Training Week 4/9-4/15 and Racing on the Rivah

M- 11.0 miles in 1:16:13 with Double J on the dirt roads of South Conway. Original plan was to do a few miles easy as a warm-up, then 12 miles of 3 min on 3 min moderate, but neither one of us was feeling great, so we just ran steady 7 min pace on the hilly roads.

Tu- 3.2 miles in 35:57 with Double J and Roger after timing the KHS track meet. Roger and I were ready to skip the run, but Jim guilted us into getting out.

W- 4.0 miles in 31:55 from Jim's house on the roads to the McNair easement, then the trail around the pond. Another day where I wanted to take a zero after hiking 12.2 miles up and down Cranmore for work. http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/82751775



View from my office for the day, Cranmore Mtn.

Th- 5.0 miles in 44:49 with Jim on the trails behind my house. I don't run there very often because most of them are dead ends. I really need to get out there and do some trail work to make some loops.

F- 6.1 miles in 48:06 from Jim's house over Chamberlain Ledge, Modock Hill Rd. and Pound Rd. Solid run.


The gloves say it all

Sa- Merrimack River Trail Race, 1st place, 59:13, 16 sec ahead of Tim Van Orden. Decent race. My legs felt like garbage all week, and race day was no different. No soreness, just felt like I had battery acid running through my veins all week. My goal was to just run smooth the first half and hope I could run a harder effort the second half.

I passed the first mile in 5:09 in the lead, right about where I am every year and was a little surprised as it felt slower that. I took my splits and tried to not think about times, more about the effort. I was running fairly quick despite how my legs felt. I wasn't breathing terribly hard, so I knew I was running smart. All the while I was being dogged by a mysterious runner, but I didn't dare look back to see who it was as I don't look behind me in races. The mystery runner stayed behind me all the way until just after 4 miles where we hit Powahline Hill. He was close on the hill, but I recovered quicker and was able to open up a good gap by the time we hit the 5 mile turnaround. I had 28:59 on my watch at half way, which I knew projected out to about 59:00 for the full race. I was hoping to run a couple minutes faster when I started looking at splits a few weeks ago, but I didn't feel like complete ass back then.

Making my way back I saw that my pursuer was TiVO. I was a little surprised to see that it was him, but I shouldn't have been as he's been running really well this winter and spring and is tough on the trails. I just tried to stay smooth knowing that I wasn't going to set a PR, but I wanted to put in a hard effort. I made my way back through the masses, each mile split a little slower than on the way out, some from running into oncoming traffic, but, mostly from fatigue. This race course should be right in my wheelhouse, but I've only managed to run really fast on it once.

Around 8 miles the course climbs up from the river onto a high bank and I had to opportunity to look behind me without turning my head, and I spied TiVo about 10-15 seconds back. I was running hard, but wasn't in the mood to have the race come down to a kick, so I put in some hard work in the last 2 miles to make sure that didn't happen. As bad as I felt the last 2 miles trying to run hard, a kick would have hurt a hell of a lot more.

I crossed the line pretty light headed, mostly because of my dead legs and not because I was breathing terribly hard. My face was encrusted in salt too. I'm guessing I have been dehydrated all week after the head cold I had last week and my 12 mile hike at Cranmore on Wednesday. I pounded 1/2 gallon of Gatorade on the ride home and drank more water when I got home. A good night of sleep helped.

A big thank you to Double D and Petey for putting on a great race.

3.0 wu, drills, no cd

Splits:
1 5:09
2 5:20
3 5:55
4 5:50
5 6:43 28:59
6 6:57
7 6:13
8 6:14
9 5:30
10 5:19 30:15 2nd half

Previous River Results:

57:46 2008 1st
58:58 2005 3rd
59:05 2010 1st
59:07 2011 2nd
59:13 2009 2nd
59:13 2012 1st
59:35 2006 2nd
59:48 2007 2nd

59:06 avg. time, 1.75 avg. finish. At least I'm consistent.



Su- 11 miles in 1:26:24 with Peter Haine at Lincoln Woods. We ran the Wilderness Trail out and the Pemi Side East Trail back. Some crazy damage from Hurricane Irene on the East Side past the Wilderness boundary. Soaked in the river for a few minutes after, but it was too damn cold!

Totals: 53.3 miles, 6.71 hours. A ho-hum week. It would have been a lot worse if Jim didn't drag me out the door a bunch of those days. Tim and I cut out the morning runs this week in order to catch up on sleep and get the legs feeling good again, but it didn't work. I didn't realize that dehydration was the problem until after the race on Saturday. A little disappointed that I didn't get the strides and drills in this week. This coming week leaves 9 weeks until Mt. Washington. I know I'm in better shape than last year and will start doing mountain specific workouts. It's going to be a fun build up.