Training Log Archive: cmorse

Up at 5 - felt like crap. But often I'll feel better after a bit of running, so forced myself out the door. Lightly misting at 5:30 when Bruce, Mark and I left Marks house for a 20 mile road run. Fell back a bit on Minor Hill when I had to walk but caught back up. Feeling generally weak - dropping back again going up the hill from Crystal Lake up Boyer Rd. Lightheaded and finding difficulty running a straight line. Mark and Bruce circled back to check on me a couple times before I told them to go ahead and I'd figure things out on my own. Stopped at Soapstone for lengthy outhouse visit and decided to just retrace my steps and call it a day - I wasn't feeling any better, and in fact now feeling worse - started out comfy and now feeling chilled. Came home, showered and went back to bed until almost noon.

FYI - still feel like crap...

Another limited window of opportunity, so ran the dirt road hard again - shaved 3 seconds off the 2009 PR.

859 out (7 sec quicker), 937 back (4 sec slower)

17 down, 8 to go, 1 week left!!

Long day - started about 5:15, got home a little after 5 - but had to run to Stafford Springs to pick up some supplies, so grabbed the running gear in order to sneak a run in while out. Decided to try a small conservation tract above Stafford Springs - trail map said 2.5 miles but GPS came up short. A steep climb up the ridge initially, but then somewhat rolling. Had planned on doing a few loops - but I was running late and the trail had a lot of laurel stubs under fallen oak leaves - so the footing left something to be desired. So I called it quits after one loop. It ain't much, but I'll count it... :-)

16 down, 9 to go, 8 days...

C • Did you hear about this? 2

Sick kids, staff on vacation.... oh hell, just more excuses...

9 days to go, 10 runs still to get in. I guess I'm in the hole now...

moved a half ton of stove pellets from the garage to the basement - didn't feel like doing it all in one shot, so I'll move the other ton and a half later...

Running solo at work this week - didn't think I'd get anything in until later in the week - but got home soon enough to squeeze in a hard, fast run before bus time. Gorgeous day - 9:06 to turnaround, 9:33 back.

15 down, 10 remain - 11 days...

Hmmm... This afternoons run appears to be a 2009 PR for me for this route - same pace as my sub-20 5K at Cider Mill a few weeks ago. So I suppose that even if I have to suffer through Stonecat - I should be in pretty decent shape for 73rd Manchester Road Race a few weeks later. Especially if I drop a couple more pounds...

AM run around Shenipsit - dirt road > old trolley line > Mountain Street > Ellington Road > SLR.

Time and pace includes walking most of the last mile - body just didn't feel like it, and it was a nice morning to walk - so I walked...

14 down, 11 to go, 12 days..

Early AM run w/ Bruce and Mark. Started from Spring St at 5:30am in the dark, light but steady rain and temps chilly enough to debate how much clothing to wear. Mostly Shenipsit Trail S then down into Coups Sawmill, up along the power line, then back N paralleling Birch Mtn Rd back to Case, then carriage road almost to 384, a quarter mile of road then back on the Shenipsit Trail and others headed south again. I had a 9am Strider meeting to get to so we headed back to the cars, they refilled water bottles and headed out for another 90 minutes or so, and I headed on up to Somers. Despite the conditions, it was a great morning to be out - gloomy, misty woods & slippery leaf strewn trails requiring careful concentration. Halfway - 13 down, 12 to go, 13 days until Stonecat!!

Note to self: started new pair running contacts today - should be good through Stonecat at least.

Its looking likely that the Shenipsit Striders will dissolve at the end of the year. The Soapstone races will likely carry on under the guise of a different local club (mostly road focus), but due to lack of fresh members willing to step up and help run the club, it seems a merger into a larger running base is in order after 30 some odd years as a trail-focused running club. Sad to see it go, but sometimes you gotta make tough choices.

only time for 5k, unispired, felt like work

12 down, 13 to go

Nice afternoon for a run - hoped to get more time, but settled for 40 minutes before bus time.

Groovin to Viva Rad Vegas - March 2007, 3rd night - might have to download all three Viva Rad Vegas shows to go to Stonecat with.

11 down, 14 to go, 17 days

Woohoo!! New Shoes.... New Inov-8 dealer - manchester running, so new they haven't even finalized financing on their new store front. At my request the owner got in some Roclite 305's and 312GTX shoes in my size, then drove out to my house to let me try them on and choose. There wasn't much difference in them but the 305's felt a tad snug in the forefoot so I opted for the 312's. And I've got about a half hour before the boys bus comes home, so I'm going runnin!!

Had about a half hour until bus time after Patrick from the Manchester Running Company came to the house and sold me a new pair of Inov-8's so I immediately changed and headed down the road for the quick jaunt. Very comfy shoes... me like... :-)

10 down, 15 to go... (18 days)

C • So you must be quite the lo... 2

Damn, running out of wiggle room, 16 runs to go, 19 days to Stonecat - may have to start doubling up some days. A few longer runs would be nice too. Nothing happened today, and tomorrow looks like a pretty hectic day so unlikely there either. And Ellen is out pretty much every night this week. Not looking so good, but at least I feel confident I can do the 50 miles, just not sure how long its going to take me at this point...

