Training Log Archive: PG

Event: NEOC: Forest Park Sprints and Picnic
 

Phil's sprints at Forest Park. This was Sprint 1, mostly on trails. Not a bad run after a little fumble at the first control. Tried my other pair of new shoes from Inov-8, seemed fine.

Sprint 2, more in the woods and slower. Several screw-ups (5, 8, 9) but not so bad.

Four more races to go in the next 24 hours....

Maps -- Sprint 1 and Sprint 2.

Also put out 5 controls, picked up 6 after, maybe 30 minutes each, but it was very non-stressful so I can't call it training.

The Northampton Mile. Net downhill maybe 70', all at about the half-mile mark.

Ran OK. First quarter in 91, feeling too fast, but knowing the downhill was coming. Second quarter in 93, last 100 yards or so sharply downhill, but I used it to recover instead of speeding up. Third quarter in 95, first 100 yards or so gently downhill, still a little conservative. Last quarter in 92, felt good at the end, obviously had a little left over. 6:11 total, a little better than expected given I already had two sprints in the legs. I'd guess the downhill was worth 5 seconds, maybe a little more.

Quite good fun actually. And was over really quickly.

Joe B also ran. Disappeared like a shot at the start. I think he was about 5:40, don't think he was really working hard.

Warm-ups before the first sprint and the mile.

Sprint 2 - Splits

Sprint 1 - Splits

Just a short ride to get a little exercise instead of a snack. Bookmill loop. Timing was not too bad -- according to Gail it rained here pretty hard, starting after I left and ending before I got back. I just got a couple of sprinkles.

Blood pressure today was low 120s over about 70, it's been better since I lost a few pounds.

B-day -2?

So this was 2 weeks ago --

Thursday evening track group. And a nice evening it was. And there's is no other way to put it -- just a great workout. :-)

A good crowd, maybe 15 people, I was roughly in the middle as far as speed. The plan was 2x800, then 2x1000, then 2x800, with a modest amount of rest in between. Two weeks ago I did a similar workout with 800s from 3:19 to 3:23, so the goal this time was 3:20 or just a little less.

(distance, time, rest)
800: 3:17.9, 1:14
800: 3:16.4, 1:15
1000: 4:06.7 (800 in 3:17), 1:38 (including back to the start)
1000: 4:02.2 (800 in 3:14), 1:47 (including back to the start)
800: 3:13.5, 1:24
800: 3:09.9

All of them felt easy except the last one, easy meaning around threshold pace, no faster, could have kept going. Felt really good.

Tonight couldn't have been more different.

For starters, rain. It looked like we'd get a break in the all-day rain, but that was not to be, seemed to get harder.

Next, nothing felt easy, everything a struggle.

And, hard to call it a great workout, other than it got done (mostly).

The plan for our group of 6 was 2x400, 800, 2x1000, 800, 2x400, with rest of about 60-75 seconds, not so much. I had thought that a reasonable goal would be to try to keep to a 6:20 pace, or 95 seconds per lap. But that proved too ambitious.

(distance, time, rest)
400: 1:35.8, 53
400: 1:34.4, 54
800: 3:12.1, 1:18
800: 3:16.2, 2:16 (cut this one short, a little more rest, needed it)
800: 3:15.0, 2:18 (ditto)
800: 3:14.3, 1:15
400, 1:31.5, 58
400, 1:30.6

A struggle all the way. But, got it done, even if slightly modified, and there's something to be said for that.

A couple laps before and a couple after. We started the intervals 5 minutes earlier than expected (the guy in charge is very anal about time). I could have used a couple more laps before, though I'd guess it was going to be a struggle anyway. Some days are like that.

C • Time at least for a letter to the department 1

At the trails at the Brattleboro Retreat after a round of RP just up the street with Mike Fritz. I had hoped to run first, it's so nice to get it done with early, but that just didn't happen. But I got it done right afterwards, and the legs felt not as bad as feared.

Up to the Ice Pond, down to the Retreat farm and back up, up to the top of the ski jump and then back down, and then back to the parking on Dummerston Road. All seemed to go by quite quickly. New shoes seemed OK.

Track tomorrow.

So it seems like a reasonable plan for the upcoming weekend should include the NEOC sprints at Forest Park in Springfield on Saturday, the Greylock Half Marathon on Sunday morning, and then after a quick transfer and with a special dispensation from the Duke of Ratlum Mountain for a late start for Sprint 1, the up-to-now totally detested, but this year under a new philosophy (that they are supposed to be fun), world famous Ratlum Mountain Sprints. With just enough time when we get there to don the blue caps, because FDF season is just about here.

To be followed by delicious food and drink, plus some special entertainment to be announced as soon as the final plans, which have been 39 years in preparation, are decided upon.

Anyone game? Joe? Ross? Sam? Clem? Or should I just be asking the guys with a little macho (and mush for brains)? Jeff? George? Clint?

C • tempting 24

One more thing to make Saturday more worthwhile -- the Northampton Mile late Saturday afternoon.

So that makes a 6 races for the weekend. How can anyone pass that up?

C • fdfs 5

From the results of yesterday's race... :-}

Warm-up for the Northampton 5K XC. As almost always, legs didn't feel like there was going to be much there when called on.

