Week 7/25 - 7/31

Monday: 46 mile bike ride, 18.4 mph moving average from Amesbury to Westford. 

Tuesday: 0 worked 10 hours in the hot sun and called it a day. 

Wednesday: 46 mile bike ride, average 17.8 mph avg from Westford to Amesbury. 

Thursday: 10 miles, 70 minutes in Maudslay with Ken.

Friday: 10 miles, 65 minutes on South Hampton roads with Ken.

Saturday: 8.5 miles hard with Alex who is back from Russia. Roughly 6 minute pace.

Sunday:: 1:50 bike ride plus a .7 mile swim point to point at Goddard Lake... 3 mile jog.

Total: 31 miles running. Super light week in terms of running miles but the workload was still right about where it should be with solid bike rides and a nice swim for the first time in a long time. Goddard is a reservoir and the water got COLD in the middle!

Week ending 7/18 - 7/24

Monday: 10 easy (68 min) from the apartment.

Tuesday: 10 steady in Maudslay solo (70 min)

Wednesday: 10 steady with Durham folks on trails (70 min)

Thursday: 10 with 4x400, 2x800 at 5:15 pace, insanely warm early morning run (80's and humid!)

Friday: 10 in 70 minutes in Maudslay with Ken. Departed at 7:30am but still felt the heat!!

Saturday: 5 in 35 minutes on the roads. I was planning to go 10, but the compounding soreness from the past 6 days caused me to act otherwise.

Sunday: 0

Total: 55 miles on 6 days in singles... I had set my sights high on 70 but realized by the end of the week that kind of volume is overly ambitious this week. I could have slowed down and grabbed the volume I wanted, but would have compromised quality. Really solid week overall with one light workout and wicked hot weather to deal with.

Week ending 7/11 - 7/17

Monday: 55 minutes

Tuesday: 9

Wednesday: 8m, workout. ladder, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 2 minutes on by one minute off.

Thursday: 15m, good long run in Pawtuckaway with Brandon and one of his athletes from the boat landing. Bonking from about 1:20 on...

Friday: 0 didn't work out a time to run. Calf is a tad tight and sore today anyway.

Saturday: 4 easy in the afternoon.

Sunday: DNF at Stowe - 10 total. I'm not sure it would have made a difference but I didn't fit a stretch in before the race and my calf and hamstring were tight from the start. On the long downhill leading into 4 miles my calf really started to irritate me as I began to healstrike worse and feel a lack of coordination in my right leg.
Total: 54 miles

Notes: I wasn't good about stretching or getting good consistency this week. I've had enough of training half-assed or creating excuses for myself. It's time to get back to the basics. Ultimately I won't feel comfortable running fast until I build a solid base. The next few weeks will be better.

7/4 - 7/10

Monday: 10 easy (NT)

Tuesday: 9 miles easy (NT)

Wednesday:  Ran 10-10.5 with Billy. We originally planned to run the Hi-Cannon trail to the summit of Cannon and then ridge run to N and S Kinsman, but the epic thunderstorms the Whites are known for turned us home upon arrival. Instead we ran trails near lake Masabesic* and really pushed several portions. Last 2-2.5 were probably close to 5:30 pace

Thursday: Sore, tight and dehydrated. Ran 4 measly miles very slow from the apartment. 20 minutes of core work.

Friday: Got to the Whites in the afternoon. Lauren and I hiked to Arethusa falls and then across to Frankenstein Cliff and back to the car (4 miles total). To get some kind of running in I ran from the parking area back to the bed and breakfast we're staying at. 5 miles, 29:30. Felt good, assisted by gentle downhill grade.

Saturday: Ran 60 minutes with Tilton on an old railroad bed. It was cool to meet up with a fellow CMSer in a great area for running.

Sunday: Woke early and ran 75 minutes with Al and Kevin somewhere between Bartlett and Glen on trails in the Whites. Got back to the B&B just in time for Lauren to decide she wanted to tackle Mt. Washington. It was a long day overall but the views from Tuckerman's Ravine and Lion's Head made it all worth it. Great day. So tired on the drive home.

