2015 Amherst 10 Miler Race Report

I don't get why people don't like this race, you get great New England weather, copious hills, and even a dirt/mud road! It's a little bit of everything to satisfy everyone...or perhaps no one.

In any case, I showed up...

I showed up race morning feeling like I should not have been training through the race.  On top of that, I shoveled off my roof Saturday afternoon, followed by a very nice dinner with Elizabeth on Saturday...and that first bottle of wine was so good we opened a second one! One day I'll decide if that is a lesson worth learning.

The weather was surprisingly wonderful though. The drive out left me wondering what to expect since Western Mass got a few inches of snow on Saturday night, but by noon the roads were clear with the exception of a few puddles. The first good running weather in weeks and I show up with a mild hangover...say hello to the idiot everyone!!

Anyways, I finished a good 4+ mile warm up, got in a few strides, some stretching, and a meeting with Bert...and off to the starting line.

I had a good spot about one row behind the fast doods, with no intention of getting stuck behind anyone or being forced onto the icy shoulder of the road. After the initial hub bub of the first couple hundred meters, I began searching for a pace that I felt like I could hold - but the road undulates enough during the first mile that I was still in 'search mode.' I passed the mile marker at about 5:51 feeling fine, but not sure if this would be my pace.

There were a few folks that started to pull away from me during mile 2 that I thought about following, but I stayed conservative. Both the first and second miles have long steep downhills, and I tried not to be overly aggressive in taking advantage of those. Mile three is a challenge, and I wanted to be comfortable as I entered the all uphill section of the race.  About 3/4 of the way into mile 3, I began to get a little worried - my quads were tired. They were burning a bit as expected, but they were tired...and I didn't like that.

Once I crested the hill, I sort of zoned out as best I could to get myself relaxed. I wasn't feeling great and I wanted to stay quick, but get through mile 5 and then take inventory.  Since the next couple miles also included the dirt road section, which was mostly single file, this worked in my favor. I focused on one runner and just tried to match his pace. It was messy and a little slippery trying to get around people, but I was able to gather myself together by the end of mile 5 and I felt pretty good.

One quick note: I totally misread my watch. There are a few screens to scroll through, and I somehow read one that was keeping time of....what I do not know. It read 29 low at 5 miles, when in actuality I was at 31 and change. After the race, I was thoroughly disappointed in my stupidity. In reality though, it wouldn't have mattered much - I hit a bad patch and needed to recoup. I'm glad the race worked out this way as I was able to recover and I think this could be useful in future races.

Mile six, seven, and eight followed an up down pattern, but I was able to mix in some quick miles so..it is what it is I guess.  Apparently 'search mode' was a race theme as far as pacing goes.

Mile nine has a long flat stretch followed by a long uphill - I felt tired but strong (if that makes any sense) during this section and I began passing a lot of people.  I ended up making a pretty hard push to the finish from ~8.5 on.  I continued passing people and made a strong push during the last stretch to get even with 3 runners who were about 200 meters ahead of me at the start of the final mile.  I passed 2 of 3 runners, and it would've been 3 of 3 if not for a 15 foot section of ice right at the finish!  I ended up spinning my wheels about 10 feet before the timing mats and just kind of said 'eff it'...I've been dealing with that type of road under my feet all winter and of course it shows up during my finishing kick...whatever.

Ice behind me. Me = not happy. Other guy...not happy?

Splits:

		Elevation
		Gain	Loss
1	05:51.8	82	95
2	05:45.4	13	80
3	06:53.1	251	--
4	06:31.4	92	99
5	06:03.6	16	23
6	05:38.8	14	128
7	06:11.2	24	56
8	05:39.3	21	121
9	06:19.5	131	6
10	05:29.8	27	64

Final time: 1:00:21
Pace: 6:02/mile

2/15/15 to 2/21/15: We Do Things Not Because They Are Easy

With more snow to start the week, I pushed my long run off by one day.  But these conditions are leaving me feeling flat, tired, and frequently annoyed.

