DNF. Those are three letters that I never thought I would be associated with at Mt. Washington. The forecast all week called for highs in the 80's at the start and high 50's at the summit. I knew that I normally would wilt under those conditions, but I was confident in my fitness, especially after running a 10k PR the week before at Market Square Day. I tried to stay relaxed all week and not stress about the race too much. I think I did a pretty good job and slept pretty well most of the week and didn't get to pre-occupied with the concept of racing up a 6,200 foot mountain.
Race day dawned with warm, but not too humid air. I have found I can handle heat or humidity, but not both at the same time. The drier air was buoying my confidence of having a good race after 4 lackluster finishes in the last 4 years. I tried to stay hydrated before the start and stayed in the shade under the tent. The butterflies started to kick in a few minutes before the start, but not any worse than any other race. I knew I was geared up to run hard.
The start was packed as usual with an interesting mix of mountain running veterans and newbies who had never even seen the road. I lined up right behind the eventual women's winner, not overly concerned with getting out too hard, especially on a warm day. Before I knew it the canon had been fired and I was mired in a quagmire of runners who were hell bent on spriniting the first part of the race. Did I mention there were a lot of newbies? I finally worked my way up to the back of the lead pack a few hundred yards into the climb. I just tried to latch on and do as little work as possible. I noticed my heartrate was high and I was breathing pretty heavy, but I figured it was just because of the fast start.
As we ascended the moutain on the hot black top, things weren't getting any easier. The grade steepened and a few people dropped back, but I was intent of gutting it out no matter how bad I felt the first 2 miles. I knew from my spring races and workouts that it took me a good 2 miles to get into a good rythmn. A few guys started to string the pack out and passed the mile in around 6:12, with me and a few others passing the mark in 6:20. I was thinkning the split was a little quick, but not insane and I was where I needed to be to race for one of the top 6 spots.
Mile 2 is a gut wrenching mile (as if they all aren't) where you really need to bear down and just grind, especially if you plan on racing and not just finishing. I was losing a few spots in this mile, but felt the effort was where it needed to be, and I was keeping people in sight and not losing time to them as they passed me. I battled back and forth with Justin Freeman to the 2 mile mark (8:38). Seing the split got me a little worried, as I was hoping to come through about a minute faster, but I knew the heat was going to slow me down, and hopefully everyone else.
I made it to the infamous 2 mile mark, but I could tell I was starting to crack. I started losing ground to Justin as we commenced the grindind after we crossed the Appalchain Trail. My shoulders were hunching up, my stride shortened, and I started running on my toes. I really worked on using my quads more in training this year, but the heat was causing me to lose my focus. As I rolled into the 2.5 mile water stop I knew it was going to be a long day. Numerous thoughts crosseed my mind. Do I want to finish? Can I still manage a 1:05 or will I crawl across the line in a 1:09 and embarass myself once again? I took a cup of water and dumped it over my head, but I felt no relief; from the heat or the anguish of knowing that I was going to have another shitty race. I say shitty in English because it sounds more convincing than in French. At that point I spiked my water cup into the road, grumbled an expletive or two, and tried to avoid being run over by people who were mentally stronger than me on this day. I sat on the concrete headwall that overlooked a small stream which was washing away the mountain water as quickly as the heat had dried up my dreams of gaining a spot on the US mountain running team.
After a few minutes of wallowing in self-pity on the side of the road, I headed down as the masses headed up. I knew how mind-numbing it can be to run down the road in training, but it did nothing to prepare me for the mental beating I took as I walked along the edge of the travelled way with my head down and my singlet in hand, trying to hide the fact that I was potentially the first person to drop out of the race. The good intentioned questions from friends who were still pushing up the hill were appreciated, but each one hurt a little as I acknowledged there concerns.
After nearly an hour of walking and jogging, I finally made it to the base. I gathered my warm-up gear and soaked in the Peabody River before finding a spot in the shade to lay down and sulk, far away from anyone who knew me.
Nearly a week has passed since the disatser that was my race, but I'm over it, mostly. I've moved onto thinking about new challenges and focusing on the future of my running. Cross country is going to be my main focus this fall. I learned a lot about myself this spring in training and in racing. I'm convinced that Washington was an anomally. I was well prepared, in great shape, and mentally ready to run well. It just wasn't my day. This has also made me realize though how hard I need to work in order to achieve my goals. I'm not going to make the US mounain running team on a bad day. I have to have EVERYTHING come together at the right time. I don't have a 1:06 half marathon or 14:xx 5k to fall back on. My genetics and home climate don't seem to allow me to run well in the oppressive heat that others thrive in. To some this might be discouraging to have the odds stacked against them all the time. To me int's nothing new. It's all about putting one foot in front of the other, then repeat.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Market Square Day 10k
That went pretty well. I was hoping to break 32 coming into this race, knowing that I was rested and had been racing pretty well recently. I had run this race one other time in 2006, but managed to get of course at the 6 mile mark (in 31 flat) and recorded a DNF. At least I knew that the course was fair and had something to go off of for a race plan.
