that's the pace I want to lock in for 5k eventually. Bought a pair of the NB5000 spikes in preparation.

Tuesday: 61 minutes / 8.5 mi* on snowshoes. Pretty smooth cruising on the packed snow. Basically felt like endless high knees in quick sand once I was breaking trail out in Baker's Meadow. Hip flexors are pretty fatigued. Easy cruising planned for tomorrow with a bunch of hard strides after.

Wednesday: 66 minutes / 10 miles with Ken Cain around Andover. Ran 4 hard 150m strides at the end to try and open up the legs. Felt good! Hips better, upper hamstrings tight. A couple easy days should have me feeling good for Saturday.

Thursday: Off. Sick. Ohhh well. Rest is key. This is what you deal with when you work around kids.

Friday: Off. Sick/drained/yada yada. Not racing on Saturday. I'll have to get fired up for next week once I kick this thing! I'll try to get out for an easy run after what I anticipate will be 12+ hours of sleep and plenty of tea.

Saturday: 6.5 easy. Ran with my new Garmin 220!  Man this thing is cool! It's super lightweight and measures lots of nifty things like cadence, average stride length, fractional HR zones, plus all the things my old 305 used to do like distance, pace, elevation, average and max HR. Something I want to explore is how I can run 7:30 pace and see my HR in the 160s which is well above my "recovery zone" of 145-155 BPM.

Then on that same run I can run 6:00 pace and see my HR at 170 which is roughly my "tempo zone". So... my normal training paces don't fit well into the zone training theory I've read about. Also interesting to see my max heart rate today happened in the first two minutes of the run, at 7 minute pace (191 bpm) while running up a decent uphill. Cruising sub-6 for the last mile didn't have me any higher than 173 bpm. My zones are here: 145-156 Recovery and Long Run. 172 Tempo. 180-189 Interval.

*Admittedly, this data is probably only interesting for ME but since I use this blog as a training log I'll write whatever I want. Ha! Going long tomorrow or Monday.

Sunday: Pretty hard 10 miles on a rolling course. Good run overall. Last 5k in the 17s.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/418368458

Training 12/9 - 12/15

Monday: 9.4 miles / 64 minutes easy cruising after work. Hamstrings are a little tight from yesterday, but otherwise felt surprisingly good.

Tuesday: planned off day. Figured it would be smart to chill out and let the body absorb the work from the race on Sunday. Feeling good. Got a ton of grading done!

Wednesday: 16 miles* / 1:50:03 - 6:52 pace. First 75 minutes with Steve Dowsett in Newburyport. We cruised around in Maudslay for ~50 minutes of the run. I added on a loop around downtown Newburyport to make it a long run. Cruising around 6:30s while on the roads. Nice and steady. Felt good! *estimated distance.

Thursday: 9 miles / 59:40 light progression run from 7:00s down to 6:15s. Wanted to go longer but had to rush off to an MVS meeting. Got the coaching 2014 proposal approved!

Friday: 10 miles / 66:10 nice and steady before the school's Christmas concert. We have some talented kids!

Saturday: 10.5 / 65:30 morning progression run with Newbould and Hamel in Exeter, NH. 3 degrees according to Garmin, but I think it was closer to 7 when we started.  We ran pretty easy for 4 and a fraction before picking it up. Significant miles were 5-9. Newbould and I rolled 5:52, 5:31, 5:29, 5:17, 5:17 and a short cooldown to get back to Phillips. Nice and smooth workout before the storm. Data here: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/415631221

Sunday: 61 minutes on snowshoes at a steady effort. Nothing crazy. In the past I've debated over how to measure snowshoe running within the scope of a training week. Snowshoe running is tough work, especially breaking trail, and it's slow work. I've decided that I'll base snowshoe runs on aerobic effort, assuming for everything but workouts that I'm averaging around a 7:00/mi road run equivalent. So... today I'll count for 8.5*, even though in reality, the distance traveled was probably closer to 5 miles or less.

Total: 63.4 on 6 days with a fine long run and a good workout on Saturday. It has been fun to run with people for a change. Still need to make core more of a priority. Weekly volume likely won't get much higher than this for the winter. I'm healthy and getting fitter and that's what counts!

2013 Year in Review

This year started out great. Coming off my second marathon and a PR of 2:39 at Cape Cod, I had a decent base to start workouts. I hit a bunch of pretty successful tempos and long interval work leading up to my first race of the year at the Boston Prep 16 miler. After a pretty awesome duel I made a pass around 10 miles and came home for the win, averaging 5:40 pace and taking home a jug of maple syrup which I still haven't even cracked into.

I went on to race hard in February but was well under-dressed for the weather (I froze) and raced below expectations at the Jones 10 Miler, clocking 54:28 for second man on the squad. I was happy to score for the team but I felt like I had much more to do moving forward. February passed into March and I got a little lazy / distracted and had a really tough run at New Bedford Half. I got run down by tons of people and my last 5k was around 6-minute pace. Despite that I wound up running another PR in 1:12:50-something for the first HM I had truly raced. It was a tough day from the beginning

I rebounded later that month to have some great workouts. At one point I even Time Trialed a 5 miler in 25:48 and couldn't believe it! I raced the April Fool's 4 mile in late March and clocked 20:12 for second behind fast-closing Patrick Rich.

In mid-April I finally found a 5 mile race but had about 5 days off leading up to the race due to some lingering calf pain and decided to go for it anyway. Ran away from the race after mile 1 and clocked a 26:15. I just had fun with the race and even briefly chatted with a friend whom I hadn't seen in a while during the penultimate mile.

May arrived and a close friend passed away tragically. This event was sort of the "straw that broke the camel's back". I was totally defeated, despite lots of support all around me. I didn't care much about running and every time I tried to run I would get sick to my stomach. I had never had to deal with tragedy striking so close to home. I was also disillusioned by what happened at the Boston Marathon and the stress of being a 1st year teacher on top of everything left my tank on empty, mentally and physically. The ensuing months of June and July were positive in other ways though. I wrapped up my first successful year of school and I took a bunch of kids on a 10 day cannoning adventure in the Adirondacks. I spent my time in the wilderness contemplating the school year that had passed and developed a new sense of thankfulness for all that I have.

Getting back into the groove in August I ran a long relay race out in Vermont with a bunch of friends. It was my first major effort back to training and I was happy to average 5:4x's for 17+ miles over three legs. Then, my training was again sidelined, but this time for a medical reason. The evening following a long hard run and a full day of work I started having persistent heart palpitations and within 24 hours I found myself in an ER trying to get to the bottom of it.

I ended up having about a month's worth of testing done, mostly due to some misguided concerns on part of the doctors I met with originally. They actually gave me the impression I was putting myself at serious risk by running... So I made the obvious decision to do absolutely nothing other than rest. Of course, after all of the testing, a cardiologist with a background specific to endurance athletes realized that "oh, wait a minute, Scott, you're completely healthy!" I was flabbergasted. I was actually kind of pissed off. I had been so convinced something was truly wrong with me that I didn't believe him at first. It took me a while to want to run but eventually the desire returned.

That leads into September and October when I was given the green light to begin running again. I started back really slowly because the original cause of the palpitations was never totally clear. I've had no issues ever since. I gave up coffee, which was probably the route cause of the initial episode. I guess there's my silver lining. That, and I've had so much testing I know I'm healthy.

So, here I am in December having run at few low-key races. I ran a 16.3 mile leg of the Myles Standish Marathon Relay with my dad and we won! We actually beat out even the 5-man teams. I ran 5:51 pace for that leg and I knew I was back in it. I ran the Feaster 5 road race on Thanksgiving just to move the legs and cruised at 5:22 pace in trainers. I followed that up with the Mill Cities Relay where I cranked 5:07 pace for a 4.72 mi leg which is a level of speed I haven't seen in quite a while.

All in all, it was a strange year, both mentally and physically. Sometimes I feel like some of the issues could have been handled better or maybe completely avoided. But, for the most part, I feel like each event was a learning experience to be embraced.  I see this year as a stepping stone and also a year that will not soon be forgotten. All I know is as we enter 2014, I am happy, healthy, with loved ones all around me, and I absolutely cannot wait for today's run. It'll be on a treadmill most likely, surrounded by gym rats, and I'll be pressed for time to get dinner before heading to my school's Christmas Concert. And I'm good with that. I'm excited to spend more time with runners of all kinds, teammates and local roadies alike. I'm picking up a pair of Dion snowshoes in preparation for some of the NH and WMAC races this winter. I'll be coming back to Boston Prep a year wiser and probably fitter than last year. If I can learn anything from the past couple years, I probably won't make it to every Grand Prix race, but for the races I am at, I will be in the moment and we'll see how the cards fall!

Training 12/2 - 12/8 / Mill Cities Relay

Monday: 17 miles / 1:49:54. After dropping a package in the mail with destination: Novosibirsk, Russia I headed out around 5:10 PM. I thought about starting later, but decided against it since the long run would have me out there for a couple hours and it was already getting late. Too bad rush hour in December is just about the worst time to go running. Soo, of course my head lamp appeared to have broken in the first 2 minutes of the run. It wouldn't stay turned on. I ended up wrapping the headband around my wrist and using the lamp as a flashlight for particularly sketchy areas. Around 8 miles I was so annoyed I came close to calling it quits and heading straight home for roughly 11. But, I stopped and fiddled with lamp for a minute. Eureka! The light stayed on so I threw it on my head where it belonged and cruised the last 9 miles with at least the comfort of knowing that oncoming cars could probably see me. Also had LED reflective vest and ankle straps on, but was still very cautious about any cars getting too close or appearing distracted. Glad I got it in. Felt strong from the beginning. A couple 6:00s to finish up. Data here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/411607833

Tuesday: 8.5 miles / 55:50. Managed to get onto the trails before the second-earliest sunset in New England. Cruised along, felt good.

Wednesday: 3 miles / 20:30. Whoa. Major energy crash led to stopping by a local store and calling home for a ride. Within a couple hours it evolved straight into fever symptoms.

Thursday: 0 - necessary day off! Feeling much better though.

Friday: 10 miles / 64:10 on Andover roads in the evening. Kind of pushed it in the hills at the beginning and relaxed for the last 4-5 miles. 6:24 average

Saturday: 8.5 / 54:40, 6:30ish/mi. The first 6 easy on roads and the last few on the trails. 3 x 150m strides after. Ready for Mill Cities? We'll see.

Sunday: Mill Cities Relay. 19 minutes up, 4.72 mi leg, various random cooldown jogs. I was tired waking up around 5:30 for this classic relay race, but fairly alert and excited by the time we all connected and rolled into Nashua for the start of the race. This being my second year at the event, I was less nervous because I understood the logistics of how everything plays out and I was able to focus on my having a good leg. Last year, coming off of the Cape Cod Marathon, I ran 25:05 (5:18/mi) and I knew I should be faster this year, just by virtue of being more fresh. Leg 2 is fairly flat with a couple decent hills after mile marker 3 but also with generous downhill to follow. I wasn't scared of going out fast and I knew I wanted to see about 10:20 through 2 miles if I was feeling good.

