Weekly Log: December 19 to 25

Week off from racing before the RI Classic the next week.

Monday: 6 Miles. 22x200 @33-34s w/30s recovery. 5 minute break at 12. Should have been an easy or at least somewhat comfortable workout, but wasn't feeling it. The first few were easy, but after that my balance seemed off. After about 6, I had a lot of trouble catching my breath during the recoveries and it only got worse. I was fortunately to able to hit my splits. Difficulty: 4/5.

Tuesday: 8 Miles. Fun route running dead ends off old Hopkinton road. Ran several roads I hadn't before that I enjoyed and also ran the football field off the road. Stayed pretty consistent, but a little heavy and had some difficulty breathing like yesterday.

Wednesday: 6 Miles, field street hill workout. 6xField Street, but not the usual workout. For every other (odd number reps), we ran not just from the bottom to the top of the steep section, but also to the stop sign beyond that on a much flatter section. For #2 and #4, we ran the usual hill (steep section), and for #6 just the end of the steep section. Thighs were extremely heavy, but felt much better energy and breathing wise than I did the last few days. The shorter ones were fine, but the longer ones were really hard. Difficulty: 4/5.

Thursday: 8 Miles. Feeling really terrible in the first few, but after slowing down, loosening my shoes and taking it down a notch in pace, I was able to become comfortable and started enjoying it. Ran two awesome long dead ends off beach street that I hadn't before and many other straight and quiet roads that were enjoyable.

Friday: 6 Miles. Worried when I heard what the track workout was: 12x200 @33-34, followed by an all-out 1000 then two (presumably easier) 400s. I was sore and heavy and didn't want to do all those 2s again or run anything fast. The 200s ended up being very comfortable and felt that I could continue and do Monday's workout again without much difficulty. My breathing problems from earlier in the week were gone. I was worried about the 1000. My coach had me start 10 seconds behind everyone, which always makes the all-out runs more interesting. I tried to get into a fast pace without overdoing it and was feeling pretty good. I felt great until 400 to go, where I tightened up and slowed down a little. I was a little surprised I was able to pick it back up with 200 to go. I ran a very satisfying 2:43, two seconds slower than my PR and two seconds faster than my season best. My legs felt like rubber after and I was exhausted, so I was hoping he would take it easy on us during the 4s and not have them be the same or any faster than the pace we ran for the 200s. He did exactly that, and my 400s were at 71 pace. I ran them in 68. Very happy with this workout. Difficulty: 3/5.

Saturday: 7 Miles. Miserable road run in the cold pouring rain. Started out very cold, but warmed up after two miles. After that, constantly avoiding puddles as my clothes got extremely heavy from all the rain. Fingers started to get cold as my gloves were soaked at the end.

Sunday: 0 Miles. No running on Christmas for me.

Weekly Total: 41 Miles
YTD Total: 2,292 Miles

Next week is the RI Classic on 12/27. Boys have afternoon session this year. Anchoring a DMR at 2, where I'd like to be close to 4:30 and place top 6 as a team and then at 5:40 I want to win the 3K in a PR or near-PR time (which would also break the meet record).

Weekly Log: December 12 to 18

This week seemed to be epic with a tune-up dual meet Tuesday before a state-wide major invitational on Saturday before a nice long rest. That all change when Westerly made a last minute decision not to go.

Monday: 7 Miles. A little cold and wasn't really enjoying it, but went by pretty quickly. Had to wait for a train on palmer street for the first time ever.

Tuesday: 4 Miles, Dual #1.

Quick Recap. Dual against Chariho, running the 3K and 1K.

I had a few goals in the 3K:

A) Sub-9: I feel like cracking 9 in my first meet of the season and just a dual meet would put me in position to break my PR of 8:54 in the first big meet.

B) Indoor PR (9:04): If I couldn't crack 9, it would still be encouraging to run my fastest time indoors ever.

C) Dual Meet PR (9:10): While I'd certainly be a little disappointed, running just under 9:10 would get my fastest time ever in a dual meet, meaning I'm not off my fitness level that I had in outdoor.

