Monday- 7 miles easy on sweet trail.
Tuesday- 5 miles at 4:00 pm + 7 miles at 6:00 pm. I know it's not much space between runs, I was just trying to squeeze in some miles after work before we headed out to meet some friends for the second run.
Wednesday- hard 9 miles 56:09. I did 6 sets of 3 minutes hard 2 minutes off and 6 sets of one minute on and one minute off. Really tough run, the 3 minute blocks were too long to focus through and really get a good effort in for the whole time. It went ok though.
Thursday- 11 miles on the Liberty Hill trails. Really hot today. I wore a shirt to hold off the bugs, but they just focused on the back of my neck instead of my back! I guess that's what mullets are for.
Friday- 6 miles easy running around the weirs loop with Abbey. Felt good.
Saturday- Gilford Old Home Day 5k- 1st 17:15 8 miles total
This race is in the town over for me and it's taken me 10 years and 6 tries at it to finally get the win. in 2002 I was 3rd in 17:46. In 2003 I ran 17:35 for 4th. 2004 I was 16:50 for 2nd. 2006 I was 17:35 for 7th. 2009 I was 16:26 for 2nd and this year finally I was 17:15 for the win.
I had been feeling crappy all week and was just kinda hoping I'd be able to run a decent race. I got warmed up and felt a little sluggish but figured I'd be alright anyway. I got out and felt out the pace for about 400 meters before I started getting going. I tried to take it as comfortable as possible but I had Ryan Lafrance on my tail through the first mile. The second mile I just tried to maintain my pace and pull away from Ryan. I built up a comfortable gap and then just put it into cruise control. I was able to do this through the last half mile when I tried to tell myself to focus on the time a bit. I'm glad I did because the second place guy apparently was coming on strong and ended up finishing just 7 seconds back.
Sunday- 6 miles easy doing the weirs loop. Felt pretty crappy. Jumped in the lake halfway through.
Week Total: 59 miles. This was week 1 of a 10 week build up towards a possible Cape Cod marathon. We will see how the next 4 or 5 weeks go and I'll make a call on it. We'll see how it goes, I felt good getting an easy win in even after my poor work out on Wednesday.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Gettin back at it
Monday- 5 easy some- some strides.
Tuesday- 4 miles easy, tried exploring a new trail that ended up ending. I bushwacked through to the audubon trails and took those back to my road and home. took about an hour with the bushwack, which was making us late for getting out to run with our tuesday run group at 6 which was meeting in Bristol. We made it there right at 6pm and were good to go for another 7.5 miles on trails and dirt road. Nice run.
Wednesday- easy 5 miles going around the lake from Irwins while I got my inspection.
Thursday- Cigna 5k- 16:53 who cares what place. 9 mi total
I was excited for this race, I ran well here last year and thought it was worth another shot. After getting my bib, and going to the bathroom I went out for a warm up with Neal Graves and Scott and Colby Clark. Felt good. Went and got my flats, and got over to the line, only got one stride in beIfore they made us line up. I got out fine, a little over my head, and told myself to roll with it. went through the mile around 5:12 or so and tried to focus on keeping the gas on through the second mile. I started feeling the pace around a mile and half and then made it through 2 miles around 10:33 I thought I started having a tough time right after that. I felt myself falling off, I worked my way up to try and stick behind George Adams until I felt him starting to fall back too, I tried to go around him and keep pushing but wasn't getting very far. I held it together until the hill at the finish, but just ran like shit in those last 250 meters. A little pissed off about the bad race, but It was my second fastest 5k of the year, and I've run worse on easier courses, so the hell with it not bad. Ran the course again for a cool down and then grabbed a pizza before heading home. In the bar they made us watch Pre-Season patriots instead of Rudisha's world record race.
Friday- 0
Saturday- 15 with Scott Clark in Gilmanton. Good run, easy first half lots of climbing in the second half of the run. My legs have been killing me ever since i got home.
Sunday- Easy 9 with Abbey out in Sanbornton. Hot and humid, but a good run. Lots of stopping for cars with Tucker.
Week Total: 54 miles. This was a better week, I'm gonna keep building from here.
Tuesday- 4 miles easy, tried exploring a new trail that ended up ending. I bushwacked through to the audubon trails and took those back to my road and home. took about an hour with the bushwack, which was making us late for getting out to run with our tuesday run group at 6 which was meeting in Bristol. We made it there right at 6pm and were good to go for another 7.5 miles on trails and dirt road. Nice run.
Wednesday- easy 5 miles going around the lake from Irwins while I got my inspection.
Thursday- Cigna 5k- 16:53 who cares what place. 9 mi total
I was excited for this race, I ran well here last year and thought it was worth another shot. After getting my bib, and going to the bathroom I went out for a warm up with Neal Graves and Scott and Colby Clark. Felt good. Went and got my flats, and got over to the line, only got one stride in beIfore they made us line up. I got out fine, a little over my head, and told myself to roll with it. went through the mile around 5:12 or so and tried to focus on keeping the gas on through the second mile. I started feeling the pace around a mile and half and then made it through 2 miles around 10:33 I thought I started having a tough time right after that. I felt myself falling off, I worked my way up to try and stick behind George Adams until I felt him starting to fall back too, I tried to go around him and keep pushing but wasn't getting very far. I held it together until the hill at the finish, but just ran like shit in those last 250 meters. A little pissed off about the bad race, but It was my second fastest 5k of the year, and I've run worse on easier courses, so the hell with it not bad. Ran the course again for a cool down and then grabbed a pizza before heading home. In the bar they made us watch Pre-Season patriots instead of Rudisha's world record race.
Friday- 0
Saturday- 15 with Scott Clark in Gilmanton. Good run, easy first half lots of climbing in the second half of the run. My legs have been killing me ever since i got home.
Sunday- Easy 9 with Abbey out in Sanbornton. Hot and humid, but a good run. Lots of stopping for cars with Tucker.
