The Road to Huayhuash

This is an automatic posting to give you something to read while I´m traipsing around in the wilderness. Enjoy!

When I first traveled to South America in the fall of 2008, I immediately fell in love with the Andes. I had always been drawn to the natural beauty of the mountains, embarking on a few short camping and back packing trips in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and a trip up Katahdin during summer camp. These were fun excursions for me, but not enough to pique my interest such that I might start thinking about hiking and climbing more seriously. When I arrived in Quito, however, all that changed.

I arrived in the middle of the night and the 9,300 foot high city immediately took my breath away – literally. I actually owed my journey there to this altitude; my original motivation for choosing Quito was my desire to experiment with long distance running at high altitudes, a method of training practiced by many elite runners. And so it was that my passion for distance running began to mesh with my love of the mountains.

That first morning, I woke up after a night of fitful sleep and altitude-induced nightmares to find a panorama as breathtaking as the altitude. I stood atop the rooftop terrace of our apartment building and looked up at the 16,000’, rocky peak of Guagua Pichincha, seemingly a stone’s throw away. To the South, the massive, 20,000’ glaciated volcano of Cotopaxi loomed over the city. In between, lay the strip of the densely populated valley floor that made up the city of Quito. Houses continued up the seemingly impossibly steep slopes until finally someone decided enough was enough. Farms grew corn and grain among a quilted patchwork along the sides of the green hills, moving farther up the mountains than seemed believable. I was amazed by the utility of the land and the natural beauty of the surrounding area. Though my day-job would keep me in the city center, I knew that it would not be long before I was venturing off into the surrounding wilderness.

Indeed, it was only a few weeks later that I found myself piling into a rav-4 at the crack of dawn and driving down the Panamericana towards Cotopaxi for my first real alpine climbing experience. Being a totally inexperienced climber, I had hired a local climbing guide to handle the logistics and lead me and a few friends up the peak. The climb was a success inasmuch that I reached the summit, but also that I discovered a new type of challenge that really got me going.
To me, climbing was a continuation of the reason that I love distance running. I felt that an enormous part of reaching the summit had simply been how hard you could push yourself through pain and discomfort. This mental toughness also dominates the mind of a long distance
runner, and so it was natural for me to apply it to climbing.

Unfortunately, running is also the reason that I haven’t taken climbing more seriously. To me, running and training are my top priority – outside of family, school, etc. This means running every day, generally twice a day. When I am in a competitive block of training, I will generally go about 6 months without taking any “zero-days,” where I do not run at all. This means that any type of climbing or hiking I do during that time must be able to be done in tandem with my training. More importantly, I worry much more about the risks associated with climbing while in a competitive block. Even a relatively small injury like a rolled ankle, which might not be an enormous problem to a normal person, might cause me to miss a few days or even a week of training. A more serious injury like a broken bone would most likely be a season ending injury. These are not risks I’m willing to take during the majority of the year.

There are, however, a few weeks every year where I’m able to put training on the back-burner. These weeks occur between competitive blocks – generally in June, after track has ended and before cross country training has started. For the last two years, I have taken these few weeks in June forced myself to take days off from running, serving as both a physical and mental break from the rigors of my training regimen. I realized last year that this period without the commitment to daily training would be ideal for traveling, hiking, and climbing. With this in
mind, I returned to South America, this time without the pressure of maintaining a strict training regimen.

I felt like I really made the most of this trip. Without the responsibility of daily miles to run, I found myself able to do all the things that I tried to avoid during the season: staying up late and going out dancing, and, of course, climbing and trekking. This time, I tackled a few slightly larger peaks and spent about two weeks solo trekking on a circuit through a remote region in the central Ecuadorian Andes. As much as I do love the daily grind and consistency of training, a break is healthy for both the mind and the body. This trip was one of the best of my life and so I decided to try to make it an annual tradition. With that in mind, I began to think about what I wanted to tackle next. I had climbed the tallest mountains in Ecuador and had hiked one of the more challenging circuits. I decided it was time to move to a bigger scale. This could be found a few hundred miles to the South in Ecuador’s neighboring Peru. Peru is said to be like a blown up version of Ecuador (or that Ecuador is a condensed version of Peru). The mountains are taller, the jungle more vast, the coast longer. This expansion does not come without a price; in this case, the price is that everything in Peru is much farther apart. I had hoped to make it to the Peruvian Andes the summer before, but my ended up running out of time. And so, I had to put my Huayhuash trek on hold for another year.

A few years earlier, I had been searching through a second-hand bookstore in Quito when I found a book called “Trekking in the Central Andes.” The book outlined treks ranging from a couple hours to a couple of weeks of varying difficulties. I picked it up and later would use it to plan my multi-week hike in Ecuador. A hike that caught my eye, however, appeared in the Peru chapter. This trek was billed as challenging and remote – two words that immediately resonated in my mind – called the Cordillera Huayhuash. The more I read, the more I became enthralled with the hike. The trek was said to be difficult not because of technical skill required, but simply because of its length and numerous passes of 4000m-5000m. This appealed to me because, with my lack of time that I could fully devote to climbing, I knew that a technically challenging trip would be out of the question. However, if it came down to fitness and mental toughness, I was as strong as I needed to be. This trip has really been growing in the back of my mind since the first time I read about it in that bookstore almost three years ago. I think that I am now stronger and more experienced with high altitude travel and navigation and am capable of planning and completing the trip.

Finally, this trip represents my foray into Peru – the bigger Ecuador. Each year, I try to tackle a slightly more challenging trip and this is yet another step in that direction. The Huayhuash trek and the snow capped 6000m+ peaks of Peru seem to be a natural progression from the hikes and peaks of Ecuador. To me, climbing is about pushing myself and raising the bar of what is possible. To complete this trip would definitely be resetting the bar on what I think I can accomplish. This is accomplishment is, for me, what climbing is all about.

So Long!

Just a quick note before I head off to the airport for my flight to Peru. It's been a pretty long day already. I was up at 4:00am to have breakfast before the 8:00am start of Boston's Run to Remember Half Marathon. This was my last race of the season and my 3rd race in the last three weeks. I was hoping for a new personal best (my previous best time was 1:13:03), but the weather looked like it might not cooperate. At the start of the race, temperatures were already over 70F and it was very humid.

Luckily, Jeff had agreed to pace me for part of the run, and so the first few miles felt nice and comfortable and I was able to tuck right in behind him and another runner. By 2.5M, the other runner had dropped off, and Jeff had said that he wasn't feeling well and didn't know how long he could hold the pace. At 3M, Jeff dropped off and it was just me and the leading brigade of squad cars. With 10M+ to go by myself, I was a bit nervous.

I managed to maintain the pace until the turnaround point past Harvard Square. At this point (6M in ~32:10), I turned back into the wind and started to feel the combination of the heat, humidity, and the long solo effort. My splits going back along the river were a bit slower, closer to 5:30 than 5:20, but once we turned back onto the bridge, I managed to bring my focus back and brought the pace down. The 2M between 9 and 11 miles were in 10:37.

At 10M, the course starts a gradual ascent around the Common. The change in grade was exacerbated by the fact that the sun had come out and the general late-race fatigue. Finally, we crested the hill and crossed the bridge back over to South Boston where the race had started and finished. I gave it everything I had, knowing that this was my last race, and broke the finishing tape and collapsed across the line in 1:10:35.5. The last 1.1M had been at 5:12 pace.

Overall, this was a great way to end the season: 3 races, 3 PRs (31:39 track 10k, 15:36 road 5k, 1:10:36 road half marathon). This was also just a great, fun race. The crowds were very supportive all along the route. I heard a ton of "GO JUMBOS!" I'm glad I wore my Tufts singlet!

Now, I'm heading out to shake-out the legs a bit before the start of 26 hours or so of travel. Hopefully, I'll be in Huaraz, Peru by about 6pm tomorrow night. After that, I probably won't be able to post until about June 11th, since I'll be in the remote wilderness. So, don't worry! I'll check in once I get back.

Thanks to everyone for their support this season. It's been a great one and I couldn't have done it without the help of a ton of different people. Thank you all so much for giving me the opportunities to continue doing what I love.

Hasta pronto!

Edit:

For anyone interested, these are the approximate splits from the race:

1M: 5:15

2M: 5:25 (10:40)

3M: 5:25 (16:05)

4M: 5:22 (21:28)

5M: 5:21 (26:49)

6M: 5:15 (32:05)

7M: 5:27 (37:33)

8M: 5:30 (43:03)

9M: 5:18 (48:21)

10M: 5:16 (53:37)

11M: 5:33 (59:10)

12M: 5:28 (64:38)

13.1M: 5:48 (1:10:36)

A Change of Pace

Though this has served as a training log for the last few months, I’m going to switch things up a bit for the summer. This Sunday – May 29^th, 2011 – I’ll be leaving on a red-eye flight for Peru, where I will be spending about 10 weeks traveling, training, and working in the Andean highlands. During the first month or so, I’ll be taking a break from the rigors of training and use the time to hike, backpack around, and generally seeing the country. After that, I’ll be working for Strive Peru – an athletics-based community service summer program for high-schoolers (find out more at here). Finally, I’ll be flying home via Quito, Ecuador, where I’ll spend a few days visiting my familia Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian Family), with whom I lived during my gap year.

