DoubleJRunning

Training 01-23 - 01-29

2012-01-24T11:09:00.001-05:00

01-26 - Thursday: 10 miles (icey road/paved road) + 30 min bike. E. Wakefield, NH. Nice out again but the road in and out of the lake was horrific. I had to walk to get out to the main road and walk back in. 10 miles out on the paved main roads (2 5mile loops) [1:05:12]. Got it in just before it got dark. Calf got painful and stiff. Stretched afterwards and hopped on the bike again for a 30 minute spin. More stretching. Bummed about BOTH the snowshoe races I was going to do this weekend are both cancelled (Sidehiller and Beaver Brook). For my central/northern NH folks, let me know if anyone is up for a long run or something interesting on either Sat. or Sun. or both.

01-25 - Wednesday: 6 miles (ice) + 30 min bike. E. Wakefield, NH. Very nice weather but again, couldn't get out of the house until pitch dark. Headlamp run on complete sheets of ice. Wore the Orocs w/ the spikes and that was the only reason I didn't fall on my rump over and over. Would have to loved to run longer but there are ZERO street lights around here and it gets VERY dark because almost nobody lives near here in the winter. Most of the houses on the lake and in the surrounding area are seasonal and it's even tough to see with the headlamp. Tonight there was a lot of fog and a lot of ice and it just made for a tough run. Even on the main roads there are no street lights at all. I ended up cutting it short and coming back in before I got hurt. Hopped on the bike for a 30 min. spin afterwards.

01-24 - Tuesday: 60 min. spin on the trainer. Worked through the daylight hours and then was on the phone w/ the bank and real estate agent until late. Finally got away enough to hop on the bike even though the daylight hours were so nice. A lot of the snow melted down and all the snow on the lake is almost gone. A full hour on the bike was about all I could handle mentally. My calf actually started to ache, even on the bike.

01-23 - Monday: 10 miles (snowy/icey roads and paved roads) - East Wakefield, NH and Acton, ME. From house out to Acton Ridge and up to Balch Pond and back down around to Great East and the loop back. Exactly 10. Felt tight and sluggish at first, but loosened up and felt great on the backside of the 10 miles. Wore a new (3rd different) pair of test Trailrocs I got from Inov-8. I just may have my new favorite shoe. Road was a little slick and about half of the run was on completely snow covered (but packed) roads. Very hill loop (especially first 5 miles) but really quiet. 2 cars passed me on the entire run. Both over 30 minutes in. Love running here! [1:10:18].

Training 01-16 - 01-22

2012-01-16T17:25:00.001-05:00

Weekly Wrap Up: 53.7 miles for the week but 3 days on snowshoes and most every day on some sort of snow or ice, made for a little slower going. I also got a massage so I call this week as good as a 60-something. Especially with the weather and road conditions. Calf is holding up. The biggest thing is that I got a RACE in. Yes, I raced. First race since the first week in November. I didn't want to miss Kevin's race up in North Conway on Saturday, so I headed up to test out the calf and more importantly the fitness level! More on that soon as I put together an actual race report!. A good week all in all. Some exciting news as we build up the team as well. We're starting to come into real focus for 2012 and I just hope I can be ready to TRY to score for the team at DH Jones on February 26th. I have 35 days to try to weasel my way back into being able to get through a road race without dying and without my calf seizing up.

01-22 - Sunday: 10.4 miles (snowmobile trails) - out and back - ran on packed snowmobile trails w/ my microspikes w/ Judson Cake and Kevin Tilton from White Lake State Park in Tamworth, NH. [1:30:04]. -11 below at the start. Eyelids kept freezing shut. No real issues w/ calf, which is amazing.

01-21 - Saturday: 11 miles (groomed xc ski trail and single track) - 3 mile w/up (with strides) w/ Judson Cake over Whitaker Wood course in Intervale, NH (on snowshoes) [23:00]. Then 4 mile race: Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Race [1st - 27:28]. Afterwards, cooldown with Judson Cake and Dave Dunham while collecting flags from course. [46:18]. Calf only got tight to the point of being uncomfortable, during the cooldown. It only slightly nudged me during the race near the beginning. Full report to come.

01-20 - Friday: 4 miles (snowmobile trail) on snowshoes - Corridor 19 from Pray Hill down to near the Ossipee line. Could only do an out and back for 30 minutes because it was already 4:30pm. Most of the way out was downhill, way back was uphill. [32:00].

01-19 - Thursday: 6 miles (snowmobile trail) - Seven Lakes Snowmobile trails from Ballard's Ridge Rd in Woodman, NH. North on NH Corridor 19 . Out was essentially all uphill. Saw some great big bear paws (below) in the snow (got it all on video and may edit some of the run). Great deep woods run. Nice and quiet. No snowmobiles to speak of but the trails were all nice and groomed out from prior traffic. Ran up over Prey Hill area and down towards Belleau Lake before turning around and heading back (was running out of daylight). [42:03]. Got a massage earlier at a place I found in Wakefield. Really good work done there and just over an hour session for only 50 bucks! You cannot beat that. Professional and friendly place that does Chiro, massage, ART, etc. Calf (both actually) are killing me now, but I think it's from the massage and not really from the snowshoe run. Side note, the offer we made on the house we like in Madison was accepted. Let the fun begin!

01-18 - Wednesday: 9 miles (ICEY as hell dirt roads, some ice covered paved roads, snowmobile trail, snow covered railroad tracks, and snow covered logging roads). An out and back road run turned into a wandering session as I had to explore some surrounding trails and woods because the roads were so bad. My road is now completely unrunnable. The main road was so icey all the way across I don't know how cars could even drive on it. I only ran down about a mile and a half and then hopped on the bottom end of the Seven Lakes snowmobile trails down near Seven Lakes Provisions, then ran along the crusty, snowy railroad tracks (which had only been traversed by a very large 4 legged critter before I came through there) until I happened on some completely snowed in logging roads that were pretty cool to run on, although I was breaking trail through a thick crust of icey snow and about 4 or 5 inches of powder underneath. I started to come across a lot of posted land, which made me turn back and head out. Running on the tracks makes me nervous because I don't know how often the train that runs up to Ossipee comes through and what direction it runs this late in the day, so I'm always looking back every 30 seconds or so. On a lot of the tracks, they are built way up with almost no ledge, so if the train did come, I'd have to jump down or slide down and find a place to stand until it passed by. I hear it blowing the horn as it comes by in the distance, from the house, but I never know what direction it is going and it doesn't seem to be at the same time of day every day. One of these days, I'll find out first hand :). Enjoyable run nonetheless. Because it wasn't a hard road effort, the calf was 'OK' but it was still tight. [1:08:28]. Have an appointment tomorrow for a massage.

01-17 - Tuesday: 8.1 miles (icey, snowy dirty roads and paved roads). House to the hayscale and then back. Beginning and end were extremely icey and slick as it was freezing rain falling on top of an already completely iced over road going into the house. [54:01]. Calf felt sore and tight on the way back but not terrible. Everything was super tight again but not as bad as yesterday. Ran up to a massage therapy place up near the hayscale and stopped in quick to see what they offer. It's a full ART/sports massage/chiro practice so that's pretty sweet. Scheduling an appointment to get in there this week for some continued work on my calf and everything else that is bothering me.

01-16 - Monday: 5.2 miles (icey, snowy dirt roads and paved roads). Wanted to take a zero but decided to do a shakeout instead and man did I feel horrible. I was so tight and stiff all over from yesterday's long run. It took a while to get just a little loosened up. My calf was painful and stiff most of the way. When I finished I questioned whether it was better than a rest day. [37:20]. As I was running I saw about 30 wild turkeys in the middle of Acton Ridge Rd. I haven't seen that many turkeys in front of me since the 2011 New Bedford results ;).. JK. The run was capped off by an idiot dog owner who had her dog ON a leash and it still got away from her and literally ran in between my feet in full stride as I was on a solid sheet of ice. She seemed (get ready for it..) surprised that her dog did that. I booted the dog in the mellon with my spikey Orocs on the back kick.

Training 01-09 - 01-15

2012-01-10T08:53:00.001-05:00

Weekly Wrap Up: 61.2 miles with no days off but with one day at only 1.5 miles because of my escapade on the lake on Thursday. Started the week off solid, threw in that horror show on Thursday, a couple of light days (one of them on snowshoes) and then a good longer effort on Sunday on some good hills. Calf is 'holding up'. I haven't raced since the first week of November of 2011, but I am still enjoying running just as much and more because of where I am now... More importantly, I'm enjoying life a bit more now since moving north and I still have a ways to go. Hopefully the calf progresses in the right direction. Hopefully I also get fit one of these days. I felt VERY unfit on Sunday's run and struggled on the second half but that's simply because my mileage has been poop for so long now. I've gotten very used to not racing...that is not good, but it is what it is. I'm still not sure if I'll do any snowshoe racing this year because I'm not fit, my calf has been a huge question mark, and I'm just not feeling it...but we'll see. Just glad to get some miles in this week and looking forward to building some hurting bombs.

01-15 - Sunday: 17 miles (paved roads and snow covered, groomed park roads). Effingham, NH, Parsonsfield, ME, Ossipee, NH, Wakefield, NH. Loop with Kevin Tilton from Effingham Town Hall / Library up and around through Pine River State Forest (unplowed but nicely packed from snowmobile trails) and back up Granite Rd/Pickpocket Rd to 153 and then back up through Parsonsfield ME and Effingham (with a small stretch in North Wakefield before and past Province Lake). Honest pace from the beginning, as it was -11 this morning in Effingham. Probably just under 0 or so at the start of our run. 5 or 6 degrees by the end. Crisp and clear day out and a great day for meeting up with someone to get my butt going. The water froze at our house right before I left and I think my lungs were frozen during the first few miles of the run. This was a very hilly loop Kevin came up with and he dusted me on a few of the ups, actually putting some distance on me (a la Mt. Washington). The important thing here is that I took the state line from him about 12.5 miles in. Then I bonked and was on cruise control after that. That section along Province Lake was beautiful this morning... looking out past some of the mountains in Effingham, you got a great view of the snowy peaks of Whiteface, Passaconaway, etc. Kevin got a good view of my backside here as I smoked him to the town/state line...then he got the best of me over the next 4.5 miles. Calf was junk immediately but never got any worse. I call that a win. Almost 2 hrs of steady running in sub zero weather over VERY hilly roads and was able to manage 6:43 pace without a disaster (other than having my back, hips, hamstrings, etc. all seize up like it was mile 25 of Manchester)... I'll take it. [1:54:27].

01-14 - Saturday: 6 miles (snowy, icey VERY SLICK dirt roads and paved roads). House to Perkins Hill to Province Lake Rd (153) to Acton Ridge and back + 1 mile add on. Solo of course. [40:29]. Calf felt same as usual. No 'pain' but tightness in that same unusual way. Looked at houses up in Madison and Tamworth all day and was lucky to get this run in at all.

01-13 - Friday: 6 miles (snowy, icey dirt roads and single track trail). Snowshoed the trails between Perkins Hill Rd. and the tracks. These are established horse trails that I got permission to use from the owners last week. They welcomed me in there to help keep the trails open w/ my snowshoes. Came upon some snowmobile tracks for the first time this season. Didn't run long or hard enough to even notice my calf. That's a good thing I guess. [50:00].

01-12 - Thursday: 1.5 miles (lake ice and snowy roads). Snowshoes from house along the shores of the lake until the start of the third cove, where I fell through. Stunned, I ran back on the roads. [11:00]. Better than a zero? Not quite sure. Too wet and cold after to continue. A good rest day I suppose.

Visual Evidence...hilarity ensues at around 5 minute mark.

01-11 - Wednesday: 10 miles (icey dirt roads, paved roads, railroad tracks). From house up Perkins Hill and down to tracks. Headed north on the tracks up through North Wakefield and all the way to just shy of the Wolfboro town line (North Wakefield Rd.) and then turned back. 5 out 5 back. Tough footing on a lot of the rail bed and rocks on either side...slow going in spots. Calf tight as always. I may just stop mentioning the normal calf pain/discomfort/tightness from now on unless it is really bad. [1:12:56]

I recently posted some footage (just the first climb) of my run over at Moose Mountain in Brookfield/Middleton, NH this past weekend. See below for the first of maybe a few clips.

01-10 - Tuesday: 10.2 miles (icey dirt roads, paved road). Out and back down Acton Ridge Rd. and out onto 153 North into Woodman, NH and Ballard's Ridge and back. Hilly as a mofo (Wakefield is hilly in general). Calf stunk on the way back but it is what it is. Maybe it will just always hurt and I'll get used to it? Got to do this run mostly in the daylight which was a plus. Lots of stretching afterwards. [1:08:08]. 'Almost' felt like a real runner at one point.

01-09 - Monday: 10.5 miles (icey dirt roads, paved road). 5 lake bangs around Lake Ivanhoe in E.Wakefield, NH. Solo w/ headlamp. Couldn't get out the door until about 5:30ish and of course by then there are only 2 street lights and almost no houses lit up in the entire 2.1 miles around. Even w/ the headlamp it was tough to see. Slick in spots w/ the ice on the dirt road most of the way. 2/3rds of the run is on dirt roads. Heard a dog barking somewhere off in the distance on each bang and actually saw 2 cars and 1 UPS truck out on the main road, surprisingly, during the 10.5 miles. Calf was sore and tight by 4th bang. [1:09:29].

Training 01-02 - 01-08

2012-01-04T15:15:00.002-05:00

Weekly Wrap Up: 43.4 miles on 6 days. Good first week up here at the lake. One rest day because it was another end to end busy day on the road, closing on our place and getting the heck outta there. I am so happy to be up in the mountains now and am really looking forward to exploring trails and country roads up here. My calf hasn't been that great, but it really hasn't prevented me from doing anything yet. It was also cool having some folks to run with on Saturday, as the Rochester Runners just happened to be doing their Lovell Lake run this weekend. All in all, I am happy w/ this week and look to build up this coming week.

Above: the first part of the trail up Moose Mountain - Brookfield, NH.

01-08 - Sunday: 7 miles (mountain, snowmobile trails, ski slopes). Brookfield, Middleton, NH. Started out at Moose Mountain Recreation Area in Brookfield and ran straight up one of the ski slopes to the summit of Moose Mountain (1742 ft) and then around the top for a while and back down the other side via snowmobile trails (Evergreen Valley Snowmobile Trails). Eventually wound back up and around and back down to the lodge. [58:00]. Great day for a run and it was awesome to explore what looks to be miles and miles of trails that wind up and over and around the Moose Mountains Reservation. Calf was horrible at first, but loosened up a bit as I went. Very slippery in spots with lots of ice on the rocks. I recorded the entire thing on my new GoPro Hero 2 headcam. I'll be editing and posting some stuff soon.

01-07 - Saturday: 12 miles (paved, dirt, icey roads) with Nate Huppe. Met Nate and a group of Rochester Runners at the Poor People's Pub in Sanbornville (5 miles from my house) at 8am. Nate and I ran around Lovell Lake on a very nice and very hilly lake bang over snowy dirt roads and nice rolling paved back country roads. Beautiful morning out along the lake. Not one car passed by on the lake loop until we got out on the main road section, and even then, only a couple. I could get used to this ;). We then hooked left and headed out across Rt. 16 into Brookfield, NH (bagged Brookfield) and down to the what I think are the Evergreen Valley snowmobile trails but we had to turn around at that point a we were over 10 miles out. Ended up with a solid 12 miles before breakfast. Haven't done that in ages. Calf was bothering me but wasn't awful. As long as it isn't awful, I'm going to deal with it. Not sure about racing, but these runs are going 'ok' for now. [1:21:50].

01-06 - Friday: Off. Closed on my condo in Salem, NH. On the road from E.Wakefield to Salem at 6:30am and didn't get back until 9pm after a long day of legal stuff, bank stuff, errands, DMV, etc. Hopefully this is the last end-to-end busy day I have for a while...

01-05 - Thursday: 8 miles (icey dirt roads, paved roads, logging roads, train tracks). Exploratory run from house in E.Wakefield. From house, out and up Perkins Hill Road to top of Perkins Hill and then explored the many logging roads around the north side of Perkins Hill. Back out and down 153 to the train tracks that go to Ossipee Aggregates but headed south on the tracks back to Acton Ridge Rd. Turned up Acton Ridge Rd. and headed back up (doing a small loop around Deboer Ln) to the lake for one lake bang back to the house. [54:14]. Starting to feel like a runner again (almost). I am liking the fact that I left at 3:50pm and even when I got back, it was still light enough to run without the headlamp. I am also liking the fact that it feels like I almost have the world to myself up here while on a run. Even on the main roads there's no one around. My stress level is at an all time low.

01-04 - Wednesday: 8 miles (icey dirt roads and snowmobile trails). E.Wakefield, NH from house. Ran south to Great East Lake on small section of snowmobile trail. Many small bridges and very swampy/boggy as it goes into Great East. The ground was frozen completely, as was the ice but I wasn't about to continue on the lake with no snow on it. Turned and headed north and around Ivanhoe and picked up the trail north off of Acton Ridge Rd. and went up to Balch Pond and ran up around the area where the trail cuts across Balch and then back down and out to Ivanhoe again. Ran back around the lake and down Wansor Rd. all the way to Great East again on the dirt roads and did the big loop back on Dearborn and back to the house. Again, didn't see a soul anywhere. Very quiet, very peaceful. Cold as hell. Starting to enjoy running again. Calf and hammies were sore but I'm looking ahead and need to start getting serious about this. Will go and see how far I can push it eventually before I have issues again. It's been months and rest hasn't helped. Need to start building up some miles but need to do it gradually. Strange to see all the snowmobile trails marked with arrows, signs, tape, etc. yet almost no snow at all except pushed up from the plow on the side of the main roads. [56:00]

01-03 - Tuesday: 6.3 miles (icey dirt roads) around the lake again in E.Wakefield, NH from house. Alternated direction on loops (3 bangs). Headlamp run for most of it. Very dark. Not a soul around. Heard a dog barking a couple times but that was it. Orocs again. Very icey and cold. Calf is a little suspect. [44:47]

01-02 - Monday: 2.1 miles (icey dirt roads) around the lake in E.Wakefield, NH from the house. 1 dark lake bang w/ headlamp. Frigid and icey and slow. Couldn't get out until late after being gone all day down in Salem for some last minute cleaning of the now empty condo. We are closing officially on Friday but had to go back down to clean and paint. Didn't get back up to Wakefield until 8pm or so. Went out and did one lake bang to basically avoid a zero. It is DARK here at night. Not that many year-round residents on the lake and almost no cars to speak of. The road is all ice. Wore the Orocs and was fine. 15 weeks until Boston. Awful. [15:40]

Training 12-26 - 01-01

2011-12-27T22:16:00.001-05:00

Weekly Wrap Up: 23 miles on just 2 days. Sick most of the week and moved from Salem, NH up to East Wakefield, NH for the winter. We sold our condo in Salem and are house-sitting for my parents at their lakehouse in East Wakefield (on Lake Ivanhoe) until the Spring. We will be looking for a house of our own up north this winter and I will be doing my training here and looking forward to the peace and quiet of the area during the winter months. I just needed to get this move over with, and my illness over with.

01-01 - Sunday: 5 miles (snowmobile trails, dirt roads). Finished the week off (and started the new year off) with a run up in E.Wakefield, NH. Ran from my house, on ice packed dirt roads, around the lake and onto the snowmobile trailhead over at McCutchon Corners and up through the Cross Lakes Trail North section to Balch Pond. The lakes are frozen, but I wasn't about to run across, even with my Oroc's on. The short snowmobile trail section was very nice but most of these trails here in the Seven Lakes Snowmobile Trails cross many of the lakes here in the region. Once the snow starts flying, I'll be able to shoe these in full, including the cross-lake sections. [35:00]

12-31 - Saturday: 0. Again, moved all day. Picked up the rental truck (same exact truck as Wed.) at 7am in Salem and proceeded to work with Kristin and my neighbor Peter to unload the rest of my world from our house and into the truck. We worked until 1pm straight with zero breaks. I still had waves of awful stomach pains that was VERY hard to work through. Lifting heavy stuff was getting me winded and with that came waves of awful stomach pains that would cause me to keel over in pain and have to stop. Went through this all day but thankfully I was no longer throwing up and was beginning to be able to hold down water and rehydrate as I moved. I also had no more headache, so I could manage through the stomach issues as they came. Kristin and I hit the road at 1pm and drove the 2 hours north to Wakefield (slow because we had a full truck) to unload. We started to unload at about 3:15pm and didn't finish until about 5:00 or so. Then we headed back down to Salem to drop the truck off and get something to eat. We didn't get back until 7pm or so, then ate, then got back to the house to get our cars and load the cats up at about 9pm or so. We then had to turn around and both drive our cars back up to Wakefield, NH another 90 minutes in slick and slow conditions. We didn't get up into Wakefield and unload the cats and last of the belongings until almost 11pm or so. Once we unloaded the cats and got settled into the house, there was again no way I was going to try to squeeze in a run.

12-30 - Friday: 0. STILL SICK. I slept for most of the day on Friday, as I still had a horrific headache. Still going through what I think was food poisoning and bad stomach pains all day.

12-29 - Thursday: 0. SICK AS BALLS. I woke up early on Thursday after moving all day on Wednesday without as much as a 2 minute break, and proceeded to go through waves of projectile vomit and...ahem...other stuff. I had a massive issue with my stomach and my head was absolutely killing me. I had a high fever and was throwing up all morning. I could hardly stand up for more than a minute or more and had to keep lying down and putting a cold cloth on my head. I had a migraine that lasted the entire day and I couldn't get out of bed for more than just to purge water and other things in the bathroom. Definitely a case of food poisoning no doubt from that damn gas station sandwich on Wednesday night. My puke was green, as was the italian sub. Needless to say I laid in bed the entire day and slept through until Friday.

12-28 - Wednesday: 0. Moved all day. I picked up my rental truck at 7am in Salem, NH. Proceeded to drive back home and fill up with essentially everything I own that was filling my full sized garage. I filled a 16 foot Budget rental truck and emptied out the garage + some of the house, all by myself in decent weather thank God. But I didn't take a break, eat, or drink anything the entire time. My calf started to kill, my back started to ache, my arms, etc. all started to get sore. I finished loading the truck and was on the road at 1:15pm! Drove the 2 hours north to the storage unit off of 16 in Wakefield, NH and got there about 3:15pm. Went inside, signed all the paperwork, and was getting started with unloading (again, solo) at 3:30pm. I worked for 3 straight hours all alone in cold, windy weather and some light flurries. I didn't finish and get on the road again to head south until 6:30pm and it had already been dark for 2 hours. I was exhausted and sore and had zero time to run, as I wouldn't be getting home until 8:30ish. I stopped at the Irving Station in Wakefield on the way back to initially just grab a snack and coffee, but when I was in there, decided to grab a gas station sandwich. BIG mistake. I sat in the parking lot and ate the italian sub that had obviously been sitting there all day if not longer. Then I made my way back home. Got back to Salem and had to go drop the truck off and drive home. Didn't get home until after 9, so I decided to bag the run.

