Since New Bedford

I was pleased, but not ecstatic with my race at New Bedford, but, more than anything I was charged up (by seeing so many people run so well) to train some more and not rest on my laurels until I become a master. With the big day (19+ miles) to start off last week, I looked to stretch my weekly training and wound with 68 miles in 6 days. (No run Saturday with first outdoor meet of the season at Wesleyan.) Thursday did 4 x mile on the track w/ my assistant coach (and recent CMS recruit) Aaron Baldwin. I had a much easier time staying at or under 5:20's. (5:20, 5:16, 5:13, 5:12 w/ 2:30 recoveries) Felt pretty good four days after a hard effort at the half.

I also took this Sunday off, feeling slightly guilty for making my race such a big priority the Sunday before. Yesterday, I took off from work and went out for a ten-mile progression run and felt great. 6:38; 6:25; 6:19; 6:14; 6:08; 6:04; 5:58; 5:47; 5:40; 5:26 (+ 1:02 for the last .19). I normally have a pretty hard time getting under 5:40 on a training run, so to drop a 5:26 tenth mile is nice for me.

If it ever warms up, I will start trying to double with more am runs before work, a la 2011. Back then I was starting work at 7 or 730, so I really had to get out early. Now I am not in until 830 or 9, so there is no excuse.

I also really appreciated the article in the most recent Running Times on strength training for distance runners and will look to incorporate a bit more of that (which I've lost since I stopped construction) in the coming weeks. You can see the workouts here.

New Bedford Half Marathon 2014

Sunday morning I left my house around 8:00 for the hour and a half trip down to New Bedford. The temps were in the mid-20's and weren't supposed to improve much. I had quite a few layers for the warmup and a long sleeve shirt I could race in under my new CMS singlet, but left the tights at home and figured shorts would be fine.

I made good time on the way down and found a spot on the 2nd floor of the Elm St. parking garage, a couple blocks from the YMCA where registration was happening. Bundled up, walked over and picked up my number and nice technical long sleeve. Saw Pawlicki, Shairs, Dunham and talked about a warmup from the garage. I made use of the restrooms at the New Bedford Visitor's Center, which I was surprised to find open on a Sunday morning, but glad to avoid the monstrous port-a-potty lines.

I ended up missing my 'mates for the warmup, but I did just over 2 miles up Elm St. and back down, finishing up about 20 minutes before the gun was scheduled to go off. Switched into my racing flats and opted for the short sleeve T under the singlet, hat and gloves and Native sunglasses. Headed to the starting lines for a couple strides with a little time to spare.

I got in near the front and my plan was 5:20-5:30 and find some folks to work with. Early on, I found myself just off the back of a large pack escorting Kim Smith at about 5:20 pace. I came through 2 miles in 10:52, right near teammates Chris Mahoney and Scott Leslie. (Dan Vassallo was off causing trouble with the leaders.) My best guess was that we were somewhere in the top 35-50, but the pack in front of us was so big, it was hard to see beyond them. After the three hills between miles 2 and 4, things had strung out a bit and I had dropped two disappointing miles (5:37 and 5:42), so I knew I would have to make up some ground to get back under 5:30 pace.

Sure enough, when we hit the long straightaway, my legs got going and I was able to make up some time, if not any ground on anyone. My fifth mile was the fastest of the day at 5:06, followed by 6 in 5:19 and 7 in 5:17. I was still being passed about as much I was passing - Scott McGrath and Eric MacKnight were among those who flew by me in the middle miles, on their way to finishing one and two minutes ahead of me, respectively.

8, 9 and 10 I felt like I was maintaining pretty well and there were enough guys nearby and just ahead to keep me interested and racing. 5:25, 5:25, 5:30 for a ten mile split of 54:14.

Mile 11 I was working on reeling a couple runners in and felt like I kept the pace honest, but was discouraged by the 5:54 split for my efforts (on the Garmin afterward, mile 11 measured 1.04, so that compounded the problem). It was windy and I was tiring, but I hoped I could get back to 5:40 or faster the rest of the way.

Somewhere before mile 12 a pack of BAA and others engulfed me and cruised by, dropping me about 15 spots in the process. I chased them up the never ending hill at mile 12 (5:36) and caught a couple stragglers, then closed for the finish in 6:03 for the last 1.1+. Ended up 45th overall, 3rd CMS in 1:11:48. Two minutes slower than I ran this fall, but given the recent training this was about as well as I could have hoped to run. I hate that I ran a 5:06 and a 5:54 in the same race, though. (5k splits: 17:00, 16:44, 16:38; last 5k = 17:34)

Post-race cooldown with Dan Vassallo and Scott Leslie for 2 miles, then 2 more with Scott, then enjoyed catching up back at the Y with more teammates and comrades who have survived the long winter months. Devoured some clam chowder and a fish sandwich before the ride home. Looking forward to ramping up training and racing some more soon.

Pre-N.B.

The New Bedford Half Marathon is in two days, so hopefully I will have a report afterwards, but just thought a quick update on February "progress" would be a good idea.