This trip started as a way to make the most of my off-season from running. Over the last couple of years, I’ve taken a couple of weeks off in the summer, after a long spring season and before a big build-up for fall cross country. During this time, I like to stay somewhat active, but limit the running I do (usually with no running at all for at least a week or two). I see this as the perfect time to undertake hiking, climbing, and backpacking trips. I’ve always loved the outdoors and I’ve always enjoyed these trips, but it’s hard or impossible to schedule multi-day treks between a busy school schedule and a rigorous training regimen. This annual break gives me the opportunity to “reboot” and “recharge” while simultaneously putting my mind into something else that I love: traipsing through the mountains!

I’m planning on starting the trip in Huaraz, a small mountain town, nestled 10,000 feet up in the central Andes. After running the Boston Half Marathon in the morning, I fly out of Boston on Sunday night and arrive in Lima around 6:00am on Monday; I’m hoping to get right on a bus to make the 8 hour voyage up to Huaraz by the afternoon. After a couple of days of acclimatizing, I’ll depart on a 10-day hiking trip into the Cordillera Huayhuash, a remote, high-altitude range a few hours south of Huaraz. I’ll be back in Huaraz on June 12^th and then my plans are pretty up in the air. I may do some running that early, but it would be unstructured and on an “as I have time and feel like it” basis. I’d still be trying to get as much hiking and climbing in as possible, ideally with another shorter trek and a summit attempt in Huaraz before heading south.

By late June or Early July, I’d like to get myself situated in Pisaq, the village outside of Cusco where the Strive program will be stationed. Once there, I’d like to start getting into a daily running routine and begin to familiarize myself with the area before the program begins. This leaves me with 2-3 weeks between the end of my trek in Huaraz and my “settling down” time to see the country. I’m pretty excited to see where I end up!

I have to fly back to Lima to meet the kids at the airport and then fly back to Cusco with them the following day for the start of the program. The program will be fairly structured; there are two training sessions, one in the early morning and the other in the afternoon, with community service during the middle of the day. For our service project, we’ll be teaching English at a local school, about a 20 minute hike from our hostel in Pisaq. To me, this is the perfect balance of rewarding community development work and good structured training. I was so excited when I found out about Strive because it seemed to really be the perfect job for me. I hope that I can impart some of my passion for running and my passion for South American life and culture onto some of the students.

All in all, I’m incredibly excited. A bit nervous, as always, I’ll admit, but the overwhelming feeling is excitement. I know that the mental and physical break from training will be great for me and – I haven’t even mentioned this yet – I’ll be at high altitudes (8000’+) for pretty much the entire trip. Hopefully, this summer will give me an opportunity share myself with others and to grow as a person, myself.

And hopefully my hemoglobin will develop and grow as well :P

Week of May 16, 2011

Monday, May 16, 2011 – AM: I slept really well again last night, not waking up at all until about 5am and then still sleeping naturally until about 7:45am. I got up and got dressed and headed out for my morning run. It was pretty cold (for this time of year). It felt more like late season cross than late season track. It was only in the mid 40s and overcast, threatening to rain.

I ran the normal morning run on Harrington. I usually run this route in about 32:40 but this morning ran over 34 minutes. I’m not sure if it was that I was wearing a lot of layers and was over-working or if I was just still recovering and tired, but wow! That is slow! It’s fine because I was simply running by feel – I didn’t look at my watch until I got back – but I didn’t feel like I was running that slowly.

Anyways, despite running like 9minute pace, I didn’t feel that bad. It was just a nice shakeout.

The total run was 4M+ EZ s/o in 34:24

PM: I took my last final at noon – about freaking time! – and used the rest of the afternoon to pack up a bit and relax before jogging over to Gantcher at 3pm to run. It was pretty nasty out, in the upper 40s and drizzling, so we had decided to meet in Gantch so we’d have a place to stash our stuff and keep it dry. I had sent out an email in the morning seeing who was around and only Matty had replied. Our numbers are dwindling even more. I think there are only 4 or 5 distance guys still running.

As we headed out, it was overcast but not raining, though it seemed the skies could open at any minute. We ran to the fells and came back on short res. I felt pretty good and it was nice to have company, even if there isn’t much conversation. As we turned onto Payton Street, less than a mile from Gantcher, the skies really opened up and poured onto us for a few minutes. It was pretty poor timing. Once we got back to Gantcher, though, it had eased up a lot and since I was already wet, I decided to just stay out and tack on outside. Matt then went inside and I ran a random loop up towards winter hill and then back on Boston ave to get it to about an hour of running.

Once back in gantch, I did FULL-full foot drills on the blue mats. These felt pretty good and I was actually feeling good and loose by the end. I think I’ll probably try to work out tomorrow morning unless the weather looks really terrible.

The total run was 8M++ EZ in 62:00.

PM2: After the run and drills, I did core – 100s, 50s, 30x side dip, 30x bird-dog, 50x cherry picker, 30x suitcase, 50x leg lift, 8:00 plank. This felt good. I had planned to do core last night as well, but was busy studying and it was getting too late. I’m trying not to be too lax about the little things, especially now that I have no school responsibilities.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty well again last night and woke up naturally before 8am. I had a nice breakfast of supertoast on an English muffin and some fruit and then drove into town for my workout. The weather was looking iffy all day – showers on and off and only in the 50s. As I drove into town, it started POURING, but by the time I got to Emerson, it had stopped and it was just cool and a bit drizzly.

I warmed up on the road loop I had planned to use later for part of the work out and then around town for a bit. I ran for a total of about 25 minutes back to the car before switching into my Bear flats and doing drills. I did my full drills and then a couple of strides in the flats on the track. I then did 300m on the track in my flats (it was quite windy into the home straight, so I wanted to see what the difference would be on each side). This was a bit quick in 51.x.

The workout was: 2x800m @2:24, 3M @ HMP(~5:20), 2x800m @2:24 (or a bit quicker) with 3:00 rest between everything. The idea was to get some good paced running it at 5k pace and some more steady running at half marathon pace and then move back to the 5k pace to simulate the fatigue at the end of a race. The volume of this workout was a bit high compared to what I’ve been doing lately, but with 3M of it at 5:20 pace, it seemed reasonable. I would be doing the whole workout in flats (most recent workouts have been in spikes) and the 3M section would be run on a 1.5M road loop adjacent to the track.

The workout started out well. I ran very consistently for the first two reps, running 2:23.8, 2:23.8 and splitting evenly. The laps themselves were probably a bit uneven because it was quite blustery on the home straight, but overall, the effort seemed consistent.

I then jogged out to the road and took my 3:00 before starting the HMP section. I had mapped out a few intermediate splits so I would have an idea of if I was on pace (~300m, ~1000m, ~1500m, ~2000m). I was a few seconds ahead at the first split, probably since I was just over-eager from running 5k pace. I then slowed down and came through the next split right about on schedule. From there, I made up time on the next two splits and came through the 1.5M in 7:47, 13 seconds ahead of pace. The purpose of this interval wasn’t to kill myself and run hard, but to learn the pace and feel relaxed doing it, so I actively slowed down and tried to focus on just running relaxed. I was more consistent on the second lap, still running a bit fast (7:54) for 15:41.5 for 3M. This comes out to be 5:14 mile pace, so it was significantly faster than my goal HMP. I think that part of the reason is that most of the HMP work I’ve done in the last few months has come at the end of long runs. This is the first time that I was really rested and prepped to run quickly. It’s important to know how easy that pace can feel for 3M, though, so that I don’t go out way too fast come next Sunday.

I took 3:00 again to jog back to the track and finish the workout. The 800s felt a lot harder now than they did at the beginning, but this was the point. I ran the first one a bit slower (2:24.5) running a 73.3 second lap, but felt better starting the last one. I decided to take the first lap easier, as I’d rather run 74-72 than 70-74. This went well – I ran 72.9, 71.0 for a 2:23.9.

I jogged back to the car and did a short cool down around town before driving home. The rain had stayed just a light drizzle and as soon as I got into my car, the skies opened again. Looks like I got lucky today!

