Year ending LSD - Sun. Dec 31

Still a bit sore from yesterday, but went out in the afternoon solo to put some miles on. Headed down the rail trail as far as North Washington and then ducked under the railway bridge and took the Jabish Canal path off to the right. Haven't run that before: it goes downhill some (would be a good tough run going the other way), and eventually comes out, five miles from home, on 21. Followed this back up north as far as Springfield, on to which I turned right and then home through the schools and the State School. Stopped the clock at about 9 miles, though I'd had thought of aiming for 11-13 when I started; too tired in the end. Still not unsatisfying:

Time: 1:07:01
Speed: 8.1 mph
Distance: 9.01 miles

Comments: a long and busy year, with new PBs in all three distances. Definitely time to hope I can find a running schedule that lets me put more miles in, and then think about a 16~20+ mile race in 2007. . .

Happy New Year to all runners in training (even if like me the training is just training for life)! May 2007 be full of good times!!

Snowstorm 10K (new PB) - Sat. Dec. 30

Off for the last Snowstorm of the year, hoping maybe to see Mark there (nope), and planning to have a crack at 40:00. Well, so I thought; in retrospect I was being unrealistic, as I misremembered my best time. But anyhoo. It was a pleasant if chilly morning, dry on the ground while threatening snow. Arrived in time to do a few circuits of the pond as warm up, then back to the boat skate house to find still a ton of people lining up to sign in. Turned out there were 108 people running! Amazing, and perhaps the good weather had something to do with it. Took off at a steady pace, trying not to hurry the uphill, and then followed the lead string (though Carlos was already out of sight, doing a real solo push, perhaps challenged by the guest runner who came in at #2). I figured there were about 10 all told, with no one behind me very close. After a couple of miles Joe, who'd been sort of shepherding a string of 4-5 runners, dropped back to look for more worthy causes or something -- said hi in passing. I was on time for a while, but miles 3-4 seemed very rough, and indeed I'd slowed down. Just no enough strength at that point to keep the average up. Still, it was going okay, and I kept trying to catch the two or three ahead. Then as we looped round for the last 2 miles I felt my right shoelace loosen and then come undone. Urg. Couldn't really try running like that, so I stopped (cursing, alas) and did it up. Meanwhile the runner behind me approached and passed. Got about a hundred yards ahead before I was charging off again. But I think she was getting into her stride. I made up some ground, but then she held off and I just couldn't close any more, except for the very last few hundred yards. Joe had yelled out not to slow down as we turned round the pond for the last straight, and I managed to push a bit, but I had no sprint. Here's what their clock said:

Time: 40:37
Speed: 9.15 mph
Distance: 6.2 miles*

Comments: *Joe says the circuit is actually a bit long, maybe closer to 6.3. Could be so. Still, a good run to close the competitive year out with -- I'm happy and I still see windows of opportunity to get stronger. Next year.

Weekday morning 5 miles - Thu, Dec 28

Not early morning, of course, but the best I could manage for right now. Given the ice and frost I'm glad I wasn't out too early: this way at least the sun was doing its best to keep me from freezing. I wanted a hilly trial run and I got one. It's amazing how big a gap there is between running the course in your head (last night) and doing the real dong -- romp up this hill, charge along the flat, I think, and then gasp and stagger when virtual becomes actual. But I hope I'm smiting the cold and the winter funk that seems to have a grip on me (malgre the fact that there IS no winter this year, it seems). Entered the trails directly, over the stream, then round the loop and down the hill to the rail trail, along to Bay, and up to 9 via Allen; back down past Tilton's to the trail entrance and charge/stagger up the hillside, then follow the trail out on to Allen and cross over to 202, then home around the Neverclose shop, stopping the clock at just over five and a half. Thus:

Time: 45:08
Speed: 7.72
Distance: 5.81

Comments: feeling out of practice in the immediate sense, but -- in this third year of running now -- much more aware of how things are working for me, more experienced; like I know what I'm doing a bit. The feedback from the digivice and the races has really helped, though I think I'd be a lot further along if I trained with any regularity. I just can't do the early morning thing unless there's someone else involved, it seems. Maybe I should try asking around and see if anyone's interested . . .

Xmas day outings - Mon. Dec 25

For Xmas this year we got the young lad a pair of training pants like mine, and thoughtful in-laws (F.'s sister being also a runner) got me a bright orange top by UnderArmor (collared fleece shirt, very light).

