Training Log Archive: Ari-o

PR day at NP and I was ready. Early alarm, got in the first row (what is a nice way to say to people "please self-seed"?) and was off.

First four sections in <2. That wasn't going to be held.

There were no section markers to 8, so I really only had the midpoint to pace off of. I was at 19 in about 11. I thought my PR was in the 22 range but couldn't remember. Either that or 23:22 was a number I was remembering, maybe that was the 22. In any case, my legs were maybe still a little tired from Sunday and Monday. HR was 155 (compared to my PR last year when it was 163) so I was going hard but not all-out redlined, which was probably the legs.

Stopped my watch. 23:05 and change. Good, and maybe a PR.

Got home (after all the clothes). Looked up PR from last year. 23:06. So, less than a second.

November may be fun.

Fit in a run before class.

Run to NP. Fire alarm malfunctioned at 5:30. That was fun.

At least the Sportsball is over, so no more late nights.

High knees and such.

Running back and forth, and doing burpies. Goal was 300 in 35 minutes, which wasn't going to happen, but I wanted to get past 200. Got in 210. That's a lot. I might feel it tomorrow. Wet, but not too cold.

210 burpies

Run home, which was very slow and started with half a mile of walking.

JP Licks had a two-for-one deal because Red Sox. My sister was running home(ish, to the Orange Line) and it was perfect distance to run to Assembly with her, 4.5 for her, 3 for me. Then we got two large ice creams for $6 (Jeremy came and helped) and had no trouble polishing them off.

Got to see new Orange Line cars, too! (But not ride them, yet.)

Event: Harriman Orienteering Festival
 

Run over to where the bibs were.

So the Civil Engineering department was paying for entries in a 5k, and once I realized I wasn't going north this weekend (although Lincoln's ski photos from Tux yesterday looked amazing) I signed up. Enough sleep after a normal-length Sox game.

Apparently someone got sick, so I got their bib, and the CEE person looked at me and said "oh, if I'd known you were serious I'd have gotten your bib." Whatever, wasn't planning to die. Then got to the start and looked around. Not a lot of competition. Lots of costumes. Gabriel, who'd never run a 5k, might be the hardest competitor.

So we ran. 45˚ and misty. Made the first couple of corners, group of 5 quickly became 2: me and Gabriel. Followed CPD down Mass Ave (kind of fun) then turn on to Putnam. No one within 50m.

I wasn't sure of the course at at Brookline the cop stopped but seemed to be going straight, so I went straight. Non-race brain would have realized they wouldn't want to run the race the wrong way up Sidney and it turned here, or remembered the course from the map, or watching this course before. Race brain did not figure this out. So I had to make a very wide turn up on the sidewalk. So did the cop. Gabriel waited. I asked if he wanted to sprint or clasp hands in MST unity. He said sprint. Well shit.

Made the turn, saw the finish, went for it. So did he. I went ahead, but he surged. Not sure if anyone will be able to declare a winner. Good photo at the finish, but from the wrong angle.

A PR, by a couple of seconds, I think. And a W, or close to it.

And I think I got them to change my name in the results.

Over to NP for thrills. Cold, parked at the bottom and ran up. Apparently lots of burpies were included, so we ran hills and did burpies.

60-some-odd burpies.

I left my water bottle at NP when I was putting on all the clothes (realizing I need to dig out my long sleeve wool hoodies from storage for layers) and I didn't really want to run back over but wanted to take advantage of the lovely day, so biking it is! The wool ibex shorts (RIP Ibex :( ) are nice and warm, and it was in the upper 40s, so not too bad, but lobster glove weather. Out up Summit, then out Comm Ave. Lots of traffic near BC, and lots of cops: BC game. Got through that, and out Comm Ave, and at 128 I see a motorcade … here comes Miami. Cops stopped traffic but I snuck through.

Out through Weston, getting towards dark; I had lights but didn't really want to use them. Perhaps I should have gone up through Bedford to the rail trail, but dark and rush hour isn't great. Came back through Waltham, outpacing all the traffic, and on to the river for the last few miles home. Not a bad ride. Too bad the weekend looks so lousy.

