Monday, January 25, 2010

Feeling Like Pooh

M- 2.0 Stark Rd. (10:00PM) 14:34, 5x100m strides in 2nd mile, not pretty, but better than no run at all.
Tu- AM: 6x 3:00 up Cathedral Legde Rd. (+/-9%), jog down rest, all on snowshoes, covered about a 1/4 mile on ups, tough workout but solid. 4.4 wu/cd on SS
PM: 3.6 miles roads 36:32 easy w/ Roger
W-Black Cap via Hurricane Mt. Rd. and trail 6.0 miles 1:05:01, 37:15 to summit, ran easy
Th- 6 x 0.8 miles (3:00 rest) at Settlers Green, 5.0 mi wu w/ Roger 47:56, Splits: 4:45 (watch issue? felt same effort as 2nd one) 4:33 4:30 4:28 4:30 4:28 much better than last week, 0.8 cd
F- Black Cap via Hurricane again 6.4 miles 1:14:13, 36:17 to summit, ran easy, beautiful view (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=968823&l=7f39db577e&id=1315312930)
Sa-Pooh Hill(less) Snowshoe 8k, 4th place 36:57. Felt flat. Yesterday's mountain run didn't help, but I needed to blow off some steam. Out of the race right from the start. I had nothing. Double J beat me by 3 minutes, I was hoping to be running with him for the win. He had a great race though. So did Ben Nephew, Bob Jackman and Jim Pawlicki. It was tough gutting it out knowing I had no chance at catching anyone. Great workout either way. Pretty flat course. wu/cd 3.5
Su- 14.6 miles Stark Rd. & Eidelweiss, 1:43:54 (7:07 pace), hilly run, tried to run easy, right quad has a good knot in it, but it's only noticeable on the downhills.

Totals (through Sat.): 61 miles, 8.9 hours

I'm feeling pretty tired right now. Didn't feel bad all week, just showed up this morning. I should be tired from all the work I've put in the last 4 weeks. Just had a bad race. Nothing hurts, just tired. I can live with tired, especially if it means good things in the long run. Looking forward to the Sandwich Sidehiller 4 Miler this weekend. The course is more technical than Pooh Hill, but still has a lot of wide groomed trail. Should be a good race.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Feeling Good

Riding shotgun after the start. Photo by Kristin Kozlosky

M- Wal-Mart Singletrack to Peaked Mt. 7.8 miles, 1:34:21. Good snowshoe run. Felt like crap at the start, but felt better after 3 miles, so I tacked on the summit of Peaked (49:52).
Tu- 6x0.8 mi around Settlers Green Outlets 3.7 mi wu 33:43 w/ Roger, 4:39 4:36 4:34 4:34 4:38 4:27, shooting for 4:24-4:32, felt ok, windy, slower than last week, but tougher conditions, 0.8 cd, 10.6 total
W-Conway snowmobile trails 7.3 miles 1:05:35, felt good, ran w/ Paul
Th- 5k fartlek in Whitaker Woods, 22:37 (7:18 pace) on snowshoes, good workout, 5.1 mile 48:23 wu w/ Roger
F- 0 Got up before work, but I was a pansy and didn't want to run in the cold. Hiked up and down Thorn Mt. at work all day, then drove to Norwood, MA
Sa- Feel Good Farm Snowshoe Race, 4 miles 37:18 1st place, pretty good race. good to bust the rust. Felt good on the climbs, but still some work to do. Course was pretty boney. Lost both rear cleats on my well used snowshoes.
wu/cd 4.0 mi
Su- Long run in the Blue Hills Reservation w/ Ben Nephew 9.4 miles 1:58:27. Cool run. Lots of gain and descent on the Skyline Trail. Got to try the Khatoola Microspikes for the first time.