12-27 - Tuesday: 18 miles (trails) - this was a dumb move. In the midst of moving and coming off of two days of being sick as balls I decide to run for over 2 hours. Not good. I ran 6 miles (out 3 and back 3) at River trail from hotel. All was good. Turned around and ran 3 back to get Matt Pims who was on his way down from his house. We ran back to hotel to pick up Emery Bickford. We all turned around and went back for 3 more out and back. At the turn around on the last out and back, my calf started full blown sucking. I'm talking as bad as it has ever been. I had to stop and stretch a bit and it actually lasted the last 2 miles, but it is just super sore. I am going to start doing some yoga w/ Kristin once we are up at the lake. Spending the next few days moving, so I'm not sure how much good running I'll get in. I know right now that my calf is killing me. Icing as we speak (and picked up a new spikey stick roller today to get some deeper massage on the muscles). [2:02:08]

12-26 - Monday: 0. Sick as a dog on Sat. night/ Sun and didn't get good sleep on Sunday night. Woke up early to go up to Wakefield, NH w/ my Dad to move stuff up there and go over some last minute things at the house before he leaves for the winter. I have sold my place in Salem and am moving up to E.Wakefield, NH for the winter to house-sit for my parents while they golf down in Myrtle Beach for the winter. They go from end of Dec. until April. Kristin and I will be actively looking for a new house in the Madison/Conway area and should be up there by Spring. I hope to solve this calf issue so I can start doing some good quality trail and snowshoe runs in the Wakefield/Brookfield/Ossipee/Western Maine area this winter. On the way back down out of Wakefield, my dad took me over to the Moose Mountains (technically in Brookfield). I had always wondered what mountains those were right on the border of Wakefield/Brookfield and to the west on Route 16 as you come into Wakefield from the South. He took me up the road to the old Moose Mountain ski area, which now to our surprise is a new tubing and skating park. I went in and talked with the owner, who gave me the green light to use the trails all over the mountain and surrounding area, that they groom ( & NH snowmobile corridor 22) this winter for some snowshoe running. I just hope my calf will hold up.

Training 12-19 - 12-25

2011-12-19T20:15:00.002-05:00

Weekly Wrap Up: 32.7 miles running + one small session on the bike and my calf is still an issue. I also got super sick on Sat night / Sunday. Running has been pretty awful because of my calf but I've also been super occupied with moving. I will do a write up in a bit, about the move and my plans / goals for 2012. Right now, just trying to get the move over with and get healthy. The super warm weather and lack of precipitation (of the white kind) has probably allowed me some more weeks than usual to try to get back to real training before I have to attempt to do some snowshoe races (whilst injured). Woodford already got cancelled (as supposed to be Monday - 26th) and it is not looking good for Beaver Brook on the 31st (although I don't think anything has officially been announced about BB just yet).

12-25 - Sunday: Off. Sick as a dog all day and down in Pembroke, MA for xmas at Kristin's parents house.

12-24 - Saturday: 6.2 miles (roads) - Salem, Methuen. Out and back 10k from house (solo). [41:30]

12-23 - Friday: 8 miles (trails) - River trail w/ Dave Dunham and Ken Tripp. Out and back 6 + out and back to boathouse. [57:33]

12-22 - Thursday: 30 min (bike) . Didn't want to aggravate anything so I hammered 30 minutes on the bike. That is about all I can swing on this thing at this point. I was a sweating, hurting mess after 30 minutes and that's enough for right now. PF has been bothering me last night and today actually. Slept with the boots (night splints) last night. Been busy the past couple days moving and packing. Spent most of the day up in Wakefield, NH moving stuff into storage... So the runs haven't been long the past week, but the quality was good yesterday and today's bike was a good cross over to make sure I keep somewhat fit and not aggravate anything.

12-21 - Wednesday: 4 miles (roads) w/ Emery Bickford. Salem neighborhoods from Emery's house. Probably my fastest run since my last race. Since it was a short headlamp run, we decided to work it a bit. I think it was probably a little further than 4 because we ran pretty damn quick for 14 minutes and turned around...back in 12:20 but we were hammering. [26:20]. Unfortunately my calf and leg were sore before, during, and a bit after. Not thrilled with how it felt, especially leading up to the actual run. Did a lot of stretching and massage beforehand. Thought I was out of the woods after yesterday's run with Chris, but apparently not completely.

12-20 - Tuesday: 8.5 miles (rail trail) w/ Chris Mahoney-Searles. Salem, Windham, Derry. Don't look now but I had the BEST day 'calf-wise' in what seems like months. Two days in a row without any calf 'sensation' at all. I was beaming by the end of this run. Chris and I ran pretty steady. It was the best run 'tempo-wise' I've done in a long while. [1:01:51]. Fun talkin' running and racing w/ Chris...it's been a while. Got each other pumped up for the 2012 GP.

12-19 - Monday: 6 miles (rail trail) w/ Emery Bickford. Salem, Windham. Headlamp run from Cycles Etc. Out 3 and back 3. [42:11]. Calf felt good. Hamstring barked a little but it was the best I've felt in a while (leg-wise).

Training - 12-12 - 12-18

2011-12-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

Wrap Up: 48.6 miles running and 1 short spin on the bike. The key to this week was running MORE miles than last week as I continue to take baby steps and build back up. The calf is getting better for sure, but it just may take some time. Happy with the miles this week. Would have been over 50 had I not taken a day on Friday, but I think it's wise to ease back in and not rush it. The difference between 48 and 54-56 is negligible in the grand scheme of things. Good to see all my CMS mates running well recently though. Winning XC and road stuff as well as some VERY fast track times this past weekend. Greg H. blasting a 3k and 800 this early in the season (and he's the same age as me) gives me hope and motivation to get my arse back in the game eventually.

12-18 - Sunday: 10 miles (trails) River trail from hotel w/ DQ. Easy run. No real issues w/ calf but it was stiff for the rest of the day. I think if I run easy, it will behave. Eventually I have to start trying to test it though...or just never race again and run easy every day... [1:17:19].

12-17 - Saturday: 7.5 miles (roads/trails) w/ Dave Quintal in N.Salem, Windham, Derry. Up Gordon's hill from Aspen St. and across 111 to some roads and trail on the other side. [58:00].

12-16 - Friday: 30 min spin (bike) + 10 min stepper (to try to strengthen my calf).

12-15 - Thursday: 7 miles (roads) - N. Andover neighborhoods w/ Dave Quintal. Nice and easy headlamp run in a light misty rain. Calf felt fine the entire time but a little tight afterwards. [53:10]

12-14 - Wednesday: 8.1 miles (roads) - out and back in Salem, Methuen, Haverhill. Solo. Calf was weird the entire time. I think if I dropped it down to race pace for any amount of time it would go on me again. Running 8 or so miles at normal run pace seems to put it on that line. Iced it after and lots of stretching. [52:42]. This is the biggest 3 days I've had in a long time. Got to get back to regular running schedule as much as possible. January is right around the corner.

12-13 - Tuesday: 8 miles (trails) - on the River trail from the hotel. Solo. Another out and back to the power lines. Upped the tempo just a bit. Calf has a 'sensation'...that is the only way I can describe it. It comes and goes and it's not good but it's not too too bad. Not sure what it is and why it happens, but it happens. Right now, it's not preventing me from at least doing these medium runs. Again a 100% 'Off-Leash' day, as we went 3 for 3 with dogs just roaming free to bite my face off if they so choose. [55:57].

12-12 - Monday: 8 miles (trails) - on the River trail from the hotel. Solo. Out and back to the power lines. Some slight discomfort in the calf midway through but never materialized into anything I was nervous about. Very nice mid-December day out along the river. Only saw 1 dog and of course, it was off-leash. That is one thing I am not going to miss about running in the river trail. Nice and easy [58:28]. Longest run in a while.

New Video Footage

2011-12-17T23:30:00.000-05:00

Some video I worked on yesterday and today... First is some footage from last weekend up in Conway/Albany, NH with Kevin Tilton on the Lower Nanamocomuck Ski Trails. If you haven't seen this on FB already, here you go...

Second is a LONG edit of the Baystate Marathon from back in October of this year. I downloaded the video clips to my computer and forgot about it until today. Threw up some clips from the 2.5 mile, 8 mile, 13.5 mile, and 26 mile marks. Also popped this up on FB today but I also need to cater to the blogosphere.

Third video is from today's easy running around some trails in North Salem, NH w/ Dave Quintal...just having fun and enjoying running (even with a bum calf)...

Lower Nanamocomuck Ski Trails:

2011 Baystate Marathon:

Trail Running in North Salem, NH:

Training - 12-05 - 12-11

2011-12-07T19:51:00.001-05:00

Weekly Total: 33 miles for the week as I try to climb back up and run on a regular basis with my calf still a problem. Got up to the Whites for a run on Sunday which made it all worth it.

12-11 - Sunday: 7.5 miles (trails) with Kevin Tilton. Covered Bridge in Albany, NH to Bear Notch Rd. on the Nanamacomuck Ski Trails. Cold and crisp morning along the Kanc. Calf started aching right away almost...but it never got any worse and I finished without any other issue although I didn't push it too much. Just liked getting out there and running some very nice trails [1:06:08].

12-10 - Saturday: 0 miles. Walked 2 miles around Lake Ivanhoe in E.Wakefield, NH w/ my dad and brother. Calf actually bothered me near the end. Pathetic. [46:01 ...yes I timed it].

12-09 - Friday: 5.5 miles (roads) w/ Dave Quintal. Headlamp run in N.Andover. Calf started to ache a bit on the way back. [45:58]

12-08 - Thursday: 5 miles (roads) solo. Salem, Methuen. Same old thing...another eventful run over the same out and back I've done all week (and one of the only runs I've done around here in quite some time). Not motivated to run in this area any more whatsoever. I'm getting to the point where I want to enjoy every single run I do, regardless of whether it is a race, workout, tempo, or just a regular short, easy day. And running around the streets of the Merrimack Valley just ain't doin' it for me any more. Hopefully I won't have to deal with it too much longer...because as soon as the snow starts flying and the roads get narrower and the snowbanks get higher and the dumb, inconsiderate drivers in these parts get even dumber and more inconsiderate, I'll be losing my mind. At this point I'm banking on these last couple weeks before the holidays being my last to worry about around here. The good news is that I pushed it a little today to see where my calf was. I am re-evaluating yesterday's run a little. I have some occasional 'sensation' in my calf but not really pain. It almost feels like my calf is just weak. If that's it, I can deal with it and just keep doing my calf raises. But the good news is that I floated today nice and steady, but a little hard in spots. Maybe Cape Cod pace ;)... Today was another confidence booster. I did a great deal of massaging of the calf last night (ok insert jokes and ridiculous comments) and I believe that helped. Alternating ice and heat is also key. Starting to feel like I can keep doing 5s and slowly work my way up. I am very eager to do some longer runs, including an interesting group run this weekend up on the Northshore, but I really need to take it easy and not rush into things... I am thinking big picture stuff here and at this point, I really don't care about anything 'race-wise' until 2012. With a lot on my mind lately about living situation, I haven't been focusing on racing but I have been focusing on trying to get healthy and that took some downtime. Ramping back up isn't really fun, but it feels good to just get back out there! [31:44]

12-07 - Wednesday : 5 miles (roads) solo. Salem, Methuen. More of the same, as I just need to get back used to running every day again. This time it was raining and colder than previous days but I ran w/ my calf sleeves on again and 2 pairs of tights to make sure my legs were warm enough. Stuck to the same neighborhoods and the headlamp run again but this time my calf started to ache a bit. ANY sensation in my calf is worse than the first 2 days of this week and today there were a few sensations for most of the way, but no real 'pain' above maybe a 1 or 2 on the scale of 1-10. Kind of disappointed that I didn't have a third day in a row of calf-free issues, but on the bright side I ran a little faster and only had VERY slight pain in the calf. More ice, more stretching/massage, and going to keep doing light mileage until I can start building hurtin' bombs once again. [32:51]. Got a nice pair of Roclite 400 GTX boots in the mail today... Gore-Tex boots for the winter weather we're eventually gonna start having (I think)...

12-06 - Tuesday: 5 miles (roads) solo. Salem, Methuen. More baby steps. Very easy running again in Hampstead St. neighborhoods w/ headlamp. Warm out and again I felt pretty solid calf-wise. No issues at all. Very much the same as Monday. Starting to get a little confidence back, but still very apprehensive about this. It has been a LONG time since I've been 100% or even close. [33:33]

12-05 - Monday: 5 miles (roads) solo. Salem, Methuen. Had a massage last week on Monday and then again on Friday. A 60 min. session on Monday night and a 30 minute session on Friday during lunch. I only ran a couple days in between and biked. I took it really easy last week, as my calf was still a big problem and an obvious issue that I needed to address with rest and applicable extra attention. My run today was the first time in literally a month that I haven't had any real pain in my calf. I had typically gotten pain only about 6-7 minutes into each run previously. I took it really easy today and ran at night w/ headlamp around quiet neighborhoods off of Hampstead St. I paid close attention to it and got through the entire run without any issues! I had some tightness in most areas, but no pain. Stretching and ice after. Taking it really easy. Baby steps. [33:54]

Training - 11-14 - 11-20

2011-11-17T20:07:00.001-05:00

11-20 - Sunday: 8 miles (roads) with Emery Bickford, Jose Ortiz, Dave Quintal. First half of Derry Prep course (with my last mile being towards Salem rather than into Derry). Started off OK. Had my calf (the bad one) start tweaking bad at about 3-4 miles. Stopped a couple times to stretch. No help. It started to get bad again, just like at Winni back on Oct. 1. Ended up stopping and calling for a ride, rather than go on and have it tear on me over the last hilly 8 miles of the course. Very depressing. Now I'm limping again and will no doubt be missing some more time. Not sure what to do at this point.

11-19 - Saturday: 10.5 miles (roads) with Emery Bickford in Salem, Methuen, Haverhill. Big loop out to 97. Beautiful weather, good solid run. Bad calf seemed OK. Right calf was a little tight. Everything else played along nicely. [1:11:45].

11-18 - Friday: 5.2 miles (roads) with E.Bick in Salem. Short, easy headlamp run. Both left and right calf bothering me. Same old story. [35:26]

11-17 - Thursday: 9 miles (trails and roads) with Mike Quintal, yes, MIKE Quintal in Andover and Lawrence, MA. River trail from hotel, but went right instead of left to the 'River Trail Less Travelled'. We ran towards the condos in Lawrence (the technical end/beginning of the river trail as it stands today). I have only been able to actually get all the way through only twice ever. Every other time I try to get all the way out, I always run into a flooded out section before the end, which makes it impossible to pass. Today, we ran into the same problem. We ended up running around some streets near where the GTD winter workouts happen, and then back around the hotel and surrounding offices. [1:03:51] Calves started to be a pain (literally) again. But.... 4 days in a row... Do I smell a comeback?

11-16 - Wednesday: 11.2 miles (roads) with Emery Bickford in Salem, Methuen, Pelham. Good ole' Harris' Pelham Inn loop in the dark (headlamp run). Took all 4 townlines from Emery. Calves started getting tight late. [1:18:51]

11-15 - Tuesday: 5 miles (roads) solo. Late road run when I got home. Headlamp run in neighborhoods in Salem, Methuen. Calves still an issue. [33:59]

11-14 - Monday: 5 miles (roads) with Emery Bickford. Salem, Methuen out and back in neighborhoods. Very uneventful but better than a zero. Still trying to get healthy. Calves still bothering me. [34:02]

Manchester City Marathon

2011-11-13T20:47:00.001-05:00

One week removed from my Cape Cod marathon, I decided to hop into the Manchester City Marathon (results) in Manchester, NH to see if I could somehow place in maybe the top 3 if it was a weak field this year. I figured since I just limped to a 2:42 at the Cape off of no training and being injured, I could maybe run the same time on a slower Manchester course now that I have some confidence that my calves won't go on me. On Sunday night after Cape, I felt good enough to make a decision to give Manchester a go. I had 6 full days to recover between marathons and figured I could just go out there and muscle through it. I took it relatively easy that week between races and ran just enough to stay loose. I did a bunch of Epsom salt soaks, massage, stretching, proper hydration, used my night splints, and did just about everything I could to make the 6 days enough of a recovery.

On Sunday morning I headed up to Manchester (about 25-30 min drive from my house) and got there in time to talk to Pat Moulton and a few other guys before getting ready to go over to the line for some light jogging, strides, and then 26.2 miles of 'going through the motions'. I had seen the list of entrants on Saturday afternoon when I picked up my number, and I saw that Pat was running, as was Judson Cake, David Ndungu, and a couple others. David had beaten me at Cape, Patrick was an obvious choice for an easy win, and Judson was always a threat for a top spot or even the win if he was healthy. The morning was relatively cool and I went with the calf guards and half tights again to try to minimize the muscles getting cold and spasming on me.

As the race was about to get underway, I glanced around to notice a bunch of VERY fast dudes, but most were running the half marathon, which starts at the same time as the marathon and runs concurrent to the marathon for the entire first half (obviously). As the gun went off, I settled back and went out pretty easy, as most of the guys up front were running the half and you could tell by the color of the bibs. They all went out fast and I settled back to try to run my planned 6 min. pace for as long as possible. I did notice that Paul Ryan (BAA) was up with Patrick and it looked like he was running the full. I missed his name on the registrants list, but it was looking now like a top 3 spot (in the money) was out of the question. I looked around for Judson and didn't notice him in the race. By now, we were spreading out as the top half marathon guys were all well out in front and I was hanging back with a few guys including top masters runner Jason Porter (CMS). We went through the first mile a little quick, but it is downhill and flat. I was running next to Roger Donaghy (BAA) who I also didn't notice on the reg list initially. I was now thinking that with Roger in the race, David Ndungu (RUN) behind me, and Pat and Ryan up front, I could maybe swing 5th place. I knew that none of those guys were from NH and the top NH runner got $150, so I was thinking that could be my outside goal.

The second and third miles are slow and there is a lot of climbing, but I hung out with Roger and Jason as I just tried to settle in. There was a long way to go and I didn't want to do anything stupid. Miles 4 and 5 had some drops, but overall the first half of the course is hilly with constant ups and downs (not quite as hilly as the second half seems though). Jason and I talked a bit about racing, our goals, etc. as he was cranking along in his half marathon and me in the full. He was going for the top master and top NH double dip, but Titus Mutinda was lingering up front a bit but within striking distance. We both started to catch Heidi Westover, who was running the half and was still in front of us.

Somewhere around 4 or 5 miles I rolled up past Heidi on an uphill stretch and Jason and some other folks weren't too far back. I then caught Titus and went on by as well. Around mile 7 or so you start to roll on through some neighborhoods and there was one slick section on a sharp turn, where there was ice all over the road. The volunteer told me to watch out for the ice as I made a wide turn around the corner. About 10 or so seconds later as I was on my way up yet another hill, I heard someone slip behind me and turned quick enough to see Jason take a bad tumble across the ice. The volunteer neglected to mention the ice to everyone I guess and Jason went flying.

Between miles 9 and 10, Titus Mutinda rolled on past me with David Ndungu in tow. I wasn't concerned with Titus, but David was running the full marathon and he had beaten me at the Cape so I was now focusing on being 5th at that point as they passed. But shortly after they passed me, David seemed to slow up and fell back a bit. I went past him again and he started to hack a bit, making me think he was having problems...but soon after that, he rolled up next to me again and we talked for a bit. He said he was just hanging on and was definitely feeling last weekend's marathon. We ran together down to mile 11 and then up to mile 12. Him and I discussed just running together and trying to catch the BAA runner up ahead, who was still in view.

Down to mile 13, we went by his coach and he handed David a bottle. David shared it with me (it was a mixture of sports drink, water, etc.). We ran together through the half, turned onto the second half of the marathon course, and started to roll all by ourselves now, as a spectator on the bridge told us we were 4th and 5th. At the end of the long Bridge St. section, we looked back and couldn't see anyone at all. He indicated that no one was going to make up that much ground on us and we started climbing up to mile 14,15.

By mile 15, I had fallen off the back of David a little and started to realize that my calves and hamstrings and back and hips were all getting a little tight. But my cardio was really playing along well, so I was really only nervous about cramping at that point. I continued to take water at every water stop and sports drink when I could. By mile 16, 17, I was probably 20-30 seconds behind David but could see him the whole time. Once at 17, 18, mentally I knew I could probably get through another 8 or 9 miles and things were looking up. I couldn't see anyone else behind me and figured that first NH runner would be mine for the taking (and maybe 4th if David fell off the pace, but I wasn't planning on that).

Approaching 19 miles, I was really starting to rig up. Miles 18 and 19 are a slow, steady climb up to St. Anselms College and I was really beginning to feel my muscles start to get really tight and a dull pain all over. I got very nervous around this stretch and just wanted to finish. I got my first real scare of thinking that I'd get through 20 and have to stop due to a pull or massive cramp. As I hit the turn into St. A's, I could still see David in front and that at least gave me the sense I was still in it.

Through 20 and 21 I was really barely hanging on but was just slightly over 6 minute pace still so it wasn't a total disaster. I passed by Steve Moland around Mile 21 as he was announcing runners passing by, in front of a pretty group of spectators. When I turned onto Boynton St. and through mile 22, I thought 'ok, just finish this thing!'... but my legs were pretty much as stiff as I'ver had them while running. I had been taking my NUUN tabs (2 of them) without water for the past couple miles. Just popping them whole, into my mouth without water. It was gross, but I was getting desperate.

Mile 23-24 weaves through some neighborhoods off of the main street and the ups and downs continued. My 23rd mile was my slowest of the day and I thought it was curtains in that stretch. I wasn't sure I could do another 3 miles running and got really concerned as everything started to lock up. 6:46 for my 23'rd mile was looking like 7 min. pace was right around the corner.

Mile 24 was some well placed downhill and I was able to drop down to 6:11 again as a lot of the folks on the course started to tell me I was getting close and offering me support and encouragement. I wasn't even looking at overall time and had no clue what I'd run, but knew it would be faster than the Cape unless something bad happened. I was back in the city and approaching the footbridge, so I knew I was getting very close.