Cool night, but really nice and breezy. Legs still a little DOMS-y. You can get DOMS from a half!

Apparently you can get DOMS from a half.

And maybe a cold, too? But I went to sleep before the end of the game (I'm old, and it's not 2004 anymore) and got up for some stairs. "Back to the future" day, so backtrack 1 section until 19, then 2. I would up backtracking 12, and finished with enough time for the extra section to get to 50. 37 in 31, 50 in 44. Little stairs down, legs not feeling bigs.

Half marathons are great. Long enough to be an effort, short enough you're not in for a week of pain and DOMS and horribleness. This is the first year I've run more than one, and this time the first time I've ever not run a half as part of marathon training, i.e. thought about it in advance and tapered. (My previous two best times were run on about 24 hours notice.) PR feels good, too, as is the likely-but-not-guaranteed NYC entry.

New Bedford 2015: 1:23:20
New Bedford 2016: 1:24:16
F^3 Chicago 2017: 1:23:59
New Bedford 2018: 1:25:53
Bay State 2018: 1:22:22

Tapered all week, to try to see if I could run a 1:23 half. 21 second PR, and because I'm getting old, enough to qualify me in to NY. 6:20s, for 13 miles. I had no idea.

Stayed with my sister and BiL, who were planning to spectate, and I was their excuse to leave early. Easy drive up, in line to pee, and then climbed through the fence to get in to the start pen. Gun goes off, start running with the lead pack, then dropped off. 5:57 first mile, which I planned, but then dialed back a bit. Double loop, so you get the lay of the land the first time around. In to the wind and uphill the first 3ish miles, but I was able to keep under pace, and bank about a minute of time in the first half. Decent tailwind in places on the way back. Good to know.

First "borrowing" mile at mile 7, uphill and in to the wind, but 6:21, so not much to borrow. Found a guy to draft and did so (runners so don't get drafting). Followed him across the bridge, drafting when need be, and borrowed again, but 6:23. Down the other side of the river, less wind, still running with the guy, not really chatting because I was running 3:10 800s, which I can do pretty easily, but I was running 26 of them in a row. But kept pace, and had a minute of time banked, and ran even splits down the river.

Came to the last mile without the need for a finish kick, so ran pretty much even splits. HR crept up towards L4 near the end, and I felt my legs, but hey I had a mile to go, 6:50 to run it in, and just didn't need to fall apart. Knew where I was, and what I needed to do, and cruised in, well under time and happy with the even splits. (FWIW: 5:57, 6:06, 6:17, 6:12, 6:13, 6:11, 6:21, 6:23, 6:14, 6:20, 6:18, 6:16, 6:11.)

Perfect weather—45˚, cloudy and breezy—helped a lot. Cheering helped some, drafting helped some, and being in decent shape for it helped a bit I guess. Now I can focus back on strength (gave up #deckaday when the weather looked good for this) and vert and mountains and skis.

Also sorry Alex, I probably won't try another one next weekend.

Out to Littleton. Not sure that a rollerski is great taper, but hey, it's on the way to register for the half. Skied the short loop, slowly, lots of DP, no extensions, poles on the hill. Started with a party and wound up with a couple of juniors. Kind of nice to be done at 11. Then up to Lowell to find a bib and give people all the money. (15 minutes from Littleton, half the reason I came.)

Training/shake out/taper run. Skipping NP this week. Easy run, also looking at something for class.

All 22 miles of Route 26 north of Newry through Grafton Notch were repaved this year. This is on the list for next summer if I'm around (at least up the hill to the trailhead). AADT equal to or lower than most roads in Littleton (albeit higher speeds).

Out to do a tempo and see how I might fare in a 13.1 this weekend.

