Sunday, May 13, 2012

Training Week 5/7-5/13

M- 9.7 miles in 2:17:01 in the Moat Mtn. Range w/ Jim. Went north to south on this one. The climb up North Moat is brutal, but I felt pretty good on it.

Tu- 12.1 mile Glines Hill loop with Jim in 1:24:44 (6:59 pace). Hilly loop. 1500 ft of elevation gain. Solid run. We didn't kill it, just rolled along. 9:00 for the full mile up Glines Hill Rd. 7 strides in the last mile.

W- 4 x Cathedral Ledge Rd. hill circuit. This workout is brutal, but makes you strong as hell. 8 minute pace at 12% grade feels easier after this one. 3.5 mi wu, 8.7 miles total.

Th- 11.7 miles in 1:31:16 on the snowmobile trails near Chocorua Lake and the Hemenway State Forest. I was pretty tired, and Jim was more than happy to run easy with me. Soaked in the lake 10 minutes after.

F- 3 mile uphill fartlek (1:00 on, 1:00 off) on the auto road. Quads were a little stiff going into this, but nothing major. Mile splits of 6:52, 8:22, 8:49. It was spitting snow at 3 miles. That last mile was pretty tough. 2.0 mi wu.

Sa- 10.8 miles up Rattlesnake, Middle and Peaked with Paul in 2:17:44. A little tired and I probably overdid it with this one, especially with a race the next day, but with 5 weeks until Washington I still have some time for some solid training before worrying about freshening up.

Su- Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race, 2nd place, ~1 minute behind Josh Ferenc. Fun course and a good race against Josh. I knew it would be an interesting race with Jim, Josh, Todd Callaghan, TiVo, Ross Krause, Double D and Mike Quintal, but I had no idea how it would shake out. Reading the course description it sounded like a lot of fast downhill, which is not my strong suit, but I knew I was probably the strongest climber in the field, so I made it my mission to do as much as I could on the climbs.

Unfortunately, after the start I found that my legs could not get moving despite a 2.5 warm-up. Josh took it out with Mike and another guy and I tucked in hoping that my legs would wake up. After about half a mile and swallowing a couple of black flies, I moved up behind Josh and gave chase on the way to the high point of loop 1, the king of the mountain preme point. I covered the first mile in 6:47, but Josh got to the top about 5 seconds ahead of me. From there Josh opened up a good gap on the muddy downhill. I moved as fast as I could, but was feeling the effects of the cumulative fatigue of the training week and the fact that I got 2.5 hours of sleep last night after seeing Flogging Molly and The Devil Makes Three in Portland. Oops.

On the second lap I just focused on working the uphill hard and making it the best workout I could. I could see Josh up ahead of me, but he wasn't out of reach. I slowly made my way up the hill and managed to take the lead about 2/3rds of the way up the climb. Josh hung tough though and we were even at the 3 mile mark. From here, he took of like a bat out of hell while I just tried to keep him in sight. I was barely able to do that on the way through the loop 2-3 transition. I hoped I could pull another rabbit out of my hat on the last climb, but I only saw Josh one on the singletrack climb from 4-5 miles. I did see a porcupine climbing a tree though.

From 5-6 miles I just tried to run the smooth downhill as fast as possible and hope that Josh was just around the corner where I couldn't see him. He was around the corner, about 1 minute around it at the finish line.

Overall, I was pretty happy that I raced hard despite being tired, and Josh is a hell of a downhiller, so to be even that close to him in an up/down race makes me happy. It was good to see that Jim pulled out a good race. I know he's making me a better runner, and I hope I'm helping him.

A big thank you to Paul Kirsch for driving my sleep-deprived ass to VT after my late-night hi jinx. Paul is a glutton for punishment though since he's headed to a concert in Boston tonight.

Also a big thank you to Kasie Enman for putting on a great race and sharing all the trails in her backyard with the New England mountain running community. The 1/2 gallon of maple syrup was a nice touch too!

