Saturday 8/1/15

Still on Long Island. Pretty much a carbon copy of my run on Friday with an extra 2 miles tacked on to the end. Same route over to Belmont State Park with loops around Belmont Lake. Temps were in the high 80's again, but the humidity wasn't as bad as Thursday. I felt surprisingly good today considering we spent the whole day at a pool party after staying up until 3 am last night with the wedding. This made me feel a bit better about my fitness which I had been slightly worried about since my poor runs on Wednesday and Thursday. 73:52 for 12 miles.

Friday 7/31/15

I believe today was the first time this year when it was 90 degrees when I went for my run. Surprisingly, today felt more comfortable than yesterday. It rained last night which broke the humidity, so while it was really hot with the sun beating down, the run felt easy in comparison to yesterday. I did the same route as yesterday which looped around Belmont Lake, but I only did 10 miles. Alie and I are heading to a wedding this afternoon, and I didn't see any reason to kill myself in the heat today. Overall, felt pretty good. Right hamstring is still a bit of an issue though. 10 miles in 60:57.

Thursday 7/30/15

We drove up to Long Island for the weekend today, and I went out for my run once we got there. Another tough run today as temps were in the high 80's and the humidity was crazy. I ran over to Belmont State Park and got in 6 miles on the mix of packed gravel and paved paths. By the time I got to the park, the heat was already getting to me, and I had to back off normal training pace. Thankfully, the woods along Belmont Lake offer shade around half of the lake which helped a bit. Still a bit of a struggle though. Tried not to push things. 74:53 for 12 miles.

Wednesday 7/26/15

Really tough run today. I was working from home, and I had to get out for my run at lunch time due to my schedule. As a result, it was in the high 80's when I went for my run, the sun was beating down, and the humidity was a silent killer. As soon as I stepped outside, I knew it was going to be a tough run. I kept things steady at a normal training pace for the first 2 miles before backing off once I started to worry about my ability to finish the run. From mile 4 on, the pace got progressively slower, and there wasn't much I could do about it. By the end, I was really just happy to finish the run. I even had to cut the run half a mile short as I took the quick way home once leaving the Charles. On the upside, things never really fell apart. I kind of just slowly faded down to 7 min pace. Trying not to put too much stock into the run today. This was definitely the result of the heat/ humidity and 2 hard efforts over 3 days. 72:35 for 11 miles.

Tuesday 7/29/15 - Track workout (6 x 1K)

Headed over to the track behind Reggie Lewis after work for practice with GBTC. 4 mile warm up with the team at 7 minute pace then over to the track for the workout. As outdoor track season is now officially over for the club, there are only two training groups: the cross country group and the fall marathon group. With fewer sub-groups, I'll have more people to train with which I'm pretty excited about. That wasn't quite the case today though. A bunch of people were taking a light week or two after the end of the track season, so we only had about 5 people running the 6 x 1000m workout with 400m jogging rest. Splits below.

3:03, 3:02, 3:04, 3:05, 3:05, 3:05

Overall, I feel kind of "meh" about this workout. I was coming off a race that I was really happy with, and while this workout wasn't bad, it wasn't spectacular either. Just bland in comparison. I was running alone during the first 4 intervals, and I slowly started to fall off my goal pace of 3:02-3:03. When you put them all together, it doesn't even equal sub 15 for 5K, so nothing to get excited about. I suppose I probably should have gone for 8 x 1K at 3:05 - 3:06.

One thing that I will take some solace in is the fact that I was able to hold 3:05 pace for the last two splits. I was feeling gassed after the 4th interval, but I was able to hold it together. Having teammates to run with really helped me there. A few of the guys stepped up there splits from 3:10 to 3:05 for the last two which put some pressure on me to run 3:05. Without them right behind me, I probably would have fallen off the pace.

Mile cool down on the track with a few of the guys before running back to the North End for 14 miles on the day.

Monday 7/28/15

Standard 11 mile loop today. Felt really good for the day after a race. Stayed relaxed during the run and didn't push things, but still ended up running 6:0X pace which felt fairly easy. Hoping that my hamstring is good enough to do a track workout tomorrow at GBTC practice. 69:54 for 11.5.

York Days 5K - Sunday 7/26/15

Today was the 4th stop of the Seacoast Road Race Series, so we made our way to York, Maine bright and early this morning. When I rolled out of bed at 5 am, I was cursing the 8 am start time, but once we got on the road, it felt like a blessing. That early in the morning, temps were in the low 60s, and with the cloud cover and light rain that was falling, it only got up to about 65 degrees by race time. I was pumped for the great racing conditions. Although I wasn't feeling super confident coming into the race after taking 4 of the last 6 days off due to a sore hamstring, my leg was feeling pretty good when I got up this morning, and I wanted to take advantage of the good running weather.