Mile 25 was one of the hardest miles I've run in a long while. Over the foot bridge, down past the ballpark, and up to Granite St. it felt like I was barely running. I hit mile 25 and the volunteer there said ' great job, thanks for running'. I thought to myself 'whoa lady, slow your roll...I ain't done yet'. I STILL was not sure I'd be able to finish. The first part of the last mile feels like it is all uphill and it's ridiculous. I was almost jogging at this point and stifflegging it up the hills because of my calves. I turned onto Auburn St. and then onto Pine St. and could see David once again up taking the turn onto Hanover St. I glanced behind again and couldn't see anyone else. I stifflegged it down the last turn onto Elm St. again and looked at my watch. 2:38 and ticking. I rolled on past and into the finish in just under 2:39. I couldn't believe I had actually been able to run faster for my second marathon, one week removed from the Cape, on a slower course! I was pretty happy that my body held up.

It was really a fun experience to test myself and experiment with my abilities. I now know that even out of shape, slightly injured, and with little recovery, I can still run at a decent level. But most of all, it helped me try to get used to running and racing long again, which is going to be one of my goals for 2012.

388 Total Finishers.

Place	Name	Age	City/State	Time	Pace
1	Patrick Moulton	29	Providence RI	2:29:31	5:43
2	Paul Ryan	31	Boston MA	2:31:42	5:48
3	Roger Donaghy	33	South Boston MA	2:35:44	5:57
4	David Ndungu	31	Worcester MA	2:37:41	6:01
5	Jim Johnson	34	Salem NH	2:38:57	6:04
6	Timothy Tapply	36	Sherborn MA	2:46:58	6:23
7	Aaron Ladd	28	Lexington MA	2:51:58	6:34
8	Alexsandro Moreira	31	Melrose MA	2:58:41	6:50
9	Christopher Lesenski	26	Northampton MA	2:58:57	6:50
10	Benjamin Pangie	28	Augusta GA	2:59:31	6:51

388 Total Finishers.

For anyone interested, here are the splits for my 2 marathons in one week, off of zero training, a lot of time off, and whilst injured.

	CCM	MCM
1	536	531
2	546 (1122)	610 (1142) - uphill
3	546 (1709)	611 (1753) - uphill
4	543 (2252)	533 (2327)
5	555 (2848)	544 (2912)
6	559 (3447)	556 (3508)
7	626 (4113) - bathroom stop	602 (4111)
8	600 (4713)	555 (4707)
9	601 (5315)	552 (5259)
10	601 (5917)	601 (5901)
11	613 (10530)	556 (10458)
12	615 (11145)	614 (11112)
13	616 (11802)	536 (11648)
14	610 (12412)	603 (12252)
15	610 (13022)	610 (12902)
16	622 (13645)	545 (13447)
17	617 (14302)	602 (14050)
18	621 (14924)	601 (14651)
19	626 (15551)	627 (15319)
20	622 (20213)	613 (15932)
21	630 (20843)	605 (20537)
22	626 (21510)	608 (21146)
23	631 (22141)	646 (21832)
24	640 (22821)	611 (22444)
25	627 (23449)	623 (23107)
26	616 (24105)	641 (23749)
last. 2	124 (24229) hamstring cramp	111 (23900)

Next year I may try to be IN SHAPE for this one! I liked the race, had a great time out there, and am starting to warm up to road marathons... Now just to get healthy!

CMS - 19th USATF-NE Team Championship Title

2011-11-04T10:51:00.002-04:00

I am thrilled once again to have been a part of a USATF-NE GP Team Overall Championship. As we did in 2009, we returned to form in 2011 and took the overall team championship in the USATF-New England Road Racing Grand Prix. This is my 2nd time being a part of a GP winning team in only 5 years of technically racing in a GP. I spent 2 years running for MVS in the GP and the last 3 running for CMS. It is Central Mass Striders' 19th title in the 26 year history of the championship series. That is impressive to say the least. This year, like in 2009, I was extremely proud of our team and every member who toed the line at the 7 races from March to October. CMS is a team of friends who work hard and buck the trend when it comes to racing. Unlike most other clubs, CMS takes to not only the roads and track, but also XC, trails, ultras, mountains, towers, orienteering courses, and snow like no one else. We are loaded with a fantastic group of hard working guys who just like to show up and race and race often. We don't have any strict performance standards or guidelines. Teammates come around from word of mouth and from seeing the CMS presence at races all over New England and the country. We are made up of members from every New England state, despite being the 'Central Mass' Striders. The long standing history and tradition of the racing team at CMS, coupled with the true feeling of team and friendship is what attracts the quality membership we have on the racing team. I am proud to be teammates and friends with all these fine lads and once again we stepped it up with wins at FIVE of the seven GP events this year and two 2nd place finishes in the other events. Topping the season off by scoring our 3rd straight Marathon team title and an even 100 points was the way to go out. The only other thing that could have made this season more special is having an individual champion and Patrick Rich did just that, by becoming the first CMS USATF-NE Road Champion at an event since Justin Fyffe did it at Bedford in 2010. The New England affiliation of USATF has to be one of if not the deepest and most competitive fields around. It is something special when you can get enough guys together week in and week out to compete at this level and with quality teams like BAA, Whirlaway, RUN, GBTC, etc. it is an honor to be able to put our name in that mix and come out on top. I have always enjoyed the team concept and nothing excites me more than being part of this team and having won 5 team titles this year has truly been amazing.

This makes CMS titles in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011. Move over Canadiens, Yankees, Celts, and Lakers...

USA TRACK & FIELD - NEW ENGLAND 2011 GRAND PRIX

TEAM STANDINGS - As of October 31

MEN'S OPEN                    13.1  10K   6K   5K   8M   5M 26.2M PTS
CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS           18   14   13   15   13   13   14 100
WHIRLAWAY RACING TEAM           17   13   11   12   12   11   12  88
TEAM RUN                        12   10   12   14    9    9   13  79
BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION     19   12        13   14   12    8  78
GREATER BOSTON TRACK CLUB       16   11   10   11   10   10       68
CAMBRIDGE RUNNING CLUB          14    8    9    9    7    8    9  64
SOMERVILLE ROAD RUNNERS         11    3    8    8    5    6   11  52
GR SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS          7    2        10   11    7    7  44
GATE CITY STRIDERS               9    5    7    6    6    2    6  41
GREEN MOUNTAIN AA               15    7    1         8        10  41
CAMBRIDGE SPORTS UNION          10    4    5    7    4    4       34
GREATER LOWELL ROAD RUNNERS      8    6    6    5    3    3    3  34
HFC STRIDERS                    13    9                   5       27
WINNERS CIRCLE                   5    1    4    4    2            16
NORTH MEDFORD CLUB               4         3    3              5  15
MERRIMACK VALLEY STRIDERS        1         2    2    1    1    2   9
HEARTBREAK HILL STRIDERS         3                             4   7
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE PROV.      6                                 6
TRI VALLEY FRONTRUNNERS          2                                 2
NORTH SHORE STRIDERS                            1              1   2

On the individual scoring front, I was able to weasel my way into the top 10 overall with 13 GP points this year. Before this year, I had only ever scored in 1 GP (last year's Baystate Marathon). This year, I scored in 4 of the 6 events I ran, for a total point value of 13. Despite having a lackluster year, I call that a great performance for me individually. We had 8 (EIGHT) different guys score in the GP this year. That is the most since 2001, when CMS had 9 men score in the overall GP.

USA TRACK & FIELD - NEW ENGLAND 2011 GRAND PRIX
INDIVIDUAL
FINAL Series Standings after 7 events

MEN'S OPEN                   13.1 10K  6K  5K  8M  5M 26.2 PTS
Justin Freeman        RUN           7   9   9   9   9   6   49
Dan Vassallo          adiNE     9  10  10       7   8       44
Matt Ely              BAA       3   9   8   7   2           29
Kevin Johnson         GSH                  10   1  10       21
Bob Wiles             CMS           5   7   6               18
Eric Narcisi          WRT                   5   5   6       16
Dan Smith             BAA       7               8           15
Brandon Newbould      WRT               5       4   5       14
Jim Johnson           CMS           2   6           4   1   13
Patrick Moulton       BAA       6   6                       12
Justin Fyffe          BAA       5                   7       12
Ruben Sanca           BAA      10                           10
Brian Harvey          BAA                      10           10
Nicholas Wheeler      adiNE         8       2               10
Kevin Alliette        WRT               2               8   10
Patrick Rich          CMS                              10   10
Hari Iyer             BAA                               9    9
Nate Krah             BAA       8                            8
David Johnson         GSH                   8                8
Tom Deeg              WRT                               7    7
Josh Ferenc           BAA                       6            6
Daniel Princic        WRT           1       4                5
Coleman Hatton        BAA       2               3            5
Greg Hammett          CMS                               5    5
Robert Gomez          DIR       4                            4
Nicolai Naranjo       GBTC          4                        4
Andy McCarron         CMS               4                    4
Nick Crowell          CMS                   3       1        4
Danilo Cordeiro       RUN                               4    4
Brennan Bonner        GBTC          3                        3
Ted Breen             GBTC              3                    3
Will Dobbie           BAA                           3        3
Scott Leslie          CMS                               3    3
Terry Shea            BAA                           2        2
David Ndungu          RUN                               2    2
Brendan Callahan      BAA       1                            1
Chris Mahoney         CMS               1                    1
David Bedoya          GBTC                  1                1

Cape Cod Marathon

2011-11-04T00:48:00.003-04:00

The blog has been stale lately and it's just that I have a lot going on here and most of it doesn't involve serious running or racing...I have to make some changes and get back into gear, but for now, I'll just discuss my marathon down at the Cape this past weekend.

For starters, the obvious point is that I'm not in marathon shape and have been hurt since just after Pisgah in September..so the last month and a half has been filled (or should I say not filled) with mediocre running, days off, pain and stiffness, and very limited miles. Almost no races except a trail race and a couple DNFs, and certainly no hard efforts that would have prepared me for a road marathon. But I did it because I'm stubborn and because I knew I had an outside shot of at least running near 6 minute pace or at least near 2:40 off of limited fitness...that is, IF I could finish without my calf tearing on me. This is the most 'out of shape' I've been since I got back to serious running and racing. But I didn't want to let an opportunity to maybe help my team win another marathon title (if they needed me) and secure the USATF-NE Grand Prix Overall Team Championship (the 19th in the 26 year history of the Grand Prix).

I decided to give the GP a go essentially also to be able to try to stay on par with Greg Hammett, who won our internal CMS grand prix last year and was right behind Andy McCarron and I this year. Andy was stopped at 73 points because he had to have surgery. So if I didn't do the marathon, I'd also be stuck at 73 points, and Greg would jump ahead of us (him being at 67 points) because not only would there surely be enough CMS MORT members at the race to get that many points, but also because the points for the marathon are DOUBLE. We offer double points for the longer race to entice folks to enter. I think this is a good move, but it kills guys like Wiles-Thing because they 'think' they can't run 26.2 measly miles ;). The difference between finishing 1st and 2nd is not worth too much, but any time there is a series or internal/external competition in a series, I can't seem to get away.

I rode down to the Cape Cod Marathon (results) with Dan Verrington the morning of the race and we got a very early start (5:15am from Salem, NH). I was up at 4 (after going to bed at probably around 1am and getting very spotty sleep). The weather was awful, with the October snowstorm happening as we made our way down to the Cape. We made good time however, and got down there in time to hobnob with the rest of the CMS guys who were running. We had a solid team toeing the line, with Scott Leslie (3rd for us at the Marathon last year with a 2:28:13), Greg Hammett (who has been a scorer for us all year), Patrick Rich (my darkhorse for winning this entire thing), George Adams (one of our top master's runners), Dan Verrington (another top master with a 2:21 PR), Scott McGrath (in his marathon debut), and Sam Wood (also, I believe his first marathon). I felt confident in the squad and knew with Leslie, Rich, and Hammett, we'd be fine without me factoring in to the scoring.

After some last minute prep and too many trips to the bathroom (which was scaring me), I pinned on my #4 bib (which was almost comical at this point) and headed over to the line on a cold and slightly windy morning.

After some strides, we were off and I was immediately toying with 10th place or so as I was completely content with letting everyone who was trying to go for a legitimate time, go on ahead. I stayed side by side with Greg Hammett for the first few miles as a slew of R.UN guys, a BAA guy, Patrick Rich, and a couple others headed out in a couple of groups. Greg and I hit the first mile way too quick (for my plan) and the next couple were also fast. I told him I was backing off to around 6 minute pace and let him go on ahead. Scott Leslie pulled up and went around me as did Kevin Alliette. My first 6 miles were all under 6 minutes which isn't what I was looking for (because I knew that was going to sink me later).

During mile 6 I suddenly got another stomach fairy visit and decided for the first time ever in a race of any distance, to stop and use the bathroom. I hit a porta-john right before the 7 mile mark as I was fading fast from seeing Scott and Greg ahead of me. I dipped in, did my business, and hopped back out. I may have lost 30-45 seconds or so. As I stepped out onto the road, George Adams had caught me and was about to pass. He asked if I was OK as he pulled up along side me. We ran together for another mile or so before he started to pull away. That would be the last individual marathoner that would pass me the entire race. Other than Alliette and Leslie and Adams, everyone else ahead of me was ahead of me essentially at the start.

After the slow7th mile, I dropped back to a few 6 minute miles again and at one point, as I was trailing George Adams for a while, I came around a corner to find Greg Hammett popping out of the woods right in front of me. He had stopped himself for a bathroom break but quickly picked up the pace again and was off. Shortly after that, the same thing happened again, but this time it was Justin Freeman who popped out of the woods. It didn't take him long to once again get out of sight.

By mile 10, I was in no man's land. I came through in 59:17 for 10 and it was rather bizarre. I never would have thought I would be that slow, but it was happening and what was also happening was bigtime tightness and soreness in my calves and hamstrings. I was beginning to really struggle and wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have that same massively painful issue with my calf again (like I had at the Winni race). I had been really holding back because of my calf but now it was starting to be an issue (or at least I thought it was at the time) and I really took it easy on the rolling hills. I started running between 6:10-6:15 for the next 5 miles.

From mile 10 to mile 13 I had major thoughts about dropping out. I could hardly see George Adams on the long lonely stretches ahead of me and there was no one to be seen behind me. I was hurting really bad from top to bottom. My breathing was OK, but my mechanics were suffering and I started to fall apart all over the place. I was holding firm in the low 6's but it wasn't getting any easier. I was 1:18 through 13 and really thought I was going to only be good for 15 or so.

I continued on, for the next few miles with the same thoughts of my calf going at any time. I was figuring that as soon as it started to really go on me, I would pull off, find a ride back and be done with it. But the next thing I knew, I was at mile 17. That was a big moment for me because I knew at that point I'd probably be able to get through it (for the first time all day). I thought to myself 'I can muscle out another 9 miles'....but in the back of my mind I knew what my calf felt like a few weeks ago and knew nothing was a sure thing.

Somewhere during the 19th mile, I turned and looked to finally see someone behind me. It took me a bit to realize that it was Scott McGrath (CMS) who was running me down in his first marathon. Scott had been running only about 40 or so miles a week and wasn't coming into this super fit, but then again, I was not in top form either and he was running me down quick. He pulled along side me somewhere maybe around 20 miles or so. It was rather strange because neither one of us were hurting cardio-wise... but my fitness is definitely junk and my legs and hips were turning to stone. We chatted for a bit and he told me that he had dropped a 5:49 or something like that, to catch me. He said there was a pack of 4 or 5 about a minute or so back as well. He pulled away a bit as I told him he was running great and to go catch George Adams. He then told me that he had been cramping all over and that I should just come with him. I thought for a second and figured why the hell not. So I picked it up a bit and stayed with him. We climbed a hill and up to a water stop. As he broke left, I went right and I noticed he stopped completely at the water stop. I ran through the other side and missed a cup as the one woman on the right, pulled it back mistakenly and I missed it. I ran right through and down the hill. Scott lagged behind a bit but once out onto the main road and up another climb, he caught back up to me. As we turned right onto the road that eventually would wind up to the lighthouse, we were side by side....until the start of the downhill....all of the sudden I heard 'OH GOD' and I looked back to see Scott stopped dead in his tracks. He was in full cramp mode and stopped right in the middle of the street. I kept plugging and another minute or so I looked behind and he was no where to be found.

At the end of that strip of road, and up near the lighthouse, I looked back again to actually see, for the first time, the pack of runners. They were too close for comfort. I knew they were gaining and I had all I could do to keep moving. I passed Scotty Mason, who was snapping shots at the lighthouse and he offered me some encouragement as I started running through the first of what would be a few flooded street sections. My hips and lower back and calves and hamstrings and ass and feet and ankles and toes and knees and everything else you can think of was killing me. I also became very aware of some (ahem) chaffing that was beginning in areas I won't even begin to discuss.

I hit miles 22, 23, etc. Just doing the shuffle. I slammed 2 gels in a row (my only 2 I took) and started to feel a little better. When I hit 24, I started running with my head on backwards, waiting for the pack to catch me. I knew that Scott was out of the picture and now, my hopes of finishing at least looked good, but my hopes of winning the internal GP looked to be going the way of a tie, with Greg most likely having caught Scott Leslie and George Adams being behind Greg as well (but in front of me). I had to stay 3 places or better behind Greg. Any more and I would have gotten pushed to 2nd in the CMS GP standings. If I finished 3 CMS places behind Greg, we tie. I figured at the very worst, it was a tie and I was kind of bummed I wasn't helping the team score, but I knew, barring a R.UN victory, we would have it in the bank with 4 CMS guys up ahead of me. I also knew that we were going to beat Whirlaway and we had won the overall GP Team Title for 2011. I was pumped. Lots of emotions running through my mind, but trumping all of that was my wheels blowing apart all over the tarmac.

As miles 24 and 25 ticked by along the ocean, the streets began to get flooded with water...a few inches deep or more in spots. I slammed right through and passed a lot of people cheering on the sides. I kept looking back and the pack was lingering. I could make out the singlets now...it was getting close.

I hit a left turn onto a side street and I was now in the last full mile of the race. I knew for the first time I wouldn't lose a spot and thought I was in 15th place at the time. I figured I would hold it and it wasn't bad for a GP, but in the back of my mind I was really sad because had I come into this fit and healthy and trained, I could have had an outside shot. I knew it. But it wasn't to be and I gave it my best as I hit mile 26. Literally clicking my split on my watch through the 26 mile marker, my hamstring cramped up on me fully and I stiff-legged it over the last .2, through the streets of Falmouth to the finish.

When I came across I was surprisingly fine and not cramping at all. I was able to walk around, congratulate my mates, and got the GREAT news from Greg Hammett that we had not only won the title, but Patrick Rich won the WHOLE THING! I wish I could say I was shocked, but I wasn't. I was just absolutely thrilled. It made my day. It could not have happened to a nicer, more deserving man and I was elated for him. It must have been really special coming down that last stretch, winning the race, the New England Championship title, and an extra 1500 beans doesn't hurt either!

I wandered around a bit before heading back to the school and to Dan's truck, where him and I sat and got warm for a bit before heading inside to hit the showers to wash the chill off. Dan finished a little behind me in 2:48 and Scotty was a bit further back, having had to stop for 4-5 minutes to take care of his cramp. Sam Wood also finished strong in his first full marathon as well. Sam has won some big races in New England and NH especially in the past and is getting back into form.

Top 20 Plus CMS MORT Members in Blue

Place	Name	Age	City/State	Gun	Net	Pace	Club
1	Patrick Rich	35	S. Hamilton MA	2:28:54	2:28:54	5:41	CMS
2	Hari Iyer	23	Cambridge MA	2:31:00	2:30:59	5:46	BAA
3	Kevin Alliette	30	Methuen MA	2:34:21	2:34:20	5:54	WHIRL
4	Tom Deeg	30	Eastham MA	2:35:02	2:35:01	5:55	WHIRL
5	Justin Freeman	34	New Hampton NH	2:35:51	2:35:50	5:57	RUN
6	Eneas N. Freyre	35	Norwalk CT	2:36:12	2:36:12	5:58
7	Greg Hammett	34	Chesterfield NH	2:36:46	2:36:46	5:59	CMS
8	Danilo Cordeiro	30	Melrose MA	2:37:29	2:37:28	6:01	RUN
9	Bryan Morseman	26	Addison NY	2:37:54	2:37:54	6:02
10	Scott Leslie	30	Rutland MA	2:38:02	2:38:02	6:02	CMS
11	David Ndungu	32	Worcester MA	2:38:56	2:38:56	6:04	RUN
12	George Adams	41	Gilsum NH	2:40:20	2:40:20	6:07	CMS
13	Titus Mutinda	46	Lowell MA	2:41:28	2:41:28	6:10	RUN
14	Jim Johnson	34	Salem NH	2:42:29	2:42:29	6:12	CMS
15	Jonathan May	42	Charlestown MA	2:43:41	2:43:39	6:15	SRR
16	Robert Cipriano	51	Belmont MA	2:43:43	2:43:42	6:15	SRR
17	Joe O'Leary	43	Medford MA	2:43:48	2:43:46	6:15	SRR
18	Jon Chesto	40	S. Boston MA	2:44:22	2:44:20	6:17	GBTC
19	Jim St. Pierre	40	Dracut MA	2:45:19	2:45:18	6:19	RUN
20	Eric Beauchesne	41	Chelmsford MA	2:46:05	2:46:05	6:21	WHIRL
22	Dan Verrington	49	Bradford MA	2:48:13	2:48:13	6:25	CMS
35	Scott McGrath	24	Andover MA	2:55:04	2:55:03	6:41	CMS
48	Sam Wood	25	Laconia NH	3:03:02	3:03:01	6:59	CMS

909 Total Finishers.

News Article from Cape Cod Online

What I took away from this was renewed confidence in myself that I can run/race on this calf and I shook some demons out for sure by just finishing this thing. It's been a tough couple months (really since the Netherlands) and I was just glad to go down there under tough conditions and circumstances and finish the race. I now know my calf isn't THAT serious if I can run 6:12s on it for 26.2 miles. I am hoping to continue to build up fitness and work on my conditioning. It's going to be a long road back but the timing is good (except for missing out on all the loot that the Cape had to offer). There really isn't a whole lot going on between now and snowshoe season. Mill Cities will be fun and hopefully I will be fit by then. All in all I just really had a ton of fun being part of the marathon and being there to see my teammates and friends run great. Those guys made me proud down there. That's what CMS is all about to me. Good mates who got your back and guys who just go and get it done.

Training 10-24 - 10-30

2011-10-28T11:13:00.000-04:00

Wrap Up: 56.5 miles on 6 days including one come-back race that was more of a tempo effort, time-wise (race effort, fitness wise) but a big step in the right direction for me. I'm in a better place mentally about running today, than I was even on Saturday before Cape Cod. I look forward to starting to train again, seriously. This week I'll take it easy and then decide what I am going to point at. I need to keep working on getting my strength and conditioning back...and also to be able to get my legs used to the pain and stress of racing and running fast! Boy did they not remember quite what it was supposed to feel like on Sunday. That was painful!

