Week of 2/2 to 2/8

2/2 Monday: 8.0 miles in 62 minutes

Easy running on the treadmill at home...watching the snow fall outside...again. Someday I hope to run outside again. It will be epic!

2/3 Tuesday: 8.0 miles in 62 minutes

I can't believe there was no school again today. Easy running on the treadmill at home...again. Today I was a little bit quicker than yesterday. Treadmill running.......boring.

2/4 Wednesday: AM: 9.0 miles in 63 minutes  PM: 5.0 miles in 39 minutes

AM: Treadmill at work. I was feeling a little flat and not looking forward to this workout, but I was going to get it in anyways! Did 3 miles of warm up with a few pick-up/strides then right into 8 x 400m (75 sec) with 400m rest (7:30-7:41). Then 2 miles of cool down. The pace felt easier this week than it did two weeks ago.

PM: Easy treadmill running at home after work

2/5 Thursday: 11.0 miles in 77 minutes

Treadmill running at work. Today's run featured a progression run. First 6 miles easy then into progression from 6:35 pace to 5:56 pace. Had to stop the treadmill and reset it after 5 miles so the stupid thing wouldn't shut me off in the middle of my progression run. The damn work treadmills shut off automatically after an hour. Felt pretty solid and smooth. 

2/6 Friday: 5.0 miles in 40 minutes

Easy running on the treadmill at work. It looked nice out....but really it was just freezing cold..again.

2/7 Saturday: AM: 10.4 miles in 1 hour 46 minutes PM: 4.0 miles in 32 minutes

AM: Horsehill snowshoe race. This was my first snowshoe race in a very long time. Last time was kind of an awful experience on a very hard course with no snow. This time I knew there was plenty of snow and I had been out on the snow shoes a few times leading up to the race. Headed out for a course preview and warm up with Jim Johnson to check out the conditions. First mile or so was single track, but packed pretty well. It went up and over a pretty good ridge that we would see twice (out and back). The next almost two miles were soft, deep, very curvy and rolling. This was going to be a very tough section. It seemed only a few people had been through since the last storm. Then the course drops back onto the packed single track back up and over the ridge to the finish. 

My plan was to run conservative. Right off the start everyone let Jim go and a pack of 4 of us (Chad Carr, Eric Narcisi, Damon Gannon, and myself) led the rest of the field out.  Damon led the way followed by myself, Chad, and then Eric. We stayed in this order and everyone seemed content for a ways. Just before the treacherous soft and deep section Eric seemed to slip back a bit. Once in the deep stuff things slowed down a lot I was Ok with it for a little bit...but I was getting antsy thinking maybe I could get a way and secure a 2nd place finish. Just then Chad asked to go by and I said me too! Then I just went for it took a couple steps in the deep stuff and got by Damon, I think Chad got by Damon just after I did. We dropped Damon pretty quickly and I tried to press the pace and get a lead on Chad. I was extending my small lead, but only in very small increments. It gets confusing as you loop back and forth through the woods. I kept seeing Chad, Damon and Eric, and it was tough to figure out how far back they were. The one thing I did know was that Chad was not too far behind. Soon we were off the deep and stuff and back on the packed single track and headed back over the ridge. My legs were absolute trash at this point and I had to walk a few steps going over the ridge. I did take a peak back and saw Chad not far behind! That got me going and I hammered the downhill as hard as I could thinking if I could get to the bottom fist I would be ok as ther was only about 500 - 600m of running left from there. I managed to hold off Chad by 36 seconds and secured myself a 2nd place finish...only 2:53 behind Jim.....I have a ways to go!

Race Results

PM: Easy treadmill running at home....trying to get the hurt out of my legs.

2/8 Sunday: 14 miles in 1 hour 44 minutes

Easy longrun around Westford.

Total Miles: 74.4

Week of 1/26 to 2/1

1/26 Monday: 8.0 miles in 61 minutes

Trapped on the treadmill for another day! Easy running on the treadmill at home...watching the snow fall outside. 