I knew that I hadn't touched on anything faster than 5 minute pace most of the spring, so I was planning on going out as hard as I could without getting into too deep of a hole. The lead pack went out at 4:50-4:52 pace and I was off the back immediately in around 8th place. I was a little worried as we came through the mile, especially knowing the caliber of guys ahead of me. I missed my split at the mile mark (did the same thing in 2006), but was happy with the effort that I was running. Just before 2 miles I caught Double J and passed him, hoping that he would latch on and help me chase down the lead pack. He wasn't feeling it though and I kept working my way up. I caught Bob Wiles a little after 2 miles (10:01) and hoped the same, but the fast early pace and the long week he had with the birth of his second child was catching up to him.
The pack started to fall apart at the top of the hill after the 2 mile mark when Pat Moulton threw in a surge that no one was able to cover. I was already starting to gain ground on those guys, but that only helped my cause. I held 5 minute pace through 3 miles (15:02). I was able to pass Wes Dinnan and Matt O'Connor (UNH guys) before I hit 4 miles in 20:19 (PR). I was feeling good and just working and trying to gain ground on the guys in front of me. I passed Eric Jenkins around 5 miles (25:24, PR) as we made out way closer to Strawberry Banke. I could see John Mentzer not too far ahead, and could even see Pat on the longer straights. I really worked the the sixth mile (30:36) knowing that a sub 32 and a PR were within reach. The last 0.2 were the only part of the course I had never been on, and I found the hill in this section to be a real kick in the balls, but I knew it was near the finish, so I just ran it hard. I crossed the line in 3rd place in 31:42, good enough for a 16 second PR. Conditions were pretty good, other than the high humidity, but it wasn't hot. I am really psyched with how well I have been racing recently, especially with Washington right around the corner. At 5 miles I was working hard, but I had to remind myself that the race was almost over after I've been in the mindset to be racing for an hour.
It was good racing with a good sized CMS contingent. Market Square Day has a great atmosphere and the race is pretty good too. Video of the race here: http://fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100613/GJSPORTS_01/706139811/-1/FOSSPORTS
I'm really looking forward to Mt. Washington on Saturday. This spring is by far the best training I've ever put in for Washington. I had 9 weeks where I averaged 1000 ft of vertical gain per day, great track workouts, great hillclimb workouts, hill repeats, and some pretty good races. I am more prepared for a good run than I have ever been. Saturday's race is going to be competitive, it's going to hurt, and only 6 guys are going to Slovenia. I truly think I'm going to be one of them if I can put everything together.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Coming Down the Mountain...
M- 5.2 mile tempo into 3.0 mile hillclimb (1700 ft) up Black Cap via Hurricane Mt. Rd. 55:23, 50 sec faster than February, 5:33 pace for tempo, 8:49 pace on the climb, hot day. 11.2 total
Tu- 6.0 Whitaker Woods 60:00, ran easy, left hip/back a little stiff, last mile barefoot, 5x100m barefoot strides
W- 6.9 Black Cap via Kettle Ridge, down Red Tail 1:13:40, 42:50 to summit, felt good, ran easy, HOT
Th- 6 laps sprint/float/sprint 8:07 (5:25 pace), 34 sec faster than when I did the same workout last year, 2.5 wu/cd, did this at 8:30PM.
F- 4.5 Maudsley State Park 35:00 ran easy w/ Paul, 3x80m strides barefoot
Sa- Wachusett Mt. Race 30:21 2nd place 5.1 miles, 37 seconds behind Eric Blake, went out hard chasing Eric and Ryan Carrara. I couldn't hang with them the first mile, but was pushing hard and they weren't able to put any additional time on me by the time we turned onto the park road. I caught both of them on the downhill singletrack and passed them in the bushes to open a gap before the gravel fire road. Eric finally caught me before we turned onto the uphill singletrack section. I stayed with him on the lower section, but he pulled away the higher up we went. I may have lost a few seconds to him on the 1.5 mile gravel downhill, but not much. I'm pretty happy with the race. wu/cd 6
Su- 13.0 Moat Brook singletrack 2:21:28 with Paul, was planning on doing 10 with Paul first then adding a long climb up North Moat, but we went a little long on the single track and figured 2:20 would be a good long run. Really nice run.