First off, we got a dog, to go along with 3 kids in a small house, because we were getting bored and too used to sleeping through the night. His name is Bear, he is half black lab and half mastiff. He weighs about 85 pounds. He is a little less jumpy than a lab, but he drools more. We love having him as part of the family, even though the initial adjustment was a little rough. Emma (almost 2) walks around the house now, saying "Good boy." and hugging him around the neck and poking her little fingers in his eyes whenever she gets a chance. He doesn't seem to mind at all. We had a great time up at my parents' condo at Sugarloaf, and we spoiled Bear with long walks on the XC/snowshoe trails and the trail up nearby Burnt Mtn. He also had a great time playing with my parents' golden retriever, Abby.

Running wise, the month of February started off pretty promising, with a couple 60+ mile weeks and some longer runs. Even a tempo workout with Jordan and Meagan. Then I had a down week (35) with a snowstorm and a long (but productive) day at the DIII NE indoor champs. We had 2 ECAC qualifiers, and four school records! The following week I was back up over 60, but the end of the week I got sick and lost four straight days with a cold. Since then, I've been back to 5-8 miles a day. Tuesday, I did some mile repeats on the road in the 50+ degree heat, and felt pretty good. 4 x mile all around 5:20 on rolling terrain.

I'm not really sure what to expect on Sunday, but hope that a 1:12 isn't out of the question. I'm planning to go out (and stay) somewhere between 5:20 and 5:30, find a pack to work with and not completely die when the wind inevitably shifts to head-on.

Looking past this weekend, I am feeling healthy to put in a spring mileage surge, start doing some more doubles as the morning weather gets more and more attractive, and target some May, June, July, August, etc. races. Still planning on making it to the Chase the Gorilla, Backshore, Loon, Yankee Homecoming, Cape Ann, Lone Gull, and, God willing, a fall marathon.

Jan+

Looking back over my running logs from the past few years, I realized that in my most consistent year of training, 2011, I kept things under control for the first few months of the year with consistent 50-60 mile weeks for Jan, Feb, Mar, and into April. The past two years, I've rushed it a little bit in the new year, especially last year, where I was in the 90's the second and third weeks of the year. In 2012 and 13, I struggled to keep consistent mileage through the early part of the spring, when I want to be out as much as possible, as the weather turns warmer, birds sing and flowers bloom, etc.

Partly out of deference to my training history, and partly because my plantar has been flaring up any time I go more than 12 miles, I've been trying a similar approach thus far in 2014.

After missing the first four days of the year (travel, snowstorm, laziness), I've been pretty consistent about getting out and getting some miles in. In the five weeks since then, I've been between 55 and 65 miles, with most running done at a 7ish minute pace, some slower, some a little faster. Mostly, I've been getting out with Nate H. from Gordon for 45 to an hour at lunch. The only workout-type effort came last Tuesday when I joined Jordan K. and Meagan N. for 3 x 3k at just under 6:00/mi. pace and 2 x 1k a little faster on the roads of Beverly and Manchester. With warmup and cooldown it was close to 14 miles and certainly the most significant mid-week work that I'd done in a while.

Looking ahead, I want to stay consistent through February and March, hopefully race New Bedford in the 1:10-1:12 range, and start getting a little regular speed work in when the track melts.

In other news, the Gordon College men and women are getting ready for indoor NE's in 2 weeks/gearing up for outdoors.

On the home front, Benjamin and I have just gotten started in Cub Scouts and he's getting ready for his first spring of little league!

We're also waiting to hear from North Star Lab Rescue about a foster dog!

2013 Recap

One week into the new year already and almost three months since my last update and it's time to say something about the year that was.

2013 featured several competitive highs, including an almost-top-10 at Mt. Washington, a seriously satisfying showing at Cranmore for the US Mtn. Champs, and several lifetime fastest times (which isn't as hard when you don't start competing until your late-20's/early-30's) - 10,000m outdoor track, and 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon and 30k on the roads, plus a Mt. Washington PR.

I raced 20 times in 2013, up from only 11 races in 2012, and that seemed to be a good move. Mileage was slightly down from the year before (2986 down from 3165) and way shy of the 3700 I ran in 2011.

Our home life continues to get crazier and crazier, with Emma, our youngest daughter at almost 20 months just starting to get in on the antics with Ben (7) and Grace (4 1/2). I have finally caved to the pressure to get Ben involved in organized town sports - since Kindergarten, classmates have been doing soccer, flag football, basketball, baseball, etc. - so I signed him up for Little League baseball, which is where it all got started for me. I didn't see a line on the registration to declare that his intent is to pursue a career as a professional endurance athlete, but that's probably good, because he doesn't even know that yet.

After a year and a half coaching three seasons (XC, indoor, outdoor) at DIII Gordon College I'm still convinced I've found my dream job. I have an amazing opportunity to work with some exceptional student-athletes who want to do what I love most to do. I also appreciate the freedom I have to train as a full-time coach. Especially during the cold months, being able to get out for an hour when the sun is at its highest is pretty sweet.

(That being said, it took finding out yesterday that JJ was back with CMS to get me entering my runs into my log again and shaking the dust off "run in such a way...")

So what's up for 2014?
I'd like to get in to the mountains some more, although my assistant coach is getting married on June 21, which is an unfortunate conflict. Maybe a snowshoe race someday, too.

