Mews Tavern 10th Gear and Beer 5k

Today was the Mews Tavern 10th Gear and Beer 5k in Wakefield, RI. This race is a local favorite - mostly for the post race party. We got their a bit early and tried to find a place to stay warm and out of the wind. A little after 11am, Justin and I went to warm up. Since neither of us have run this race before, we decided to go check out the hill we heard about. The hill wasn't that bad - but knowing it will be around the 2.5 mile mark during the race was kind of intimidating.

After the warm-up Justin and I lined up in the 1st group of runners (sub 23:00). After some chatting, and noticing the fast runners around us - the gun went off. First mile has a fairly decent hill to start and really took a bit out of me. Justin and I hung together for the first mile which clocked in at 6:59. Slower than anticipated - but that hill did a number on that split. Right after we passed the first mile, Justin said he wasnt going to be able to maintain that pace and to just go. We planned on holding back a little on the 2nd mile to save some for the hill at the end - 2nd mile split was 7:16. Right before the big hill, I noticed my son (with the person that was watching him and family) on the side of the road cheering me on. This gave me a boost and I was able to take the hill at a pretty decent pace and was able to pass a handful of people. Third mile split clocked in at 7:32. I was feeling pretty tired when my watch beeped the third mile - but still was able to muster up a 5:59 pace for the last 1/10 a mile. As I finished I noticed Justin was right behind me - so much for dropping back.

Place: 141/1147
Chip Time/Pace: 22:27.34/7:13
Gun Time/Pace: 22:34.13/7:15

Shout outs
Celina Juliano - 31:43 (FIRST RACE EVER!)
Justin Finch - 22:29
Carson Colmore - 31:27
Tim Coffey - 30:02
Shawn Murdock - 34:55
Lance Swenson - 28:06
Mark Wood - 22:14

Three runs 11/16-11/18

Monday Nov 16th
Total Mileage: 4 miles
Total Time: 35:02
Average Pace: 8:45
Splits: 9:01/8:48/8:39/8:32
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18984543

Tuesday Nov 17th
Total Mileage: 4 miles
Total Time: 33:07
Average Pace: 8:16
Splits: 8:56/7:59/8:16/7:56
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19063728

Wednesday Nov 18th
Total Mileage: 3 miles
Total Time: 27:28
Average Pace: 9:09
Splits: 9:26/9:02/8:59
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19155904

Thursday and Fridays Runs...

After a very long day at work on Tuesday, I decided to take it easy and rest on Wednesday.

Thursday
Total Mileage: 4 miles
Total Time: 35:25
Average Pace: 8:51
Splits: 9:27/8:47/8:33/8:37
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18584643

Friday
Total Mileage: 3 miles
Total Time: 26:09
Average Pace: 8:43
Splits: 9:22/8:25/8:19
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18651335

5 miles with 6 100 meter pickups

Today we headed to the bike path for a quick five mile run with some pickups. First five pickups were fast (between 5:38-6:15), the last one was very hard to do but I was able to keep it under 5k time (around 6:45ish)

Splits
Average/Max
9:44/8:07
8:27/5:38
9:05/5:58
8:41/5:59
9:26/7:06

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18438289

6x100m hill repeats on 100 Acres Hill

Today we headed back to 100 Acres hill for some 100 meter hill repeats. Plan was to do 6 repeats at pace that felt like 5k. After the warmup to the bottom of the hill Anthony and I started our repeats. First 3 weren't too bad and was able to get in the mid-low 7s for the ups. The fourth and fifth got tougher but was able to maintain the pace. I felt the sixth repeat in my lungs, so the idea we had to do a couple more was scrapped. We walked a little of the recoveries - and had a nice and easy return trip to work. I was pretty tired for the last 1/2 mile or so - but I think that had to do with Alec's nightmare that woke me up in the middle of the night.

Splits
Average/Max
8:55/7:04
9:12/5:29 (had two ups of the hill and one recovery)
9:32/5:47 (had four ups of the hill and five recovery)
9:32/8:08
8:53/6:21

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18392009

Friday Hill Run

Today we headed out to the 100 Acres hill to do some "easy" repeats of the whole hill (.4 miles one way). I was able to go up and down 3 times. Felt great to do some hill work again since that was one of my major problems at the CCM. I was also able to mark off 100meters for next weeks hill repeat day.

