Head in the Clouds

Me doing my best sketchball impression on Mt. Cabot

M- 0 adjusting to working outside again

Tu- 0

W- 0

Th- AM: 6.0 Wal-Mart / Corridor 19 50:49, felt ok, ran easy w/ Paul

PM: 4.0 Settlers Green 39:09 ran easy w/ Roger, 5x80m easy strides after

F- 6.0 Wal-Mart / Corridor 19 49:11, felt better than yesterday, ran easy w/ Paul

Sa- Mt. Cabot, the Bulge and the Horn, 12.0 miles 2650 ft gain, 2:33:14. Nice run, got out before the heavy rain. No views but nice trails.

Su- Bloody Arm Loop +/-7 1:02:14 Muddy, ran easy

Total: 35.0 miles. Another not-so-spectacular week, but at this time of the year my goal is just to get some runs in and not get fat.

Wake Me Up When November Ends

M- 8.75 Stark Rd. Loop, 1:00:16 (6:53 pace), felt good, ran easy, 28 degrees out in the AM

Tu- 8.0 easy on Hurricane Mt. Rd., 1:11:14, 1.8 mile climb, then down 2.2 miles down to Chatham, then turn around and go back over the pass. 1,000 ft of gain up each side. I usually run this workout harder the closer I get to Mt. Washington. Ran easy this week and averaged 9:07 pace on the ups.

W- 0 left knee sore, may have whacked it with a brush ax handle last week and aggravated it with the downhill last night.

Th- 3.6 on the roads w/ Roger 35:44. Ran easy, still feel knee but it doesn't hurt.

F- 0 didn't get out of bed before work and spent the afternoon driving to Norwood,MA.

Sa- +/-4.0 on the roads of Norwood 29:59, felt good, but ate too much before the run.

Su- New England Cross Country Championships, Franklin Park. 34:41, 65th/103. Doesn't get more pathetic than that. This was a race I should have never done, considering I ran a marathon 3 weeks ago. I was hoping to help the team and have some fun, but I managed to do neither. CMS had a strong contingent and placed 4th out of the New England teams. I came through the mile in 5:08 then settled into marathon pace. Now only if I could trade that 10k time with the last 10k at Bay State...

Totals: 33.0 miles Not a great week, but not too bad. Just trying to come back after the marathon. November is my least favorite month of the year. No daylight after work, trails covered in leaves, no snow to ski on. I could do without this wretched time of year. I'm not going to worry too much about hitting workouts and getting the mileage high right now. Just get in some nice easy climbs, get used to running before work, and wait for snow. This time of year is usually busy for me at work too, so I'll need to focus on that until the snow flies.

Moving Forward and Looking Ahead

Me leading the 2006 MWRR. I might have gone out a little too hard.

I was planning on sitting down and writing a blog on my Bay State Marathon experience, but I just don't have the motivation to do so. It's not that it's not worth writing about, more that I'm looking forward to the upcoming months of training. My 2:41:32 at Bay State was a 10+ minute PR, but still 11+ minutes short of what I was shooting for. I felt great up until 15 miles, and still thought I could salvage a decent time up through 19 miles, but the wheels fell off there. Not enough pavement running in training for me.

I took the last 2 weeks easy, just doing some easy running 3 days each week. Time to start building towards Mt. Washington though. I spent the last year working on my general fitness, trying to get back to where I was 3-4 years ago on the roads and trails. I think I'm getting there, just not 100% yet. The next 7 months will be spent working on what it's going to take to run fast at Mt. Washington, lots of mountain running. When I ran my best times at Mt. W in 05 and 06 I was training in the mountains a ton. I kind of got away from that, thinking that I needed to be able to run a fast 10k to stay with the competition. I'm not going to be running 30 flat 10k's or 14 low 5k's any time soon. Mountain running is my strength. How the hell else was I able to run a sub 1:04 at Washington? I know some think that was a fluke, a time from long ago on a perfect day. My next fastest time in the race is 1:06:31. Good point, but I know it wasn't a fluke. There's more there. I managed a 1:04:41 in training solo back in 06 after coming back from the Colorado qualifier.

I'm planning on doing some snowshoe racing this winter with a goal of top 5 at the National Snowshoe Championships in Syracuse, NY in early March. I'll be doing a handful of races in NH and MA to get ready for it. Looking forward to some good competition.

My plan for the winter is as follows:

-Long run of 3-4 hours on snowshoes in the mountains. Sounds ambitious, but I've done it before off of less base.

-Short hills sprints. Works on power and efficiency. Easy workout that can be done just about anywhere.

-Some ballistic exercises. I need some pep in my step. This is one way to do it.

-Threshold run or fartlek on snowshoes. Not a ball buster run, just something to get me working up a good sweat.

-Long hill repeat workout. More than enough long groomed or plowed hills around here. 400m to 2 miles in length.

-Long hard hill climb. Run up Hurricane Mt. Rd. to Black Cap summit and Kearsarge are my favorites.

If I can do this schedule all winter I will be a beast come spring.

Almost There

On Saturday I did my next to last marathon pace workout. Originally I was supposed to do 2x4 miles @ MP with a mile in between in around 6:05. I decided to do 5 miles @ MP on the track, mile @ 6:05, then the Gary Millen 5k at Kennett instead. I ended up running 28:11 for the 8k (5:40 pace), 6:00 for the mile, 5 min break waiting for the start, then the 5k in 17:01 (5:29 pace). I was shooting for 5:45 pace for all the MP stuff, and was very suprised how easy the whole workout felt. The taper must be working. One more workout Wednesday (5k @MP), then off to the marathon.

Moving In

I finally moved my blog over to Blogger after a few years at livejournal (which pretty much sucks). I hope the new look and better graphics capabilities are more enjoyable for everyone.