Week of June 30th to July 6th, 2014

Monday:
0mi.  I hiked for 2hr on Mt. Cardigan with Jen and Griffin.  What an awesome mountain!  Had a great time.  In the afternoon, Jen and I rode our mtn. bikes for an hour around Stone Wall Farm.  We spent quite a bit of time on sections of the race course.  It's pretty technical but I'm getting good at rolling over and around obstacles and staying in the pedals.  My butt is sore from 2 days in a row of biking!

Tuesday:
8mi+/57min in Pisgah with Ferenc, Lena and Ellie.  Nice run.  Enjoyed a good long swim in Kilburn Pond after the run.  I watched the US lose to Belgium in the World Cup at Glenn's house while playing with the twins.  We went fishing at night.  I caught 2 smallmouth bass and 3 rainbow trout.  Glenn landed 2 rainbows and a brown trout (it did have fins!). 

Wednesday:
AM:  8mi/52min on Ledge Rd. trails in Grafton, VT with Ferenc, Lena and Ellie.  Hot and humid out there today.  I felt good.  Refreshing dip in the Saxton's River after to cool off.
PM:  0mi.  I was planning on doing a short speed workout with Andy but the weather was absolutely frightening.  Hard rain and lot's of lightning kept me indoors.  Turns out that Andy and Bryce still did the workout.  Crazy fools!

Thursday:
8mi+/59min in Pisgah with Ferenc and the girls.  Nice run.  Went for a swim in Kilburn after the run. 

Friday:
11mi*/70min - Keene 4 on the 4th Road Race - 21:25 (5:22) 5th.
I warmed up with Jonny, George and Andrea Walkonen in a downpour.  This is the first year in the 13 year history of the race that it's been raining and cool.  It's usually pretty toasty.  At the start, I went out conservatively in a chase group with George and a couple other guys.  Planky was leading up the bike path with Thomas, Andy and a couple other guys.  I hit the mile in a slow 5:26.  After the mile the course turns right off the bike path and then takes a left at a fork in the road onto Marlborough St.  The lead pack went right after being sent that way by the police officer.  I realized this was different, but thought for a second that maybe the race did go that way.  I paused and then decided it had to go left, so I shouted to the leaders to go left.  I was now in the lead, (but I had to wait for a car that police officer let cross in front of me, since he assumed I was turning right.)  It didn't take too long before Thomas and a couple other guys passed me to retake the lead. 

We crossed the grass section before the 2 mile mark and added on a little extra loop to make up for the shorter start section.  This confused most of us and then a volunteer sent us right.  We always went left in year's past and lolipopped back to the part of the course we already ran.  I stopped and shouted this way again to the same guys who already took a wrong turn.  At that point, Chris Reilly, George and Andrea went to the lead and I quickly passed George and Andrea and started chasing to catch Chris.  At about 2 and 3/4 Thomas and the guy who wound up 2nd passed us back.  Then Andy passed Chris and I at the 3mi mark.  Chris and I yo-yoed a few times in the last mile and Andy's friend John went flying by us.  He was hammering.  I could see Thomas take off ahead of us and it looked like he had his 3rd win in the bag.  Andrea got on my shoulder with about 600m to go with Chris Reilly a couple steps up on me.  In the final straight away, I dug down and passed Chris to hit the line in 5th place.  Chris was 2 seconds back with Andrea another 2 seconds behind him.  I was pleased with my result for the shape I'm in, but I really need to get fit.  There's no reason other than work ethic that I'm not battling for the win on this course.  I was happy that Thomas got his three-peat.  It would have been a shame if he lost it with 2 wrong turns.  He probably added 20sec+ as did the guy who finished 2nd. 

After the race I did a cool down with Andrea.  Her coach wanted her to do a step up fartlek.  We started with 10 steps fast, 10 easy and built up to 90 steps fast, building by 10 steps each acceleration.  It was a fun way to do a fartlek after a race and the counting took my mind off of running fast on tired legs.  We cooled down with 2mi easy after that.  I definitely got a good quality day of running in and was bonking and looking for the food table after the cool down.

Here are my miles:
1mi - 5:26
2mi - 5:29
3mi - 5:12
4mi - 5:18
Total - 21:25

Saturday:
5mi/36min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Gorgeous weather. 
PM:  Mtn biking 1:45 in Pisgah.  My neighbor is missing, possibly in the park.  I was out searching and riding.  It was a nice ride but I didn't find him.  There was a massive search under way, with 8 dog teams and lot's of volunteers.  He has dementia and went missing yesterday at noon.  Sad stuff.

Sunday:
0mi.  Body sore and beat up from the race and the long mtn bike ride. 

Total for the week:
40mi.  I need to lift, double and do yoga next week.