20 miler, Maine to NH...

Being 3 weeks out from Boston, and only a few days out of my New Bedford 13.1 PR, I still knew I needed to get in one more solid 20 miler before Patriot's Day, and honestly.. I was kinda scared of it.  Since a few nagging injuries, and family life had got in the way of a couple of important long runs, I hadnt run more than 16 miles in about 5 weeks...  and had only done one 20 miler since Feb!

Luckily for me, I've got a friend who is basically a stud.  Bob (aka) Wiles Running, Inc. and I went to high school together.  The funny thing is, we didnt run.  He was 2 years ahead of me, and we played varisty football together.  In the spring, he played baseball while I played lacrosse.  We obviously knew eachother, but never really hung out until this past summer.. when we kinda bonded over running (as fucking lame as that sounds).   Well, the fact that his wife Camie, and my wife Brianne have a ton in common helped. 

We laugh a bit about how we both should have ran XC back in the day, but we both can out run most former high school runners today, and if any other former all-state offensive lineman want to race me... bring it!

Anyway, we both discovered running in our later 20s, and now he is tearing shit up on the racing circuit..I'm talking 15min 5k's, and sub 1:10 half-marathons!   The coolest thing, is (for some reason) he enjoys helping me achieve my running goals.  He was awesome enough to pace me the last 16 miles of the Maine Marathon en route to my BQ, and was more than willing to get up and do a 20 miler through his hometown with me yesterday morning.

I got up at 4:45am for the 90 mile drive, (yep.. drove 90 miles one way to meet a guy for a 20 mile training..so what?), got to his house before 7, and it wasnt long before we were out running the Sea-Coast region of Maine-New Hampshire.   Without question the most beautiful run of my life. 

Below is our route, it was mega windy, so the resistance for sure kept the pace a little slower, but he got me to push myself.. and less than a week out from New Bedford, this felt amazing.

Let the taper begin....

New Bedford splits..

So after reading lots of race reports from New Bedford (mostly from people MUCH faster than me), I don't feel much like writing my normal in-depth, vulgar, brutally honest race report.

Instead, here are my splits from this awesome race, followed by the elevation from Garmin.

Mile 1 6:21
Mile 2 6:33
Mile 3 6:32
Mile 4 6:35 (slowest)
Mile 5 6:19
Mile 6 6:25
Mile 7 6:23
Mile 8 6:30
Mile 9 6:29
Mile 10 6:22
Mile 11 6:23
Mile 12 6:14
Mile 13 6:13 (fastest)
0.18 mi 1:02.67

Ok, obviously I had too much left in the tank... and should have ran a bit less conservative in the middle few miles... but eh whatever.. this is only my 2nd half marathon ever, but damn I love racing this distance!

Oh, and just so you know... I'll be running this again next year, and I will go 1:19 or under...

Weird thing happened on the way to the finish line....

After 2 weeks of horseshit running I somehow pulled a 1:24:17 half-marathon out of my ass today, and it feels damn good.

How's that for a race report?

It's been a minute since I've filled anyone in on my running (or whatever the hell you want to call what I've been doing lately).

Looking back through this Winter, it's been hell on my training.  I was trying to think back to the last time I had a full week of solid pain-free running, and I think it would be sometime in January.  The funny thing is, every week I have had something else ailing me.   I just made a list of my injuries this winter, then deleted it because 1, it was annoying me to read it, and 2, made me look even more like a pussy... so  lets just say, this winter has sucked.  No big deal, it's not like I have the Boston Marathon to run in a couple weeks or anything, right?  ohhhh...

I was actually feeling rather fit last week, after some good back to back weeks (65+ mpw), and awesome lactic-threshold workout, in which I did the middle 7 miles on my run at goal half-marathon pace, (6:25).  During this run it was POURING ran, so by mile 3 my shoes weighed 10lbs. each, I was freezing cold.. yet still hit all my splits with ease.   3 days after that workout I came down with a fantastic stomach-bug, and spent the next 48 hours puking more than running.. and had to miss my 20 miler I was very much looking forward to.

So now here I am, 4 weeks out of Boston.  Questioning all of my training, going back/forth still about what type of goal to set on Patriots Day (just finish the dam race might be one!).   A lot of questions will be answered tomorrow though at the New Bedford Half.  My plan going into this was hit a nice 1:25 finish, which would boost my confidence going into Boston a lot... setting me up for a solid sub 3:00 attempt, or at least a nice/relaxed 3:05ish.

Stay tuned kids.

flyer than the rest of 'em...

I'm 31 years old, and a couple things have been constant since I was a kid..

1. I love the Boston Celtics.
2. I love sneakers.

The 2nd one has recently become a bit of a problem in my house, and it's not what you'd think.... my wife is actually cool with it, it's just I'm running out of room for all my running shoes, and honestly.. it's got to the point where I stand there and take a few minutes to decide which pair to run in that day.   It's a nice problem to have, but a little insane.

When I was a kid I HAD to have the freshest kicks, as soon as they came out.  Which was hard being from Maine, but my mom was super cool about it and always had me in the newest Bo Jackson cross-trainers, and at the end of every Fall I'd get the newest Air Jordan's for basketball season.   This trend has continued into my running career...