Overall, this was a solid workout. The 5k paced stuff felt good and given that I was in flats and alone and the weather was a lot worse, I think the times are comparable to last week’s really good workout on Tuesday. The HMP was quick, but it felt really good doing it. I was a bit nervous about doing a full workout like this the Tuesday after a 10k, but I think I took my recovery a lot better this time and I actually felt fine. I’ll take the rest of the week easy and hopefully have a solid race on Saturday!

Splits: (NB – workout in Bear flats)

3M warm up

Drills in flats, 4x strides, 300m in 51.x

2:23.8 (71.9, 71.9)

2:23.8 (72.0, 71.8)

15:41.5 (7:47, 7:54)

2:24.5 (71.2, 73.3)

2:23.9 (72.9, 71.0)

2M Cool down

PM: I did an easy warm up on the elliptical machine, about 5 or 6 minutes just to get the heart-rate going before doing core – 100s, 50s, 120x squiggle, 30x side dip, 120x flutter kick, 50x cherry pickers, 30x Kenyan, 50x leg lift. Had dinner with the rents after and then joined by Duncan later in the evening for some champagne to celebrate our making it half way (!!!) through college.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 – AM: I slept well and woke up naturally around 7:30am. It was another pretty ugly day, about 48F and drizzly. I put on a bunch of layers and headed out for the normal Harrington loop. I felt about the same as Monday, but ran about 90 seconds faster. Weird how that happens.

The total run was 4.2M s/o in 32:57.

PM: I had a productive day and got a lot of the little organizational things accomplished that have been on my list of things to do before I leave. I was feeling pretty tired when I headed out for my afternoon run, so I didn’t have too high expectations. I had planned to take today pretty easy after a good effort yesterday, anyways, so I was mostly just looking to finish feeling better than when I started.

I drove into town to pick up my new glasses and then parked at fairy land and ran from there. I headed out on monument street to Great Meadows and then ran one lap around there before heading back and cutting over to 62. I felt pretty tired for the first couple miles, but actually felt pretty good once I got to great meadows. It was pretty spooky since the fog kept visibility quite low. I could barely see the other side of the pond while I was on the little jetty. It was also pretty cool again – only about 54F. It’s been grey and cool for a few days now. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be like this next Sunday…

Anyways, I ran back on 62 and through the center and back past the car. I ran these 7.3M in about 50minutes (6:48 pace). I was surprised at how quick it was given that I felt pretty lousy at the beginning, but I guess I was feeling fine by the end. After this, I ran up to the CC turf field and did a bit of jogging around barefoot and then did FULL-full barefoot drills on the turf. It felt really nice to have my bare feet on the cold turf ground. Their field is also really soft, so it’s super nice to run on.

After drills, I did one longer stride (still barefoot) before putting my shoes back on and jogging back to the car. Everything felt pretty good today. I’m surprised not to feel yesterday’s workout more than I do, but I’m not complaining. I’ll go easy tomorrow and then just a shakeout or two on Friday before the 5k on Saturday.

The total run was 8M++ (8.4M) in 57:09 (6:49 pace) with FULL-full barefoot drills and 1x barefoot stride.

Thursday, May 19, 2011 – AM: I woke up before 8am naturally again and headed out for my morning run. I ran the usual route. Gil is back! And he has a new flock of goslings! I think there are 3 or 4 little yellow fluff-balls. Very cute! I felt good and ran a bit quicker than the last couple days.

The total run was 4.2M in 32:00.

AM2: After the run I did Core – 100s, 50s, 50x cherry pickers, 8:00 plank, 30x Kenyan, 30x side dip, 30x suitcases, 50x leg lift. Pretty pooped after this – very ready for a big breakfast.

PM: I had a busy day, driving all over the place to get a lot errands in. I stopped by marathon sports in the early afternoon to try to figure out which shoes to bring to Peru for base training. I ended up getting a pair of Asics Speedstar 4s and a pair of Asics DS racers. I tried on a lot of shoes, so I actually got in a good amount of jogging and a couple of stride-like things in various trainers and flats.

After this, I drove over to Danehy so that I could run from there and then do some barefoot drills on their turf field (it was also on the way to REI, my next stop). I ran to Fresh Pond and ran a lap around there in about 16:15 (~6:45 pace). I felt like I was going much slower than this, so that was actually pretty nice. I ran back to Danehy and then finished up the run on the turf field.

After this, I did FULL-full barefoot drills on the turf. These felt good and then I put on my last new pair of piranha flats and did 4x long strides on the turf. Finally, I jogged up to the asphalt path around the track and did a simulate start and ran for about 30-35 seconds at 5k effort (probably a bit fast). I love how these shoes feel on pavement. I really wish the still made them…

Anyways, I then jogged back down to the car and headed off to Reading to REI and then to Peabody to my first aid course. I got home at about 9:15pm – long day!

The total run was 6M EZ in 42:21 with FULL-full barefoot drills, 4x long turf strides in shoes and 1x ~35 second stride on pavement in shoes.

Friday, May 20, 2011 – AM: I woke up this morning at like 5:30am and was really hungry, so I had a fruit/nut bar to hold me over. I then was able to sleep until about 7:45am, when I woke up naturally and headed out for my usual pre-race shakeout around the neighborhood.

I ran without a watch and just took it easy. I felt a bit tired, but not too bad. Just a shakeout this morning. I’ll jog and do a few drills this afternoon, but mostly a rest day today.

The total was 4M shakeout, untimed.

PM: I relaxed most of the day and drove into town around 5pm to run a few errands and then decided to stop at the CC turf field to shake out a bit. I parked at fairyland and jogged up to the turf. It was the first time the sun had been out in probably a week, maybe more. It felt nice to have the sun on my face and I took off my shoes and jogged around barefoot before doing some drills. I did full-full drills up to the explosive stuff and then stopped. I did a bit of core (below) and then jogged around the fields once more before heading back to the car.

I had a smaller dinner after a large lunch and then a snack around 8pm when Mr. C got home of some apple sauce with fruit and pretzels and hummus. I was in bed before 10pm.

The total was ~1M of Jogging, with non explosive barefoot drills

PM2: On the field, I did some light core - 100s, 50s, 20x side dip, 20x super man, 20x toes to sky, 30x cherry pickers, 30x leg lift. It felt so nice to be outside in the sun that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stay out a bit longer!

Saturday, May 21, 2011 – AM: I slept okay last night. I had to get up a few times and pee, but other than that it was all right. I woke up naturally to pee around 6am and decided to have my breakfast then, since I had brought it up to my room for that reason. I had two pieces of super-toast on half a bagel. At first, I tried to make it in my bed, since I was planning on going back to sleep, but I ended up spilling shit all over my floor. Oops. I ended up getting out of bed and just making breakfast at my desk. I was afraid I’d just be “up” at that point, but once I lay back down, I managed to doze off for another hour or so.

I got up for real a bit after 7am so that I could bid farewell to my parents who were off to the city. I had a chewy bar with some peanut butter and otherwise just sipped on Gatorade and water for the rest of the morning. I packed everything up and left the house around 8:30am to make the drive up to Bedford. I got there in less than an hour and as I headed inside to get my number, it was announced that the leader had just passed the 5M mark. I looked at my watch and it was about 9:27am. I wondered if they were really going that slowly or if they had started a few minutes late. I got inside, picked up my uber-patriotic shirt (they seem to be getting better every year!) and used the bathroom before heading back outside to try to catch the finish. The 12k here is usually a very fast race, but for whatever reason it hadn’t gotten selected as a Grand Prix race this year, so it was MUCH slower. I missed first place, but 2^nd place came in at about 42 minutes (for perspective, I ran one of my best races last year here and ran 39:11 for 11^th place).

I walked back to the car and just sat in the back and read for about a half hour. Around 10:15am, I got up and used the port-a-potty across the street before starting my warm-up. I ran the course to get a feel for what it’s like. It was already pretty warm, around 70F, and sunny. There was a lot of that “fluff” pollen (cotton-wood tree) floating in the air too, which was a bit worrisome. The course looked fine. I’d describe it as rolling. There was a significant hill around 2k-3k, not steep but continuous, and then a hill near the end, probably about 800m out from the finish. The first mile was marked, but I couldn’t find the 2^nd.

I felt really good on my warm up and jogged back to the car and switched into my new piranha flats. I did some drills in the parking lot and took some water before jogging down to the start. It was pretty hot at this point, probably between 70 and 75F, so I took a bottle of water with me to keep sipping and wet my hair before the start. I did 2 strides on the road and then headed to the start where we were actually starting on time.

I quickly sized up my competition and determined that no one here was going to pose a threat to me. There was a tall, probably high school kid in training shoes, and a shirtless dude next to me. No one serious races without a shirt.

