The "It" Route

Nice run this morning to burn off all of the traditional Thanksgiving Day grub that I mowed down yesterday. Blaine is in town also so he joined me for a big chunk of the run.

The goal was to hit several landmarks from Stephen King's "It". I ran from my in-law's house in Brewer over to the Paul Bunyan statue, where I met Blaine. From there we ran past King's house, then the Standpipe, then the Barrens, then the library and then the canals downtown.

Chilly out. It was in the teens throughout our run, but thankfully not much wind for once. Took a few miles to feel warmed up but it's beneficial to get used to the colder stuff early on and embrace it. There'll be plenty of runs in the cold for snowshoe racing season and the Boston training cycle in general. No room for wimps if you live in Maine.

Leg's felt yesterday's race a little. Easy pace throughout which allowed for some good conversation. Nice to get caught up with Blaine, life is quite good for the both of us right now, we had nothing but fun things to talk about.

Ran 11.7 miles @ 8:31/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Very hilly.
Mid to upper teens, sunny.
Saucony Virrata, long tights, fleece pullover, long sleeved shirt, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.

More Pie: Turkey Trek 4-Mile Trail Race

Yesterday, I baked a pie. Today, I earned one. 

Ran the Turkey Trek 4-Mile Trail Race at the Bangor City Forest this morning. It's a low key race. No bib numbers or official clock. Just bring in some canned goods to benefit a local food shelter for the entry fee. However, pies were at stake so in my book it was officially a race.

I was first overall when I ran it two years ago. With only a dusting of snow on the ground in only a few spots this time around, it was much faster this year. So was the competition. 

When it started, two young fellows, one a cross country runner from Bangor High School and his friend who ran cross country for USM, took off and I gave chase. I ran by Kate, who was a 100 feet up the trail and told her "I have no chance" with a laugh as I went by. I kept the two in sight for the first two miles but it was clear from their chatter that they were hardly pushing it. 

About three quarters of a mile in, I noticed one guy gaining some ground, perhaps fifty feet or so behind. I held him there for the next mile, and then the trail took a series of sharper turns. I decided to put on a surge here to try to lose him and I guess it worked. 

The two cross country kids were now out of sight and I was alone. Not knowing how far the other guy was behind me, I relaxed just a tad, taking it back only a half a step and running hard but ready to surge again if needed. 

Finish line in sight and I crossed. The winner (Bangor kid) came up and we exchanged congrats and chatted. I learned that I was actually in second place, only because his buddy took off ahead but made a wrong turn. Felt bad for the guy, but when I saw him a few minutes later he appeared to be laughing it off and taking it in stride. 

I chose a chocolate chip and walnut pie and can't wait to devour it later! Very happy to participate in an event that is for a good cause. Looks like they had a huge amount of canned goods thanks to the runners. Always nice when you can combine a true passion with a good cause, and I appreciate the pie. Thank you organizers, looks like it was a success. 

Pie!

Ran 3.9 miles @ 6:37/mile pace. 

Trails. 

Mostly flat. 

Around 30 degrees, sunny, windy. 

New Balance MT1010, long tights, sleeveless shirt, long sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves. 

w/u: Ran 1.9 miles @ 8:17/mile pace. 

Shakedown

Just some short mileage to keep the legs loose after yesterday. Almost didn't run, especially when I stepped out of my classroom to check the weather and was hit with an arctic wind blast that reminded me of yesterday. Not again, I thought. But I did. 

Legs felt fine. Pretty great in fact, but stuck with just doing three miles since Kate is home sick and I wanted to get back. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be challenging to run but the rest of the week should be pretty wide open. 

Ran 3.0 miles @ 8:30/mile pace. 

Paved roads. 

Slightly hilly. 

Upper 20s, sunny, breezy. 

Saucony Virrata, long tights, fleece pullover, long sleeved shirt, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves. 

Maine Running Company Turkey Trot 5K Race Report

Went quite well today. I haven't been in relatively decent race shape since Boston, so I was really excited about this morning. Glad it all panned out. Here's the lowdown:

Mile One

The start. 