Totals: 52.6 miles 8.50 hours. Decent week. Not happy about the goose egg on Friday, or the lack of hill sprints or ballistic exercises on Wednesday. Off to a better start this week though. I'll be racing the Pooh Hill(less) Snowshoe Race this weekend. Should be a fast course and a fast crowd with the likes of Double J, Ben , Jim P and Geoff in the mix.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

More hay in the barn

M- Wal-Mart Corridor 19 6.0 mi 54:45, felt ok, pretty tired, ran w/ Paul, 10x80m strides after
Tu- 6x0.8 mi around Settlers Green Outlets 4.0 mi wu 37:34 w/ Roger, 4:38 4:28 4:33 4:33 4:30 4:28, shooting for 4:24-4:32, felt good, legs stiff during wu, 0.8 cd, 11.1 total
W- 7.5 roads N. Conway 58:03, felt ok, quads tired, ballisatic exercises after
Th- AM: Wal-Mart Corridor 19 6.0 mi 51:36, felt ok, felt good, ran easy w/ Paul
PM: 5k snowshoe hard run, 4.0 mi wu w/ Roger on roads 36:41, hard 5k on Whitaker Woods Fun Run course in 21:46 (7:01 pace), I run this course hard in the summer in around 17:00, about 2/3 groomed, felt good
F- Wal-Mart Corridor 19 6.0 mi 53:32, felt ok, quads dead, ran w/ Paul, skipped hill sprints
Sa- Switchback Way (Jackson) Hill Workout (avg 9% grade, parts much steeper), 3.0 mi wu 22:28, 2 min up, 1:30 down, 3 min up, 1:45 down, 4 min up, 3 min down, 5 min up, 1.7 mi cd, ok workout, legs felt like wooden posts on wu, made it to last utility pole before Juniper Way in 21:00, would like to use this road again.
Su- 3 hour classical ski on Hall Trail (+/-1000 ft elevation gain) w/ Jess, no run

Totals: 51 miles, 10.0 hours. Pretty good week. Didn't get the long run in on Sunday, but I wasn't sitting on my butt eating potato chips either. Quads have been heavy all week, but I've been snowshoeing a lot and been doing a good amount of quality too. Nothing hurts though so that is good. Might race the Feel Good Farm snowshoe race this weekend. Not sure yet.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Go Big or Go Home

M- Old Westside & Moat Lane 9.3 mi 1:04:13 (6:54 pace), felt good, easy run, 10x50m strides after
Tu-AM: Old Bartlett Crown Ridge 5.6 mi 42:53 (7:39 pace), felt ok, very windy, ran w/ Joe Shairs
PM: Settlers Green 3.0 mi 28:27 (9:29 pace), still cold and windy, ran w/ Roger
W-AM: Office to Falcon Way & Back 6.5 mi 50:17 (7:44 pace), felt good, not as windy as yesterday, ran w/ Joe Shairs, drills and exercises after
PM: classical skiing on the Ellis River Trail w/ Jess, 1:20:00 skied easy, quads and abs sore from exercises!
Th-AM: Wal-Mart Corridor 19 Trail 6.0 mi 46:46 (7:48 pace), felt good, still sore from exercises, ran 3.0 mi out w/ Paul for warm-up then did a fartlek on the way back in 19:31 (6:30 pace). Trail was well packed snow/ice. Made for fast running. Used MudClaw O+ spiked shoes.
PM: North Conway Short Loop 3.6 mi 36:23 (10:06 pace), slushy, ran easy with Roger
F-Corridor 19-->Hurricane & Back 10.4 mi 1:40:55 (9:42 pace), felt ok, a little tired, packed snowmobile trail with loose stuff on top, left hip a little sore, 10x20 hills near end, ran w/ Paul
Sa-Wal-Mart to E. Conway Powerline Jct. 12.0 mi 1:40:16 (8:21 pace), felt good, used snowshoes on the snowmobile trails, 2.3 mi w/u in 20:49, then did a 9.7 mile tempo in 1:19:27 (8:11 pace)
Su-Hurricane Mt. Rd.-->Black Cap-->Peaked Mt. 12.0 mi 2:48:35 ( 14:03 pace) 3000+' of elevation gain, felt good until second climb up Black Cap, bonked big time, snow was loose on this climb, but good run overall.

