An Unnamed Race in Newport

A blog post...only to keep updating my history in Newport.

After one of my slowest times last year (as expected, I was fat) I reluctantly returned to Newport for my 18th time...I only did this so Brightman would have someone to go out with after the race.

Anyway, I did a my 4th cyclocross race of the season on Saturday in Goddard Park.  It was definitely my worse performance of the year, I fell down, I cut my knee, I added to the multiple bruises on my knee....all good stuff!  I don't believe the effort on Saturday change how I would do on Sunday; my knee DID hurt, but only when running...so all good!  ;)

I planned ahead of time to go out conservative and see how the race played out.  I think I did that well for the first mile, then got going a little earlier than I would have liked, but was able to hold on to my pace and finish rather well.

After a couple years of complete shit on the running front, MAYBE!! just maybe this is the corner I need to turn to get rolling and have a solid 2020.

See FULL RESULTS

Race history....

2019 - 5th Place - 35:07
2018 - 9th Place - 37:09
2017 - 5th Place - 35:17
2016 - 4th place - 34:24
2015 - 2nd place - 34:05
2014 - 4th place - 34:55
2013 - 3rd place - 34:13
2012 - 4th place - 33:49
2011 - 2nd place - 35:02
2010 - 3rd place - 35:29
2009 - 3rd place - 34:04
2008 - 4th place - 33:56
2007 - 5th place - 33:36
2006 - 7th place - 35:11
2005 - 5th place - 34:09
2004 - 7th place - 33:50
2003 - Didn't Run
2002 - Didn't Run
2001 - 18th place - 38:17
2000 - 8th place - 36:24

Times in order by speed...

2007 - 5th place - 33:36

2004 - 7th place - 33:50

2008 - 4th place - 33:56

2012 - 4th place - 33:49

2009 - 3rd place - 34:04

2015 - 2nd place - 34:05

2005 - 5th place - 34:09

2013 - 3rd place - 34:13

2016 - 4th place - 34:24

2014 - 4th place - 34:55

2011 - 2nd place - 35:02

2019 - 5th Place - 35:07
2006 - 7th place - 35:11
2017 - 5th Place - 35:17

2010 - 3rd place - 35:29
2000 - 8th place - 36:24
2018 - 9th Place - 37:09
2001 - 18th place - 38:17

Chesterfield Gorge 50k

I was not signed up for this race until very recently, but knew I wanted a longer, harder than training effort run prior to VT 100k.  This race seemed right up my alley; low key, not technical, mostly shaded, reasonably close to home and put on by Amy Rusiecki.  I also needed my volunteer hours for VT and since this race had runners running upwards of 100 miles, there was plenty of time in the day and night after I ran to get those hours in.

I knew the course was rolly, but no big hills, so it seemed reasonable to think running under 4 hours would be doable.  I had a stretch goal of 3:45 in my head, but didn't really know what to expect until I got on course.

Hanging at the 7.75 Aid Station

The race started at 6am and the course runs out on River Road for 7.75 miles to a turn around and comes back.  I would do this two times for 50k.  When thinking about the double out and back, it was just a matter of running the first out and back reasonably relaxed and then trying to run a bit faster the 3rd leg and then hoping to finish strong coming back to the finish.

The race starts and the first little bit is downhill.  One dude went out a tad ahead of me, but we settled into pace pretty quickly.  I was initially thinking 7:30 pace, but pretty early on the GPS was reading around 7:15s, so I just went with it, making sure I felt easy and not really pushing any of the small ups or downs along the way.

I felt pretty good separation after a couple miles, I took advantage and jumped off the trail for a quick pit stop and then got back into my groove.  The last part of the road is a more exposed area, which got pretty warm later in the day, but at this point it felt nice to be in an opening at is was breezy and still a little overcast. My first 7.75 was 54:33

The trip back was pretty uneventful.  I started seeing the people that were heading out to the turnaround, which made the race slightly less lonely, I waved and said good job to everyone each time we passed.

My main goal for the journey was to stay relaxed and easy.  At this part of the run it was easy to get too fast.  Far enough into the run that I was all warmed up and feeling good, but plenty of race left that I could do some serious damage if I got carried away.

I arrived back at the start/finish area and made a loop around the turnaround bush in 53:44, topped off my bottle with some Coke and down the hill I went to start my last out and back.

The route on the way out was generally more down hill than the way back.  I took advantage of that on the last out lap.  I Wasn't trying to run much faster than the previous section, but I guess I started to smell the barn so to speak.  That lap was 52:15.