We're off. I was very surprised during my warm-up run to learn the wind would be at our backs during the final stretch. That meant it'd be gusting in our faces during the first mile. It was. Despite a huge downhill, that gnarly wind (40+ mph gusts) slowed us down. 

During that downhill, Ian was beside me and I muttered draft as a suggestion for him to tuck behind me while we passed a few folks. Still, I could tell we weren't moving as fast we could be. That wind... oh man, that wind...  A right on to a neighborhood back street and we hit the mile split in over six minutes (GPS read a very generous 5:47 well before the mile marker, mile clock showed 6:08). I quietly said to Ian slow.

Mile Two

We're still on the back neighborhood road and I start to pull ahead of Ian a little. As we were getting ready to turn right on to the main road, I was surprised to catch one of my cross country runners who was there. I urged him to pick it up. He should have been in the top 10, maybe even the top 5, but was having a really off day. 

We went on to another back neighborhood section and I passed back the first woman. I had been leap frogging with her and a couple of other folks, including Orange Hat Guy, who pulled ahead of me here. More on him later. GPS split said 6:08, which was probably about right (and on par with the clock at the mile one split).

Mile Three

Shortly after the completion of mile two, the course had a small uphill on a third and final back neighborhood section that was magnified by the fact that we were head-on into the wind in an open area. It was brutal. Thankfully, once the hill was crested, the right turn back towards the finish was in sight. It was here the wind would be back at our backs. 

Said right turn came and with a favorable tail wind there was still a brutal hill to contend with. The runners were strung out ahead and spaced apart pretty equally. I like to think I'm strong on uphills, so I hoped to at least pick off a few. 

Orange Hat Guy wasn't too far ahead but running strong, however we did pick off at least one fellow, maybe two? Felt pretty good on the uphill. Yeah, it was work, but it didn't tax me as much as I thought it might. Good. 

With the climb over, there was the final right hand turn and just a little over a tenth of a mile to the finish line. I caught up to Orange Hat Guy and muttered let's go. I wanted to make sure I had a dogfight at the end to push my time down, even if I was on the losing end of it. 

It was also here that I saw my time was in good shape. Could I break 19:00? I'd have to move. 

Final Tenth

Orange Hat Guy remained behind me and was giving me a good push. However, as we rounded the turn and the clock came into view, it read 18:5X from pretty far off. I think I might have said an adult word out loud. Dang, that would have been nice, but I can't really complain. 

I crossed the finish line in 19:10. At first, I was pretty disappointed that I didn't break nineteen or even my time of 19:05 from seven years ago, but that wind and the cold definitely dented my time. Plus, I'm not even up to full speed yet. So, given all of those factors I'm pretty dang stoked.

Orange Hat Guy came up immediately afterwards and we exchanged good jobs and thanks for pushing/pulling each other to a faster time. I love that with running competitively, good sportsmanship abounds. Our sport is awesome. 

Turns out the time was good enough for 15th place overall and second in my AG. Excellent. Once I learned that, I felt much better. Pretty stoked to have placed well in both of those categories. Also very happy for one of the girls on my cross country team who also got an AG award. She was really happy.

Fight to the finish. 

Finish.

Post Race Analysis

Couldn't have really gone too much better. I paced myself where my splits were pretty even, especially when factoring in the big hill at the end and I felt I couldn't have redlined myself much further. 

Strategically, I can't think of anything I'd do differently. I tucked in behind folks when I could to block any headwinds and was patient when making moves. 

So, a good pat on the back for myself with this race. It showed I'm on a very good track. Not sure if I'll be doing any other races until snowshoe racing season, which will be a busy one. There's also the MWC and I'll be registering for sure tomorrow. All of that also adds to the bank for Boston, which is the 'A' race. Bring it on. 

Results

Ran 3.1 miles @ 6:11/mile pace. 

Official time: 19:10

Overall placing: 15th out of 684

AG placing (40-44): 2nd out of 35 

Paved roads. 