1/27 Tuesday: AM: 8.5 miles in 65 minutes  PM: 4.5 miles in 36 minutes

AM: Easy treadmill running at home. This snow thing has to stop eventually right?

PM: Easy treadmill running at home. Still snowing.

1/28 Wednesday: AM: 9 miles in 62 minutes PM: 5 in 39 minutes

AM: 3 miles warmup with a few pick ups / strides then right into 3 x mile with 1/2 mile jog between. All miles done at 5:18 (approx 10k pace). Felt ok, but legs and arms felt heavy from shoveling snow.

PM: First 3.1 on the snowshoes, the rest on the road. Tough going in the EBC (East Boston Camps) today. Not much broken out and very soft obviously. 

1/29 Thursday: 11 miles in 73 minutes

Finally I got outside for a run! Easy running for the first 6 miles, then the last 5 miles were progression run (6:21 - 5:50). Very happy with this considering the slick / snow covered roads.

1/30 Friday: 5 miles in 39 minutes

Easy recovery run on the treadmill at home.

1/31 Saturday: 7 miles in 54 minutes

Very easy running on the treadmill at home trying to avoid any slip and falls outside on the slick roads. Trying to make sure I am fresh for the race tomorrow

2/1 Sunday: 16 miles in 1 hour and 55 minutes

Today I headed over to Newburyport for the Newburyport Frigid Fiver. The plan today was to figure out where I was at over a longer distance. It had been a while since I had raced anything not on the track or longer than 5k on the roads. Of course the morning turned out to be very cold with brisk wind! Not the awesome conditions this race saw last year! I met up with fellow Competitive Jerk Justin Montgomery at Michael's Harborside and headed out for a warm up. While we got in a 4 mile warm up we chatted about all things running and what we were going to try to do today. It was decided that we would try to sit and wait out the fist two miles of head wind, let others lead us out, and then see where we were at. Soon enough we were up at the start and had the customary wait till they let us onto the road. Seemed like forever with the cold and wind! Then we were off and running. Soon after the start there was a pack of 7 or 8 of us that separated ourselves right away. Justin and I both just tucked in and let the pack lead us along. The pace was very easy and the pack stayed tight and content with the easy early pace. It became very obvious that nobody really wanted to lead and no one was going to push the pace early. We hit the 1 mile mark in 5:48 and continued on with the same easy pace. It was clear that everyone was waiting till we got out of the headwind before anything exciting was going to happen. The course turns right and heads down hill after the 2 mile mark, this is where I expected the race to break open. The pack got a little antsy with some shuffling around and a some maneuvering for position as we approached the two mile mark and I think it was because everyone was thinking the same thing. It was almost go time! We hit the two mile mark in 11:42 (5:54 mile split) and made another right hand turn out of the wind and onto the down hill. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Justin start to move to the front and I decided that I was feeling good and it was time to get to work. I went right up to the front of the pack with Justin and decided to push the downhill and break up the group a bit. Once I hit the flat and turned right again I had the wind at my back and had a small gap opened up. I could still here a few guys back there, but I felt like I had to keep pressing and make sure that the gap would stick! I hit the 3rd mile in 16:48 (5:06 mile split) and I was off on my own. I was not surprised by the fast split because of the downhill and tailwind, but I was interested to see if I could keep the press on and finish strong. I was still feeling could and tried to maintain an aggressive pace. I hit the 4th mile in 21:52 (5:04 mile split) and was very pleased! Now it was time to see if I could close it out with a strong 5th mile that included the races only real climb and just over a quarter mile on a snow packed bike path. I hit the hill hard and tried to press the best  I could down the snow covered bike path and hit the finish in 27:08 (5:16 mile split). The effort was good for first place and a winning margin of almost a minute. In the end I was very happy with my effort, especially over the last 3 miles which were covered in 15:26. Now its time to get ready for Amherst 10 miler.

Race Article 

Total Miles: 70.1