Totals: 68.4 miles, 12.0 hours. Pretty happy with the week considering its the best I've had in a long while in terms of volume and quality. Left hip was a little sore near the end of the week, but it's probably from the addition of running in the snow. It felt better today though. The paces on the snowshoe / snowmobile trail runs probably don't mean much because of varying conditions, but I was very happy with the fartlek, especially considering it's the first hard effort I've had since Bay State. I fell off near the end of the tempo, but not too bad. 8:11 pace is not too bad though for an effort that long on snowshoes, even if it is groomed. I used the same trail for both of those. It's a rolling hilly trail that I've always wanted to run hard but have usually just used for easy miles. I think I'd like to keep using this trail as a benchmark for these workouts. This week I had the luxury of some reduced hours at work, so the volume won't be as high next week, but I will make sure I get all of the quality in. Also, I may cut the long run down to the 2:00-2:15 range until I get used to the volume and intensity, but I want to keep the climbs in it.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

2009 wasn't too bad of a year. There are some things I wish had gone better, but on the whole, I was more consistent than years past.

The numbers:
2197.9 miles
42.27 miles/week
6.0 miles/day

352.5 hours
6.78 hours/week
58 minutes/day.

The numbers aren't staggering, as my career best mileage was around 2700 miles, but I didn't really have any long layoffs as a result of injuries or burnout. I took a good amount of time away from serious training after Bay State, but I needed it and I think it will pay off in the long run.

I got to run in some great races thorughout the year. Some highlights:
-3k PR (9:03) by 1 sec at Dartmouth Relays. Nothing special, but good to blow out the pipes in the middle of the winter.
-win at Sandwich Sidehiller snowshoe race. Great course with a lot of snow. Great battle with Double J right to the finish. Felt good to get a win after getting my butt handed to me in the indoor track races.
-7 Sisters was an interesting race that I hope to go back and do again. Very technical with a lot of up and down. Lesson learned: it' s not easy to run away from three ultras guys on a course like that.
-great battle with Ryan Carrara at Wachusett. The new up/down course was fun. Especially running all out on the downhill fireroads trying to make up the gap on Ryan.
-Mt. Washington didn't go the way I had hoped, but the atmosphere around the race is always great. It's great to get to run with my friends and the best mountain runners in the country in my backyard.
-Had a redeeming race at Cranmore. Didn't climb well, but held my own and then some on the downs on the home course. My first top 10 at the USATF Championships in a long time in a loaded field.
-Pikes Peak was a great experience. Was hoping for a faster time, but 8th place in a solid field for a flatlander ain't bad.
-The Pemi Loop 31.5 mile run wasn't an official race, but was one hell of a hard effort. I'll never forget running 6:20's on the Wilderness Trail with Ben Nephew to break the record by seconds.
-The Ollie 4.91 miler is not my favorite race, but was pretty close to a PR. One of the best efforts I had all year.
-Topsfield XC. Good, old fashioned cross country.
-Bay State Marathon. Jogging in the last 7 miles at 7:30 pace wasn't fun, but a PR was good. 2:41 is nothing to write home about, but it beats a 2:53. It will be a long time before I run another road marathon though.

My main goal for 2010 is to have fun with running. In the past I've gotten so caught up in results and expectations that I lost site of the parts of running that I love. I know not every workout or run is going to be fun, but most of the time it should be.

A new goal for me for the coming year is to make my running have a positive impact on other people. I've always tried to help out at races, mentor, and answer running questions to help give back to the sport that has given me so much, but I would like to use my running to raise money for charity or bring attention to a good cause.

I'm not going to get to specific with race goals yet, as I don't know what they are. I'd obviously like to finish in the top 6 at Washington, but I'm going to assess my fitness as the winter and spring goes along to see what is realistic. You've got to set you goals high, but not so high that you can't reach them.