Pat Ard, coming back strong after surgery on his patella tendon, took out leg 1 and we exchanged somewhere around 15th place. Pat ran great for his fitness level, but a lot of people were ahead of us! I was so amped up to get going and worried about the teams ahead I had to remind myself to slow down over the first 800m. I reached the mile in 5:05, mile 2 in 10:12 (5:07) and still intact. I guess I realized by that point it was going to be a good one so I put my head down and went to work catching as many people as possible. I ended up catching every team except for one. Mile 3 was 15:25 (5:13), mile 4 was 20:45 (5:20) with the hill, and I scorched the last .72 in 3:20ish which is mostly downhill for a time of 24:05 and average pace of 5:07/mi.

Super pleased with this run! I feel like I'm on the cusp of some really strong racing and I think I am beginning to recognize that I don't have to run huge volume to have success. Those long and steady efforts on the weekends seem to be the key.

The team won a narrow victory and it will be great to deliver a brick with 1st place for the Men's Open to Dave at Whirlaway. Thanks to Ruben and Nick for running hard the day after racing 3k and 1m at BU (crushing there, btw) and to Jose and Pat for racing while coming back from injury. Also, nice work to the Whirlaway Co-ed and Whirlaway Masters teams with places in the top 3. Great day overall!

Training 11/25 - 12/1

Monday: 7.2 with Matt Germain after hanging out at the Feaster Expo. Felt good!

Tuesday: 0 unplanned day off. Leaving the Feaster Expo around 6:30 I planned to run. But then it was freezing rain and I saw two accidents while driving 4 miles home and decided to hang in. Excuses, excuses, I could have easily run at the gym.

Wednesday: 8 easy in the evening. Felt oddly achy and tight. Probably caused by the day off!

Thursday: 13 total, ~4 up, 5M hard (26:43), ~4 down. Good run! Report in another post.

Friday: 9 miles easy / 64 minutes. Felt good except for very tight and sore lower back. Not the first time this has happened and it usually clears up in a couple days. Need to be better about core.

Saturday: 5 easy before Thanksgiving II at Lauren's parents. Would have gone longer but my lower back is feeling really rocked from Thursday's effort.  Lauren worked 12+ hrs on Thursday so I got Thanksgiving dinner, complete with food coma all over again.

Sunday: 0 unplanned day off. Slept in and had family over and although I truly wanted to romp something like 15-17 miles, the icy and rainy conditions dissuaded me. Long tomorrow!!

Total: 41 miles on 5 days. Weak training overall, but my body probably needed a little downtime as it adjusts to 50s and 60s. Pretty happy with the run on Thursday. Time to hit the training for the next 6 weeks... got the green light to pick up some new snowshoes (mine are 13 years old and falling apart). I think my training will be more conducive to snowshoe racing this winter. We'll see how it all goes!

Feaster 5

Running the annual Feaster Five road race before gorging myself on turkey and sweet potatoes is becoming a bit of a tradition for me on Thanksgiving. I woke up feeling 100% lazy, to the point that I didn't role out of bed in time to even make a real breakfast. I threw on some clothes hoping the weather was favorable while an English muffin toasted. I deliberated wearing racing shoes or trainers for an embarrassingly long time choosing trainers since I had to warm up and cool down almost 4 miles each way if I wanted to run from home.

Eventually out the door and through the woods to Andover center. It was eerily quiet, but once I got to Main Street everything looked as it should. I jogged to the start line with about 10 minutes to spare. A few stretches and that was about it. I didn't feel like striding out or following much of my normal pre-race routine. Tom L was doing his thing up at the announcers booth along with the likes of Bill Rogers, the Hoyts, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and BAA race director Dave McGillivray (among others). I wedged myself in on the side of the start line, careful not to step immediately in front of anybody who may or may not have been very protective of their prized place on the starting line. After a few minutes Samuelson sneaked into the crowd right beside me and we wished each other well. A beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, a moment of silence, and we were off!

I started out steady and must have had a at least a dozen high school runners zig-zagging around me. It wouldn't have distracted me if I didn't have to check my speed a couple times in order not to cross legs with any of them. KIDS THESE DAYS! Right? Anyway they were gone pretty quickly, I set my eyes on Matt Germain who was a solid 5-8 seconds ahead of me and slowly reeled him in up the hill. Missed mile mark #1, which might have been a good thing, because I bet it wouldn't have been motivating!

During mile two I cruised by a couple of guys who were moving steadily but I was in a slightly better gear. Looking ahead I realized there was a lead group of three way ahead containing Sanca, Jenkins and somebody I didn't recognize, then there was a guy about 10 seconds up on me, and then me. 5th place was a pretty motivating spot to be in, so I went about running steady but keeping in mind that I wanted to eventually catch the 4th place dude.

I caught him around 3 miles at 16:27. Up to this point I had been running pretty steadily but not going crazy. I wasn't exactly up for a kicker's race so I cruised on by and into 4th place. Mile 4 read 21:35. One mile to go and it's basically all downhill, so I knew I'd have another low-5, and I did, bringing it home in 4th in 26:43.

I didn't stick around for long, but I sure did run into a lot of people while I was in the finish area. I was feeling a little sick from the race so I wasn't much for conversation (my apologies, world!). It was a good hard run. I was pleasantly surprised for the pace to come easier than expected and the race revealed that it's about time to commit to working on my core strength. My lower back was really rigged up from the fast downhill portions of the race and I know it's because my hips and abs are weaker than normal.

The afternoon was spent hanging with family in Peterborough, NH at my grandma's. There was a local "turkeys' trot" 5k at my former HS and I am always torn about which I want to do. No regrets though! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Training 11/18 -11/24

Monday: 0 - off. Planned rest day following the big effort on Sunday. Spun around town with Lauren running errands and by time I got home I wanted to run!

Tuesday: 5 easy AM / 5.5 easy PM with Newbould and Phillips Exeter team. Chatted with Hamster at his new place in the Phillips training room after.

Wednesday: 9 / 67 minutes very easy. Still feeling the effects of Sunday. Legs have no pop.

Thursday: 10.8 / 75 minutes easy again. Ran into a speedy Seniors runner tempoing so I ran with her for a few miles before adding on behind Andover HS.

Friday: off. Lengthy meeting after school ate up my time to run. Headed straight to dinner with some friends and too stuffed after to drag myself off the couch. Running at 9 PM on a Friday isn't a great idea anyway, right?

Saturday: 17.1 / 1:54:20. 6:41 pace all in Andover. Started at Ballardvale, ran the High Plain loop then out toward the Feaster start line, up High St out out to Phillips along Wildwood and back home. Progressed from 7:10 down into the 6:20. Felt better as the run went on. Some good hills. Loop here.

Sunday: 9 miles / 65 minutes with college teammate and all around good fella Joe Van Gombos. Nice and easy on trails.

49 miles on 5 days. Probably should have better anticipated the downtime that would be needed after going hard last Sunday. First several days of the week were a drag. Felt really good about the long run this Saturday. Feaster 5 this week!

Training 11/11 - 11/17

Monday: 6 miles / 45 minutes with Matt and Ian in the AM. 5 miles / 39 minutes solo PM. Trails for each run.

Tuesday: 3 miles up, 6 x 1 mile on 1 minute (7:00/pace) recoveries. Averaged 5:37. 1.5 down for 11 total. Felt super smooth. It was a brisk one out there! Nearly froze while coaching at the last track session of the season but warmed up hanging out with the crew at the 99 afterward. Alan treated me to a PBR before I even sat down. Good times!

Wednesday: Easy 84+ minutes / 12 miles. 7:00 pace. After freezing yesterday while coaching I decided to stay active to keep warm and wound up pacing a guy to a 5:30 mile. He PR'd by about 20 seconds which was pretty cool to see and really pumped everybody up for the final session of the program.

Thursday: 0 off. Sudden cold #2 strikes! Not surprising. Up late at a bonfire on Wednesday and got pretty chilled. Bonehead mistake!

Friday: 6 miles / 43 minutes easy cruise along the Feaster 5 course. Feeling quite a bit better. Considered going farther but figured one more restful day was best.

Saturday: 11.7 miles / 75:20 (6:25/mi)  in Keene. Slept 13 hours last night so I was feeling pretty good. Started at the parking lot off Optical Ave and headed up Chapman to Jordan road. Back down into town, northwest toward the hospital and onto the bicycle paths into Robinhood Park. Back again toward and through downtown past the college and onto Optical ave to finish. Great run! I miss running in this area.

Sunday: Myles Standish Marathon relay in Plymouth, MA. My dad and I headed down early and registered for the 2-man relay. Originally he was going to take the first 3 legs (14.5) and I would take the remainder to the finish line, but with him fighting a new cold as well as feeling mostly better myself, we changed plans. He ran the first 9.9 and I took the remaining 16.3. Dad ran awesome, clocking 7:10/mile over a hilly course (leading me to question exactly just how unwell he was). He already had us in 4th position in the relay. I grabbed the baton and started moving pretty well. It took me a couple miles to get warmed up and I had no watch (left it at home) so I was running completely on feel. I caught the top relay team right at the following exchange zone so I had a fresh cross-fitter to deal with over the next mile. He was trying to gap me so I reeled him in over a long but shallow hill and gapped him on following downhill. After that point it was time to lock into cruise control and see how long until the wheels would come off. I'm definitely not well trained for this kind of distance and the last 3 miles into the finish were a struggle, particularly on the hills. Ended up clocking 1:35:30 (5:51/mile) for a team finish of 2:47:05. Victory! After a 2+ hour wait our prize was a gleaming 12 case of ... bud light. Thankful however for the ability to get out there and move well, and for a good time spent with my dad. Next up is the Feaster Five in 11 days. Total: 68.5 on 6 days.

Training 11/4 - 11/10

Monday: 10.8 miles / 74 minutes - Relaxed run at 6:50 pace. Super scary running at 4:30-5:30. Rush hour commuters seem so unaware of their speed and general aggressiveness on narrow roads. I rocked the head-lamp with a vest and flashing LEDs and some people still pulled crazy moves last minute as if they couldn't see me. Last winter I started running later on, like from 6 to 7. I'll probably reinstate that practice until late winter when it gets a little brighter. I have a treadmill and snowshoes as backup options too.

Tuesday: 9.5 miles / 63 minutes. Progression run after work. Felt good. Looks like I won't be seeing trails except for the weekends from now on. It was so dark out there! Almost makes me want to become a morning runner, save for the fact I'd have to wake up at 4:30 AM for that to become a reality.