10-30 - Sunday: 27.2 miles (roads) - Falmouth, MA. Light jogging to the start and some strides before the Cape Cod Marathon. Top Goal of this one was to finish. Second goal was to try to stay within three CMS places of Greg Hammett to try to at least secure a tie at the top of the CMS internal GP standings. Backup goal was to break 2:45 since I have been injured and essentially not running or training hard (or frequently) much at all in the past couple months. I just wanted to toe the line and see what I could do on essentially no real training and not anywhere near even 75% physically, and I accomplished all those goals. I ran 2:42 something on basically a 5 mile hard effort initially, and then a solid 'going through the motions' for 21 miles. I'll do a write up later on, but very happy with just finishing this race and running pretty even splits for most of the race (except for going crazy at the beginning like I always do). No real bad issues other than just feeling horrible leg-wise. I didn't blow up or really run into any major issues other than the typical marathon stuff. I had an awful lot of pain and soreness in the legs, but I was expecting that after one of my longest stretches of downtime and light/easy training. The calf wasn't any worse than it has been and I held up far better than I thought I was going to. It gives me a ton of hope for the future now... a big pick-me-up and confidence booster for me for sure.

10-29 - Saturday: 30 min. spin on the bike. Picked up a trainer so I can 'try' to get serious this winter about training and getting/staying fit. It's all essentially about trying to get passed this weekend and then get to the gettin'. Because of the race tomorrow, I just enjoyed a light spin while the snow started to fly outside... enough to get a good sweat going. Watched the last 30 minutes of the Dirty Dozen which seems to be on some channel at least once every other day. The marathon attempt tomorrow should be interesting. The weather is interesting here....down near the Cape I think the snow will probably be a non-factor, but it will be far from dry or fast conditions. I may still bring the Dion 121's just in case.

10-28 - Friday: 5 miles - Neighborhoods past the golf course in Salem, Methuen (solo). Headlamp run as I didn't get out the door until after dark. Lonely, cold, dreary run... felt alright although I felt some twinging in my calf and hamstring even though I was just going easy. I can't wait until Sunday. I hope the weather is absolutely horrendous. I need all the help I can get. [34:54]

10-27 - Thursday: 5 miles - Out and back in Salem, Methuen (solo). First run in the snow. Another headlamp run in light rain/snow mix. Wet and uneventful. Still just in taper mode (whatever that means). [35:49].

10-26 - Wednesday: 5 miles - Out and back in Salem, Methuen (solo). Headlamp run. Ipod died like 2 songs into the run. Twisted my ankle 3 miles in and had to stop to tend to what I thought was a badly sprained ankle at first, but it was better in about a minute and hobbled back to the house from there. Started to actually BONK near the house. Not a good sign. My running just sucks right now. [35:55]

10-25 - Tuesday: 8.1 miles - hilly 8 loop with E.Bick and DQ from the manor in Salem, NH. Ran up Reservior Hill in Methuen, then up to Pie Hill, back down and around some neighborhoods before heading back to the manor. [56:48]. Good run without much issues to speak of. Took every town/state line of course.

10-24 - Monday: 6.2 miles - Out and back 10k run in Salem, Methuen (solo) on the roads. I guess let the taper begin? It's kinda useless but I'm doing it anyways. My feet/ankles/calves are junk. I'm not sure what's up but it seems like it is getting progressively harder to feel good while trying to train. I'm barely doing anything and feel beat up more than ever for some reason. [42:43]

Training 10-17 - 10-23

2011-10-19T10:12:00.003-04:00

Wrap Up: 52.3 miles in 6 days. Pathetic, but my highest week in 5+ weeks. Screwed dearly for the marathon, but it is what it is. Looking to finish at this point and get another long run in. If my calf holds up, I'll be absolutely shocked. One decent race, but it wasn't without it's problems. Fun to actually get back out there and finish a race for once though!

10-23 - Sunday: Off. Feet were killing me when I woke up and calf was stiff and sore.

10-22 - Saturday: 14 miles (trails) - 2 mile w/up w/ a fit Scotty Mason over the trails in Pawtuckaway State Forest in Nottingham, NH then '11' mile trail/mountain race (which was at least 12 miles and had over 1700 ft. of elevation gain) - Vulcan Fury Trail Race - 1st OA of 118. [1:25:30]. Felt nice and smooth and very strong cardio-wise as I tempo'd most of it (because I was keeping a close watch on my calf). Was never in the hurt box at all as I led almost the entire thing (after the first mile or so, where I had company). Loads of single track and VERY wet and rocky. Boulder fields, lots of slick rock slabs, slick bridges, and leaf/pine needle covered trails and dirt roads. The course had a sick climb up rock steps to the summit about halfway in. Managed to run the entire thing surprisingly, but got lost 8 or 9 times where I had to stop and try to figure out where I was supposed to go. I also had to stop to tie my shoes once, which came untied after going through a bunch of water early on in the race. The last couple miles of the course was tough to follow because of the leaves everywhere on the ground, but the course was very well marked and a great event put on by the folks at Acidotic (as usual). My calf was borderline bullsh*t after 3 miles. I had my eye on it the entire time and backed way off for most of the hard ups and downs as it was twinging and hurting (down low near my achilles again). It never went over the top though and by the end, I felt pretty good. I was able to really hammer the flatter sections. I could have gone longer, which is a good sign for my calf. I think being on the roads next week is doable for the race...we'll see. Good to get the monkey of no race finishes so far in October finally off my back! Tim Cox (CMS) 2nd place. Keith Schmitt 3rd. Bagged Nottingham and Deerfield for the first times. Good test of my calf and good confidence booster. I actually felt like a runner today.

10-21 - Friday: 6.2 miles (roads) - Salem, Methuen (out and back) solo. Hammered the last mile after starting out w/ the normal tempo. [39:59]. Felt pretty good. Some minor twinging but holding up.

10-20 - Thursday: 9 miles (roads and trails) - w/ University of Lowell Cross Country All American David Quintal. Ran from Salem/Methuen line on 97 up to Crystal Gorge trails in Haverhill, MA. Did some loops in there and ran back. It was pretty wet in there and some of the lower parts were flooded. Quintal tried to take a town line (key word is 'tried') and pushed the tempo up to a near race pace effort on the way back. I ran [1:03:04]. DQ was [1:03:34].

10-19 - Wednesday: 5 miles (roads) - w/ E-Bick in Salem, Methuen (out and back) in the pouring rain. Both of us almost took a zero but decided to get a short, easy run in. [35:07]

10-18 - Tuesday: 10 miles (roads) - w/ Emery Bickford in Salem, Methuen, Haverhill - Spicket Hill / Scotland Hill loop from Emery's house. [1:10:00]. Calf was a little twingy at the end. Later on (before bed), my right foot started to KILL. Not sure if it's a foot cramp or what. Watching this closely. This is all I need now is another foot issue.

10-17 - Monday: 8.1 miles (roads) - solo out and back in Salem, Methuen, Haverhill. [51:57]. Felt pretty strong. Calf twinged a little bit but no real major problems.

Training 10-10 - 10-16

2011-10-10T18:00:00.001-04:00

Wrap Up: 52.2 miles for the week on 6 days (with one day being only 4). OK week for having ZERO miles last week while letting my calf heal. Slowly built up starting with an easy 4 on Monday and working up, taking Thursday off to be safe, then running a couple good runs (10 and 16.3, which was the highlight of the week). I didn't want to jump into anything crazy with miles, especially now that Cape is right around the corner. I'm in no way ready for a high 2:20s or low 2:30s effort, but I think maybe a tad over 6 minute pace may be doable IF my calf and hamstrings hold up. High 2:30s could be achievable on this level of fitness I think, but then again, my luck in marathons and long races lately is anything but predictable. Baystate video coming hopefully this week....been very busy around here lately with some things happening that have been kind of taking my focus away from running...but I'm looking to re-kindle the love affair with miles hopefully after the Cape is dead and buried. I did get a little inspired this weekend though, seeing a lot of my mates and locals in big races...Nate, Fyffe, Ferenc, Dan the Man, Patrick, Sully, Joe Mo, MQ, etc. I wish I was racing again. I haven't finished a race in October (and only attempted 1). My last FINISH was Pisgah. Not good.

10-16-11 - Sunday: 6 miles (roads) solo whilst running to and fro during the Baystate Marathon in Lowell, MA. I ran 3+ miles on the course from about the 3 mile mark before watching Sully and Joe Mo and a few others come screaming by. I ran a few more here and there as I watched at the 3,8,13, and 26 mile marks. [45:00]

10-15-11 - Saturday: 16.3 miles (roads) solo. Derry prep course, Derry NH (plus the start back to the car). [1:47:41]. Went through the 16 mark in 1:45:00. Felt really good and had zero problems cardio-wise. Felt like I didn't miss a beat actually... but my calf started to ache around 9 mile mark (right before Drew rd. hill) and then again after 12, all the way to the finish. It wasn't too bad, but there is still something not quite right. It was beautiful at the starts, nice and sunny and warm. It got really windy in the middle, rained a little bit heading towards the end, and then got sunny and brisk at the end. Very strange weather-wise, but perfect fall day to run. Stretching, hydration, and continuous miles until Cape to make sure I can just stay within 8 CMS places of Greg Hammett :).

10-14-11 - Friday: 10 miles (roads and trails) with DQ in N.Andover. High School to trails, and then loops in town (in the rain most of the time) [1:15:00]. Going through the motions....kind of uninspired running right now...

10-13-11 - Thursday: off.

10-12-11 - Wednesday: 8.7 miles (roads) solo in Salem, Methuen. Little by little coming back. Right leg was bothering me a little at first, then it loosened up but gave way to my left hamstring getting a bit tight, but nothing serious. Bad stomach issues halfway through and had to ditch off into the woods on the way back to take care of business...sweet relief after that for the way back. Took it pretty easy, needing to make sure I slowly build back up without issue. [59:31]

10-11-11 - Tuesday: 6.2 miles (roads) solo in Salem, Methuen. Almost didn't get this in as it was a super busy day but got out and got a decent run in at the last minute. Baby steps... need to ease back into this so I don't get hurt and with the Cape all but around the corner, I just want to be able to be in some sort of running shape when I toe the line. I won't be in fast marathon shape for sure, but that's not really the goal at this point unfortunately. My hamstrings were REALLY sore from the start believe it or not. Must have been from no running for 8 days and then starting up yesterday. It's a good hurt though. [42:02]. I'll keep increasing a bit before obviously backing off a little right before 'the event' down in Falmouth.

10-10-11 - Monday: 4 miles (roads) with Emery Bickford in Salem, NH. First run in 8 days and felt pretty decent. Started out a little tough and found out it was a 6:30 first mile, so that explains it. [27:03]. Baby steps. Still planning on running Cape but just gonna go do it just to get it done in case the team needs me. A couple weeks to get back some fitness so that I can just grind through without any issues, will be the main goal.

On Saturday, I did a hike with Kristin up in the Whites. We bagged Mt. Liberty and Mt. Flume (2 more 4000'ers I didn't have). My calf held up nicely and only on the way down (6 hours into the hike) did my calf and achilles even give me a hint of discomfort. My plantar hurt more than anything else. Amazingly, today I feel absolutely fine. Amazing what time off will do. Just glad to be running again...

Training 09-26 - 10-02

2011-09-26T18:17:00.001-04:00

Wrap Up: 58.6 miles on 6 days (with one of those days only being 2 miles). Got injured running and racing on a insanely tight left leg and let it go until it was too late. Details below in the Saturday writeup. I didn't spend too much time writing this up because I have been super busy here at home and with work and been very unmotivated to think about or write about running when I am not running. I will be laying out some new thoughts, plans, goals, etc. for my 'comeback' special that will hopefully begin filming this coming week (if I can start to actually move faster than limping around). One thing is for sure though...it's about time I start to pay attention to those little things I don't do like stretching, etc.

10-02 - Sunday: 0 miles (injured). Couchbound all day.

10-01 - Saturday: 17 miles (approx) trails. Warmed up at Winni with Dan Verrington, Dave Quintal, and Todd Callahan. Then ran the first 15K + about a mile and a half of the Winnekenni 25k race. Was out in front in a big way after running the first lap (5 x 5k loops) with Todd C. and then taking off on the 2nd. By the third lap I was way out in front and felt completely fine. Felt like I was almost just doing a tempo and not really in any sort of distress fitness wise but all of the sudden my achilles felt like it was ripped off the back of my foot/leg. I had been struggling w/ tight, clicking achilles on my left leg for a couple weeks. I had to bail out of Codfish Bowl XC last weekend because of it, and now this. I literally fell to the ground right between the lake and the basin. I got up, and screamed in pain. I tried to stretch out near a tree but it was no use. I couldn't even stand on it. I limped/crawled up the trail and tried to get back up to the start/finish via a shortcut but it was way further than I thought. No one was in sight when this happened and I had a multi minute lead on Todd, but my day was over. I staggered up the hill against race traffic and eventually made my way up within a couple minutes of the start/finish before John Pajer's wife saw me, went back to the start/finish, and got help. Mike St. Hillaire and another gentleman came down and carried me all the way back. When I got back to the start area, there was a couple of PT people there and they worked on me for about an hour. My calf and hamstring was very tight and my calf took a huge beating. I had thought all along that it was my achilles and that was it, but it was looking like my calf was to blame. The session was one of the most painful I've ever had if not the most painful. My calf and various muscles making up the lower leg were so tight the guy was amazed I was running on them. By the time I was done getting worked on, I had help getting back over to my car and I drove home (somehow). That day (Saturday) I couldn't even walk at all. I was on the couch the entire day. I couldn't even stand. When I woke up Saturday, my achilles was NO LONGER popping and it really didn't even hurt anymore (first time in 2 weeks) but my calf was brutalized. I was able to limp very gingerly and basically kept up the ice, elevation routine on and off. Fast forward to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and now Thursday (Oct. 6) and it is getting slightly better each day. I am still not able to even jog on it, but I am almost able to walk without a limp. My calf is no doubt sprained or strained. I don't think any permanent damage was done, but I'm not sure. I am giving it a week, and will try to pickup were I left off with just getting back to running. Just touching it is so painful. I can't get up on my toes, can't push off at all, and can't make any sudden movements. It is getting progressively better though with each day. With Cape Cod in 3 weeks, I am not going to be fit in any fashion for a fast marathon, but I want to just get to the line and help the team if needed.

09-30 - Friday: 10.8 miles (roads) - w/ Scotty McGrath in Salem, Methuen, Haverhill - spicket hill /north ave hill loop. [1:09:26]

09-29 - Thursday: 10.3 miles (roads) - Salem, Methuen, Haverhill - with Emery Bickford and Chris Mahoney-Searles... yes, that's right, THE Chris Mahoney-Searles (or 'CMS' for short). My house up Spicket (from Stanwood side), down and back over to the hills up North St. and back down. Hilly loop, poured over the second half and was pitch dark, slogging through deep puddles. We started moving on the way back from the last of the hills (after Chris and Emery started pushing the pace) and finished up with a pretty solid run considering the weather. I managed to take every town line however. Felt almost normal on this run. The achilles was an issue going up Spicket but other than that it was alright. [1:13:24]

09-28 - Wednesday: 8.5 miles (roads) - solo. Headlamp run. Couldn't get away from work early enough. Salem, Methuen roads. [56:16]. Testing the achilles more than anything. It held up 'OK'. Tight and sore near the end. I don't think I could have gone too much longer at that clip without it starting to get serious.

09-27 - Tuesday: 10 miles (trails/rail trail) - w/ DQ from Victorian Station in Salem. Salem, Windham, Derry. [1:15:24] Achilles was junk but didn't hold me back too much on the flats. I chose the rail trail because there is zero elevation gain (obviously). Good news is that it isn't any worse than it has been. It actually is probably better than yesterday, so that's a huge plus.

Rant of the Day: They are RUINING the rail trail in Windham/Derry by building more McMansion neighborhoods right up against the trail about halfway between Salem and Windham Depot. I'm talking right up against the trail. It looks like the cul-de-sacs (one on each side) will go right up against it. I couldn't believe it. In a pretty remote section of the woods, they cut right in and opened it up on both sides. It looks awful. I thought the housing market was supposed to be bad. Do we need more houses going up in what little woods we actually have here? It really is a shame. I also noticed that when we got to Windham Depot the beginning of the Derry portion of the trail (that has been unpaved and pretty rugged up until now) was all blocked off and a sign said that the trail was closed. Of course DQ and I went around it and kept going on it for a bit. I noticed they had cut back the growth from the sides and it looked to me like they were going to actually start to pave it. I confirmed this by reading that the work actually started last week and will be done by November. I kind of liked the unpaved section...but after November, that entire stretch all the way up to the existing paved section at Bower's Rd. will be paved now. The ATV guys are going to hate that. That leaves just the small stretch from Salem Depot, over the bridge across 111, and up to the start of the Windham Rail Trail on Lamson Rd. as the only unpaved spots left from Salem Depot all the way up to Hoods Pond in Derry.

09-26 - Monday: 2 miles (roads) - started out w/ guns blazing, thinking I was good to go, after resting yesterday. As soon as I got to the first hill, my achilles popped bad. It is super tight and painful. I had to stop, turn around, and come back down. Not what I was expecting. This one little thing seems to be my only hitch right now and it's annoying. [13:00]

Training 09-19 - 09-25

2011-09-24T13:21:00.000-04:00

Wrap Up: 46.3 miles for the week with a day off and a bunch of short days. Achilles problem hopefully is just a minor setback. I may need a few days but we'll see. I've been sleeping with the boots on (night splints) to help w/ plantar problems and that has really done the trick, but now I fear maybe it led to this...I am going to go without the boot for a bit and see. I am also trying to figure out what I will be focusing on the rest of my running career as things appear to be getting a bit stale...I was super motivated after the disaster in the Netherlands and now I'm just not even close to wanting to even go outside. Pisgah was a welcome change in that mentality, but I'm sinking back into not giving a crap right now...especially with hobbling on my left leg.

09-25 - Sunday - Off. Achilles is still bad. Just driving and walking were no good. Bad end to recovery week. At this point, I am going to take it slow, make sure I can run steady again before doing anything stupid.

09-24 - Saturday - 6 miles (grass, dirt) - 4 or so mile w/ up (with strides and staying loose, kind of) then race: Codfish Bowl XC - Boston, MA. Dropped at 2 miles exactly. Barely made it 1.5 while running. My achilles was wrecked. I had a really bad warmup and my achilles was sore as hell and popping the whole time. It got worse as the race started and I could barely keep up a racing stride. I got a horrible start, was way back right at the gun, and was fighting to land right through the thick grass. Went through the mile in about 4:55 and then struggled up Bear Cage hill and got passed by a million guys. My achilles was so sore on the way up. The way down was OK, but by the time I got to the flat and onto the grass, it was killing me again. Didn't even make it to the wilderness loop. Very sad. I tried to not think about it during the race, but it was just taking the fight right out of me. I drove all that way, paid for the race, and ran for 2 miles. My 2 mile split was about 10:30 and that was enough for me to call it a day and go home and ice. I may try something tomorrow, but I'm not sure. Very depressing to have my 4th DNF since coming back to running in 5 years, but 3 of those 4 are THIS YEAR. I do not want to make a habit of this, but it's looking like I'm finally starting to slide downhill a little bit. I hope it's just tightness from last weekend's 50K and 5k double.

09-23 - Friday: 6.3 miles (roads). Salem, Methuen (out and back). This is rapidly becoming a recovery week for me but rightfully so, with Pisgah 50k last Sunday. Relatively steady run today in the rain, but short mileage. [41:43].

09-22 - Thursday: 9 miles (trails). Windham Town Forest trails w/ DQ from trailhead of 28 in Windham. Raining and humid. Steady run. [1:08:43]

09-21 - Wednesday: 8 miles (roads/woods) - Salem, Methuen, Haverhill. Ran up Scotland Hill and then down Pine Tree Drive to find some trails that I have known have been down there for some time. I didn't find the best entry point, but did find some dirt road and clearings that were runable for a little bit. The woods got thick and that apparently wasn't the best route to take to get down into those trails and paths that run along the golf course imprint that has been obvious on Google maps since I've been mapping out my runs. I know there is a better way to get in there, but I couldn't get there from that neighborhood. On the way back out of a bushwhack between Pine Tree drive and Stephen Ave, I was pushing through small trees and bushes and came nose-to-butthole with a humungous buck. All of the sudden I crossed my eyes and stared right into the rear of the deer as he jumped up from the ground (probably sleeping) and almost kicked me in the face as ran away through the bushes....scared me half to death. Just wandered around and headed down a couple other streets I've never run on before, as I just took it easy and tried to recover from the last few days. [57:31]

09-20 - Tuesday: 10.2 miles (xc workout) w/ Merrimack men's team at Brooks in N.Andover. 21 min. w/up entirely on grass and xc course + 7 x 1000M (3:20 of hard running around the athletic fields (all grass and varying terrain, so could have been a little more than 1000 each time) with 90 sec. in between + 16:30 cooldown on course. 70 min total. Most of this was done on the Brooks xc course, which is marked around the athletic fields. Good mix of small, short ups and downs and straights on all grass. Did this in the Inov-8 baregrips.

09-19 - Monday: 6.8 miles (roads) - recovery run from yesterday's 50k. Frankly I'm amazed I could even walk or put on shoes today, let alone run any distance. I felt a bit stiff at first, but loosened up around 2 miles and felt great at the end. A bit tight for sure, but I'm mobile. Feet actually felt really good, in stark contrast to how they felt laying in bed last night and when I got up this morning. [48:13].

Pisgah Mountain 50K

2011-09-20T21:36:00.000-04:00

Sunday: Workout - 50 x 1000 meters (with no rest) - Location: Pisgah State Park - Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Winchester, NH....ok, it was a 50k, but I thought that would look meaner if I wrote this up as a workout :)

On Sunday I had my second race of the weekend out at the Pisgah Mountain Trail Races. It was the Pisgah 50K and the field was (and usually is) pretty deep at this race.

I got off to a rocky start in the morning, after about 3 hours of sleep, I started out late to the race and was going to cut it close (according to my GPS). I ended up taking a ton of time off the ride and got out to the race in probably just under 2 hours. On the way, figuring I may get to the start really close to race time, I packed my gear, gels, chews, salts, etc. I got all my race stuff ready as I drove, but by the time I got to registration, I had about an hour to get ready. When that hour doesn't include a warmup (because I learned that in a 50k like this, you use the first couple of miles as your warmup to conserve every ounce of energy you can), it makes it a lot easier to get all your things in order. I had to bum 10 bucks off of Justin Fyffe (who was there to run the 23K) because I 'thought' I had enough cash on me to register, but realized it was $50 beans and I had exactly $47 on me. After that slight hiccup, I went back over to my car and shot the breeze with Kevin Tilton, Ben Nephew, and a few others who had started to show up. I got my new Inov-8 test pair on (a new trail racer in design stages) and got ready to rock.

