Good Company
I’ve done a few races in my running career but I can’t remember racing a teammate step for step right from the gun. I wasn’t really looking forward to racing the Bedford 12k this past Saturday. I had a few things going on at the house and racing seemed to just get in the way.
I lined up right behind Dunham and next to Putnam at the starting line. The gun goes off pretty quickly and we head out. The early pace felt really comfortable and I settled into a good group of guys that included Putnam and a few other masters. Greg and I seemed to be moving forward pretty much the entire time. I didn’t think I could hold on but then again I was committed so I just tried to grind out the miles. Around 6 miles is when I was really started to redline but Greg waved me on as we started to catch Todd. As soon as we hit the upgrade going into the track I cracked and Todd and Greg raced to the line. I just kind of watched. I’m psyched about the effort so now I really should be getting more serious about getting some mileage under my belt. Splits: 5:18, 5:23, 5:36, 5:37, 5:36, 5:34, 5:41, 2:38
2’s company, 3’s a crowd, 7 is a road race.
I’m over here now!
I’ve been getting most of my important long runs in but some of those midweek runs have suffered a bit in the last couple of weeks. Work has been pretty crazy and getting out on time has been a challenge. I have made a conscious effort to do some quicker tempo runs these last few weeks however. This past Sunday was a solo run over in Nahant. I had no real plan except to keep it between 10 or 11 with some kind of mid run tempo. I hit the first 5 in 32:39 so I though trying to come back in with a negative split would be a good plan. The second half is hillier so being back in at 31:21 was pretty decent. I had some racing shoes on trying to find the right pair for Amherst so the concrete sidewalks begin to really beat up my quads late in the run. I could probably use another two weeks to be ready but hopefully running with a big field next week will be like sitting back and ready the paper…….
solo weekend
After I survived the 20 mile run last week, I caught a wonderful chest cold that held my miles down to 46 this past week. However, it is the biggest week since May of 2009. I have never been a real high miles guy so anywhere from 40-50 a week is a good week for me. I’ve been doing one hill workout a week and I’ll explain that workout in another post. This past weekend I found myself alone in West Peabody so saturday was a typical run BUT in the snow which made the run real slow going and it made my hamstrings real sore. Sunday I decided not to race but instead head out to Lake Quinapowett from my house. It’s a little less than 14 miles round trip. I needed something a bit upbeat so I put on a pair of racing shoes and ran the first 5 as a warm up and then ran 1 loop around the lake(3 miles) at 6:00 minute pace and then I headed back. The last 4 miles or so I had to deal with a nice blister on the bottom of my foot but I still managed an overall pace of 7 flat for the entire run….It’s time to think about a rust buster….
The Little Kahuna
So the first edition of the Little Kahuna 20 mile run is in the books. Much to my dismay this run did not take place in Hawaii. I’m going to have to speak to the directors about this little oversight. There were about 10 of us who met up at Winners Cirlce and car pooled back down to Dan’s house for the start of the trek. It was bitching cold and the first few miles were rough. The pace was very manageable and I wasn’t complaining at all. I purposely tried to stay off the back a bit knowing that my fitness was nowhere near it needed to be to finish this run. The first 10 miles went by incredibly fast. We picked up 3 more guys and fueled up for the next 10 miles. Getting going again was a challenge because at this point all the sweat in my gloves and hat started to turn to ice. The next 7 went by o.k., I was going back and forth from the front to the back trying to latch on to some conversations to occupy the time. After we got into Newburyport it wasn’t much further and as soon as we hit the Ghost Trail I knew we were just about done. The last 3 miles were pretty tough but I held my own. I’m glad I did it and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Thanks to Dan and Dave for putting this together. A great start to my week…..
Bread and Butter
O.K. so maybe just some stale breadcrumbs and a bit of water. Pawlicki and I decided to meet up out in Swampscott and run the Nahant loop. It heads out via the concrete sidewalks in Lynn and dumps out at Nahant beach. We continue up around little Nahant and around the entire perimeter of big Nahant. The scenery is pretty amazing at times and it makes for a nice Sunday long run complete with a few good hills.
This is my longest run since July. (yeah I know, pretty stupid) anyway, as long as I can get these bread and butter runs in, everything else should fall in place.
It’s a new day
It’s a new life, it’s a fresh start
You’re a good soul, you’ve a kind heart
It’s your moment, it’s a picture
We can do this, I’m coming with ya, I’m coming with ya
I’m coming with ya, I’m coming with ya
It’s a new day, it’s a new day
It’s a new day, it’s a new day
53:22 for 8….things are going well
