Road Mode

For better (and worse) most of the training (and racing) that I’ve been doing over the past month or so has been slow and on the trails. At this point, I had hoped to be doing more speed work on the track and tempo runs on the road, but my on-again, off-again calf problem has slowed me down for the last four weeks. Anything faster than about 6 to 6 ½ minutes per mile and the calf/achilles immediately starts to tighten up and ache.

I got the calf worked on last week, however, and things improved enough for me to feel comfortable about giving track another go. “Slow and Rusty” would be the best way to describe my first full track workout of the season. But, thankfully, “Pain-Free” was also a key ingredient to the workout! So, if I’m lucky, I just may be past whatever it was that was holding me back.

Of course, any fears I might have had about messing up my lower-leg certainly didn’t keep me from attempting to run this month’s New Hampshire Grand Prix Race selection – The Bedford Rotary 12k. I’d have to look at the numbers, But, I’m pretty sure I’ve done this race more times than any other annual NH event. My first time was in 2000 and my last time was in 2012. I’ve run as fast at 45 minutes and as slow as 50. This time, I expected to be somewhere right in the middle. But, hopefully faster than the 49 I ran last year!

When I got to the High School I could see it was going to be a good day for our club. We had almost 50 Striders signed up and everyone seemed pumped up about seizing back the points lead from Greater Derry in this year’s NHGP Series. I did a nice, comfortable 20 minute warm-up with Justin Soucy, Dan Dugan, Brian Kane, Steve Rouleau, Ken Snow and Dave Beauley. Then a quick change into my singlet and racing flats, some strides on the track and it was “all systems go”!

In previous years, this race had been part of the much larger New England Grand Prix. This year, it took a break from all that and it was actually a nice change of pace - so to speak. Shorter wait times for registration, t-shirt pick-up and porta-potties were just a few of the benefits of having a smaller crowd. Not to mention front-row seats to the starting line! A few, brief, pre-race introductions then, all at once, the bagpipe groaned and we were off!

I took it out nice and easy. I’d blown up too many times on this course to count and the temperature was starting to rise. I still hit Mile 1 in a much-too-fast 6:11. But, it was a mostly down-hill first mile (and I felt pretty comfortable) so I just went with it. The field stretched out, but not nearly as much as in previous years. I could still see the leaders through Mile 2, which I hit in 6:21. Mile 3 had some rollers, but I still kept it “tight” in 6:27.

On the hill, in the middle of Mile 4, friend/foes Charlie Bemis & Amy Bernard (both of Greater Derry) came up along side. I managed to hold them off for a little while as we passed the mile mark in 6:37, but a side stitch slowed me down as I neared the top of the climb. I opened it up again on the back side of the hill and flew right past them and two other people (including teammate Brandyn Naro) on the way down.

Mile 5 was a much more respectable 6:18. But the side stitch would not relent. Charlie & Amy went by me for the last time during Mile 6 which came and went in 6:27. Mile 7 was a slow and painful affair - run in 6:42. The GDTC pair was dead ahead, but I had no “extra gear” to go after them and it was all I could do just to protect my race position from a hard-charging Brandyn. The last .452 miles of up, down and around the track went mercifully without incident in 2:52 and I crossed the line in just under 48 minutes. 47:57, to be precise.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Despite the recent lack of speed work, it was my 3^rd fastest 12k of all time (out of 7 attempts) and my fastest in 4 years! More importantly, my Gate City Strider teammates earned 178 points on the day and vaulted back into first place in the NHGP Standings. Oh, and my calf didn’t hurt! Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! Now, after my brief asphaltic encounter, it’s time to get off the roads and back to the trails.

Pineland Farms 25k, here I come!

Surviving Seven Sisters

I was warned. This race is a monster! It’ll chew you up and spit you out! I’d read the humbling race reports. I’d heard about insane terrain. I’d poured over the ridiculous elevation profiles. I’d broken down all the heart-breaking splits. I’d seen the post-race photos – in all their gory detail. And, I'd read the Runners World article calling this the toughest up & down trail race in the country! Still, somehow, I was intrigued by this race and wanted to find out for myself what the 7 Sisters fuss was all about. And now, after running it for the first time, I can tell you that it definitely did not disappoint!

The Cost of Freedom

Last week was school vacation here in New Hampshire, so my wife decided to take the week (and the kids) and drive up to Canada to visit her family. She left me with a sizable “honey-do” list but also with the freedom to spend the rest of my non-working, awake time however I saw fit. Last time this happened I nearly hiked myself to death - which I documented here, here & here. So, what would I do for an encore? Plenty!

Let's Play Two!

I’ve been biking a lot lately. So, on the First Sunday of Freedom (after the First Saturday of Basement Cleaning, naturally), I decided that I wanted to do a long bike ride. How long? A hundred miles sounded about right. So, that’s just what I did! I laid out a route from Nashua to the Ocean and back, packed the necessary supplies (disregarded the fact that I’d only biked 30 miles in a row so far this season) and then headed off to see what happened.