Kyle Keefe was the biggest competition here. I was disappointed to once again get the 7:30 slot. We ended up going off around 7:45. I felt a little rushed and completely forgot to take my watch until I was on the line. I left it in the bleacher next to me, hoping it would be there when I finished. There was a fall and we had to go back and start again.

Then we started for real. My plan was to run 36s the whole time, try not to drop off the pace and kick a little at the end. That would get me just under 9 minutes. I didn't need or want to go out really fast since there wasn't super-fast competition here. Somehow I was seeded about 15th, right next to Kyle. He agreed 36s was a good plan, but I didn't see him beating me today. I went out in what felt like 36 pace, but a group of Chariho runners came blazing by me and I had no choice but to stay with them and keep a good position so I wouldn't be running in lane 2 for a while. We went out in a ridiculous 32. I was furious, especially as the runners ahead of me were nowhere near capable of maintaining a 36 pace. There was a sudden slow-down after the first lap and I took the lead. We went through the 400 in 70, then I started running around 36 pace. I went through the 1000 in 2:59 and was all alone. I started to fade a little bit after the mile, feeling a little weak and had a full stomach. My coach yelled at me to pick it up and I knew I was slowing, but I never really got the pace up fast enough to save me race. I had a little bit of a kick in the last 100, which meant I saved way too much for the end and should've started kicking at least 1k to go.

I finished in 1st in 9:10.68, a little disappointing but not too bad. I didn't really want to run the 1000 after. I'd be happy if I was under 2:50 and surprised myself with a 2:45. I went out fast and faded the whole time, but it's just the first one.

Wednesday: 7 Miles. Similar to Monday as cold and unenjoyable, but even more with fatigue from the meet and the lack of the sleep. Clocked really slow splits around 7:10 for the first few miles, then started to work my way down. Hammered the fountain spur segment at 5:10 pace which certainly helped. Annoying winds throughout.

Thursday: 5 Miles, Park Ave Repeats. Seven hill repeats on perhaps the coldest day of the month. Brutal winds going down didn't help. I went shorts but kept my sweatshirt on as the cold was brutal. Felt warm going up but very cold going down. Could have used a hat. Starting to get heavy and tired at the end, but the gap between me and the next runner was much bigger than usual.

Friday: 6 Miles. Treadmill. I wasn't happy about this and it seemed even worse when there weren't enough, meaning I would have to wait 50 minutes to start my run. I ended up getting permission to go to the Y and the run on the treadmills there. I was surprised that it didn't feel too cold because earlier it was brutal when walking around. I considering doing my run outside but then realized I forgot my watch. Run was pretty boring and hard to get through.

Saturday: 6 Miles. Another Y treadmill. Excited for the meet and very disappointing not to go. I made this one more interesting by playing with the speed and incline, changing slower or faster every few minutes.

Sunday: 8 Miles, Bluff/Haley Mix. Slush and snow the whole way, which made it slippery and sometimes cold. It was actually a very warm for this cold December and it was easy to warm up but the lack of traction was never very enjoyable.

Weekly Total: 43 Miles
YTD Total: 2,251 Miles

First Meet- Weekly Log: December 5 to 11

First meet Thursday at the Injury Fund relays. Starting to get cold out.

Monday: 6 Miles. Was looking forward to a distance run, but got hills instead which is what I expected for Tuesday. 6xPark Ave. Went pretty well. I went out way too fast on the first one, but was still able to pick it up on the last few. Difficulty: 3/5.

Tuesday: 8 Miles. Picked a good route, but got heavy and weak after a few miles and overall not very enjoyable. On the bright side, I was very consistent.

Wednesday: 5 Miles at 4:50 AM in the cold and pouring rain. Hard to start but not bad after a few miles. Ninigret park made for a good venue and interesting to see they put in a bike path recently.

Thursday: 4 Miles, Injury Fund Relays. Not very enjoyable to have a meet at 7:30 at night, getting on the bus as late as 5:45. I was running the SMR anchor leg of 800m and the DMR anchor leg of 1600m. Last year I ran 4x800, SMR anchor and DMR anchor without much recovery in between. I was pretty sure SMR and DMR were right after each other, so I wasn't thrilled to do both. I was hoping to run the 4x800 and DMR or DMR only. When I got there, I found that the meet may be delayed because the previous (large-school) section was in the middle of their meet and still had plenty of events left. However, the events soon starting were going by very quickly and it was suddenly time to warm-up. This rush made me a little nervous, but we ended up having an additional 15 minute break between the last event of the large schools meet and the first event of the small schools meet.

