Year-end and Resolutions

Lots of schedule changes and snowstorms lately. While it messed up my running schedule a couple times, I can't resist spending some time on the snow tubes with the kids. Whether it's the back yard hill, that isn't very big, or the town common hill, that always means a crowd, it's worth a slower run the next day.

Weight is increasing a little due to all the gatherings and abundance of food. I'll be hitting the resolutions pretty hard this year. I'll set goals for running, racing, cross-training, work, weight, coaching, organization, home projects, etc. I typically set three levels of goals for a particular race and I follow the same format for the resolutions. (ex. 1000 miles, 1500 miles, 2000 miles) Reasonably attainable, a bit of effort and stretch goals.

I'll be posting the relevant resolutions here. Have you thought about yours? Happy Holidays!

lull

I'm in a lull in my posting and in my running. Still getting in some miles, but only about 30 per week. Work, holidays, weather, activities are all taking up time that makes my running energy very low. My key concern is not putting on weight during the holidays and the reduced miles doesn't help. I'm a creature of habit and changes in my work and life schedule make it a little more inconvenient to squeeze in a run. To be honest, just typing this is helping me get motivated. Even if it's only a few miles, might as well hop on the treadmill and watch the Pats destroy the Cardinals, rather than simply creating a dent in my chair.

Don't call it a comeback

I've done three days of running and I'm not noticing any soreness in the hamstring/groin, so hopefully, I'm past this little episode. I really thought that 8 straight weeks of 40+ would allow me to train through a race, but for now, I'll try to take it easy if I plan any fast workouts/races. This is winter and typically it's just for base mileage anyway.

I've started toying with mileage goals and racing plans for the new year and I'd love to hit 2000 next year. An injury free winter is very important for that. The recent issue has reminded me about cross-training and stretching. How long before I forget again?

Feaster

Despite my continued soreness in my left hamstring/groin, I couldn't help but run the Feaster 5k on Thursday. Took the opportunity to run with my wife and my daughter Samantha. Both Kiley and Samantha had run the Kids' K, but that wasn't enough for Sam. We lined up pretty far back, which meant it took over 8 minutes to cross the starting line. We weaved through countless walkers and strollers and pets and never really got to a point that we weren't moving around people, but the 1st mile was definitely the worst. Due to the hills and the extra distance of weaving, this was Samantha's slowest time for 5k (36:35), but with a quick download and sort of the data, I was able to see that she was the fastest 7 and under female. The official age group was 12 and under, so she was 100th out of 225. Not bad for no training. I'm trying to not be a crazy father, so I never force her to train. I figure the exercise she gets from other organized sports (soccer, basketball, softball), should be enough.
Still amazing to see 7000 or so participants in one location for an event. The whole thing takes a lot of planning and volunteers, but it went off as another success.

I'll have to skip the Andover XC 6k on Sunday. Don't want to push the groin/hamstring, but I did put in an easy 3 miles today. The injury slows my running, but doesn't affect everyday life/movement, so it's not too serious.

Too Hard

Pushed it a little too hard at the race on Saturday. Felt some soreness in my left hamstring after the race. About 4 miles into Sunday's run, it started to really seize up. I haven't been able to run since. It's not so bad as to limit my other activity, but if I feel it at all, I won't even try to run on it. I can afford a week off, but if it goes much more than that, I won't be a happy camper. I guess I should have eased off the miles when trying to race, since I had gone 8 straight weeks of 40 miles or more. Time for a good massage, I think.

