Quest For Boston

Falmouth in the Fall tommorrow. Missed out on the summer race with injuries so I'm hoping for some redemption.  Legs felt pretty fresh for my miles this week.  It's the most miles I've run since June.  My mind really wants to crank out some big weeks but I'm trying to be smart and stay healthy.  Not always my strongest trait.  Race report tommorrow.

3.8 miles   30:26   8:03's

I ran the Falmouth Road Race last summer and somehow was seeded way back in the pack around 6000.  I spent the whole race bobbing and weaving through heavy traffic. Not my best time but it was kind of fun to spend a whole race passing people.  Sadly; injuries prevented me from running this year so I didn't get to take advantage of a start up near the front.

    Falmouth in the Fall is billed as "Same great race- Better people."  It's actualy quite nice.  The weather is always cooler than August and a lot less congestion with a cap of 500 people compared to 10,000. The other nice thing about the race is I get off the ferry from the island and the race is about 300 yards from the dock.

     Race conditions were pretty good. A little cool with starting temp around 45 degrees. The wind was in our faces for the most part- as this is a point to point race along the shore overlooking Vineyard Sound. Usually the wind is from the opposite direction and pushes you to a faster time.  It would have been nice to have a little aid but with my conditioning, or lack there of, I wasn't too worried about my time.

     I found myself up near the front of the pack for the start with a lot of fast looking people. Everybody seems to look fast to me befor a race.  I tried to throttle back the adrenaline through the first mile so as not to crash and burn.  My lack of high milage had me concerned with a race of this distance.  Came through right at 6:39; acording to my Garmin. Mile 2 has you running up the biggest hill on the course. The road winds around and climbs to a lighthouse with a beautiful overlook of the Sound.  I've run this road a couple of times and it's one of the most scenic spots I've ever run on. Of course when I'm racing I don't realy have much of a chance to enjoy the view. I just tried to stay relaxed and hold my concentration.  Mile 2 was 6:33.  I'm going a little quicker than I wanted at this point but felt pretty comfortable so decided to go with the flow.  Mile three was a consistent 6:38 running right into the wind. The rest of the race is pretty much the same conditions, flat and exposed until the final mile. Mile 4 found me falling asleep a little, as I ran a 7:00 flat. To make up for it I decided that I would try to overtake the runner in front of me who had 100 yards on me.  through in a 6:10 5th mile and realed in 2 people.  It was here that I started to struggle.  I probably shouldn't have run quite so fast that last mile and now I was struggling. According to the Garmin I ran a 6: 35 but it sure felt slower. Now I'm just trying to hold form. I know there's only a mile to go so I work on lift and drive.  My wife said I looked strong and relaxed as I came down the home stretch but I was definetly not feeling that way.  As I saw the clock I broke into a final sprint to get under 47:30.  That ended up being my final time.

     This was my first race of more than 5k since my half-marathon in March. I was hoping to come close to my best on this course; 48:13, and was pleasantly surprised to beat that by 45 seconds or so.  I know that I have a lot of room for improvement so there's motivation.

Legs were very heavy today and took forever to loosen up. It seems pretty obvious that I need to build my base back up for recovey purposes if nothing else. Considered not running at all today but figured I could use the easy run to get some good blood flow going in the legs.

Went out this morning and did 10.5 in a little less than 1.5 hours. Started out in cool weather, 38 degrees and finished around 55. I was totaly not dressed appropriately by the end of the run. Run felt good though. Ran an additional 3.75 in the P.M.

I ran 3.7 miles off road today.  Legs were extremely tired. Should have taken an off day. I've got to be a little smarter about building my milage back up. Last thing I want tot do is get injured again.

Managed to getin 5 with a buddy before the sun went down.  Rained all day but managed to sneak it in between rain drops in the p.m.  Felt pretty good.  Legs were back underneath me after dragging yesterday.

Felt pretty good today.  Figured I'd do 5 and ended up adding a couple.  All running on back trails with soft leave covering.  Made for a slower run, with footing,  but felt soo good on the knees.

Recovery miles today.  Cut back week starts tommorrow after 2 weeks of building up.  I'm very happy with my running the last couple weeks.

7:45 minute miles with Dave this morning. Felt a little fast but after all the miles last week, not a surprise.

Off day today.  Ten days of running in a row; I deserve a day off. Back at it tommorrow.

6 miles at 7:20 tempo run this morning.   Legs felt good.  I definetly needed the off day yesterday.

First night run of the season. Felt awkward running with the head lamp.legs felt good though.

Ten miles on some realy nice trails that I discovered. Felt great;didn't want to stop running. Perfect running weather. 38 to start 50 to finish.