Total: 53 miles

Notes: This week's total miles is deceivingly low because of all the trail running. I'm happy with the effort on Wednesday and Sunday's adventure should hopefully add to my endurance. Ultimately this was a great week of training and I'm getting excited to run Stowe and Carver in the coming weeks.

Week 6/27 - 7/3

Monday: Ran/hiked Mt. Osceola and East Osceola in the whites. Another two 4000-footers down. Moving-time the hike took 3:02. Unlike last time, this hike was far steeper and dangerous in some sections. Like last time, Bill and I ran wherever possible and finished with 2x5:00 hard. Total miles: 10.2

Tuesday: PT this morning. Ran into Chris Mahoney - small world! Recovery jog around the trails. Felt far looser after the run than before. Beautiful warm day out! 7 miles, 50 minutes.

Wednesday: Day off. Tired.

Thursday: 5 miles (31:00)

Friday: Ran/Hiked Mt. Tecumseh plus a few hill repeats up the last portion of the Waterville Valley maintenance road. 2x5:00 hard at the finish. Total miles: 9.

Saturday: Ran easy with Brandon. Somehow he convinced me to race Loon tomorrow... 8m, 58 minutes.

Sunday: Warmed up 10', raced up and down Loon Mountain, cooled down 22 minutes back to the car. This race was a unique event for me. It was my first mountain race ever and I simply couldn't believe how steep some sections were. The course begins on a flat section along the Pemi river but quickly heads to the ski slopes where we zigzagged up and down across the mountain. Then we hit a maintenance road that took a pretty direct route up the mountain. That was followed by another down-hill zigzag to the far right side of the mountain (when watching from the mountain's base) for yet another extremely steep and direct ascent to the top. Here is where I first saw people walking. Finally at the top, after a brief period of shear agony, the course flies down a steep little hill and then takes us about 1/4 - 1/3 of a mile directly downhill. It was so steep I had to keep putting the breaks on. Then the course cuts hard right back up the mountain for a second go. Here I met the "walking boss", a 10-minute-long section with grades in excess of 40%, and just watched as competitors around me zigzagged and staggered up the hill. It was also neat because, as far ahead as JJ, Newbould and others were, I could see everyone struggling on the same damn hill. After a minute or two I just tried to focus on my own two feet and refused to look up until I got to the top. I passed a few guys on this section but I was shocked at how steep the descent on the other side was. It was all I could do not to wipe out on the rocks and mud and dirt being thrown about, but I also knew there were a few racers right on my tail. Finished 12th place, in 55:40ish according to my watch. Total 9.5 miles on the day.

Total miles on the week: 48.7

Thoughts: The mileage this week was lower than desired, but I also spent 3 days in the white mountains and climbed an estimated 9,000 feet vertical this week. For next week I have to focus on recovering from Loon, hitting about 60 miles, and perhaps doing a fartlek run on Wednesday or Thursday.

Week 6/20-6/26

Monday: Met up with Newbould and got 70 minutes on the rail trail from Epping. Took it nice and easy in light of the tough race Newbould ran this past weekend. (9.5)

Tuesday: Ran with Jenkins from Durham. Went out Radar to Trestle and back. Dear flies were killer today. (60 minutes, 8.5m)

Wednesday: Ran/hiked when running was impossible 3 4,000-footers in the whites with Godfrey. We climbed North Twin, South Twin, and Galehead, covering about 7000' elevation gained over 13.8 miles of total hiking. The steepest section was on the return from Gale hut to South Twin, and we really pushed the pace there. The last 1.8 had a few stream-crossings, but was otherwise clean enough to run. We really hauled that last 1.8 and then ran 2x5:00 hard from the parking area. Total activity: 5h7m. Then we went to the Basin and iced our legs in the chilly river water. Great day. (15.8m)

Thursday: Recovery slog on the trails next to the apartment. (49 minutes, 6.8m)

Friday: Completed two big loops in Maudslay, each one taking about half an hour. Felt slow but no garmin. (59 minutes, 8.5?)