This week I'll be posting a few reviews I have been putting off writing... some will be from kicks I love, some from ones I'd never run in again...

A group I used to be really into, Lexicon (underground hiphop from SoCal) dropped this song a few years back, and I can relate... as can a good amount of my running friends

Witty title here.

Oh hello there...

In an attempt to be the best father possible, I decided it was better to neglect my silly running blog than my 3 month old, probably a very wise choice.

I also dropped out of my college program at KVCC, I was studying in the Physical Therapy Assistant program... but honestly, after studying kiniesology for 4 years at Springfield College/Plymouth State, I'm kinda all "schooled out".  I'm actually rather content working in sales, and being I work for a rather awesome company that takes care of me well... I decided my priorities still remain as:
1.  Family
2.  Running
3.  Work
4.  Other Crap    (Which included the PTA certification program, and honestly.. it was getting in the way of both running & family, and that just is not cool.)

Oh, and I don't sleep either.  My son Abe, he hates nighttime.. so I'm getting about 5 hours of sleep a night, in about an hour and a half intervals... awesome huh?

ANYWAY...
Last week I hit a PR in mileage (by a mile), which is cool.  I feel like a zombie most mornings from the lack of sleep, and I THINK I'm getting some good quality in, but I suppose I wont know for sure until I'm able to test myself.  This weekend is the 1000th annual (not really, but it's been going on for a while) Mid-Winter Classic 10 miler in Cape Elizabeth.  I've ran this race twice, once about 11 years ago.. and again last year.  A 5 min. improvement from last years 1:09 is expected this weekend... that would help break up some staleness in this cycle.

I also registered for the New Bedford Half Marathon on 3/20.  I'm really looking forward to this race, as it's going to include a super-fast field, which will help my performance, and be an excellent test going into Patriot's Day. 

God, this blog entry sucks huh?
But I really just wanted to do something before I went out for an easy 8 this morning, and I'm crushing this cup of coffee to help get me out the door.

Oh, and about Boston.. 8 weeks out and I still have no clue what to expect, or what the goal will be. 
Part of me saying go nice and easy, just take it in as a "training run".. then go sub 3 in Sugarloaf in May.
Part of me says be a man and go hard or go home.
Part of me tells me to just aim for a soft PR while enjoying the course (3:06-3:09)

Good thing I still have 8 weeks to figure this out, it'd be nice if Abe figured out some sleep by then too...

Bring the ruckus..

I'm injured.
On the plus... it's -12 degrees out and I'm not too bummed about missing a run this morning.

     My foots coming along, after a lackluster 25 mile week last week, doing easy runs every other day I decided to skip another long-run Sunday and then after today off... I'm thinking I might be ready to go tomorrow.

     I was following Pfitz 18/70, but with 12 weeks out from Patriots Day and 2 weeks of crap, if I feel good tomorrow, I'd like to jump into the 12/55 plan.  The Mid-Winter Classic 10 miler was something I've been looking forward to since October, but I've decided to transfer my bib to a friend.. I don't feel like I'm in 1:04 shape right now, and honestly I have no desire to drive to Cape Elizabeth to race 10 miles unless I'm going to perform well.

     I did visit Roger Park, an orthotist who owns Acadia Orthotics.  I was referred to him by Gary Allen (Crow Athletics/MDI Marathon), Gary has run a sub 3 hour marathon each decade for the past 5 decades, and told me that in his 50's, Roger's running orthotics have made a HUGE difference.  So, anyway... I went to see him for a full biomechanical analysis.  First thing you notice in his office, is some cool gear signed by Joan Beniot, and Bill Rodgers... both wear Gary's custom orthotics... not a bad endorsement huh?

     I brought my 2 favorite shoes, with the most mileage on them to have Roger check them out.. before even looking at my legs, he said right off the bat "wow, you have tight calves"... JUST BY LOOKING AT MY WEAR PATTERN!   Of course, he was right.  Also, after some measuring I learned I should have been running in a 11.5 Wide, not my usual 12.  Which makes sense, and looking back I have no fucking clue why I never tried a Wide before... probably because most Wide kicks are fugly.  Also, after some tests Roger mentioned my pronation... I mostly run in neutral shoes, but knew I had moderate pronation.

     Basically I was told I'm much faster than my times show.  What the hell does that mean?  Well, my body is working against me each stride.  My shoe choice, my biomechanics, and my tightness is causing me to BRAKE on each step.  This is a good/bad thing.  It excited me that with some work I'll be able to get that much faster, but also means a complete over-haul of my running.  Roger told me I'm a good candidate for this orthotics, but also didn't pressure me into them, or seem like he was selling them to me.. he actually cared about my running.  I liked that.

     So.. what to do?  I've ordered some new mild stability kicks in a 11.5 Wide, which feel great.  With the high mileage I'd like to be running I realize I need more shoe, especially with my issues.. so, trial and error it is.   As for orthotics, I'm going to try running without for a while (they arent cheap) and we'll see what happens.