Wednesday: Off. Parent-teacher conferences straight out until coaching. I would have run straight from practice at 8PM but then I realized I didn't bring my shoes. It wasn't meant to be!

Thursday: 10 miles / 63:40  progression run, with the last 5 at 6:05 pace. Wanted to continue on for another two but had a school tour to attend.

Friday: 10 miles / 70:15 easy on roads in the evening after work. I waited out rush hour and started at 6:15. All went according to plan until my headlamp died. Then footing got a little dicey!!

Saturday: 9.2 miles / 71 minutes very easy on Andover trails. Nice lazy Saturday.

Sunday: 12 miles / 72:12 hard but smooth effort around the hills of Westford. Started with a 6:40 which told me I was in for a good one. By 3 miles I was down to 6:08 on a long climbing mile into the town center. I decided at that point to tempo the next 5 miles, going 5:36 (downhill), 5:45, 5:51, 5:55, 5:41. I ran the next 3 miles right around 6:05 and the last one was 5:49.

Overall: 62 miles on 6 days of steady and well distributed miles. What a difference a week can make! No core sessions. Some yoga, but probably not enough. One semi-workout Sunday afternoon. Really trying to let each run come to me. Back to doing some more specific work next week and looking to have a "real" long run next weekend. Maybe 15 miles.

Training 10/28 - 11/3

Monday: 0 - Super nasty head cold in full swing.

Tuesday: 5 / 36 minutes - just to clear the sinuses

Wednesday: 5 / 33 minutes - ran on the treadmill.

Thursday: 10.2 / 66 minutes progression run on the roads. Felt good to open up a bit and to breathe again. Started at 8:00 pace and got down to about 5:50.

Friday: 0 - straight from work to home to visit family. Could have run, but then I didn't.

Saturday: 9.5 on roads in Andover.

Sunday: 3+ hours on the bike riding around the marathon course in Manchester rooting on friends and teammates alike.

Overall: Amazingly poor week of training but that's just how it goes sometimes. It was pretty fun to cruise around the Manchester course by bicycle and get a really good look at it in the case it gets chosen for a 2nd time as a Grand Prix event. Big congrats to my buddy Tim on his race at the NYC Marathon and all of my friends and teammates out there on the course in Manchester. I'm at the tail end of the cold (writing this on Tuesday). It was never horrible but certainly made training less than fun.

Training Week 10/21 - 10/27

Monday: Easy 8.5 / 60 minutes mostly on roads due to daylight constraints. Slow to start but found a groove eventually 6:50s pace. 9" of planks, 100 sit ups, 60 pushups and 30 pull ups for core.

Tuesuday: Easy 8.3 / 61 minutes, 2 mi on the roads and 6+ on the trails around the double drummer of Weir Hill in North Andover. Pretty sweet view from the top of the hill.

Wednesday: 5 / 35 minutes easy. Had a planned workout on the schedule but pushed it back a day since my energy was low. No worries. Glad I got out and moved.

Thursday: Workout! Stole this one from Eric or Greg or somebody on the interweb. Warmed up 24 minutes. A few drills, a couple light stretches and then straight into it. 1600 (800), 2x800 (400), 4x400 (200) was the target. Tried to keep the rest honest. I went 5:03, 2:26, 2:25, 71, 70, 69, 69 for a total of 25:10. Down 23 minutes for a total of 11 on the day. Felt okay. I was working.

Running Mayor's Cup on Sunday as a rust buster!! Might as well jump in the deep end, right? It would be cool to run 27:xx and be part of the scene again.

Friday: 8 miles / 60 minutes easy on trails.

Saturday: 8 miles / 61 minutes with Dad on the roads of Nelson. Felt oddly drained afterward. Dinner with the parents at a Thai restaurant downtown Keene and then drove home to rest up for the race. On the drive I noticed my throat suddenly became really sore and my energy plummeted to the point that I almost pulled over to nap (at 9:30 PM!).

Sunday: 0 - Off. Sick as a dog. Chills, cough, aching throat and head. Oh well. I'm pretty ticked off but there's nothing I can do about it and I've been doing everything right. I missed what might have been a really fun race, but there are plenty more opportunities. I'll spend the day sipping green tea and working on getting ahead on Q1 report cards. Not the Sunday I had in mind...

49 miles, one good workout, and a bunch of easy running, wrapped up with a serious head cold and possibly fever. I'll be treading lightly next week.

10/14 - 10/20

10/14 Holiday - off from work. Warmed up 25 minutes, stretched out, a few drills, 4 x 1600 cruise interval pace on 2 minutes recovery. 23 minutes back home. Felt great! 11 on the day.

5:22
5:18
5:17
5:12

10/15 -  Easy 57 minutes on the trails at Weir Hill. Aerobically lethargic but legs felt generally good.

10/16 - Easy 30 minutes on trails. Standard lift session at the gym.

10/17 - Off

10/18 - Steady 79 minutes on trails. Felt slow, ran slow!

10/19 Off

10/20 Tempo workout - 3 miles up, 6:45, 6:29, 6:14 then rolled into a 4 mile pace run 5:21, 5:28, 5:24, 5:25. 1 mile down to catch the Pat's game. Originally planned to target 5:40 so I ran too hard to call this a tempo. But... I felt good, could have pushed on for another mile or two, and legs are no worse for the wear. Loving my NB 1080s!

Low mileage this week. Looking to run 55 miles this coming week which sounds low to me but is probably a reasonable place to be for now. I need to do more core workouts and continue to incorporate speed and tempo efforts. Eventually I'll do a real long run.

Winter is coming.

10/7 - 10/13

10/7 Easy 65 minutes in the Vale, Indian Ridge and Baker's Meadow reservations.

10/8 Hard 64:35 for 10.8 miles rolling roads in North Andover and Georgetown. Surprised myself with this one.

10/9 Easy 45 minutes with a few strides at the end.

10/10 Planned day off. Trying to take my runs as they come. Today the best approach was to nap from 4-7 and eat a hearty dinner before an early bedtime. Perfect training for the comeback trail :)

10/11 Easy 62 minutes. Pretty low energy after the work week. Expected to feel better after a day off but I'm still getting into things. I want to do something harder tomorrow but the homecoming race looks to be a bit too early.

10/12 Opted for a morning workout. Slept in until about 9:30 which felt amazing. A few slices of raisin toast and a couple glasses of water before heading out. 28 minutes warm up. A bit longer than planned since the first track I went to had a huge game going on. Once at the Phillips track I targeted 3 sets of 5x400 @ 72-74 on 1 minute recoveries. I took a 400m jog and got water from the fountain between each set which took about 3 minutes. Tried to run relaxed and overdid it on the first one. Feeling good at the end so decided to open it up for the last one. Good workout!

78, 73, 71, 73, 72
73, 72, 74, 72, 72
74, 71, 71, 71, 66

Big congrats to teammate Eric MacKnight on his 2:22 for 3rd place at Hartford. Awesome run!! Also to UNH alum Erica Jesseman on defending her title there in 2:38!

10/13 Easy 60 minutes on trails and roads in Andover. A hair over 8 miles. Took it very easy.

Recent moves

10/4 71 minutes on roads moving well! Felt great to push a little bit.
10/5 42 minutes, 6 miles out and back on Rattlesnake Road. 

10/6 Easy longer run in the trails with Tim. Kinvara trail runners for Ward and Harold Parker worked great. A few miles opening the stride on the roads to finish up back at Phillips.

Congrats to everyone I know at Maine, Smuttynose and others! What a perfect weekend for racing, if not for football...

30" a day

Just looking to spend time on my feet over the past week. I got in a bunch of runs, feeling good, and getting into the groove again. It is pretty relieving having the clean bill of health and I'm just enjoying being out there during my favorite season of all. Lots of trail running too which is far more engaging for easy running. Past week was a big 22 miles spread over 6 days on the trails.

Good news

I'm good to go!... Apparently, my low pulse rate (33 bpm at rest) combined with pretty persistent palpitations looked pretty concerning to a couple doctors at first glance. I've never had them before, but I was told that palpitations (PVCs) are pretty common and benign. My heart is otherwise 100% healthy. The doctor believes the PVCs are connected to fatigue and that I was basically taking on too much. The major change is I have cut out caffeine completely whereas I am usually looking for two large cups every day. I wasn't too thrilled about losing my morning wake-up but it was a fairly easy change in the end. Thanks to the people who reached out in support. Now for the hopefully-not-so long road back to health. Hey, at least I'm safe to run.

Update... It's not pretty!

I had a few good weeks of training...

And then I had a sudden and severe case of fatigue. The fatigue corresponded with a pretty irregular heartbeat and palpitations. All that was followed by dizziness and nausea and I checked myself into an ER.

Things improved and I was allowed to go home wearing something called a Holter monitor. A week and a half later I learned that the monitor showed, apparently serious, irregularities in my heart rhythm. "Pauses" in the electric activity.

Since then I've had a few tests and more are coming. I called off training for a marathon this Fall (obviously) and I didn't register for Boston when I had planned to.

I can report that I feel pretty good and the PVCs I had for a few weeks are slowly but surely going away. I'm not sure what else to say! I'll know a lot more soon.

Since this blog is public, I won't go into detail. However, yes, it's all a little scary, and I'm taking it in stride. Teaching and coaching are a blast and serve as positive distractions. So are my two, thus far losing, fantasy football teams.

Yesterday was a little tough as I missed out on the Lone Gull 10k. Hopefully I'll see many of you out there on the road eventually, but at this point I can't predict when.

Friday, Saturday VT 100-on-100, Sunday off

Friday: 3.5 easy.
Saturday: VT 100-on-100. 3 legs:
5.3: 29:10 (5:30/mi);
7.2: 42:10 (5:50/mi)*;
5.0: 28:10 (5:42/mi).

21 miles including warm-up and short cooldown. I was pretty happy with each leg, *except for having to stop for a little over a minute during the middle leg to sort out some GI issues. I learned I shouldn't eat lots of raw hazelnuts and almonds before running hard... go figure. Had a really fun time with a bunch of friends and feeling optimistic about running well at Manchester. These paces certainly didn't come easy, but I have exactly 11 weeks to make something around 5:50 pace feel comfortable. Time to recover, and then go to work!

Sunday: Off; recovery day.

Total: 68 miles on 6 days. 79 miles on a rolling 7 days. Plan is to go easy this week with some light track work and and maybe to check out the Carlisle xc 6k.

Thursday, 8/15 Steady

Noon: 71:45 / 11 milesStarted steady, found a groove, couple pit stops, sub-6 for last 1.5 or so plus a short cooldown to make it an even 11. 670' elevation gain. The run came together pretty easily but still getting back to form. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/359418475. Hopefully this means I'm prepared to run around 6's for 17.5 miles (three legs) of the VT 100-on-100 Relay this weekend!!  + 3.4 mile shakeout at the Jaime's fun run in the evening. 14.4 total.