Very hilly. 

Lower 20s, partly cloudy, extremely windy. 

Brooks Mach 13, long tights, sleeveless shirt, long sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.

Pre-Race Jog

Keeping the legs fresh for tomorrow's 5K. Went just fine. By the time I was warmed up the run was over. Easy pace.

Weather forecast just keeps getting colder and windier for the race. Sweet, that'll make it memorable. Just makes for a better story to tell, regardless of what happens.

Ran 2.9 miles @ 8:07/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Upper 30s, sunny, breezy.
Saucony Virrata, warm-up pants, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.

Hills and Strides

Perfect running weather. Mid 40s, partly sunny and not much wind. Headed out on a short but hilly route and the legs felt pretty peppy.

With it being not too cold out, it didn't take too much to feel warmed up and the pace came down very easily. Went a little faster than I had planned, but I also had some strides planned for afterwards so I just cut down on the number of reps.

Everything is looking good for Sunday. Weather will have some major bite with it being cold and windy, but whatever, everyone else has to run in it also. Mind over matter; if you don't mind, it don't matter.

Ran 4.6 miles @ 7:19/mile pace. Includes 5 X 100M strides at the end.
Paved roads.
Very hilly.
Mid 40s, partly sunny.
Brooks Mach 13, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, gloves.

Easy Wednesday

Just an easy paced run from the school. Legs felt great, but no problems holding back. Pretty vanilla, not much else to report.

So, for the sake of writing something a little more substantial, I do have a few goals for Sunday's 5K that I might as well list:

• Sub-19
• Top 20
• Top three in age group

The sub-19 might be the toughest, mainly because I'm not at full speed yet and I've only cracked nineteen minutes once. That being said, I only race 5Ks once a year, maybe twice if I'm feeling sassy. 

Top twenty should be reasonable just looking at the past few years, but it all depends on who shows up. Same deal with the age group placing. Some years it would be easy, others not so much. 

Ran 5.5 miles @ 8:17/mile pace. 

Paved roads. 

Moderately hilly. 

Around 40, sunny. 

Saucony Virrata, shorts, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves. 

A Run With Number Three

A few tenths of a mile into my run, I saw the number three runner on our cross country team running up ahead of me. He also saw me and stopped to let me catch up. We talked and our distance plans were similar, so we happily decided to run together. I informed him I was only doing an easy pace though, so if he wanted to speed up, feel free.

That never happened. We pulled each other along and each mile got progressively faster until we were down to around 7:00/mile. Not blazing fast, but far from my easy pace at the same time. I couldn't help it.

Oh well, it was fun. I had a light track workout planned for Thursday, will just substitute it with an easy/moderate paced run with a session of strides at the end because of today. 5-7 easy miles for tomorrow.

Ran 5.0 miles @ 7:20/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Mid 30s, partly sunny, windy.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.

Bauneg Beg Mountain

Kate was wanting to hike and check out some new trails closer to her work that she can run on once hunting season is over. We checked out the Bauneg Beg Mountain Conservation Area and were pretty surpised.

It's a very small area and the trails aren't super long. However, as it is a mountain big hill, a lot of it was quite steep. We got in more than 600' of gain in 2.7 miles. This will be a great place for hill repeats.

Scenic woods and some really cool rock croppings. Also came across a pretty large spotted salamander, which we moved gently off the trail.

Ain't he cute?

Hiked 2.7 miles in 1:15:36 (includes all stops)

Technical trails. 

Insanely hilly. 

Mid 40s, overcast, light rain. 

New Balance MT1010, fleece pullover, short sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves. 

The Importance of Sleep

Picking up from yesterday; I wrote my blog post and laid on the couch with The Hobbit playing on the TV. Around ten minutes later, I was sound asleep.

A little over two hours into the movie, I awoke to the sound of whispering, followed by Kate cracking up with laughter. Confused and groggy, I asked what she was doing. She explained she was trying to plant subliminal messages to go out to eat at a Japanese steakhouse. I explained that hardly required any covert coaxing, but kept to myself that I was glad she wasn't trying to trick me into additional household chores.

