Thursday, January 22, 2015

Week of January 19th to 25th, 2015

Monday:
20mi*/2:26 in Pisgah with Ferenc, Brett, Summit, Lena and Ellie.  Good run.  The snow was slushy and provided decent traction.  I felt a little tired out there but it was a fun day in the woods.  Warm 35 degrees.

Tuesday:
0mi.  My body was tired today.  Needed a rest.

Wednesday:
0mi.  Lifted weights.  I elected to skip the run and watch the basketball game at school.

Thursday:
AM:  3mi/21min on the roads solo.  I wore my new Hoka Rapa Nui2 Tarmacs.  They are strange.  They dig into my ankles on the lateral side pretty annoyingly but the cushioning is bomb and they're fairly light at 10 ounces.  I don't love them but I'll keep them in the rotation.
PM:  8mi/55min in Pisgah with Brett, Summit and Griffin.  Great run. 30 degrees F.  My body feels good.  I was able to grab rim (ok barely touch the rim) today at school after playing some two-on-two hoops.  It's my goal to touch rim until I'm at least 40, so 2015 is checked off my list.  The lifting helps!  Had 2 redpolls at the feeder this morning.  The first redpolls of the year, hopefully we'll get a big flock of them like the pine siskins which number up to 50.  We're burning through a lot of bird seed this winter!

Friday:
1mi with drills and sprints + lifting weights at the YMCA. 

Saturday:
4mi/36min in Pisgah with Jen and Griffin.  Nice and easy run on 3" of new powder.

Sunday:
13mi/1:30 on the Putney Mtn trails with Ferenc, Lena and Ellie.  We ran for 16min then sat in my truck to warm up.  My toes were freezing and the wind was crazy.  After warming up we headed south on new trails and were out of the wind and in the sunshine.  Driving home I had the chills and was aching all over.  Turned out I had a fever.  Ughhh.

Total for the week:
49mi.  I was sick as a dog Sunday afternoon.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Week of January 12th to 18th, 2015

Monday:
3mi/24min in Friedsam with Running Club.  Fun running in the snow with the kids.  We enjoyed pulling down on hemlock branches to cover the person behind in powdery snow.  Also hiding behind trees and ambushing each other with snow balls was a popular thing to do on this run.  Serious fun.
PM:8mi/55min in Pisgah with Brett and Griffin.  Good run, headlamp last 4mi. 
I played some hard core Ballistic Box Ball at school today.

Tuesday:
0mi.  I was pretty exhausted from another day of all out Ballistic Box Ball with the kids and my student teacher.  I went home and took a nap.

Wednesday:
10mi/73min on the Athen's trails with Ferenc, Lena, Ellie and Griffin at night.  Threw on the headlamps and micro-spikes and had an awesome run.  We came across some sort of unidentifiable coyote kill.  Cold 8 degrees, but I'm getting used to the temps so it felt warm. (It was -11 this morning).

Thursday:
8mi/57min in Pisgah with Brett and Summit.  Wore the head lamps again for the last 3miles.  We ran across Fullam Pond which was the first time I've done that.  The snowmobiles have finally, been out in the park.  I'm not sure what took them so long, but it is nice running on their tracks.  Lifted weights.

Friday:
0mi.  Lifted weights in the morning and then was too tired and lazy to run in the afternoon.

Saturday:
18mi*/2:01 on the Athens, VT trails with Ferenc, Brett, Summit, Lena and Ellie.  Brrr! -6 degrees to start but it warmed up to a toasty +6F by the end of the run.  Beautiful day and a fun time out on the trails.  I wore my micro-spikes and had good traction.  Feeling decent.

Sunday:
10mi/1:37 in Pisgah with Jen and Griffin.  Warm 28 degrees.  It started to drizzle at the end of the run.  I can't believe we're getting rain instead of snow with the cold temps we've had..  This sucks!  I want a good fresh foot of powder!

Total for the week:
57mi.  This was a pretty solid week.  I'm happy I lifted twice and got a fun long run in.

Week of January 5th to 11th, 2015

Monday:
3mi/21min on the roads solo at night.  It was cold 10 degrees and windy.  Lifted weights.