Wednesday, 8/14

57 minutes / 8 steady throughout the Ward reservation in North Andover. Fantastic views from Holt and Boston Hills.

Monday and Tuesday

Monday: 52 minutes / 7 miles on Andover trails. Tired but felt better toward the end.
Tuesday: 1:26:30 / 12.4 miles on trails at Winnekenni with Alliette and the last 6 with the varsity boys from Haverhill and Methuen. Pretty bonky near the end due to the increase in training recently but felt strong despite it. Progress!

It's been a minute! Update!

It has been exactly one month to the day since I last posted. On July 12th I embarked on the longest outdoor excursion of my life and it absolutely changed my perspective of what it means to be an everything-outdoors enthusiast! I was a youth leader for 5 boys entering the 9th grade along with two "sherpas" who led us through a flooded and confusing network of waterways. The days were long but the conversation was saturated with amazing insights and hilarious personalities. After a 3 days of paddling and a 3 mile portage, we finally arrived at Upper Lake Saranac. We paddled the length of Saranac which was breathtakingly awesome and continued for another couple of days to our eventual pick-up point. We gathered at camp for the final night which was a fun celebration for all of the groups who had been out on trip with food and festivities. And the proof that this camp has the right idea: the final morning before departure, every camper was bussed 8.6 miles away from camp and asked to run home. Obviously, I hadn't been able to run over the course of the trip, so I took the opportunity to rip it up in a pair of old Mizuno racing flats which I had been using as boat shoes. I covered the run in 51-52 minutes (nobody was there to give me the exact time when I finished). We arrived home on July 20th and I spent a few days resting on Cape Cod.

The part of the story I haven't shared is annoying. During the trip I got stung by a wasp. Said wasp proved to cause a localized reaction and an infection. Eventually I had to be "evac'ed" by car to the ER where I treated for a puncture wound and infection with a Tetanus shot and antibiotics. The antibiotics required that I not spend time in direct sunlight without risk of a "negative reaction". Well, while on the Cape I ran on a sunny day and my legs and arms broke out in a freaky rash and my throat and eyes got really itchy and my breathing became labored. I treated with Benadryl right away. I wanted to stop taking the antibiotics right then and there, but I didn't because 1) I had an infection! and 2) because my wife Lauren is a nurse and she advised me better. Long story made shorter: Carver at the end of the week was a bust because I again had a reaction to the sun before the race even started. 'Nuff said.

My moved have been infrequent since then. My knee was bugging me as I was coming back off of 8 days of no running on the trip. BUT, the silver lining is recent training is going better and better. The past few days are below:

Monday: 9 miles
Tuesday: 7 miles at the Whirlaway team practice
Wednesday: 4.5 miles with Alex in Westford

Thursday: 0 unplanned day off, but all's good.
Friday: 8 miles at 6:11/mile

Saturday: 9.4 miles roads 6:47/mile

Sunday: 10.3 miles roads with Tim Mallard 6:40/mile

Summary: 48 miles this week. Nothing crazy, but healthy and motivated!

Tuesday - Thursday

Tuesday: 65 minutes steady mid-morning at the Fells with Ben Jenkins. Felt pretty good but not particularly fast.

Wednesday: 48 minutes easy on Andover roads solo. 3 year anniversary today!

Thursday: First workout in a LONG time. Alex talked me into 6 x (3" on / 2" off). I ran really hard and kept Alex pretty close on all but the last one. 10.9 mile hilly loop and averaged 6:18 pace including warm up and cool down. We estimated the on-efforts to be around 4:50 - 5:05 pace. Alex ran closer to 4:50 pace. I'm basically amazed I almost kept up.

Taking a hiatus from the real world starting tomorrow as I venture into the woods of the Adirondacks for an 8 day canoe and backpacking trip.  I'll be back on July 20 and hopefully have some good work to report.

7/2 - 7/8

Tuesday: Morning run in Maudslay with Matt Germain. 45 minutes of steady trail treading.
Wednesday: 61 minutes on trail in the early AM. Moving slow, which I'm sure the dear flies appreciated...
Thursday: 51 minutes easy on the roads in the early AM.
Friday: 65 minutes steady on the roads late evening.
Saturday: Off. Notable: I learned to back flip off the end of a boat at Merry Meeting lake in New Durham. Landed it on the third attempt. A fun Saturday on the lake with friends!
Sunday: Off. Lots of core in the evening.
Monday: Stopped by Sam's Outfitters in south Keene to gear up for the upcoming trip to the Adirondacks. New/first-ever sleeping bag, sleeping pad, a few random smaller purchases. I decided to make the most of the drive and hit mount Monadnock and back via the Dublin trail. The Dublin trail is probably the most direct (read: steepest) route up and maintaining a running motion is basically impossible in a couple spots. Almost nobody on the mountain which was nice so I didn't have to gasp "hello" as I drove madly upward. Up in 34 minutes, down in 34 minutes for a total of 68. I couldn't believe I didn't come down faster than I went up. Actually, I felt more positive about the climb after descending. I forget exactly what my best is for this climb though I think it might be a hair under half an hour.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday

Saturday:

7 miles with Matt Germain

Sunday:

Off. Helped dad move and spent time with family. 

Monday:

15.9 in a big loop around Andover. A small portion was trail but mostly hilly roads. 6:47 pace running away from massive lightening storms, eventually got drenched, and nearly bonked at 14 miles. Felt strong for the most part and happy to have a long run in the books.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5989103

Thursday and Friday

Thursday:

Up early for a run with Alex and Matt Germain on the roads of Andover. We were cruisin' pretty early on and I felt good the whole way. Swung by the sanctuary for a pretty tough 1.5 on the trails which was a nice change of rhythm. 8.8 miles / 56 minutes

Friday:

Slept in and wrapped up some long-overdue errands before hitting the River Trail for 60 minutes. I bonked pretty hard after going out fast, but it felt good to redline for the first time in a while.

Catching up!

Friday 5 miles easy. Tender hamstring out of nowhere. Enter summer!
Saturday 63 minutes easy
Sunday off
Monday off
Tuesday 60 minutes hard
Wednesday 50 minutes steady on trails

Thursday, 6/20

Last day of Spring. I ran solo from the Ward Reservation lot out through the Skuj connector and into Harold Parker, looped back then ran the Ward trail, hitting both Boston and Holt Hills for views of Boston and the seacoast. Beautiful morning!! 12 miles / 80 minutes

Wednesday

56:30 on trails from home with Alex. This run normally takes me 60-62 minutes. On a recovery day I'm covering the loop in 65. Pretty happy with the effort. 10 minutes of core afterward. Back in the groove.

Tuesday: I ran!

9 miles / 59 minutes with Alex on trails in the Fells Reservation. Got good and lost for a while there before winding back around to the car. Alex hasn't run consistently for about 3 weeks, but he's still got wheels. I'm in for a heck of a summer at this rate!

Recent moves

Tuesday: 6 miles easy.
Wednesday: 65 minutes / 8 miles? on trails.
Thursday: 0
Friday: Power-hiked / Ran much of Whiteface and Passaconaway in the southernmost region of the Whites. 12+ miles. Add 2 more 4000'ers to the list.
Saturday: 70.2 mile bike ride with Tim Mallard. Route here.
Sunday: 0
Monday: 0

Monday, 6/10

10 miles on trails with Benny Jenkins with some light core after. Felt great. PF aggravated to start but felt fair by the mid-point of the run and almost pain free Tuesday morning, so seeing consistent improvement there. I was outside with kids for the last 3 periods of the day on Monday playing games and running around, so this was actually a pretty big day considering the overall scope of my training right now.

Not racing Hollis on Thursday. Given some alignment issues (hip, PF) and lack of training, the odds of derailing the bit of progress I've made in the past couple weeks seem too great. I'm disappointed to miss a GP race, but I have high hopes for summer racing and a Fall marathon. Going to get on the bike soon and add some minimal impact training to the schedule as I build back up with the running miles.

Last day of school today. Can't believe it! I'll be back next year with some new responsibilities and I'm excited for the next leg of the journey. My brother moves in with me for the summer before heading off to Russia for the year beginning in September, so I'll have a great training partner for the next 12 weeks. Can't wait!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday: 7 miles easy

Wednesday: 6 x (400m at tempo, 10 pushups, 100m stride, 20 mountain climbers, 100m stride, 10 squat jumps, 100m stride, 20 v ups, 100m)

Monday:

10 miles with 4x100 strides and a bunch of drills and strength exercises at the track. Sluggish to start and sluggish to finish, but so glad I put some miles in.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

F: 0
S: 0
S: 0

Real exciting stuff!!

Thursday

30 minutes of active core and drills but nothing else. Pretty sore in the upper hamstrings and hip flexer.

Wednesday

At this point, I'm continuing the blog out of habit and in an effort to maintain some consistency while still taking some time down. Work is going to be extra hectic for another two weeks, but then I'll be in the clear. Very hungry to train right now, so hopefully soon I can jump into some real miles intelligently and avoid injury. I'll be looking to spend a decent amount of time in the Whites on some serious endurance runs. Can't wait!

Wednesday: 0 miles.

Tuesday

1 hour of capture the flag going hard. PF was sore by the end. Kids have gotten a lot faster compared with the beginning of the year.

Followed that up with about 20 minutes of trail running. Had planned on going 60 minutes but the PF was a little too irritated and I didn't feel like pushing anything.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday

Friday: 70 minutes on trails.
Saturday: 0. Not even a crunch.
Sunday: 65 minutes on trails.
Monday: 65 minutes on trails.

Seeing a pattern? Let's hope it continues this week!!

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday: 0 no run. Played some football with the kids and coached MS/HS/MVS in the evening.

Thursday: Took a bunch of kids from the HS to the Harvard Pilgrim Corporate 5k in Nashua. The kids talked me into running. Crappy weather (steady rain) for racing so I hoped my participation might fire 'em up a bit. Ran in trainers and baggy "coach" shorts. No watch, 16:59.8. I probably should have gone harder but the limited running coupled with some moderate plantar fasciitis had me anxious about going 100% from the gun. Still, I was running pretty hard. Scary that I was basically running 10 mile/half marathon pace and it was tough!! I've got a few weeks before the Hollis 5k, so I guess it's time to get things in gear... ugh. The silver lining is 3rd place got me a dinner for two to Texas Roadhouse, $25 bucks to Runner's Alley, a Loco hat, an 8gig flashdrive, socks and some other random gadgets. Not bad for 3rd place!

Monday and Tuesday

Monday: 4 miles easy.
Tuesday: 5 miles with one 1600 in 5:12, a 400 in 61, and a few 100s in 13-high.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Monday: 64 minutes on Skuj River, Vale, Indian Ridge and Baker's Meadow reservations.

Tuesday: 5 miles checking out the Get Fit in May 5k course.