I again just topped off my bottle quick and got back to work.  The exposed area was a bit warmer now, but it was definitely easier running then further up the course where there were generally more rocks etc.

I would guess that somewhere around 5 miles ago I finally felt like I was working a bit harder than I had been, but I never felt like I was struggling too much.  I was pretty sure I would be under 3:40 at this point and just ran hard all the way though, finishing in 3:34:55.

So, this was a great effort and I actually passed though the marathon split faster than Boston....even the BS GPS marathon split.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the 7.75 mile turnaround aid station volunteering until around 9:30 pm.  It was a beautiful day to be outside, but I was super happy to get back to the hotel and get some sleep.

It took me a while to actually finish writing this, but now a few weeks later, training has still been going well.  Since Chesterfield I have run two 25+ mile runs and a 20 mile run, with two good solid training weeks.  This week will be a back off week and then I will start the final push towards VT!

2019 Boston Marathon

This was my 4th Boston Marathon.  I definitely do not have a love affair with Boston like a lot of people.  To me, the race is a pain in the ass.  Logistics suck and if it is a bad weather day it can be miserable waiting for the start.  We were almost in that boat this year, but the weather gods were nice and we didn't have to stand in a downpour.

Since I have not been in shape to run a good marathon since running 2:36 in 2015, I was back in the 7th corral, which I actually didn't mind because I never had any ambitions to run fast at this years race.  I basically signed up because I knew we had a good group going and it felt like a good year to do it.  I was hoping I would be in better shape by the time the race rolled around, but I was never able to get anything going...the lingering pain in my hip and weekly PT sessions left me less than excited about my daily runs.  With that said I had some glimmers of hope.  A few solid longish runs and a decent Foxboro 10 Mile race.

The week leading to the race was filled with a group message we have along with wetaherman extraordinaire Fred Campagna.  He kept giving us updates and also provided links to his newest venture, www.runweather.com.  Check it out!

Race day was down pouring and thunderstorms while waiting to head up to Hopkinton, all ended up clearing by the time we got  to thew athletes village and so the wait in the portajohn line began.  30 or so mins later and it was time to head down to the start.

Zak decided to come back to the 7th coral and run with me.  Since we were both going to suck, we figured we would do it together!  Interesting note with Zak.  He has now signed up for Boston 4 times and this was the first time he was able to race it, between 2 stress fractures and a baby, the Boston marathon curse was real for Zak (why did I agree to run with him?)  The Jinxed Unicorn tried to get him in the morning too, on his way to meet us a branch flew into his car knocking his windshield wiper off and then our bus from Hopkinton to....HOPKINTON, got LOST. 

Anyway....the race.

The 7th corral has some tight running.  The other 3 times I ran Boston I was in the first corral and although there are a lot of people there, it opens up way quicker then the 7th...the 7th corral you are continuously passing people or being passed.  There are far less people to pass up front, so it opens up into clear running room quicker and stays that way.

So, basically we were running on top of people at least through 9 miles, then there was a bit more running room.  Zak and I stayed together through 14 or so, he seemed to be having a rough patch and as I found out later, he stopped to use a portajohn. 

From 14 to 25 miles the race was pretty uneventful, I was getting slow and feeling like shit.....this feeling started early and just kinda got slightly worse the rest of the race.  Right around 25ish I saw Mike Daniels near the side of the road, hands on hammy, never a good sign.  Finally the ol' right. left and the roar of the crowd on Boylston.  I was happy to be done, happy to run easy on the slight downhill to the finish....and then....I feel someone go by me sprinting....it was Zak.  He had finally caught back and was moving pretty well.  It took me a second to comprehend that it was him, then I gave chase....swearing the whole way.  How dare he make me run hard at the end of this race and hurt more.  I caught up to him and passed his ass.....then slowed down and we went over the line together.  It was pretty funny...it was the two of us sprinting down the final stretch swerving in and out of people like 2 little kids in a crowd.

After that we met up with everyone, found out Dave finally broke 2:40...yay....got the hell out of Boston and got to eating and drinking.  Although there were a few mins in the race that I thought "man I would rather be at work" in the grand scheme of things, it was still a good day.  My race sucked, Boston will never be a race I like....but I was out there running with a bunch of people and got in some miles for the day.

Onto the next...

January 2019 Recap

January has been a pretty productive month on the training front.  I have continued to slowly work on increasing mileage and adding work outs into the mix.  My long runs have also increased and with a good group of guys to run those with, there have not been too many long runs that were us out there just slogging miles.