Burbank 5K

The temperature was cold, the wind was howling and I decided to wear a jacket and gloves (no pants). When the wind was at my back or side, it felt overdressed, but not too bad. Despite my neurotic clothing issues, I still managed a 19:50 for 5K. 6:23, 6:29 and 6:58 for the last 1.1 (6:20 pace), for an overall 6:24 pace. 14th overall, but 9th in the 40-49 age group. Obviously, the quality in this division is tough, despite the race being won easily by 31 yr old, Jim Johnson (http://doublejrunning.blogspot.com). Right from the start, he was shot out of a cannon and the race wasn't in doubt after 100 yds.
I started a couple rows back in the pack and was about 25th during the 1st half mile. By mile 1, I had moved up to 20th and 15th by mile 2. Tracked down and passed one more guy with about 1/3 of a mile to go. I felt that I was mentally in the race the whole time, which led to the consistent splits. The guys I passed in the 2nd mile were due to the fact that once we hit the wind in that section, they seemed to almost go backwards.
Aside: Got beat by a jog stroller. That doesn't happen too often, but even fast guys have kids. I guess it was payback for the running I did when my girls were younger. I particularly remember a fall 5k that used the old North Andover 4th of July 5K course. I was pushing a double jogger and once I got over that 1st uphill mile, I was cruising. As I came up on one guy, he heard me coming, but did an incredulous double-take when he saw the wheel pull up beside him. He tried to surge, but I stayed with him and slowly passed him. Once I went passed, he was done. It was just into the 3rd mile, but I still put nearly 20 seconds on him.
Back to the Burbank race: well organized. They quickly went to the raffles as the crowd was anxious to get home. Despite moving the awards indoors, just knowing what was outside was definitely on people's minds. I missed much of the raffle time as I was doing a cool down and then went to cheer on the kid's fun run. Despite the weather, they had about 20 kids running that race and another half-dozen or so that did the full 5K. Luckily, there was a crew at the park putting up Christmas lights, so the kids had some spectators to cheer them on. Note to all you toher runners out there, please support the youngsters at these events. It only takes a few minutes to cheer the kids on as they run by and it means a lot to them. Prizes for the winners and age groups seemed to be decent. For the items in the control of the race organizers, they did them well. They couldn't control the weather nor could they do much about the police detail that kept waving cars onto the course rather than possibly moving them to the side or even occasionally stopping them. A few runners who had previously finished took on the challenge of traffic control and despite some occasional dirty looks or comments from the drivers, helped everything run smoothly.
More numbers: winner's time was 80.5% of mine; top 10 men averaged 92%; winning women's time was 104.54% and top 10 women were 113.34%; men's times were about normal for a larger race, which just means that the fast men showed up today. Women's times were more in line for a smaller local race.
Left hamstring and calf a little sore in the afternoon. Hope that clears up by tomorrow's run.

Nevermind

Okay, forget what I said about not wearing extra clothes to race in. It's now supposed to be highs of 32 with lots of wind for Saturday. Even crazy runners from Maine put on extra clothing once in a while. Have I mentioned that most of my running (currently 62.22% of the year) is on a treadmill? I'm used to finishing in a pool of sweat even on the coldest of days, since I'm indoors. This running outdoors with wind is going to be a trip down memory lane.

My marathon PR is from the 1997 Ocean State Marathon. It was the final race of the Grand Prix series and I needed that jacket. It was in the 40s, windy and raining. I was fine for about 20 miles, but crashed hard and barely held my miles under 10 minutes at the end. Pulled out a 3:19:36.

If your racing/running on Saturday, good luck and stay warm.

So close

Got in 49.75 miles last week. Even the thought of hitting 50 wasn't enough for me to simply add on another .25 to my planned route. There's just something about running past the house that I find very difficult to do. Could be that it means going down a hill and then back up, but I've only done it once that I can remember in the past year. Took off Sunday, even though my work schedule will limit my running during a couple days this week. Coming into my racing week and the weather is not completely cooperating. Expected to be cold on Saturday, so my 7 yr old will not be running, but I'll still be there, dressed like it's summer. When I'm racing, I rarely wear more than the singlet and shorts. If it's a longer distance or much colder, I'll add gloves, etc, but for a 5k with low 30s temps, the gloves would be helpful at the start, but then just extra baggage after the 1st mile.
Mileage will be down this week heading into the races, but next week should be back up, as I am off from work, so I won't have to squeeze runs into the early mornings.

How Long?