Thus, I was a bit surprised to find myself in 3^rd place about 100m into the race. Trainers and t-shirt boy had taken a gusty lead to take us out at like 4:40 pace through the first 200m or so. I ducked behind him and let him go ahead and block the wind for me. Unfortunately for him, his glory was short-lived as shirtless man and I took over the lead within a minute of the start. I was similarly surprised to see shirtless man continue to follow me as I took the race out at what felt like about 4:50-55 pace. As we came to the first couple turns, he was still on my shoulder, and I thought I might actually have a race on my hand. I was almost disappointed to see him drop off before we even reached the 1 mile marker. I passed this in 4:56 with him a couple seconds back at that point.

From there, it was just me and my police escort. After the mile, the course makes two quick lefts and then proceeds up a not steep, but steady hill for about 600m. From there, there’s a nice coast down to the 2M mark, which I passed in 9:59 (a college PR and my first time under 10 minutes in a road race!) I was feeling good at this point and I thought that a PR wasn’t out of the question. I was feeling mentally positive and I figured I could probably PR and maybe even hit that 15:32 mark.

As we turn right onto Country Road (gotta love NH…) it was a straight shot back to the track where the finish line was. I pushed up the second to last hill and then actively switched gears as I came down the other side before the final climb up to the track. As I made the final climb up to the track, I was sure that I was going to run a great time and get the win and course record. However, as I entered the track with 300m to go, I looked at my watch which was about 15:03-04. I had calculated out that a 15:48 meant coming through 300m to go in about 14:50, so I was confused as I entered the track. I tried to close pretty well and really tried to push once I came around the last turn towards the finish line. I was mostly just really confused as I watched the finish clock click through the 15:50s. Suddenly, what I thought had been a great race was frustratingly reduced to ANOTHER 15:5x, further cementing my identity as a 15:5x 5k runner – a label I do not want associated with me.

I grabbed a freezepop – one of my favorite parts of this race – and jogged back down to the car. Trying to do some mental math in my head, I calculated that to run 16:00 would mean that I ran the last 1.1M in just about 6:00 – which had got to be close to 5:30 pace. This just seemed absurd. I called Jon, who managed to put my mind at ease a bit. He said there was “no way” that that was possible, and that the course must have been wrong. Part of the reason I chose this course was because it was USATF certified, so I didn’t really think that was an option I could fall back on.

I cooled down on the course again and then ran up to the school building to get some free food and whatever silly medal or prizes they had. They had some good food, so I snagged a bunch for the long bus ride and got a free massage. I talked to shirtless-guy (who had ended up 2^nd in 16:xx) who said that his 3^rd mile also seemed way slow (though this could be due to his going out a bit over his head for the first km or so).

I headed back out to the car and drove down to South Station where I parked and then got on the 2:00pm bus to NYC (the first of many multi-hour bus rides in my immediate future!). Once on the bus, I did some research and looked up the certification maps. It looks like there are two 5k courses certified on this route – one before and one after Gault Rd. was re-routed. The re-routing makes the course slightly longer and so the start was moved up about 120-130m. My hypothesis is that they started from the older start line, thus adding those 120-130m onto the course. If they had used that older map for their start line, they also would have used it for the 1M and 2M markers, which would explain why they seemed accurate. This means that that last 6:00 really covered more like 1910m (5125-3208) which comes out to 5:03.6 pace. This makes sense given that I didn’t feel like I really slowed down in this section and I thought I kicked somewhat decently. Overall, this would bring the total to 16:00 for 5120-5130 which means going through 5k in 15:36-15:38. Given the effort, this sounds about right and makes me feel a whole lot better about the day.

Overall, I was really bummed out about this race, but now looking back on it, I can tell that it was a good performance. I ran what may have been a life-time PR (including track), and definitely was a road PR on a rolling course, by myself, on a decently warm day. I also ran it pretty well; I positive split 4:56, 5:03, 5:05, but it wasn’t the disaster of blowing up after 2k that I saw indoors (and outdoors). This is why I was more confused than disappointed when I crossed the line. I had come through 2M feeling good in 9:59 and I just really couldn’t believe that I had slowed down almost 30 seconds per mile on what wasn’t even the hilliest mile of the race. I guess I need to learn to trust my intuition and not let some numbers determine how I feel about a race. I felt great about that race and my effort until I looked at my watch. I think there’s something to learn from that.

Cliff notes:

3M+ warm up

5100m: 16:00

1M: 4:56

2M: 9:59 (5:03)

3M: ~15:04 (5:05)

5k: ~15:37

~5125m: 16:00 (CR)

3M++ cool down

PM: The bus to NYC stopped at a burger king around 3:30pm, so I got out and jogged around the parking lot for 5 minutes or so, just to loosen up. I felt pretty good and did a few drills before getting back on. Luckily I got a seat with a decent amount of leg room, so it’s not too bad.

PM: After dinner, I jogged back to the hotel from the restaurant.

The total was 3M shake out in 25 minutes

Sunday, May 22, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty poorly last night on a crappy sofa-bed and woke up not feeling too well rested at 6:30am to my alarm. I got dressed and had an apple before heading out for my last long run of the block. I left the hotel right around 8am and headed up towards Central Park.

This was my first real experience running in New York City and despite my general dislike for the city as a whole, this run wasn’t as bad as I expected. I didn’t really have to stop between the hotel and the park, since I could generally cross one way or the other and I had to go both up and over. It was a bit over a mile to the park and I took it pretty easy. I was feeling pretty tired and today was really just a day to get some easy mileage in.

Once I got to the park, I tried to run a perimeter loop, which quickly ended up taking me into the bowels of the park itself. I was somewhat disoriented, but tried to continue heading “up” and staying alongside the “right” side of the park. A couple of times, I pulled up along someone who was running about my pace, but people here were not very friendly. Every time I tried to join someone, they would ignore me and then turn away or actively slow way down or speed way up. All I wanted was some company!

I finally found one older guy who looked like he was moving pretty well, so I pulled up next to him and just started talking. I asked him if he was from around here and knew the trails. He immediately stopped and assumed I wanted directions. I told him that, no, I was just hoping to run with someone for a little while. I stuck with him for a couple of miles and we had a nice chat – he was a Haverford alum. He was only running a couple more miles, though, so I was then on my own again.

I made my way up to the gravel path that encircled the pond at the top of the park and ran around that a few times. I timed myself around it so that I could later get an idea of my pace. The path was about 1.7M around and I was covering the loop in about 12:00, so ~7:00-10 pace at that point.

After a few of those laps, I decided I’d had enough and headed back to the bottom of the park. From there, I ran back on vaguely the same route to the hotel and then tacked on a quick loop around the block to reach 90 minutes. I then headed back up to the room and did a bit of stretching before taking a quick shower and getting dressed and heading out for my meeting with the Strive folks!

The total run was 1:30:16 for 12M+++ (~7:00-7:15 pace).

PM: I ended up spending a lot of time on my feet today. After the morning run, I had a brief walk to the subway and then another brief walk from the subway to Sarah’s apartment for the meeting. I got out of the meeting early, though, and so I took the subway back to Manhattan and got off of one train, instead of switching trains, which gave me a good bit longer walk back to the hotel. That was probably about 30 minutes and I was carrying my bag, so it was actually pretty tiring.

I dropped my bag off at the hotel and then walked back across the city to the street fair that was going on where I got a bunch of delicious street-food (shish-kebob, crepes, yum!). Finally, I met up with the VC and we walked back to the hotel. That whole time was about two hours of walking. I was actually pretty spent by the time we got on the train headed for home. A long couple of days. Time to rest up.

The total for the week was 74 Miles in 10 Runs

Week of May 9, 2011

Monday, May 09, 2011 – AM: I ran at school on the normal soft c-loop/lakes run. It felt pretty good and I wore a bunch of layers again. Not much else remarkable.

The total run was 4M++ in 32:23.

PM: After spending most of the day studying, I headed down to practice around 3:00pm to run a nice easy run. I headed out in a big group which widdled down quickly to just Nick, Brunnq, and me. We ran ex-cemetery, which was a pretty nice route. It was a bit quicker than I usually run on Mondays, but I felt pretty comfortable. We started out at about 7:30 pace and then after that first mile were at or under 7:00 pace according to Nick’s beeping garmin.

It was a good run. I don’t usually feel that good on Mondays, so I was glad to be able to stick with Nick and Brunnq and keep up conversation most of the time. We ran back to the track and tacked on to get it up to 7M. I was thinking about strides but I was already over for the day so I decided against it.

The total run was 7M++ in 51:07 (under 7:00 pace average)

PM2: Core – 100s, 50s, 30x squiggle, 2:00 side plank (each), 30x toes to sky, 30x side dip, 120x flutter kick, 50x leg lift.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 – AM: 4.5M in 34:21

PM: I got started feeling really exhausted today after lunch. I’d been studying pretty intensely and I think my brain was just shot. I ended up taking a nap until about 2:15pm. At this point, I got up and got ready for practice. I had 4 chocolate espresso beans before heading out, to give me a bit more energy since I was still feeling a bit groggy.

