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!
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