After an awesome feast of quality sushi, we came home. Shortly afterwards I was in bed and woke up over nine hours later. With Kate in bed and two cats curled up at her sides, I knew she'd be there for a while so I hit the trails for a run.

Big surprise at first: I felt great. My energy was peppy and my legs only felt slightly tired. I mused that if I hadn't gotten in a speed workout already this week, a Fartlek session would have been more than possible and would have gone well, to boot. But still, I took it easy.

But what caused this big turnaround from yesterday? As soon as I asked myself the answer was obvious. Sleep. Much needed sleep. Rested and repaired as a result. The sushi might have gotten an assist as well; good protein and carbs.

Very stoked to get in 51.2 miles for the week. Ramp up is going fantastic. Step down week next week, which will go well with the 5K race a week from today. Will be many turkeys a trottin'.

Ran 5.2 miles @ 9:05/mile pace.
Trails.
Mostly flat.
Upper 30s, overcast.
New Balance MT1010, long tights, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, buff, gloves.

A Tale of Two Runs

Past few days have been one big whirlwind. Back-to-back cross country banquets on Thursday and Friday evenings (division and then our own). Seriously great and awesome events, not to mention sentimental.

Friday

Ran from the school. Was very tired from the previous night, so during my planning period (which is at the end of the day), I had a cup of coffee. That made me a bit nauseous during the run, especially at the end. Peppier, but nauseous. Easy pace.

Ran 7.1 miles @ 8:09/mile pace. 

Paved roads. 

Very hilly. 

Mid 50s, sunny. 

Saucony Virrata, shorts, long sleeved shirt. 

Today

Cursed my alarm for going off, but obeyed and rose out of bed to run with the Trail Monsters. Let the front group go ahead, and ran with Ryan and Sean. Ryan took a shortcut back, so Sean and I ran the rest of the campus side back to the YMCA. He was done but I continued on, hitting the campus side again. 

I was alone on the second loop, which was fine. First time I've had some alone time in several days so it was welcome in that sense. That and I was really slow now. Really slow. Pretty clear that the sleep deprivation had caught up to me and plus my legs were far from fresh. Enjoyed it though. Didn't do the entire campus side for the second round, but most of it. 

Went fishing with Pete afterwards. We both got skunked but it was beautiful day on the river nonetheless. 

Ran 14.8 miles @ 10:04/mile pace. 

Trails. 

Moderately hilly. 

Upper 30s to upper 40s, partly sunny. 

New Balance MT1010, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, cap, gloves. 

Tempo Thursday

Some schedule rearranging... I took yesterday off instead of today but ran yesterday's planned workout today, which was eight miles total with five at tempo pace. I was kind of dreading it all day, mostly because I had no idea how it'd go, but not running yesterday helped freshen up the legs a bit. Was glad I did that. Not ready to do harder workouts on tired legs just yet, need a bit more base work first.

Mile and a half warm-up and then the tempo portion. Splits were 6:39, 6:50, 6:45, 6:40 and 6:46 over a moderately hilly route, followed up with a mile and a half for cool down. Not bad for this stage. It did feel a bit tough, especially that second mile which was mostly uphill. Fifth mile was also uphill, but I was more warmed up by then so not as bad. So yeah, all in all, can't complain.

Am adjusting tomorrow's workout. Had planned on 13 miles but it'd make more sense to save something longer for Saturday. I think tomorrow will be somewhere between 7-10 miles. Might even just do five if the legs are feeling pretty shot, but I think at least seven is reasonable.

w/u: Ran 1.5 miles @ 7:26/mile pace.
Ran 5.0 miles @ 6:42/mile pace.
 c/d: Ran 1.5 miles @ 8:20/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Moderately hilly.
Mid 40s, sunny.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt.

Low, Slow and Incognito

As planned, super slow five miler. The pace was on par but it came a little too naturally. I would have preferred to have been at a point where I was my holding myself back. I think the past four days have caught up to me a bit, that's all.

