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Sunday, May 29, 2011

2011 Pineland Farms 25K race report

1st 5K: Fast
The first 5K was rocket fast. Actually I thought the leaders went out quite conservatively. It was the chase pack of about 6 (what do you call the 2nd pack that has no chance of catching the lead pack?) that went out a little fast. My goal was 10s/mile faster than last years pace. Instead I was 15s/mile faster. I was in 10th or 11th place at the 5K marker. The only one in the pack that I recognized was Nathan Alsobrook, who I couldn't keep up with over the O trail at the Bruiser last summer.


2nd 5K: Where'd everyone go?
On the climb to the yurt, I kept pace but the pack slowed. By the time I left the (super awesome) yurt aid station, I was alone in 6th place with Peter Sedgwick about 10-15s on me. At some point in the farm field behind the yurt, Ben Schaeffer (age 18) caught me and we ran together for a few miles. Apologies to Ben for not being more talkative but I really wanted to avoid getting a sidestitch! By the time we were 1/2 way around the farm field we had put quite a lead on the pack that we had just been in. Where'd they go? We passed Peter on the first hill into the Valley Farm loop. For this split, I averaged 8s/mile faster than 2010 but this included a really slow mile 5


3rd 5K: Running alone
Ben stayed with me until the last pass through the yurt (totally awesome) aid station but fell back at the yurt. After this, I was in 5th place, running alone and with no visible runner in front or behind me. Feeling good but I was clearly dropping down to my 2010 pace.

4th 5K: Wheels come off
I made it to the Grove with a sub 1:50 pace, which was my goal but the cloverleaf part of the Campus loop did it's damage - I was balancing on the knife edge of a side-stitch. I focused on breathing and made it to Oak Hill in good shape. Soon after the little field section in Oak Hill, the stitch escalated enough that I was worried. I was in 5th place and didn't want the stitch to escalate into the debacle from 2009 so I fully stopped and did about 40s of deep breathing bending over and stretching, then got on my way and feeling quite good. And I was still running alone with no visible runners behind me.

5th 5K: And the axles too
On the gradual climb in the Gloucester Hill loop the stitch was knocking on the door again. I stopped again and repeated my bending over and stretches - again 35-40s. Just as I was ready to run again, Denis Tranchmontagne caught me. I started running again and re-passed him. Very soon after passing him the stitch knocked again and I stopped again. Another 35-40s of stretching and breathing and Stephen Wagner passed me. He was looking pretty strong too. I took off and hung with him and we caught Tranchmontagne. I stopped at the Oak Hill aid station for water (I didn't want to drink the water while running because this screws with my breathing and that would induce the stitch). By the time we ran out of Oak Hill onto the final field I was maybe 20s behind Tranchmontagne and 40s behind Wagner. I picked up the pace some but didn't really begin to press until the turn at the bottom of the field. By the top of the field I caugh Tranchmontagne but couldn't catch Wagner.


Results
3rd year racing this and I've yet had what I think is a really good race. I got a 1 minute PR but failed to go sub 1:50, which is disappointing. I never let my stitch escalate into unrunnable pain but stopped to let it subside. I had about 2 minutes of stoppage so this cost me my sub 1:50. Or maybe it saved the race because I was 6th overall, which is a bit surprising, especially given the depth of the field last year. Unfortunately I was 5th in my age group (WTF?), so didn't take home any hardware. BUT we did take home the 25K team award and Acidotic Racing graciously rewarded us with a case of Red Hook ESB. Thanks guys!

Conditions
Brutally humid. 'nuff said.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Achilles rapture

I've solved the mystery of my achilles pain last Friday. It raptured. No, not the whole tendon! Just it's soul. Clearly, the wonkiness that I felt Wednesday was my achilles' soul preparing to rapture its bonds from its corporeal host. The slight soreness on Thursday was the beginning of the rapture. And the pain during and after the run Friday late into the evening was the climax resulting in complete freedom and presumably its ascension into outer space on Saturday May 21. I say, good riddance, cuz now I'm running pain free and have been all week.

Some other bodies raptured too.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Haze in the barn

Well it doesn't look good for Sunday's epic 25K battle amongst the cattle. I've managed to get achilles tendinosis and the progression has been rapid: wonky on wednesday, sore thursday, and painful friday. I will start x-training Monday, including pool runs, rowing, and roller skiing. I will probably try to do a little run late in the week for a last-minute test but I'll likely be conservative regardless and not race.