I learned that the SMR was the first event, meaning I would have acceptable recovery between the two. We were in the last heat of the SMR. Given that many fast schools were not in the meet, I thought we might have a chance at winning this event. As the anchor, I was a little nervous it would come down to me. I spotted another anchor runner who I had seen run fast before and I was nervous about facing him. He ran for St. Raphael's Academy in Pawtucket.

Soon the wait ended and our lead runner was on the starting blocks. If this was the DMR, I'd relax, but I had less than two minutes before I got the baton. Our second runner got us in the lead and our third kept us there and extended it before passing the baton off to me. I had a small lead and went out hard. I wasn't used to running on the indoor track (its been 10 months) and didn't know how it would feel. My coach let me know I was going too fast and I slowed down a little bit. I didn't get any of my individual 200m splits. After just a lap, I heard someone right up on me. I still had three to go and was worried I wouldn't be able to hold on for the win. I made sure to keep pressing the second lap and soon he dropped off. I was feeling good and kept pushing the third lap and fourth, although my legs were starting to tighten up on the last one. We won in 3:50.8, my split a 2:05 (tie for 2nd fastest 800m, indoor PR). Before the race, I wanted to be around 2:04-2:06, so I was happy with this, even if it did feel a little bit faster.

Despite feeling great during the 800, I immediately felt defeated afterwards. My breathing was off and my chest didn't feel good. My coach wanted me to do strides with my other DMR teammates. I could barely keep up and starting to feel like I needed to throw up. After a few more, I did (just a little). I originally wanted to hit around 4:30 for 1600m split, but was now ready to throw that goal out the window and just go out and run it without worrying about time. I thought I would continue feeling terrible and that we would race very soon, but I got a decent amount of recovery before the event was finally off.

My other two distance teammates in the event were about 5-minute and 5:10 milers, with neither having on the indoor track before. They were running the 1200 and 800 legs and our 400 leg was a freshman that I didn't know very well and just came off the 4x200. I was trying to figure out pre-race if we had a shot a winning or even placing top 3 with many of the fast teams out of the mix, but once I saw East Greenwich, I knew they were going to dominate. They saved their top distance guy for just this event to anchor and had another solid runner on fresh legs for the leadoff leg. Their 800 leg was a 1:57 runner, but just came off the 4x800. Other contenders for the top spots were Prout with a fast freshman in the leadoff, a 2:05 800m runner in the 800 and Jonny Eckel as the anchor, Scituate, and St. Raphael's with the same anchor from the SMR also anchoring the DMR. At the time, I forgot about Ponaganset and later realized they were in the chase when watching the early stages of the race.

I was now feeling much better and felt like I could pull out a time close to 4:40. EG's anchor Jackson Cronin always beats me in cross country but I beat him more often than not in track (as is the case with most long distance runners close to me). I'd figured he'd be faster with fresh legs and wouldn't be anywhere near me as he'd probably have a huge lead. I thought I'd be faster than Jonny, as he had just run the 4x800 but expected Prout to have a huge gap over Westerly when I got the baton.

I was able to catch some of the action and relax in the 6 or 7 minutes before I ran. As I expected, East Greenwich used its strong runners to get a good lead, far ahead from the others. I got the baton in 6th place, behind East Greenwich, Prout, St. Raphael's, Ponaganset and Wheeler. Wheeler was just ahead of me when getting the baton and I was able to move up into 5th with ease. I went out pretty easy and felt comfortable but didn't pick it up yet as I wasn't sure how I'd feel later on. The other teams had 50+ meters on me and it was likely I wouldn't catch them until later in the race. East Greenwich was so far ahead I couldn't see them. Most of the action occurred in the 2nd half when I started to come up on the other teams. With about 4 to go, Jackson Cronin was coming up on me. I hadn't started to push yet but wasn't sure if I'd be able to hold on. He passed me and I was to stay with him, picking up the pace slightly. I soon passed Ponganset. I figured Jackson would drop me soon as he reached his final 400 and would likely go into another gear. He didn't do that, not even with 200 to go (for him). I passed him with 300 to go and was right behind the St. Raphael's anchor and Jonny. I picked it up and passed both. The St. Raphael's runner surprisingly made a big surge ahead and got ahead. He slowed down immediately after and I went by him. I was going pretty fast in the last lap and was sure I had second. On the last straightaway, Jonny flew by me and I wasn't able to repass. Our team finished in 11:59, my split was 4:42.

