I ran this race last year too, it's got a good course, (the thunder chicken course), and they have a discount for signing up in groups of four. Plus, they always have boxes and boxes of clif product to get rid of after the awards. I have more clif gel than I know what to do with now, and I'm still using clif bloks I got from there last year. Maybe now I can get myself to be able to keep the gel down before my next marathon. When we got down there we met up with Jeff Goupil and went out for a warm up. I was excited to race, because I've been feeling good.
Lining up I recognized Andrew Heubner who won Saunders 10k this summer and knew that the win would probably be out of the question. I was still hoping for a top 3 finish and planned to go out with the lead pack. It was pretty cold out there, and I was shocked at how stiff my legs felt coming off the line. I felt like I was struggling to get them moving at all. I went through the mile at 5:29, and was starting to feel warmed up. I pushed hard for the second mile, I was running with Myles Richardson for most of the second mile and was doing a lot of surging, as I would fall off a bit, surge up past him, fall off again, surge by and so on. I did this for pretty much the whole second mile and thought I was going quite a bit faster, but that was only a 5:40. I was pretty much ready to mail it in when I saw the 5:40 second mile and I must have started to because Myles put a pretty big gap on me before I woke up and started racing again. I was pushing hard to try and close the gap to 3rd place and managed to run a 5:20 for my 3rd mile. I'm not sure if that second mile was long, and the last mile short though because my second mile really felt faster. I finished up 4th in 17:07 which I wasn't really happy with, but I ran hard and it's my first race since the marathon so I'm OK with it.
All in all it was a fun day, Abbey ran an 18:30 for the win, and our 4 person discount team, which was Abbey myself and her parents, won the team competition. We got a big box of stuff which included an electronic gravy warmer, and a huge thing of lindt chocolates. What a fun thanksgiving morning!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Running week ending 11/27
Mon- AM workout 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200, 200
Just a light work out to get the legs used to moving fast again. It went ok, I threw up at 450 in the 600 and then didn't do my last 200 cause the quicker pace was making my hip hurt, but here's what I got. 3:18 2:38, 76(400 split), 69, 36. Not sure why I threw up this morning, I think I need to stop drinking coffee before my morning work outs. 6 mi total
PM easy 4 miles
Tues- 7 mi easy. Ran on the nordic trails at Gunstock mt. with tucker. Everything felt good, the hip was tight but I'm kinda getting used to that. I'm looking forward to getting out on the trails for some nordic skiing this winter.
Wed- 3 mi easy
Thurs- 5k race 7.5 with wu/cd, Seacoast Rotary Turkey Trot 17:07, Cold, tight legs. hip/groin was very sore after finishing.
Fri- Easy 8 miles with Abbey and the dog on the golf course. Felt good.
Sat- 9 with Tucker (dog) a bit harder. I really worked the first half of the run which climbs saddle hill in meredith. It's a good 30 minute run to the top. You have some nice little down hills and flats on the way up but you are definitely climbing for most of it. I'd say I was dropping under 6 minute pace on the flats and trying to keep the effort steady on the uphills. After the top I took it easy down the backside and didn't worry about my pace so much. very nice run.
Just a light work out to get the legs used to moving fast again. It went ok, I threw up at 450 in the 600 and then didn't do my last 200 cause the quicker pace was making my hip hurt, but here's what I got. 3:18 2:38, 76(400 split), 69, 36. Not sure why I threw up this morning, I think I need to stop drinking coffee before my morning work outs. 6 mi total
PM easy 4 miles
Tues- 7 mi easy. Ran on the nordic trails at Gunstock mt. with tucker. Everything felt good, the hip was tight but I'm kinda getting used to that. I'm looking forward to getting out on the trails for some nordic skiing this winter.
Wed- 3 mi easy
Thurs- 5k race 7.5 with wu/cd, Seacoast Rotary Turkey Trot 17:07, Cold, tight legs. hip/groin was very sore after finishing.
Fri- Easy 8 miles with Abbey and the dog on the golf course. Felt good.
Sat- 9 with Tucker (dog) a bit harder. I really worked the first half of the run which climbs saddle hill in meredith. It's a good 30 minute run to the top. You have some nice little down hills and flats on the way up but you are definitely climbing for most of it. I'd say I was dropping under 6 minute pace on the flats and trying to keep the effort steady on the uphills. After the top I took it easy down the backside and didn't worry about my pace so much. very nice run.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Running week ending 11/20
Mon-7 miles am, 4.5 miles pm
I was feeling very well rested today on my morning run, I couldn't really help but run fast it just felt so good being out there. The hip was causing me a bit of trouble on the hills still, but definitely feels better than last week. I knew I probably shouldn't have run the evening run, but I had told Abbey I would. Subsequently I'm writing this with an ice pack on my hip. It was a nice run though. We looped around downtown Laconia for a while and enjoyed the reactions of the people we saw on the street. Apparently people running with head lamps are weird.
Tues- 0
Wed- easy 6.5, 46:09, hip was nothing but a twinge.