Jackson's camping weekend with Troop 2. Camped at Auer Farm in Bloomfield, hiked up to Heublein Tower on the Metacomet Ridge. Overcast and breezy, but a good day for hiking.

Wore my running gear on the hike up to Heublein Tower - Jackson hiked back down with the troop, I opted for a longer route back to camp to get some running time in today. Back down the ridge, a combination of offtrail & single track (trail pretty rocky and grotty so I ran in the woods quite a bit), then down to MDC Reservoir #6 and did a couple laps around that before headed back to camp. Gravelly roads beat my feet up pretty well since I was wearing the thinner 790's but my other shoes are shot. Not a stellar run and would have liked more time on the feet, but at least I got one in.

Going to try a couple different Inov-8 models, hopefully this week - 305's and 312's...

9 down, 16 to go...

need to get some running in somewhere - so I took running stuff to work, then since I had to go to the hardware store anyway (and usually walk), I ended up running there, then cross country through some nice woods and corn fields, then back via Hunting Lodge stopping at Subway to grab lunch. Light snow falling during most of the run - that makes two snow runs in a row this month..

8 down, 17 to go...

First snow run of the season. Final day up in NH with the family awoke to wet snow falling - since we were planning on leaving around noon, it was pretty apparent we weren't going to be doing any hiking etc this AM, so I tossed on my hiking clothes and went for a run instead. 2 miles of road down to the Brick Store and covered bridge in Bath, then headed N on the rail trail (rough gravel - mostly ATV's and snowmobiles) toward Lisbon. Although it was snow up on the hill, down along the river it was pretty much just rain. Running felt uninspired but I knew that I'd be glad I'd done it so set a turnaround of 50 minutes, then decided to try and push for negative splits on the way back. The last mile has a decent uphill back to the cabin. Wound up doing the return trip in 42 minutes. Quite surprising.

7 down, 18 to go...

C • Lisbon 1

An assortment of geocaching and hiking today - gorgeous day early, then clouding up later on.

more geocaching and hiking with the family. First choice was to do a long hike at Lincoln Woods off the Kangamangus Hwy - got to Lincoln and the Kang was a parking lot backed up on the highway. So we got on the highway going N (no backup visible N of the Lincoln exit) and headed up into Franconia Notch with the thought of hiking up the Bridal Path toward Greenleaf hut as far as we felt like it. Got up to Lafayette place and there were cars parked all over the shoulders on both sides of the highway - couldn't even get into the parking lots. Kept driving - pulled onto Rt 3 toward Twin Mtn - slowed down near the Skookumchuck trailhead - lots of cars, but none spilling onto the roadway, noticed one backing out so we pulled in and grabbed that spot. Hiked up the Skook for an hour or so, then turned around - nice day for a hike - no great views from this part of the trail, but lots of nice foliage in the woods and very pretty streams to cross/play in. A good time..

geocaching with the boys in various parts of WMNF. One cache was right on a dirt road (probably could have reached it out the window of the van - but since we didn't have any maps - only GPS coordinates - we parked elsewhere and hiked to it - having to ford some chilly marshes and lots of dense boreal forest - thick spruce, spongy sphagnum. All this in a cold fog, around 40F so we were quite wet and chilly by the time we finished up - but quite fun..

ie - too much stuff on my plate, no time for exercise today. Off to NH tomorrow...

But I've got to get 19 more runs in the next 29 days - so I'm still on target I think...

Damn, I ran yesterday (though not long) and was well under my calorie limit - and I'm up another # over yesterday. This is trending the wrong direction...

Managed to get the rest of the Beachcomber show in before the boys got home from school - Anna had yearbook club today. Nice run, breezy, cool, passing sunny showers....

6 down, 19 to go - so far so good... but off for a long 4-day weekend to NH this weekend, so a lull in there, though we will hopefully get a lot of hiking and perhaps some geocaching in there...

Woohoo! Anna had to stay after school, leaving me with 30 whole minutes of free time. Quick jaunt out to Hare Rd. and back 11:09 out, 11:06 back. Half a minute faster than last week, but up a pound as well :-( I've been good, really I have...

5 down, 20 to go..

Groovin to the first set of the Radiators @ the Beachcomber 8-12-2009. First 6 tunes of what sounds like a great show. The Beachcomber is a really, really small club, last time we saw the Radz there Frankie (the drummer) had to climb in through the window from the beach to get to his kit. Ahh... life before kids...

I'm thinking maybe for Stonecat I'll see if I can't dig through the Radz archives and find some shows whose total running time matches my wishful lap times at Stonecat - then see if I can't use that to pace myself - 4 shows, 4 laps, 50 miles....