Week Total: 54 miles. This was a better week, I'm gonna keep building from here.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Bill Luti 5 miler
Abbey and I went down to the Bill Luti 5 miler yesterday, feeling a little nervous as we've had a pretty lazy July. I tried to convince myself that I was still plenty fit, just well rested, and I think I pretty much got it right as this wound up being my best Bill Luti ever. I made the top 10 for the first time, and got myself a 7 second course PR with a 27:34. Here's the run down.
1st mile- 5:10 I got out trying to stay relaxed, but all the guys I wanted to run with were flying, and I didn't wanna risk letting them get away too early so it wound up being faster than I wanted to get out.
2nd mile-5:46 I panicked a little when I saw the 5:45 but I reminded myself of the hill we'd just gone up and just tried to stay focused.
3rd mile- 5:21 The race is always tough in this section down to St. Pauls, usually I find myself falling back here, even though it's a pretty easy mile. This year I was able to make myself focus and stay in the race. There was a decision to make, about wether I was gonna start racing the couple guys in front or if I was gonna just try and finish the race respectably. I wound up deciding to race, and managed to relax and work my way up to the guys in front of me, Neal Graves and Mucopa from Concord. I tried to focus on my breathing and found myself feeling very light on a long relaxed exhale. I caught mucopa and was battling him through out most of the race as we tried to reel in Neal.
4th mile- 5:38 Our whole pack started to slow down on the 4th mile and Neal Graves who's in the CARS series was coming back to me. Mucopa and I caught Neal around there and he just latched on we were all hurting, and it would have been much slower if it'd been strung out.
5th mile- 5:29 I hit four miles in 22:05 and knew I was on track for a Luti PR if i kept on track and did my best to stay focused on that. We all continued to battle over that last mile but probably the last 600-800 I let those two get away. I was hurting, but I think I got a little complacent knowing I was on pace for a good time (for me anyways). I was really happy with the race though, right up to the last 600 I raced really hard and was rewarded with a good time.
Went for a nice cool down with Neal after the race. We were both pretty pumped with our races, and had a fun time chatting it up. Abbey and I got our two Maragaritas gift certs for top 10 finishes! Abbey was second though, and won a little money too. After the race we went and checked out the Market Day Festival in Downtown Concord. Pretty fun time, but I was hoping to find this woman who had a bunch of great Jams the last time I was there, and I couldn't find her. Later on we went to The Dark Knight Rises and it was awesome. Great day!
1st mile- 5:10 I got out trying to stay relaxed, but all the guys I wanted to run with were flying, and I didn't wanna risk letting them get away too early so it wound up being faster than I wanted to get out.
2nd mile-5:46 I panicked a little when I saw the 5:45 but I reminded myself of the hill we'd just gone up and just tried to stay focused.
3rd mile- 5:21 The race is always tough in this section down to St. Pauls, usually I find myself falling back here, even though it's a pretty easy mile. This year I was able to make myself focus and stay in the race. There was a decision to make, about wether I was gonna start racing the couple guys in front or if I was gonna just try and finish the race respectably. I wound up deciding to race, and managed to relax and work my way up to the guys in front of me, Neal Graves and Mucopa from Concord. I tried to focus on my breathing and found myself feeling very light on a long relaxed exhale. I caught mucopa and was battling him through out most of the race as we tried to reel in Neal.
4th mile- 5:38 Our whole pack started to slow down on the 4th mile and Neal Graves who's in the CARS series was coming back to me. Mucopa and I caught Neal around there and he just latched on we were all hurting, and it would have been much slower if it'd been strung out.
5th mile- 5:29 I hit four miles in 22:05 and knew I was on track for a Luti PR if i kept on track and did my best to stay focused on that. We all continued to battle over that last mile but probably the last 600-800 I let those two get away. I was hurting, but I think I got a little complacent knowing I was on pace for a good time (for me anyways). I was really happy with the race though, right up to the last 600 I raced really hard and was rewarded with a good time.
Went for a nice cool down with Neal after the race. We were both pretty pumped with our races, and had a fun time chatting it up. Abbey and I got our two Maragaritas gift certs for top 10 finishes! Abbey was second though, and won a little money too. After the race we went and checked out the Market Day Festival in Downtown Concord. Pretty fun time, but I was hoping to find this woman who had a bunch of great Jams the last time I was there, and I couldn't find her. Later on we went to The Dark Knight Rises and it was awesome. Great day!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Loon Mt. Race
This race went ok, but I don't feel like it was my best effort of the year. I wound up 25th overall in 51:09, getting beat by a handful of elite women. Early in the season I was really looking forward to this race, but by the time this week rolled around I was having trouble getting into the mind set for it. Not really sure what it was, I think I've just hit the doldrums of the summer season, as my mind set/motivation for running in general has been a little off the past week or two.
Despite not feeling very excited about the race all week, by the time I hit the line I felt ready to go and the legs felt nice and snappy. I was feeling optimistic and got lured out way too fast by that easy opening mile. I put myself right behind Kevin Tilton and Ross Krauss and began to envision myself hanging with them and being able to help my team win the title. I was able to hang with them for the first mile and then slipped back pretty significantly over the next mile. I let a stream of runners pass me until I had Chris Ritchie from the seacoast area catch up to me. There's nothing against him, I just remember battling him at the Children's Museum 5k earlier this year, and was set against losing to him again.
Seeing Chris got me racing again and I got back into it. I began to tell myself I wasn't the only idiot to go out too fast, and started scanning the trail ahead for runners coming back to me. I still didn't turn the race around though, as I was quick to walk on the steeps, but I tried to tough it out. Around 3 miles I caught up to my old team mate Craig McMahon's little brother, and chatted with him a bit as we made our way up the access road. We ran together for a little bit and then I decided I'd better try to put some distance on him because he's a college guy and a McMahon and probably quite a bit faster than me on a normal course right now. I just kept on chugging, and tried to run fast on the flat and downhill parts just because it felt good to actually be moving for a bit!