Wednesday: 67 minutes at the Ward Reservation

Wednesday and Thursday

Back-to-back goose eggs. 150 push ups Thursday night. I'll get back in the groove eventually.

Tuesday

0 - Well, not really. I played 80 minutes of intense capture the flag and I am simply destroyed! I'll call it speed and agility work, but obviously not an aerobic run.

A serious lull in training

Monday 0 - Healthy; not injured. Just managing some challenging stuff right now and running is going on the back burner for a while.
Tuesday 0
Wednesday 28 minutes easy in the woods.
Thursday 0 - Learned how to shoot a composite bow. I'm a terrible shot, but it sure is fun!
Friday: 0 - Travel to VA for Alex's graduation festivities.
Saturday: 54 minutes easy on trails from the Jamestown HS in (located in Williamsburg)
Sunday: 0 - 16 hour drive after Alex's graduation and party. Got home around 6 AM.
Monday: 53 minutes easy in the Vale, Indian Ridge and Bakers Meadow reservations. Felt decent considering all of the travel and time off. Heavy. Lower back tight. Good to be home and resume a better routine.

Thursday 4 miles easy.
Friday Off - long day of travel to Georgia.
Saturday Off - Wedding festivities in Georgia.
Sunday 9 miles steady on the Rivah with Tim.

Wednesday, 5/1

Progress. Ran about 4 miles with the high schoolers at an easy pace. Then I ran a few miles waiting for the MVS practice to start. Ran several laps with them, and then a few fast 400s in 65/66 seconds. Going for a real distance run Thursday.

The good stuff.

One of my favorite easy meals. Israeli couscous,  green beans, bell peppers, black olives, olive oil, fine parmesan, red wine vinegar, and honey.  Add sauteed apple chicken sausages for protein.

Tuesday, 4/30: 90%

6 miles, very easy laps on grass around the Phillips athletics fields. Stopped twice to roll out, stretch, do some light core. Felt real awkward and tight at first but by the end of the run everything seemed to have returned to normal. Might be off the mark, but I think that neglecting real core work for the past several weeks got me into this mess. I think my hips were just off and I was recruiting my left quad far too much. Did some more core and stretching at home. Feeling good and ready for a real run Wednesday morning as I write this. Hopefully out of the woods!

Monday

Jogged a couple miles very easy. Felt okay. Lower back and left hip have become extremely tight and hip is showing signs of muscle spasms. Funky stuff. Maybe caused by several days off? Hip is spasming consistently as I sit here at my desk. Going for an easy trail run this afternoon and rolling out light crazy afterward. Sometimes a run helps "reset" all of the muscle groups... On the bright side, quad is no longer sore in the original spot. Progress?

Weekend Off

Rested the leg as much as possible. 400mg of ibuprofen 3 times each day, ice, compression... hard to elevate but did my best. Had a few cold ones feeling sorry for myself. It's so tough not to train when you're hungry to get out there, so hopefully easy running Monday will result with some positive feedback. We'll see!

Vastus Medialis Strain - Help!

All of the muscle cramping after Wednesday's workout is probably to blame, but the quad wasn't sore until Friday morning. Thursday I ran 9 miles in 67 minutes on trails. I did take a funky step which made me feel something in the quad, but it wasn't exactly painful. 

Now, Friday morning, there is a ~2 inch area right in the thick of the Vastus Medialis (inner quad muscle just above the knee) that's sore to the touch and is painful if I contract the quad. I'll be all over RICE, but in the meantime, can/should I run? Really hoping for some feedback here. Going out to buy some ibuprofen in the meantime. Thanks in advance!

Workout Wednesday, 4/24

30 minutes of football with the 6th, 7th and 8th graders.

4 miles with the MS/HS practice. Drills and strides. 10 minutes of core.
1 mile before the MVS workout. Led two series of drills and strides.

Around 7:10 Jose met me at the track and we warmed up 2 miles, then into 20x400 on 200m/1 minute @ 75-77 recovery. Got windier has the workout progressed. Mean headwind on the homestretch. A lot of the intervals looked like 39-40 for the first 200 and 35 on the backstretch. Dark by the time we finished. 1.3 mile cool down to the cars for 10.5.

15.5 miles on the day, good drill work, really smooth workout despite the wind. Almost every muscle group was cramping on the ride home. Tomorrow will certainly be of the easier variety. 

Monday

3ish miles? I can't call it a zero since I paced the MS and HS meets for a bunch of 300m intervals around a field, but it wasn't really a run either. Moved fast, felt great! Not even sore from the 5 miler.

Sunday: Red's Shoe Barn 5 Mile

My buddy Tim told me he was running this race, and so was his friend Humza, and since I've always been interested in checking it out, I decided to run it too. My dad, along with my cousin Colin and some other friends were also in attendance, so I was pretty distracted. Eventually I warmed up with Sam Wood after losing track of just about everybody else. We did a few small loops of downtown Dover. I didn't have a watch so I ran until I generally felt ready to go. I stretched lightly, shed some layers at the car, and headed for the starting line. It was pretty chilly in the low-to-mid 40s so I was eager to get moving.

After a moment of silence for the fallen at the Boston Marathon and a sweet rendition of the National Anthem, which I should add, was harmonized to by a significantly greater portion of runners than usual, we were off. Nate Huppe took it out and since I wasn't sure where we were going, I followed suit. Dave Dunham was also off the line and moving well. I trailed Huppe through maybe 800 meters before making the pass as we crested the first short hill.

From there it gets kind of boring. I didn't have a watch so I don't know any splits. It was a beautiful crisp morning and we had a tailwind on the way out, so I felt like I was cruising. Somebody called 5:06 at the mile. Nobody at the 2 mile. Somebody called 14:30 at the 3 mile which I immediately discounted as crazy-talk. Mr. Collins shouted hello to me as I passed around 3.5. Then I ran into Erik Travis around maybe 3.75 as the only major hill began. We caught up, running together for a bit, and he told me I had at least 20 seconds on second place. I was probably talking too much by this point as I really sucked wind up the hill.

Finally, cresting the hill I knew I had 1 mile of mostly downhill running to the finish and I opened up the stride and cruised. I wasn't in rough shape at all, but I wasn't smooth either. Worked through to the finish in 26:15. I'll take it. A good clip for a good distance is all I can ask for right now. For a race like the Carter 5 miler I'd hope to go faster, but on a day like today, less than a week after the harrowing experience of our Boston Marathoners and the ensuing chaos, I'm thankful and psyched to be alive and running.

69 miles on the week. 1 lift, some light core here and there, one workout, one longer run, and one decent race. Good vacation week, all considering. Also, shout out to my brother Alex who broke 14:00 in the 5k for the first time at Mt. Sac on Friday!!!! He ran 13:55 and earned every penny of it.

Saturday, 4/20

Off! Tired, a little stiff and had family visiting so I opted for a full "rest day" before the race tomorrow.

Friday 4/19

11.5 miles with Tim Mallard. Ran Andover reservation trails for the first 50 minutes or so and and cruised home roads from the Haggett's Pond trail head. Averaged 6:45s, which on that terrain, is definitely moving.

Thursday, 4/18

Slept in and after a nice breakfast I headed for a recovery run of sorts. A bit sore from yesterday's speed session so I opted for trails. I checked out a small reservation hidden behind Phillips Andover, took a lap in the Sanctuary, and headed back roads. 9.5 miles / 72 minutes. Rolled probably a little too quickly the last couple miles, sub 6:30. No worse for the wear. I'll probably take things easy into the Red's 5 Miler this weekend.

Wednesday, 4/17 Track Workout

Lifted arms, chest and back with Greg at Latitude before heading out to the track. Got to Phillips just in time to see kids carrying track spikes arriving at the track. I talked to the coach briefly and he welcomed me to join them, but I decided with all the added traffic of a track practice to change location. Arrived at the Andover (public) HS to a clear track. By the time I warmed up, a couple young soccer players had conveniently dropped all of their gear in lanes 1 and 2 on a turn. By the 7th rep I got annoyed enough to ask them to reconsider where they dropped their stuff, and they helped me out pretty quickly. I guess when you're 15-years-old some things just don't occur to you!

I ran 15x400 on 60-65 second recoveries. Took a 400m extended jogging recovery lap after 8 intervals. Splits: 70, 69, 68, 69, 69, 68, 67, 68, 67, 67, 68, 67, 66, 64, 64. Felt really strong today. The first several intervals felt easy, but the shorter recoveries started to catch up with me. It was awesome to close the last couple in sub 65.

30 minute cooldown in the Indian Ridge, Baker's Meadow and Pomps Pond reservations.

6 PM: 3 miles easy before the MVS workout to loosen up and be ready to lead warm-up activities.

13 miles total on the day.

Tuesday 4/16

105 minutes / 15 miles. Most of it on single track. Ran from my house to the connector at the River Trail and back. Felt good to be alive.

Thursday - Monday

4/11 6 steady / 6:10 per mile

4/12 0 off

4/13 0  off

4/14 0 off

4/15 70 minutes on trails oozing fury and sadness

Wednesday, 4/10

3:00: 1 mile with the Middle Schoolers. 10 minutes of core.

5:30: 2 miles with MVSers.

No time. Wednesdays are looking to be an "off day" for the remainder of the school year unless I can manage the willpower to be up and running by 5AM.

Tuesday, 4/9 Speedwork

I started running after work at Weir Hill in North Andover and shortly after 12 minutes running, I rolled my ankle hard on a mossy plank. Wiped out. Dirty, bleeding and my ankle was pretty sore. It took a few minutes to be able to run on it again, but soon enough I was back and running straight for the car. Had enough of the trails for the day.

My next stop was coaching duties at the North Andover MS track, but I had time to kill. I hung out in the car for a few minutes before finally convincing myself to run a few 400s and see if the ankle would hold up. It was a pretty short workout, but the speed was good for this point in the year.

Ended up going 8 x 400 with 60 s standing recoveries. Splits: 72, 69, 67, 66, 65, 65, 66, 66

Monday, 4/8

Easy/Off: Played about 60 minutes of soccer with the kids. Changed up and coached the MS and HS practices. Warmed up 10 minutes with 'em and taught several drills and core exercises. We'll call it a day off. Energy levels good by the evening. Ready for a good week!

Sunday Light Tempo

12.2 miles / 82 minutes Busy little Sunday but managed to sneak out for a good hilly run. Felt sluggish from the beginning, but warmed up enough to want to go tempo from miles 5-8. (5:40 pace). Moved well but still just felt tired. Looking at a very light day tomorrow.

70+ miles this week for the first time in a while. Almost 50% of my miles were on trails which is excellent. Hit the River Trail, Ward, Deer Jump, Indian Ridge, Skuj River and Fells Reservation systems.