Coming into the race, I wasn't sure what to expect from myself. My last 5K was back in May when I ran a 16:04 at Redhook. I was confident that I'd be well below that mark, but I didn't have much else to go on. Based on my training, I thought that I'd be happy with 15:30. Competition was also a question. I assumed Derrick Hamel would be there to continue chasing points for the overall race series, but with Jim Johnson out due to injury,  I didn't really know who my competition would be for this race. You just never know who is going to show up to these seacoast races. I'm glad I forgot to check last year's results, or I may have psyched myself out when I saw that Nate Jenkins won the race in 2014.

When we got to York High School, I grabbed my bid and did a 2 mile warm up on the course. The course is the same as when I ran here back in 2013, but it felt good to re-familiarize myself. Despite some small rolling hills, the course is actually really fast. The uphills are semi-steep but short while the downhills are very gradual which allows you to take full advantage. After the warm up, I stretched, switched into my racing flats, did a few drills, and headed to the start line. As soon as I got to the start line, I saw Nate Jenkins and immediately thought "looks like I'm racing for second place". The idea of just trying to maintain my lead in the overall seacoast series started to creep into my head, but I tried to push that thought away and focus on running a decent race. I brightened up a bit I reminded myself that the weather was perfect, and I would have someone to chase. Maybe there was a shot at running a good time.

There were a bunch of young kids on the start line, and I had a bit of trouble trying to find a spot. I was able to squeeze in, and after the singing of the national anthem by men's ensemble - The Bow Tie Guys, we were off

100 meters or so after the start

A couple of younger kids jumped out for the early lead

Thanks to Alie and my Mom for all the great pics!

Stride for stride with Nate Jenkins... no big deal

After about 200 meters or so, Nate and I overtook the younger kids who started off with a sprint, and we ran side by side for the first mile. About half a mile into the race, I asked Nate what time he was looking to run today, and he replied with "I'll be as happy as a pig in shit if I run 15:30 today" which gave me a good laugh. 5:01 mile split (according to Garmin) for the first mile which is mostly flat with a bit of up hill in the second half. The biggest "hill" on the course comes about half way through the race. It is only about 100 meters long, but it gains most of the elevation for the course. From the top of the hill on, the course is a nice gradual downhill. I gained a step or two on Nate going up the hill and briefly tested the waters of picking up the pace. I didn't really think I was going to drop him, but I thought it was worth a shot since I was feeling good. He tucked in behind me until the 2 mile mark when he retook the lead. Split for the second mile was 4:54. Just after the 2 mile mark, Nate started picking up the pace. Since age is on my side, I wasn't all that surprised that he would try to drop me with a mile to go. I tucked in behind him and tried to focus on maintaining contact. As we turned onto the road that runs along York Beach, I was struggling to stay with him, and he could tell. He put in a few bursts of speed which gave him a couple yards on me, but I was able to pull it back together. I retook the lead with 500 meters to go and started my kick with 400 meters to go. When I finally chanced a glance back, I realized that I had created a bit of separation, but I kept getting the feeling that he was going to come back on me. 

Final stretch. About 50 meters left.

First race in the Greater Boston jersey!

Thanks again to Alie and my mom for all the great pics!

With 5 meters to go, I was still worried that Nate was going to pull up next to me haha. 

Finished off in 15:10 for the overall win. Final mile split was 4:46 which meant we negative split each mile. I'm really happy with the time. It was 20 seconds faster than I was expecting and 3 seconds faster than I ran here back in 2013 under similar conditions. Granted, I didn't have Nate Jenkins pushing me that year. It would be a 2 second road PR for me, but I am hesitate to consider it one because the course isn't certified. My watch had the race at just a touch over 3.1, but you never know. 

Shout out to Leslie O'Dell for her overall win on the women's side. It seems like she is the female winner in every race that I run : ) 

Full Results can be found here, and Dan Doyon did a write up for Seacoast Online which can be found here. 

Unfortunately, Alie's quest to run the Seacoast Series ended today. She's been in a walking cast for the last few weeks because the swelling in her foot wasn't going down. It's getting better, but it was too soon for her to race. As a result, she was on picture duty today. While she did a great job, I came back to find a bunch of pictures like the below on my phone as well haha. No idea what she was doing while I was running. Apparently, she was a bit bored.