I'm hoping to be in shape to run the best race of my life at Loon.

It would be nice to contribute at the Grand Prix for CMS a couple times.

A 2:25-2:26 marathon is a dream that I'd like to see come true some year soon...

Also, keeping the training and racing at a high level without sacrificing the other amazing blessings in my life.

North Jersey Half Marathon race report

I left work early last Thursday since Gordon was on quad break and headed down with my family to visit Heather's parents for the weekend. On Friday, Heather and I visited our new niece, Maisie, in Lancaster, PA (my brother Alex and his wife Chloe’s first) and Saturday we headed to Pompton Plains, NJ for the 3rd Annual North Jersey Half Marathon.

The race was advertised as flat, and the course drive through looked amazingly so. We arrived at the park where the race began at 7:30 am for the 8:30 start. It was cold, around 40 degrees and I had only brought my CMS singlet and shorts, no hat or gloves. I was confident it would warm up once we got going. Heather also donned the (new) CMS ladies' gear, as we warmed up a bit and made our way over to the starting area.

I noticed one young runner who was answering a lot of questions about what he was hoping to run and how fit he was, etc. and figured he was the local favorite. He mentioned a recent 2:31 marathon and just wanted to run half that time because he had been sick that week.

I had 1:10 in mind and Heather hoped to improve dramatically on her 1:39 best from several years back.

The gun went off and the young guy (Rob Albano) and I went right to the front. We talked quite a bit the first mile and still came through in 5:09. I told him I wanted to run 1:10 and he basically gave me his blessing to go for it. At 2.5 miles, we came to an intersection with a police officer standing in the road and we asked which way to go as we approached. The officer told us to turn right, but Rob thought we were supposed to go straight, so we stopped and talked and deliberated (it was probably only about 5 seconds) and decided to disobey the policeman and continue straight. Fortunately, we made the right call, as did the 223 runners behind us. 

It was a little unsettling to have that happen in the first 3 miles of the race and I was concerned about what other adventures we might have in the final ten miles. After miles 2-5 passed between 5:26 and 5:31 amid much gabbing between Rob and me, I told him I was going to have to pick up the intensity a bit if I wanted to get close to 1:10. He obliged and we ran a 5:22 6th and a 5:21 7th mile.

After that, the miles got a little screwy, but we were really cruising (for me), keeping the (Garmin) pace between 5:00 and 5:15. Mile 8 (little short) was a 4:57, Mile 9 (very short) was a 4:45, Mile 10 (way long) was a 6:05, and had us back where we were supposed to be, with a clock reading 53:32 at 10 miles. At this point, I was losing ground to Rob, but (according to the Garmin) I was keeping the pace pretty consistent. The mile markers were another story. Mile 11 (Garmin measured .82) was a mile PR of 4:18. Mile 12 and 13 + caught me up, but it was hard to know what my time would be or if the course would end up being accurate or not. 

I came through in 1:09:45.3, but more importantly a Garmin-measured distance of 13.26 indicated that the certified course claim was true. Rob won in 1:09:31, quite a bit under his predicted 1:15.

Heather had a similar fate, finishing second by about thirty ticks, but with a huge 12-minute PR. (1:27:01)

Feeling happy about breaking 1:10, but still a little weird about this race, because of the mis-labelled mile markers. With a little better course management, this could be a big-time PR course. It had quite a few turns in one neighborhood, but also a couple long, straight shots down the boulevard on either side, where you could just roll (like New Bedford). Also, no ocean winds to worry about and absolutely nothing resembling an incline.

tempo miles on the track

Heather and I registered for the North Jersey Half Marathon last night. The race is next Saturday, the 19th, and looks super-flat. This is only the third year they have held the event, and last year's winning time was 1:19, so not sure if I'll have company shooting for 5:20's, but that's ok.

Feeling stiff and sore (from last week's mileage?), I headed to the track on a picture-perfect midday. Temps right around 60 degrees, light breeze, crisp and cool.

Decided on tempo miles, with a goal of seven. Instead of trying to run them all at 5:20-5:24, I thought I would increase the pace as I went, starting out a little slower than 5:20 and ending up a little faster. The goal for the half-marathon will be to improve on my pr of 1:12:13, which I ran at New Bedford in 2007 during my Boston build-up. I remember barely being able to walk afterwards (IT band) and still forcing myself to do a 4-mile cooldown with Andy McCarron. I'd love to be near or potentially under 1:10. With that in mind, I want 5:20's to be pretty comfortable.

.25 miles up to the track, then 2 miles on the track for a warmup.
Started the workout with a relaxed 76-second first quarter, then backed it off too much to run the first mile in 5:31. jogged 100m and back to the start. Mile 2 was a 5:27. Kept the recoveries at ~200m/1:00. Mile 3 = 5:22. Mile 4 = 5:18. Mile 5 = 5:14. Mile 6 = 5:18; decided to forego the recovery jog and just stood near the finish for 1:00 to feel more recovered. Finished up with a 5:11.
2 miles on the track for a cooldown, then jogged back down to my office. Feeling good about next weekend.