When I turned the corner and faced the BOSS for the first time it was the most crushing thing! I just couldn't believe how long and steep it was. I had envisioned something that steep, but maybe half or quarter of the length. I tried to run as long as I could and then settled into a walk for most of it. I turned around and walked backwards for a bit, and took in the view. I walked most of the climb, but every now and then I'd try to put in about 10 or 15 seconds of running to make sure I didn't get caught while climbing. Almost at the top I just started throwing up. (what else is new?) I got passed by Craig's brother and another guy at this point, and didn't think I'd catch them again, but the last 20 or 30 meters I was able to put in a strong run to over take them just before the line.
Abbey and I didn't have a whole lot of time to hang out, because Abbey had to work in the afternoon. We took a ride down on the gondola and then we got out of there. Abbey actually wound up not having to go in though, which was awesome. We went and took a jump at Indian's Leap (showing up some punks in front of their girlfriends) and then headed home for a nice afternoon on Lake Winnipesaukee with Abbey's parents.
All in all it was a great day and a really fun race. Not running quite as well as I wanted keeps me hungry for next years race. During the climb up the boss, I was telling myself "never again" but it didn't take long before I started thinking about the places I could have run faster, and looking forward to taking another crack at this beast of a course.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Week Ending 7/1
Monday- Easy 10 on the roads. Ran funspot 7 loop, and decided to explore this hill that went into a gated residential community that goes off the loop. Looks great for "Drummer" work outs. Not quite the same profile, the grade is more consistent the whole way, but a good mile long paved hill 2.5 miles from home cannot be ignored. Nice run.
Tuesday- Easy 8 miles, ran up mt. piper and down to south piper, and then over to white face and back out belknap mt. road to my car. nice run, slow lots of stopping and looking for cairns to follow the south piper trail. Tight calves.
Wednesday- harder 10 miles up whiteface and over to Durrell mt. Road and back up liberty hill to the car. Felt shitty.
Thursday- unplanned day off. Waited for Abbey to come home, and then we just whimped out and decided to skip it.
Friday- 2 times up and down gunstock, 8 miles total. Tried to run hard but felt like shit, a lot more walking than I wanted, but it went ok.
Saturday- Another goose egg. Meant to run in the afternoon, but I wound up windsurfing with my brother all afternoon, right up until dinner.
Sunday- Another goose egg, went to the beach for the day.
Week Total: 36. Should have run more this week, but I was due for an easy week after 3 weeks of building. easier week than I meant for, but I felt great in tonight's work out (monday) 5x600 averaging 1:48.
Tuesday- Easy 8 miles, ran up mt. piper and down to south piper, and then over to white face and back out belknap mt. road to my car. nice run, slow lots of stopping and looking for cairns to follow the south piper trail. Tight calves.
Wednesday- harder 10 miles up whiteface and over to Durrell mt. Road and back up liberty hill to the car. Felt shitty.
Thursday- unplanned day off. Waited for Abbey to come home, and then we just whimped out and decided to skip it.
Friday- 2 times up and down gunstock, 8 miles total. Tried to run hard but felt like shit, a lot more walking than I wanted, but it went ok.
Saturday- Another goose egg. Meant to run in the afternoon, but I wound up windsurfing with my brother all afternoon, right up until dinner.
Sunday- Another goose egg, went to the beach for the day.
Week Total: 36. Should have run more this week, but I was due for an easy week after 3 weeks of building. easier week than I meant for, but I felt great in tonight's work out (monday) 5x600 averaging 1:48.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Running Week Ending 6/24
Monday- Easy 10 miles with Goupil on the Sweet trail off Bay Rd. Nice to get in a run with someone other than Tucker or Abbey. Felt like we picked it up the last few miles on the road, could have just been the effort was harder going up the hills on Bay Rd.
Tuesday- Easy 11 miles on the roads with Goupil in Durham. Ran the Wednesday Hill loop, which I've been told is 10.4 but it felt closer to 11 as we finished up in 75 and were pretty sure we were going sub 7's for most of it.
Wednesday- Easy 9 with Goupil in Barrington. Took it easy in the heat, and took a swim break halfway through the run. Not as bad as I thought it would be, a bit of wind for most of the run, was ok the only time I was really feeling the heat was coming back on rt. 125 towards Goup's house.
Thursday- I meant to run, but wound up going out cliff jumping with my brother and sister all day instead. Lots of great jumping at Indian's Leap in Lincoln, then we went up to Upper Falls up by the Cog. Probably could have squeezed in a run after I got back, oh well.
Friday- AM-7 PM-4 Went up to the Lincoln Woods trail with Tucker. We ran out to Franconia Falls and went swimming for a while then ran back and I went and took a couple jumps at Indian's Leap before heading back home. After Abbey got out of work we went another 4 to shake out before Saturday's race.
Saturday- Aurlow Stanley Memorial 5k 2nd place 17:17 8 miles total.
Pretty good run today. I was hoping to run a little faster, but the course isn't that easy, with some pretty tough hills. I've run 16:38 here before though, and was kinda hoping I'd be able to break 17 today. I got out off the line a bit fast and decided to just try and key off Justin Freeman who I figured would be winning. I focused on staying near him through the first mile and then gradually slipped back. at about a mile and a half you take a good corner and I looked back and saw Scott Clark just a bit behind me and started trying to work up the hill to make sure he didn't close the gap. At two miles I was hurting, but was pretty sure I had more in the tank if need be, I tried to keep the pace steady, because I knew Scott wouldn't be slowing down. I kept it together for most of the last mile, but was really hurtin going up the last hill. I tried to really work it and start moving on the down side of the hill, but I was not feeling good and was thinking I might do a good old Sam Wood boot. I just tried to keep a steady kick going as we finished the last 400 of the race and keep myself from puking, because I knew Scott would catch me before I got my legs back under me if I did throw up. I made it to the line and through the chute with out puking and was pretty happy. I didn't feel great out there today, and the legs never felt like they had much pop but I managed to hold on to second and the 60 bucks I knew was waiting for me.