Saturday, 4/6

10 miles / 76 minutes on trails in the Fells Reservation. This was only my second time ever running this trail system and the place is much larger than I first gave it credit for. I ran out 30 minutes along a similar path to the one Matt showed me last week and then tried to cut a route back to the car to make it 50-55 minutes. Well, that plan quickly failed as I realized I had no idea where I was or what trails to be following. Eventually found a trail map and realized I didn't even know the name of the location where I parked!  I got lucky eventually stumbling upon the open field I recognized from the beginning of the run. Looking over the GPS data, it could have been much worse as I barely avoided a 2-3 mile detour. Good run, though. I can see myself doing a fair amount of training in the Fells this summer.

Friday, 4/5

Good steady trail run with Tim on Andover/ N. Andover trails. We hit the Ward reservation, some of the Bay Circuit trail system, and a lap in the Sanctuary. 4 120m barefoot strides to call it a day. 10++, 80 minutes

Thursday, 4/4

10 miles / 60:35 steady cruising from the store before a short shift. I've decided after running this loop several times that it is super fast. There are basically no hills. Felt great out there. First spin in the New Balance 1080v3s and they are awesome.

Wednesday, 4/3

10 miles / Easy running in the Andover Sanctuary and the North Andover Common. Right heel / ankle has been cranky for a couple days so I backed way off from standard run pace today. Probably playing too much touch football in dress shoes at school... I need to roll out. I need to stop slacking on core. I need to run some miles this weekend!!

Tuesday, 4/2

10 miles / 71 minutes on trails with Tim. It was cold with the wind but comfortable once I got into it. Feeling good!

Monday, 4/1

Easy 8 miles on trails, 56 minutes. Felt good.

Weekly Wrap-up

Sunday: 0 - Planned day off. A nice day spent with family.

55 miles on 6 days this week with one weird workout, one decent race, and a few steady runs in the mix. It was good to get back into the trails after a couple months without them.

Saturday, 3/30 April Fools 4 Miler

I headed up to Salisbury for the April Fool's 4 miler hosted by the Winner's Circle. After a short visit to registration, I ran into Jose and we eased into a 3+ mile warm up on the course. It was a fantastic Spring day with temps in the upper 50's. Felt good on the warm up. Jose and I talked strategy a bit and we agreed he would take the first mile to make sure it was honest and I would try to take the second one.

Well, the gun sounded and Patrick Rich went straight to the lead which he never relinquished. Jose and I tucked in closely behind. It felt like a pretty aggressive start. Slightly downhill for a bit and we saw a 4:53 mile on the clock. I passed Jose near the mile and chased Rich through 2 miles in 9:57. The course is an out-and-back so we began passing hundreds of runners, many of whom knew at least one of us and cheered as we headed back up the hill. Jose passed me shortly after mile 2 and I latched on to him and eventually came up on his shoulder as we headed into mile 4. Rich's gap grew a bit during mile 3 (hit in 15:13) and I tried my best to chase him down over the last few minutes of the race. I was moving well but just couldn't find the gear to reel him in over the final mile and Rich finished in 20:12, 7 seconds ahead of me in 20:19. Jose finished a few second back from me for third and in the money. Results here.

Straight out for a 4 mile cool down on a cinder path near the start. 11 miles and a solid race, I'll take it! Had a good time hanging out at the Winner's Circle afterward as the bar showed video of the entire race accompanied by free Smuttynose. Headed out to meet a friend for disc golf in Devens and return home to call it a day.

Friday, 3/29

60 minutes / 8 miles? Met up with Tim and Matt for a morning run in The Fells trail system in Medford. Nice steady cruising. Ran 6 good strides after.

Thursday

10 miles / 63 minutes. Ran the old Whirlaway 10k course with 2 out and back on the river for 10.

Wednesday, 3/27 Busted workout

Beautiful day and felt ready to roll a good one. Picked a loop I've only run once before from North Andover. Warmed up 3 miles, 6:43, 6:12, 6:01 feeling strong. Goal was 5 miles tempo (5:30-5:40). Out quick (5:24, 5:29) and realized I had missed my turn to head back to the car (or so I thought), turned around, ran aimlessly for a mile or so (5:43) down a street that was clearly taking me in the wrong direction and got frustrated enough to pause the watch. Decided to double back in the direction I had set out on, started another tempo mile (5:26), found the turn, 2 minutes rest, and one final tempo mile (5:21) and called it a day. Originally thought this loop was a 10 miler but turns out it was closer to 11.5. Bonked pretty hard on the cooldown. Hungry. Coached afterward and then to MVS meeting to give a talk on the taper period, basically describing what NOT to do (plenty of personal experience there!). Felt like a shoddy workout, but I'm glad I did something. Wavering between a track workout or a short race this weekend.

Tuesday

65 minutes of winding trails / 8 miles. Pretty steady effort, not easy. Beautiful views of Boston and the north shore... Just ignore the nuclear power plant in Seabrook. Ate a big slice of cheesecake right beforehand, which I would not recommend!!

Monday Easy

7.5 miles / 50 minutes. Busy little day. Ran partly on trails. Felt good.

Sunday, 3/24

12 miles / 74:50. 6:15 per mile. Steady cruising on this one. Felt awesome. Last 3 were sub 6. Liking the rhythm of 12 milers so I'll try to keep it up. I've always liked the 12-13 mile distance, but rarely find time for it!

Saturday, 3/23

12 miles / 75 minutes. 6:18 pace. Cruising today after a 7:15 opening mile. Ran from in the in-laws' place in Westford. Beautiful loop with a few good hills mixed in at convenient spots. A little windy here and there, but overall a nice early "Spring" day. Energy better today. Cold lingers on but really just a nuisance at this point.

Friday

12.4 miles / 83:20 in Pelham with Tim Mallard. 6:43 pace. Hit some decent hills and kept the pace steady throughout. Basically every muscle group was tight and off, but it was good to go for a while and company made everything easier. The cold is lingering but doesn't appear to be impacting anything more than energy levels, throat and sinuses which is manageable.

Thursday

Off. Rested lots. Hoping the cold stays where it is or improves quickly.

Wednesday

Sick! I guess you could say I saw it coming. Run down. Jogged 3 miles, AKA 'Kenny Moore' as my former UNH coaches referred to it, and spent some time stretching. I had planned a major down week anyway so I guess this is a sign I'm doing the right thing.

Tuesday, 3/19

5 miles easy / 34:40 on the dreadmill.

3 sets of: 15 x 85 lb lat pull-downs, 12 x 60 lb military press, 12 x 40 lb triceps extensions, 15 x 25 lb bicep curls, 40 sit ups

Monday

Planned day off. Didn't feel too beat up, but considering how badly my form fell apart at NB, I wanted to give everything a full day to recover.

New Bedford Half Marathon

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Despite a tough run on the roads, this was a fun day spent with a bunch of awesome people down in New Bedford, MA.

I don't have an awful lot to say about this one. I had a rough race. I can think of several ways I could have prepared better, but I didn't, and that's how it goes. I went into the race pretty optimistically. I'm generally fit right now, and based on the course profile I was thinking mid-5:20s could happen. I guess neglecting to run real workouts since the Jones 10 was just too risky. I kind of rested on the good work I did leading up to Jones and basically hoped for the best instead of preparing to run my best. This was not a great strategy, because that last 5k was slow and it hurt!!

I'll admit 72:54 isn't terrible. My previous best half marathon is ~ 77:45 (Ridgefiled Half, CT, 2009?). But, crawling in at 18:20 for the last 5k (and getting passed by about 20 people!) wasn't the finish I had envisioned. This was a good wake-up call and reminder that the consistent work you put in gets the results. Step off the gas pedal and you gradually lose fitness. And, sometimes for whatever reason you just have a tough race!

Luckily, you can't bonk in a downhill 5k in mid-June... right?

New Bedford GPS data here.

Thursday Progression Run

Same loop as Monday. Only had 60 minutes before work so I had hoof it fast from Whirlaway. Felt amazing from the start.

6:26, 6:12, 6:01, 5:41, 5:43, 5:46, 5:42, 5:44, cooled down 2 (inspired by some gastric distress..) 6:29, 6:26.

Sub 60 for 10! I didn't look at my watch until halfway through mile 8 and I was amazed to see 5:40's. Very comfortable. Imagining running 15-20 seconds/mile faster for NB doesn't seem quite so daunting now.

Tuesday & Wednesnday

Tuesday: EXHAUSTED. Oh man. 3 days of consecutive < 6 hrs of sleep and I am just plain wiped out. Got home and napped for 90 minutes. Out cold. Wanted to stay in bed, but I had time for 40 minutes easy before going back to work. This was supposed to be my last and only workout day since Jones. Ugly.

Wednesday: 8 miles with several hard 1-2 minute pick-ups by feel. More energy today but legs don't feel super smooth. Parent-teacher conferences straight out from the end of the day to coaching so I got my run in after dark. Beautiful almost-Spring day!

Monday Progression Run

11 miles / 67 minutes in Methuen from Whirlaway before a short evening shift.

10 miles progressing somewhere below 6. Averaged 6:08s for 11 miles with the last 4-5 under 6:00 and 1 mile easy cool down.T-shirt and shorts and man 50+ degrees feels nice! Fought a nice headwind along the river but the area is so flat that it didn't matter much. Felt great!

Sunday

15 with Matt Germain in Reading. Averaged 6:30s. 4 hard strides after. Back in the groove.

Saturday

8 steady with some Sisu folks around Haverhill.

Friday

10 easy with Tim Mallard around Andover. Great run! Feeling good

Thursday

Thursday: Honk honnkkk... Yep, I think three days off in 4 makes a gaggle.

Wednesday

10 miles / NT in Andover and North Andover. Did a bunch of random pick ups. Felt good to move after a couple days off. Energy back to normal. Glad I didn't go for the workout I had planned as the hammys and calves were tight for most of the run. Workout will have to be tomorrow, or Friday, if time doesn't allow. I'll have all of 90 minutes to run and get from school to Whirlaway.

Goose Eggs!

Zeros for Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday something came up and there simply was no time to run. Tuesday I was feeling run down and figured the extra day to allow the plantar fascia to get a nice good rest was the smartest move.

Saturday 20 Miler

Met up at my teammate Ephraim's place in Newton with an assortment of runners for a 20 miler covering the last 10 miles of the Boston Marathon course. It was cool to start, but warmed up quickly and had to shed layers while staying with the group. Pace was pretty steady, 6:46 for 2:15+. Right plantar a bit sore late in the run. Gotta keep an eye on that.

Friday

6.2 miles easy after school before a short shift at Whirlaway. Right Plantar was sore to start but quickly gone after a few steps. Felt fine, rolled along around 6:50 pace. A little quicker toward the end as the rain picked up.