Thurs- 7 miles, I was doing a 1.4 mile trail loop with a good hill, the first lap was easy then the 2nd and 3rd lap I did pretty hard, going 17:51 for the hard laps. on my third lap I got a little over excited on the hill and aggravated my hip again. It was tight for the rest of the run and I'm mad at myself for not being able to just relax and let that heal. I felt good enough to run another 2.5 easy though. All in all not a bad day.
Fri- 9 mi easy. I ran the liberty hill 7. This is a tough hilly loop out on class VI roads. The run starts at the top of liberty and rolls it's way to the bottom up and down over four miles. You have a stretch of flat easy road and then you turn back onto trail and you're facing a two mile climb back to the top of liberty hill. I thought I'd give a full description of this loop because it's one of my favorite runs. This is usually a 7 mile run but I must have lost my key jumping over a puddle. Luckily Abbey's office was only two miles away so I was able to run there and grab her car to go get my spare. I was somewhat happy to be forced into another couple miles. My running has been feeling great, but I know it's only one week so we'll see how things go the next couple weeks.
Sat- 0
Sun- 6 miles easy. Felt nice and relaxed, ran with a bunch of guys from highschool xc. It was a fun run catching up with everyone.
Week Total- 40 miles in five days. This was a good week, I felt very fresh and have just been loving being out there. Lets hope I can keep it rolling for a while.
I was feeling very well rested today on my morning run, I couldn't really help but run fast it just felt so good being out there. The hip was causing me a bit of trouble on the hills still, but definitely feels better than last week. I knew I probably shouldn't have run the evening run, but I had told Abbey I would. Subsequently I'm writing this with an ice pack on my hip. It was a nice run though. We looped around downtown Laconia for a while and enjoyed the reactions of the people we saw on the street. Apparently people running with head lamps are weird.
Tues- 0
Wed- easy 6.5, 46:09, hip was nothing but a twinge.
Thurs- 7 miles, I was doing a 1.4 mile trail loop with a good hill, the first lap was easy then the 2nd and 3rd lap I did pretty hard, going 17:51 for the hard laps. on my third lap I got a little over excited on the hill and aggravated my hip again. It was tight for the rest of the run and I'm mad at myself for not being able to just relax and let that heal. I felt good enough to run another 2.5 easy though. All in all not a bad day.
Fri- 9 mi easy. I ran the liberty hill 7. This is a tough hilly loop out on class VI roads. The run starts at the top of liberty and rolls it's way to the bottom up and down over four miles. You have a stretch of flat easy road and then you turn back onto trail and you're facing a two mile climb back to the top of liberty hill. I thought I'd give a full description of this loop because it's one of my favorite runs. This is usually a 7 mile run but I must have lost my key jumping over a puddle. Luckily Abbey's office was only two miles away so I was able to run there and grab her car to go get my spare. I was somewhat happy to be forced into another couple miles. My running has been feeling great, but I know it's only one week so we'll see how things go the next couple weeks.
Sat- 0
Sun- 6 miles easy. Felt nice and relaxed, ran with a bunch of guys from highschool xc. It was a fun run catching up with everyone.
Week Total- 40 miles in five days. This was a good week, I felt very fresh and have just been loving being out there. Lets hope I can keep it rolling for a while.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Running week ending 11/13
Mon-0
Tues-0
Wed- 6 miles easy. This was my first real run since the marathon. Everything felt great, but around two miles in my hip flexor became really sore while running up a longer hill. I stopped and took some time to stretch, but found that I don't know a single stretch for my hip flexor. I guess it's never been sore before either though. Anyway I kept running, and felt pretty good besides the hip. I felt that for the rest of the run and by the finish I felt like I couldn't walk again. Feels better now an hour later though, so we will see how tomorrow goes.
Thurs-0 I meant to run this day but wound up staying late at work and just not having time.
Fri- 0 running miles. I went for a hike with my brother and sister today since they both had the day off from school. We hiked Mt. Osceola, it was the first time I'd hiked that in about seven years and I had completely forgotten how great the view was. On the way down it began to snow/hail. It wasn't ice but the snow was falling in balls rather than snowflakes so it was coming straight down like rain and piling up very quickly. It was a great hike and it'd been a while since I'd gotten out with these two.
Sat- 0
Sun-0
OK this week sucked for running. Early in the week I figured I had a whole week to run and so I didn't stress about getting runs in especially because Abbey was waiting 10 days from the marathon to start up again. Then I had three days that I ended up working unexpected doubles which made it impossible for me to get my runs in. I know that I would have had another 20 miles this week if it weren't for work, but I am getting nervous that if I don't get my ass moving next week, that I'll wind up taking the whole winter off again. I can not do this, starting from scratch every spring makes me look and feel like an idiot, so here's hoping next week goes much better.
