Tuesday Jan 31 |
 | Road Run 39:08 [3]4.9 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
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| UMass loop after dark. Felt ok once I got going. |
Monday Jan 30 |
| Road Run 1:03:56 [2]7.2 mi (8:52 / mi) | |
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| Loop from UMass at a very easy pace, as darkness fell. My body felt pretty beat up by the road over the last couple miles. |
Sunday Jan 29 |
| Track race 5:49 [5]1.0 mi (5:49 / mi) vdot: 50.1 | |
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| Indoor track meet at Smith. Racing the mile on the track (especially the indoor track, this time with 15 in the heat) is fun, but intense. You have to go on instinct, and if you do it right, it's over in the blink of an eye, before you have time to realize how hard you're working. I expected to run somewhere between 5:50 and 6:00. I started near the back of the pack, held back a bit the first couple laps, went through the half in 2:56, and ran steady over the second half, passing a couple people, and finishing with a 42 final lap. Only problem was that I lost some time and energy getting stuck in a pack the first couple laps, with a bit of jostling and heel knocking; I had to run some in lane 2 to keep out of trouble, and then finally broke free of them by squeezing past two runners on the inside. At that point there was a couple meters daylight between me and Peter, who had surprised me by going out pretty fast (and smartly kept out of trouble). I stayed one to two seconds behind him, waiting to see if he would weaken, but (au contraire!) he ran a blistering final lap (sub-40?) and got me by three seconds. But I don't mind losing to the ageless wonder when we both have good races. The only other over-50 ahead of us (in any of the 4 mens heats) was the indefatiguable Rich Clark, running about 5:20.
My records show I hadn't run a mile race since 1996 when I ran 5:17 indoors and 5:11 outdoors. My PR of 5:01 is from 1993. Bizarrely, Peter and I have exactly the same PR's both at the mile and at the marathon! |
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| C • Nice job! You guys scream. If ... 7 |
| Track 16:00 [3]4.0 mi (3:59 / mi) | |
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| Before and after the race, including six faster 60 meter dashes just before to get the heartrate and breathing primed. |
Saturday Jan 28 |
| Trail/Road Run 37:44 [2]4.5 mi (8:23 / mi) | |
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| From home, along the north side of the Mill R. to Federal and back. Another January day above 50. But some lung congestion and a sore back tempered the euphoria. |
Friday Jan 27 |
| machines (elliptical) 25:00 [2] | |
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| After lots of stretching and strengthening exercises. |
Thursday Jan 26 |
| Trail Run (snowmobiled) 1:17:12 [3]8.0 mi (9:39 / mi) | |
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| With Peter, from the parking lot at Roaring Brook, heading South and West, crossing Whately Rd for a bit, and back the way we came. A combination of soft snow, sore left quad, and general leg fatigue made this a struggle. Also,we had bitter cold wind and foot deep snow drifts to contend with crossing the open fields. None of this seemed to bother Peter (aka the energizer bunny). I couldn't come close to staying with him on the uphills: compared to me, he seemed to be walking on water, hardly sinking in at all. (If there's a technique to running in this stuff, I haven't figured it out yet.) |
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| C • When you're the one behind, yo... 6 |
Wednesday Jan 25 |
| Road Run 47:26 [3]5.97 mi (7:56 / mi) +90m 4:43 / km | |
| ahr:140 |
| Sand Hill loop from UMass. Slogging along, just putting in some miles. |
Tuesday Jan 24 |
| Track (intervals) 8:37 [5]1.5 mi (5:44 / mi) | |
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| Smith indoor track, with Peter, at 9:00 AM after coffee but no breakfast. 2 800's followed by 2 400's; about 3 minutes rest in between. Ran a lot faster than I thought I could, and it didn't feel all out: fastest 800's and 400's since 2002 (the year I first screwed up my hip). Helped to have Peter alternating setting the pace (not to mention having the UMass women's track team finishing up their workout). Bodes well for breaking 6:00 mile at Sunday's indoor meet. Should be a piece of cake. 2:55.7, 2:55.6, 1:24.0, 1:23.5. |
| Track 28:00 [3]3.5 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
