July 31-August 6, 2011

Week Total: 101.9 miles (unbelievable - every run was a gift from God!)


Saturday - 17.08 (Texas Day 3)

AM - (5:11 am CST) it really is a dry heat; i don't really sweat like i do in the massachusetts humidity; feeling really good - 6:56 pace

Friday - 12.6 (Texas Day 2)

AM - (5:24 am CST) heather's brother, andrew joined me and i was a little braver on dark texas backroads than i would have been by myself; 7:32 pace

Thursday - 16.05 (Texas Day 1)

AM - (5:20 am CST) 6:55 pace, felt warm at first, 85 degrees before dawn, got done as sun was just coming up, felt good

Wednesday - 6.06

AM - (5:05) before leaving for texas; easy, 8:00 pace

Tuesday - 20.57

PM - (5:30) 3.19 warmup w/ heather, greg k. + dakota rees; 10-mile race in 53:34 (best time ever at Newburyport, 2nd fastest 10-mile ever - 1st was 53:19 at Harvard in October '06) - splits - 5:14/5:19/5:27/5:10/5:30/5:34/5:29/5:20/5:16/5:10; 3.25 cooldown w/ heather and greg k.

AM - (5:30) before work - 4.13 easy, 8:00+ pace

Monday - 15.26

PM - (4:15) after work; 6.3 w/ greg k. from pingree park @ 7:25 pace

AM - (5:15) before work; same loop as last Thrus./Fri. except came back a little longer way (8.96 mi. @ 7:08 pace)

Sunday - 14.25

AM - (6:30) started slowly (7:22 first mile) and gradually picked up the pace (6:46/6:57/6:44/6:28/6:37/6:27/6:25), then stayed under 6:20's for the last 6.25 (6:15/6:17/6:19/6:13/6:10/6:05), last .28 in 1:44. Felt pretty good the morning after a considerable effort yesterday.
Probably will try to get in some miles tomorrow, even with the 10-miler on Tuesday - Wednesday morning we leave for Granbury, TX (vacation at Heather's grandparents). Here is the forecast for the week we will be there:

Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue
3-Aug	4-Aug	5-Aug	6-Aug	7-Aug	8-Aug	9-Aug
Sunny	Sunny	Sunny	Sunny	Sunny	Sunny	Sunny
110	109	109	108	107	107	107
85	83	83	82	82	82	82

We'll probably try to do most of our running before sunrise which is 6:45 AM.
At least it's going to be sunny. And there's sort of a cooling trend toward the end of the week.
The other crazy thing is the humidity, or lack of, I guess is more accurate: this morning at 7 am in Granbury it was 82 degrees and only about 40% humidity, which is about as low as it gets around here at mid-day. In the middle of the day in Texas, the humidity was around 20%. We'll see if the "dry heat" makes any difference.
Heather's parents will be there with us, and we generally have quite a bit of time to ourselves when Grammy and Grampy Jersey get to see Ben and Grace; we've been out there the past four years at various times from late May to late August and have usually found some time to run.

Carver 5-Mile

Heather and I drove down early (left Hamilton at 6:05) and made good time. Arrived in Carver around 7:30 with a Dunkin stop near home and a bathroom stop near the race. We're convinced we want to retire to the Cape someday (maybe around the year 2050), and Carver has a similar feel.

Got our numbers without much hassle, unlike many CMS teammates, who discovered upon arrival that they were not registered. Warmed up on the last mile of the course with a big group of CMS men - caught up with Greg Ward and talked Cape Cod with a couple guys.

Couple of strides on the main drag before the gun went off. Stuck to my plan about getting off to a good start, maybe a little too good of a start. First mile felt fast, but not uncomfortable. Garmin beeped for a mile right at the mark in 4:50. I was near JJ, Will Dobbie, and eventual winner Kevin Johnson.

2nd mile went by in 5:09 for a two-mile split of right around 10-flat. Great, I thought, low-25's seems like a good shot. I was in about 10th place at this point. From here, I don't know if it was the heat, the high mileage of the week or the fast start, but I couldn't really seem to maintain. JJ got further and further ahead of me along with the BAA tandem of Dobbie and Terry Shea. Mile 3 was a sobering 5:20 and mile 4 a scandalous 5:28. I got passed by Pete Mallett, Nick Crowell, Brennan Bonner and Chad Carr. The only person I went by in that stretch was an obviously hurting or relenting Josh Ferenc. I thought maybe Joseph Koech was coming back, but I never made up the difference. I passed Pete in the last couple hundred meters and managed a last mile of 5:17 for a grand total of 26:05. For the second straight Grand Prix event, I finished one spot behind the top master.