So yesterday in a quiet moment in the afternoon before our festive meal (we ate French style, only a day late), R and I headed out for the one mile lap of the Woods. He had been out playing already (to say nothing of being up all hours for midnight Mass and then opening his stocking at six), and was a bit sore, but after a pause midway he rallied and wanted to sprint at the end. Another mile just under 9 minutes. Then I headed off for an Enfield/Quabbin run in two legs (there and back again), taking a camera for a few pics at the turnaround at the lake.

The run out there was fair, though I was really only thinking to get some distance on, not pace at all: 3.41 miles at 8.1 mph. But putting the starter mile, the run out, and the run home all together, here's the total:

Time: 57:53
Speed: 7.76 mph
Distance: 7.49 miles

Comment: still working on getting the dregs of this cold out of my system; it was mild enough not to irritate tender sinuses, though I ran in a hat and trackpants. Generally a positive result, though I'm wondering about the 10K on Saturday...

Snowstorm 5 K -- Sat. Dec 23 (back post)

Running in company, such a treat. Feeling pretty awful, having had some sort of digestive disorder since the JStuff dinner on Thursday evening. Hopefully it's just the tail end (in a literal sort of way) of this cold working through my system. It was raining and chilly too, but with promise of Ivan being there and the prospect of Mark, I headed down to Forest Park for the day's run (fortunately only a 5K). Got to the Skate House at 9:30 or so, and Ivan appeared shortly after. I said I was planning to run with him and not try bolting off; asked his PB, which was 20:50. Figured we could have a go at that, even though both not feeling too bright. BIG turnout (100+) and so we had a bit of a shaky start; it took Ivan a while find pace, but then we were good to go and I kept an eye on the digivice (he'd only brought a watch/timer). There were so many good runners it was a bit distracting, trying not to get pulled on or frustrated at being passed, but we held steady and I signalled the last stretch--he took off and I more or less followed. He got a new PB (just) and I hit 20:50 dead on, by the official timer. Here's what I got (and yes, I did remember to hit stop on crossing the line, just for a change):

Time: 20:49
Speed: 9.2 mph
Distance: 3.21 miles

Comment: Happy enough with this, given how unsure I was about how my digestion would hold up. Faded at the end, but it was a step on the way back to running after the cold. Worth noting also the 14 year old female runner ahead of the two of us -- very cool, excellent kick:
27 -Chelsea Bishop 14 /1 F0-19 = 20:46.0 6:41/M
28 -Ivan Grail 28 /5 M20-29 = 20:47.0 6:41/M
29 -Steve Forrest 42 /7 M40-49 = 20:50.0 6:42/M

Campus laps -- Wed. Dec 20

Chilly night (maybe not quite freezing, but the breeze was cold), and after two final exams and lots of other work (with short nights beforehand) I was not really feeling like going out. I really wanted to drink coffee and eat lots. Buuut then again. . . I guess that's why I brought my kit in with me, so I couldn't wimp out. Headed off along Haggis and then turned right and did a good first lap, but a bit cold, so on the second lap I ducked into campus instead of staying on the perimeter. Then headed down to the parking lot and finished up at my car. Sort of a 7k, I guess, right between a 5 and 10.

Time: 31:36
Speed: 8.4
Distance: 4.45 miles

Comments: three good starting miles (6:56 ish) and then a slower one as I got a stitch (inevitably). Probably that'll do me in terms of prep for Saturday's 5K. Nice thing will be running in company, as Ivan will be there and maybe even Mark too. I'll just stick with him/them, and not aim to break my PB or anything. Forecast is rain, which is too bad, but still.

Recovering run -- Sat. Dec 16

Started with a warm-up lap around the development in the company of young R, who was keen to try a mile in his newer, much better shoes. He was great, and we did the mile (with hills!) in just under nine minutes--most promising! He didn't even seem tired, and had his signature sprint ready at the end. More training for him in future, for sure. . . Then I took off onto a modified Enfield run, going along 9 to Allen, up and over then up the other side along to Enfield, then down to 9 and back home directly. Short on energy, but as R said, once you get into it you kind of forget that you're running.

Reminds me of Tintin (The Land of Black Gold) section when Thomson & Thompson are in a jeep driving across the desert, when they get overtaken by Tintin et al. driving much faster. Thom[p]son thinks they must not be moving, so gets up and steps out of the jeep, and is left in the dust as it drives on. I sometimes think in the early stages of a long run, "Hm what shall I do, maybe make a coffee, read a book" -- then I sort of come to and remember I'm out running. . . Of course, this has happened less as I've started working on pace training. More a factor in lazy summer runs or winter snowbound plods.