I got to practice and our dwindling crew assembled for a warm up. I ran powder-teele which was only like a mile and a half, so I tacked on some random loops around campus. It ended up being about 3M back to the track. I was feeling better by the time I finished warming up.

Murner was finally there by the time we got back, so I figured out what our workout was: 3x800m @5k w/ 3:00 rest, 2x400m @mile-5k with 2:00 rest. A nice short n sweet workout before the race on Friday.

I did full foot drills and then 4x100m strides. It was a bit cool – only in the low 50s – and pretty windy, so I kept two long sleeves on until right before we headed off.

I was hoping to run 2:24s for the 5k paced stuff, but given how terribly things went last week, I didn’t have too many expectations. Bellet was planning to run around 2:28s and Nick said he wanted to run 2:20s, which sounded way too fast. I figured I may end up running a good deal of the workout by myself.

We headed off in a big pack for the first one because the steeple/5k guys were with us as well. I was in the back of the pack, which was fine with me as the pace felt very comfortable. I was surprised to see us go through in 72.x, especially since Bellet was still in front of me and he’d wanted to run 2:28. I stayed behind him through 600m since there was a good strong headwind on the back straightaway and then came off the turn ahead and finished feeling pretty good. The second lap was a 70.5.

As soon as I saw the time, I was so happy. I felt better than I have felt in probably a month. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like I was struggling. I just felt relaxed and the pace was there. I really hope that the new inhaler is starting to kick in and that’s been the reason I’ve felt so bogged down the last few weeks.

Anyways, the 3:00 rest felt very long, especially after all of the short rest VO2 work we’ve been doing. The four of us started the second one together and again, Nick and Matt were off the front. I stayed behind Bellet for about 300m and then passed him and ran the last 500m solo. Again, I felt very comfortable coming through 400m and negative split (71/70) for a 2:21.7. Another 3:00 jog and we were off again. I went out a bit harder (70.8) and was by myself from the beginning. The wind had started to pick up a bit, as well, which made the back straight a bit tougher. I felt it a lot on the back straight the second time. This was the only positive split interval of the workout, but still well under pace.

Finally, a couple of 400s would round out the workout. I ran the first one a bit hard, with the first 200m just a bit more focused than what we’d been doing and the last 200m kicking in. I split something like 34.x, 30.x for a 65.5. As we jogged around before the last quarter, it started to rain a bit. I took the last quarter a bit easier on purpose. I didn’t want to leave the race on the track. I always like to end these workouts feeling like I could do another set of what I just did. I also almost got blown over by the wind on this last rep, but still managed a 67.4.

I changed back into my trainers and cooled down with Connor, Bellet, and Marvel on short glam. Having run this morning, I was fine with a shorter than usual cool-down.

Overall, this was a really, really good day. It is probably the best I have felt since Princeton. I think that part of it was not going out too hard on all of my intervals by trying to run with Nick and Matt, but I am guessing that this new inhaler is starting to really kick in. Hopefully, come Friday, I will see some good results. I’m feeling much more optimistic now.

3M+ warm up

Drills, 4x100m strides

2:22.9 (72.4, 70.5)

3:00 jog

2:21.7 (71.3, 70.4)

3:00 jog

2:22.6 (70.8, 71.8** Very windy, solo)

3:00 jog

65.5 (34.x, 31.x)

2:00 jog

67.4 (33.9, 33.5)

2M+ Cool down 18:53

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty well last night and woke up late around 9am naturally. I headed out quickly to get my morning run in before my last minute studying for thermo which was at 3:30pm. I ran over to the fields and then ran a couple big laps and then headed back. It was very easy and just a good shakeout. I felt pretty good by the end. I wore a lot of layers again, so I was pretty gross and sweaty by the end. I was thinking of core when I got back but I had to get to studying, so not today.

The total run was 4M- EZ in 28:21.

PM: The thermo exam went pretty well – he actually gave us an extra half hour since he fucked up on one problem, which was great. After that, I headed back to Lewis and then ran by myself. I ran a kind of random loop around through Davis and then down to Harvard and back on Oxford street. From there, I ran to the track and did full-full barefoot drills on the grass. I felt pretty good after the very easy run this morning. No strides after the fast running yesterday.

The total run was 6M EZ in 43:13 with Full-full barefoot drills.

Thursday, May 12, 2011: AM: I slept really terribly last night. I had really bad allergy problems during the night and just had a lot of problems staying asleep. I finally fell back asleep around 6am and slept until a bit after 9am. At that point, I got myself up and got dressed in my sweats and headed out for an easy shake out.

I ran a 4M s/o around the hood at a very easy pace. I didn’t time it because I didn’t care about time at all. I felt pretty good and just kept it easy and comfortable. I was a bit groggy from the poor night’s sleep but felt okay by the end.

The total was 4M shakeout, NT.

AM2: After the run, I did Core (light) 100s, 50s, 20x side dip, 30x reach up, 30x cherry picker, 30x leg lift.

PM: I got a good power nap in during the afternoon and then got my new driver’s license before driving myself into Tufts for a shakeout run and team meeting. I ran around 3:45pm with Nick. We ran easy on Glamorville. I didn’t time it again – just wanted to run by feel.

It was a good run. I felt pretty solid and it was nice to have company. After the run, I did full foot drills on the track in my spikes and then did 2x 100m strides on the track, the last one with Nick. Both felt very good!

The total was 4M+ EZ, NT with full foot drills in spikes, 2x100m strides on track.

Friday, May 13, 2011 – AM: I slept much better last night – really well actually. I fell asleep naturally between 10 and 10:30pm and I slept continuously until after 5am. I almost never sleep that long without waking up at least to roll over or pee. Anyways, I got up naturally around 7:30am and went outside to do some drills and shake out.

I jogged up and down HPC and then did foot drills on the grass in my trainers. I felt pretty good and stopped before the really explosive stuff. I wanted to save it for tonight.

After that, I had a nice big breakfast. I drove into town with Mrs. V around 10am and picked up the last of my stuff from my room and got some food before heading over to Gantcher leave for Opens.

PM: We got to the meet around 2:00pm and got the lay of the land before settling down. I headed into the indoor track to avoid being outside as much as I could before the race. Luckily, the indoor track was open and not many people were in there, so it was nice and quiet. I had a nice little spot where I could just sit and watch some TV on my laptop and read and such.

I had had lunch in the van around 12:00-12:30pm – a bagel with jam, some gnocchi left-over from last night, half a cookie, and a pear. After that, I didn’t eat much before the race. I had an orange when we got to the meet around 2pm and then I had a chewy bar at about 4:30pm. I was continuously sipping on Gatorade and water, though, and had had a big breakfast and lunch, so I felt pretty good.

I took a little power nap around 4:30 or so and headed out around 5pm to watch Kyle in the 5k. Nick wanted to start warming up then, but I figured we would be way too early since the women’s 5k was right before us and that was going to take like 45 minutes. We jogged a bit during the end of the 5k and then I went inside to do the rest of my warm up by myself. I had to put my contacts in and I figured I’d warm up inside anyways.

I ended up doing a pretty long warm up that was split up a good bit since I kept forgetting things (like putting in my contacts or getting my spikes). I did some foot drills in my socks on the gymnastics mats inside (ignoring the signs that said to stay off them) and then put my spikes on to do a couple strides. I did 2x shorter strides (still inside) and then a 200m. This was a pretty stupid idea actually, because I didn’t split my watch; I just tried to start right at a certain time and then felt good but the time looked like it was really slow (like 40 seconds). I’m not sure if it actually was that slow or if I just didn’t start at the right time. It kind of freaked me out, but I tried my best to keep positive and not panic.

After this, I finally headed out as there were only 5 or 8 minutes left in the girls 10k. You-know-who was running the 10k and she looked pretty miserable. I did a couple more strides on the turf and then I really had to pee. I was looking around for a good place to pee, but there was nothing and I didn’t have time to get off the infield. I ran behind a little John Deere tractor to try to take a knee and pee, but right as I look around before whipping it out, I look up and see Anna Hager staring at me. I lost all desire to pee.

The weather was pretty much perfect: about 65F, cloudy, no rain, and little wind. It was a good day to try to run fast.

All of a sudden, we were being lined up on the start. I was seeded 12^th and hip numbers were done by seeds, so I was pretty far to the right. Nick was 9^th, so he was a few spots to my left. My race plan was basically to follow Nick for as long as I could. I figured he would run somewhere in the 31:10-31:30 range, so I figured if I could stick with him for as long as I could that would tow me through to a nice PR. Time wise, I really had no idea what to expect. In the email I wrote to Jon last week after my disastrous Friday workout, I really didn’t feel like the same runner I had been when I ran 31:46. At that point, I figured I would be lucky to break 32 minutes and a PR would be a stretch. After Tuesday’s workout, I was feeling more confident, but still had no real idea of where I would be. My real goal was just to try to go out with the lead pack and see how long I could hold it together.