Summary: 3rd CMS (same as Stowe) and 14th overall (better than at Stowe) was encouraging, although the time was definitely a little disappointing. Considering that I ran 25:17 in May on a similarly flat course in Gloucester all by myself, I assumed that the competition would help rather than hurt my time. Admittedly, my mileage has been higher than ever or at least higher than it has been in a long time and I am getting used to how that affects me. Hopefully in another couple weeks I'll be ready to race better in the midst of the high mileage. As temps continue to drop, I look forward to a productive fall; Cape Cod, maybe?

Cooled down with Jim P., Greg H., and Tim P. then ran into Heather just starting her cooldown as we were almost back. Did a couple more miles with her, then headed back home.

note: the drive down took about 1:20, the drive back took about 2:30.

Pics courtesy of Ted and Mary Tyler @www.jimrhoades.com

July 24 - 30, 2011

Week Total: 100


Saturday - 15.45

AM - 2.5 warmup in Carver w/ CMS men; 5M race in 26:05 (14th, 3rd CMS); 5+ after w/ Pawlicki, Pipp, Hammett and then Heather

PM - 3 easy to get 100 for the week; Ben rode his bike and I pushed Grace in the jogging stroller for part.

Friday - 8 plus

AM - 5:18 (before work) same loop as yesterday morning but a little slower; taking afternoon off and resting for carver tomorrow, hoping for good things, beginning with getting off to a good start and a good fast first mile; hopefully get a chance to see the course a little beforehand.

Thursday - 12 (plus a little)

PM - 4:40 (from home) a little more than 4 miles pretty slowly with my ipod; out and back on asbury street toward bradley palmer state park

AM - 5:20 (before work) a little over 8 miles; highland to center of wenham, down cherry st to cedar st to 97 south into beverly, conant to 1a back to wenham and home, 6:55 pace

Wednesday - 12 (almost)

PM - 4:15 (from work) Cutler loop to home - 5.82 in 36:23 (6:52/6:21/6:09/6:08/6:04/4:49 for .82 - overall 6:15 pace)

AM - 5:20 (before work) out and back very easy 6.06 barely under 8 minute pace; abs sore from running hard yesterday

Tuesday - 18 (I think this Sunday-Monday-Tuesday is my highest three-day total ever)

PM - 4:00 (from work) 2.37 mi. to HW track; 5 x 1-mile T w/ Greg K. and Alex V. (5:15/5:20/5:17/5:17/5:12) w/ 200m recoveries (~1 min.); 3 miles home; would have liked to have run the last one a little bit faster, but overall pleased with workout - much better than the same thing early in the morning last week and the week before (11.04 total in 1:09:58)

AM - 5:30 (before work) 7.02 in 51:22; Cutler loop

Monday - 13.4

PM - 4:15 (after work) 7.37 in 51:13 from Pingree Park on roads; legs are tired from increased workload/yesterday

AM - 5:30 (before work) 6.03 in 45:30 out and back highland/cherry/cedar/97

Sunday - 21

Went for it after church (10:00) and wasn't really sure what to expect. I felt okay early and there were some nice autumn-ish breezes, which were very welcome after the last three days of 90-100 degree heat. Started around 6:40's for the first few miles and mostly was clicking off 6:20's pretty easily.

Compared to my first 20-miler (this summer) a couple of weeks ago, this was much better. I'm not sure if it was the lower humidity, the time of day (a little later and after breakfast) or a better dinner the night before, but the end didn't drag and I felt like I could pick it up if I needed to.

I'm thankful my wife gave me 2+ hours to do this while she took care of our kids and taught Sunday School. I'm still not sure if this is all building for Cape Cod or some other marathon, but it feels like the right thing to do...

The details:

21.05 in 2:16:32 through Ipswich, Essex, Manchester, Beverly, Wenham, and Hamilton. A few hills, mostly quiet secondary roads. Nice shade, some cool breezes. Slowest mile: 6:52 (1st), fastest mile: 6:17 (18th). Thank you, God!

July 17th-23rd

Week Total: 84 miles (highest week of 2011 so far, probably the most I've run since I was training for Boston in winter 2007)

Saturday - 10+

5:50 am - 10.24 in 1:09:08; feeling a little better (cooler this morning), but still a little sluggish - pray that tomorrow is better...