Had a nice cool down with Scott, Justin, Abbey and Ryan LaFrance a youngster from Gilford that will likely be beating me in a few years. Fun day.
Sunday- Long run 20 miles total, about 3 to 4 miles of hiking. Abbey, Tucker and I went out and did the Wilderness loop plus Bondcliff and the Franconia Falls trail. Not sure how we decided to do Bondcliff, we were going up planning on just doing the wilderness loop, and then Cannon just looked so nice as we were heading up the highway I guess that we decided we should run up Bondcliff too. Felt great on the way out and over the river crossing, but we ran out of water on the way up Bond, and were both hurting once we got up there. We ran most of the first 2.5 up bond, and then had to hike most of the last mile and a half. We hung out and enjoyed the view and the wind for a bit but then we decided we'd better get down and back for some water. We were both really hurting though and wound up having to risk giardia and drink from some river crossings. I know it's not smart, but we were both really getting dehydrated and decided it was worth the risk with about 7 miles of running left before we'd get to fresh water. We wound up just filling our bottles and hoping for the best, and so far I feel fine. Not sure how long it takes for giardia to set in though. The tough footing on bondcliff was no problem on the way up but on the way down it was really giving me a hard time. Once we got back down to the wilderness trail it was a quick run to Franconia Falls where we took a very refreshing dip. The last 3 miles I was still really tired and hurting, but it went by quick enough. That bridge over the Pemi was a very welcome sight though. Beautiful day, I just wish we'd brought more water and more fuel. All we brought was granola bars I happened to have in the car, and I was really wishing I had some shot bloks or a gu or something for most of the second half of the run. Finished up with a soak in the river and some Subway before going home, I was still too beat to eat my sub though. Tough day, but overall it was fun, and the views were really great up top.
Week Total: 69 in 6 days. No workout, one decent race, and one really long run. Good week of training. Probably gonna get in some workouts at Gunstock next week to try and prepare for Loon. Gunstock's final climb to the summit area must be pretty close to the grade of walking boss at Loon. Not positive but it's pretty damn steep anyway.
Tuesday- Easy 11 miles on the roads with Goupil in Durham. Ran the Wednesday Hill loop, which I've been told is 10.4 but it felt closer to 11 as we finished up in 75 and were pretty sure we were going sub 7's for most of it.
Wednesday- Easy 9 with Goupil in Barrington. Took it easy in the heat, and took a swim break halfway through the run. Not as bad as I thought it would be, a bit of wind for most of the run, was ok the only time I was really feeling the heat was coming back on rt. 125 towards Goup's house.
Thursday- I meant to run, but wound up going out cliff jumping with my brother and sister all day instead. Lots of great jumping at Indian's Leap in Lincoln, then we went up to Upper Falls up by the Cog. Probably could have squeezed in a run after I got back, oh well.
Friday- AM-7 PM-4 Went up to the Lincoln Woods trail with Tucker. We ran out to Franconia Falls and went swimming for a while then ran back and I went and took a couple jumps at Indian's Leap before heading back home. After Abbey got out of work we went another 4 to shake out before Saturday's race.
Saturday- Aurlow Stanley Memorial 5k 2nd place 17:17 8 miles total.
Pretty good run today. I was hoping to run a little faster, but the course isn't that easy, with some pretty tough hills. I've run 16:38 here before though, and was kinda hoping I'd be able to break 17 today. I got out off the line a bit fast and decided to just try and key off Justin Freeman who I figured would be winning. I focused on staying near him through the first mile and then gradually slipped back. at about a mile and a half you take a good corner and I looked back and saw Scott Clark just a bit behind me and started trying to work up the hill to make sure he didn't close the gap. At two miles I was hurting, but was pretty sure I had more in the tank if need be, I tried to keep the pace steady, because I knew Scott wouldn't be slowing down. I kept it together for most of the last mile, but was really hurtin going up the last hill. I tried to really work it and start moving on the down side of the hill, but I was not feeling good and was thinking I might do a good old Sam Wood boot. I just tried to keep a steady kick going as we finished the last 400 of the race and keep myself from puking, because I knew Scott would catch me before I got my legs back under me if I did throw up. I made it to the line and through the chute with out puking and was pretty happy. I didn't feel great out there today, and the legs never felt like they had much pop but I managed to hold on to second and the 60 bucks I knew was waiting for me.
Had a nice cool down with Scott, Justin, Abbey and Ryan LaFrance a youngster from Gilford that will likely be beating me in a few years. Fun day.
Sunday- Long run 20 miles total, about 3 to 4 miles of hiking. Abbey, Tucker and I went out and did the Wilderness loop plus Bondcliff and the Franconia Falls trail. Not sure how we decided to do Bondcliff, we were going up planning on just doing the wilderness loop, and then Cannon just looked so nice as we were heading up the highway I guess that we decided we should run up Bondcliff too. Felt great on the way out and over the river crossing, but we ran out of water on the way up Bond, and were both hurting once we got up there. We ran most of the first 2.5 up bond, and then had to hike most of the last mile and a half. We hung out and enjoyed the view and the wind for a bit but then we decided we'd better get down and back for some water. We were both really hurting though and wound up having to risk giardia and drink from some river crossings. I know it's not smart, but we were both really getting dehydrated and decided it was worth the risk with about 7 miles of running left before we'd get to fresh water. We wound up just filling our bottles and hoping for the best, and so far I feel fine. Not sure how long it takes for giardia to set in though. The tough footing on bondcliff was no problem on the way up but on the way down it was really giving me a hard time. Once we got back down to the wilderness trail it was a quick run to Franconia Falls where we took a very refreshing dip. The last 3 miles I was still really tired and hurting, but it went by quick enough. That bridge over the Pemi was a very welcome sight though. Beautiful day, I just wish we'd brought more water and more fuel. All we brought was granola bars I happened to have in the car, and I was really wishing I had some shot bloks or a gu or something for most of the second half of the run. Finished up with a soak in the river and some Subway before going home, I was still too beat to eat my sub though. Tough day, but overall it was fun, and the views were really great up top.