Tuesday:
3mi/21min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Cold 9 degrees and windy.  Brrr!  I wore micro-spikes and was going to go further but Griffin was slipping and sliding all over the trail.  It's 2" of hard packed frozen icy snow.

Wednesday:
4mi/27min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Cold again, 7 degrees.  Wore my micro-spikes.  My back was pretty miserably stiff.

Thursday:
1mi with drills and sprints + lifted weights at the YMCA.  It was -14 degrees this morning.  Yikes, that's chilly!  I had meetings at night.

Friday:
8mi/57min in Pisgah with Brett, Summit and Griffin.  Slow going in the 3" of new powder we got today.  Wore head lamps for the last half an hour.  Wore my micro-spikes too.

Saturday:
6mi/52min in Pisgah with Jen and Griffin.  Nice and easy run.  Beautiful sunny day, 11 degrees.  Went out on Lily Pond.

Sunday:
4mi/27min on my beaver pond.  I ran 6 loops around my frozen beaver pond while Jen and Griffin walked around at night.  Super fun!  I don't know why I never did this before, it's a good way to get some miles. 

Total for the week:
29mi.  My back has been pretty stiff.  It was really cold this week.  I wish we had more snow, with a few more inches it'd be perfect for snowshoeing.

Week of December 29th, 2014 to January 4th, 2015

Monday:
11mi/1:19 in Burlingame with Jonny.  Great run.  We ran Sammy C's and some other twisty single track trails.  Feeling good.

Tuesday:
16mi/1:53 on the Athen's, VT trails with Ferenc, Lena and Ellie.  Fun run on a couple inches of crunchy snow.  19 degrees and sunny.

Wednesday:
AM:  5mi/NT with Jen and Griffin in Pisgah.  Cold and sunny 16 degrees.
PM:  4mi/34min in Pisgah with Glenn and Griffin.  Fun run.

Thursday:
7mi*/49min - track workout at Brattleboro track with Glenn and 2 of his athletes.
Mile - 4:58 + 4 x 400m with 400 rest (71, 70, 67, 66)
Fun way to start the New Year.  It was cold around 11 degrees to start but it warmed up a little bit. 

Friday:
0mi.  My back is stiff and sore and I felt like taking it easy.

Saturday:
20mi*/2:24 in Pisgah with Brett, Ferenc, Lena, Ellie and Summit.  Great run.  It was cold around 15 degrees.  We ran on Old Spofford trail and crossed the Swamp of Sorrow.  We saw a painted turtle swimming under the ice.  This is a really cool route that's only passable in the winter when the beaver pond is frozen. 

Sunday:
4mi/33min in Pisgah with Griffin and Jen.  2" of crusty fresh snow.

Total for the week:
67mi.  Pleased with this week.  I got a good speed workout in and a long run. 

Thursday, January 8, 2015

2014 - A look back

2014 is over and it's time to open a new running log and close the old one.  First, one more look back at my year of running and racing. 

The numbers:

I ran a total of 2,338 miles for an average of 45.0 mpw.  This was a pretty low number for me and is similar to 2006 and 2005, when I ran 2,363mi and 2,426mi respectively.  I started running in 1994 and I just didn't have the same fire to train hard that I did a couple years back.  I also had one running injury to the plica of my left knee which kept my winter miles very low.  That was my first running related injury in a long time and it was caused (I think) by doing a couple 20+mi runs on slippery snow covered roads.  Lesson learned.  I'm better off hitting the trails if there is snow on the roads and doing long runs with micro-spikes or snowshoes, something for good traction.

My highest mileage month was August with 270mi for a 61.0 mpw average.  August is always my highest mileage month.  I have summer vacation and I'm usually building from July into August with the goal of racing well in the fall.

My lowest mileage month was May with 128mi for a 28.9 mpw average.  I don't really have a good reason for the low miles other than a lack of desire to train hard.  I did go on a class trip to Rhode Island for a week which makes it difficult to get the miles in, it's also the track season and I had practice and meets.  The kids had a great season and I had two individual State Champions, both in the 400m.  I've now been lucky enough to have 3 State Champs over my years of coaching.