M Rest
T tempo @ Twin Brook (6:49 6:46 6:36), 9 mi total
W 8.3 ez @ Back Cove
T 8XSkillins hell repeats, w/ mountain goat Jeremy. 8.2 mi total
F 6.1 ez @ Yarmouth roads

Total distance: 31.6 miles

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Long and Hard

This will be my peak week prior to Pineland. 61 miles and 3 workouts. All following the 5K on Sunday. Legs were tired through thursday but the recovery run on Friday did it's job. I realized that I don't put in enough race pace training runs before Pineland each spring and its kinda late now but I got one in today.
M 6.4 easy @ twin brook (7:55/mi)
T 8.7 tempo @ twin brook (6:38 6:40 6:30) - tempo felt tough
W 6.2 wu + 3.1 junk pace + 0.3 cd @ back cove 5K. junk pace was too fast (7:02/mi) given sunday's race and tuesdays workout
T 6.8 skillinz hell repeats (2:54 2:53 2:54 2:56 2:54 2:51) lungs good, legs sore about 2/3 up each climb.
F 6.6 recovery @ back cove (7:51) including some kick-butt & high knee drills
S 9.2 ez @ pineland (8:40/mi) including 8 strides
S 14.2 @ pineland - 9 ez (8:13/mi) + 5 @ RP (7:03/mi)

Distance: 61.5 mi
Time: 8:11:25

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day

Ran MD5K this morning and pulled off a PR by 8s (17:50). My last road 5K was the same race last year (17:58). I think I ran the race a little smarter than last year, which may account for the 8 extra seconds, but I'm hoping that it's actually better fitness. I guess time will tell. Most of the Dirigo guys were out for a training run and spectating and/or aged-up to M50-54 so I had what I think is my first ever age-group win in a road race. The first mile, which has a long downhill from the start, was right on target (5:45) but required a little squeezing through groups of young kids that went out too fast. Scott Hornney and I traded pulling on mile two (5:51), which was mostly a gradual climb and I guess about on target. Around Mile 2 I pulled a little ahead of Scott and Lonnie Renny pulled ahead of me. Mile 3 (5:42) is mostly gradual descent and I thought I could do this about 5-6s faster but I did manage to hang on to Lonnie pretty well. Sadly, I think the 5K is my best distance and I might actually race a couple more of these this season. I might even train for it by throwing in some faster speedwork. My groin hurts just writing that.

Time 17:50
Overall: 19/2459
Division: 1/76

But the really big news is...I did my first ever training run on a track this wednesday. I geared up to go to Back Cove for a cut-down but it was raining and I didn't feel like driving there so I went to the Falmouth Track instead! I don't think I'll make a habit of it. The Lacrosse team was practicing during my workout and I had lots of balls whizz past me everytime I ran one end of the track. I felt like I was in an arcade game.

Training week:
M Rest
T TMR TNR @TB 8.8 mi easy + 2X1/3 mi "sprints" (7:51)
W cut-down 3K + 1.5K + .75K + 0.375K @ 6:10 5:57 5:43 5:11, total 6.1 mi
T 8.1 mi road easy (@7:27)
F Rest
S 8.3 mi very easy Pineland (@8:51)
S AM: MD5K (17:50 5:45+5:51+5:42) + 1.7 mi wu
    PM: 8 mi road recovery (@7:50)

Total Distance: 44.2 mi
Total Time: 5:39:53

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Training Week 4/25/11 - 5/1/11

M Rest
T 8.8 m tempo intervals @ TMR TNR, 2 x 2mi 7:24 6:53 6:29 6:53
W 8.6 m easy (7:32/m) @ Back Cove with 8x strides
T 8.0 m hell repeats 3 x bitch (2:31 2:30 2:3x) + 5 x Skillins (2:59, 2:59, 3:00, 2:58, 2:55)
F 6.3 m easy (7:22/m) @ Brook Rd.
S 14 m easy long (8:24/m) @ Pineland (w/ 6 barefoot strides)
S 8.6 easy (7:55/m) @ Pineland (2 x Oak Hill)

Total Time: 7:18:26
Total Dist: 54.3 m

No aches. No pains.