As the gun went off, there was a bit of jostling on the first turn before things started to calm down. Nick had gotten out well and was at the front of the pack, while I had gotten stuck in the back. I stayed calm and just relaxed for the first 300m or so. On the home straight-away, I moved out to lane 2 or 3 and started to work my way up towards Nick. We came through in 76.x and by the time we got around the turn again, I had moved up to Nick’s shoulder.

The two of us hung onto the back of the lead pack, which consisted of about 12 other runners. It felt good and comfortable and we were running 75-76s. It was nice to have a big pack like that to just tuck into. I decided then that I would try to stick with this pack for as long as I could, even if they started to speed up or slow down. Having a big wall of people is really helpful, even if it’s not that windy. I didn’t want to pass Nick, since I felt that my passing him so early at Princeton had been a poor move, but by the time we came up to the mile, I could feel him start to slip off the pack. I really didn’t want to lose contact with that group, so I know that I would have to make a decision soon.

We passed the first mile in 5:00.8 and it felt fine. The group slowed a bit after that, which allowed me to sit on Nick for a little longer while we bridged the 1-2m gap. Things started to bunch up again and we passed 2M in 10:04 (5:03.5 mile 2). I think it was after this lap that I passed Nick. I could feel that he and another runner were dropping off the pack and that I would have to make a move to get around them if I wanted to hang on. So, coming around the back turn into the home straight, I passed him and tucked into the back of the lead pack, which was now down to about 10.

We continued pretty consistently at 75-76 pace through 5k in 15:43 (5:02.0 3^rd mile). From there, things started to break up a bit. The UML kid started to push the pace at the front and suddenly our nice little wall of people was strung out into a line. As things started to lose cohesion, I ended up in a mini-pack with Pipp and Macknight from Keene and a SCSU kid. At that time, though, I didn’t realize I was running with Macknight and Pipp – I thought that they were also SCSU kids for some reason.

The 4^th mile was good and actually the second fastest of the race (5:01.1 for 20:07 through 4M). I had a cool moment during the race when the announcer was calling out race positions and he said “and then it’s Macknight and Pipp of Keene along with Andrews of Tufts.” All of a sudden, I thought “oh holy shit, I’m racing Macknight right now…” It was a bit of a freak-out moment but also a really cool realization that I was up with some of the bigger dogs.

Around 6k or 4M, things started to get pretty hard, though. Macknight and Pipp began to break away, which was really just me and the SCSU kid slowing down. We stuck together but we were both slowing down and it was getting pretty tough to just maintain. At that point in the race, I had counted that him and I were dooking it out for 8^th and 9^th place, which meant we were fighting over the last All-New-England spot. I really wanted that spot, so I tried to stick with him as long as I could. We came through 8k in 25:15 (5:07.5 for the 5^th mile) and neither of us was willing to give up an inch. I would surge past him and think I had finally dropped him, but then he would creep back up on me and pass me right back.

It was really tough that last 2000m, but I had a ton of support on the sidelines from teammates and Ethan. At some point, I saw Nick on the other side of the track, so I figured something must be wrong. I felt bad for him, but I also knew that I was running a pretty good race and was on pace to PR. I just had to hold it together for a few more laps and kick it in.

With about 600m to go, I tried to pass this kid for the last time, since I knew if it came down to the last 200m, I would be less likely to be able to out-kick him. I tried to establish a gap but within a couple hundred meters he was ahead of me again. With 400m, we were neck and neck. I got amped up passing the team on the first turn and just threw down with everything I have left with 300m to go. I pulled away one more time and thought that I might have him this time. I heard his coach behind me shouting “That kid is 8^th! We need those points! Go get him!” and then I felt him fly by me. I was going as hard as I could at that point and just didn’t have another gear. I watched him sprint away from me and he must have been really cruising as he beat me by like 4 seconds and it was all over the last 200-300m. I still finished with a last lap of 72.x, which is slow, but not bad for me. I think I closed Princeton in like a 75. I saw 31:39 on the clock as I passed, so I figured my FAT would be 31:40. Not a huge PR, but a PR none-the-less.

I was pretty spend after I crossed the line. I lay on the ground for a minute or so and then saw Nick crossing in 32:xx. Brunnq had a rough day as well, finishing in like 32:40. Bellet dropped out at 8km.

I walked over to Ethan and the guys who told me that I had actually finished in 8^th. As much as I was bummed about losing to that kid, I felt a bit better knowing that I had still eeked out that last all NE spot. I walked around in a daze for a bit, got some fluid and half a cliff bar, and then headed out for a short cooldown. I ran for about 8 minutes with Nick and Brunnq and then jogged on the infield turf for another mile or so. I talked to Jon for a bit – he was pretty pleased. Always good to talk to him.

Overall, this was a pretty solid performance. I was a bit disappointed in my last 2000m, but I can’t complain too much. I did get All-NE, a PR, and finished first for Tufts – all were things I thought would be really hard to do. It’s interesting that my 2^nd 5k was almost the same as at Princeton. It makes me think that if I just go out in 15:00 than I’ll still run 15:55 for the second 5k… haha (just kidding). Still, this is a huge step in the right direction from the Tufts 5k, from NESCACs, and from the shitty workouts I was having in April. I’ll race at least one more time before I call it a season. Hopefully I’ll make it a good one!

Splits:

5:00.8

5:03.5 (10:04.3)

5:02.0 (15:06.4)

37.2 (15:43.6 @5000m) +4:23.9=5:01.1 (20:07.5)

5:07.5 (25:14.9)

5:11.3 (30:27.2)

72.2 (31:39.4)

Saturday, May 14, 2011 – AM: I didn’t get to sleep until pretty late last night. I think the caffeine before the race at 6:30pm must have still been in my system. I didn’t sleep that well either, since I had to share a bed in the hotel room with Bellet. I didn’t have too much space. I still woke up around 8am and headed out to get some breakfast with Ethan, Jerzy, and Bellet. We ended up just going to Dunkin Donuts, so I just got a smoothie.

Once back, I figured I had time before we left, so I ran a VERY easy shakeout from the hotel. I was a bit paranoid about running around New Haven, so I tried to stick to the Yale campus. I ran around a bunch of grassy court-yard areas and then a few laps around a big park which had a gravel path encircling it. There were lots of homeless people, but nothing too sketchy in this part of town. I got back and got cleaned up before heading over to the meet with the rest of the team.

The total run was 4M shakeout in 31:00.

PM: I hung around all day at the meet and had a good time watching the races and even got some work done. After Ben’s steeple (where he PR’d and hit provo with a 9:23.x!), I headed out for another shake out run with Jerzy. We mostly ran laps around the track so that we could continue watching the meet. At some point we snuck onto the track and ran around the turf infield for a while, which felt really nice. Jerzy stopped after about 20 minutes, so I ran around the SCSU campus for a while before coming back to the grand-stands.

The total run was 5M EZ in 37min

Sunday, May 15, 2011 – AM: I slept well and woke up naturally this morning around 8am. I had a breakfast of a pear and a chewy bar and then drove over to Minuteman to meet up with Jon and the gang. These guys are a great resource. It’s nice to be able to get a longer (time wise) run in without having it feel hard or leave any ware on my body. They also force me to run slow, which is exactly what I need right now. Going out and running 20M with the TUXC gang is not a good idea 36 hours after a hard 10k…

Anyways, we ran the usual 20km loop out battle road to great meadows and around the small loop. It was a really nice run. Kevin and Jonathan Wyner were also there, so it was good to catch up with them as well. I felt pretty pooped the first couple miles, but once we got going I felt much better. By the time we got to great meadows, I could feel myself wanting to accelerate, so I was glad to have these guys to keep me in line.

There were a few goose families out on the path in great meadows, but other than that, nothing too exciting. We made it back in about 1:35 – about 12-15 minutes slower than I would run this loop last summer…

Afterwards, Jon and I stuck around and chatted for a while about the next two weeks of training and then about the more long-term plan for the summer. It was really helpful and I think I have a pretty good plan now. I will race twice more before leaving: a 5k tune-up on Saturday – probably at the Bedford 12k race, and then the half the next Sunday. This gives me 8 days between each race, which is a nice cushion.

I got picked up by the rents and we headed into the city to have our belated mother’s day brunch. We went to the MFA to see the Chihuly exhibit and eat there, but the restaurant looked whack, so we just went to Betty’s Noodle Bar, which was delicious and probably 1/3 of the price.