I raced 22 times.  Which is a little on the low side.  I'm usually racing closer to 30 races per year.
I won 7 of those races.  5 of those races were trail races, the longest being the Pisgah 23K and the shortest being the Friends of Pisgah 10K.  I won 2 road races, the Chesterfield 10K (which has some trail and dirt roads) and the Granite State 10miler.  Obviously, I had some success in my own back yard.

Some high lights of the year:

I had a blast running the Presidential Traverse in July with Ferenc.  That was something I've always wanted to run.  We had a great time in the mountains.  I came away from that run with a huge amount of respect for the guys and gals that have set and reset the FKT there.  It's a rugged route and I would need to be in top shape and do a lot more running in the mountains to even have a chance of sniffing that FKT.  RESPECT!!

I really enjoyed racing the Big River Half Marathon.  Bob Jackman and I were locked in a tight race for the final 8+ miles and it was a super fun course and I was happy to get the win.

It was cool winning Run with the Beavers 10mi again and finishing up as the RI Triple Crown Champion.  That series would be a heck of lot more competitive if Mike Galoob and Bob Jackman could somehow race in the events that they direct.  Still, it was an honor to win and finish with a perfect score.

I loved getting back to Greylock and Monroe, two of my favorite trail races.  I got out climbed by Jonny at Greylock which was an eye opening experience for me.  I was able to bomb the descents and finish in 3rd place.  At Monroe, I was able to lead wire-to-wire and hold off a pretty strong field for the win. 

Now some of the low lights of 2014:

For the second year in a row, I did not set any PR's.  I didn't even break 16min on any 5K's this year.  (I only raced 3 5K's and 2 were XC races though).  I did set a personal best (PB) on the Chesterfield 10K course running 2min faster than last year on the 2yr old course. 

I had a very disappointing indoor track season.  I ran a 4:29 mile first race of the year and then I followed that off with a disastrous showing at the New England Master's Meet.  I tanked to a 4:46 mile and then rigged to a slow 2:10 800m.  Yikes!  I think a big part of this blow up could have been running in micro-spikes for the week leading up to the meet and running too fast in a workout the weekend before the meet.  My legs were dead and had no pop to race fast.

I didn't race any snowshoe events this year.  I need to remedy that in 2015 and get back on the snow.  The events are low key and super fun.  They also put a little hair on your chest and make you tougher for the spring racing season.

I barely did any track workouts.  I did some consistently in January and then I only got to the track a couple more times throughout the year.  If I want to race fast again, I'll have to get back on the track consistently.  When you're not training hard and feel out of shape, sometimes it seems to make more sense to go run 8-10miles rather than hitting the track for a workout.

Finally, Lil Rhody was not a good race for me.  I went out too fast and faded badly failing to run in the 45's, which for me is a solid time.  Mike Galoob went on to break the course record (one I had been trying to get for years) and everyone else seemed to run personal bests.  "The willingness to win, means nothing without the willingness to prepare" is a quote that comes to mind for me.  I wanted to win for the 8th time, but I just didn't train hard enough and put in the miles to be successful at one of the most important races of the year for me.

Goals for 2015:

I'm going to steal the Zen-like running idea from my brother, Jonny.  I want to enjoy all the running I do and be satisfied with the race results I produce as a result of my training or lack there of.  I want to go to races and have fun with the fitness I have and put in the best race I'm capable of on that day and not worry about the "what ifs". 

If I get super motivated to train hard, then I will.  If I'm not as motivated that's fine too. 

I'd like to do some more adventures in the White Mountains.  Perhaps a Pemi-Loop?

I'd like to lift weights year round with more consistency and effort.

I'd like to do more running with my brothers, Glenn and Jonny.

Do some mountain adventures runs/hikes with my wife, Jen.

Mountain bike more this spring and summer.

Do yoga after runs.  I used to be like Gumby. Now, I'm kind of stiff and inflexible.  I used to do yoga after every run. I've not been good about that the last couple years.