Thursday, 2/28, Progression

10.2 / 63:20 -- Home late and out the door quickly. Ran in shorts with tall compression socks because the calves have been beat since the 10 miler. Wasn't sure how I'd feel so I headed out Rattlesnake Road for a change of scenery and got into it after a few miles. Holt into Wildwood and Summer to downtown. Back Central and a slight add on. Developed into a nice progression run.

6:50, 6:35, 6:31, 6:25, 6:20, 6:10, 5:56, 6:00, 5:53, 5:50, +

Felt awesome. Hit some good hills in there and kept the pace solid. Easier tomorrow and long on Saturday. Here's to March and the promises of Spring!

Wednesday Easy

5 Miles on the dreadmill at the gym, 33:48. Felt pretty darn easy, but man the treadmill is boring. Core; push-ups, sets of two different sit-up variations, flutter kicks, 1 minute plank sets left arm, right arm.

Tuesday Steady

10 miles on the dot, 64:40 on Andover roads. Couldn't help myself, felt good and just went with it. Coached a session at Andover High afterward.

Monday Recovery

9.5 / 67 minutes. I headed out after a long day back at work for a shake out. Wasn't feeling too bad at all, but was intentional about not letting the pace exceed 7:00s. Then it did. But only on a couple downhill miles so the effort was probably fine. Rolled out for a while at home and and whipped up a recovery meal of sweet potato burgers with kale, chick peas and other delicious things with a side Zucchini fries. Sounds healthy, but with the amount of cheese I threw on there it was just right. 

Jones 10

This Sunday marked my third visit in four years to the Jones Group 10 Mile race in Amherst, MA. I rolled westward with Kevin and Jose through a mixture of rain and snowfall, but there was minimal precipitation when we arrived around 11:30. We arrived a tad early for a change and it was exciting to see strong runners arriving in droves from all over northern New England. Clearly the forecast of potentially a foot of snow hadn't phased the grittiest of runners in the area.

I warmed up with most of the Whirlaway Open Team members and was excessively warm wearing two layers. Returning to the school, I decided to shed my base layer and opted to wear only a singlet and shorts. This ended up being a monumental mistake. Making my way outside to do some last-minute warming up, I saw it had begun to rain. I was chilly, but figured I'd be fine. What I hadn't counted on was consistent rain and heavy wet snowfall in combination with steady wind over much of the course. By mile 2 I was freezing and I was mad at myself for the rookie mistake! Oh well, nothing to do but move forward as best I could.

Newbould and I had planned to attack the race conservatively and move hard once over the big hills in miles 3 and 4. I got through 4 miles intact, maybe 5-7 seconds back from Newbould, but my form had basically fallen apart. My chest and arms were completely numb and I was hunched forward and over-striding. From a performance standpoint, it really hurt me that I couldn't feel anything and finding a good rhythm seemed impossible. I trudged on and eventually got going, but mile 5 was easily my weakest mile on the day. During mile 5 the classic side-stitch set in hard I was slowly getting dropped by the guys ahead of me. Approaching the downhill miles in 6 and 7, I was looking to move up and to try to help Brandon who was falling off his group and we were only a mere 10 or so seconds apart. Trying to forge the gap with the stitch in my side made things worse. I struggled to get a full breath and swore to myself as I reached up under my rib cage to try to force the thing out.

Later on I got passed by one guy moving well (Nick Cooper) and I clung onto him as I felt the presence of another runner who I later learned to be Greg Hammett. There was a short little hill and I refused to give ground, charging the hill with shorter strides and a shallow but fast breathing pattern... and, eureka! Sweet relief that my race wasn't going to fall apart as the stitch subsided. I got into a good groove soon after and gave chase to the guy who had passed me (Nick Cooper). The final hills late in miles 9 and basically all of 10 were facing me and I gritted my teeth and caught Nick but couldn't pass. He and I pressed on and caught Girma who had fallen away from Brandon and the three of us entered the final loop around the parking lot. They were in a dogfight kicking towards home and I finished in tow a few seconds back. Glad to be done and with a new PR of 54:32, I cheered teammates and friends as they came in towards the finish. Tons of great performances and the usual jokes and congrats characterizing the NE road race scene were exchanged.

I cooled down with Kevin, Brandon, Jose, Blake, Ferenc, MacKnight and a few others. MacKnight ran a killer race, by the way. It was crazy the way he went out conservatively (with me at the mile) and gobbled up every runner but two over the remaining 9 miles. Team Whirlaway had a solid showing all around. The Open Team narrowly missed third place. I won't forget the guys who ran away from me mid-race. I also won't forget the potential in our 3,4,5,6,7 runners as several of them are just getting back into serious training. Optimistic about our chances as a team at future races.

My sense is the recovery from this effort won't be nearly as long as the period after Boston Prep... I'm not really sore Monday morning as I write this. My only concern is it's painful to breathe deeply and the area where I had the stitch is sore to the touch. Easy running, stretching, and core work through Wednesday and I'll reevaluate from there.


First time I've worn a watch for this race. Garmin came out to 54:12 at 10, 54:36 for 10.08. Looking at the splits below, I have a feeling mile 9 was not quite a 5:16 considering that a man at mile 8 yelled 43:20, meaning that I ran 11:12 for the last 2 miles according to the official clock. Garmin had me at 10:49 for the last 2 which seems unlikely. Splits here:


5:25
5:03
5:34
5:50
5:38
5:17
5:17
5:19
5:16
5:33

Sunday Race

Jones 10 miler was early this afternoon. 54:32 for a new PR at the distance. Report to come, but just have to say it was awesome catching up and seeing so many familiar faces in the running world. Wishing everybody the best with their training, whether it's New Bedford, Boston, or whatever.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Thursday: 

5 miles easy, drills and strides after.

Friday: 

Planned day off.

Saturday:

7 miles easy with drills and strides.

Wednesday tune-up

8 AM: Met up with Matt Germain this morning for a tune-up workout on Andover roads (where else?). We warmed up 3 miles, 7:14, 6:37, 6:26. 10 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off. I was looking to basically stride out hard and maintain form throughout. We were running the on-portions at 4:35-4:50 pace and very easy on the recoveries. Cooled down back home for 10 miles in 66 minutes. Felt good. Some tightness in the left quad I'll aim to get rid of by Sunday. Speaking of which, weather Sunday looks awful, not so much for running as for driving to Amherst in the midst of a snowstorm.

6 PM: 4 miles at varying paces while coaching a few brave souls working out at the N. Andover Common.

14 on the day. Time to rest and prepare...

Tuesday, 2/19 Progression Run

9 miles / 55:30 - Snuck out for a run before rush hour and didn't have much in mind other than to get into a good groove and try to hit about 60 minutes. Ran around Andover. The course generally climbed for 2 miles (13:44), another mile at 6:17 and down to 6:04, 5:50, 5:48, 6:05, 5:53, 5:49. Raining, a little windy, felt the pizza I had for lunch but it wasn't too bad. Good run!

Sunday Workout! Monday Easy

Sunday Workout: 

Warmed up 3 miles, 7:12, 6:38, 6:25. Plan was to run 5:10-5:15 for 5 miles. I was so psyched for this workout I was nervous the day before. After realizing I missed the Bradford Valentines race I almost skipped the effort, but after the fact I'm so glad I went for it.

Went 5:12, 5:10, 5:07, 5:12, 5:05 for 25:46 for 5 miles. Fastest 5 miler I've run in years, actually. Sore on Monday, but otherwise not wasted from the effort.

2 miles down for 10 total.

Monday: 

9:30 AM: 4 x bench press, 12x95lbs, 12x115, 12x125, 10x135. 3x12 reps of military press, 50, 60, 70 lbs. 3x12 lat pull downs, 115, 125, 140. 3x12 of 40 lb triceps pull-downs. 7 minutes of planks, alternating left, right and double arm.

12:30 PM: 7.2 in 49:50 with Mallard in Pelham. Great run. Feeling nice and recovered. Windy.

Saturday: ~10 Mile progression run.

9.8 miles / 57 minutes. 5:50/mile average on Andover Roads. Felt amazing from the start today so I locked into a good gear early and just cruised. Pretty pumped for Jones in a week from tomorrow!

Friday, 2/15

Vacation week started at 3:15 this afternoon! I met up with Tim Mallard who's back in town from a stint in DC. Low-energy run after a long week, so it was great to have the company. We headed out with loose plans and ended up going 10.9 miles in 76 minutes. This was good for me because the quads have been tighter than usual. Back home, stretched, and jumped into 10 minutes of right arm, left arm and double arm planks on no rest. Killed it. 90 push-ups and 30 pull-ups later and called it a day.

I messed up though. I thought the Bradford 5 miler was rescheduled for Sunday and not Saturday. Ooh well, looks like I'll be going hard solo on Sunday... unless someone wants to join for a workout?

Thursday

Home from school to sneak in a run quickly before working a short shift at the store. I wasn't 6 minutes into my run when I ran into the likes of DD and DV. I joined them on a really confusing jaunt around the neighborhoods of Balardvale and elsewhere. 50 minutes later I was back to my apartment and almost late for work. Good run!

Wednesday, 2/13

60 minutes easy, roughly 8 miles total in North Andover.

Workout Tuesday

Back to school and the kids are already screaming for vacation. It was a busy day but if flew by and before I knew it, I was staring at the Jones 10 fewer than 2 weeks away. Time to work out again for a change!

I warmed up 3 miles, 7:15, 6:38, 6:29. Stretched briefly, hit the john, and then straight into 5 x Mile @ 5:12 with 1/4 mile recovery at 6:40 pace (1:35-1:45).  I hit 6 miles in 32:52 and felt awesome. Cooled down 2 for 10.5 on the day.

Now off to some coaching at Andover High.

Monday

School was cancelled... and man I did not see that coming! Met up with Alliette and we cruised 10.3 easy on Andover roads. A little sketchy out there with narrow lanes a bit of traffic, but luckily we got out there after the bulk of rush hour had passed. Protein shake, banana and straight to the gym to meet up with Greg. This is my future brother-in-law and he's a beast on the court and in the weight room, standing at 6'4" 205 lbs. It feels a little odd trading sets and spotting for him, but he's great company and has definitely improved my knowledge for how to lift effectively. I did 4x12 sets of bench press at 95, 105, 115 and 135. 4x12 sets of military press at 70 lbs, 4x12 sets of triceps extensions at 40-50lbs and 4x115lbs lat pull-downs. Finished up with another 3.7 moving down to 6:20 pace on the treadmill for 14 total on the day. Workout tomorrow must happen. Picturing 6 x mile at 5:15 on 2 minutes recovery.

Sunday

9 miles / 61 minutes easy on sloppy roads. I was so sore from shoveling yesterday I held off the gym session for tomorrow. Even my abs are sore! Resting HR is below 40 for the first time in a while. Must be getting fit! Now if only I could find the will to resist the enormous batch of cookies from the other night... there are only 2 left! 2 weeks of Spartan focus leading up to Jones should have me primed for a shot at sub-54.

