February 12 - 24, 2015

Thursday, February 12
15 miles @ 6:45 pace on the treadmill, watching Part One of Ken Burns' Civil War

Friday, February 13
wicked cold run around brookline while some Gordon women were running at BU; I couldn't find parking near BU, so I parked on Beacon Street and ran on mostly snow-covered side walks until I got to BC and ran around the reservoir a bunch of times while the sun slowly set. There weren't many people out; it was cold and windy, but I had an interesting interaction with a couple guys walking the reservoir: the first time I came by them, one guy put his hands up like he was cheering for me, so I did the same and said "Yeah!" Then, when I got close, he stepped aside (totally normal) and as I ran by he slapped me on the back (not normal). My instincts got the better of me and I said something like "Hands off, buddy!" and continued running. Of course, the beauty of running (and walking) a mile and a half loop half a dozen times is that you pass the same people over and over, so I got to see these guys a bunch more times. The next approach, I came in fast and ran straight at the guy who had slapped me on the back and he said, "Uh-oh" and then I swerved around him at the last minute. After that, the next four encounters were awkward but silent. Pretty sure this was my coldest run of the winter. (16 in 2:06)

Saturday, February 14
2 x 10-mile loop, first with Heather; this was like my monster "Rothlin" run from the week before, but minus the third loop with 10 x 1k. I expected it to be a lot easier than it was. Dodging cars on the narrow roads. Cold. (20.5 in 2:24)

Week Total: 100.89 miles

(start Caumsett taper)

Sunday, February 15
10.42 in 1:10 on the treadmill

Monday, February 16
out and back from Gordon on terribly dangerous roads (11.93 mi. in 1:23:30)

Tuesday, February 17
8.23 on treadmill in 56:08; also 40-45 minutes cross-country ski in Gordon Woods with Nathan S.

Wednesday, February 18
14.24 on treadmill in 1:30:45 (another episode of Civil War)

Thursday, February 19
11.94 on treadmill in 1:20:35 (more Civil War)

Friday, February 20
11.02 on treadmill in 1:15:17

Saturday, February 21
first non-treadmill run since Monday; from Springfield College (DIII NE Men's meet) to Forest Park, around roads in park and back (10.47 in 1:14:10)

Week Total: 78.25

Sunday, February 22
Five College Realtors 10-Mile Race in Amherst, MA. Left the house a little after 8 am and arrived to Amherst Regional High School before 10:30. Picked up my number and saw a few CMS 'mates at registration. Warmed up on the first mile+ of the course and realized it wouldn't be fast. I really had no idea about the hills though until we got to them in the third mile. I worked with Drew Best a bit over the first few miles, then trailed him for the last 6+. Scott Leslie was in my sights the whole way, too, but I could never get very close to him. I had a great view of the developing race for a while, but couldn't stay up with the Ortizes and MacKnights where the actual racing was happening. First mile was 5:22, second was 5:16, third was 6:16!
Miles 4 and 5 were on dirt roads mostly covered with snow and I tried to follow or not follow the guys in front of me based on how they seemed to be moving. When I came through 5 miles in 27:45 the pavement appeared again and I tried to take off. Even with a 5:16, a 5:13 and a 5:15 I got passed by a couple people and lost ground on Scott and Drew. I kept myself entertained with the possibility of breaking 54:00 if I could hold 5:15's for the last two miles. But the uphill on Mile 9, cost me 35 seconds (5:50) and navigating the pot holes on the last mile, I was able to close respectably with a 5:24, but didn't catch anyone and crossed in 54:43 for 17th place.
It was a long day with the 4 plus hours in the car, but good to catch up with teammates and help the club to a third place finish (not like winning, but still the open team's highest finish in the past three years here). Plus, the stretches of sunny road over the second half were the glimmer of spring hope that I needed. It felt great to be warm in shorts and a singlet, and it was strange to feel so hot and then get a breeze that dropped snow from the trees on your bare skin, but not altogether unpleasant.
(16.28 with warmup and cool down)

Monday, February 23
sore from yesterday's race. seminary loop plus a little with Nate H. (6.37 in 46:28); then four more solo in 30:00 a couple hours later

Tuesday, February 24
still sore; almost 10 in just about 70 minutes on the roads

I'm hoping to try 5k at 50k pace tomorrow if my sore legs will allow. The plan is to head down to NJ on Friday midday and then to LI on Saturday. I'm hoping to jog an easy 5k Caumsett loop Saturday afternoon to get a preview. The forecast for Sunday looks a little chilly, but not as cold as some of the recent mornings. Should be around 20 at the start and warming up to around freezing over the next three hours or so. It sounds a lot better than the 6 degrees there this morning.

waiting for the great melt forwards (January 29 - February 11, 2015)

As of my last post two weeks ago, we had received our first significant snow of the season, and since then we have had a couple more good sized snowstorms which means that it has been difficult to get out on the roads (at least during and immediately following), but I've been taking what I can get with some bright spots along the way.