The answer is … mixed. I had no trouble holding 6:30s for 3.5 miles, and at L3, about 155 bpm. This is two days off a pretty good trail run and a rollerski, so not tapered fully. And in old trail runners. So that all might be worth 15s/mi? Or it might not. 55˚ and dry, so cool, but still warm enough I was sweating pretty well; Sunday would be about 10˚ cooler.

I need 6:20s to qualify for NY. For 13.1 miles. Can I hold 6:20s for 83 minutes? Should I try? I don't know.

C • Half 2

Starting out to the tempo, then coming back across the bridges. New stairs from Appleton to Longfellow are certainly nicer than the old ones!

Cold overnight but some sun in the trees as the fog blew off and the temperature crept in to the 40s, and I went up the hill to rollerski. Decided to go down Route 41 and just kept going. Went out a new road until I got to a hill I didn't want to go down, then up over the hill to Minnehonk on the beautiful new pavement. Not a bad ski! Got back to the car just as the first drops of rain started to fall.

Weather—40s and sunny—looks very good next Sunday. Might taper this week and go for the half in Lowell.

Beautiful day up here in Maine today. Cold overnight, but blue sky sunny, last of the foliage, and I was not about to let it go to waste. Decided to run the AMC side of the Grafton Loop, which I actually helped build in 2001, only 17 years ago. That's half my lifetime! Only 1:10 from camp, too, which is very nice.

Since I was running point-to-point, I figured I'd thumb back down. Turns out that they just repaved Route 26, and I definitely thought about rollerskiing. That would require spotting gear in the woods, scouting the road—some of which gets steep—and circling back; not perfect. (However, next summer, skiing up Route 26 and hiking back down, with spotted cars, might make a fantastic day. Two options, even, of the Grafton Loop Trail.)

Anyway, ran down the road to the trailhead from the parking, and then on the snowmachine trails for a bit before turning in to the woods. The trail was great: not eroded, lots of climb but not that much of it super-steep, mostly dry, and great views. I went up and down and up and down and then wound up on Sunday River Whitecap, which has an open summit and the views of the foliate in the valleys and the mountains beyond was superb. (My original idea was to think about Adams Challenging today, turns out that would have been pretty snowy/icy). Then way down, back in to the maples, nice fast miles, and then up Old Speck. Around 3600' the snow appeared. (YAY SNOW!) Summit at mile 13, having seen two people all day. There was a lot of climb, but it wasn't all at once and frequently not too steep, so it was really quite a nice way to get 1700m.

The trail down Old Speck was way more eroded, of course, plus wetter and, as I quickly found out, icy in places. Since I was the last person down the trail for the day, I was pretty careful on the icy bits, which weren't too bad but slowed me down some. Caught up and passed some people, and made it down to the lot in just under 5 hours. Changed clothes and stuck my thumb out. Not a lot of traffic, but some hikers—some of whom were from LA and of course knew November Project—gave me a ride back to the car. The rollerski would have been fast … and scary.

Up in Maine, cool and rainy in the morning. Slept way in (after a midnight drive from my department "retreat" where everyone was just getting started drinking at midnight) in a cold cabin and warm sleeping bag. Mmm. Then some camp closing errands and it dried out enough for a run (but not a cold, rainy, wet leaf ski).

Great run around the lake, PR on the loop, nice push up the Dam Hill, and a short shower on the west side which made for a great rainbow across the lake! Fastest by about 90s, plus a PR up the hill to Elvin's.

Race day at NP. Legs still feeling tired, so I just ran the ups hard.

Gotta add the vert!

Deck-run-deck today?

Deck 1: 19:45.

C • Deck-a-day 2

Poured rain, so second deck with no run in between.

No deck today; wasn't home until after 9. Two tomorrow. Wednesdays are hard with extra meetings.

Stadium and my legs were not feeling it. Rather than the Raceman workout, since I wasn't feeling any speed, I just did a bunch of sections. Really not very many, though; I was really dogging. Not sure why. Maybe still a little tired from having a cold?