Totals: 56.6 miles, 8.3 hours, 4400 ft gain. Solid week. Not huge volume or climbing, but some good workouts and a good race. I had a little twinge in my left lower back/hip area, but it seems to have worked itself out and I'll probably get a massage this week. The barefoot strides seem to help.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Cheeseburger in Paradise
M- 5.6 miles Hurricane Mt. Rd. & trail 1:02:27, felt ok, ran easy w/ Roger, found another mountain bike trail! 1500 ft gain
Tu- 0 Felt like death warmed over
W- Mt. Washington Auto Road, good workout, was planning on running easy, but it was nice weather (cool, rainy) for running hard so I upped the effort each mile. 7:37 8:24 8:25 8:21. The fourth mile split was about as fast as I've ever run that mile, including race day. 4.0 down, 2300 ft gain
Th- 3 x 1 Mile, 3:00/400m rest, not a good workout, supposed to do 6, but still beat from the 10k and the unplanned hard run yesterday, 5:04 5:06 5:15, 3.5 wu, 1.0 cd barefoot w/ Roger
F- 7.0 Upper Moat Brook singletrack, 1:04:45, tried to run easy as possible, I love those trails
Sa- 0 Jess's sister's graduation + cheeseburger & beer = no workout
Su- Mt. Washington Auto Road with Dan Hocking and Coby Jacobus 7.6 miles 1:16:24. Dan wanted to see the course and try to run it easy to get an idea what to expect race day. Coby wanted to come along and maybe run the trails down to get a long run in. I brought along my Camelback with clothes and food and wore trail shoes for the trip down. We ended up not running the trails down, so we didn't need half of the stuff I brought. I'm glad we didn't take the trails down though, Dan and I were both a little wiped when we hit the top. Oh well, good weight training. 2 mi wu at Great Glen Trails. 4650 gain
Totals: 38.2 miles, 5.75 hours, 8500 ft gain. Not a great week, but I've had much worse. I think racing a 10k at 9PM and getting home at 3AM did not help this week. Very happy with the way I felt on the Auto Road Wednesday. I should have skipped Thursday's workout after running hard the day before, but I'm dumb. Saturday I was supposed to do a 5.2 mile tempo on the roads, then head straight up Hurricane Mt. Rd. to Black Cap, but that didn't happen. I was able to do this workout yesterday (Monday) though, and ran it 50 sec faster than I did in February. I ran 5:33 pace for the tempo, then averaged 8:49 pace for the 3 mile climb to the summit of Black Cap. Even more encouraging is the fact that I averaged 8:22 pace on Hurricane Mt. Rd. (1.8 miles, 1000 ft gain, 10% grade) on a hot day. If that's my settle in / blow-up in the heat pace, I'll be psyched.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
7300 ft of Climbing = 10k PR
M- 8.2 Rattlesnake & Middle Mountains 1:28:20, felt good, left hamstring a little tight, 8x80m strides after, 1400 ft gain
Tu- Cathedral Ledge Rd. hill repeats, 3.1 wu at WW, then 3:00 up 4:00 up 5:00 up, then 6:52 to the top (0.9 miles, 7:38 pace, ~11% grade), kept the rest intervals on the downhill the same as the repeat times. Really good workout. 1200 ft gain, 7.9 total
W- 6.9 Black Cap via Kettle Ridge, down Red Tail 1:13:31, 42:11 to summit, felt good, ran easy
Th- 2x(5x400m), 100m/40sec recovery, 400m/2:40 between sets. 72 71 72 74 72 72 71 65. Solid workout. Was originally going to do the mile repeats, but switched it up when I decided I was going to do the 10,000 at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet on Saturday. 2.0 wu, 1.0 cd
F- 5.0 Puddin Pond Singletrack 46:23, ran easy w/ Paul, felt pretty good, 5x80m strides after
Sa- New Balance Boston Twilight 10,000m 31:58, 4th place, 8 sec PR. Pretty good race. Went in hoping to run 75 sec laps until I couldn't handle it anymore. Found 75's weren't comfortable from the start, but just tried to gut it out. I never really felt good or confident of even finishing most of the race. I seriously considered dropping out before 5k. Felt like I got into a little bit of a groove after 4 miles, and after 8k I knew I could finish. The second half wasn't pretty, but 5:10s is a lot better than 5:20's like I would usually blow up to. Big thanks to Nate Jenkins for pulling me along and encouraging me. Middle of the packers like me don't get that on the track very often. Also a big congrats to Dan Hocking on the W and a sub 30 in his track 10k debut. Dan wasn't able to run for 6 years as a result of a knee injury, but was able to start training last year and has been on fire ever since.