The morning was pretty cool and some folks had gloves and long sleeve shirts on at the start. I headed over to the start with my waistpack full of chews, gels (probably 6 gels including a couple in my shorts pocket), a pack of NUUN tabs, and a roll of Lifesavers (Dan Verrington's secret fuel for ultras and long races). My water bottle was a mixture of Gatorade, water, and NUUN. As I got to the start, I jogged down to a wooded area to try to do a last second bathroom stop, but realized to my horror that ONCE AGAIN I FORGOT TO PIN MY NUMBER ON!. Instead of using the bathroom, I hauled ass back to my car (which fortunately wasn't too far away) and grabbed my number and got back over to the start literally pinning it on as they said 'GO'.

Above, brave souls start to line up for the 50K. Photo credit: Linda ODonnell

As the race started out and heads down Old Chesterfield Road (which is a mixture of paved/crushed stone/gravel, and dirt) we had a great group of what seemed to be a dozen or so runners including my CMS teammate Greg Hammett, who lives right there near the start/finish and runs in Pisgah all the time. Greg took off and we joked that he looked like he was running the 23K (which starts at the same time). Even Justin Fyffe (who WAS actually running just the 23K) was way behind him at first. Eventually Justin moved up to run with Greg but I stayed way back, in the mix that included David Herr (last year's winner and course record holder) Kevin Tilton, Chris Hayhurst, Dane Mitchell, Danny Ferreira (who was running 23K) and a few others. A couple of guys, who I know were there but were never once up with or in front of me were Brian Rusiecki and Ben Nephew...both of whom are ultra/trail specialists and Brian is one of those guys who usually gets the better of me in these races. Brian beat me by 1 minute here last year and Ben had a good race out in the Netherlands, finishing as the top American in that 50K, so I knew there was some talent here.

The beginning mile is a social affair, as we joke and sandbag and discuss the course, etc. Greg wanted no part of that and was out for blood. He continued to push up what was a pretty decent first climb on the road and we all just sat back. The key to this race (and other long trail/mountain slogs) is patience. It is a LONG way. Even at the 2 hour mark, you still have a LONG way to go. So at 10 minutes in, I wasn't too worried about positioning.

Photo above by Jess Tilton. The start down Old Chesterfield Rd. Hammett and Fyffe way out front. Chase pack behind. David Herr in the white hat all the way to the left. Kevin and I are hidden in the front of the chase pack. Dale in red, Nephew with no shirt, Rusiecki in the white top in the middle.

As the trail portion begins, the race splits in two, as the 23K goes straight on and the 50k takes a sharp left into the woods. As I hit that left hand turn, I was in 3rd place behind David Herr, who was chasing Greg Hammett who was still leading. Immediately behind me was Dane, Kevin, Chris, Brian, Ben, and a few others. The trail in here, as with the rest of the race, is deep in the woods. The race never really dumps out onto 'summits' or clear areas really. There are a few, yes, but for the most part, it is deep in the forest with many wet, soft trails, TONS of roots and rocks, a lot of swamps and ponds, and a good mix of single track, double track, and jeep roads. The footing goes from OK to horrendous, fast. There are many small mossy/greasy bridges, old log bridges, and portions of the trail you have to come to almost a complete stop at to navigate the rocks. It definitely makes for an interesting run, early on.

Greg continued to push with David in tow, and I could see them the entire time, but I was hanging back and not working any of the small climbs that come fast and frequently. I took it easy, conserving energy on the climbs and even some of the steep downs. I drank water frequently and took a hit every once in a while from my gel flask. I continued to replenish my Lifesavers as they ran out and made sure to keep one in my mouth the entire race. I knew that even at 20 minutes in, you HAVE to keep up with hydration and nutrition if you are going to last in these races. If you don't, you WILL bonk. I know this from experience now. It is NOT a 10 mile race on the Merrimack River Trail. I continued to make sure I was constantly fueling even that early in the race. There are a fair share of aid stations so I was confident I could replenish what I needed as far as liquids, so I tried to pace out my hydration equally between stations. Before I caught David and Greg, Dale Mitchell caught me, talked with me for a bit as we ran side by side, and then he pulled ahead on one of the harder early climbs. Some time later, I caught back up and passed Dane on my way to finally catching up to the two leaders.

As I pulled up along behind David and Greg, we went up and down steep climbs that would almost cause me to walk a few steps before reaching the top and darting down again. There was just enough time for me to recover and catch the top 2 before the next climbs would start. I ran like that for a long while, falling off David and Greg as they pulled away for a bit before reeling them in again. Like a yo-yo I ran until about 60 minutes in, when we came to the big climb up what I think is the Chestnut Hill trail (I may be wrong about that). It is a 'Mount Washington-esque' type of climb up an old road that is so steep, I have no clue how anyone was able to drive up it. It is mostly falling apart, grown in, and full of pot holes. I found myself, somehow in the lead up this beast, after the 3 of us cruised into an aid station right at the bottom of it (about 8.1 miles in). I took almost no time at all at the station and made sure my bottle was topped and headed up the climb. Herr was right behind me and Greg was following not too far back. As we neared the top, we were joined not too long after by Kevin Tilton, who was catching us up the climb that was right in his wheelhouse. That started what would be the top 4 lead pack that would be together for a lot of the race. After Kevin caught up to us, Kevin and I ran side by side, as David and Greg did the same, 3 feet in front of us...for miles.

I led for a while, which I did not like (especially this early in the race). David and Greg and Kevin continued to run right behind, as we hit another major uphill grind, this one being single track. I had no place to move off to, to let them go past me, so I had to push the pace up the hill and by the time we got to the top, we had spread out a bit, but once the trail widened, I moved over and ran on the side, hoping Herr and the rest would go past. They didn't pass me until I took 2 quick wrong turns, the second one I wasn't able to catch in time to stay in the lead, and they passed me. I gladly hopped in behind them and we pushed on up another uphill grind, this time with David and Greg in the lead, with Kevin right in front of me. Again, I would fall off the back a bit and then catch back up to Kevin, as Greg continued to run really well up front and pull us along. David was matching him stride for stride and I continued to work on hydration, nutrition, and suddenly became VERY aware of my calves and hamstrings. It wasn't even 90 minutes in and I already had major signs of cramping. It was incredibly disheartening. I told Kevin I was starting to almost cramp, as my muscles twinged and fired up most of the climbs and when I had to bound over rocks on some of the downhill sections. I fell back off the pace quite a bit for a while, as those 3 really looked to be working well together. I caught back up to Kevin at one point and just as we were going over a greasy snowmobile bridge, I caught the lip of it and fell hard onto the top of the bridge, rolling over a couple times before picking myself up and continuing on. Kevin slowed a bit and asked if I was OK. Later I would learn that even Greg and David heard me go down, from their position about 50 meters up the hill.

Not too soon after I went down, I completely lost the pack. I started running in 'no mans land' and couldn't even see the top 3 any more. It was a little disheartening, but at the same time I knew I was conserving energy and that we had a LONG way to go still. I started to glance back to see if Brian or Ben or Chris would be coming up to join me, but never saw anyone. I continued to push on, never once having any sensation of bonking, never having to really walk anything other than a couple of steps here and there, and never having anything else bother me except my twinging hammies and calves.

Eventually, as 2 hours came and went, I started to every once in a while, see Kevin's white singlet through the woods and thought to myself 'wow, I'm still kind of in this thing'. I felt really strong but was very cautious of my legs. I pushed on and seemed to be catching them but never tried to put an all out push to catch up. By the aid station at Kilburn Road (19.9 miles), I had basically caught the top 3 to my amazement. I pulled into that aid station (that you actually come to twice) and quickly topped off my bottle, dumped a NUUN tab in, and headed out down the trail. I was now staring at Greg Hammett's red jersey in front of me, with Kevin and David not too far up ahead. At this point last year, this is where I had passed and finally broken away from Ben. David Herr and Brian Rusiecki (last year) had already come through here at that point, a couple minutes before. This year, I was right behind David, and Brian was out of the picture behind me. I had a really good feeling at this point, that for the first time in the race, I thought I had the potential of top 3 if nothing disastrous happened on the way out of this loop (called the Kilburn loop) and on the upcoming Davis Hill trail, which is a tremendously frightening hill to have deep in a race like this.

As we headed towards the bottom of the Kilburn loop (which is a 5.5 mile loop that goes down and then back up), I caught up to and passed Greg, who was still running really strong and was in good spirits. He seemed to be still probably running near the same pace he was before, but David and Kevin had broken away. Greg told me that Kevin had made a move and he thought it was too early. He seemed content in staying where he was, because he knew how he was feeling and what it was going to take to get this race done. He was running a PB and didn't want to jeopardize it with a drastic move with 11 miles to go. I agreed, but I was moving at my own pace and was pushing onward, feeling great and again keeping up with my fluids and gels.

As I hit the bottom and started the climb back up, Kevin was up ahead and now had been dropped by David, who was out of sight. David was no doubt pushing the pace on the ups here and made a decisive move. Kevin was unable to match his move, but still pushed up the climb back out of Kilburn at a decent pace. Greg wasn't too far behind me, but was losing a bit of ground on me as I pushed up ahead, trying to catch Kevin. As the loop flattened a bit, I caught up to Kevin who was now running pretty easy. As I passed by him on a downhill section, I asked him if he needed anything and he said he was good with gels, but he was in 'full bonk mode'. It was interesting to me because this is EXACTLY where I had my small bonk episode last year. I recovered though and told him to hang in there and that 'there was a lot more climbing left'. I figured that would ease his worries because he was the best climber out there....but if you are bonking, the climbs could be a lot worse.

As I moved up past the Kilburn aid station again, I hit the next uphill section out to the parking lot area before Davis Hill. This section was tough last year, but I was killing it this year. I had dropped Kevin and Greg out of sight completely and was now feeling fantastic. I wasn't even close to feeling 'bonkish' and my only concern still was my hamstrings and calves, which were playing somewhat nicely since I was pounding water and NUUN tabs. They were still twinging, but now at the 3 hour mark, I figured I could maybe hang on... I hit the parking lot right before a sharp right into the Davis Hill trail climb and Josh Ferenc was standing there. He was yelling at me that I looked great and that David Herr wasn't looking all that good. He told me I was 1:10 back of David. I thought that that wasn't too bad, especially with 5 or so miles to go (most of which seemed to be uphill though).

I pushed up Davis Hill, which is a LONG LONG grind up a jeep trail that seems to just relentlessly climb, though not too too steep. Some sections I almost felt like I was close to a walk, but I continued to run and got all the way up without any issue. I felt like I had slowed a bit in my pace, but couldn't imagine that anyone else (ahead of me or behind) was running any faster. Once at the top, there is still a few miles of trails up and down up and down. It seemed like it was taking forever, but the more I glanced at my watch and saw 3:10, 3:15, 3:20, 3:25, I knew I was getting closer and closer. I kept telling myself '20 more minutes max' etc. I really didn't know if we were running faster than the previous year, but I couldn't imagine it being too much slower, if I was sitting alone in 2nd place, only a minute back of David. There was one more set of climbs up the Hubbard Hill trail and my hamstrings started to really twinge during the downs.

Finally, as I was on the cusp of cramping up, I could see the road through the trees and knew I was close. For the first time, I was confident I could at least get 2nd place (in a race I thought I'd be lucky to get top 10 in). I hit the junction of the road and trail to find Josh Ferenc once again standing there. He told me that David Herr was just going out of sight down the road, about :45 up. The last road is a mile + of up and down paved road that is usually a near death march. Last year, I was cramping every which way, but was able to hang on for 3rd place. This year, I came out onto the road and was looking for first. I headed down the first downhill section and saw David Herr right in front, just about within striking distance. I started to pull towards him and a tractor pulled out in between us on the road. A perfect opportunity to sneak up on him, as he couldn't see behind it. The sun was shining bright and it was a beautiful day and a beautiful end to the race as I continued to reel him in. The course climbs up a bit and then we passed Greg Hammett's house. There were a bunch of people standing there screaming for me as soon as David went by, and I saw that he now knew I was back there. He looked to adjust a little and try to pick up the pace. We were both hurting and as I tried to push up hill a little, my right hamstring completely went. It felt like I had a baseball sized knot under my right buttcheek and I had all I could do to continue without fully having to stop. My pace had to drop back down again and I was still catching David, but not fast enough. We came up eventually past Glen Hammett's house right before the last right hand turn onto Rt. 63 to the finish, and David was just too far up on me to catch him. I think if the race was maybe a quarter mile to half mile longer, I could have caught him, but in the end, we both took the turn and he came in 18 seconds up on me to the tune of 3:41:52. I came through the line in 3:42:10. 18 seconds back in a 31 mile mountain/trail race.

Photo above of myself and David Herr after the race. Photo credit: Linda ODonnell

I had mixed emotions, but predominantly happy that I ran 5:19 faster this year than last year! I would have never guessed I would have run faster this year, after the way the end of my summer went. I also would have never guessed I would have beaten many of the guys who ran today. It was a very competitive and talented field. I was very excited about being able to almost hang with David...heck I almost was able to pass him. That would have been something, if I could have caught him on that last road section. It would have been an epic finish for sure. We both actually went under his Course Record from last year (3:42:26). I beat it by 16 seconds but it doesn't really count when I beat the course record but someone also beats it by a little more :).

Ben Nephew apparently had a great last half of the race and ran a very fast time to come in third place ahead of Greg, who hung in there and came in 1 second faster than I ran last year, for a huge new PB for him on the course. Brian ran a few minutes slower than he ran last year and came in for 5th place. Dane was 6th and Chris Hayhurst (who just became a Dad again the day before and was working off of zero sleep) came in 7th. Kevin manned up and finished strong in 8th place, even though he was bonking hard for nearly 11 miles. Lesson learned there as you can read his report here.

Photo above: Nephew, Herr, Johnson, with the race director. Photo credit: Linda ODonnell

Top 10 overall:

1 - David Herr - 3:41:52 ** New CR
2 - Jim Johnson - 3:42:10
3 - Ben Nephew - 3:45:18
4 - Greg Hammett - 3:47:28
5 - Brian Rusiecki - 3:49:33
6 - Dane Mitchell - 3:50:35
7 - Chris Hayhurst - 3:56:30
8 - Kevin Tilton - 4:00:25
9 - Amy Lane - 4:31:11
10 - Jason Dunklee - 4:34:51

Surprisingly, after just a few moments, I was able to walk around OK. I wasn't cramping any longer and my feet were a bit sore, but for the most part, OK. The new Inov-8 test pairs I wore came through with flying colors and felt GREAT, even though they were a 1-arrow. I got through the race unscathed and had a great time afterwards, talking w/ all the guys and then heading over to Greg's place for a brew and a laugh w/ the Keene CMS and BAA contingent. Oh yeah, I found out later that Fyffe took a wrong turn somewhere during the 23K and it turned into a 2+ hour jaunt to try to just get back to the finish. I still owe him $10 bucks.

Historical:

Top 11 times since 2000 *:

2011: 3:41:52 - David Herr
2011: 3:42:10 - Jim Johnson
2010: 3:42:26 - David Herr
2004: 3:44:33 - Ben Nephew
2011: 3:45:18 - Ben Nephew
2003: 3:45:26 - David Herr
2010: 3:46:04 - Brian Rusiecki
2005: 3:46:28 - Ben Nephew
2005: 3:46:54 - David Herr
2011: 3:47:28 - Greg Hammett
2010: 3:47:29 - Jim Johnson

* cannot find data from before this.

Race winners since 2000 **

2000 - 3:56:11 Leigh Schmitt
2001 - 3:49:00 Ben Nephew (approx. time..got info from Ben. Can't find results.)
2002 - 3:52:00 Dave Mackey (approx. time..got info from Ben. Can't find results).
2003 - 3:45:26 David Herr
2004 - 3:44:33 Ben Nephew
2005 - 3:46:28 Ben Nephew
2006 - 3:55:00 David Herr
2007 - 3:56:15 David Herr
2008 - 4:05:22 Greg Hammett
2009 - 3:54:40 Brian Rusiecki
2010 - 3:42:26 David Herr
2011 - 3:41:52 David Herr

** cannot find data from before this.

Training 09-12 - 09-18

2011-09-14T19:34:00.000-04:00

Wrap Up: 80.8 miles on the week with all singles and 1 day off. 2 good races. 1 good 5k on a solo effort and 1 great ultra. Happy with this week as I didn't overdue it and the body is hanging in there. My feet are still wrecked but the night splits are helping. Pisgah destroyed my plantars again but they will hopefully start feeling better in a day or so. I feel much better about my running after this week. I have learned that I am essentially good for a 15:30 something when I am in great 5k shape and when I am nowhere near in 5k shape... so I'm not sure how to think about that one....but in any case, I'll take them as long as I can still get 'em. Still on a high from my new Pisgah PB. If I could only walk right now...

09-18 - Sunday: 31+ miles (trails, rocks, mountains, mud, dirt roads, paved roads, grass) - Pisgah Mountain Trail Race 50K - Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Winchester, NH. 2nd OA - 3:42:10 (under the old CR). Lost to Dave Herr by 18 seconds. Yes, 18 seconds. No warm up or cool down because, well, it was a 50K. Writeup to follow.

09-17 - Saturday: 10.1 miles (roads) - 4+ mile w/up including 5k course and strides. Then race: Pelham Old Home Days 5k - Pelham, NH - 1st OA - 15:34. Cooldown - 3 miles (roads) around the square and cemetery.

09-16 - Friday: 13 miles (trails) - 3 solo and 10 w/ Dave Quintal on river trail from hotel. 3 on the trails back and forth until DQ showed up. [1:40:30]

09-15 - Thursday: 0 - off day. Work really busy and got dark before I knew it. With 50k coming up, decided to take a rest.

09-14 - Wednesday: 10.1 miles (roads) - with Emery Bickford - Salem, Methuen, Haverhill. Hilly loop from yesterday only starting and ending at Emery's house in Salem. Nice and easy. [1:13:04].

09-13 - Tuesday: 10.2 miles (roads) - solo. Hilly road loop from my house, up Spicket Hill, down and up to Scotland Hill and back down to my house. [1:04:50]. Besides having to use the bathroom most of the run, I had a massive right shoulder cramp around 8 miles...I've never had one of these on a run before...not sure what it was, but by 10 miles it was gone. Good solid mild-tempo effort for a lot of the run.

09-12 - Monday: 6.3 miles (roads) - solo. Out and back in Salem/Methuen. Felt really good and worked it on the way back. Best I've felt on a run in a long while. Almost took the day off today after yesterday's long run...I'm glad I didn't.

Market Square Day 10K

2011-09-13T21:08:00.001-04:00

Missing race report # 1 (or poor excuse for one) - Market Square Day 10K - Portsmouth, NH - June 11, 2011.

Bob Wiles gave me crap today for not doing a writeup for this race. This year there have been a bunch of races that I didn't recap for one reason or another. I'm not sure why I didn't recap this race because it is probably my 2nd favorite race of the year behind Mt. Washington and it is always the week before Mt. Washington, so needless to say I love June. I also ran well here, so I'm not sure why I neglected to write this up...

I won't get too deep into details here because lets face it, it was a while ago...but seeing Kevin Tilton just got around to posting about this year's Mt. Washington Road Race, I figured I'd one-up him and post a quickie about MSD.

First of all, no I did not get the course record (which belongs to Guy Stearns with a nice 29:38 run he threw down back in 1985). Heck, I didn't even win...but I did accomplish a couple of things...I ran my fastest time on this course (31:56), I equalled my best placement at this race (3rd), and I got Patrick Moulton (whom I've never beaten) to continuously look over his shoulder for me over the last .2 of the race....which felt pretty good :). All it took was for me to run a sub 32 and for him to be very out of shape at the time :)

I was pleased with my effort here (especially after the disastrous run I had in 2010, where everyone and their mother beat me at this race). I ran with Bob and Patrick for most of the race, fell back a bit in the middle, but then recovered and caught back up near 5.5 or so before Wiles made a move and Patrick tried to follow. I fell of just a bit, Pat settled for 2nd, and Bob cruised. That was that. Here is the outcome on video (courtesy of my Dad and another couple of vids I found on Youtube from a user called jamesleetn and another user called dttvcritic.

The start (courtesy of dttvcritic).

Video from jamesleetn at maybe 4-5 mile mark or so. I am about 5 seconds back of Bob and Pat.

Video of the finish (Bob, Pat, and then me) courtesy of my Dad...

Video of the awards courtesy of my Dad...

Training 09-05 - 09-11

2011-09-06T20:19:00.000-04:00

Wrap Up: 81.1 miles for the week with zero doubles, two short days, one good race, and one long-arse run. Had to back off the frequency a little this week after last week's craziness. Still managed over 80 with a long slog on Sunday w/ DQ to the airport and back. Congrats to Matt Pimentel and Linsey (Cohen) Pimentel on their wedding on Saturday. Awesome time...

Also, congrats to Max King (OR) and Kasie Enman (VT) for BOTH winning the World Mountain Running Championships in Albania today. Unbelievable!!!

Lastly, 10 years ago today, I arrived to work on a really nice September afternoon, in Newton, MA, having listed to a CD on the way in, and not having read the newspaper or seen any TV or internet new reports yet....On my way to my cube, I still had no idea what the significance that day would ultimately hold and as I reached my desk, I had a coworker peek over my cubicle wall and tell me about some trouble in NYC. I remember him saying 'did you hear the news?'. and I said ' no, what', and he said 'some airplanes crashed into some buildings in New York'...We took a walk down to the main function room where there was a television and just about the entire office squeezed into the area watching the events of the morning unfold. I watched the Pentagon and Pennsylvania reports come in, the towers fall (to the gasps and eventual tears of some around me), and all the chaos that ensued in those couple hours just past the start of the workday here on the East coast. They let us out early and closed the buildings down. The way home that day I scanned through all the radio stations, who were all reporting on the events, and I sat in some unusual traffic for the time of day, as most businesses and companies sent workers home for safety reasons. It was only after I was home and sitting there watching TV for the rest of the afternoon, did I start to fully understand what happened. The world changed that day and I think we are still trying to come to grips, and understand what happened 10 years later. I can't believe it has been 10 years, as I type this. Sometimes it seems like it happened not too long ago, and sometimes it seems like it happened ages ago...One thing is clear, and that is I've lived a large portion of my adult life (so far) with the specter of that day in my mind, and it will always be there. I will never forget.