I'm still preparing for Caumsett and had an encouraging run-through of the "Rothlin" run that I learned about on Nate Jenkins' blog. Nate's blog has been an incredible resource for marathon/50k workouts that I would never have attempted before. I've had to slow the times down quite a bit from what he would run them at obviously, but the volume has brought me to places I've never been before in a workout in terms of dealing with discomfort. I'm guessing that is good going into a 50k with ambitious goals.

I also just signed up for Mt. Washington this morning after missing it last year and vowing never to do so again as long as it is in my power to be there. Thanks to Paul K. for giving me an opportunity to get back there this year based on my 2013 performance!

The nuts and bolts for the last two weeks:

Thursday, January 29

1:18 pm - 5 miles with Nate H., 5 more on my own (10.03/1:10:13); 

3:11 pm - out and back at practice (6.55/46:00)

Friday, January 30

18.67 in 1:58:50 from Gordon at 12:35 pm

(first North Shore Beer Co-Op in Gloucester)

Saturday, January 31

(first "triple" of the year, with obvious tip of the cap to DD, whose blog informed me that "triples" are a thing)

5:44 am - in snowstorm, in yak trax, 600m loop in asbury grove 14x (5.14/41:35)

10:18 am - in Gorham, ME before USM track meet, sliding around (w/ yak trax) (3.9/30:10)

2:12 pm - b/w men's and women's meets at USM, no yak trax (6.55/47:58)

Week Total: 89 miles

Sunday, February 1

after church, met up with the Tingers (Brian and Mariah of SRR) for a fun "relay" - Mariah ran to our house from their house, picked up Heather who ran from our house back to T's, then Brian ran back to our house with Heather, then Brian and I ran back to Tingers, then I ran home solo; the whole operation took about 2.5 hours and we all got about 10 miles in without leaving any of our 5 small children unattended (10.52 in 1:13:29)

(then enjoyed the pats victory in Super Bowl 49)

Monday, February 2

during second snowstorm, ran on the treadmill at night while watching lcd sound system's "shut up and play the hits"; I could barely hear it, but it was ok (15.45/1:43:22 - my longest treadmill run ever, I think)

Tuesday, February 3

12:52 pm - out and back on snow-narrowed roads from Gordon (15.74/1:40:15) on what I deemed the safest route and have stuck to quite a few days since

Wednesday, February 4

14.92 in 1:37:51 out and back on same route

Thursday, February 5

18.71 in 2:04:00 on a different route

Friday, Fenruary 6

15.54 in 1:38:57 back to Tues./Wed. route; threw in a few short pickups, including 4 x 1k

Saturday, February 7

"The Rothlin" (see above)

Goal = 20+ miles at 80% of marathon pace (~6:45/mi.) + 10 x 1k @ half-marathon to marathon pace (~5:20-5:40/mi. or 3:20-3:32/km)

Actual:

10-mile (10.26) loop with Heather @ 6:57/mi.

10-mile loop solo @ 6:29/mi.

(total: 33k (just over 20 miles) @ 6:43/mi.)

10 x 1k: 3:22, 3:16, 3:21, 3:19, 3:19, 3:23, 3:27, 3:34, 3:40, 3:40 - last 3 were brutally tough with increasing tunnel vision

staggered home the last 1k plus at 8-9 min. pace

30.34 miles in 3:16:52

Week Total: 121 miles

Sunday, February 8

another snowstorm; 9.05 miles in 1:01:15 on the treadmill

Monday, February 9

10.29 miles in 1:10:13 on the treadmill

Tuesday, February 10

back to the unfriendly roads - out and back from Gordon (14.94 miles in 1:43:16) on the same route as last tues., wed., fri.

Wednesday, February 11

drove to Ipswich to run out and back along Rte. 133 which had a wide shoulder (most of the way) to Gloucester and back (14.97 in 1:42:23)