12M++ EZ in 1:34:35 (~7:35 pace)

PM: Off. I had planned to at least do core this evening, but was busy studying for my stupid ES9 final that I have to take tomorrow. I was also just really exhausted and felt it’d be better to get a good night’s sleep than to try to force some more exercise and end up staying up later. Probably a wise decision.

Total for the week: 75 Miles in 11 runs.

Week of May 2, 2011

Monday, May 02, 2011 – AM: I woke up early, before my alarm again, around 7:30am. I think all the bright sunlight is making me wake up earlier and earlier. Anyways, I was feeling pretty decent, so I headed out for my morning run and lift.

It was only about 50F, so I decided to layer up in the sweats. I ran the usual out/back on soft c-loop/lakes and then ran around the horn to Gantcher for the lift. I was actually feeling pretty good for a morning run, probably running low 7minute pace.

After lifting, I ran back to round it up to 6M.

The total run was 6M EZ s/o in 44:42.

AM2: In the gym, I did the Lift phase IV. 3 sets of [Seated row@40lb, 12,10,8, Incline DB press @10lb, 10 reps, Lateral Raises @5lb, 10 reps; Hamstring curls @ 90lb, 8 reps, 6; Bicycle Crunch x30, Dynamic lunges 12,10,8; Overhead DB Press @10lb, 12, 10, 8; Crunches x25, leg press @ 150lb, 10 reps.] Felt good and strong on everything.

PM: I had my last class of sophomore year (EMID) today! After class, I headed down to Baronian for practice. It was another pretty nice day out – temps in the 60s and very sunny. I hung around for a bit before heading out at the usual 3:13pm.

I ran in a group with Bellet, Luke, Connor, and Brosh. We ran on Yerxa again, which is only like 4M, so I was hoping someone else would want to tack on. Luke said he would, but by the time we got back, he had backed out. I was feeling pretty good and the first 4M+ were very easy. It was a fun, goofy run and after they all headed back to the track I ran another 3M or so on C-Loop. I picked up the pace a bit and was probably running 6:30-40 by the end and felt very comfortable. I got back to the track in about 50 minutes for ~7miles.

Once back, I did FULL-full barefoot drills on the grass. I took a funny step doing the laterals and had to stop because I tweaked something in my right foot, near the arch. I was able to run on it afterwards, but didn’t want to do anymore barefoot stuff to be careful.

Finally, I put on my Tumbes spikes and did 6x100m strides. I did them pretty fast and it felt good to get the legs moving again. I took about 90 sec jog between each. I timed the last 3 all at about 14.0.

The total run was 8M++ EZ/mod in 60:17 w/ full drills and 6x fast 100m strides.

PM2: We had some time to kill before dinner, so after the run, I did some core out on the track. Core – 100s, 50s, 100x bicycle, 50x cherry picker, 50x reach up, 50x leg lift.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011 – AM: Core – 100s, 50s, 30x Kenyan, 30x suitcases, 8:30 plank (getting hard!), 30x superman, 50x leg lift.

PM: I had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon with Dr. Jenkins to talk about allergy meds and get my ativan script for travel. I brought some stuff home and then got picked up by Mr. C at about 5:15pm after the appointment. We then drove over to Minute Man where we I was planning to do my long run and he was going to accompany me on the bike.

We didn’t get started until after 5:30pm, which was actually probably not a bad thing, since it was 77F when I was driving to the dr’s around 4pm. Pretty warm! When we headed off it was probably still about 70F, but it didn’t feel so bad since there was a steady wind.

We started out on battle road heading towards Lexington. I wanted to keep the first 20km pretty comfortable, just like a normal long run pace. It was a beautiful day, sun shining and a nice breeze to keep things cool. It was a pretty serious pollen day, so I was a bit nervous because we’d be running through the wooded trail, but it was so nice to be out there that I felt okay. I wasn’t really sure of the pace until after I mapped it out later and it ended up being a good bit quicker than I had thought at the time. We turned around at the 128 crossing, where the trail ends, which is about 4.6M from Miriam’s corner. On the way out, we covered this distance in 30:20 (6:36 pace).

We then turned around and headed back the same way. The pace quickened, but didn’t feel any faster, as we covered the same section in 28:52 (6:17 pace). At that point, we headed through the cut-over to Great Meadows, where I was charged by a big black dog. The owner shouted the usual “Don’t worry! He’s friendly!” Right. All dogs are friendly until they bite someone…

Instead of turning right and heading out to Great Meadows, we took a left and came back on the trail to Concord Lumber into town. The trail was really muddy at the very end and we had to bushwhack a bit to avoid getting stuck in the mud. Always exciting! We then ran by CA to Sorrento’s and then around to the track. Once at the track, I took a couple of minutes to switch into my Bear flats and then went right into the work on the track.

The goal was to run 5km at goal half marathon pace (~5:20 or 16:40 total). I was a bit slow, but tried to keep it relaxed. It was pretty windy and I was running by myself. More importantly, I had just run almost 13M at like 6:20 pace, so I was a bit more tired than I expected. Still, the point of these workouts is to simulate the end of a race by running HMP while fatigued. I was able to maintain consistency and actually got a bit faster each mile. I ended up being only 4 seconds slow overall because my last lap was a 75. The mile splits were 5:23, 5:22, 5:20 for 16:44.

I jogged off the track and then put my trainers back on and Mr. C joined me as we headed back to the car at minute man. I took this section like a cooldown and ran very easy for about 1.5M back to the car and then did another out/back on the trail while Mr. C stayed at the car (he was hurting a bit). The legs felt fine; I just had some nasty chafing that made it a bit uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure of the exact distance on this section, so I just ran for time. It ended up being 22:45, which I figure was at least 5km.

I did a bit of loosening up before getting in the car and heading home. I had some more Gatorade and a Cliff bar right away. Once back home, I took an ice bath before having a very late dinner around 8:45pm. Overall, this was a very good run. I was a bit frustrated with the track work at the time, but given how much faster I ran the first 20km+, I think it’s understandable (and since I ran a (slow) 10k on Saturday). This was the longest run I’ve done in a while and it felt good to get back out there. This will also probably be the last moderate paced long run I’ll do before Opens next weekend.

The total run was 19.1M in 2:02:03 (6:23 pace) with 12.9M in 1:22:34 (6:23 pace) and 5k on the track in 16:44.

Splits

4.6M: 30:20 (6:36 pace)

9.2M: 59:13 (28:52, 6:17 pace)

12.9M: 1:22:34, 6:23 pace (23:21, 6:19 pace)

5k: 16:44.2

80.8

80.0 (2:40.8)

81.0 (4:01.8)

81.5 (5:23.4)

81.0 (6:44.4)

79.9 (8:04.4)

80.8 (9:25.2)

80.5 (10:45.6, 5:22.2)

80.1 (12:05.7)

81.6 (13:27.3)

81.1 (14:38.4)

40.0 (15:29.4)

37.5 (16:06.4, 5:20.8)

37.3 (16:44.3)

Total: 19.1M: 2:02:03, 6:23 pace (22:45 last 5km easy)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - AM: I slept very well last night. This was the first time in as long as I can remember that I slept the whole night without really waking up and without having to get up and go pee. I had no problem falling asleep right around 10pm and woke up naturally at 7:30am, despite having set my alarm for 9am.

I got up and was talking to Mr. C about plans for the day before heading out for my morning shakeout. At that point, Mrs. V proclaimed that she had to “get on the treadmill.” I then proceeded to guilt her into running outside with me, since it was my birthday and all. It was a pretty nice morning for running outside, a bit cloudy and in the low 60s, so she agreed.

We ran VERY slowly out and back to the dirt road (~12-13min pace), basically a shuffle. Not bad for her though! After this, I tacked on another 2M+ out and back in the hood at my usual morning pace. I felt surprisingly decent after a good effort yesterday late in the day.

Once back, I stretched and rolled a bit and then had a nice big breakfast. A bit later, I took a nice hot bath. This made my legs feel really good a few hours later. Nice and loose.

The total run was 4M+ VERY easy s/o in 41:41 (first 2M w/ Mrs. V in ~26min)

PM: I got dropped off at school by Mrs. V on her way into work around lunch time. I got a bunch of studying done for my ME1 final and then headed to practice around 3pm. It was just starting to drizzle as I was leaving Lewis and picking up a bit. By the time I got to Baronian, it was pretty steady.

I headed out in a nice big group with Sam, Connor, Luke, Ben, Bellet, and Liam and we headed to Spy Pond. It was a really fun run, despite the fact that it started pouring about 5 or 10 minutes in. By the time we got to the hill by route 2, it was a torrential storm. It was raining so hard that it was hard to keep my eyes open to see where I was going. Still, we made the best of it and had a lot of good conversations about training and the summer and cross country, etc.