09-11 - Sunday: 27.4 miles (rail trail) w/ Dave Quintal. 2011 Airport Run. Successful attempt at reaching the airport perimeter fence at Manchester Airport in Manchester, NH. Started in Salem, NH at the southern terminus of the Windham/Derry Rail Trail (Rockingham Trail) behind Cycles Etc. in North Salem. Ran up through Salem, Windham, Derry, Londonderry, and Manchester. The stretch after Hood's Pond in Derry gets pretty rough going in spots and grown in, but still very runable. Once we got to about 12.5 in, we had to re-route slightly, to a parallel dirt road next to the trail, that was much better footing. The trail in that section has rails that are essentially cutting through a swamp. That dirt road goes right out to Harvey Rd. in Manchester, that runs right along the fence at the southeastern part of the airport. We could see all the planes, runways, towers, and terminal buildings with a nice backdrop of the Bedford Hills in the distance behind it. We were 1:56:45 on the way out and 1:51:49 on the way back. 3:48:35 total. Nice and easy pace from the start. Beautiful morning (mid 50's at the start at 7:30am).

09-10 - Saturday: 10.7 miles - roads - 4.5 mile w/ up over course w/ CMS crew + a little extra and strides + race: Canal Diggers 5k in Worcester, MA. 2nd OA - 15:33 (1st was Joeseph Koech) + 5k cooldown over the course again w/ a big crew. Legs and everything else felt great. It was pretty warm and humid out at race time and I felt pretty sluggish, but no physical issues. We had a good pack through 1.5 and then it strung out from there. The course was a wheel measured 5k but apparently last year, the times were about 30-35 seconds fast because the race goes for about a tenth of a mile and then crosses the finish timing mat. Apparently, everyone's chip started registering from that mat, so the distance was true but the times were fast by a tenth of a mile or so. This year, they made sure this didn't happen. The course is pretty flat, with only a couple rolls and some slight incline on the second mile. The last mile is super fast. $100 beans (cash) for second place and comp entry from CMS made it a prosperous day.

09-09 - Friday: 6.8 miles - roads - with Dave Kwintile from Mobile station up Spicket down around for a loop then back up over Spicket Hill. Dave was running angry. [54:00]

09-08 - Thursday: 10 miles - roads - solo. I may have been able to run with Casey Moulton today. [1:05:44]. Bad news is that my left arse started to hurt again at about 8 miles. I drank so much water today (coupled w/ NUUN tabs), I was sure I wouldn't have a problem, but it cropped back up again. Pims' bachelor party tonight... Should I tweet periodically? Thinking about it...

09-07 - Wednesday: 11 miles - roads - solo quasi-tempo effort after the first few miles. Felt pretty strong. Nothing really bothering me other than the normal stuff. Glad to have gotten out there today, as it was a crummy day with pretty constant rain...any miles today was a bonus. [1:10:42]

09-06 - Tuesday: 10 miles - trails - da Rivah from hotel w/ Mike Quintal. Very easy. Recovery run yet again as I just try to get back into feeling somewhat comfortable. [1:23:24]. Raining and relatively mild weather. My feet and ankles/achillies are still pretty sore. Everything else seems OK. Mike got a new radio installed in his truck. Good times.

09-05 - Monday: 5.2 miles (solo) - roads. Salem, Methuen. [37:26] . Sluggish and recovering from Wapack. Surprisingly I am actually able to run a bit though...blisters aren't too bad and the tightness isn't what I was expecting. Going to back off slightly this week and just try to get back to feeling good again...right now I'm carrying around too much pain.

Training 08-29 - 09-04

2011-08-29T19:25:00.017-04:00

Wrap Up: 97.7 miles for the week including one long/hard effort at Wapack. Doubled every day during the week but missed my goal of 100 because I had a wake to go to on Thurs and it was too late to run long by the time I got out....This felt like a very long week for me, with the way I've been feeling physically. I am really banged up as far as leg/foot/hip tightness and pain. I felt like every day is the day after Cranmore, all week. I hope it will get better. The good news is that my feet have held up and I was able to go from 0 to 97.7 miles in two consecutive weeks. My plan now is to hang on to try to do Pisgah, which is a great challenge, then potentially some cross country and other random races before Cape Cod (God willing) at the end of October.

09-04 - Sunday:

am 20 miles - Adhoc Race Report: New Ipswich, NH - Ashburnham, MA. - Windblown Ski Trails - 1.5 m. w/up & striding (most w/ Greg Hammett) + 18 mile Wapack trail race (and then some). First extended effort back after the World Trophy. I was really worried about my legs and feet for this one and wanted to just finish this 18 mile trail race (which is a bruiser) in one piece. My plan was to just forget about racing and go out and do a tempo style (as much as possible on this course) run without trying to kill myself for 2nd place (which is what I did last year, behind David Herr). Even if I was the only contender there, I made up my mind to run just to run and for the first time, in an actual race, I would do just that. With a field made up of Brandon Newbould, David Herr, Brian Rusiecki, Greg Hammett, Chris Hayhurst, and a few others (including Dan Verrington), it was an easy decision to make, and I just hung back at the start for a bit and let everyone else go crazy.

I sat back for a mile to a mile and a half and just eased into the race, taking the first of the climbs really easy. I sat w/ Dan for a bit before weaving my way through the pack a bit and ending up in 7th or 8th place for a bit. Somewhere around 20 minutes or so in, I hooked up with Greg Hammett and David Herr, as Brandon and Brian were way ahead (out of sight) and Chris Hayhurst was further up, but within view. I ran behind Greg and Dave for a while, just going through the motions and paying attention to my body and how everything was feeling. Right around 25 minutes, during the rolls between the first summit and the second, David took off. I pulled up behind Greg and started chatting with him. We eventually followed Chris into a dead end at the top of one of the summits and we were lost for a short while. I backtracked out behind them and we got lost again on another faux trail off of the summit. The second time we went wrong, I turned first and found the right trail, now ahead of those two. I pushed on down and just coasted but made a little bit of ground on them. I couldn't see Herr or Rusiecki at all but just kept up a smooth, relatively easy pace until the massive downhill push to the turn around. I saw Brandon near the bottom and he looked strong as he went past me on his way back up the killer climb on the way back. I hit the main road that goes down to the turnaround and aid station at 9 miles and passed Rusiecki and Herr going the other way as well. I looked at my watch and I was about 1 min. behind them. Not bad, and I thought maybe if I just kept taking it easy, I could actually 'run' the whole thing back and catch them without much effort because I was taking it way slower than normal. That was wishful thinking though, as I hit the aid station, filled my bottle, turned, and not too soon after, saw Greg and Chris coming the other way. My lead on them was pretty small and I knew it would be interesting on the way back.

I hit the turn back onto the climb on the way up, but somehow missed a section where the trail hooked a bit and I completely got lost. One what should have been the easiest trail to follow, I got lost worse than I ever have in a race. I eventually noticed that the 'trail' or actually forest floor, was getting softer and softer. I started stepping in holes. I then started climbing over downed trees and bushwhacking and realized it was going bad quick. I came to a ridge and couldn't go over anymore. I started doing the only thing that made sense and started to go up. Just up up up as much as I could, but breaking limbs and climbing rocks (really climbing). It was an awful feeling. I wasn't really trying to race, but now was completely killing my day by adding onto an already painfully long race for me, and losing ground on everybody. Eventually, through pure luck and the knowledge that I had to climb as much as possible, I came out onto the summit and saw a runner coming in the opposite direction. I knew he was still on his way out, so I just ducked into the trail the way he came out and I was back in the game, but now was pretty sure I lost a ton of ground. I figured Greg and Chris had gone by me and probably a few others too, without me knowing.

I raced another 3 or 4 miles before I started to really feel the extra effort I took when I got lost and I started to slow pretty good. I had no motivation to try to run fast, as I was sure I wasn't even in the top 10 anymore and I started to get lazy. On one of the downhills, I tripped when I caught a rock and went completely over, landing on my back and rolling down the downhill about 10 feet. I rolled a couple times, skinning both knees and landing on my back, crushing my water bottle. I got up, brushed most of the mud off me, fixed my belt, and examined my bloody knees before heading back. About a minute or so later, Chris Hayhurst came up behind me but we were both walking up a steep climb. We walked together for a while and talked about the race. I was surprised he was still behind me and he told me he was in 5th place and I was still in 4th...but I knew he'd just go past me when we got up to the top. When we finally reached the summit, I moved over and let him go. Within a few minutes he was out of sight and now I just sat and waited for Greg to come up....but for the rest of the way, I never saw anyone else behind and just went through my motions again.

My big toes were really hurting me from the downhills and I had a big blister developing on my left foot, but other than that, I was fine. I didn't have any foot or leg issues other than that. My right foot wasn't hurting like it did in the 50k, my plantar wasn't bothering me, and I wasn't cramping at all. I was really excited to think that after 2+ hrs, I was still in one piece. As the race wound down, I kept glancing at my watch every once in a while and knew I'd be really slow this year, but wasn't too worried. I just wanted to hold my place and would be completely content with 5th place in a race I was never really in. I hit the last stretch of downhill out to the main grass road and my toes were basically preventing me from doing much of anything except hobble until I got out onto the grass. Then, from there, it is one of the longest stretches at the end of a race. Last year I thought it was never going to end. This year, it was the same. Finally I came up to the finish and had been 'running' (and wandering) for 2:43:00+. 14+ minutes slower than last year, but with getting lost for 5-6 minutes at least, plus a couple other missed turns, and having just started out really slow, I'll take it.

The big + was that I got through it relatively unscathed! No cramping, no severe pain in my legs and feet (which have been killing me all week) and no ass problems (my left arse cheek had been tight all week). I was really glad to have the monkey off my back from the 50k. This was also my longest race that I finished since Eastern States in March. I dropped out of Boston and dropped out of the 50k Worlds, so this was a really good indicator that I can actually run races over 10 miles without dropping out!!!

Brandon won in a big way, running basically alone for most of the race in 2:26 something. David Herr was 2nd and slower than last year as well. Brian was 3rd and Chris was 4th. I ended up 5th and there were two blokes behind me before Greg came in. Greg had run a 5k race the day before and was doing what I was doing in just running this race for a good workout/long run effort before Pisgah in 2 weeks. Dan had a good time, running a solid race just behind Paul Young. I think Keith Schmitt was up there as well (he may have been one of the guys just ahead of Greg). I am now 0-2 vs Chris Hayhurst. He got me at Moody Spring the day I spent most of my race, down face-first in the snow. :). He's a strong runner who just does trails and snowshoe. He reminds me of a cross between Ken Trip and a young George Adams. He looks like he can beat your ass, but then he outruns you when the going gets tough.

09-03 - Saturday:

pm 5.2 miles - solo (roads) - Salem, Methuen. Out and back. Nice and easy yet again. Legs still stiff and my left rump is again still an issue although I ran so slow that it really didn't get bad. Just trying to hold on enough to get through the week. [37:07]

09-02 - Friday:

am 5.2 miles - solo (roads) - Salem, Methuen. Out and back. Nice and easy again. Legs still stiff and my left rump is still an issue although it came on right near the end of the run, which is an improvement. I've been stretching it out the past couple days..we'll see. [34:08]

pm 10 miles - w/ Emery Bickford - (roads) - Methuen, Haverhill. From Whirlaway, 8 mile loop + add-on up to Scotland Heights and back down. Left butt still killing me but didn't 'go' on me. Just hurt the whole time. My right quad also got sore on the outside. Just feelin' beat but enjoying running...I guess I just have to get used to running in pain :)....[1:10:37]

09-01 - Thursday:

am 5.2 miles - solo (roads) - Salem, Methuen. Out and back. Nice and easy. Body still pretty sore and stiff. Feet feeling OK. [34:42]

pm 3.4 miles - solo (roads) - Wakefield, MA. 1 lake bang. Was planning on 3 loops to get 10+ miles but I had to go to a wake down in Watertown and it was a nightmare getting out of town with the traffic. I didn't get to Wakefield until 8:15pm and started super late. I don't like running in the dark too much, but the lake isn't too bad, as it is well lit. However 2 miles in, my left ass started to kill again. It got super tight and started to pull on me. I cut it short after 1 bang and called it a night. The late hour and the cramping/tightness was enough for me to call this a rest day. [22:33].

08-31 - Wednesday:

am 10 miles w/ Emery Bickford - (roads and trails) - Salem, Pelham, Methuen - Salem snowmobile trails from my house. If I don't have poison ivy all over my legs tomorrow it will be a miracle. Again it took me 20 minutes + to warm up the legs. Felt incredibly stiff this morning so I waited and ran with Emory in the afternoon. It was pretty hot out so we ducked in the snowmobile trails off of Hampshire Rd. instead of staying on the roads. [1:12:26].

pm 4.6 miles w/ DQ - roads - North Salem. 'Chasing Miles' again w/ DQ. About as disastrous a 4.6 miler as you possibly can get. After running mid afternoon with Emery, I went back out for a jaunt from DQ's palatial estate in North Salem. After taking the town line between Derry and Salem, I rigged up with a cramp in my left ass right before the turnaround. It was like a massive charlie horse in my caboose. I tried to stretch it out a bit and it was no use. On the way back down, about halfway back, I bonked HARD. I started to BONK so bad I was borderline incoherent and had a tough time staying in a straight line. I haven't eaten much in the past couple days and my mileage has gone up a bit, so it was inevitable I think. I got back to Dave's and piled a dozen cookies into my piehole before hitting the road. I picked up some dinner and headed home. I saw 3 more deer (so 9 in 2 days) on my way to Daves. I've run like 600 miles in the Whites with Kevin Tilton and have never seen a deer with him. Usually we don't even see a bird or squirrel or anything, let alone deer and other cool animals. Salem and Andover have actual animals, which is pretty cool. [36:04]

08-30 - Tuesday:

am 6.8 miles w/ DQ. Salem, NH. Hitching Post road, up Spicket Hill, down for a long loop back, then back up and down and then up and down again on Spicket. Legs trashed from yesterday...but it's a good hurt. Good to be back on the horse again. [53:27]

pm 10 miles solo. River trail from hotel. Nice and steady but kept it slow. My first time doing the entire river trail since June. There was only really 1 downed tree, and no real damage in there from the hurricane (zero flooding and in fact it was completely dry..no mud or puddles at all). Only saw a couple people in there and one dog (and of course it was off-leash). On the way out, I heard a bunch of deer but didn't see anything. On the way back, I saw 2 sets of 3 deer and the first set ran parallel to the trail with me for a bit, then cut across in front of me by about 15 feet as I was running! I saw the next set further up on the opposite side right before the bridge under 93. No foot issues to speak of, but my legs took about 20 minutes before they were loosened up to a manageable comfort zone. Legs still really tight and sore. 6:15pm is now right on the edge of being too late to start a 75 minute run. It was borderline too dark in the trails by the end. [1:14:22].

08-29 - Monday:

am 6.1 miles w/ DQ. Salem, NH. Hitching Post road, up Spicket Hill, down for a loop, back up Spicket, down and around for one more loop going back up Spicket for a third time (2 times from Stanwood side). First run back after my down week after the 50K. Foot felt OK. Plantar still an issue on both sides. Very easy [51:00]

pm 11.2 miles solo. Salem, Methuen. Wandering loop. Started easy and eased into a rhythm until my quads and hips got a bit tight. Legs definitely felt the down week. Finished off with 8 barefoot striders in the grass behind the manor. PF is killing me. Left foot (not the foot I hurt last week) was the pain today...my right foot felt pretty good. No swelling or tenderness in that area. Fingers crossed. Time to start rebuilding. Yesterday marked my 5 years back running (to the day) after not running a step since 1999. My experience in the Netherlands last weekend (and my week off) really made me think about what I'm doing and made me realize I need to get a little more serious with my training and my routine if I want to get where I truly want to be. I've never been as motivated with my running as I am right now...that is a great sign.

Cycling in the Netherlands

2011-08-25T17:35:00.001-04:00

Below is some horrifically boring video of the infamous Josh Ferenc and I riding our Dutch bicycles from the hotel, over some of the 50K course, through town (Assen), and out into the countryside in search of the elusive Hunebeds that Josh read about in the now infamous 'book' he bought on the Netherlands at the Keene Borders that was going out of business. (Is that all really one sentence or should I have broken it up into two?).

I'm warning you, these are 'wicked' long and very uneventful...but if you have 30 minutes to kill, please watch these in HD!

Catching up (pre-World Trophy)

2011-08-24T09:57:00.000-04:00

Catching up with blogging even though I'm not particularly motivated right now to do so... I am motivated to get back on the running horse after 3 (and counting) days off from running, but not too motivated to recap last weekend's events. As a quick update going into this past week's World 50K Trophy, I had done 3 races leading up (post-Yankee Homecoming).

Saturday - August 6, 2011
Dam Trail Race (Oxford, MA) (results)

After Yankee Homecoming, I ran my second year in a row at the Dam Trail Race in Oxford, MA. This year (as opposed to last year's 11.5 mile course) was 10.5 miles. The race is put on by my club, the Central Mass Striders, and is a great event over some really nice single track and double track mountain biking trails in Oxford, MA.

My feet had been bothering me for most of the last week +, but I still went out to try to defend my title (narrowly edging out Ben Nephew in last year's race by just a couple seconds after he did all of the work over the duration of the race). This year it was pretty damn hot out and the field was pretty good as my teammates Ross Krause (who destroyed me at Loon this year for a very strong second place) and Jim Pawlicki were both in the house.

At the beginning of the race I shot out and led immediately, as Ben was not there this year. Usually I let Ben do the pacing, as it is by now certainly evident that he is a much better indicator of proper pacing early in a race. I shot out like it was a 5k and by a couple miles in, I had a large enough lead where I couldn't see anyone behind. I backed off a bit after remembering that this race was 10.5 miles long! The only thing that scared me just a little was the one small climb in the middle, but I hit that without much issue. I rolled for most of the race, taking it relatively easy after 3 or so miles and maintaining what I thought would be a similar pace that the rest of the field would run (essentially using my lead I built up over the first few miles, as the margin I wanted to hold). Easier said than done though, as I started to feel it later in the race and the last couple miles (without Ben there) was a little difficult for me.

In the end, I rolled in to a 1:04:31 for another win here, exactly 4 minutes in front of Jim Pawlicki and a surging Ross Krause, who finished 2-3, and only 1 second apart.

Top 10 overall (CMS in Blue):

Place	Time	Name	City/State	Club
1	1:04:31	Jim Johnson	Salem, NH	CMS
2	1:08:31	James Pawlicki	Beverly, MA	CMS
3	1:08:32	Ross Krause	Easthampton, MA	CMS
4	1:12:53	Rob Hult	Harvard, MA	Puma
5	1:13:28	Mike Mazzotta	Marlboro, MA
6	1:15:14	Todd Walker	Amherst, MA
7	1:15:26	John Pajer	Leicester, MA	CMS
8	1:16:26	Scott Cote	Gales Ferry, CT
9	1:16:42	Ross Mungeam	Douglas, MA	TVFR
10	1:17:02	Todd Bennett	Columbia, ?

81 total finishers (10.5 miler). There was also a 5 miler.

I won $50 for the win. It was $100 last year, but since we ran a mile shorter this year, it's understandable ;)....

Thursday - August 11, 2011
Cigna (Manchester, NH) (results)

This race is a big one on my calendar, but it didn't go as planned simply because my feet were giving me major problems. My plantar problems have been epic lately and leading up to Cigna, I could barely hobble without serious discomfort. I had run well the past 2 years here (15:12 in 2009 and 15:08 in 2010) and was kind of expecting a better showing this year but it wasn't to be. I got off the line alright but quickly felt my foot pain and just couldn't keep it going without much discomfort and awkwardness. I came through mile 1 in 4:54 (slower already than last year) and then struggled over the next (mostly downhill and flat) mile to the tune of 4:55 before the wheels blew off. I managed a 5:02 last mile and :33 or so last .1 before cruising in in 15:25 (4:58 pace) for 13th place. I could have picked up maybe 3 more spots had I at least equaled last year's time/effort, but it wasn't meant to be. It's really too bad because this race is a great place to drop the hammer and run a PR. The field is good but not crazy (definitely the top in NH though as far as sub 15/14's go). The course is a fantastic place to run fast. The only thing that can get in the way is the weather (August is usually pretty warm in Manchester) and time of day/week (6pm on a Thurs).

Top 30 (plus CMS Men's Racing Team in blue):

Place	Time	Pace	Name	Age	City/State
1	14:01	4:31	Kumsa Megersa	25	Bronx NY
2	14:04	4:32	Linus Chumba	31	Nyack NY
3	14:13	4:35	Derese Denibob	28	Bronx NY
4	14:26	4:39	Teotaye Dube	27	Bronx NY
5	14:42	4:44	Andrea Sorgato	30	Medford MA
6	14:44	4:45	Justin Freeman	34	New Hampton NH
7	14:45	4:45	Fikadu Lemma	27	Bronx NY
8	14:48	4:46	Tufa Genna	28	Bronx NY
9	14:54	4:48	Nate Jenkins	30	Andover MA
10	15:08	4:53	Jonathan Gault	20	Bedford MA
11	15:14	4:55	Samuel Gagnon	18	Hooksett NH
12	15:19	4:56	Andrew Chalmers	21	Ashland NH
13	15:25	4:58	Jim Johnson	34	Salem NH
14	15:31	5:00	Alex Beaulieu	21	Durham NH
15	15:33	5:01	Peter Mallett	28	Manchester NH
16	15:37	5:02	Jason Dedonato	25	Nashua NH
17	15:40	5:03	Chris Brown	21	Chelmsford MA
18	15:44	5:04	Jose Oriiz	22	Methuen MA
19	15:48	5:06	Jack Collopy	17	Durham NH
20	15:51	5:07	Joe Jourdain	19	Hudson NH
21	15:57	5:08	Corey Duchemin	20	Manchester NH
22	16:01	5:10	Kevin Alliette	30	Methuen MA
23	16:02	5:10	Joseph Ekuom	41	New Paltz NY
24	16:04	5:11	Tyler Andrews	21	Concord MA
25	16:06	5:11	Mackenzie Kilpatrick	29	Belmont NH
26	16:03	5:10	Brenden Repack	21	Merrimack NH
27	16:09	5:12	Brandon Davis-O'donnel	17	Nashua NH
28	16:09	5:12	Nathan Huppe	31	Dover NH
29	16:09	5:12	Colton Ham	17	Webster NH
30	16:11	5:13	Chris Plankey	20	Bristol NH
32	16:20	5:16	Mike Quintal	33	North Andover MA
42	16:38	5:22	Scott Clark	45	Gilmanton NH
48	16:46	5:24	Sam Wood	25	Laconia NH

5343 Total Finishers.

WMUR TV Coverage of Start

WMUR TV News Footage/Recap - CMS' Abby Gosling gets interviewed for being top NH female.