Saturday: Ran steady on some new roads plus a trail I found in South Hampton. (50 minutes, 7.5)

Sunday: 45-minute bike-ride and 5 mile jog with Jenkins.

Total: 61.6

Training Week #1: 6/13-6/19

Monday: Hit my favorite loop in South Hampton through bacheldor park. This run is about 75% roads, and I've been trying to stay on trails as much as possible these days to improve fitness and prevent injury. I was right around 6:50 pace for the total effort, speeding up as the run carried on. (9.4 in 64:30)

Tuesday: Had limited energy today, so I decided to do an out-and-back from the house all on trails. (7 in 48:30)

Wednesday: Woke early to run before the heat rolled in. 90 degrees today! Finished my run by 9am but it was a bit of a struggle to roll right out of bed and onto the streets. I also happened to pick the river route, which happened to be the area that Amesbury calls Wednesday morning "trash day". I proceeded to race a dump truck for no less than 4 miles down the river which divides Amesbury and Newburyport. Woof. (8.5 in 55:00)

Thursday: Ran with Brandon Newbould out in Nottingham. Brandon had his son Arie so we stayed on smooth roads and went fairly short: 6.5m (NT)

Friday: Ran solo in the afternoon from the apartment. 8.2m loop (NT)

Saturday: Wedding weekend, drove to Burlington VT in the morning and snuck in a quick 5 on the hotel treadmill before heading out to the wedding. (34:00)

Sunday: Long mountain run with the padre for father's day pretty darn slow. 2+ hours of running plus about 1 hour of hiking

Total: ~55 miles running for the first time in a while. Strained quad is all but healed, but I'll be taking the next few weeks carefully.

Back to the drawing board..

Returning to blogging and logging my runs only makes sense now that I appear to be healthy again. For those who are unaware, I had a recurrence of Pericarditis which sent me straight back to square one, about 6 weeks of complete inactivity. I'm doing my best not to dwell on the last few months of limited training, nagging injury, and inconsistent motivation. Hopefully all that stuff is in the past. My priority now is just to get back to a fitness level that makes running enjoyable. I'm so out of shape that my slogs this past week have just HURT! Anyway, I'm back, and trying to stay on the path to healthy running. This probably marks comeback #4 in the past 2 years. Yikes...

Week 5: 2/14 - 2/20

M: 9 - 63 min recovery solo
T: 10 - 6x800 @ 10k pace with Ken
W: 10 - 65 min solo
R: 16.4 - 1:46:20 with Brandon and Wes
F: 8 - 61:50 super easy with Brandon
S: 9.8 - 60:14 Fartlek 3min on/2min off x 8. Averaged 5:47 pace for 7 miles. Super windy!
S: 16.5 - 1:53 long with Ken and Ryan Spinney

Total: 79.7

I'm pretty happy with the consistency of this week. I got one speedier workout, two longer runs, and a good fartlek. At the same time, I'm not really feeling very race ready yet and I'm beginning to really wonder what the outcome of next Sunday's 10 mile race will be. I'm also questioning whether I want this coming week to be a down week. New Bedford is exactly 4 weeks from today, and a down week might not make sense if my goal is to be as fit as possible there.

This is only week 5 of the training block and from past experience, I can't really expect to race fast until about week 10-12. Half-way there!

2/15 - Workout Tuesday

Goal: 6x800 @ 10k pace

Actual: 6x800 on 80-90s jogging rest (2:32-2:35)

Notes: This was an easy workout. I just wanted to stretch the legs and breathe deep for a change of pace. It was 10 degrees (-4 with windchill) when I ran, so I was lucky to be inside. I would have been more aggressive with the workout, but the sharp flat turns around 3 basketball courts make it difficult to go much faster without risking injury.