Got back to the house with time to spare, so rather than just wait for the bus, I kept on going, pacecounting about 200m past the house, then back, repeat 3x until bus showed up....

another dash to the forest for some geocaching before dark. Couldn't find the first on (about 30m off the Soapstone return course), though reading comments many others have had difficulty. Next two were pretty trivial, one next to trail, one pretty close to road - but we came at them cross country from a different direction. A wee bit of trail running back to the car makes this loggable as level 2

sprint geocache w/ Jackson and Hayden between homework and scouts. Two caches in Shenipsit - full series is a 5+ mile hike, so we picked two and bushwacked up the hill from Sykes Rd. Getting late so we hightailed it out of the 2nd one barrelling downhill through fairly nice woods dropping out right near one of the unmanned water stops on the Soapstone course - then about 200m back to the car.

Event: breakneck 20k
 

Was planning on just going for an easy run this AM, but Scott commented on my Facebook page after Cidermill if they'd see me at Breakneck - I had forgotten it was this weekend so decided to wander up there to get my long run in.

Foggy and 60's upon arrival, opted for the contacts as I suspect my glasses would have fogged and been useless. Went off course right off the bat as I missed a quick turn and followed a couple other folks who obviously didn't know the course - quickly back on track but running in the back of the pack - not such a bad spot actually.

4.2 miles out on the ridge trail I gradually passed folks eventually catching Ed Alibozek near the north end of Breakneck pond. Runners were allowed to go either direction around the pond and I went with Ed CW heading down the east side first. Appears most runners went the other way. Moved ahead and set my sights on the next person ahead - Amy Lane - daughter of Pete Lane who runs many of the NEOC scout O's - we chatted a while and she said she had done quite a bit of O when younger, but had a disastrous outing at the Nickerson A-meet and hasn't been back out since. We ran together for a few miles as she seemed to think we were on a 2 hour pace, though I thought we were more likely in the 2:15-2:20 range. About a half mile up the west side she zigged when she should have zagged and slipped on a muddy side slope, I skampered past but expected her to rejoin shortly, after a couple minutes she did not reappear and I was just cruising solo passing runners coming the other way on a CCW loop. Decided to push a bit and see if I could go under 2 hours - running felt really fine, legs were a bit sore from Saturdays 5K, but the cardio and such felt fine. Got into a really fine groove running many of the uphills and only walking the steep stuff.

All alone on the 4.2 mile return on the Ridge Trail and pushed hard as I approached the 2 hour mark, not sure how far off the finish was. 2 hours came and went and I backed off the pace a little bit - just cruising comfortably. A while later Farmer Ed came cruising up behind me and I started to step aside to let him pass and he said the finish was right over the next hill and he wasn't going to pass. Knowing the end was near, I gunned it up and over and into the finish.



A fine run, saw a lot of folks I hadn't seen in a while and quite happy with 11th place (of 75) in just over 2 hours. But legs WILL be sore tomorrow.... Bruce wants me to join him for a 20 miler in the morning, but I don't think so... not this time...

4 down, 21 to go

went geocaching with Jackson - nice day. A series of 6 micros up on the Shenipsit Trail behind our house - first one was only 400m from the back door - however new landowners have barricaded the trails and they're horribly overgrown with brambles and other nasties. Only found 2 of the 6, but we didn't have any 'clues' with us and since micros tend to be pill bottles wrapped in camo duct tape and shoved down some chipmunk hole we didn't spend a lot of time searching.

Perfect running weather - 60ish, cloudy, intermittent showers.

Wasn't sure what to expect, started back mid pack, first 800m had a lot of slowing down and stutter stepping as young kids weaved and bobbed in the masses, finally broke free of the crowd on an uphill and quickly began passing folks. Opened up over the top of the hill and gradually just began picking bodies off up to the first mile in 6:22. Feeling very good, not pushing too hard, but a nice sustainable pace.

Picked a few more scalps off approaching 2miles which was on top of a slight rise 6:10 for the second mile as called by a timer at the 2mi mark. Still feeling strong, leaders long since out of sight, set my mark on a group of 4 perhaps 40m ahead. Slowly reeled them in, passing the latter runner near the cemetary. I could feel my form starting to falter a bit in the last 1000m and although I got close to the other three, they dug deep and kicked it up a notch just before the 3 mile mark (no timer) so I stayed perhaps 10-12m behind them but not enough in me to catch them.

Timing clock at the finish was whacked - it read 1873 and not changing when I crossed the line, but they were using chip timing so hopefully I got recorded ok - I did hear a loud beep as I crossed the mat.

I'm guessing I might have broken 20 minutes which I haven't done in a very long time - so very happy with the run - but we'll see what CoolRunning has to say about my exact time...

3 down, 22 to go...

- update: 16th of 359 overall, 4th of 63 age group
- 18s slower than my 5K pr set on this course in 2005

random jogging around before the races as a warmup

Met Ellen and the kids at the library before heading off for afternoon errands. Rather than go back and fetch the car, we went straight home - forcing me out the door to go fetch the car later on. Good plan huh?

A little slow out the door, then pushed it up the 1600m hill from Peter Green to Bald Hill, then flew down the back side into town. Quite winded and a bit asthmatic..

2 down, 23 to go. Cider Mill 5K tomorrow, not sure if I'm running it at my pace, or merely shadowing the boys. We'll see...

Well the boys have decided to run the 1 mile run instead of the 5K, so looks like I'll give it a go and see what kind of time I can turn in. Legs are pleasantly spent from this evenings run.