On Monday, I ran most of my long run indoors at the Harvard track with the company of Jean Dany - otherwise I may have simply fell asleep on my feet...not as bad as a treadmill, but countless laps around the outside of an indoor track are not exactly exhilarating. On the plus side, Jean Dany interpreted my invitation as an hour and a half total of running, so he pushed me pretty hard - then I ran 30+ min solo keeping up that hard effort.  My legs felt stiff the whole time, but that was in part due to my first BIFF of the winter on Sunday that left me with a deep bruise on my knee and a decent cut.  The legs were also heavy because every day feels like I'm running in quick sand. My quads are heavy, my hip flexors are exhausted, my calves are taxed...it hasn't been easy. But then again:

I went out Tuesday with the intent of simply going for a little extra mileage. Once I made my way to the Harvard Athletic Complex to take advantage of the cleared roads, I was pleasantly surprised by my pace. I was averaging ~6:50 to 7ish, and I felt my effort was pretty similar to everything else I have been running (only everything else is on the snow covered sidewalks). I'm not sure what to make of that, but it felt good to know that I'm moving at a decent clip without much effort.

THE STUFF!

15-Feb		Easy		0:07:40		6.04		Another snow storm. Went out as it was winding down, and surprised by the pace given the footing. Biffed it HARD in Harvard Square though. Limping all evening.
16-Feb		Long Run		0:07:30		17		AM: Ran to and from the Harvard indoor track - hour and a half of running inside. Tot ~17 for the morning. The 1.5 hrs ended up a progression run.
17-Feb		Easy/MLR				16.43		AM: Commute to work. PM: Commute home and to Harvard. Got there well before 6, and I don't want to push my luck. Dropped the backpack off and made use of the clear pavement around the athletic complex. Kept same effort as normal commutes and I was running 6:50s...curious what that means.
18-Feb		Easy/Easy				10.66		AM: Commute. PM: Commute home, plus a bit more in the neighborhood.
19-Feb		BU Intervals				17.21		AM: Commute. PM: Commute home + to BU + intervals. We ran 800 at 5k pace, 400 at mp, 400 at 5k all continuous. Three sets of that followed by 400x2.
20-Feb		Easy/Easy				8.14		AM: Commute. PM: Commute.
21-Feb		Easy + Strides		0:07:47		5.72		Ran to the Harvard athletic campus and back. Followed that up with ~5-8 strides.

Thursday Splits:

800-2:41.29

400-1:32.14

400-1:21.21

Total- 5:34.64

800-2:43.56

400-1:33.25

400-1:20.08

Total - 5:36.89

800-2:42.24

400-1:37.17

400-1:19.71

Total - 5:39.12

400-1:19.63

400-1:14.45

Quite happy with the workout. I felt like mush on the 400's though.  I finished hard on the very final 200 hoping my legs would open up a bit, but I felt ugly. I need to break out the roller.

Total: 81.20

2/1/15 to 2/14/15: Training on Ice Planet Hoth

...and I thought training on the black ice last winter was bad. This is getting ridiculous.  I probably wouldn't mind nearly as much if it weren't for the mansions in my neighborhood not shoveling their sidewalks. If you can afford a mansion, you can afford to hire someone to shovel the sidewalks.

Anyways, I've dealt with a funky IT, which is feeling close to a 100% but not quite there yet. My left hamstring still gets funky here and there. And my left achilles has pretty bunk for a good chunk of days, but now seems to be almost fully mended (that was quick...).