Still planning on a tempo run tomorrow though. I'm at least at a stage where things can turn around on a dime, so hopefully I'll have some pep tomorrow.

Ran 5.0 miles @ 8:38/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Lower 30s, partly sunny, windy.
Merrell Bare Access, warm-up pants, fleece pullover, long sleeved shirt, beanie, gloves.

Good Start to the Week

Ran a smidgen over eleven miles this morning. Recovery pace was intentional just to get in the mileage while not straining the legs too much.

This is part of a set-up to do another very easy five miles tomorrow and a tempo run on Wednesday. Thursday will likely be a rest day, and then on Friday I'm toying with the idea of having Kate drive me to work and then will run home from there (13.2 miles). That'll make getting in over 50 miles for the week very easy as the weekend rolls in.

Easier week next week to rest up for the MRC Turkey Trot. Can't believe I'm taking a 5K so seriously. That's good though, I haven't been serious and in decent race shape since Boston last year. Feels good to have a competitive drive again. I've run this race twice before but that was way back, but I remember that wall at the end of the course. Bring it on.

Ran 11.1 miles @ 8:37/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Upper 30s to lower 40s, sunny, breezy.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, windbreaker, short sleeved shirt, cap.

Easy Six

Nothing exciting. Just an easy six miles around the 'hood. Felt pretty good overall but held back. Another 40+ mile week, the third in a row. Things are right on track.

I have tomorrow off for Veteran's Day. Might do something a little on the longer side tomorrow. Would like to maybe hit 50+ miles for next week, especially since the week afterwards will be a step down week. That's due in part to freshen up the legs for the Turkey Trot, but it'd also be smart to step back a little as the ramp up continues. One step back for several steps forward.

Ran 6.1 miles @ 8:09/mile pace.
Paved and dirt roads.
Very hilly.
Lower 40s, overcast.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, buff, gloves (off and on).

That Shouldn't Have Happened

Today's run at Pineland was awesome. My energy was high and my legs felt great; dare I say they even felt fresh. I had pep. This is all great, but it shouldn't have been that way.

Yesterday's speed workout was tough. Normally a workout like that has me feeling expectedly sore the next day. Throw in that I had a greasy (but delicious) bacon cheeseburger at the local pub last night, washed down with a couple of locally made barley sodas. I woke up in the middle of the night with some bad indigestion and couldn't fall back to sleep for a while. I woke up feeling tired and not very rested as a result.

Yet despite all of that, I felt great during the run. And... there were minimal problems with my heel on the trails. Imagine a boat out at sea getting hit broadside with swells...that same movement with my right foot causes a sharp, shooting pain on the inside of my heel. The trails at Pineland are pretty smooth so that obviously was a big factor in helping, but still, I expected worse. Only twice did I rock the foot the wrong way and the pain was brief and dissipated quickly. Excellent.

Toss into the mix the the great company of Ian, John R. and Julia for most of the run, followed by some coffee and treats time at the Visitor Center with everyone else afterward. That was awesome. Hard to ask for a better Saturday morning run. Stoked.

Ran 10.2 miles @ 8:59/mile pace.
Trails.
Moderately hilly.
Lower to upper 30s, partly sunny.
New Balance MT1010, long tights, windbreaker (shed halfway), long sleeved shirt, buff, gloves.

Pyramid Scheme

Call it an Amway run without any con artists involved. Warmed up, then hit the track for 400M, 800M, 1200M, 1600M, 1200M, 800M and 400M with 400M active recovery in between each rep.

It went very well. Quite pleased with the splits, which were: 1:25, 2:58, 4:37, 6:14, 4:35, 2:55, 1:19. The backside of the pyramid was all faster than the front half. That negative split of sorts is pretty dang awesome. However, in all fairness, I somewhat unintentionally took that first rep 400M too slow as I'm not used to 400M pacing. Still, I'll take it.