Saturday

Snowshoeing the Skuj River Trail this morning was difficult to say the least. Snowdrifts up to my waist and average depth just above the knee while trying to run had me exhausted almost instantly. I was anaerobic within minutes, and ended up powerhiking 35 minutes out and turning around. It was nice to be able to run almost the entire way back following my tracks. The scenery was beautiful and it was refreshing not to hear the constant traffic that usually sounds in the distance. Back home and it was 2 and 1/2 hours of shoveling clearing our cars and then helping a few neighbors out.

Friday: Back on it

Trail run around 6 PM from the apartment. I think most runners I know prefer to hit the roads early before a storm strikes, but I have fun being out there in the thick of it. Hit the trails for 65 minutes of sliding around. Back home to stretch. La and I whipped up a batch of butterscotch oatmeal cookies.

While they were baking I did a quick core session of 3 by:

40 sit-ups,
30 push-ups,
30s side planks,
10 pull ups.

Last 10 pull ups were a struggle, but I got it done with decent form. Good and tired afterward. Looking forward to a sweet snowshoe run tomorrow!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Not much to report...

Tuesday was off. Spent the day at the hospital for a procedure (not mine) and simply didn't have the opportunity to get out.

Wednesday was 'better than nothing'. I ran about 5 miles while coaching with several stretches of sub 6:00 pace thrown in there. I don't like to run while coaching but when the option is to move around a bit or freeze, I choose the former! Great session for several athletes.

Thursday was off again. Feeling zapped and run down plus an unexpectedly long work day. No sense in slogging on a full stomach after dinner It's all good, though. I'll be on my game for this weekend's snow festivities... picturing lots of slow snowshoeing and maybe a treadmill workout if the gym has power!

Definitely not a winning mentality. But, I'll be getting after it again soon enough.

Sunday and Monday

Sunday:

Hectic day with church, trying to get work done before superbowl festivities plus spending time with our godson at his birthday party. Knee was aching from the moment I got up so I called off the run and got in a solid lift session instead. Feeling strong. 3 sets of: 15x25 lb curls, 12x100 lb lat pull-downs, 12x60 lb military press, 3x30 push-ups, 12x40 lb triceps extensions.

Monday: 8.5 miles at 6:02 average. Warmed up over 2 miles (13:25) steadily climbing and then clobbered the remaining 6.5. Probably ran too hard, but it felt so good to be recovered from Boston Prep and back in action. Last 2.5 miles at 5:35s over rolling hills. 

Friday and Saturday

Friday:

First real run back. Wasn't sure how it would go, but pretty quickly below 6:30s and kept it there. Felt awesome. No issues with the hamstring. 9 miles / 60 minutes

Saturday:

Slow run this afternoon. Had an allergic reaction last night that really had me feeling fried today. Still got in 65 minutes of running on trails. 

Thursday

This appears to be a week of mediocrity (or recovery)! I jogged for 30 minutes on trails from the apartment. Turned around after 15 because the hamstring was very tight, but no longer sore. When I got home I rolled out for about 10 minutes, then slammed out 3 sets of: 25 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, and 10 pull-ups on about 30 seconds rest.

I anticipate I'll have a real run after work on Friday. I'm aiming for 70 minutes on the reservation trails connecting Ward and Harold Parker. Should be awesome! Glycogen levels are definitely back to normal and I'm feeling ready to start rolling again. 

Wednesday:

Hardly worth mentioning, but I ran about 5 miles, all around 7:30-9:00/mile while coaching some runners at the N. Andover Common. Amazing that last week it was below 10 degrees and today we all ran in shorts!

Hamstring was better today. If it feels like its continuing to heal I'll go 60 minutes tomorrow. If it feels worse I'll take 2-3 days completely off.

Tuesday

Outside for a run shortly after work, but turned it around after about 90 seconds. Right hamstring was more sore than yesterday, deep in the center of the muscle a little to the outside. I went home and rolled everything out for about 20 minutes.

Coached an indoor track workout and did roughly a mile of jogging there with some light drills. Felt much better!

Not sure what's in store for Wednesday. Probably no more than 60 minutes easy and that's if all systems are go. Things are feeling way better than Tuesday, so far. I'll have to resist the urge to play touch football with the kids this afternoon.

Monday

Easy recovery run at the gym... 30 minutes, 3.5 miles. Right hammy was tight so I threw on my warmest pair of pants and just slogged. Felt good.

After some stretching I ran through 3 sets of: 12x60 lb military press, 40 situps, 25 pushups, 12x100lb lat pull downs, 15x22.5lb curls, 12x40lb triceps extensions. Probably went a little quick so I wasn't fully recovering from each activity, but I was hungry and just wanted to get home!

Boston Prep 16 Miler

After much deliberation, I finally realized I had no choice but to return to Derry and try to defend my title from last year. I've been feeling really good in workouts and I was pretty confident I could handle the distance well despite only a couple "long" runs since the new year. Got an e-mail Saturday night just before going to bed from the race director. Among other things, he insisted that nobody get arrested for peeing in public, that everybody wear pants during the race, and that we all consider a 2-degree windchill factor as we prepare to race a hilly 16 miles. Sounded like good advice overall.

The next morning I dug through the older running gear (you know, the stuff from 2003 with the holes and brittle elastic that you just can't seem to throw away or donate) and luckily found my wind blocking briefs. Good thing too, because it was NECESSARY. Arrived at the race and it was in the high teens but the wind was whipping. I hung around in the gym and waited for my dad to show up. Chatted with Mahoney about who else might be in it up front, but didn't see anyone. Warmed up with 4 easy laps around the school, testing out my racing gear. It was wicked cold whenever the wind gusted, but otherwise I was comfortable in a single layer upper with a singlet. Inside and downed a gel with about 15 minutes minutes to go. Right as I was getting ready to leave, I saw a team RUN guy, Chris Andrews heading out. At that point I mentally prepared for a battle, since I'm pretty sure Andrews has finished ahead of me in the last 3 or 4 times we've met.

I was uncharacteristically calm though. I jogged to the start, did a few easy strides and prepared to ease into the race as the first mile gradually climbs. A guy in a red jacket took it out and I followed suit. Each time I tried to get onto his shoulder and share the lead, he would surge slightly and make sure I was out of sight behind him. Fine... I could hang back a few seconds and relax. I didn't look back, but I sensed it was quickly becoming a 2 man race and I was a little apprehensive to chase this guy because we were taking it out much faster than last year. Garmin was off the mark as we passed the first mile around 5:44. Next mile was around 5:30 and mile 3 was 5:12 for me and I was getting dropped. Runner in red (I'll call him Jordan now, since I learned his name after the race) had maybe a 7 to 10 second gap on me and now I'm just trying to keep him in sight. Mile 4 was flat and I held the gap (21:58), mile 5 hurt like hell as it climbs a long steady hill. Through 5 miles 1:20 faster than last year.

From this point on I knew it would be a real grind. I tried to relax and let the miles tic by with as little resistance as possible. Through 8 miles in 44:05, 9 miles around 49:35 and the hills began immediately after. I was reeling at this point, and the GU I tried to take was frozen in my hand. I decided to swallow the gel whole since chewing and choking on its congealed form seemed like a negative strategy during an uphill mile. It worked, but my stomach wasn't happy. After a steep section, I made substantial ground on Jordan and just before the 10 mile mark I made the pass. 10 miles in 55:46! Yiiikes. My PR for 10 miles is 55:05 and that's on a net-even course, though not a flat one (Jones 10).

Moving on, I tried to stay composed but I was really hurting through the hills of miles 11 and 12. By the half-marathon (1:14:3x) I was pretty convinced I wouldn't match last year's race time. Mile 14 made me want to quit, as I told a few guys after the race. The wind whipping off the open field to the left froze my face. I couldn't feel my lips or my ears and my body felt like it was shutting down. I knew that as I descended there would be less wind and it was all I could do but count the minutes down.

I never looked back, but I felt like I was crawling. Anybody who ran conservative early on might even steal it. To my relief, there would be no last-minute contenders. I hit the final uphill and took the hard right into the parking lot to see 1:30:38 on the clock as I finished. Pretty sweet finishing time, but more than anything I was just happy to be done. My body was rocked. I couldn't even jog for several minutes without calf cramps. Anyway, I jogged back up the hill to the corner about 2/3 of a mile away to cheer my dad in. He ran great! 2:07 and change for second in his age group overall. He has amazed me with his improvements these past couple years.

Alex called and congratulated me, and I was reminded that his 8:10 3k on Saturday was a whole lot faster than my measly 5:39 pace. Makes me want to run a 3k and see if I can break 8:40! Probably not. I have to be honest and admit I am really excited for the strength I have developed over the past couple months. My training has been anything than glorious, but I've realized that I don't have to log huge miles as long as I'm putting in consistent quality work. I've gone on (and on) about this in past blogs, but I truly believe the core work and lifting makes a substantial difference in my strength. If you're not doing regular core work, maybe try it out.

Next up will be the Jones 10 miler where I'll target 53:xx. That would be a huge PR for me on a challenging course. Thanks to everybody on facebook who has already given me a shout out and motivated me to recover quickly and get back to workouts. The next two days, however, will be mighty slow...

Garmin data here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/266973989 **Garmin was way off relative to the markers on the course. It shows me stopping a few times, too, which definitely didn't happen.**

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Wednesday: 60 minutes / 8 miles, mostly easy with a few half mile pickups around 5:50 pace just to mix it up. Freezing. Wore 2 layers of pants including the Saucony Siberius and 4 layers of shirts/jackets. Only one pair of gloves which felt like a mistake, but I got through it.

Thursday: Off. I always say family comes first and sometimes a run just isn't in the cards.

Friday: 11 miles / 70 minutes on the "dreadmill" at the gym. So boring! But felt amazing. 6:20 pace is such a breeze lately. Then 3 sets of: bicep curls, lat pull downs, triceps extensions, push ups, pull ups, and military press.

Saturday: 9.7-8 / 67 minutes from BU track with a crew of current and former UNH guys. Great run. A little faster than I would have gone solo, but it was great to have company.

Tuesday Workout!

Last Tuesday I had a strong workout with Newbould, but this week I was solo. I've been feeling good lately and the workouts have been coming together nicely. After Saturday's workout I was feeling ambitious, so tonight I targeted 5 x mile on 2 min running recovery (7-7:30 pace), an old favorite from my UNH days. I didn't make the full five miles of work, but I'm pleased with the results!

4:57

4:57

4:58

4:57

I kept recovery at exactly 2 min, and with the running recovery I covered 5 miles in 26:55. I developed a stitch early in mile 4 which led to cutting it short. Gotta keep up with the core work to fix that. But, I can honestly say I haven't run a workout of this caliber so steady and relaxed since I was 22yo... Feels like good things are to come. The key is to not get greedy.