No money this year. I won $300 beans at this race last year for 4th place, but then again, all the Ethiopians missed the bus! ;)

Saturday - August 13, 2011
Crisman Memorial 5k (Amherst, NH) (results)

Coming off of a very disappointing Cigna, I immediately wanted to redeem myself and looked for a 5k to do just a couple days later.

I picked the 9th Annual Crisman 5k in Amherst because it looked super low-key. I figured nobody would show up other than the usual locals and headed over the 45 minute ride with the plan of being able to run maybe around 16 minutes for a win (to help with my confidence). I got to the race and there was hardly anyone there. I walked over to register and noticed, as I was filling out my race app, a fast looking dude across from me at the table, filling out his app. I looked up to see that it was my CMS teammate Tim Pipp. I immediately just had to smile because he was there with obviously the same intentions as me. Now, it was looking to be a potentially fast race after all.

We warmed up together over the course and joked about how there'd most likely be the fastest two times ever run at this race, today. When we got back, it was feeling pretty hot out and we changed and headed over to the track for some last minute strides and loosening up. As soon as I got over to the track, I noticed Jason Dedonato (R.UN) and couldn't believe it. Now there were 3 possible fastest times ever. Jason had been right behind me at Cigna just two days prior (and he is also a UML Alumn). We went over and talked to him for a bit and found that he too had thought this would be an 'easy win'. It is funny how that happens, but worlds had definitely collided with us 3 now toeing the line in one of the lowest-key races on the schedule.

The race began (and finished) on the track. Tim jolted out ahead and Jason and I got right behind him as the first 300 meters is on the track before going through the fence and out into the parking lot of the school. The lot is quite long and by the time it dumped out onto the road, the three of us had a pretty large lead. From there, Tim and I changed the lead a couple times. I rolled up past him maybe a half mile or so in, and when we hit a slight climb for the first time, he rolled up past me and looked to be making a big move. I reacted and stayed behind, while Jason seemed to fall back just a bit.

The first mile was a blazing 4:41 but since the course was run in reverse this year (at the request of the Amherst Police), I seem to think that may have been placed slightly off. Just after the mile, I rolled past Tim and took the lead for good (although I certainly didn't think that would be the case). Jason fell back even more and it became spread out pretty good by a mile and a half. The course takes a couple of left hand turns and I kept up the pace as much as I could with my feet giving me problems. Fitness-wise I felt OK and kept up the pace, but looked back every once in a while to see Tim not too far behind.

I clicked through the 2 mile mark in 4:58 and continued to push around this big loop course. I was surprised to see a sub 5 again, but I think that is where my fitness is right now and I may be a little faster had my feet and calf issues been a non-factor. The last mile is very deceiving as you dump back out onto the main road you started on but then you can see the school almost immediately. Looking at my watch I was only about 2 minutes or so into the last mile, when you can see the school (almost like the end of Redhook, when you can see the brewery from a mile away). I thought for sure I'd run a smoking time, but had no idea how long the last half mile would be. It is a slight incline up through a very long school parking lot. Longer than I was expecting. As I ran this stretch, I got an idea of how far back Tim was and knew for the first time that I'd be able to hold him off. I hit the track and went through the 3 mile mark in 14:48. I was 31 for my last .1 (like usual) on the track, and came through in 15:20, which was 5 seconds faster than my 5k at Cigna two days prior. It was also a course record (USATF # NH08015RF).

Myself, Tim, and Jason ran the 1st, 2nd, and 4th fastest times in the 9 years of the race...

Top 10 Overall (CMS in blue)

Place	Time	Pace	Name	Age	City/State
1	15:20	4:57	JIM JOHNSON	34	SALEM NH
2	15:38	5:02	TIMOTHY PIPP	23	KEENE NH
3	15:58	5:09	JASON DEDONATO	25	NASHUA NH
4	17:15	5:33	JASON PORTER	41	BEDFORD NH
5	17:26	5:37	CHRISTIOPHE BUSBY	17	MERRIMACK NH
6	17:44	5:43	JASON BENDER	17	AMHERST NH
7	18:32	5:58	PATRICK LYNCH	15	AMHERST NH
8	18:48	6:03	ELI MASKOWITZ	14	AMHERST NH
9	19:01	6:08	RAELYN CROWELL-CAOT	40	AMHERST NH
10	19:11	6:11	RYAN LYNCH	15	AMHERST NH

185 Total Finishers.

I won $50 beans and a $100 gift cert to Runner's Alley in Nashua. I stopped in on the way home and visited with my old UML teammate BJ Bottomley and bought $100 worth of Injinji socks ;)...sorry BJ!

Training 08-08 - 08-14

2011-08-12T17:15:00.003-04:00

08-13 - Saturday: 10 miles - Amherst, NH - roads. Warmup with Tim Pipp before Crisman 5k. We did an extended version of the course + strides (26:00)... Then race: Crisman Memorial 5k - 1st OA - 15:20 (course) + cool down with Tim and Jason Dedonato (22:00). Feet hurt on the warmup and a little at the outset of the race but loosened up a bit as the race went on. The course was run in reverse this year, but over the exact same course (it's essentially one big loop). The mile splits were crazy. 4:41 for the first mile with Tim Pipp hammering (first 300 meters of the race are on the track). He passed me just before the first mile and dropped the hammer on an already quick pace. The mile marker, because we were going in reverse, was most likely a little off. We went through the mile and I knew were were going pretty quick (felt a lot faster than Cigna). We backed off a little, but I felt way better than 2 nights ago. The second mile was 4:58 and I was in the lead at that point. Third mile was 5:08 (14:48 3-mile split) and that could have been a little long... not sure because they had to reverse the course...but the third mile split is back on the track, and my last .1 was a blazing 31. I was happy to throw down a faster effort than at Cigna, but then again this course is one of the fastest 5ks there is. There are virtually no hills...there is one slight incline during the first mile...you come down it at the end...so the effort was better time-wise, but Cigna was slightly more difficult w/ the hills. I felt a heck of a lot better though.

08-12 - Friday: 5 miles - N.Salem NH w/ DQ from Mobile Station up Spickett Hill and back down + some neighborhoods. Easy does it on my feet...pretty tight and painful but not as bad as I thought they'd be after racing. [36:15].

08-11 - Thursday: 8.1 miles - Manchester, NH - 3 mile w/ up w/ MQ, Pete Mallett, MacKenzie Kilpatrick + Cigna 5k. 13th OA with a very disappointing 15:25. Just didn't have it. Normally I'd be completely happy (heck, elated) with a 15:25...but not on this course...not on this day. Cigna is an opportunity to run your ass off and run fast. Not this year though... I went from a 15:12 in 2009 to a 15:08 in 2010, but then up in the wrong direction this year... Feet have been killing me all week. I'm pretty much out of being able to run fast with this plantar fascia trouble. I have a couple of bad blisters from the run on Sunday and my feet have just been horrible. I knew it would sink me in the race and almost stayed home but decided at the last minute to go up and race. Unfortunately what I thought would happen, did. I just felt flat and slow. My right foot was bad and I didn't want to land on it. Left foot was OK after a mile or so. 4:54 / 4:55 / 5:02 / :34. Not exactly what I was looking for and 17 seconds slower than last year, but not completely horrible. My fitness is OK and that kept me in the game...but the rest of me is falling apart. 2 mile cooldown w/ MQ in the graveyard. Props once again to the Freeman who dropped a 14:43 like it was hot.

08-10 - Wednesday: 8.1 miles - Salem, Methuen, Haverhill [53:15]. Feet took forever to loosen up. Not the greatest of runs physically. Just feel beat up.

08-09 - Tuesday: 9 miles - Andover, Lawrence, MA. 2+ miles with the brothers-Healey on the roads from the track, then 2x 15 minutes at tempo pace (not sure what pace it was, but it seemed pretty steady) with a couple min. in between + roads back to track after. [60:01]. Feet pretty much garbage once again. This came earlier than last year. Not good w/ 50K coming up (as if not being prepared for it wasn't bad enough).

08-08 - Monday: 0FF. My feet are KILLING me. Absolutely miserable to walk right now.

Sandwich Range Run

2011-08-10T22:21:00.000-04:00

Video and foggy cell phone pictures from Sandwich Range Run / Peak Bagging session this past Sunday w/ Kevin Tilton.

SmugMug Photos

Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler

2011-08-09T14:19:00.002-04:00

Tuesday - August 02, 2011

Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler

Newburyport, MA

Results 

10 miles (course seemed to be lengthened this year)

Terrain: Road (paved)

Ascent: NA

Time: 52:34

2nd place overall of 1255

Splits 

Mile 1) 5:06

Mile 2) 5:11 (10:17)

Mile 3) 5:24 (15:41)

Mile 4) 5:05 (20:46)

Mile 5) 5:20 (26:07)

Mile 6) 5:26 (31:34)

Mile 7) 5:20 (36:55)

Mile 8) 5:16 (42:11)

Mile 9) 5:16 (47:27)

Mile 10) 5:08 (52:34)

Finish: 52:34

First 5 Miles: 26:07
Last 5 Miles: 26:27

Links 

Race website: here 

Results: here

Photo / Video Credits 

Peter McClelland
Dave Johnson (my Dad)

Race Report:

This past Tuesday I ran in my 4th Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler. I first did this race as part of MVS in 2008 (just before I joined CMS). It was in the USATF-NE Grand Prix that year. I was 31st that year with a 55:36. In 2009, I returned in a non-Grand Prix year and ran 55:11 for 12th overall. In 2010, I came back once again and ran 54:18 for 9th place OA in another non-Grand Prix year. Going from 31st to 12th, to 9th was pretty cool and to be able to run a little faster each time was also a good sign. But I was underachieving I think at the 10 mile distance, considering I have run 53 and change for 10 mile splits at the New Bedford Half Marathon. I was looking to change that at Newburyport this year, but told my parents (who were there watching) that if I was sub 54, that would be a decent day.

I warmed up with Sully who was looking for a good solid 10 miles as he's training for Baystate in October. I felt OK but not super ready for 10 miles for some reason. I threw on the Inov-8 Road X-lite 155's I've been rocking lately, and headed over to the line.

The race went off relatively easy although a pack of 5 went out slightly harder than I did. Joseph Koech and Joseph Ekuom went out pretty hard with Matt Manning and Bryan Morseman in tow. Justin Freeman was slightly off the back of them and I was right behind Justin. As the race went down High Street, I pulled up aside Justin and we ran together for a bit before he made a slight move and caught back up to the lead pack as we turned onto Marlboro St.

I clicked through the first mile in 5:06 and was feeling pretty good and like I was holding back, which was nice....but it's still a bit aggressive for me, especially in the middle of the summer at 6:10pm. The race is usually a sizzler but the temps were as cool as I've ever seen at this race (probably in the high 70s or near 80). I was alone by a good margin, as the lead pack had some distance on me and I couldn't hear anyone near me as I turned onto Water St.

The stretch along the water (Water St. into Merrimack St.) is a nightmare once you get up through the little square and start weaving in and out of 5k back of the packers. It is a mess. I still don't know why they do it this way. They should start the 5k either a little later or just have it go a different way. There are a few blocks where you just run into constant streams of people walking a 5k, holding hands, taking up the entire road, and strut around oblivious to a race coming up from behind them. Last year, someone actually had a medical problem in the back of the 5k and there was an ambulance in the middle of the already narrow street, with gads of onlookers and 'racers' standing around watching. I had to almost push my way past on the sidewalk. This year, I had to yell at a few little kids and people with iPods (and not a care in the world) in their ears to get out of my way, pick a side, etc. During this section, I actually caught up to Matt Manning who had fallen off the pack and came back over the stretch of a mile and a half or so. My second mile was still a bit quick at 5:11 (for a 10:17 2-mile split) but I was pushing on.

I went through 3 miles just ahead of Matt in a much slower 5:24 (due in part to the nightmare of running into the 5k people). Just past Oakland St., the 10 milers are now on their own. I was able to open it up a bit on Matt here and drop my fastest mile of the day in a 5:05, coming through 4 miles in 20:46. I really didn't pay attention to time at this point and now only focused on keeping up the pace and trying to keep the lead group in sight. I was 5th at this point (after passing Matt) and kept thinking that '5th would be nice to hold'. But I really did think that I'd be caught eventually and that I could say that 'through 5 miles, I was still in 5th'...

As I hit my 5 split, I noticed the overall time for the first time and saw 26:07. I thought that was a bit ambitious, but I also felt pretty good and kept pushing on as the course takes a turn up some of the only real hilly sections leading up to Maudslay. During the 5th mile I started to notice Joseph Ekuom dropping off the pace up front and by the top of the hill near the sharp turn onto Pine Hill Rd., he had dropped back to me. I passed him just before the highway overpass and water stop before heading down past Maudslay. He hung on a bit but the hill and early pace had taken it's toll on him.

Just as Maudslay park was in sight on the right-hand side of the road, the course for some bizarre reason, took a left into some neighborhoods off of Pine Hill Rd. and did a big loop around a block before dumping back out onto the main road. It was like adding what looked like a quarter mile to the race! I was shocked and had no idea the race was going to go that way. It was the first time in 4 years we had gone down that block but I just focused on the lead pack that was now made up of just 3 guys, not too far ahead of me. I had made up some major ground on them over the last couple miles and now was within earshot of them. As they took the turn back onto the main road, I saw Justin Freeman right behind Bryan Morseman and Joseph Koech and he glanced back at me. Right after that, he made his move.

I turned onto the main road again and noticed that Justin had broken the group apart and Joseph Koech was now falling off the back. I was continuing to put distance on Joseph Ekuom and running down Koech. As we took the turn onto Hoyts Lane, I was catching up behind Koech and gaining on the group. I didn't actually pass him initially and was still behind him when we dumped out onto rt. 113, which essentially turns into High St. at the end. I ran behind him for most of the stretch down 113 and he reacted initially and didn't let me pass.

I went by Kevin Alliette (2nd in the 5k) who was screaming his head off at just shy of the 8 mile mark near the highway overpass. I was still riding 4th place but ready to go by Koech. Just after going up over the overpass, I went by him and set my sights now on Bryan Morseman who had also fallen off of Justin's move, but was still holding onto 2nd place. I had no visions of a 2nd place finish here, but up to this point I had been mowing down people and not giving up any ground on anyone else. By 9 miles, I was right up behind Bryan (who is a 2:20:11 marathoner by the way). We were also not too far behind Justin and the lead police motorcycle. I clicked through 9 miles not even looking at my watch or thinking about time. Since we went and did that add-on in the neighborhood, I wasn't even thinking the time would be any good anyways. I was just going for place and found myself riding step for step next to Bryan. I felt him react a bit and wasn't sure about his kick or if I even had anything to match it. I just felt like maybe 3rd was OK and that I was content with top 3. I tried to pull away just a bit but he would match the stride. I didn't put any big moves in during the first part of the 10th mile, but since I had been catching him the whole last half of the race, I should have realized that I was stronger at that point. Just as I was starting to wonder what this finish was going to look like, I heard someone on the side of the road yell out 'less than a half mile'. At that point I figured I could run hard for 2:30 and see what happens...I made a little more aggressive move and moved in front of him. At that point I just waited for him to pull up and run past but it never happened. I continued to push on and he fell back just a little bit but not too much.

As I approached the last hard right and then sharp left to go up and behind the School (and finish area), I was within a baseball's throw of Justin Freeman. I had a brief moment where I thought that if the stretch of High St. was just a bit longer, I may be able to catch him, but I saw the police lights and then Justin himself, disappear into the crowd and take that right to head to the finish and I knew that I was now in a race to hold off 3rd place and steal a 2nd. I hit that last turn where it seemed like there were hundreds of people and all sides of the entire stretch of road were just lined with people yelling for me. I headed up that last little climb and shot down the last little bit of side road to the finish. I held off Bryan who was 7 seconds back and Justin was a mere 16 seconds ahead of me. Not what I was expecting at all. A pleasant surprise to say the least.

Top 10 Plus CMS Scorers in Blue:

Place	Name	Age	City/State	Time	Pace	Team
1	Justin Freeman	34	NEW HAMPTON NH	52:18	5:14	RUN
2	Jim Johnson	34	SALEM NH	52:34	5:16	CMS
3	Bryan Morseman	25	ADDISON NY	52:41	5:16
4	Joseph Koech	41	CHELMSFORD MA	53:09	5:19	RUN
5	Patrick Rich	34	SOUTH HAMILTON MA	53:34	5:22	CMS
6	Joseph Ekuom	41	NEW PLAZA NY	53:41	5:23
7	Matthew Manning	31	BATON ROUGE LA	53:45	5:23	WCRC
8	Joseph Navas	40	NORTH EASTHAM MA	54:18	5:26	WHIRLAWAY
9	Gregory Picklesimer	45	NEWTON MA	54:30	5:27	SRR
10	Matthew Germain	29	HAVERHILL MA	54:54	5:30	SISU
24	Mike Quintal	33	NORTH ANDOVER MA	59:17	5:56	CMS
28	Dan Verrington	49	BRADFORD MA	59:39	5:58	CMS
36	David Quintal	48	SALEM NH	1:00:51	6:06	CMS

1255 Total Finishers.

CMS also won the team title and a cool $400 beans. Split 5 ways, that's a nice 80 bills for each guy plus $300 bucks for me for my 2nd place finish gives me a nice payday (for me anyways) of 380 (less the 30 bucks it cost to race!). Walking away with a PR plus net $350 bucks is a pretty good night.

Some short video clips my Dad took of the race (below).

First vid is of the start of the 10 Miler.

Second vid is of race winner Justin Freeman. My Dad wasn't expecting me right behind Justin so he turned the camera off but just before he turns it off, you can hear the announcer say 'and from Salem'...

Third vid is of me finishing in 2nd place right as my Dad gets the camera back on.

It really confuses me that they added the neighborhood section this year. The did move the start up a little bit (what seemed to be negligible) and they moved the finish line out from the 50 yard line, to what looked like 60 yards total, back to the current finish area. The rest of the course was identical to years past. I have no idea how they measured out that the addition of that entire neighborhood section was equal to the amount they moved the start and finish. It wasn't even close.

Newburyport 10M Course without the new 2011 addon:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4705946
10.07 miles

Newburyport 10M Course WITH the new 2011 addon:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4704037
10.24 miles

Looking at the photos and video of the start and finish of this years race plus the course maps that are on file on USATF.com, I know that this version is longer than the previous years. Maybe this version is closer to being legit and maybe the previous years were short! Either way, it's longer, no disputing that. And the good news is that I ran faster on the longer version of the course!

Also, doing some more post-race analysis, using the McMillan Calculator, a 52:34 should get me a 2:27:14 marathon. I've run 2:27:33. Pretty close, but I've underachieved then by just a bit... It says I should run a 1:09:49 half. I've run 1:09:22. Again, pretty close, but I've run faster by just a little bit. It says I should run a 25:02 5M. I've run 25:22 on a slow course this year. Pretty close. It says I should run 31:22 for 10K. I've only run 31:53 so far since coming back. I'd like to dip down a little on this one. The rest are pretty close, so this McMillan guy kinda knows what he's talkin' about I'd say.

Next up, if my plantar doesn't wreak major havoc this week, is Cigna on Thursday night.

Training 08-01 - 08-07

2011-08-06T22:52:00.001-04:00

Wrap Up: 81 miles for the week with 2 good races (3 in the last 8 days). A PR at the Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler in Newburyport, MA (which could have been long actually) and a CR (again) at Dam Trail 10.5-ish miler in Oxford, MA on Saturday (and a 4 minute win). Then, a really fun (and wet) run up in the Whites again w/ KT and 4 more official NH 4000'ers crossed off the list. Unfortunately though, I have had my plantar issues come back in full and it's really making things difficult right now. I've been icing and massaging and stretching but it's getting worse again...same thing happened last year but a little later in the summer. I also got a few new blisters on my feet from the run on Sunday so right now I'm hobbling around a little. I tentatively have Cigna on Thursday night up in Manchester and I'd like to try to run quick there before I head out to the Netherlands next weekend. Hopefully these feet will keep in check.

08-07 - Sunday: 18 miles (trails/mountains) - Albany, Sandwich, Waterville Valley, NH w/ Kevin Tilton. Ran up and and bagged Passaconaway, Whiteface, Middle Tripyramid, and North Tripyramid. [4:10:01]. Started in Ferncroft and headed up Dicey's Mill Trail after we spotted a car over at the Livermore Trailhead and headed over to Ferncroft via Sandwich Notch Rd. 18 miles 1 way, hitting the above 4000'ers plus the Sleepers.

08-06 - Saturday: 16 miles (trails) - warmup before Dam Trail Race - Oxford, MA with John Pajer, Jim Pawlicki, and a couple others + Race: Dam Trail Race - 10.5 mile trail race - 1st OA - [1:04:31] + 2.5 mile cooldown with Ross Krause, John Pajer, Jim Pawlicki, and Ashley Krause.

08-05 - Friday: 7.8 miles (roads) with Dave Quintal in N.Salem, Atkinson, NH. [56:40]. Nice and easy loop up by Captain Pond, into Atkinson, and back.

08-04 - Thursday: 10 miles (trails) in Winni with Alliette and the same Methuen/UML crew. [1:09:29] 10 according to Kevin's Garmin. Feeling better tonight than yesterday for sure. My record still stands up at Loudon, where 16:41 won it last night. Also, message to Rob Levey....you better be running Cigna next week. HUGE PR for you there if you go...low 15 possibility. I hope to see a lot of the usual suspects there a week from tonight...Still trying to make up my mind about this weekend's race....when and where....ramble over.

08-03 - Wednesday: 7.2 miles (roads) very easy in Salem, Methuen. Emery Bickford snuck up behind me at about 4 miles and ran with me for a bit. I was going super easy. I felt pretty beat up today and it took a while to get going. Legs were stiff and feet are sore. Getting my plantar flareups again. It's been coming on for a while now..same thing every year about this time. [49:59]

08-02 - Tuesday: 14 miles: Newburyport, MA (roads). 3 mile w/up with strides before Yankee Homecoming + race: 10 Miler - 52:34 - 2nd OA + 1 mile cooldown (8:00). Great race for me. Very patient at the beginning, strong in the middle, and fearless at the end (for once). Justin Freeman is boss. What a year that bloke is having so far...my hat off to him for being the class of the field today but I am very pleased w/ my own effort. I was 5th - 6th for most of the race and made moves over the last 3 miles to finally move into 2nd with less than a half mile to go. Good times.