Great workout that I was glad to get in. Great fall weather to boot: cold, windy and blustery with a few short bursts of sprinkles that weren't too far off from turning to snow. Raw weather like that is great for track workouts, even if it is windy. Ambience is not to be underrated.

w/u: Ran 1.3 miles @ 8:02/mile pace.
Pyramid: 400M, 800M, 1200M, 1600M, 1200M, 800M and 400M w/ 400M active recovery: 1:25, 2:58, 4:37, 6:14, 4:35, 2:55, 1:19.
c/d: Ran 1.3 miles @ 9:25/mile pace.

Paved roads for warm-up and cool down.
Slightly hilly for warm-up and cool down.
Lower 40s, partly sunny, brief moment of light rain, windy.
Brooks Mach 13, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, buff (w/u and c/d), gloves (w/u and c/d).

Holding Back

Had planned on 15 miles today. I could have followed through with that, but after three or so miles into the route it became pretty clear that going that long would tax my legs and put a solid speed workout I have planned for Friday at risk. With the 5K coming up in 2 1/2 weeks, the fast stuff is at a premium.

So, I cut it a bit short. Eleven miles turned out to be ample. Easy five tomorrow then I should be good for the track on Friday.

Ran 11.1 miles @ 8:09/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Mid 50s, partly cloudy.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, refl. vest.

The Reluctant Sun

The sun just kind of hangs out in the east this time of year, reluctant to climb high and relieved to duck back under the horizon. It's tired and has given up trying, not caring if the shadows are long and the cold air begins to bite. It has better things to do. Leave me alone, it says. I need more sleep. Don't bug me until March.

Thankfully, there wasn't as much to do as I thought with preparing first quarter report cards. I put on some Aphex Twin, fastened my seatbelt, focused hard and breezed through what I had to do. Just as I was getting up to speed, it was time to apply the brakes. I was done.

Rejoicing, I changed and left the school, running my usual five mile route. There was still plenty of daylight to enjoy the run, even though Mr. Sun had punched out and was on his way home. It went well. Quite pleased given the mileage over the weekend.

A rest day is planned for tomorrow and with cross country season over, this means my afternoon is pretty wide open. The trout are no doubt missing Mr. Sun's presence, but hopefully they won't mind a size 14 black nosed dace waved in front of their noses. Yessir, I'm going fishing.

Ran 5.0 miles @ 7:49/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Upper 30s, sunny.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, buff, gloves.

Another Solid Ramp Up Week

A smidgen over seven miles this morning at an easy pace. Another solid week overall, getting in over 40 miles. It's fun to think that in a couple of months my step down weeks will be more than this. Things are on track for getting there.

Bittersweet day yesterday as our cross country season came to an official end. Very proud of our girls team for making it to states but am sad now that it's over. It's been a very fun season.

On a selfish note, I must admit I'm looking forward to having an extra 10-15 hours a week. Sometimes it worked out where I could run my workouts with the teams, but that was usually only a day or two a week at best. The extra time in the afternoons will be pretty welcome, especially given my plate has been especially full lately with the writing class I'm taking. Big exhale.

Looking ahead, I expect to creep my weekly mileage up into the 50s by December. There's also still the MRC Turkey Trot 5K that I want to crush, so getting in some more speedwork in the next few weeks will be crucial.

Ran 7.2 miles @ 7:50/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Upper 30s, partly sunny.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, fleece pullover, short sleeved shirt, buff, gloves.

Opening Day Fifteen Miler

Rifle and shotgun season opens for deer today. Even though I was on the roads, I still wore orange given that I'm in a rural area and every yokel and their grandmother has flooded the woods. Saw so many trucks alongside the road that I wondered if there were more hunters in the wood than deer. I respect hunting and all, but given the hunter to woods ratio for my area, I wonder about the worth.

Run itself went great. Ran a new route that circumnavigates Harris Farm. Easy pace. Pretty scenic and enjoyable. Glad to have another longish run in for a building block. Hoping to get in another seven miles tomorrow to get me over forty again for the week.

Ran 15.4 miles @ 8:07/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Upper 40s to lower 60s, sunny.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt (shed halfway), cap.