Saturday, March 30, 2013

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, March 29, 2013

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.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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!!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Monday Easy

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

Sunday, March 24, 2013

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, March 23, 2013

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, March 22, 2013

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, March 20, 2013

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.

Monday, March 18, 2013

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, March 14, 2013

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, March 11, 2013

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, March 10, 2013

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, March 6, 2013

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.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

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, March 2, 2013

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.