Su- 14.0 Green Hills from home 2:25:46, felt pretty good. Just got in a rhythm and went. 3000 ft gain
Totals: 59 miles, 8.9 hours, 7300 ft gain. Pretty solid week again. Good amount of climbing, faster track work, and a PR to boot. I would have liked to have run faster on the track, but I just never felt in a rhythm all race. The time is slightly faster than what I ran at Market Square Day in '06 (before I went off course at the 6 mile mark) and I was in really good shape for Mt. Washington that year. I feel like the specific climbing fitness is there or can be tweaked slightly and I should have the tools when I have to reach deep.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Much Needed Down Week
M- 3.0 Elm Brook & Echo Lake 23:43, super easy, soaked in the lake for 10 minutes after
Tu- 0 felt awful, needed the rest day.
W- 5.5 Puddin Pond singletrack w/ Paul, 49:38, felt better, 8x80m strides after
Th- 6x1 Mile 3:00/400m recovery 5:01 5:00 5:01 5:02 5:06 4:59 Windy! Especially the last 2. Really happy that I was able to break 5 on the last one. 2.5 wu, 0.5cd
F- 6.2 Mt. Kearsarge North 1:12:35, 2600 ft gain, 37:41 to summit, ran easy and was only 1 sec slower than my summer PR. Ran right after getting a massage form Jean Brauel.
Sa- 12.0 Trout Pond Trails w/ Paul, 2:09:42, ran easy, pretty tired, we had planned on an easier long run this weekend, but still accumulated 2000 ft of elevation gain over the run!
Su- 3.0 Mile Cranmore Retro Hillclimb 22:06, 6 sec faster than a few weeks ago, pretty sore from the massage and the long run, and the fact that I ran this at 7AM. Good effort though. 2.0 wu, 3.0 cd
PM: 9.5 mile hike with Jess into Black Mt. Pond, then up to the shoulder of Sandwich Dome. Ran into light snow and heavy wind up high. Luckily, Jess is still speaking to me.
Totals: 45 miles, 6.7 hours, 5700 ft gain. Pretty good down week. My body needed the rest early in the week. Still a little tired near the end of the week, but much more manageable. Very happy with the easy effort up Kearsarge. It’s a ball buster of a climb (16% grade, VERY technical). Happy with the mile repeats. Would have liked to have been a little faster, but the wind was definitely a factor. I expected to easily break 22 minutes up Cranmore on Sunday, but the odds were stacked against me a little. Still faster than the last time, despite the lingering fatigue.
Monday, May 3, 2010
10lbs of poop in a 5lb bag
M- 6.9 miles Black Cap via Kettle Ridge, down Red Tail, 1:15:25, 42:58 to summit, felt good, ran easy, no shirt
Tu- Long tempo run in Whitaker Woods. Averaged 6:01 pace for 12.4 miles. May not sound all that impressive, but the course was pretty tough. I used our weekly 5k cross country course in North Conway (1st mile flat, 2nd mile has 200+ ft of climbing, 3rd mile down then last ½ mile flat) and rooted. Ran 18:48 18:34 18:39 18:40. I didn’t kill it, I just cruised. My fastest time all out on the course is 16:41. It’s pretty tough. I’m pretty happy with it. Longest and fastest long tempo of the year so far.
W- 6.9 miles Black Cap via Kettle Ridge, down Red Tail, 1:19:57, 47:26 to summit, felt good, fresh snow the whole way, 5” at summit!
Th- 6.9 miles Black Cap via Kettle Ridge, down Red Tail w/ Paul, 1:21:20, +/-48:00 to summit, felt good, ran easy, added on 3x4:00 repeats on Hurricane Mt. Rd. (0.57 miles, 10% grade). Felt like poop doing these, but I found out when I got home that I ran 7:11 pace for each repeat based on an accurate survey we have done on that part of Hurricane Mt. Rd.
F- 7.0 Upper Moat Brook singletrack, 1:01:31, pretty tired, ran as easy as possible, still the second fastest time I’ve ever run on that loop, almost got hit by a falling tree
Sa- 6x1 Mile, aborted after first repeat. 5:06 for the 1st one, but ran 75,76,77,78 for each lap. Calves were pretty dead and I was putting in a lot of effort to run that 78. Didn’t bother cooling down. 2.25 mi wu
Su- 14.4 miles in the Green Hills, 3:14:00, 3000+ ft gain. Good run. Both Paul and I were pretty tired, but got in a solid long run anyway. Found more trails that I didn’t even know about.
Totals: 63 miles, 10.5 hours, 9600 ft gain. Pretty good week other than the aborted workout on Saturday. I think I was just dead tired and didn’t know it until I started the workout. I don’t know if I should have gutted it out, but it was quite an effort for the first one. I was thinking of taking a “down” week this week, cutting out any climbing M and W.
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