Anyhoo, here's how the run finished up:

Time: 50:13
Speed: 7.8 mph
Distance: 6.5 miles

Comment: for a reentry run, fair enough. But it's amazing how quickly you can lose touch. Hopefully I'll be back into some sort of sense of things by the next snowstorm run. . .

frustrations

Blogger going google really stinks, but I just haven't got time to figure out how to shift this blog to a less commercially imperialist/globalizing space. Grr. Why does everybody want to rule the world?

Mood not helped by having been knocked off running stride: on Dec. 7th (Thu.) woke up with a really sore throat and sinus cold, felt awful. Stayed in bed all day, and then started back to work on Friday, but Sunday was out for the count again. Couldn't run for the whole week, at least until the sinus cleared up a bit; finally tried an easy run on Sat. 16th (next entry), but so busy with work that I can't even get a daylight run in. Ah well. Tonight, at least a little. . .

Mountain run-a-hike - Sun. Dec. 3

Met with Mark at the Notch, supposedly at 4 but he was a bit late coming from MW, so when we set off at 4:15 p.m. the day was fast ending. As long as we've got light on the worst of the trail, I thought -- and so up Mt Norwottuck by the M&M trail we went. The air was a bit chill and we were both snuffling a bit as we gasped our way up the several hundred feet climb in less than a mile. Paused at the top then down the precipitous other side past the Horse Caves, bearing left when we intersected the skirting track so we came back around to the bottom of the M&M eventually. It did get a bit dark, but the moon was rising faster than the setting sun, and the trail was wide enought just to plunge on ahead. Gorgeous, dreamlike feeling fo running on and the leafy trail unfurling ahead of you among the trees . . .

Time: 43:46
Speed: 4.3 mph
Distance: 3.15 miles

Comment: it felt so good to be bounding up hills again, after too many rather flat runs. Or maybe it's the hills combined with the scrambling unpredictability of trail running. Anyhoo, sore but satisfied and ready for another week of officing.

1st Snowstorm Run! Sat. Dec. 2

Asakiyume drove us down for this first of the Forest Park runs, and there was a solid turnout considering how early in the "winter" season it is. There was just nice time to stretch and jog a little bit, then we were lining up--chilly wind, bright sunshine, mild-ish: I went with hat and gloves, shorts and my fleece over a sleeveless T. A few people said they were planning to turtle (including my sorta rival Doug G.), but I was still surprised to find only a handful ahead of me on the uphill. Pace was so slow I went off anyway, and so there were only two ahead of me for a bit. At mile one, orange-shirted older guy closed up and overtook. We tussled a bit, with me keeping the lead but not getting away. Then Joe, all in black, came through at about three miles, and he pulled right away, and orange went with him. I kept them in sights and waited for the next wave. It never came, and while I tried pretty hard, I couldn't make up any time. Anywhere I went for it, so did orange man. Alas. I thought maybe I could get to sub-41 or even close to 40 mins, but no joy. Still, the pace was pretty good, and there'll be more pushers and pullers next time, I think. Here's how it ended up:

Time: 41:14
Speed: 9.2 mph
Distance: 6:34 miles (per my digivice: officially a 10K/6.2 miles)

Comment: it was great to have asakiyume's company at the start and finish, and to get 5th place was pretty neat. Maybe in January I'll get a bit more training in and try for that sub-41 again. This time I'll just be thankful for getting a 6:00 on Mile 2 and 6:07 on Mile 6. Yosh!

Midweek 5K - Wed. Nov. 29

Thinking a bit ahead to the Saturday "Snowstorm" run I wanted to get at least a loosening up run in during an *impossible* week at work, so after teaching till 9 and somehow taking an hour to get home--and then dithering backwards and forwards on whether to go out or give in to sleepiness, finally stepped out at about half past ten, gulping in the moist mild air and enjoying the cloudy night light as I headed down to Hamilton for my local basic 5K. Uneventful, and barely a push at the end, but still stopped the clock at the big store and then jogged the rest of the way.

Time: 23:02
Speed: 8.4 mph
Distance: 3.23 miles

Comment: wish I could do this every night or so. Ah well, it was nice for a change.