Top 6 Teams below
Full results here

Event 19  Boys Distance Medley 6-2-4-8 laps Small
================================================================
    School                                               Finals
================================================================
  1 E Greenwich                                   11:27.67 
  2 Prout                                               11:59.52 
  3 Westerly                                          11:59.81 
  4 St. Raphael                                      12:03.17 
  5 Ponaganset                                      12:13.99 
  6 Scituate                                            12:41.06

I wished my 1600 was a little faster, but was overall happy with my performance during the meet. 4:42 seems a little slow, but it's actually a big meet PR.

I compiled my results from all 3 years so far.

Friday: 8 Miles. I wasn't looking forward to this as I got about 5 hours sleep because of the late start time of the meet which made me very tired throughout the day and every time I went outside it seemed brutally cold because of the wind. I picked a flat route along the river so I wouldn't have any additional hills to tire me out. I took it out a little easy, but then starting going faster than I would have liked. I wore an extra layer, which seemed to be nice at first but was awful throughout as it was heavy and produced sweat all over my arms. As I expected, I got weak pretty quickly and tried to get through it as quick as possible.

Saturday: 5 Miles. I'm always a little nervous going to practice Saturday as the workouts are usually brutal. Last weekend, I was feeling that way but it ended up being much easier than expected. I did not want a track workout and thought we would have hills instead. We ended up having track, but the workout was smooth and enjoyable. I got heavy and tight towards the end, but overall I felt really good and could have kept going. 10x400 at 70s w/60s recovery inbetween +6 mins recovery between 6 and 7. I don't remember my exact splits, but I know the first one was a little slow at 71, then 2-6 ranged from 68-70. I felt a little off after the long break and ran a 70, but ran three consecutive 67s after that. It felt cold getting on the track, but really nice during the workout. Difficulty: 2/5.

Sunday: 8 Miles. I usually do slow Sunday trail recovery runs, but since many WTAC runners were going to the Newport Christmas 10K, I could either tag along and run roads in Newport but have to wait around for a long time later or run roads from home. I decided on the latter. Since the roads were dry, I decided out my new (and 2nd) pair of Saucony Kinvaras 7. It was also 28 degrees when leaving, so I decided to wear a long sleeve shirt but I ended up feeling too warm (except my ears). There was a slight wind, but it wasn't bad. Lots of ice on Atlantic Ave. I wanted to take it really easy, but instead went at a 6:45 pace. I got into a groove and cruised. It's hard for me to run over 7 on the roads solo as 6:50s seem pretty easy and comfortable. I was mostly comfortable, besides getting a little weak at the end.

Weekly Total: 44 Miles
YTD Total: 2,198 Miles

Next week: First dual meet on Tuesday and RITCA Invitational on Saturday. Running 3K and 1K Tuesday and hopefully 1500 and 1K Saturday. I'd like to crack 9 in the 3000 on Tuesday.

Ranking All 41 Race Courses of 2016

I made this list last year and have run at 18 new places this year. Like last year's post, I will be including fun run courses and run portions of triathlons. This post is also strictly a ranking, with no additional write-up on each. As usual, in order from worst to best.