Last time I was here was 3 weeks ago, ran 22:14. A couple weeks before that 22:34. The goal this time was under 22. The stretch goal for sometime in the next 4 weeks to have a go at the age 64 record of 21:33.

Here is my post-mortem from 3 weeks ago:

Splits: 7:13, 7:05, 7:14, 42.

Still need to HTFU when it comes to working hard. Holding back a little bit for the first couple of miles (no lactic acid in the legs at the top of the first hill, no real heavy breathing) as if I'm scared of crossing the red line, though I'm not really that close. The third mile was closer to the edge, felt pretty close to the right amount of pain, still could have pushed a little more. Just have to relearn how to do this.

So the plan this week was to start faster, get under 7 for thr first mile (down then up), then a little faster for the second mile (mostly flat, one drop), and then if I died on the last mile, so be it. Nothing ventured, noting gained, at least go down trying.

Saw Seth just before the start, he usually beats me in these things pretty handily. But not tonight.

Shoes were the old stand-bys, Saloman 460s, they're not really called 460s, but that's what each one weighs, a nice solid pound each. I got some much lighter shoes yesterday, but it seemed possibly foolish to race in them first time, plus I wanted to see if the last 3 weeks of solid training had made a difference.

Though I did trim my beard. Trim, not cut off completely. Though I'm thinking about that. Even checked out razors at the store. But didn't buy one. Yet.

C • Clip & Snip 21

Ran as planned, a harder effort right from the start, so I was already breathing hard when we hit the first hill a half mile in. Passed Seth on the way up, not sure at the moment if that was wise, but no holding back. Hit the first mile in 6:49. Holy shit. 24 seconds faster than 3 weeks ago. Definitely working hard.

And for mile 2 too. As quick as I could, definitely breathing hard, 6:42, 13:31. Holy shit again. Though the good time was tempered by the thought that I was right where I had to be if I wanted to beat the age record (21:33). Which meant I had to keep going.

And mile 3 was suddenly longer. Seriously. Not just in my mind. Don, who started and carefully measured the course 23 years ago, had decided a couple of weeks ago that runners over recently years had been gradually cutting a couple corners in the third mile, making the course maybe 20-30 yards short. So he'd gone out and placed big logs marking the original route. Not what I needed at this point, but the course was the course.

Hung in there best as I could up the hills. Knew I had to hit 3 miles in 20:50 to have a chance, got there in 20:47 (7:16 uphill). It was in the bag. A good finish, 21:27, one word after I crossed the line, "Wonderful."

Splits: 6:49, 6:42, 7:16, 40. Forty-seven seconds faster than 3 weeks ago. Lots of good workouts in that period, the best being the 4 hard 400s.

Took longer than usual for the pulse to calm down.

So I finally remembered what it's like to race. Now I'll have to see if I can repeat it.

C • Happy 7

C • big logs? 2

A variety of trails at Hopkinton State Park, including for the first half mile or so the rootiest trail I have ever seen, no rocks, no dirt, just roots. Yuk.

Not too exciting, but did the planned 45 minutes, low stress.

Stopped before the run at the Inov-8 warehouse, tried on various shoes, bought a couple pair. Time for something new.

And then after the run, a brisk walk (2:50) around the Lakeside 18 at Juniper Hill. More excursions into the trees than I would have wished. Very interesting topography, both in and out of the woods.

And then, home just in time to go see The Brothers Bloom. Wasn't expecting much, just some light entertainment, but disappointed anyway. Can't win 'em all.

C • Warehouse? 3

Pocumtuck Ridge trail, up to the towers as usual and then down the jeep road to Pine Nook Road, and back. Route.

Legs were tired and a little sore from yesterday, so the plan today was to just take it easy. And since I was doing that, why not go just a little further. But mainly, just not run hard.

Which I did, nice relaxed pace throughout. And coming back up the jeep road was pleasantly easy. Mission accomplished. 24 down, 26 to go.

So a guy was taking photos at Northfield yesterday and they included the following shots of yours truly.

I looked at the first one, and my immediate reaction is, Wow, I look really old. Now, since I am rather old, and possibly even really old, maybe that is the expected reaction, but somehow after a lot of work and a lot of sweating and not doing too too bad, to then look and see how bad you really look is, well, unsettling.



Though, as I have finally come to realize, there aren't a whole lot of folks out there who are entirely happy with their self-image. And I am certainly less unhappy than I used to be.

And, anyway, reason to hope, there was a second photo....



Great, now I still look really old, plus both legs seem to be attached to the rest of me at rather strange angles.

So I raised the subject, the first one, the looking really old -- I don't think I'm up for having my legs reattached -- at dinner, out to eat to celebrate our anniversary a few days late. Should I dispense with the beard?

Gail is sure I would look younger, though unsure of exactly what the new look would be, since I haven't shaved for 38 years. And she's not sure I would want to start shaving again now. She did say that my dad would have gladly dispensed with shaving, except that his beard would have been white and made him look older, and he didn't want that.

So we ruminated on that for a bit, and then on the equally drastic steps that she could take, dying and/or cutting her hair.

Who knows where this will go. But if someone comes up to you and sounds familiar but looks somewhat odd, well, you have been warned.

C • Lans Taylor? 15