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| 2 miles before, 1 mile after (all at sub-8), plus about a half mile of junk in between. |
Monday Jan 23 |
| machines (elliptical) 30:00 [2] | |
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Sunday Jan 22 |
| Road Run 53:57 [3]6.95 mi (7:45 / mi) | |
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| SMAC run from my house. Started out with Peter, Barry, and 3 young guys (new blood). Split off with Barry to do a shorter loop than the others (Bliss St. bridge). I had good energy, and pushed the pace some heading home, though my back was doing it's spasm thing. |
Saturday Jan 21 |
| Road Run race 42:30 [5]6.2 mi (6:51 / mi) vdot: 48.3 | |
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| Forest Park 10k, with conditions as good as it gets (period, not just for winter). Put out a good even effort, about as well as I can do right now: a minute faster than four weeks ago. Picking up another minute won't be easy, but it's possible if I can stay healthy. Peter went by me at about 5k, same as last time; but this time he finished 34 seconds ahead instead of a minute. Watch out! |
| Road Run 15:00 [2]1.5 mi (10:00 / mi) | |
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| Some easy running before, and after with Peter, George, and Lyn. |
Friday Jan 20 |
| Road Run 38:04 [3]4.5 mi (8:26 / mi) | |
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| Easy run from Smith, around Child's Park, plus a mile on the outdoor track in 7:30 to loosen up (no snow!). Another January day in shorts. Felt pretty stiff and tired, maybe from getting less than 5 hours sleep. (Wasn't tired last night and let myself get sucked into watching the Lakers lose to the Kings in overtime, then Maria S crushing her opponent at the Austrailian open - a symphony of grunts and groans.) |
Wednesday Jan 18 |
| Track (tempo) 20:30 [4]3.0 mi (6:50 / mi) | |
| ahr:148 max:158 |
| With torrential rain all day, a good day to go to the track. Ran well within myself, then picked it up over the last 800 m., finishing with 47 final lap. Felt some muscles straining, but no back spasm. Encouraging. Mile splits with AHR: 6:55 (140), 6:53 (150), 6:41 (154). |
| Track 16:30 [2]2.0 mi (8:15 / mi) | |
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| Mile before, mile after. |
Tuesday Jan 17 |
| Trail Run 1:00:45 [3]6.5 mi (9:20 / mi) | |
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| With Peter, heading up the M&M from Atkins Res., then cutting over to Pratt Corner Rd, and a bit beyond; then back. 30 degrees and sunny. Footing was surprisingly good in spite of 3-5" of snow; just some icy and wet patches to watch out for. Relaxed pace made this very pleasant, but still a good workout for the legs. |
Monday Jan 16 |
| Trail Run 50:16 [2]5.0 mi (10:03 / mi) | |
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| Outer loop of XC course (plus a little extra) from Smith, after lifting. Beautiful, bright winter day; 3-4" of snow made for slow-going.
A peculiar mishap. There's construction blocking the trail just past the Smith Athletic field. I went around the barrier, past some heavy machinery, continued on the trail, and then over a huge mound of snow. Suddenly, instead of sinking in 4 inches, I was sinking in 8 inches, and then I sunk to mid-calf and was stuck. It was a massive pile of goey, slippery mud under the snow, not at all frozen in spite of the temperature in the teens. My main concern was that, since my shoes had not been tied very tight (better for my foot problems), when I pulled my feet out I would leave my shoes behind and have to walk back, shoeless, in the snow. Fortunately, I won the tug of war with the mud, and continued on with both feet covered in thick brown gunk. One got cleaned off, however, when later in the run a foot broke through some ice and got submerged in cold water. (Interesting how the Earth retained the warmth built up over last week's mild spell, in spite of single digit temperatures the previous night.) |
Sunday Jan 15 |
| Track (tempo) 21:34 [4]3.0 mi (7:11 / mi) | |
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| Smith track, after lifting. Had thought about training at Mt Tom, but it was in the teens with 4" of new powder, so ... Moderate pace, felt pretty easy for the first mile, and never very hard. But lower back spasmed early in the run, and then doesn't go away; maybe too many back exercises beforehand. 7:19, 7:15, 6:59. |
| Track 16:40 [3]2.0 mi (8:20 / mi) | |
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| Mile before, mile after. |
