The Wood Is Back

Well after much time off I've finally decided to get back to my blog. I'd been thinking about it for a while, mostly to try and make myself a little more accountable for my mileage. If I stick to this blog then I'll have to tell you all about my lazy 0's, which is embarrassing, so hopefully there will be less of them.

Basically you haven't missed much, I've had some good races I've had some bad races, I've had some good and bad training. I'm pretty much just gonna start from now, but one of my goals is to have more pictures on here so here's a couple from the last year.

This was my first Cani-X race at the Pineland Farms Trail Festival. Tucker and I started out in just about last after he knocked an old lady over and got himself wrapped around a pole in the starting corral. After our crazy start we hauled for a k at probably close to 3:00 to catch the leaders, after another hard K to get away from everyone Tucker and I were able to enjoy our first race together. Tuck, even stopped to take a poop!

 

This is my sweet new dirtbike! This was pretty much my running downfall this summer, but it was so much fun. I can not wait to get back on it this spring.

 

Here's Tuck and I back in action at the Gunstock dog friendly race. We had to start two minutes behind the non-dog runners and still managed to be first across the line!

 

This is nearing the top of Mt. Roberts at the Roaring Falls Trail Race at Castle in the Clouds.

 

 

This shot is the finish, I was dead after running scared from the top of Mt. Roberts to the finish. Probably 9-10 miles of pushing to hold third place, knowing there was a pack of 4 not far behind waiting to eat me up if I fell apart.

After Castle in the Clouds I didn't do too much, besides run Mill Cities Relays and help GCS crush the Co-Ed Open division by like 8 or 9 minutes. That was mostly due to a fast 10 miles from Nacho Hernando though really. It was a fun year, not as much training as I needed to do, but I ran pretty decently considering and had a lot of fun.

Here's hoping I stick to the blog, and that you guys can help hold me accountable for getting some training in. Don't be afraid to call me out when you see those 0's piling up!

 

 

Ruminations on the endless comeback + Hollis and Washington

My latest comeback has been going excruciatingly slowly. I am starting to feel pretty good on my runs, but I need to get used to making myself hurt again. One of the tough things about getting back into shape, is that when you're in a race and it hurts, you can just say oh well, I guess I'm not fit yet, I guess you can just give up. Right now I wanna focus on getting used to running 5:20-5:30 pace again.

I did do some 400's just as long strides to get something under 6:00 pace before Hollis and wound up getting carried away and doing more harm than good I think. I got started easy with a 78 feeling good then 76 75 72 67 69. I was hurting for the next few days and really irritated an abdomen strain I've been dealing with. While running a 67 was nice I think it would have been better to just run 75-73 the whole way.

Other than that, for hard efforts I've gotten in a few good mountain runs and a good hard progression run out in Michigan. I didn't wear a watch, but Abbey said the loop was 7.5 and so I just decided to make sure I was going steady the whole way. I ran pretty fast and by 5 miles I was hurting considerably. I kept pouring it on until I was at 5k pace by the last half mile. I was completely spent when I finished up and felt like I'd had my first great run since December. I don't know how I'd feel if I'd had a watch, but I know the effort was there on that run and I felt really good.

I've had a couple races since I last updated, we can pretty much just say I'm not quite fit yet. I'm making progress though. I ran ok at Canterbury back in may but not that happy with my run, and then I ran like an idiot in the next 5k I ran. Tried to lead the first half mile and then gave up and jogged the second mile. From these races Hollis was big improvement even if It's downhill. My chip time was 16:57 which I know is probably 60 seconds fast. At any rate, I haven't broken 18 yet this season, so if I can go out and break 18:00 this weekend I won't necessarily be happy, but I will know I'm getting somewhere.