08-01 - Monday: 8 miles: Maudslay trails in Newburyport, MA w/ Alliette and UML/Methuen crew (9 strong). Shortest run w/ that crew so far. I didn't want to push too much with Yankee Homecoming on Tuesday. [57:38]

Carver 5 Mile

2011-08-06T21:00:00.066-04:00

Saturday - July 30, 2011

Carver 5 Mile Road Race

USATF New England Road Racing Grand Prix - Race #6 of 7.

Carver, MA

Results 

5 miles (re-certified this year)

Terrain: Road (paved)

Ascent: NA

Time: 25:36

7th place overall of 456

Splits 

Mile 1) 4:50

Mile 2) 5:08 (9:58)

Mile 3) 5:14 (15:12)

Mile 4) 5:19 (20:32)

Mile 5) 5:04 (25:36)

Finish: 25:36

Links 

Race website: here 

Results: here

Photo / Video Credits 

Ted and Mary Tyler

Scott Mason

Race Report:

I headed down to Carver, MA last weekend for the 5 Mile New England Road Championships. I drove down w/ the Whirlaway boys (Patrick Ard, Kevin Alliette, and Jose Ortiz). They all graciously slept on the way down as I drove the hour and ten minute ride down south of Boston. When I got down there I was pleased to see a very large and strong contingent of CMS boys getting ready for action. After a little bit of issues with registration, we all headed out for a few miles of warmup over the beginning and end of the course. The morning was very warm (over 80 already) and humid. It was looking like a slower day for sure, but the course has proved to be fast in the past. One thing I did hear is that they had to 're-certify' the course this year and it was proven to be a little short in the past. That weighed a little bit on my mind and I was hoping that I could just run in the 25s as a worst case scenario. After the warmup, I wasn't feeling too great (comparatively speaking) and was very nervous for some reason...more so than usual. But after a few last minute strides, I toed the line right next to some of my mates and Dan The Man Vassallo and we were off.

The race went out quite fast but I let an initial group of Justin Freeman (RUN), Josh Ferenc (BAA), Dan Vassallo (aNE), Justin Fyffe (BAA), Eric Narcisi (WRC), Brandon Newbould (WRC), Tim Pipp (CMS) and Joseph Koech (RUN) go out ahead of me and I ran next to Pat Rich (CMS), Will Dobbie (BAA), and a few others as we ticked through the first flat to slightly downhill mile in 4:50. I had move just ahead of Tim by then and Patrick was behind me.

Right around the mile or just after, Will Dobbie came up along side me and matched my stride for a bit before moving ahead a little. But he never fully broke away. I stayed right with Will for a bit and before I knew it, we had caught up to Josh Ferenc, who had gone out in the lead through the first mile. He looked to be rigging up a bit and we eventually went by him around 1.5 in. He seemed to be breathing hard and as we passed he did not have a response. Will and I went through the 2nd mile split in 9:58 (5:08 second mile) and it was beginning to get HOT out there. There was very little shade and it was humid out that morning and over 80 at the start.

Somewhere after 2 miles, Terry Shea (BAA) went scorching past Will and I and Will reacted and went with Terry. I let them go just a bit and watched as they put a little distance on me, but then stayed there. I found myself catching back up inadvertently and then moving slightly ahead during certain sections where either the road curved in a direction or there was a turn or slight change in elevation. Terry, Will, and myself went back and forth continuously for another 1.5 - 2 miles, never really breaking away from each other by more than a couple yards.

Just before 4 miles I started to break away from Terry and Will finally and didn't hear them directly behind me anymore after one last push I made. Right about 4 miles I looked up to see that both Brandon and Eric from Whirlaway had been running side by side and had actually caught and passed Dan Vassallo. They were now about up to Justin Fyffe and all 4 of them were not too far in front of me. I seemed to be gaining on Dan and the others and for a moment, I looked ahead to see Kevin Johnson and Justin Freeman way up, but the rest of the field within striking distance. I never thought I would ever have a moment in a Grand Prix where I thought I had a shot at top 3, but I really did have a minute or two where I thought I was going to catch up to Dan, Justin, and the two Whirlaway runners.

Sometime after 4 miles, Dan put in one last surge (as did I) and he ended up passing Brandon and Eric back and Justin also came back at the end. I was just focused on outlasting Terry and Will who were still pretty close behind. Just before the line, there is a little uphill stretch and during that time I was pretty sure I'd be caught back by Terry and Will but I was able to hold them off. I was also unable to run down Eric and Brandon but they were coming back at the end pretty fast.

In the end I ended up finishing 7th OA (my 3rd Grand Prix top 10 this year) in 25:36. Only 3 seconds behind Brandon and 5 seconds behind Eric. Kevin Johnson ended up running a smart race and hammered the last couple miles to squeak out the win over Justin Freeman, who is having a great year. The day was pretty slow for most everyone. I was really hoping to run low 25, but I will certainly take 25:36 on a hot, humid day and certainly will take 7th OA in a Grand Prix event.

Top 20 Plus CMS in Blue

Place	Time	Pace	Name	City/State	Team
1	24:42:00	4:56	Kevin Johnson	Ludlow,MA	Greater Springfield Harriers
2	25:03:00	5:01	Justin Freeman	New Hampton,NH	Retailers Union (RUN)
3	25:15:00	5:03	Dan Vassallo	Reading,MA	Addidas New England RC
4	25:19:00	5:04	Justin Fyffe	East Dummerston,VT	Boston Athletic Association
5	25:31:00	5:06	Eric Narcisi	Charlestown,MA	Whirlaway Racing Team
6	25:33:00	5:07	Brandon Newbould	Nottingham,NH	Whirlaway Racing Team
7	25:36:00	5:07	Jim Johnson	Salem,, NH	Central Mass Striders
8	25:43:00	5:09	Will Dobbie	Somerville,MA	Boston Athletic Association
9	25:44:00	5:09	Terrance Shea	Cambridge,MA	Boston Athletic Association
10	25:46:00	5:09	Nick Crowell	Portsmouth,NH	Central Mass Striders
11	25:57:00	5:11	Chad Carr	Cambridge,MA	Cambridge Running Club
12	26:01:00	5:12	Brennan Bonne	Dorchester,MA	Greater Boston Track Club
13	26:03:00	5:13	Joseph Koech	Chelmsford,MA	Retailers Union (RUN)
14	26:05:00	5:13	Patrick Rich	South Hamilton,MA	Central Mass Striders
15	26:08:00	5:14	Peter Mallett	Manchester,NH	Central Mass Striders
16	26:12:00	5:14	Josh Ferenc	Westmoreland,NH	Boston Athletic Association
17	26:13:00	5:15	Andy McCarron	Keene,NH	Central Mass Striders
18	26:15:00	5:15	Jim St Pierre	Dracut,MA	Retailers Union (RUN)
19	26:17:00	5:15	Jose Ortiz	Methuen,MA	Whirlaway Racing Team
20	26:24:00	5:17	Tim Pipp	Keene,NH	Central Mass Striders
26	26:49:00	5:22	Greg Hammett	Chesterfield,NH	Central Mass Striders
27	26:50:00	5:22	Greg Ward	W. Boylston,MA	Central Mass Striders
32	27:07:00	5:25	Greg Putnam	Wakefield,MA	Central Mass Striders
34	27:14:00	5:27	Joe Shairs	Peabody,MA	Central Mass Striders
38	27:31:00	5:30	Dan Verrington	Bradford,MA	Central Mass Striders
41	27:42:00	5:32	Matt Clark	Amherst,MA	Central Mass Striders
43	27:46:00	5:33	Chris Mahoney	Haverhill,MA	Central Mass Striders
44	27:46:00	5:33	Kevin Gorman	Norwood,MA	Central Mass Striders
52	27:53:00	5:35	Jim Pawlicki	Beverly,MA	Central Mass Striders
57	28:20:00	5:40	Dave Dunham	Bradford,MA	Central Mass Striders
60	28:32:00	5:42	David Quintal	Salem,MA	Central Mass Striders
67	29:01:00	5:48	Sam Wood	Laconia,NH	Central Mass Striders
68	29:01:00	5:48	John Pajer	Leicester,MA	Central Mass Striders

456 Total Finishers.

After I crossed the line, I started to watch as my CMS teammates filled in nicely as Nick Crowell was basically right behind me in a great effort. Pat Rich and Pete Mallett came in together, just over 26 minutes and Andy McCarron was right behind them. That was 5 in the top 17. I knew we had won at that point and was pumped to have once again won a Grand Prix team title (4 out of 6 so far!).

Semi-Pemi Loop Video and Photos

2011-07-31T21:50:00.001-04:00

Late getting this posted because of a couple of issues with one of the video clips (you'll notice the last bit where we are in the river is much lower quality)... long story, but it took me a week to get this thing up on Youtube.

Semi-Pemi Loop with Kevin Tilton - 7/24/2011 - Lincoln, Franconia NH - Climbing up Bondcliff, Bond, West Bond, Guyot, South Twin, and Galehead.

Watch in HD!!!

iPhone photos on Smugmug CLICK HERE.

Training 07-25 - 07-31

2011-07-25T21:46:00.007-04:00

Wrap Up: 74.1 miles on the week with a couple of good trail runs, a good track workout, a light spin, and a solid race at Carver. Moving in the right direction (or at least not going in the wrong one)...

07-31 - Sunday: 18 miles total: am: 13.5 (roads and trails) - N.Salem, Derry, NH w/ Dave Quintal from his house. Roads, through the woods around Gordon's Hill and back down to roads around Arlington Mills Reservoir and then up into Derry and back. Hot but nice easy miles. Opted out of York Days 5k today and hence the Seacoast Series. I won't be able to make Saunders due to travelling to the 50K, I won't be able to make Fox Point due to a wedding, and Great Bay 5k is the day before Cape Cod...so basically doing York would have been all for not, as I can't do 6 total races in the series this year. It's a shame too because I was (and still am officially) winning the series...but it looks like now I will be giving up the series to either Nick Crowell or Rob Levey, who tore up the York course today anyways. I am going to save a little for Newburyport this Tuesday and I think it was the right decision.
pm: 4.5 miles (trails) w/ Kevin Alliette at Winni in Haverhill.

07-30 - Saturday: 11.5 miles (roads) - 3.5 w/up with strides w/ CMS crew before Carver 5 Miler in Carver, MA + 5 mile race (25:36) - 7th OA + 3 mile c/dwn with Newbould, Ortiz, Narcisi.

07-29 - Friday: 7.2 miles (roads) - easy run in Salem, Methuen, Haverhill. Drizzled a bit and a little humid. Just an easy day before a weekend full o' racing. [47:56]. Past couple of road runs breaking in the Inov-8 155s which I will test drive this weekend/week on the roads of Carver, York, and Newburyport.

07-28 - Thursday: 10 miles (trails) - Winni trails in Haverhill with Kevin Alliette, Jose Ortiz, Danny Wang and about 6 other UML / Methuen guys. Good crew again...kept the run under control. [1:10:59].

Kevin and I then went for a spin back in Salem. 11 miles (more for him as he rode to my house) around Salem and a little bit of Methuen. We went up Stanwood to the top of Spicket Hill...good views of the Wapack range just after sunset... got back just in time as it was just about completely dark when I pulled in my yard. Kevin has one of the most explosive surges on flat roads I have ever seen. He does have to work on his climbing though.

07-27 - Wednesday: 8.1 miles (roads) - Salem, Methuen, Haverhill (solo). Easy run late in the day. Recovering from the last few days. Feet are starting to bother me in the mornings again (like last year)...otherwise I feel OK. [54:21].

07-26 - Tuesday: 9.25 miles (track workout) - 2 mile warmup then 2mile in 10:32 + 800m jog rest + 1mile in 4:47 + 400m jog rest + 800m in 2:28 + 400m jog rest + 800m in 2:24 + 2.25m cooldown. This was Sully's workout and Dave Quintal and Chris Healey joined us. Good crew. Legs held up well.

07-25 - Monday: 10 miles (trails) - Maudslay trails in Newburyport w/ Kevin Alliette (WHIRL), Angus MacDonald (UML), Steven Fitzsimmons (UML), Tyler Sullivan (UML), Ben Pare (BC) and a few other guys (I think 10 total)...good crew. Legs felt pretty stiff at first (hips). Things got better as the run progressed. Poured the entire time. [1:12:24].

Training 07-18 - 07-24

2011-07-20T19:52:00.003-04:00

Wrap Up: 71.2 miles on 6 days. No racing, a couple of decent local trail runs, a good track workout, two well needed short/easy days (one off day), and an awesome long run including some peak bagging in the Whites. Good times.

07-24 - Sunday: 27 miles (trails and mountains) - Lincoln, Franconia, NH with Kevin Tilton. From Lincoln Woods in what we called the 'Semi-Pemi Loop'. Bagging 5 official 4000'ers [Bondcliff (4265 ft), Mt. Bond (4698 ft), West Bond (4540 ft), South Twin (4902 ft) and Galehead (4024 ft)]. We also run up and over Mt. Guyot (4580ft) but it is not an official 4000'er. We started at Lincoln Woods and run up the Lincoln Woods Tr, Wilderness Tr, and Bondcliff Tr to get up to the Bonds and Guyot. Then we cut west on Twinway to South Twin and the Galehead Hut. Then we hopped on Frost Tr to get up to Galehead. Then back down on the Franconia Brook Tr down past 13 Falls and down between Owl's Head and the Bonds to the intersection of the Lincoln Woods/Wilderness trails and back out. I had 5:35:36 on my watch of actual running time. Kevin's Garmin elapsed 7:24:03 of actual time including the stop at the hut for food and refilling, natural breaks, and photos/video stops on the summits. Kevin's Garmin cut us short at 25 miles due to the nature of most of the run being completely in the deep woods, but the actual distance is 27. It felt like 28 ;).

Elevation Gain (approx): 5326 ft.
Shoes: Inov-8 Roclite 285.

07-23 - Saturday: Off. Martha's Vineyard for the day. Long day and literally hours in the ocean, which has never happened.

07-22 - Friday: 6 miles (roads) - Easy road run late in the day - Salem, Methuen, Haverhill (solo). [40:57]

07-21 - Thursday: 13 miles (trails) - Haverhill, MA (Winni trails) with Kevin Alliette, Jose Ortiz, and the same UML/Methuen crew + a bit with Chris Mahoney-Searles and another Stonehill guy. I'm bad with names, but a good 8 or so guys again. [1:30:00]. Good training lately with these guys. Felt good despite the heat (90+ degrees with little comfort even in the shade). Stopped halfway to watch the Sapienza race go by. I wanted to race it but it was bloody hot and my hammies were tight this week so I decided to pass on it (even though it's the last year of the race). Nate Jenkins looked in control and motored by all by himself in the lead (as he did last year). He commented about all of us standing there watching and asked why we weren't running the race as he passed us. We should have... I ran the race a couple times and it's a good time and for a good cause (and a good memorial to Mr. Tony Sapienza). Dan Verrington motored by comfortably in second and looked like he was flying! He looked like he was going faster than Nate when he passed us. Heather Mahoney-Searles went by us in 7th OA and held her ground, winning the women's race by over a minute. Kevin picked up a garden hose from a house on the course and started pelting runners in the grill as they ran by...it was hilarious.

07-20 - Wednesday: 5 miles (roads) - Salem, Methuen. Solo. Hamstrings were killing me all night and all day today. Really sore and tight. I almost bagged today and tried to get numerous folks to run with me to get me out the door... decided at about 7pm to go out and just do a shakeout. I almost had to turn around less than a half mile in...but it got better and I just went very easy (almost a jog). Glad I did it though...but still very sore from Sun-Tues. [35:45].

07-19 - Tuesday: 9 miles (track) - Lawrence Voc. track. Once again doing Sully's workout for the marathon. 3 mile warmup into 5 mile tempo run on the track then immediate mile cooldown on the track. Sully wanted to try to hit 5:35-5:40s. We started out on pace (for the first lap ;) ) and got a bit faster. After 5 laps, Jon and Chris Healey jumped in for the rest. We all took turns leading for 2 laps at a time.

400 splits: 85/81/80/82/84/82/81/81/83/83/82/83/83/84/81/84/86/82/81/81 [27:39 / 5:31 pace]

Miles: 5:29 / 5:29 / 5:31 / 5:31 / 5:32 / 5:30

** the 86 was after I did 2 laps where I led an 81, dropped the rest of the guys back a bit, and slowed way up through the 84 to wait for Jon who was to lead the next two laps. The 86 was on my watch because I slowed up to let them pass as I crossed the line and waited, but the actual pace of the group was more even through those laps.

Goal was accomplished plus a little bit. Sully was very happy to have been able to do this workout after last week, where he couldn't even finish the 5x1 mile at the same pace with a rest in between. It was way hotter out on the track last week and that made all the difference. I thought his goal of 5:35-5:40 was aggressive for him today, but he proved me wrong. It helped having the Healey brothers jump in. Both led solid laps. I felt great on this workout and didn't feel like I was working at all. Weird considering I wasn't too much faster at Stowe! The hamstring (left) went haywire right after I finished. I did a mile in 7:36 as a cooldown in the outside lane immediately after the workout and it was painful near the end. Too much in the last 3 days. I will be crawling tomorrow.

Throwback: Lynn Woods Relay Scholastic Champs - 1994
L-R: Sully, JJ, Al Nunnally, Matt Lyons.

07-18 - Monday: 11.2 miles (trails) in Maudslay from Coach Fuller's house in Newburyport, MA. Ran w/ Alliette and 8 other UML and Methuen H.S. guys. My legs initially felt like trash. Calves were tight, hips were tight, feet hurt...that's what I get for a slightly-slower-than-half-marathon-paced run on Sunday for 8 miles. Eveything loosened up after a while. Kevin pushed the pace. [1:13:38].

2011 USATF-NE Mountain Series

2011-07-20T10:39:00.002-04:00

With the conclusion of last week's Ascutney Hillclimb, the USATF-New England Mountain Series wrapped up for 2011 and I was pleased to accomplish a goal I had set for myself over the past couple of years. I wanted to first and foremost complete the series and get my second straight mountain goat award (completing all 6 races in the series). I accomplished that even though I had to run Wachusett the day before Redhook (as I did last year) and even though I had to skip the Rhody 5k (USATF-NE Road GP) to run Pack Monadnock. A couple of sacrifices is worth completing the series and guaranteeing a spot into Mount Washington next year though for sure. I also accomplished a second tier (secret) goal of winning the mountain series this year. It helps when guys like Eric Blake and Kevin Tilton don't run the series, but I don't want to get hung up on who showed and who didn't. Half the battle of these races is showing up and being healthy. These races are a grind and they really do require you to be healthy, mentally prepared, and certainly motivated. There is no faking it when it comes to running the last part of Pack, or grinding through Ascutney, or trying to keep a running pace up the Walking Boss at Loon. These are not races you can just try to show up to and tough your way through.

Last year, Eric Blake cruised to an easy series win by winning 5 of the 6 races (he didn't run Cranmore). I finished in second place in the series, just edging out Kevin Tilton who did 5 of 6 races as well. I did all 6 and got my first mountain goat status and award. This year, I really wanted to see if I could at least get a podium spot, but I wasn't sure who would be trying to do the entire series. I had thought that my chance to actually win the series had come and gone in 2009, when I only ran 4 of 6 races (skipping the first two, Northfield and Wachusett). Andy McCarron had won the series (and deservedly so) but I had actually beaten Andy in the 3 races I ran against him in (he only did 5, missing Cranmore because of a time mixup). You need best 5 races to win the series, so I was not a factor in the scoring. This year, Andy only ran Northfield and Ascutney, so he wasn't factored into the scoring. The series came down to a battle between myself, Tim VanOrden, Todd Callaghan, and Ross Krause. I think I technically had the series wrapped before Ascutney (using my first 5 races to score) but I wanted to get my Goat award and do all 6.

I was pleased to win two races I've never won before (Wachusett and Pack) and get a second win at Ascutney (my first win there was in 2009 when it was the alternate course). That means I have won 4 of the 6 races in the series (2x Ascutney, 1xPack, 1xWachusett, and 1xLoon (believe it or not, back in 2009)).

Now, I enter the time of year where it's just a mixed bag of roads, trails, and wishing I was in the mountains or in the snow... I wish there were a couple more races in the series that would stretch it out a bit longer in the year but for now I will cherish the time we do have w/ these 6 great races (plus Mount Washington). May to July is my favorite time of year for racing for sure.

Note to all those out there who want to try something new, different, or challenge themselves a little bit more (or at least in a different way) next year... Try some or all of these races. Aside from Rhody, there is practically no conflict usually. No excuses! Oh yeah, and 235 days left until the 212 Mt. Wash Lotto.

2011 Top 10 Final Results (Men):

Name	Age	Club	Northfield	Wachusett	Pack	Cranmore	Loon	Ascutney	# run	Total Pts	Best 5
Jim Johnson	33	CMS	99.50	100.00	100.00	89.47	98.03	100.00	6	587.00	497.53
Tim Van Orden	43	CMS	96.71	95.48	95.54	86.14	93.94	95.51	6	563.32	477.18
Todd Callaghan	41	GCS	94.71	95.38	93.64	85.58	98.19	93.10	6	560.60	475.02
Ross Krause	31	CMS	93.15	93.28	92.01	84.90	99.35	95.56	6	558.25	473.35
Tim Mahoney	31	CMS	92.06	92.43	92.24	80.21	85.73	94.36	6	537.03	456.82
Tom Brown	25	CMS	93.58	90.31	94.20	78.82	88.06	89.55	6	534.52	455.70
Patrick Ard	27	Whirl	93.31	94.91	83.93	84.31	0.00	92.77	5	449.23	449.23
Brian Ruhm	46	GCS	88.50	88.61	89.12	79.41	89.62	88.41	6	523.67	444.26
Michael Norton	41	FTC	87.35	88.51	88.99	77.66	85.47	85.57	6	513.55	435.89
Chris Taft	30		82.16	84.88	82.27	72.31	84.35	85.44	6	491.41	419.10

USATF-New England Mountain Series Champions by Year:

2011 - Jim Johnson (CMS)

2010 - Eric Blake (BAA) +

2009 - Andy McCarron (CMS)

2008 - Justin Fyffe (GCS) *

2007 - Paul Low (CMS)

2006 - Paul Low (CMS)

2005 - Paul Low (CMS)

2004 - Josh Ferenc (BAA) **

2003 - Eric Morse (CMS)

2002 - Eric Morse (CMS)

2001 - Eric Morse (CMS)

2000 - Eric Morse (CMS)

1999 - Eric Morse (CMS)

1998 - Dave Dunham (CMS)

1997 - Eric Morse (CMS)

1996 - Dave Dunham (CMS)

+ - used to be CMS

* - became CMS

** - secretly wants to be CMS