Saturday Jan 14 |
| Track (intervals) 12:57 [5]2.0 mi (6:27 / mi) | |
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| Smith indoor track, after lifting. Did two 1600's with a 400 rest in between. I had planned to go down to Forest Park for the 5k race, but the pouring rain scotched that idea. Felt pretty good, though breathing hard over the last half of each mile. Would have been hard to do a third 1600 at this pace, let alone a 5k race. 6:28, 6:29. |
| Track 20:30 [3]2.5 mi (8:12 / mi) | |
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| 10 laps before, 2 in between, 8 after. |
Friday Jan 13 |
| Trail Run 49:28 [2]5.0 mi (9:53 / mi) | |
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| Absurdly slow pace, due partly to the ice on the trails, partly to lethargy. Took the Frost to the railroad tracks; came back via the Cherry Hill golf course. Not much bare ground yet, in spite of the continued mild weather; I guess the sun's just too low in the sky. |
Thursday Jan 12 |
| Road Run 44:04 [3]5.5 mi (8:01 / mi) | |
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| From Smith, after dark. (Track was too crowded with Clayton's high school runners; but it was still mild enough outside to run in shorts.) I headed out with no set route in mind, and ended up doing a shortened version of the now defunct Y/Gazette race course, backwards. Felt good at the beginning, but slowed a lot towards the end. (Tends to happen when I run an unplanned route with no set time goal.) |
Tuesday Jan 10 |
| Trail Run 1:13:40 [3]8.25 mi (8:55 / mi) | |
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| With Peter on Mt Toby: gate, river, road. Temp in the 40's and wearing shorts. Soft 3-4" of snow in the open areas, firm and 0-2" under the evergreens. Had good energy today, enough to make Peter run faster than he wanted, which is always satisfying. |
Monday Jan 9 |
| Trail Run 53:32 [2]5.5 mi (9:44 / mi) | |
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| From Mill R parking area, to the Frost towards Juggler Rd., but went left at the stonewall to check out a newly blazed and signed trail ("Ellsworth-Barnard trail", if I remember; .83 m. loop); then back. Snow was uneven and somewhat soft; wore o-shoes which helped on the few icy sections. Plan was to go real easy in lieu of a day off; but when I finished, all I could think was: "I need a day off."
Saw a yellow-spotted salamander crossing the trail, looking handsome against the white snow. Not an uncommon sighting in these parts: indeed, Amherst may be the only town with a "salamander crossing" road sign. Eventually they built salamander tunnels under the road to lessen the carnage above ground. |
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| C • Thought salamanders would be h... 3 |
Sunday Jan 8 |
| Road Run 1:23:18 [3]10.0 mi (8:20 / mi) | |
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| SMAC run from the Amherst Women's Club, before the annual meeting. Did the Jones 10 miler, as usual. An inch or two of new snow; footing was pretty good on the dirt section. I ran with Barry A. (who had snowshoe raced yesterday), and from about 4 miles, with Deb from Holland, MA; but left them at mile 8 and finished a minute twenty ahead. I didn't try to run with a lead group including Derek, Jim P. and Maddy: they were all under 80. Pace was modest, but the course never feels easy: about 450 feet of climb. My legs felt OK, but my back was twisted and sore; frustrating. |
| Road Run 12:00 [2]1.3 mi (9:13 / mi) | |
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| Jog to start, and back from finish. |
Saturday Jan 7 |
| Orienteering 45:30 [3]3.9 km (11:40 / km) +195m 9:20 / km | |
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| Orange course at Mt Tom, 28 deg, 2-6 in of snow. Moderate pace, felt great to be in the woods again: don't feel (or don't notice) the aches and pains I get on road runs. Didn't take a compass, which was a good training exercise for me. One small miss; and, cutting across to the penultimate control at the boulder on the stream, I went way too low and then just decided to drop to the trail and go around through the parking lot. Splits: 3:44, 2:50, 3:09 (red #2), 3:08 (red #3), 4:24, 2:05, 6:56 (walked all the way up, snow up to 6", missed a bit left), 8:13 (two legs, didn't take split in the reentrant above the marsh because didn't see any streamer, but I was in the right place), 3:35, 5:16 (lost a minute here going around), 1:28 (red #19), 36. |
Friday Jan 6 |
| Road Run 49:48 [3]5.8 mi (8:34 / mi) | |