Mt. Washington was a lot of fun though, I think part of it was trying to stay relaxed and enjoy the race. I wanted to take it easy enough that I could enjoy the race and not really demoralize myself by trying to race and falling apart. I started out easy and then reeled people in until halfway at about 39:50. I started hurting not far after that but managed to run until about 4.5 miles and then I made the mistake of saying ok that's far enough and letting myself walk. I was feeling ok, but started to just get intimidated by the idea of three more miles of climbing in front of me and just gave in and walked for a while. Once I let myself walk though, running became so much harder! Every time I tried to run I knew that there was an easier option, so I would take it and just start walking. Every time the grade changed for the worse I'd decide ok, I can walk again. Looking back on the experience it sorta felt like walking was a drug or something. "Don't even try walking, It feels so good you'll never go back to running!" I just couldn't get over how much harder running felt after letting myself walk some.
I would powerhike/run on and off for the rest of the climb until mile 7 where I decided to run the final stretch to the finish. I got to the Summit by 1:28:59 I think. I am not happy with that time, but I'm very happy with the experience. I enjoyed myself and can't wait to get back for another try. Barring anymore injuries over the next year I think I'll be ready to really race when I try again. I can't wait. I would post some pictures but I'm too cheap to buy the official photography from the race.

Week Ending 5-12

Monday- 3 miles. I got started planning on doing 3 repeats up and down belknap mt easy. I was running with Tuck, and when we got to the top I noticed he was limping a bit. It turned out he had some sores on his paws from the dirt roads  we ran on the day before so I had to cut it short after one repeat. I meant to go out for a few more once I got home, but I just couldn't get myself going again.

Tuesday- Steady 7 with Abbey, 7x3:00 min hard/ 1:00 min easy.

Wednesday- 5 miles easy with Tuck.

Thursday- 0 Lazy.

Friday- easy 6 with Abbey and Tuck. I found a way to cut through the woods behind the house and jump onto a trail that will bring me all the way into the Prescott Farm Conservation Center. There aren't too many miles out there, but there's a tough 1.5 mile loop out there as well as the field loops across the street. It's great to be able to get out there with out having to run on the roads or drive, but that one loop is tough.

Saturday- 8 miles and the Shaker Village XC 5k. I think I this went a bit better. Not quite as well as I'd hoped, but I think it was a bit of a better run. It's still gonna take some time, I've got work to do, but I think I've made some gains over the past few weeks. I gotta keep it rolling, but I'm gonna get back there.

Sunday- Hilly 17 miles. I made it, but it wasn't pretty. I tried for a bit to go with Abbey when she started going hard at 12 miles, but I knew within a mile that it was gonna be a struggle to finish, so I just let her go and finished up easy. Very tough, I was crawling at the end. Abbey did great though and killed her MP section. She's gonna roll in a couple weeks. I can't wait.

Week total- 46 miles this week. Felt pretty good. I had been hoping for a while to roll with Abbey for 16 or 20 of her race, but after the way she dropped me today I think it's gonna be a stretch if I can make it through 10.

Training Week Ending 5/5

Monday- Hard 7 miles at Liberty Hill trails. 50:12 I was trying to go under 50 in this run but I fell asleep a couple of times. Still got in some good work though. This isn't an easy course. My best time for the loop is just barely under 45 minutes and I didn't want this to be anywhere near that kind of an effort today.

Tuesday- 9 miles total. 2 mile warm up, then 3x2 miles with 4:00 of jogging rest, mile cool down. ran with Abbey. I don't remember the splits exactly I think we were around 13:10-20 for each set though so a good effort.

Wednesday- easy 4 miles from home. Summit Loop.

Thursday- 7 miles. Funspot loop with Abbey

Friday- day off

Saturday- easy 8 miles with Abbey.

Sunday- 12 miles. Went out and ran out to Sawyer Pond. Went in on Sawyer River Rd. from 302. No snow, nice long climb going up the road but definitely an easier run than going in from the Kanc.

Week Total- 48 miles. Pretty happy with my week. I was hoping to be over 50 miles, but I got in a lot of good running. Maybe I should have run Friday, but I hadn't had a day off in over two weeks so I probably needed it.

Training Week Ending 4/28

Monday- I ran an easy 6 miles with Tucker in Hamlin Forest. Nice run.

Tuesday- Easy 9 with Abbey. Ran some trails on Governors Island, fun run, a little slow in spots.

Wednesday- easy 4 miles over at Ahern Park. I meant to run more, but the park was really crowded with families on spring break, and Tucker is just too much of a barker for all the little kids that were around.

Thursday- I did a 9 mile fartlek with Abbey. 7x3:00 hard 1:00 recovery. Good work out. I tried to make the 3:00 minutes hurt.

Friday- Easy 3 miles with Yannick and Abbey.

Saturday- Easy 4 miles with Abbey.

Sunday- 14 mile long run. nice and slow, but a solid run.