Stay healthy

Those are my goals for 2015.  I'm looking forward to another fun year of running!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Week of December 22nd to 28th, 2014

Monday:
3.5mi/25min up Horseshoe Rd with the Running Club.  Fun running with the kids.  I am a wee bit sore from the race.

Tuesday:
0mi.  Drove to Corning, NY after school in the rain.

Wednesday:
10mi/68min solo on the Corning, NY roads.  Great run.  Warm 46 degrees.

Thursday:
0mi.  Hike in Watkins Glen woods.  Fun little Christmas day hike.  I pulled a deer tick out of my arm a few hours later. 

Friday:
6mi/44min on the Corning, NY roads solo.

Saturday:
14mi/1:37 in Pisgah with Brett, Ferenc, Lena, Ellie and Summit.  Great run.  Gorgeous sunny weather, 40 degrees F.

Sunday:
4.5mi/35min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Drove to RI later for our Rhody Christmas.

Total for the week:
38mi.  This is the last day of my 2014 Run Log.  Therefore, it's where my running year officially ends. 
Total for the year:
2,338mi.  45.0 MPW Avg

Week of December 15th to 21st, 2014

Monday:
3mi/24min in Friedsam with the Running Club.  Fun run in the snowy trails.

Tuesday:
0mi.  Lazy day.  I didn't get much sleep last night and took a nap instead of running.

Wednesday:
0mi.  Lifted weights.

Thursday:
0mi.  Had a Christmas party after school.  Lazy.

Friday:
Am:  2mi/14min in Pisgah with Griffin. 
Pm:  3mi/23min in Friedsam with Running Club.  Jen and Griffin came and ran with us.  Fun day!

Saturday:
4mi/29min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Beautiful cold day, 19 degrees.  I drove to Rhode Island and saw a snowy owl at Charlestown Breachway.

Sunday:
10mi*/68min - Old Mountain Field 5K - 18:46 (6:03) 2nd.
This was a fun race.  I didn't get out super fast and entered the woods in 4th place.  I moved into 3rd behind Bronson V. as soon as we hit the little bridges.  Garvin was already creating a small gap.  After about a mile of following Bronson V., I decided I better move by him and see if I could catch Chris.  I was having a lot of fun on the twisty course but I could see I wasn't really making any ground up on him.  Chris took a wrong turn late in the race.  I shouted to him but it was too late.  He lost a good chunk of time.  I was now in the lead and I really didn't feel like stealing a win from the guy who was clearly the strongest runner so I pulled over at the finish and let him cross first.  I know he didn't want to win that way, but I would have felt much worse crossing ahead of him.  We both snuck under the old course record.  Fun day on the trails!  Thanks to Mike Galoob for directing an awesome event!  I grabbed some food and a drink with my former student teacher, Preston.  It was good to catch up with him and I'm psyched that he enjoyed the trail race and it sounds like he wants to do more in the series. 

Total for the week:
22mi.  Not very impressive mileage, but this is kind of the norm for me in December.  I'll start to crank it up in January. 

Week of December 8th to 14th, 2014

Monday:
3.5mi/27min up Horseshoe Rd. with Running Club.  Nice and easy cold weather 23 degrees.  Fun running with the kids.

Tuesday:
8mi/65min in Pisgah with Jen, Glenn and Griffin.  Snow day today.  2" of new snow.  Fun run.

Wednesday:
0mi.  Feeling lazy.  It was nasty weather.  33 degrees and pouring rain.

Thursday:
2mi/16min in Pisgah at night with Jen and Griffin.  Fun run, we wore our headlamps and went out for a short adventure.  Lifted weights.

Friday:
Am:  3mi/22min on the roads solo.
Pm:  3mi/24min in Friedsam with Running Club.  Fun run in the snow.

Saturday:
7mi/53min in Pisgah with Griffin.  Beautiful day, 35 degrees and sunny.

Sunday:
16mi/1:51 on the Putney dirt roads with Ferenc and Matty P.  The dirt roads were covered in a thin layer of ice in most spots which made for some cautious running.  Hilly run.  Fun times.

Total for the week:
41mi.