(Number of Times Run)

41. Rocky Point XC (1)
40. North Kingstown Track (1)
39. Curtis Corner XC (1)
38. Yale Indoor Track (1)
37. Stonington Fun Run (6)
36. Chariho Fun Run (1)

35. Rhode Warrior Run (1)
34. Run with the Beavers (1)
33. Ocean's Run 4-Miler (1)
32. Coventry Track (1)
31. Rocky Point 5K (1)
30. East Greenwich XC (2)
29. URI Indoor Track (1)
28. Block Island Tri Run (1)
27. Schonning 5K (1)
26. Goddard Park XC (1)
25. Chariho Track (2)
24. PCTA Indoor Track (11)
23. Run for the Pumpkins (1)
22. Sailfest 5K (1)

21. Conley Stadium Track (1)
20. Run 4 Kerri (1)
19. Westerly Fun Run (8)
18. East Bay Challenge (1)
17. Vesturgatan (1)
16. Stavros (1)
15. Bobby Doyle (1)
14. Westerly Track (2)
13. Little Rhody (1)
12. Hare Hop 5K (1)
11. Portsmouth Track (1)

10. Brown Stadium Track (1)

9. Pie Run (1)

8. Groton Fun Run (1)

7. Bradford Preserve XC (2)

6. Reggie Lewis Indoor Track (1)

5. Hendricken Track (1)

4. Ponaganset XC (3)

3. Blessing (1)

2. Willowbrook Park Track (1)

1. Loon Mountain (1)

First Week of Indoor- Weekly Log: November 28 to December 4

Starting up the season. Fun week of practice.

Monday: 6 Miles. Got to practice late and was nervous that I may be doing an all-out mile while feeling weak, but lucked out and had a 40-minute run instead. Felt really good in great weather and enjoyed it.

Tuesday: 4 Miles. Timed mile on the track in windy and pouring rain conditions. Because of those reasons, I was okay with a slower 4:45 effort. Not thrilled, but okay. Was very surprised to go out in a 70 which wasn't a good sign, but somehow managed to keep myself from fading too bad.

Wednesday: 5 Miles. Was surprised to get another track workout and plans for one the day after as well. I was looking forward to the distance run, so not happy about this. It ended up being 10x200 at 34s w/30s recovery then a mile of slow Indian chains. Forgot my spikes and had to use road shoes once again and the lack of traction on a wet track was annoying. Difficulty: 2/5.

Thursday: 8 Miles. Distance run around Westerly. Did approximately a reverse route of Monday and didn't enjoy it but felt very comfortable throughout.

Friday: 7 Miles. Another distance day, picked a different route this time. Tight shoes and a entire uphill mile 2 made me feel heavy throughout the run and not a comfortable as the previous day. Did get to explore a few new roads, take a CR, and was very consistent after a fast first mile.

Saturday: 6 Miles. Track workout. Wasn't looking forward to mile repeats, a hard workout that is never very enjoyable. The strong winds only made it seem worse. I was also testing out new spikes, New Balance MD800v5, so that would be interesting. The recovery was exactly as I expected, but the target pace was slower which made me feel a little better going. 3xMile @5:15 pace w/2 mins recovery. I felt a little heavy/tight, but they were mostly comfortable throughout and I ran a little fast on each. 5:06/5:05/5:04. I went out a little fast on the first lap for each before settling in at target pace. Difficulty: 2/5.

Sunday: 6 Miles. Easy barn island. Was considering running at a new trail system but decided instead to sleep in a choose a more local option as I've been feeling pretty tired each morning and night. Good trails except some overgrown ones. Despite a slow pace and easy mileage, was getting very weak at the end.

Weekly Total: 42 Miles
YTD Total: 2,154 Miles

First meet next Thursday. Injury Fund relays, a fun and low-pressure meet. I don't know my events yet, but hope I will be anchoring the DMR and running a leg of the 4x800 as I have the previous two years. I did three events both years, the 4x400 my freshman year and the 800 leg of the SMR last year. The lack of recovery was brutal last year, so I hope I don't get put in those events again. Should be fun.

Following meets are that are another low-pressure meet the following Monday (Dual #1), where I hope to run the 3K and possibly crack 9 (which would be an indoor first), then an important state-wide invitational Saturday the 17th.

Offseason Racing

Even though many were taking it easy with their few weeks off or even extending their cross country season to participate in one of the Northeast regional meets, I took the opportunity to run two fun races. One local that I've doing for years, and one I'm a newcomer to that's a little farther away. While I was going all-out at both, this was not like a school race as the distance increased, pace wasn't as aggressive, terrain changed and I felt neither nervous nor pressured to pull out a great performance.