There were (3) long runs in the month.  The last weekend of the month I had a race and did not run long.  The first long run was 16 miles at 6:53 pace.  The weekend after that was another 16 miles at 6:51 pace finishing the last three miles around 6:18 pace.  Lastly; a 17 mile run with almost 1000 feet of climb at 6:45 pace.

I finished the month with 277.4 miles (up from December's 239.7).  Averaging 62.6/week and 8.94/day.  Nothing crazy, but a start!

I ran the USATF East Region and New England Masters Indoor Championships Meet in Providence on 1/27.  I knew it was going to be ugly, but I went in with realistic expectations.  I seeded myself at 10:15 in the 3k and 5:15 in the miles and ran 10:07 and 5:15.  Last year I ran 9:57 and 5:08, so really not too bad and most importantly I came out of it without any issues in regards to my injury...

We are now less than 10 weeks out from Boston, with lots of work to do.  Boston was never going to be a goal marathon with a PR in mind...but it would be nice to go into it in decent shape and run a well executed race.

Races coming up...
KKC # 5 (which happened this past weekend, write-up to follow)
Foxboro 10 Mile
New Bedford 1/2 Marathon

Ralph, myself, Dave...indoor tracking it.

November/December 2018 Training

After running the Dublin Marathon at the end of October I took a very easy week, then started my transition back into some sort of normal training.  PT was going good and my injury felt better and better, but I was good throughout November and still kept super minimal mileage, trying to gain some fitness.

I ran a total of 150.2 miles with a long run of just under 9 miles and only 3 days off from running.

December, I kept the progression of longer and longer runs going.  I ran everyday but one, I raced once, I did a couple short work outs and I did some long runs.

I ran a total of 239.7 miles, ran two 13 mile runs and a 14 mile run.

Looking back to my runs in the middle to the end of November, I was generally averaging 7:15 to 7:30 pace with a few runs more upbeat.  I ran the TNT Thanksgiving morning run a hilly course in West Greenwich and was happy to run 7:05 pace...but was beat doing it.

Fast forward to the middle to the end of December and my pace has gotten faster in most runs, with much less effort.  I have been able to finish some longer runs fairly strong.

The race went better than expected at the start of December, I was surprised top be able to run lowish 6's for 6 miles.  I also ran Nooseneck under 7 min pace, feeling good.  That was a great improvement over the TNT Thanksgiving run.

All in all the last 2 months were productive.  I was happy to get back to doing regular Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday group runs.  Hopefully January will continue in the right direction!

Knead Donut Run

Wall outside Knead, Downtown Providence

2018 Year in Review

Year in review...
Training and racing wise, this year was a bust.  A stupid downed tree that I thought nothing of jumping over back in May pretty much crushed all dreams of running fast this year, it also gave me the most zero days I probably have ever had since I started running.

The last few weeks I have been slowly building fitness, run by run.  I am still as fat as ever, but hopefully with more continued training, that will alleviate itself sooner rather than later.

Here is my year by the numbers...

• Races run: 15
• Race breakdown by terrain: Road - 8, Trail - 5, Indoor Track - 2
• Best Finish: 2nd
• Miles run: 2,084.3 mi - Lowest year since 2013
• Elevation run:  73,255 ft
• Most elevation gain in a single run: 2290 ft
• Time run: 258h 17m
• Days with no running: 81 (WOW!)
• Lowest mileage week: 2.0 (injured)
• Highest mileage week: 79.5 (that's pathetic)
• Highest mileage day: 26.7 (marathon and WU)
• Longest running streak: 74 days
• Longest non-running streak: 5 days
• Number of segment CRs: 12
• Number of states run in: 4
• Number of countries run in: 2
• Run furthest from home: Ireland
• Miles Biked: 369.9 mi

Soapstone Mountain

Frank Nealon 15k

Merrimack River Trail Race

Doyle's Emerald Necklace 5 Mile

2019...

Same ol' same ol' here.  Get back into shape and try to race well.  I have a great group of guys to train with on pretty much a daily basis, so I have no excuses, other than ensuring I don't ramp up to quick and mess shit up.  I am still going to PT for my injury and I still have some pain/tightness in that area...but it is getting better.

We have a huge group of runners doing Boston this year, so that is the first "bigger" race on the calendar.  First, I have the KKC.  I really need to start ramping up the peppiness in my runs to get ready for that race, which is a month away.  We have 7 guys running in the challenge race this year and will be taking aim at the team title.

Later in the year, who knows.  The USATF GP will see some attention for me before and after Boston.....  and hopefully I will be able to jump in some other fun races throughout the year....not going to plan too far ahead.

Good luck to everyone in 2019, especially Brandon Vulnerable.