We came back a slightly different way than normal, taking the sandy path along the other side of the water from alewife brook parkway. This was pretty nice, as we avoided going through alewife.

Once we got back, it was still raining, but had lightened, so I decided to do a couple strides. I ran only 2x100m with everyone and then it started to rain pretty hard again, so we all headed back inside for shelter. By the time we got out, it was pouring again, and so we made a mad dash back to Lewis.

The total run was 7M+ in 52:27 with 2x 100m strides (untimed).

PM2: Once back in Lewis, I dried off a bit and then did Core – 100s, 50s, 30x side dip, 50x cherry pickers, 30x toes to sky, 120x squiggle, 50x reach up, 50x leg lift. Afterwards, a nice birthday dinner in the city with the rents!

Thursday, May 05, 2011 - AM: I woke up around 7:30am and packed up my stuff before heading into town. I had an appointment at 9:00am with Andrew Southcott which I was very much looking forward to. I biked in so that I could get a little XT and also so Mrs. V could then drive me back to campus on her way to work. My drivers’ license is now expired, so I technically can’t legally drive.

Anyways, it was a really nice morning and I had a nice bike ride. I biked via Harrington to Emerson hospital and then up 62 into town. I was early, so I then headed over to Nashawtuc to get some extra minutes in. That big hill is even tougher on a bike than it is on foot! Anyways, I parked my bike in front of Sorrento’s and then had a great massage which really helped loosen up my calves.

The total was XT30 minute bike ride into town for massage.

PM: I ended up not leaving for my run until about 6:15pm, since I was busy studying all afternoon for ME1. Everyone else had already ran, so I g-chatted Jeff and he was down. I ran over to his house to meet him and then we headed up Curtis street to the Fells.

It was a nice easy run and a very pretty day. The fells were really nice – though probably wasn’t great for my allergies. We ran quite easily, but that was fine with me. I wanted a very easy day today. On the way back, we stopped at the Turf field and Rags did another couple miles barefoot while I did full-Full barefoot (actually barefoot) drills on the turf. It felt really nice to actually do them barefoot; I’m a bit too paranoid to do them barefoot on real grass.

After drills, I was feeling pretty good and so I did 4x barefoot strides on the turf. These felt quite good; I took maybe 90-120 sec jog between each. #3 was a bit longer on the diagonal, the rest were short and quick along the straights.

Finally, we re-shoed and headed back – Jeff to Ossippee and me to Lewis.

The total run was 10M EZ in 71:08, with full-full barefoot drills on turf+4x fast strides on turf.

Friday, May 06, 2011 – AM: I didn’t sleep super well last night and was unhappy to wake up to my alarm at 8am. I reset it and then slept another 30 minutes. I dragged myself out of bed and did light core – 100s, 50s, 30x side dip, 50x reach up, 50x cherry pickers, 50x leg lifts.

PM: I had planned to do a workout this afternoon, since I wasn’t able to work out with the guys at practice yesterday. I headed out in the late afternoon to warm up by myself. I ran an out and back on soft c-loop and then headed over to Gantcher. I decided to try working out inside to see if I would feel any better without breathing the outside pollen-y air.

I did 3M+ warm up total and then did full foot drills in Gantcher in my Tumbes spikes. After this, I did some strides and a 200m in about 36.x (goal interval pace). The workout today was a combination of some longer 10k paced stuff with some quicker stuff at the end. Originally, I had hoped to run 3x2000m @ 10k pace, with a one-lap surge on each one at 5k pace (2^nd to last lap) and then something like 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m @ R-pace (~67-68s).

The workout started off okay. The first interval felt tough and was a bit slow (6:15 with a 71.6 4^th lap). I took 2:30 jog after this and tried to go again. I ended up running 76.h, 76.h for the first two laps and then could only muster a 74.7 for the “surge” lap. Yikes… From there, I ran the next 200m in 40.0 and just stopped. I almost called the workout off right there, but decided to give it another go and just run by effort. This was pretty depressing, as “10k effort” ended up being a 5:12 1600m on the next interval….

I took another 2:30 jog and then decided to just do some quarters instead of the longer work. Again, I just felt terrible, and couldn’t even run 400m at R pace. I ran 3x400m w/ 90 sec jog in 69.7, 69.0, 68.0.

I was pretty disappointed and frustrated after this workout. I felt like my legs just weren’t doing what I wanted them to. It was really depressing having 77s feel like 74-75s felt in the past. I’m really hoping that this was just a bad day and not quite being recovered enough and not indicative of my current fitness.

Anyways, I did a 3M cooldown afterwards and then did some precautionary icing.

Splits

3M warm up

Drills, strides, 200m in ~36

2000m: 6:15.4 (75.3, 75.5, 76.5, 71.6, 76.5)

2:30 jog

1400m: 4:28 (5:06.8 for 1600m) (76.7, 76.9, 74.7, 40.0)

2:30 jog

1600m: 5:12.1 (2:35.9, 77.7, 78.5)

2:30 jog

3x400m w/ 90 sec jog: 69.7, 69.0, 68.0

3M Cooldown

Saturday, May 07, 2011 - AM: Core – 100s, 50s, 50x cherry pickers, 30x side dip, 120x flutter kick, 8:30 plank, 30x Kenyan pushup, 50x leg lift.

PM: I had planned to do my long run today to skew my week a day early, since I’m racing on Friday. I had talked to Nick about running with him after the meet at MIT, but the weather had turned nasty after lunch, forcing the meet to suspend several times. I kept a close eye on the radar and finally decided to head out around 4pm. There had been some serious thunder-storms in the area, and I wasn’t thrilled about getting caught out on the river in a thunder storm, so I was a bit paranoid.

I started out pretty easy. I didn’t really need to hammer at all today, just get some miles in. I started feeling better by the time I got to the river and the weather wasn’t too bad. It was just drizzling on and off and it looked like most of the dark clouds were moving away. I stopped to take a shit at the port-a-john at the Hatch Shell and then continued on. From there, I ran around the science museum and then back on the Cambridge side until I got to Mass Ave.

Once there, I crossed the street and ran through MIT until I found the track. It looked like the meet had just started going again, so I found some of our boys and tried to figure out what was going on. I found the 5k guys – the race that I really wanted to watch – and they said they thought it was going to be an hour or so before they raced. With that, I decided to just head back, since I didn’t feel like having an hour long break in the middle of my long run. This turned out to be a good decision, because there ended up being another thunder-delay and the 5k didn’t start until like 7pm.

I headed out and ran back to Memorial Drive and then back the normal way through Harvard to Oxford Street. I was feeling fine by the end and timed the last 5km in about 19:30. Once back in Lewis, I had a Clif bar and stretched/rolled before taking a shower and getting all the mud off my legs.

The total run was 16M in 1:46:24 (6:39 pace)

Sunday, May 08, 2011 – AM: I slept for a long time last night. I woke up pretty hungry around 6am and had a chewy bar and fell back asleep until 9am! That’s the latest I’ve slept in some time. By the time I got up, I decided I didn’t want to eat any more, since I was going to be running so soon. So, I just headed down to Baronian a bit before 10am.

There was a rag-tag team assembled. A lot of people are either swamped with finals or their seasons are already over. So, it was a kind of random assortment. We all ended up starting out together – me, Luke, Liam, Scott, Erik, Matty, and Bellet. We headed to the river, as usual. It was a pretty nice day out, not too windy and sunny, around 60F. We started out very easy, which was okay with me. I was still a bit tired.

Luke and Liam split off at two-bridges and the rest of us continued onwards. We were moving a bit more at this point and I was starting to feel my lack of breakfast. I had planned to turn off at fake-10, which would be about 9-10M, but Bellet convinced me that we should just go with Matt and Scott to Smoot and then take Mass Ave back. This should end up being about 10M, maybe less, which sounded good.

After we crossed Smoot, Bellet, Erik, and I continued on Mass Ave and Matt and Scott kept on along the river. It was a nice run back; we made pretty good time and kept it conversational and comfortable. I was feeling pretty pooped by the end, but actually felt pretty decent leg wise. Just tired.

I got back to Baronian and did a bit of stretching and rolling before heading to Dewick for the last Sunday Brunch until fall!! : (

When we got back, the time on my watch was 73 minutes, and I assumed this was about 10M, maybe even a bit short. I was surprised to find that it was actually almost 11M (10.75M) when I mapped it out once back in Lewis. This made me feel a bit better!

The total run was 10M+++ (10.75M) in 1:13:00 (6:49 pace).

PM: I came home in the afternoon and got a lot of studying done for thermo. Before heading out to mothers’ day dinner, I did Core – 100s, 50s, 120x flutter kick, 9:00 plank!, 30x back bridge, 30x toes to sky, 30x flutter (thumbs up/down), 50x leg lift.

Total for the week: 90 Miles in 9 Runs