Week Total: 69 in 6 days. No workout, one decent race, and one really long run. Good week of training. Probably gonna get in some workouts at Gunstock next week to try and prepare for Loon. Gunstock's final climb to the summit area must be pretty close to the grade of walking boss at Loon. Not positive but it's pretty damn steep anyway.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I ran into some coyotes this week
Monday- 9 miles 63 minutes.
Ran with Abbey for her hard run. The plan was to start out easy the first couple miles then drop it down to Abbey's Marathon Pace for the rest of the run. Went well, ran 63 minutes with an 8 minute first mile. Abbey said it was kinda tough, but I felt great!
Tuesday-Easy 7 miles on the Liberty Hill trails with Tucker.
I really didn't wanna get out there for this run, I started out and realized I'd forgotten my watch in the car, luckily I was only a minute or two into the run, so I went back and grabbed it, and it was so hard to get started again. I managed to make myself do it by telling myself I could just do 7 and didn't have to do the 9 I was planning. I was secretly hoping I'd start feeling better and do the 9, but I wound up running right by the turn to add on when it was time and just finished up my 7 miles nice and easy. I'm just glad I got some in.
Wednesday- Interesting run today, I headed out from the Liberty Hill parking area, and out to Whiteface, took a trail down the backside of whiteface, and into this valley between Whiteface and Piper. As soon as I hit the valley bottom, I hear this coyote start howling, I'm not so concerned at first, I call Tucker to me, and then I hear another start in, and another. I did a couple shouts and clapped my hands, and then there's just like four or five coyotes howling. I grabbed the biggest stick I could find and took off back up the trail sprinting, with Tucker leading the way! I didn't drop my stick until I couldn't hear em anymore. When I hit the top of whiteface I stopped to take a breather fairly confident they weren't chasing us. Kinda scary though! I don't know if they were like howling to check me out, or to clear out, but either way I didn't wanna stick around to find out. After that I was kinda bummed because I had some exploring to do out that way. Once I got to the Whiteface trail again I had a decision to make about how I wanted to finish the run, I had a couple ways to go that would add on about 2 to 3 miles or I could just get back down to the normal Liberty Hill trails and just get the hell outta there. I wound up deciding to do that, and just finished up the second half of the lib hill 7 once I got back down to it. I added on about 2.5 miles with my climb up and down whiteface to make it a good 9.5 mile day.
Thursday- Long day today, I wound up running 17 miles but in 3 runs broken up by about a half hour or so for each. I started out planning on doing a 9 mile tempo on the roads. It was way too busy out with Bike Week though so I decided to bag it after 2.5 and go to the trails with Tucker. There's 5. I did 6 out on the Lib Hill trails with tuck, and after I finished up there I gave Abbey a call to see where she was at, and she wound up talking me into running with her, so I met her over at Ahern State Park for another 6 miles. Felt pretty good most of the time, a bit tired over at Ahern. I took a dip in the lake after we finished and then headed home to get ready to go into The Weirs and enjoy some Laconia Bike Week action.
Friday- 4 easy am, 4 easy pm Ran with Abbey in the morning on the roads, and ran in the afternoon with Tucker on the Audubon fields. Nice easy day.
Saturday- Hiked up Mt. Washington to watch Abbey and everyone else I know run. Beautiful day. I went up Lions Head to the Alpine Gardens and then upto about the 6.5 mile mark. Had an awesome time watching everyone come up the mountain. After most everyone went by I went up and caught up with everyone, and then went up and had myself a meal on top of the mountain. That's my favorite thing about Washington, I love going in and having a cup of coffee and pizza afer hiking all morning. I know a lot of people don't like having the observatory and all those people, but I can deal with it for hot food on top of the mountain. Once everyone started going down the mountain, I hiked back down Tuckerman's Ravine to the bottom. Great hike. I give myself about 4 miles of running for the day.
Huge Congratulations to Abbey on her 12th place finish, and 2 minute + pr. Abbey also managed 10th USATF athlete, to grab the last medal. So proud of my Fiance! Also congrats to the Masters team on their gold medal, and to the Open team for their silver.
Sunday- 9 miles, just ran a nice easy 9 miles with Tucker, I entertained Ideas of doing 18 instead of 9 but was feeling tired so I decided to just quit and be happy with the run I had done.
Week Total- 61 miles. Nice week of easy running. I know I should have gotten in a work out I just never really felt like it. Good week though.
Ran with Abbey for her hard run. The plan was to start out easy the first couple miles then drop it down to Abbey's Marathon Pace for the rest of the run. Went well, ran 63 minutes with an 8 minute first mile. Abbey said it was kinda tough, but I felt great!
Tuesday-Easy 7 miles on the Liberty Hill trails with Tucker.
I really didn't wanna get out there for this run, I started out and realized I'd forgotten my watch in the car, luckily I was only a minute or two into the run, so I went back and grabbed it, and it was so hard to get started again. I managed to make myself do it by telling myself I could just do 7 and didn't have to do the 9 I was planning. I was secretly hoping I'd start feeling better and do the 9, but I wound up running right by the turn to add on when it was time and just finished up my 7 miles nice and easy. I'm just glad I got some in.