Tues-0
Wed- 6 miles easy. This was my first real run since the marathon. Everything felt great, but around two miles in my hip flexor became really sore while running up a longer hill. I stopped and took some time to stretch, but found that I don't know a single stretch for my hip flexor. I guess it's never been sore before either though. Anyway I kept running, and felt pretty good besides the hip. I felt that for the rest of the run and by the finish I felt like I couldn't walk again. Feels better now an hour later though, so we will see how tomorrow goes.
 |
| The ridge running to the left off the peak of Osceola |
Thurs-0 I meant to run this day but wound up staying late at work and just not having time.
 |
Sat- 0
Sun-0
OK this week sucked for running. Early in the week I figured I had a whole week to run and so I didn't stress about getting runs in especially because Abbey was waiting 10 days from the marathon to start up again. Then I had three days that I ended up working unexpected doubles which made it impossible for me to get my runs in. I know that I would have had another 20 miles this week if it weren't for work, but I am getting nervous that if I don't get my ass moving next week, that I'll wind up taking the whole winter off again. I can not do this, starting from scratch every spring makes me look and feel like an idiot, so here's hoping next week goes much better.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Cape Cod Marathon
I woke up for this race to howling winds out the window, and I began to really regret my decision to run this race. I was just imagining running 26 miles into the wind for three hours and having it be horrible. I was happy once I got to the line to see everything had calmed down and the wind was still there but not as constant as it sounded the whole night before. It's always fun being on the line at a GP event, getting to say hi to my team mates, It's very energizing to be on the line with such a great bunch of runners, and looking at our guys you could tell we had a shot of being the top team for the day.
The gun went off and I went out as planned with Abbey, trying to stay very easy. I felt like we were jogging and thought our first mile would be 7:20 or so but it was more like 6:40. here's my splits.
6:40
6:33
6:35
6:34
6:42
6:46
20:04 for miles 7,8,9
6:39
6:33
6:46
6:33
6:25
6:26
6:59
6:25
6:40
6:45
7:01
7:40
7:41
7:41
8:00
8:08
11:13 for the last 1.2!
finished up at 3:03:00 and I'm not that dissapointed with that, I couldn't expect to run an awesome time at this point in my training and so with a limited build up I'm happy with myself.
I was feeling great and running very comfortably with Abbey for the first 14, around that point though I got talking with the guy who ended up winning the Clam Chowdah Challenge and we clicked off a string of faster miles and I thought I was ready to start racing. I hit 20 miles at 2:13 right on 2:55 pace and then things started getting much more difficult and I made sure to take some extra water, and stopped to make sure I got all of my GU at the next water stop. Maybe this was a mistake, because things got much tougher from there on out. I was falling off hard at this point.
I wish I'd just stuck with Abbey now though, because she slowed down a bit when I took off, and I ultimately slowed down a lot when I crashed later on. I may still have had a tough time in that last 10k so who knows. Fun race anyway though. I loved it, even those really hard miles were still a lot of fun. I was nearly delirious that last mile and talking to myself like an idiot. "That guy's running, why can't you run? C'mon legs what's wrong with you?" Fun stuff!
I have been thinking about the marathon non stop since I ran it though! I'm really looking forward to my next one although I certainly won't rush it. I probably won't run one again until next years GP race, but I'm looking forward to it and I think I'll be able to take a good amount of time off.
If anyone has any advice about the recovery period I am all ears. I'm planning 20, 30, 40 for the next few weeks then getting started with more milage, and work outs for indoor season. That sounds ok to everyone?
The gun went off and I went out as planned with Abbey, trying to stay very easy. I felt like we were jogging and thought our first mile would be 7:20 or so but it was more like 6:40. here's my splits.
6:40
6:33
6:35
6:34
6:42
6:46
20:04 for miles 7,8,9
6:39
6:33
6:46
6:33
6:25
6:26
6:59
6:25
6:40
6:45
7:01
7:40
7:41
7:41
8:00
8:08
11:13 for the last 1.2!
finished up at 3:03:00 and I'm not that dissapointed with that, I couldn't expect to run an awesome time at this point in my training and so with a limited build up I'm happy with myself.
I was feeling great and running very comfortably with Abbey for the first 14, around that point though I got talking with the guy who ended up winning the Clam Chowdah Challenge and we clicked off a string of faster miles and I thought I was ready to start racing. I hit 20 miles at 2:13 right on 2:55 pace and then things started getting much more difficult and I made sure to take some extra water, and stopped to make sure I got all of my GU at the next water stop. Maybe this was a mistake, because things got much tougher from there on out. I was falling off hard at this point.
I wish I'd just stuck with Abbey now though, because she slowed down a bit when I took off, and I ultimately slowed down a lot when I crashed later on. I may still have had a tough time in that last 10k so who knows. Fun race anyway though. I loved it, even those really hard miles were still a lot of fun. I was nearly delirious that last mile and talking to myself like an idiot. "That guy's running, why can't you run? C'mon legs what's wrong with you?" Fun stuff!
I have been thinking about the marathon non stop since I ran it though! I'm really looking forward to my next one although I certainly won't rush it. I probably won't run one again until next years GP race, but I'm looking forward to it and I think I'll be able to take a good amount of time off.
If anyone has any advice about the recovery period I am all ears. I'm planning 20, 30, 40 for the next few weeks then getting started with more milage, and work outs for indoor season. That sounds ok to everyone?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)