Splits: 6:47 5:37 8:28 6:02 7:53 5:34

Totals: 69.5 miles, 11.0 hours, butt-load of vertical. Another solid week. I was pretty tired all week, but that's a sign of good training. I need to be careful this week about getting plenty of sleep, eating right and staying hydrated so I don't put myself into a hole after the late night Saturday. 5 more weeks.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Training Week 4/30-5/6

M- 5.2 miles in 43:42 on the Lower Nanamacomuck with Double J. Legs were pretty beat. We took it easy, then iced our legs in the Swift River. I made it about 2 minutes, took a break, then went in for another 2 minutes.

Tu- 10.9 miles in 1:23:09 around the Trout Pond area and Pine Barrens with Jim. Felt much better today. Ice bath helped, I think.

W- 4 x Cathedral Ledge Rd. repeats (0.9 miles) 6:52 7:00 7:04 7:08. Pretty psyched with this workout. Two weeks ago I went out way too hard on the first one in 7:16 and had to dial back to 7:40's for the last two. These all felt way better this time. 7:12 = 8:00 pace, so they were still pretty quick, but in control. They were still a little harder than tempo effort, but I wasn't dying at the end of each one. 2.0 wu, drills and strides.

Th- AM: 8.8 miles in 1:00:49 from Jim's house over Eidelweiss, Modock Hill and Pound Rds. Hilly-ass loop and managed to average 6:56 pace for the whole thing. 1000 ft. of elevation gain.
PM: 4.0 miles in 37:41 with Roger and Jim after the KHS track meet. 5 barefoot strides after felt much better than the run itself.

F- 0 Bruised my right foot pretty good while trying to set a metal fence post at a volunteer function at work. I don't think I did any damage, but I decided to be smart and let it heal for the night. Plus, we had pizza and beer at Brennan's after, so I couldn't pass that up.

Sa- 7.0 miles up and down Black Cap in 59:51, 28:53 to the summit (2:02 PR, 8:15 pace).1.0 wu on flats. Hard effort. I was hoping to do a run this morning on the auto road with Paul, Leslie and Frank, but I didn't know how my foot would react to 4 miles of downhill running on pavement, so I headed to the Red Tail Trail. I am really pleased with this effort. I have only run this trail hard a handful of times, but when I have I was in pretty good shape. Also, the foot was completely fine, so I don't have to worry about that.

Su- 12.5 miles in 2:10:58 on the Flat Mtn. Pond Trail, bennett St. and Whiteface Intervale Rd. Nice run with Jim and Sam Wood. Quads were a little tired, but it was a quality run.

Totals: 58.6 miles, 8.30 hours. Not as much volume as the past two weeks, but I needed the easy day on Monday and the day off on Friday I had no control over. Body feels good though and got in some good workouts. I'm having fun with the mountain specific workouts and feel myself getting stronger with each one.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Bucket List

I've had this list floating in my head for a while. I thought I'd put it down on paper the web.

Running Races:
Boston Marathon - A must do for every runner, especially if you're from New England.
New York City Marathon - I'm not much of a city person, but big city marathons are pretty cool (other than the logistics).
Pikes Peak Marathon - I have always said I would never run this, but after having to turn around at mile 10 of the 2008 Ascent and run back down I decided that racing down the Barr Trail might be fun.
Western States 100 - The most prestigious ultra in the country and it covers some awesome terrain.
Leadville 100 - I've been through Leadville once and wasn't too impressed, but the race course looks beautiful.
White River 50 Miler - awesome course, great scenery and usually pretty competitive.
Dipsea Trail Race - A classic trail race in California with a unique age/gender handicapped start.
La Ciaspolada - The biggest snowshoe race in the world, in Italy (6,000+ finishers!)
Sierra Zinal - one of the European mountain classics

Other:
AMC Hut Traverse record attempt
Ski the American Birkbeiner XC ski race in Wisconsin
Ski the Tuckerman Ravine headwall - will probably never happen unless I work on my downhill ski skills and grow some gonads
Ski from the Mt. Washington summit to Pinkham Notch Visitor Center
Hike the length of the Appalachian Trail in NH as a thru-hike
Ski from my house to Canadian border on snowmobile trails (~200 miles?)

I am sure I should have something related to road or mountain biking, but I can't think of anything yet. Feel free to add any suggestions or post your list on your blog!