Wednesday- Interesting run today, I headed out from the Liberty Hill parking area, and out to Whiteface, took a trail down the backside of whiteface, and into this valley between Whiteface and Piper. As soon as I hit the valley bottom, I hear this coyote start howling, I'm not so concerned at first, I call Tucker to me, and then I hear another start in, and another. I did a couple shouts and clapped my hands, and then there's just like four or five coyotes howling. I grabbed the biggest stick I could find and took off back up the trail sprinting, with Tucker leading the way! I didn't drop my stick until I couldn't hear em anymore. When I hit the top of whiteface I stopped to take a breather fairly confident they weren't chasing us. Kinda scary though! I don't know if they were like howling to check me out, or to clear out, but either way I didn't wanna stick around to find out. After that I was kinda bummed because I had some exploring to do out that way. Once I got to the Whiteface trail again I had a decision to make about how I wanted to finish the run, I had a couple ways to go that would add on about 2 to 3 miles or I could just get back down to the normal Liberty Hill trails and just get the hell outta there. I wound up deciding to do that, and just finished up the second half of the lib hill 7 once I got back down to it. I added on about 2.5 miles with my climb up and down whiteface to make it a good 9.5 mile day.
Thursday- Long day today, I wound up running 17 miles but in 3 runs broken up by about a half hour or so for each. I started out planning on doing a 9 mile tempo on the roads. It was way too busy out with Bike Week though so I decided to bag it after 2.5 and go to the trails with Tucker. There's 5. I did 6 out on the Lib Hill trails with tuck, and after I finished up there I gave Abbey a call to see where she was at, and she wound up talking me into running with her, so I met her over at Ahern State Park for another 6 miles. Felt pretty good most of the time, a bit tired over at Ahern. I took a dip in the lake after we finished and then headed home to get ready to go into The Weirs and enjoy some Laconia Bike Week action.
Friday- 4 easy am, 4 easy pm Ran with Abbey in the morning on the roads, and ran in the afternoon with Tucker on the Audubon fields. Nice easy day.
Saturday- Hiked up Mt. Washington to watch Abbey and everyone else I know run. Beautiful day. I went up Lions Head to the Alpine Gardens and then upto about the 6.5 mile mark. Had an awesome time watching everyone come up the mountain. After most everyone went by I went up and caught up with everyone, and then went up and had myself a meal on top of the mountain. That's my favorite thing about Washington, I love going in and having a cup of coffee and pizza afer hiking all morning. I know a lot of people don't like having the observatory and all those people, but I can deal with it for hot food on top of the mountain. Once everyone started going down the mountain, I hiked back down Tuckerman's Ravine to the bottom. Great hike. I give myself about 4 miles of running for the day.
Huge Congratulations to Abbey on her 12th place finish, and 2 minute + pr. Abbey also managed 10th USATF athlete, to grab the last medal. So proud of my Fiance! Also congrats to the Masters team on their gold medal, and to the Open team for their silver.
Sunday- 9 miles, just ran a nice easy 9 miles with Tucker, I entertained Ideas of doing 18 instead of 9 but was feeling tired so I decided to just quit and be happy with the run I had done.
Week Total- 61 miles. Nice week of easy running. I know I should have gotten in a work out I just never really felt like it. Good week though.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Newton 10k
Tough Race!
I came into this race with pretty high hopes, I'd run well the week before and felt really fit doing it so maybe I built up my expectations a little too high. I thought I'd be able to break 34:00 a week after getting a season's best of 16:48 in a 5k last week. I was convinced that if I got out near 17:05 for 5k that I'd be able to squeak under with the downhill last 5k. It didn't go that way, this was a bad race. My first bad race since Gilmanton back in March. My watch broke so I wasn't able to get splits for this race, I got some splits from guys near me at splits.
I went 5:30, 5:45, 17:20 23:something 29:01 and then finished up with a 36:07 I don't remember much of who was with me where or anything like that, I just remember running with Brett Ely for most of the first half, and chasing the second place woman through most of the second half. The last mile or two, I had a great guy from Whirlaway who kept pushing me to stay with him over those last miles and he was a great help as I was ready to pack it in.
No one really ran fast this race, and I was closer to my team mates time wise than I was at the bedford 12k so I'm not worried about the time. I know I'm pretty fit, it was just a tough day out there. I'm just gonna keep the miles up and keep rolling.
I came into this race with pretty high hopes, I'd run well the week before and felt really fit doing it so maybe I built up my expectations a little too high. I thought I'd be able to break 34:00 a week after getting a season's best of 16:48 in a 5k last week. I was convinced that if I got out near 17:05 for 5k that I'd be able to squeak under with the downhill last 5k. It didn't go that way, this was a bad race. My first bad race since Gilmanton back in March. My watch broke so I wasn't able to get splits for this race, I got some splits from guys near me at splits.
I went 5:30, 5:45, 17:20 23:something 29:01 and then finished up with a 36:07 I don't remember much of who was with me where or anything like that, I just remember running with Brett Ely for most of the first half, and chasing the second place woman through most of the second half. The last mile or two, I had a great guy from Whirlaway who kept pushing me to stay with him over those last miles and he was a great help as I was ready to pack it in.
No one really ran fast this race, and I was closer to my team mates time wise than I was at the bedford 12k so I'm not worried about the time. I know I'm pretty fit, it was just a tough day out there. I'm just gonna keep the miles up and keep rolling.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Training Week Ending 6/10
Monday- Mountain work out at Gunstock. Hard mile or so up the road to tower on Mt. Rowe 11:00. Easy over the ridge to Flintlock trail, then hard to the summit of Gunstock. Easy back down to parking lot and over to the base of the tower access road, and then hard up to the tower again 9:40 this time. easy again over to gunstock and back down to the car. Abbey and I did a lap around the parking lot to finish off 8 miles for the day.
Tuesday- 81 minutes exploring trails around Whiteface. 11 miles.