Little Rhody Runaround
Burlingame State Park, Charlestown, RI
November 20, 2016 (Day 8/15 of Offseason)
11:00AM EST

The first race was the Little Rhody Runaround. By now, it had become a classic in my mind. An 8-mile trail race that allows for a fast pace, but slows you down in the back half with a couple of decent hills and rock gardens. It also has unique placements of various terrains, with many miles not being the same as the last and some stretches of road inserted in a few places. Another great aspect of the race is your time is unique to the course and not comparable with any other courses.

I had run the course Thursday and felt that it was in great condition, but the weather was not the same Sunday. Over the hours pre-race, there was a cold wind freezing up all the volunteers. Another worrying factor was that the trails may be wet and slippery. Fortunately, neither ended up being a problem and I was able to race to my full potential. I usually am at this race, hitting or destroying time goals year after year. I had a history of huge PRs and large improvements in placement at the race, and I didn't expect this year would be any different. I was a little worried about my bad November races and that I wouldn't be able to match some of last year's fast splits, but I was able to dismiss these thoughts and come up with a race plan.

The Plan
Last year I placed third in 47:44, surprisingly passing 6-7 runners in the back half. I flipped around the usual strategy of going out hard and went out very slow early on, letting many get far away from me. I pushed harder gradually and hammered as soon as I got onto Buckeye Brook road. I doubted I'd have a 3-5 minute PR as usual, but instead a 60-90 second improvement. Last year I went out a little too slow, so this year I wanted to make up some time on the first two miles but not go out fast. Originally, I thought I might have a chance at winning but Mike Galoob signed up and I figured he'd go for his own course record. Now that Galoob would probably take it out, I wanted to be in the chase pack. My plan was hit 5:40 and 5:50 for mile one and two while hanging at the back of the chase pack (I actually planned on running right behind Muddy, because based off his previous races he'd be right there). At Mile 3, I'd make a move into second and increase in effort to drop everyone. Miles 3 and 4 were supposed to be around 6:10-6:15, and hopefully be sub-6 when I hit the road. After that, just hammer the back half.

My goal was to get low 46s and come in second, but I'd be okay with sub-47.

After a mile and a half warm-up and shoe tightening, I was on the starting line and ready to go. The waiting around went by quickly and the gun shot off. Race time.

First Two Miles
I went out very comfortably, but after 50 meters I realized I'd go to the front if I continued this pace. I slowed a little, got behind Muddy and stayed behind him. I looked at my watch once in a while, seeing as it got closer and closer to 5:40 pace. I was surprised to see Galoob running up front with Steve Brightman and not way off ahead. I wasn't sure if this meant he wasn't going all-out or just super conservative. I didn't love the first section. It was a little cold and not very smooth. Hitting the mile in 5:43 was perfect, but I wanted to get past this stage of the race. I felt pretty terrible in the campground road because my legs were very tight and heavy. I stayed with Muddy and an older runner for a little while longer. Galoob was no longer running with Brightman and had taken the lead for good. Brightman was only 30 or 40 meters ahead and the pace was slowing more than expected in my group, so I moved passed Muddy and the other runner and caught up to Brightman. I ran right behind Brightman for a quarter mile or so. I glanced back at one point and saw that others were catching up to us, so I decided it was time to make my move into second. I passed Brightman and picked it up to pull away from him, which I did. I was now in second, a position I would be unchallenged for during the rest of the race. Mile 2 was a 5:46, once again right on pace.

3 and 4
The gap between me and the next runner was now big and growing, so I was done worrying about place. I was now focused on getting my time goal and maintaining a strong pace to stay sub-6 for now. Galoob was far ahead, but I could see him on the longer stretches. These miles were more enjoyable, although I did still feel heavy. I watched the pace go down, but was surprised and very happy that it didn't decrease too much. Mile 3 was 6:03 and Mile 4 was 5:59. I grabbed water at the stop but failed to notice the Gatorade until the last second, which I would have preferred to take. I was happy to come out on the road at a low 5:50 pace and was certainly confident I could reach my goal.