Patriots game didn't end until midnight and then I was too worked up to get to sleep for an hour or so.  Tired this morning but luckily it was a recovery day.

Long run with Dave.  Averaged 7:54's on a very hilly course. Felt realy good.  A nice start to the week as I try to put in 50+ .

Recovery miles on soft trails this morning. Saw a couple of deer while out there today.  I came around a bend in the trail in some low scrub brush and this doe jumped straight up into the air.  I jumped back but she was definetly more startled than I was. She ran a couple hundred yards down the trail and stopped and turned.  As I neared her again, she continued down the trail; stopping and starting, waiting to see if was still following.  After about a quarter mile of this, she finaly left the trail and climbed half way up a hill and stared back at me as I passed by.  It was a pretty cool experience. It's been awesome getting off the roads and into the woods.

Long warm up followed by three 1 mile repeats at 6:23, 6:28 and 6:27. Mile cool down.  Felt realy good.I really didn't feel that I had any speed in my legs with all the milage I've been doing of late.  Guess I'm not as slow as I thought.

Recovery miles today. The last three I didn't I didn't even realize I was running.  I had one of those moments where you wonder how you got to where you are.  Made the run seem faster but those 3 miles weren't exactly my best- slow.

Good sleep the past two nights. Felt good today during my 9 miler except for my left foot going numb for a couple of miles in the middle of the run. Finally stopped and stretched out the leg and it felt better for the last two.

     Added a second run this evening when Pat stopped by to see if  I wanted to run a quick 4. I still felt like running so I went.

Work this morning early followed by some volunteer work made for a late run in the cold- 28.  Tired legs, which is to be expected for the end of a 50 mile week- fist time ever.  Excited about the P.R. for weekily distance but need to recover this week because I have 2 local 5 ks; Thursday and Saturday.  We'll see how I feel tommorow.

Long run with Dave today.  Averaged 8:00 minute miles but it felt faster. Cool and windy.  Last  5 miles were at 7:45's.

Cold and rainy this morning.  I decided I'd have to use the treadmill in the basement; which is one of my most dreaded things to do; but that's what I bought it for.  I did a mile warm up and decided to use my indoor time to do some hills.  I proceeded with the following workout.

All miles done at 8:00 mm

1 mile warm up

1 mile at 2.5% incline

1 mile at 5% incline

2 miles at 7.5% incline

1 mile at 5% incline

1 mile at 2.5% incline

1/2 mile warm down

Even though the basement is fairly cool I was sweating like a pig. I really wanted to cut the run short but kept telling myself- "Just 5 more minutes"  It's amazing how you can fool yourself even when you know you're doing it.

No running today as I had to take the boat off island for a day of  shopping.  One disadvantage of living on an island. It becomes an all day affair.

Not a lot of sleep last night as I had to get up early to prep and put the turkey in the oven. Still felt pretty good though.  This is a small race so my second place finish wasn't too surprising.  The race went off at 8:30 am with temps around 38 degrees. I tried realy hard not to go out too fast and I probably ended up  going out to slow. A 6:25 first mile was definetly slower than I had wanted.  The good news was that all my miles were negative splits.

6:25  6:03  5:58  I averaged  about 6:07's for the whole race.  I was happy with my time as historicaly this race is slow- everyone felt it was a bit long. Personaly I thought it was fine.  With the milage I've been putting in lately I didn't expect too much. Plus with another race on Saturday, it's nice to have somewhere to improve to.

A nice little recovery run today.  The calfs were realy tight but loosened up nicely by mile 2.  Other than that I feltgood for a day after.  Just tired legs. Another race tommorrow and then I have nothing scheduled.

This is probably my favorite race out here on the Island.  It follows the high school x-country course and reminds me of the "old" days of my youth.  If only I could run as fast today.  It's a fairly flat cousre but very sandy.  You're forced to go side to side along the course to avoid the deep stuff so your time is definetly affected.  After Thursdays run my legs were definetly a little slow.  I thought that I was running the first mile a bit quicker than the last race but found myself coming through in exactly the same time, 6:25.  That's when I knew I was in trouble.  I tried picking up the pace but there was no second gear. I did work hard for the rest of the race but couldn't make headway on anyone in frontof me.  I did manage to hold on to my place however, so that was a moral victory. First place for division winners was chocolates from the local chocolatiere, so my wife was happy with my finish also.  Good news is the racing season is over and I can concentrate on building up a good base for a spring marathon, if I can stay healthy.

Long slow miles in the cold-38 and rain this morning  with Dave.  Realy didn't want to go out after looking out the window but figured I wouldn't let Dave down.  It's good to have someone to help keep me honest. Struggled the first couple of miles but eventualy warmed up and felt a lot better for the last 8.   Looking forwards to a day off tommorrow.