So apparently when you have to wake up at 5:30 to get to Lowell for jury duty, it kind of messes up your day. I should have anticipated that it might end early and brought rollerskis, because Lowell isn't far from Littleton. Alas, when we got out early, I biked back to the train, then biked back from Wedgemere to save cash money.

Then did nothing all afternoon (well, some work). Thought about biking. Then did warm core. Looks like one more warm day tomorrow. Survived the sweat tonight.

Running with Lincoln and Jess on some trails. Got some work done, but alas no big vert, but they have some fun trails along the ocean, well, tidal Kennebec. Whirpools!

Got home late, but a fast deck as the Red Sox slammed the Yankees.

Raining in the morning, slept in, got some work done actually, and then, time to ski. Waited until it had dried out some; had I known it was sunny 40 miles north I may have driven there and run something. But the ski was very nice. Jacket came off quick, and 60˚ and cloudy the rest of the way around. Felt pretty good up the final climb back to the car, beat dark back easily.

Late deck, mostly because my dinner was too big and had to settle. Also some stretching after. Oh and pie.

Late, slow deck. Started out with a hat on, windbreaker on and the propane stove going. Quickly took off the hat, then the jacket, and then turned off the stove. Now sweaty. Shower, bed.

All last October, running a marathon and then being injured, I completed 4763m of vert (more than half of it in two days at Harriman and then the Adams Challenge).

In the past 8 days, I've completed 5264m.

Got a late-ish start, and want to do trail-running stuff. Traffic on 93 and weather precluded Adams Challenging today. So headed up to Speckled, which was not too much extra driving (but still some). But the trail was great. Out on some roads, which made for nice running, then some pretty overgrown trail until a side trail came in that apparently most people use and it was clear sailing up to the summit, with some good foliage and views across the ledges. Saw four people on the summit, and then ran the ridge through the wilderness. Not many people back here! (I can't imagine how Franconia Ridge must have been crazy today.) Then down a rather steep trail but I figured that I'd already lost most of the elevation and had; it turned in to a nice old forest road. I decided not to hack through a mile of overgrown sled trail and instead ran two miles on the road back to the car.

Decided since I'm going for #vert I should help myself along tracking the times I've ridden to NP this year. It's always a workout (always late or close to it) and 86m is nothing to sneeze at. Plus between AP and Strava and my own tracking, I have a good track record of when I did and didn't bike up the hill.

Five front hills. I went out to drop the first hill and equaled my previous best time. Still 16 seconds behind Kyle, though. That may not be attainable: 1:38-->1:22. He's a madman. L3 by the bottom, pushing hard.

Then 5 relatively easy hills.

Then the deck, pretty fast, and as a deck, didn't distribute well. Last few black cards were struggly.

Another countdown, under 20 minutes (split, however).

Feeling a little better, maybe this cold will be a quick-hitter. Cooler/drier weather might help!

Sets of 13 minutes today. Try to have even splits of number of sections. Except the first set was more like 15 minutes. And it was crowded starting the second two. 21, 18, 17. 55 and foggy, so, hot.

Slow, split deck today. Getting a head cold (blah) and sore sore sore from the decks. This should last a few more days. Still, <25, so kept going.

Second day of October #deckaday. Not bad time. Some hurt.

Run to/from NP. Run there. Group shuffle back.

Deck of cards workout, with duck-duck-goose (or as the several Minnesotans kept saying during the instructions, gray duck) around the circle. Leg lifts, burpies, mountain climbers, and jump squats. I think I will count this as deck a day, although other days will be reds and blacks.

Off to bounding. Took the 70 bus which gave me 17 minutes to go over the hill from the bus stop. Basically straight up the hill. I forget how big Prospect is! Up the roads, then stairs, then down the pavement. Goddamn you could put a nice homologated course in here.

Then a warmup with CSU up and over the hill and back down.

Then sets of short bounds, with hops in between. Yes, short, but good for a recovery day. Bounding is hard.

I'd taken old poles from the strategic pole reserve and really should put road tips on them; baskets got in the way. Also, what a nice A climb Prospect would be.