Thursday, November 20, 2014

Monday, Tuesday, WEDNESDAY

Monday, November 17
cold and rainy, out and back solo from Gordon - grapevine, rubbly, essex (22), chebacco/pine into manchester, turned around on rockwood (11.17/1:14:05)

Tuesday, November 18
just over 7 miles with Nate H. on the roads and thru Gordon woods at a crisp 6:47 pace (7.1/48:13)

Wednesday, November 19
way out and back, probably my longest mid-week run ever; thankful for the freedom to train - got it into my head that I would go out 75 minutes and then come back, without really thinking how far that might be on the roads. (I've run for 2 and a half hours in the woods a couple times recently.) At 9 miles in under an hour, I realized this was going to end up being pretty far. I ran to the rail trail off of rte. 97 in Wenham and kept following it north until I got to an hour and fifteen at about 11.5 miles just over the tops field town line into boxford; then turned around and came back. It was cool (right around freezing) and breezy, but sunny and I felt really good for the most part. At around 20-21 miles, I started getting a little soreness in my right achilles, but I just tried to keep going and not push off too hard without compromising form. In all it was only about 3 miles shy of a marathon (23.17) in 2:29:22. Made me feel reasonably confident that I could pull off a decent road marathon in the near future if I can find one.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Thursday - Sunday (11/13 - 11/16)

Thursday 11/13
7.26 in 49:12 with Nate H. on the roads from Gordon; Grapevine, Rubbly/Woodbury, Bridge, Essex, Rubbly

Friday 11/14
12 miles at 6:30 pace on the roads from Gordon on the eve of DIII NE's; headed to Williamstown at 2:30 pm with the team

Saturday 11/15
5:23 am - with the headlamp on from the Cozy Corner Motel in Williamstown, down Rte. 7 into town, Rte. 2 west to Bee Hill Rd. which became (Bee Hill Rd.) - unpaved, little snow/leaf coverage, about 5 and a half miles to the trail up Berlin Mtn.; up the mountain in an inch or two of snow, got to the top right around sunrise, but was clouded in some light snow; ran down (the wrong way) along the Taconic Crest Trail for a little over a mile, then turned around, back to the summit and down the 33' Trail where I was slipping and siding pretty good on the snow-covered leaves; finally got down and out to the road and back to the motel just before 8 am; continental breakfast, then men (28th) and women (33rd) ran well at tough Williams course. DIII NE just keeps getting better!
(16.75 in 2:27:38 with some good climbing - Mt. Berlin summit is 2818')

Week Total: 81

Sunday 11/16
from home in the afternoon, down to Patton Park; 2 x Gabe's Run 5k course (20:37 and 20:25) with :45 jog from finish to start; then home (8.86 in 59:21)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

11/8-12 (officially preparing for an undisclosed ultra)

Saturday, November 8
Travelled to Westfield State for ECAC's with #'s 8-14 men and women. Almost across the board season-bests on the fast Stanley Park course on a beautiful day. Snuck out for a little under 8 and a half on the trails and roads before the meet got going while everyone was warming up.
(81 miles for the week was my highest weekly mileage since August)

Sunday, November 9
Got up early and ran almost 9 on the roads at 7:17 pace before church.

Monday, November 10
13.23 at 6:37 pace from Gordon down into downtown Wenham, around Wm. Fairfield Dr., 97 to Cedar St. and back - nice

Tuesday, November 11
8.88 w/ Nate at 6:51 pace on the roads; our longest run together in a while

Wednesday, November 12
A little over two hours in the woods between meetings; just over 14 miles

Friday, November 7, 2014

The latest

October 23 - 25:

Thurs. 10/23 - 12 on the roads at ~7:00/mi.

Fri. 10/24 - 16 x 400m w/ some loooooong recoveries, until I was "joined" (he was at 65, ahead of me) by Chris Blondin for my last 3, for which I kept the recoveries at 2'; started with a couple 71's, then ended up averaging 67.5 for the full 16; fastest 3 were 65-66; 4-mile warmup; 4-mile cool down (this workout took forever)

Sat. 10/25 - first weekend run in a few weeks; just a quick seven miles at 6:26 pace on the roads
(68 miles for the week on 6 days of running)

October 26 - November 1:

Mon. 10/27 - 6 miles (seminary loop) with Nate H. at 6:52 pace; beautiful fall day!

Tues. 10/28 - 6+ miles with Nate in the woods

Wed. 10/29 - seminary loop with Nate in the am in 40:16; 4 EASY miles in the woods in the afternoon

That was it for the week, or should I say "weak", with meet preparations consuming the rest of my life Thurs., Fri., Sat.

(22.5 total on 3 days of running, 4 runs)

November 2 - Present:

Sun. 11/2 - so awesome, run in vt w/ Josh Ferenc, Greg Hammett, Eric MacKnight and Josh's "girls", Lena and Ellie; just about an hour from Josh's up to the Pinnacle Outlook - took a look at the snow on Sugarbush, Stratton and Mt. Snow, had a salted caramel Gu, courtesy of Josh, headed back to another beautiful outlook, "knife edge", etc. We estimated 14 miles in just over two hours - Lena must have run twice that distance off in the woods, running ahead. Great start to the week with great guys. Enjoyed a couple Long Trails back at the Ferenc homestead with surprise (to me, at least) guest, Justin Fyffe. Looking forward to my next opportunity to get WILD with this crew.

Mon. 11/3 - 5.6 @ 6:58 pace, Grover St. loop with Nate

Tues. 11/4 - 12 @ 6:47 pace, out and back from Gordon in new Mizuno Wave Riders; had to stop and massage right foot which isn't used to the stiff Mizuno feel; this is my first pair of Mizunos ever

Wed. 11/5 - 18 miles @ 6:30 pace; just kind of went for it in the early afternoon - 20:36 (6:52/mi.) for the first 3; 27:04 (6:46/mi.) for the next 4; 32:35 (6:31/mi.) for the next 5; ~37:00 (6:10/mi.) for the last 6+; felt good to go long, equalled my longest road run this year (July 25)

Thurs. 11/6 - 7.6 in 51:50 w/ Nate on the roads, grapevine to end, 127 to bennett in Manchester, then back pine to Gordon woods; 5.6 in 41:00 in the rain at practice with the team

Fri. 11/7 - almost 6 in just under an hour with Greg K. in Gordon and Manchester-Essex Woods; a little over 4 at practice with 6 fast, long striders on the grass that felt good.

(72.8 in 6 days so far this week - best week in a couple months)