Here's 2/1 to 2/7:

1-Feb		Long Run		0:07:40		16.7		Long run with Terry and J.Waldron through the hills of Weston. Roads weren't too bad, but my left achilles is in rough shape.
2-Feb		Easy/Easy		0:08:04		4.14		Left achilles is a bit of an issue, and I can still feel the right IT band. Otherwise - another blizzard run…
3-Feb				0:08:09		11.44		AM: 4m+ to work on crappy sidewalks. PM: 7+ at a slow pace. ~3m were in knee deep snow - when I got to Harvard my achilles was bunk and I was wiped.
4-Feb		Easy/Easy		0:08:00		14.26		AM: 4m+ to work on crappy sidewalks. PM: 10+ home and then some. Fuck this fucking snow.
5-Feb		BU Intervals				17.03		AM: 4+ to work. PM: 4+ home, 3+ to BU, 1600/800/1600/800/1600. Came up with that workout as a fall back option if my achilles felt tight, and it did. Held up fine for the HM paced stuff though.
6-Feb		Easy/Easy				10.1		AM: 4+ to work. PM: 6+ home.
7-Feb		Fresh Pond				6.8		Won Fresh Pond then elected to go to the roads for better footing.

Splits:

I cleared my watch and didn't record the splits on Thursday, but I averaged ~5:50 for the 1600, and 3:00 for the 800.

Total: 80.47

2/8 to 2/14:

8-Feb		Long Run				14		Met Terry and Kevin at the Star Market on Comm Ave. Snowing and really poor footing.
9-Feb		Easy/Easy				8.22		AM: Commute in the snow. PM: Commute home around noonish.
10-Feb		BU Intervals				17.66		AM: Commute. PM: Commute home, to track, (1200/600)x3 - I felt like a cold was coming on, but the workout went really well.
11-Feb		Easy (sick)				4		Stayed home sick, and went out for an easy for since I was restless….and gotta get some miles in.
12-Feb		Easy/Tempo				16.76		AM: Commute to work. PM: Commute home and to Harvard 1600/800/1600/800/1600 continuous. 10k/HM pace alternation. Also ran 2m to the track pretty hard to add to the total effort. Felt stiff in general, but times were good.
13-Feb		Easy/Easy				12.26		AM: Commute to work. PM: Commute home then added some miles for 8+ tot.
14-Feb		Hill Fartlek				8.2		Neighborhood run, and I ran hard up all of the hills. Still sick, and never felt into this run.

Tuesday Splits:

1200-4:01.34

600-1:59.29

1200-4:03.76

600-2:00.39

1200-4:02.32

600-1:57.17

Thursday Splits:

1600-5:42

800-2:58

1600-5:45

800-2:59

1600-5:38

Total: 81.1

1/25/15 to 1/31/15: Damn You Snow

Not that Snow...

I'm in a bad mood. Thanks Snow, or snow...

DATA!:

25-Jan		Long Run		0:07:55		18.16		8m on my own, then 10m with Joe. Footing was crappy, and my legs felt drained from Thursday's effort. This was just 'getting in the miles.'
26-Jan		Easy/Easy				10.44		AM: 4m commute at 7:40per. PM: 6.3 at 7:55 per.
27-Jan						5.16		AM: 5.16m in the snow at 8min per. Really beautiful to run in a snow storm.
28-Jan		Easy/Easy				10.32		AM: 4.08 at 8:12 per. Watertown sidwalks suck. PM: 6.24 at about 8min. Sidewalks still suck so I had to improvise a route.
29-Jan		BU Intervals				17.3		AM: 4.08 at ~8min per. Footing still sucks, but at least the sidewalks weren't 3ft deep. PM: 4m home, 3.5m to the track. 1000x5/200x2/100x
30-Jan		Easy/Easy		0:08:00		10.16		AM: 4m commute on realy slippery sidewalks. This blows. PM: 6m+ along the Charles. Again, such shitty sidewalks. Footing was worse than brutal.
31-Jan				0:07:30		9.11		AM: Fresh Pond 1-lapper, then skipped to the roads for some traction. Really windy & cold. PM: 4m or so to shake out. Left achilles tender.

Splits:

1000-3:18.13

1000-3:25.24

1000-3:21.24

1000-3:30.29

1000-3:19.68

200-32.80

200-28.91

1xx-17.31?

100-13.69

100-13.11

100-12.83

That final 200 and 100 are probably 'modern day' PRs. Not too shabby at the end of a workout.

Total: 80.65