Total Distance: 6 miles
Total Time: 56:16
Average Pace: 9:22

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18159235

TRACK DAY!

First day at the track in a long time - at least for a structured track workout.

1 mile warmup @ 9:40 pace
400m @ 1:42 (6:50 pace) / 400m recovery
400m @ 1:44 (6:58 pace) / 400m recovery
400m @ 1:45 (7:00 pace) / 400m recovery
400m @ 1:45 (7:00 pace) / 400m recovery
200m @ 0:42 (5:37 pace) / 200m recovery
200m @ 0:44 (5:54 pace) / 200m recovery
200m @ 0:45 (6:00 pace) / 200m recovery
1/2 mile cool down @ 11:10 pace

Felt really good today at the track - ran hard and had no problems. I was hoping to get another 200m in but I was getting a bit tired and didn't think it was going to be a quality 200m so I decided to skip it.

Another four miler

Nothing fancy today for the 2nd run since Cape Code. Just a normal four miler on the bike path.

Total Distance: 4 miles
Total Time: 38:50
Average Pace: 9:42

Splits
9:52
9:31
9:45
9:41

First run since marathon/DNF

Today was the first run, after taking a week off, since the Cape Cod debacle. The plan was to take it easy - but given the rest (and the "anger" I had in me from a poor marathon) - I ran alot harder than I probably should have.

Total Distance: 4 miles
Total Time: 34:54
Average Pace: 8:43

Splits
8:42
9:07
8:04
9:00

Last 1/3 of a the third mile was mostly around 6:30 or so.

Cape Cod Marathon Race Report - DNF

After finishing my first marathon in Providence RI last May I was
looking forward to doing another this fall. I picked Cape Cod and
dragged my buddy Drew into doing this as his first. Race day weather
was GORGEOUS. I slept really well the night before which I though
boded well for a good day of running. My goal for this one was right
around 4 hours - but since I'm still new to the marathon distance I
really just wanted to finish - which was the same for Drew. I told
him we would start together and finish together and just try and enjoy
a nice long run.

Line up at the start and once the gun went off we went out at the pace
we planned for 9:15, we fell into a nice groove around 8:50s which is
exactly what we planned out to do. Course was great - running along
the coast with the changing colors of the leaves provided a nice
backdrop. We got to the half way point at 1:57 - again exactly on
target. The first half is slightly hilly - the second half is very
hilly. Through 15 miles we were still on pace to finish a touch under
4 hours. But then the big hills started and our pace started to
suffer which was fine by us. A little after mile 18 Drew fell behind
and a little after mile 19 I had to start walking. At this point my
knees and hamstrings were starting to hurt. I started to run for
about a half mile and walk a half mile. Drew was doing the same and
caught up to me just short of the 20th mile. We then did run/walk as
best as we could but my legs were starting to quit on me - hamstrings,
quads, knees, calves, ankles - you name it - it hurt. My feet started
to really swell so I kicked off the shoes and did some walking for
about a quarter mile or so - around mile 23 I put them back on. Here
is were things REALLY got bad - I had to sit and stretch for a few
minutes - got back up and we started to walk again. We then jogged
for about a quarter mile then we were forced to walk yet again. I
paused for a moment as I thought I might get sick, and while I was
waiting to see if I was, I got the most crazy cramp in my calf and
fell to the ground. Drew walked back to me to help me stretch it out
(he said I yelped like a sick dog and turned to see me lying in the
road begging for runners to run over me). Once the cramp cleared, we
decided we were both done and werent going to finish - by my Garmin we
had 2.5 miles to go. We hopped a ride in a support vehicle that
happened to drive by and they gave us a ride back. My first ever DNF.
Not a great feeling.

I keep second guessing the decision to stop/quit - we toyed with the
idea of trying to jog 1/2 mile and walk 1/2. But looking back now
with a relatively clear mind we wouldn't have made it. Drew and I
both feel defeated today - we have all the soreness of a full marathon
but no sense of accomplishment. We did meet and run with some fun and
friendly people for quite a bit of the race - Liz from Duxbury (1st
time racer finished in 4:14:45) and Sean from the Cape - 4:35 - both
were great to run with and talk to.

I plan on recovering this week - and start gearing up to take my
aggression out on a 5k that's coming up at the end of November.