Week total- 49 miles. Another solid week of running. I just gotta keep doing these for a while and I'll start making some progress.

Just Running.

Monday-4 miles. Ran easy before the marathon. Could have gotten more if i'd gotten started earlier.

Tuesday-9 miles. Was planning on running 3x3 miles with 800 rest with Abbey, but wound up skipping the middle interval to run over and use the bathroom at the park. We went 19:31 for the first repeat and then Abbey got in a 19:28 by herself and I caught back up with her for the last set in 19:45. This was a Good work out for Abbey, probably one of her best of this build up so far.

Wednesday- Easy 5 miles with tucker at prescott farm. Field loops. Prescott farm is about a mile up the road from me so it's a nice place to go with Tucker to run him off leash but the field loop is only about 1000 meters long and just runs a mowed perimeter loop of the field. In the summer the grass grows up like 4 feet tall on either side of the trail and it has some gradual slopes, but for the most part it's pretty boring. After 3 or 4 laps even Tucker starts trying to run back to the car after each loop. 8 laps was pretty good. I wanna try and see how many laps I can build upto though. When I was out there, I knew I needed a rest day, but I kept thinking about trying to get in 10 miles on that loop sometime this summer. Not because it would be a good work out or anything, but just because I think it would be a good mental challenge to just do that over and over again for an hour plus.

Thursday- easy 4 AM, Easy 3 PM Nice easy runs. Ran with my neighbor for the afternoon run, his knee is feeling better, but he was happy to hear I was only planning 3 miles.

Friday- Ran Delta Dental 5k ran about 2 miles warm up and then ran a horrible race. Not sure what my problem was, I might have opened my first 800 too fast, but was through the mile in 5:40, Then about a half mile later Abbey passed me. My legs just felt like crap. I tried to go with Abbey for the next half mile but at about 2 miles later I just gave up and let her go. I jogged it in for a 19:12, pretty embarassing. I ran a mile cool down and then went home and cried. 6 miles total.

Saturday- 13 miles at 6 AM. Scott's Idea to get miles in while still fatigued from the 5k 12 hours ago. It worked, I was wrecked afterwards.

Sunday- Red's Road race. I had originally planned on trying to race this kinda hard, but after fridays poor effort I decided to just get a good stimulus with the long run yesterday instead and I think it was the right thing to do. I still went down to run because the organization I work for is one of the beneficiaries of the race. I reall had a lot of fun going and just taking it easy. It was kinda fun to just relax and enjoy the course. I went out around 6:13 6:30 7:00 around half way through the 3rd mile I was caught by a friend who was having a great race so I picked it up and cruised with him until about 4 miles when he dropped me on the downhill and I just relaxed and ran in easy with Abbey (who was waiting out on the course) and Carolyn Durfee who I ran with in High School. 8 miles total.

Week Total- 52 miles! Nice big jump, and my first week of what I consider to be decent training! Feels good.

Week Ending April 14th

Monday- Went out to check out the trails at Liberty Hill today, There was still a lot of snow out there, but most of it was hard pack, and pretty decent for running on. On the hills it was so slick I had to run off the trail in order to get up the hill. Where it wasn't snow it was mud! It was a pretty fun run, and felt good to get muddy and get back out on my old stomping grounds.

Tuesday- Fartlek with Abbey. 7x3 minutes hard/ 1 min off. I was feeling some shin splints during the last couple miles, which is pretty normal as I get back in shape. Usually I just walk backwards up a hill after my runs until they stop bugging me. It usually takes about 3 days and they go away. 7 total.

Wednesday- 2 miles, went up to Prescott Farm with Tucker, got half way through one woods loop and just started feeling like crap, I got through the loop and decided to just call it a day and went home.

Thursday- easy 5 miles, The shin splints were still really bugging me. More backward hills.

Friday- 0 snowstorm? what?

Saturday- Easy 9 miles. Shins are better now.

Sunday- easy 6 miles. Meant to run more this day, but we cut the run a little shorter than we wanted when abbey's hamstring started acting up.

Week Total- 35 miles. I have to start doing a bit more miles now. I've done mid 30's for the past few weeks and it's time to make another good jump. This next week I'll try to be around 40-45.

Week Ending 4/7- Getting hit by a CARS series

Monday- Snowboarding, probably the last day of the season.