Friday - 12

5:12 am - 12.08 in 1:25:13; went in to work late and got in some miles before it got too hot...started around 7:30's and finished in 6:40's-6:50's; feeling a little better, but still some lingering soreness (from Sunday and Wednesday am?); hoping to go for 20 again this weekend.

Thursday - 8

took the afternoon off from running - mid '90's

5:20 am - couldn't get Garmin to work, so I left without it and didn't feel any pressure to maintain pace; just wanted to make sure my achilles was all right, so I just plugged along for 8 miles in 62 minutes, very humid and warm already...maybe take this afternoon off...

Wednesday - 13.87

4:20 PM - 4.09/27:14; tried to do some form running and some stretching for achilles, didn't feel bad while I ran, got tight afterwards - I know I need to be doing some faster running, but I don't think 5 am is the time for it...

5:15 AM left the house not sure if I was going to head to the track or not; ran 3.2 to HW track and did 2-miles in 11:12 w/ 400m recovery then 1-mile in 5:12; wanted to do more, but needed to get home and left achilles a little tight - 3.3 home 9.78 total

Tuesday - 13.16

4:15 PM from pingree park out and back union, asbury, 1a - 6.14 in 38:34 (6:17/mi.)

5:23 AM out and back highland/1a/larch - 7.02 in 51:01

Monday - 14.18

3:45 PM not quite as easy out and back highland - 6.11 in 41:39

5:15 AM easy out and back hamilton/wenham/beverly by airport - 8.07 in 58:04

Sunday - 12.5

Stowe 8-mile road race (43:29.5 - 5:26/mi.; 21st/919); 2.2 before with Heather, 2.3 after with Heather

Testers?

A friend of mine has developed an electronic device to be worn inside the shoe when running and he's looking for wear-testers once he's finished with the prototype (a couple of weeks form now). Anyone interested in trying out the product can let me know and I'll get one for you. I'm sure he'd also love to hear any feedback about what you think of the product after you try it.

Stowe 8-Miler

This was my first Grand Prix event in a couple of years (since Ollie 2009), and Heather and I were fortunate enough to be able to spend (part of) the weekend alone together in Stowe at the economical and adequate Riverside Inn. We had a great pre-race dinner of shed burgers, nachos and mountain ale, followed by apple-blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream! I had a hard time sleeping with nerves and over-hydration, but felt good enough at 6:00 am on race morning.  Read 2 chapters of Job and then got Heather up so we could be at The Bagel when they opened at 6:30. We shared 3 bagels ( I ate most of two) with cream cheese and Green Mountain coffee. Saw Ed Breen and another GBTC teammate (Will Feldman?) enjoying their pre-race breakfast and talked briefly with Ed (Ted according to results). Then we went back to the Riverside and took a short walk on the beautiful Stowe Rec Path to scout out our post-race swim spot.

We left for the start at a couple minutes before 8:30 and jogged the 2-miles up 108 and Cape Cod to Weeks Hill Rd. We saw a big crew of CMS men warming up, including JJ and Pawlicki (surprise!).  Then we met up with Joe Shairs and he ran back in to the start with us and told us about the desirable accommodations at The Golden Eagle Resort. (I was especially interested in the trout fishing pond for kids - maybe next year if we're back!) Got to the start and stood around in the sun for a few minutes - saw Greg Hammett, Jeff Goupil, and met Tim Pipp, coming off a 19:50 4 on the Fourth, and running "his longest race ever". After Krissy snapped a pic of the mustachioed men of CMS,

we settled in to the CMS starting box and got ready to go.

The start was quick, but I was not and I sort of bounced around in the midst of all the bodies while we wound our way through the field and out to Weeks Hill Rd.  JJ was right ahead of me, and Andy McCarron and Chris Mahoney were nearby. We went through the first mile in 5:46, and Andy said, "That can't be right." I said, "I hope it's not." and checked the Garmin, which measured it a little long.  Sure enough, our 2nd mile was a 5:03, and it seemed to balance out, though not quite to the 5:15 pace I was hoping for. Climbing the hill up to Barrows Road, I went by Joe Navas, who looked strong and wondered when he would come back past me.