Miles 5-7
I had now had to make sure I didn't slow down too much during the more challenging back half. I had a few climbs coming up, including a rock scramble. I felt more wobbly and unbalanced during this section, with constant running through rock gardens. I nearly fell on the short rock scramble, but managed to keep myself up. These miles were quite lonely and I was starting to tire. I kept monitoring my watch and anticipating my final time. It wasn't until mile 6 that average pace finally ticked over 6 minutes, definitely a good sign as I expected this to happen much earlier. Every once in a while, I'd see Galoob in the distance. Sometimes it seemed he was close, while others it seemed like he was gone. It was cool to see Scott Mason out on the trails taking photos.

Final Road Section
I was comparing last year's GPS pace to this year's in my head and I was sure I'd go under 46, even if my last half mile was slow. I wanted to go sub-5 for this section but was feeling pretty weak at that point. I tried to run a smooth pace, but couldn't get going at something fast. I was now looking at the time instead of pace and got more and more discouraged as it got closer to 46 without feeling that I was finishing soon. I knew I wasn't going sub-46 when my watch ticked over 45 and I still had a little left. I picked up with a quarter mile to go and finished 2nd in 46:18.

I was definitely happy with how the race went, but was thrown off by my watch pace which indicated I'd break 46. I didn't realize that my watch measured the course 0.2 miles long this year, which may have had something to do with that. I was happy with how each stage of the race went except for the final road section. I was surprised that I hated the first two miles and the last .75 this year. It was the single-track that was fun this year.

It was nice to get a race where I met my goals after some disappointing end of the season races in cross country. I'm not sure if I'll run next year (hopefully I'll go to Nike/Footlocker Northeast regional instead), but if I do I'll probably go for sub-46. I'd like to come back during or post-college to win it and take the course record. Another great edition of Little Rhody is in the books.


Newport Pie Run
Newport Country YMCA, Middletown, RI
November 24, 2016 (Day 12/15 of Offseason)
8:30AM EST

Next up was the Newport Pie Run. I had gained interest looking at this a few months ago, but suddenly had no excitement pre-race. There were a few reasons I originally wanted to do this:

1) PR. I had a bad race at Bobby Doyle, way off my 26:40 goal. This race would certainly have much better temperatures and hopefully I could hit that goal or at least crack 27 at the race.

2) Location/Course. The course seemed great with some good uphills, downhills and many flat sections. It appeared to be scenic and by the water, so the only downside was that there was a cone turnaround.

3) Early morning. This race has a relatively early start of 8:30, which provides nice weather and gets the race done quickly at a convenient time.

I did a somewhat easy workout a few days before with hill repeats and intervals at the target pace, but wasn't very confident. It also didn't help that I felt full and heavy pre-race all the way up to the starting line. I saw a few fast guys like Brian Doyle and hoped to place well in a stacked race. It was a little chilly, but I went with just singlet and shorts anyway. I was a little nervous about my shoes being too tight or too loose as I've had problems with that before. I lined up about second row. I didn't have much of a plan here. Just try to go in 5:15 to put a little of time in the bank for the hill on the way back and try to run a steady 5:20 for miles 2 and 3. We started the race, which came in the form a misfired airhorn.

Mile 1
I went out comfortably and noticed many people around me. The first time I looked at my watch I saw a 5:50 pace, so I got a little worried and picked it up. I got it down to about 5:10 and wanted to keep that for the mile. I was in about 8th place at the half mile mark and kept it in the low 5:10s. I slowed a little at the turn on Tuckerman and was passed by former Mt. Hope runner Bryce O'Brien. I was surprised to see him pass me, but then I realized he's probably a strong 5-miler as that's the distance he runs in college. Hit the mile in 5:16.

Mile 2
After the mile, many ahead of me started to slow. I kept the pace steady or slowed less than everyone else. I passed Bryce back, then 2-3 other guys including some BAA runners. It was surprising that none of them went with me. I was about a 5:17 average pace on my watch, which was satisfying. The leaders were now 200 meters ahead and I could only see them on long stretches. I was now in 5th place and gaining on fourth place, a guy wearing a white long sleeve shirt. I slowly closed the gap and went by him. Mile 2 finished up in 5:17 to finish off the Tuckerman Ave section.