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| UMass loop, with an extra Amity hill. Leg's tired from yesterday's "hills". Hill splits: 3:45, 3:46. Hill is .455 miles, 129 feet. |
Thursday Jan 5 |
| machines (elliptical) 30:00 [3] | |
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| Interval workout, alternating one minute hard, one minute easy, at l14. Trying to keep the hard intervals near 80 rpm. |
Wednesday Jan 4 |
| Track 15:50 [3]2.0 mi (7:54 / mi) | |
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| Mile before, mile after. |
| Track (tempo) 13:28 [4]2.0 mi (6:43 / mi) | |
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| Short tempo run at indoor track. Felt easier than expected. Back and hip OK. 6:47; 6:41. |
Tuesday Jan 3 |
| Road Run 38:30 [2]4.4 mi (8:44 / mi) | |
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| Smith-Childs loop, at tail end of the snow/sleet/rain storm. Sometimes had to choose between slushy unshoveled sidewalks and ankle deep water in the road. Good thing I wore my goretex trail shoes. |
Monday Jan 2 |
| skiing (Nordic) 1:30:00 [3] | |
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| Revisited Ruthies run on skis, with M, N, and A. Long uphill stretches took quite a bit of effort. We waited some for Margi, but still would have been at least 50% slower than I ran it yesterday. I thought skiing was supposed to be faster than running! |
Sunday Jan 1 |
| snowshoe 1:00:00 [2] | |
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| Family wanted to try snowshoing before skiing. They had some single track trails marked for snowshoes. Beautiful terrain, around Duck Pond, but not much need for snowshoes on the packed trail, and not a good enough map to go off-trail. |
| skiing (Nordic) 2:30:00 [2] | |
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| Skied an hour before lunch and an hour and a half after, with Nora and Adam. I haven't been cross-country skiing in four or five years. My primary goal was not to fall (since I injure easily), which goal I managed to attain by being absurdly cautious on downhills. My secondary goal was to keep up with Nora, who was skateskiing, which sometimes conflicted with my primary goal. (I had rented some slow fishscale classic skis; I've never tried skating, and probably never will.) |
| Trail Run 50:50 [3]8.4 km (6:03 / km) | |
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| After four days of little or no exercise, this was designated "exercise until you drop day", so, in spite of some strained and tired muscles, I took off my skis, put on my running shoes, and went off on "Ruthie's Run", a ski trail loop. Now, I don't suppose skiers want to see runners on their beautifully groomed trials, but the snow was so packed my shoes barely left a mark, and I went off so late in the day, that I saw only one skier, who passed me early on. So late in the day, in fact, that it was quite dark when I finished at 5:15, but I wasn't too worried because the trail was well signed, and it was like a broad boulevard that could even be followed at night. (Well, I was a bit worried when, about one km from the center, I came to a junction and couldn't read the signs no matter how hard I stared: turns out going the wrong way would have added 3 km in the dark! Fortunately, I had enough sense from looking at the map before I started which way to go.) |
| Note | |
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| Year-end summary. Ran 1183 miles, 276 of which were orienteering (measured point to point). Lowest total since I ran my first marathon in 1983, though only a bit less than 1997 (back trouble) and 2003 (first year of the same hip problem that bothered me this year from Feb through September). Ran five road races and three 5k cross country races, but no trail races for the first time 15 years (hip injury wiped out the whole spring and summer). Total aerobic exercise: 308 hours including 96 orienteering, 130 running, 38 cycling, and 4 swimming. That's the highest (by a bit) since I started logging on AP in 2002. Ran 43 o-races on 31 separate days including 8 A-meet days (all on green) and 21 sprints. Also had 42 o-training sessions, mostly at an easy pace. Best A-meets were day 2 at Dutchman Flats in Oregon and the long-o champs at Fair Hill. Other highlights were the sprint champs at Pawtuckaway, J-J's mega, doing the triple crown again (Billygoat, Highlander, Traverse), and (with a little help from the snow) beating PG in a sprint! Goals for 2006: avoid injury! -- the rest will take care of itself. |