Sure enough on one of the big downhills he flew by, along with another runner, who I think might have been Chad Carr. I felt pretty relaxed on Barrows, which is mostly downhill and has some nice shaded sections. Mile 3 was a too-slow 5:30, and mile 4 was a 5:13. As we came to the end of Barrows Road and turned onto Moscow Rd., I looked up to see how far ahead JJ and Bob Wiles were - I counted 6 runners between them and me, so I started to try to catch a few. Moscow Road does a little climbing, and I was starting to feel the effects of the sun and humidity, but managed to reel in a couple guys before the turn onto River Rd. There I passed Bob, who was apparently struggling a little, and shortly thereafter I went by Joe N. again. The next runner up, who I determined from the results was Bobby Asher of the Van Cortland Track Club appeared to be struggling and looked back several times, but remained strong and neither Joe nor I was able to catch him.  River Rd. went better than I remembered it going in 2005 and 2006 (the last time I was here) - Mile 5 (Moscow Rd.) was a pleasantly surprising 5:21 and Mile 6 was a forgettable 5:34, but Mile 7 was a 5:25 as we began the somewhat cruel ascent back to Ye Olde England Inn and the finish. I stayed about the same distance behind Joe the rest of the way in and finished with a 43:29.5 for 21st place and 3rd CMS.

I was happy to be able to be a scoring member of the CMS Men's Team which currently leads the Grand Prix by a comfortable margin, but I would have loved to have improved on my 43:14 clocking from '06 (on a slightly different course).

Thanks to Krissy K. for all the great pics - it's good to see that I need to remember to pick my left foot up off the ground.: ) I have two weeks to pick my feet up and sharpen my 5-mile speed for a 25-flat effort at Carver in 2 weeks. Maybe we'll get a freak 70-degree day or some rain.

Heather was pretty pleased with her 53:18.9 for 22nd woman and (also) 3rd CMS in her first race with the team in ages. We cooled down right after she finished and headed straight to a spot off the rec path on the river for a very brisk dunk in the water to soothe the sore muscles and stave off the heat stroke.
We went back to the Inn, showered and checked out then headed back to the post-race festivities, chatted briefly with Jim and Kris, who were about to take off, Joe Shairs and Kevin Tilton, then Jane and Bernie Sexton from Hamilton, who we ran into at registration the day before. It was too short of a stay, and I dreamed of a little bit better result (42?), but we had a good time regardless. Big thank you to my mom and dad who watched Ben and Grace for the weekend so we could go run!

My love and me in our matching Stowe 8-Mile Cotton/Poly blend T's (Oh yeah, and my sick stache which has to come off soon.)

July 10-16, 2011

Week Total: 78 miles

Saturday - ran stowe course after arriving later than expected, first 2.3 mi. w/ heather (8.11 mi./58:15); great dinner at the shed afterward!

Friday - 10 km in AM in 46:39; 5 1/4 after work w/ conor in 38:02

Thursday - 9.24 in 1:08:35 (8 mi. w/ Al)

Wednesday - AM -up at 4:50, chocolate powerbar and 2 glasses of water, left the house at 5:16, got to track at 5:40 (23:24, 3.25 warmup); 5 x 1-mile T w/ ~1 min./200m recoveries (5:39/5:35/5:28/5:22/5:12); 23:24, 3.28 warmdown back home - nice.
                     PM - 4.15/30:13 recovery run on roads/trails

Tuesday - 9.2 in 1:01:09 (6:38/mi.) at 5:30 am; 77 degrees already, going to 90

Monday - 5:15 am - out and back highland/arbor-1a-cherry-cedar-97-airport rd (7.16/49:18); after work - from pingree park around hamilton and wenham, very hot, ran up scilly's once (5.47, 37:05)

Sunday - nice recovery/progession run from zumi's after Church; market to washington to linebrook to pineswamp to fox run to longmeadow to topsfield rd to mill rd to waldingfield to goodhue to cutler to rock maple to meyer to rock maple to 1a to pingree park thru to union to asbury and home; started easy, 6:53, last three miles 6:06, 5:51, 5:42 - felt good after tough run yesterday (11.26 in 1:11:43)

It's been awhile, but...

Having received great inspiration from the blogs of other CMSers (JJ, Wiles, Pawlicki, Tilton, Dunham, etc.), I've decided to try my hand at this.

I've been keeping my log in a google doc, so I don't know if I'll bother to transfer all that data over here or just pick up with this week.

After seeing what the guys who I want to run like have been doing, I've started doing some two-a-days and really appreciate the freedom it gives me on my afternoon run. Last Friday and four mornings this week I got out around 5 am for anywhere from 6-12 miles. I even had a nice tempo mile workout this wednesday at 5:30 am. I've found that it really lets me relax and enjoy my second run of the day, instead of feeling like I have to do 10 miles or it's a wasted day.

I'm really looking forward to Stowe and being a part of the good things the CMS men's team has going this year. Hopefully, I can finish in the Top 5 CMS and maybe run better than I've run there before (43:14 in 2006).