I took a trail from the gilford side of whiteface that skirts around the backside, and eventually connects to the logging road that I use to access whiteface from Durrell Mt. Road. I didn't go up cause I was trying to take it easy, just ran back down to Durrell mt. and after a couple more miles I just took Belknap Mt. Road back to the car. Nice run, tried to take it easy, but it was quite a bit of climbing.
Wednesday- Workout Mile, 2x800, 4x400 5:21, 2:39, 2:39, 78, 76, 77, 78
Not quite the work out I wanted today. I wish I had waited til Thursday to do this one, I don't think I was quite recovered from Monday's workout, and tuesday's run probably didn't help. Still not a bad work out, it just felt like a grind from step one. 8 miles total.
Thursday- 6 miles sorta easy
Abbey was doing a work out on the Belknap Mt. auto road, I wish I could have done it, but I had done a track work out the day before. I decided to take a trail up the backside of Gunstock, and then come back over to the top of the auto rd. to see how Abbey was doing with her work out. I was able to run most of the first half of the trail up gunstock, but the second half was really steep, and I had to hike most of it. Took it easy back over to Belknap, and managed to catch Abbey just before she headed back down on her second repeat. only about 2.5 to 3 miles so far. Ran easy with Abbey down to the bottom, about 4 or so now. Just ran out to the end of the road and back up easy until I met up with Abbey on her way back down. I did this while she did her last repeat too. I was worried about all the climbing I was getting in, but just decided that I was taking it easy and walking when it got too steep so it couldn't be too too bad. about 6 miles total on the day.
Friday- Easy 7 miles on the liberty hill trails. About 55 minutes.
Saturday- Easy 3 miles, to shake out before the 10k. Meant to run more, but it was a busy day, so I just squeezed it in before dinner.
Sunday- Newton 10k 36:07 70th place. Tough race. Ran another 4 miles later in the afternoon to make it 12 for the day.
Week Total: 55 miles with 2 work outs and a bad race. Ok week milage wise, I just sorta felt tired, and out of pop most of the week.
Tuesday- 81 minutes exploring trails around Whiteface. 11 miles.
I took a trail from the gilford side of whiteface that skirts around the backside, and eventually connects to the logging road that I use to access whiteface from Durrell Mt. Road. I didn't go up cause I was trying to take it easy, just ran back down to Durrell mt. and after a couple more miles I just took Belknap Mt. Road back to the car. Nice run, tried to take it easy, but it was quite a bit of climbing.
Wednesday- Workout Mile, 2x800, 4x400 5:21, 2:39, 2:39, 78, 76, 77, 78
Not quite the work out I wanted today. I wish I had waited til Thursday to do this one, I don't think I was quite recovered from Monday's workout, and tuesday's run probably didn't help. Still not a bad work out, it just felt like a grind from step one. 8 miles total.
Thursday- 6 miles sorta easy
Abbey was doing a work out on the Belknap Mt. auto road, I wish I could have done it, but I had done a track work out the day before. I decided to take a trail up the backside of Gunstock, and then come back over to the top of the auto rd. to see how Abbey was doing with her work out. I was able to run most of the first half of the trail up gunstock, but the second half was really steep, and I had to hike most of it. Took it easy back over to Belknap, and managed to catch Abbey just before she headed back down on her second repeat. only about 2.5 to 3 miles so far. Ran easy with Abbey down to the bottom, about 4 or so now. Just ran out to the end of the road and back up easy until I met up with Abbey on her way back down. I did this while she did her last repeat too. I was worried about all the climbing I was getting in, but just decided that I was taking it easy and walking when it got too steep so it couldn't be too too bad. about 6 miles total on the day.
Friday- Easy 7 miles on the liberty hill trails. About 55 minutes.
Saturday- Easy 3 miles, to shake out before the 10k. Meant to run more, but it was a busy day, so I just squeezed it in before dinner.
Sunday- Newton 10k 36:07 70th place. Tough race. Ran another 4 miles later in the afternoon to make it 12 for the day.
Week Total: 55 miles with 2 work outs and a bad race. Ok week milage wise, I just sorta felt tired, and out of pop most of the week.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Easy Week FTW
Mon- Franconia Ridge loop 9 miles 3h20min. run/hike
Tues- Planned day off. I was feeling pretty beat up. I had a sore achilles, and a sore shin and figured a day off might just be what I needed. It was tough to do, I had tuesday off and all I wanted to do all day was go run, but after three days of mountain runs, I figured I could get more out of the day off.
Wed- 7 mile tempo on the Liberty Hill trails. 43:18. This is a PR for this loop, but also the first time I've committed to a tempo, and not just a fartlek. I did well, I got started a little fast and put the crap in my legs pretty early, but only had to back off a bit to recover. I hit 3 miles a little under 18 and 5 miles around 29-30 minutes.I made the first mile of the climb back up Liberty Hill in 6:20 and then got a fly caught in my throat that triggered the ol' gag reflex. I was around 8:00 for the last mile after coughing/puking up that fly and taking about 2 minutes easy before I was able to remind myself what I was doing and get rolling again. Very happy with this effort. I would have been closer 42:30 with out that stupid bug.
Thursday- 5x400, 5x200: 75, 75, 75, 74, 75, 37, 37, 35, 37, 37
Wanted to get a little bit of speed in this week with a 5k coming up on Saturday. I was a little worried about trying to squeeze in back to back work outs but figured something light wouldn't hurt. Pete used to have us do back to back work out days from time to time. I always felt like I responded well to it, but this was more about time.
Friday- easy 4 miles shake out. I've been trying to lengthen my shake out, I always say I'm gonna do 6 this week, but then I get home from work and I'm just like meh, 4 will do.
Saturday- Over the River and Through the Woods 5k, 1st 16:48.
This was the 5th race of the CARS series, and with a 10 am start it was great to sleep in til 7:30 this morning. I saw it was raining getting up and was ok with it. I love racing in the rain, I just don't like standing around in it. I got a bit of cereal in, drank some juice, and a very small cup of coffee before leaving the house. I'm trying to limit my coffee before races, because I've been throwing up so often during my races. Today it seemed to work as I made it through the race without puking.