Rollin on the Rivah

10 days ago I ran my very first Merrimack River 10m Trail Race. Given everything that’s happened since then, it seems like a lot longer than that!  But, I checked the calendar.  And, yup, it’s only been 10 days!  Anyway, I’ve wanted to run the “Rivah” for a while but it always seemed to conflict with another important race on my calendar - either Boston, or Red’s or Soup Kitchen.  This year, my schedule was clear so I headed down to Andover, MA for this 22 year old (Really?!?!) trail race.

5 Days in April

• April 19, 1993, a standoff in Waco, TX between the FBI and the Branch Davidian cult ended in the murder/suicide of 76 men, women and children.
  
• April 19, 1995, a bomb blast at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK claimed the lives of 168 people including 19 children under the age of 6.
  
• April 20, 1999, two students walked into a school in Columbine, CO and ruthlessly murdered 13 people (and injured 21 others) before killing themselves.
  
• April 16, 2007, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in two separate attacks, and then committed suicide.
  
•  April 15, 2013, two separate bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon sent hundreds of people to the hospital and killed at least 3 including one 8-year old boy.
  

What do these 5 events have in common?  Other than the fact that they were cowardly acts on US soil that took the lives of many innocent people?  They all occurred within 5 days of each other in their respective years.  And either on, or about, Patriots Day.  Is this a coincidence?  Or, were the  perpetrators attempting to manufacture their own “Shot heard 'round the world”?

Answering the Call of the Wild

"Old longings nomadic lap, Chafing at custom's chain

Again from its brumal sleep, Wakens the ferine strain."

– John Myers O’Hara

Jack London's 1903 classic The Call of the Wild is a story of a courageous dog named Buck who is forced to fight for survival on the trail in the Alaskan wilderness. As Buck is ripped from his pampered surroundings and shipped north to be a sled dog in the last frontier, his primitive, wolf-like nature begins to emerge and he undertakes a mystic journey that transforms him into the legendary "Ghost Dog" of the Klondike. I can remember reading this tale as a child, but only now, after recently re-discovering it as an adult, can I truly appreciate the meaning behind Buck’s metamorphosis. It also got me thinking about why we runners are drawn to the sport we love and how we’ve all been changed by it.

Dirt Circuit

I love trail running! This is not news. I’ve written an ode to it here, photographed it here and dissected it here and painfully again here. So it should come as no surprise that I’m really looking forward to the rumored arrival of spring and the beginning of the “Dirt Circuit”!

We are blessed to live in New England and have a great many local trail races to choose from. Short, long or ultra. Rocky, rooty or grassy. Flat, hilly or mountainous. Dry, wet or Muddy Moose. Whatever conditions you like, you can find them nearby. And, many of these great, local trail races have been included in a number of great, local trail race series!

The granddaddy of all trail series is the Western Mass Athletic Club’s “Grand Tree”. The GT starts in April and doesn’t wrap up until November. During that 8 month stretch, the series hits 19 different locations with race distances ranging from 7 to 26.4 miles. You can run as many (or as few) races as you like and can accumulate points proportional to your pace as a percentage of the winner's pace. Your best six races determine your final standing for the series.

Half Meh-rathon

1:24:35

That’s the time that I ran at the New Bedford Half Marathon this past Sunday. It’s my fourth fastest Half Marathon (out of the 20, or so, I’ve done) since I began running them - back in 1999. And, it’s my fastest in 4 years, since I set my current PR on that course - back in 2009. But, I’m at a point in my running life where I’m not easily impressed by my “almost” successes. So, as a result, I’m left feeling a bit indifferent about this particular performance.

Group Love

I run at lunch and work in the middle of nowhere. So, needless to say, 90% of my workouts are done alone. And that’s fine. My schedule is my own. I leave when I want. Add detours where I choose and cut it short if things are going badly. No problem. That being said, the other 10% of my workouts are the true highlights of my training year!

Speed Weeks

In keeping with my “train fast to race fast” plan, over the last 4 weeks I have been doing a couple “up-tempo” training runs per week. During that time I have run an average of 52 miles per week which is down 10 mpw from this time last year. Less miles but more intensity. Here’s a quick summary on how things have gone:

Discomfort Zone

I have found, through a LOT of trial and error, the most effective racing strategy for me is: “Find a good, strong rhythm (that I think I can maintain) and just crank away”. This has worked well in the past from the 5k distance all the way up to the 50 miler. My comfort zone. It’s easy, it’s efficient and it makes figuring your splits really, really easy!

Entering the Discomfort Zone

Unfortunately, not all races are set up in a way where this type of racing is practical, or even possible. Such was the case this past weekend at the DH Jones 10m in Amherst, MA. This challenging 10 mile course is one of the most sadistic pieces of tortured tarmac I have ever had the displeasure of running on. I have done it three times now, and have yet to figure out how to beat it. I’m beginning to think it’s not even humanly possible!

Tri Outs

Since the beginning of January I have been heading over to the Nashua YMCA a couple nights a week to do some swimming. Nothing crazy. Just an hour of easy free-style swimming as a nice way to get some low-impact, cardio work in on my easy/off run days. It’s also been a great way to burn additional calories at a time of day when I’m usually stuffing my face in front of the TV.