Tuesday-1 mile warm up then a Hard 5 miles with Abbey. 33:20. We were hoping to be a little faster but it was really windy out. Abbey toughed out another hard 5 after that. She is a Machine. I played it "safe" and only did one loop, but I think I could have done the second one with her. I felt pretty good.

Wednesday- 0 day off, it was cold and windy out I wussed out.

Thursday- Easy 6 with Abbey and our neighbor Yannick. Fun run with Yannick for his first run since I don't know when. He's not a runner though. He wanted us to take him out for a run and wasn't happy with just going 1 or 2 miles to start. He said he knew the loop and if he couldn't keep up he'd just let us go and walk if he needed to. So we ran and he managed to not walk for the whole loop, even a brutal quarter mile hill just before a mile to go. I was impressed.

Friday- Easy 3 miles before SEA race.

Saturday-5k Race, 18:26 I think? I don't really care to look at the results, you can say 18:30 to be safe. I was hoping to take off a bit more than that this week. I really thought I'd be sub 18. I guess it takes time. Hopefully I can make up some ground over the next couple weeks though. I'm currently in 8th place for CARS and need to gain some major fitness if I'm going to have a chance of scoring this year. I've already used my two throw away races and need to start making some points from here on out.

Sunday- Easy 10 miles after a day of snowboarding. Felt good to get it done, but I was crawling at some points. My legs were toast. At least it was nice and sunny out!

Week Total: 33 miles. a decent week for coming back from an injury, but I should have run on that wednesday that I whimped out cause of the wind.

All Healed Up!

I went to the doctors Monday, and got an x ray to make sure everything was healing well, and the fractures have healed up nicely. The two compressed vertebrae aren't going to go back to their normal shape, but they are healed up and now look to be solid bone on the x ray.

It was good to SEE that it has healed, and with that news I went out for a 7 mile "long run" when I got home. Everything felt good, except for the fact, that I am totally out of shape, and came in just under 8 minute pace with multiple stretching breaks. At least I got it done with out any back pain or anything stupid like that.

Monday- 7 mile, Funspot loop slow.

Tuesday- First workout of 2013! 4x800 hills 3:22, 3:23, 3:33, 3:23. I was starting each one with Abbey and then just pulling away from her over the hill. First time working out on this hill, maybe it was a bit long. I'm honestly happy I just stayed in front of Abbey. It will be all I can do to beat her at Gilmanton saturday. 7.5 total.

Wednesday- Long walk, day off.

Thursday- Easy 8 miles with Abbey. I had to stop and stretch a few times.

Friday- Easy 4 with Abbey.

Saturday- Gilmanton Road Race. 12th place, 19:29! Ouch. Slow slow time, but then I've never even broken 18:00 on this course even fit. For 2 weeks of running I'll take it. I took it pretty conservatively trying not to put myself in the hurt box too early. I went 5:43 6:24 6:40 something for the hill. Ugh pretty darn slow. It'll take some time to get fit again. I guess that's what 8 weeks off will do. At least I'm feeling like I can start doing some real training again. 7 mi total.

Sunday- day off.

Week Total- 33.5 miles. Not a bad week. Getting back. This next week will be about 40 maybe a little more. If everything is good after that ill go closer to 50 the week after that. The race was a bit discouraging but ill take off a big chunk this Saturday on SEA's flat course.

Week 2

Monday- easy 3 miles, not a lot of time today.

Tuesday- came home and shoveled 0

Wednesday- The back was really sore after shoveling, so I took the day off.

Thursday- Easy 4 miles with Abbey.

Friday- Easy 3 miles on the trails on Liberty Hill. I was missing my old stomping grounds, but I just wasn't ready for those trails yet, especially not in the snow. My legs were sapped after about 2 miles running in the snow, and then the snowmobile tracks stopped, and so I decided to turn back too. I was so wiped I wound up walking one of the longer hills.

Saturday- Steady 5 miles. Felt like I was killing it, but was barely under 40 minutes. Apparently I'm not very fit.

Sunday- Snowboarding at Jay Peak all day. The back felt great and still does today despite riding pretty hard yesterday. I love Jay, they got over 60 inches in the prior week and it was awesome! Fluff everywhere!

Week Total-15 I meant to make it 20 this week, but The early week got screwed by that snowstorm.