Abbey and I got there around 9:15 in pouring rain. We grabbed our numbers and nice long sleeve shirts, said hi to some friends and got out for our warm up. We ran into Ernie Brake and Scott Clark and his son Colby and finished warming up with them. Kinda just sat huddled in the car after putting on our singlet and flats then hopped out and pulled off our pants 5 minutes before the start and jogged over. I did some strides and hopped around trying to stay warm. The gun went off and there was a mass of highschoolers that surged to the front of the race, I just hung back and relaxed and just planned on trying to be around them by the time we hit the bridge over the river, because the walkway we run on is so narrow I thought I'd get stuck behind em. I managed to get by all but one of em, this young runner from Gilford Middle School a town over from me, who's going to be a very good runner I think, he was 18:18 today. I was still in 4th at this point but I just relaxed and waited til we got off the bridge and then moved to catch back up to Sam Evans Brown who was leading the race. I was feeling good and just decided to keep the move going and wound up taking the lead and trying to build a gap. I went through the mile in 5:25 just before we turn into the woods for about a mile of constant turning, through puddles and mud. It was great! I just kept the gas on through the corners and tried to get away from whoever it was I heard not far behind me. I made it through the trails with out getting caught, and then hit the road again, with just over a mile to go. I knew I had gotten a pretty good gap going, but just kept trying to roll. I felt really good all the way into the finish and had a pretty strong kick when Tom Walton who'd been leading me on the bike pulled off to tell me I was 16: and change just before I hit the "Root Canal". It felt great to get the win, and it was neat watching Colby and Scott come in one after the other for 2nd and 3rd. Abbey and I went for our cool down together and then froze our butts off during the awards. After almost 9 years of going to races together this was actually the first race that Abbey and I have ever won together. Of course since Abbey is always winning, you can guess who's to blame for the dry spell. Great day though, I felt strong the whole race, and enjoyed another CARS series race with a bunch of friends.
Tues- Planned day off. I was feeling pretty beat up. I had a sore achilles, and a sore shin and figured a day off might just be what I needed. It was tough to do, I had tuesday off and all I wanted to do all day was go run, but after three days of mountain runs, I figured I could get more out of the day off.
Wed- 7 mile tempo on the Liberty Hill trails. 43:18. This is a PR for this loop, but also the first time I've committed to a tempo, and not just a fartlek. I did well, I got started a little fast and put the crap in my legs pretty early, but only had to back off a bit to recover. I hit 3 miles a little under 18 and 5 miles around 29-30 minutes.I made the first mile of the climb back up Liberty Hill in 6:20 and then got a fly caught in my throat that triggered the ol' gag reflex. I was around 8:00 for the last mile after coughing/puking up that fly and taking about 2 minutes easy before I was able to remind myself what I was doing and get rolling again. Very happy with this effort. I would have been closer 42:30 with out that stupid bug.
Thursday- 5x400, 5x200: 75, 75, 75, 74, 75, 37, 37, 35, 37, 37
Wanted to get a little bit of speed in this week with a 5k coming up on Saturday. I was a little worried about trying to squeeze in back to back work outs but figured something light wouldn't hurt. Pete used to have us do back to back work out days from time to time. I always felt like I responded well to it, but this was more about time.
Friday- easy 4 miles shake out. I've been trying to lengthen my shake out, I always say I'm gonna do 6 this week, but then I get home from work and I'm just like meh, 4 will do.
Saturday- Over the River and Through the Woods 5k, 1st 16:48.
This was the 5th race of the CARS series, and with a 10 am start it was great to sleep in til 7:30 this morning. I saw it was raining getting up and was ok with it. I love racing in the rain, I just don't like standing around in it. I got a bit of cereal in, drank some juice, and a very small cup of coffee before leaving the house. I'm trying to limit my coffee before races, because I've been throwing up so often during my races. Today it seemed to work as I made it through the race without puking.
Abbey and I got there around 9:15 in pouring rain. We grabbed our numbers and nice long sleeve shirts, said hi to some friends and got out for our warm up. We ran into Ernie Brake and Scott Clark and his son Colby and finished warming up with them. Kinda just sat huddled in the car after putting on our singlet and flats then hopped out and pulled off our pants 5 minutes before the start and jogged over. I did some strides and hopped around trying to stay warm. The gun went off and there was a mass of highschoolers that surged to the front of the race, I just hung back and relaxed and just planned on trying to be around them by the time we hit the bridge over the river, because the walkway we run on is so narrow I thought I'd get stuck behind em. I managed to get by all but one of em, this young runner from Gilford Middle School a town over from me, who's going to be a very good runner I think, he was 18:18 today. I was still in 4th at this point but I just relaxed and waited til we got off the bridge and then moved to catch back up to Sam Evans Brown who was leading the race. I was feeling good and just decided to keep the move going and wound up taking the lead and trying to build a gap. I went through the mile in 5:25 just before we turn into the woods for about a mile of constant turning, through puddles and mud. It was great! I just kept the gas on through the corners and tried to get away from whoever it was I heard not far behind me. I made it through the trails with out getting caught, and then hit the road again, with just over a mile to go. I knew I had gotten a pretty good gap going, but just kept trying to roll. I felt really good all the way into the finish and had a pretty strong kick when Tom Walton who'd been leading me on the bike pulled off to tell me I was 16: and change just before I hit the "Root Canal". It felt great to get the win, and it was neat watching Colby and Scott come in one after the other for 2nd and 3rd. Abbey and I went for our cool down together and then froze our butts off during the awards. After almost 9 years of going to races together this was actually the first race that Abbey and I have ever won together. Of course since Abbey is always winning, you can guess who's to blame for the dry spell. Great day though, I felt strong the whole race, and enjoyed another CARS series race with a bunch of friends.
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