How long are your running shoes supposed to last? When I was in college, I'd put about 500 miles on a pair of trainers. We were allowed one free pair per season, so I'd get two pairs of trainers and one pair of racing flats each year. This kept my expenses down to just a pair for the summer. Now that I track all my runs in Excel spreadsheets (more on that in future posts), I'm able to keep track of the wear and tear on my shoes to a pretty accurate level. I've noticed that by 300-350 miles, I start noticing comments in my log about my legs being tired and not recovering as well after runs. It might be due to my weight (I was alot lighter in college) or it just might be that this is normal for a pair of running shoes. Either way, with the recent uptick in miles, I'm due for some new shoes. I generally keep two pair going at once (alternate days), but I've upped that to three lately, hoping to put off the purchase for a little while. I've got two pair over 300 miles right now, so when you see me on the roads with those shiny new shoes, you'll know I'm all set for the next 300+ miles.

How many miles do you get out of your running shoes?

Gearing up for races

When my miles are low, I have little interest in racing. That's probably a good thing. I'll still do the local races, but that only means two or three events a year. Now that my weeks are consistently at 40+, it's time to think about speedwork and racing. At the momemt, I'm planning to use the races as my speedwork, but as I get to 50 consistently, I'll trade miles for speed.



Depending on the weather, I'm looking at three races in 8 days later this month. The Burbank YMCA 5k in Wakefield on 11/22, the Feaster Five (probably the 5M) on 11/27, and the Andover CC XC 6k on 11/30. While I don't usually do such an aggressive schedule, I have the week of Thanksgiving off from work, so I think I'll have some extra recovery time, as compared to my normal activity level.



The Burbank Y runs the afterschool program that my kids are in and Kathleen Walsh, who runs the Y, is a local runner/marathoner, so I'd like to support them if I could. As the course is supposedly quite flat, this will also be the third race for my 7 year old daughter Samantha. She ran a 3M last year (age 6; 32:48) and a 5k (34:02) this past summer.



The Feaster Five is the key race for the Merrimack Valley Striders. It is the main source of revenue for the club and it is a major event in the area. People who would never consider running a road race, participate in this event, as well as people who run more than 20 events a year. I am one of the coordinators of the "packet/chip stuffing" and as a former volunteer coordinator for the event, I tend to be in a bunch of places that morning, doing my part to make sure the event goes smoothly (Dave McG and his DMSE crew do a lot of the work, but every volunteer has an important part to play). As such, this race is usually not run at full effort for me. This is one race where I typically choose the longer of the offered races, though that is not common for me. 5k is nice distance and generally is my preferred choice at most events.

The Andover Country Club XC 6k is simply a chance to relive my XC days. The race is up, down, twist, turn, wet, grass, road, etc, but since I'm in okay shape, I don't want to miss it. With the loss of the Country Club Classic 5k in Methuen from the racing schedule, this is one of the few local opportunities to run cross-country, without going to major events in Boston.

1st Post

I've been enjoying the blogs of many local (and not-so-local) runners for awhile now, so I figured that maybe some people might be interested in my running experiences as well. There will be commentary on current events as well, especially if they involve bad math, statistics, youth sports and running at any level.

A brief history of my running: I started running on 4/15/1984, the day before the Boston Marathon that year. I was 16 years old and had challenged myself to run the 1985 Maine Coast Marathon. While I didn't ever hit that goal, I did maintain a pretty steady love affair with running ever since. I've had plenty of injuries during my 24 years and have had a lot of times when life limited me to doing only occasional runs. I ran two seasons of x-c and one season each of indoor and outdoor track while in high school (Biddeford, Maine). In college (Bentley), I ran 11 of 12 seasons, missing only my sophomore year outdoors, due to a serious IT Band injury. I've never won an official race, or even a heat, but have finished 2nd or 3rd numerous times. I've won my age group at times and have finished in the middle of the pack as well. I've been on winning teams (college x-c) and a lot of losing teams.

I am currently an active member of the Merrimack Valley Striders and have been with them since 1994.

Today, I ran 9.5 miles in 71:52 to give me 47.5 miles for the week. As I'm going to the Pats game tomorrow, so that's all for this week. This is my highest weekly total in 8 years. If life permits, I'm shooting for 50 next week. (wow, when you put the goals out there for the whole world to see, you feel the incentive/pressure right away).