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.