Thursday:
5++ miles / 40ish minutes with a GPS malfunction it's hard to know, but anyway I took it easy today as the increased workout is catching up with me a bit. After the run my R knee and R hip were oddly achy. I stretched, rolled out, and did some strengthening stuff which didn't aggravate the area.
Friday:
Planned day off - absorb all of the good work and rest the IT-band area!
Saturday:
10 miles / 65:10 first 5 around 7:00 pace last 5 around 6:00-6:10. High energy run despite cold symptoms. IT-band area better, I'd give it 90%.
Sunday: Mill Cities Relay
With the wind howling and the rain that fell on Andover last night I awoke imagining nightmarish ice covering the roads of the local mill towns. Fortunately though, that wasn't the case at all and the day proved a good one for (nearly) winter racing.
I had leg 1 for the first time and our team of 20-something-year-old Whirlaway guys convened at the Claddagh in Lawrence for a 6:30 departure. Once we arrived in Nashua at the race start I got right into prep mode and was glad to have Pat Ard representing the 30-39 year old division to warm up with. Pretty soon it was go-time and we lined up for 5.4 mi of fun...
Jim Pawlicki, an out-of-shape Ryan Gough, and dozens of familiar faces took off on the gradual downhill start. I was immediately gapped by a young guy repping a Pelham HS singlet. He looked strong and I figured I'd be seeing a lot of him for the remaining miles. I was right. And there was an even bigger, stronger looking guy fully geared up and taking charge after about 1/2 mi in. He would gap us and then grow his lead to something like 60 seconds or maybe even more. It was pretty impressive. The Pelham kid and I traded leads a few times but he was definitely a front runner and eventually I relinquished my claim to the lead and ran immediately in tow to our exchange at the vocational school off 3a. I had run 28:35 for 5.4 mi / 5:17 per mile. The hot pace in the beginning (5:01 at the mile) definitely had me reeling and I think had I been a tad more conservative I might have had a bit more for the gradual downhill portions in miles 4 and 5, where I really stunk it up.
WRT Open team was second to the studs from Tufts who lead almost every step from the very beginning. Valiant effort by Jose running 5:22 pace for the longest leg (9.5ish) on the day and Steve Dowsett closed it out for us with a couple of teams in hot pursuit. It was fun to catch up with so many people and get a good hard effort in the books.
Overall this was a step forward. I have 6 days until I get my butt kicked at BU mini-meet #1. One workout before now and then would probably be smart! I'll try to do something with efforts below 5:00 pace. Meanwhile I'll have to monitor my IT as it's not worse following the relay but it's not 100% cleared up yet. Still operating at 90%. Priority #1: I want to race healthy on Saturday and have a solid long run on Sunday.
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