Mile 3
At the beginning of the mile, we went down a steep hill. It felt like the runner I just passed was gaining on me, but I managed to keep the gap even. I wasn't tired at all, but had been feeling a little tight the first few miles. Mile 3 changed that. It was a long flat stretch along the beach. I got very comfortable and cruised at low 5:10s pace. I could see the leaders about 250 meters ahead running together in a pack of three and I was way back as the next guy. I didn't sense that anyone else was right on me and felt that I had at least a small gap on the next runner. I was now at a 5:15 average pace, which was both satisfying and encouraging. The turn around the cone was tiring and unenjoyable, but I was able to get into a rhythm again and now see where everyone else was. I felt that I had about 40 meters on the next runner. Mile 3 ended in 5:13.

Mile 4
I had a little more flat before the upcoming hill. I still felt smooth but was worried about slowing too much on the 100ft climb. It eventually came. The climb was tiring, but the grade became less steep as I got further up and eventually I got to the top. My pace had slowed about 5 seconds average pace, but next came a downhill. Mile 4- 5:36.

Mile 5
Seeing a 5:20 pace on my watch was a good indicator that I'd break 27. I was now pretty tired after running up that hill, but I was able to coast on the downhill. The downhill was fun, but I was feeling weak when I got back to flat. I had another problem as well- two guys suddenly came up close behind me and now my lead was no longer than 10 meters. Feeling weak, I didn't expect much of a kick and prepared myself to get passed and come in 6th. I picked it up a little in the last quarter mile and now only one was behind me, but he was right there. I thought for sure he'd blow by me at the end, but I picked it up a little more and somehow held him off.

4th overall in 26:41. Pretty happy with both time and place. The race ended up feeling great and being quite fun. It ended up living up to its name with many pies afterwards. Great way to start out the weekend. Now it's time to get back to indoor, which won't be quite as fun as road or trail racing. I want to hit some PR's soon but am not quite ready to just get on the 200m indoor oval and start racing. This will be my last race (non-school) until next July. A fun two weeks comes to an end.

Thanksgiving- Weekly Log: November 21 to 27

The summer is always a great period for running because I actually get a break from the frequent and stressful cycle of school running that many times has a complete lack of variety. After just half a week of running, this offseason is almost over. Indoor starts Monday, meaning the (mostly) boring cycle starts again. At least this week was enjoyable. After a fun little Rhody race, I had one more: the Pie run on Thanksgiving morning. I like racing on thanksgiving and this race seems like a good opportunity to update my 5-mile PR (I failed to do so in Bobby Doyle's brutal conditions), check out a good-looking course and hopefully enjoy another race.

Monday: 0 Miles

I wasn't sure what to do on this one, either a light short run or day off. I decided to take the day off because I was quite sore from the race the day before and I don't take many zeros during season, at least not in the second half.

Tuesday: 9 Miles

I hadn't run a road race since August and besides Little Rhody I also hadn't run any races over 5K, so I wanted to get some kind of a workout in to get a feel for what the target pace may feel like. I would've made it difficult but since it was only two days out, it was better not to go too hard. I also couldn't have done it Monday as it was the day after the race. I didn't like how tight this was (if the race was Saturday, I could've taken two days recovery from Little Rhody, run a hard workout Wednesday, then take two days recovery before Pie Run), but there were only three days between the two races. I also did enjoy racing on a weekday morning. Looking at Strava activities for the Pie Run, I also decided it would be a good idea to do some hill repeats in preparation for the 100ft climb at mile 3.5.

The workout was a short amount of descending intervals at the target 5-mi pace (5:20) w/short recoveries of 200m. 1000/800/600/400/200. I wasn't excited headed out as it had been cold and windy the whole day and my teammate dropped out of the workout (and ended up dropping out of the race as well) at the last second, so I was all alone. I planned on doing in this in the Misquamicut beach parking lot as I like to find a flat smooth and wide area when I do my track-style workout on asphalt. I've tried Ninigret and Avondale as well, both great options for workouts. What I didn't realize was how windy it was. The wind didn't seem bad heading down, but as soon as I started the 1K, it hit me hard. I had to work very to get past the brutal wind. Sometimes, I'd go with it which made the intervals easy, but I was pretty exhausted otherwise and for most of them I was against the wind. The stupid wind screwed the whole workout up and made it pretty much useless as it felt terrible and I wasn't consistent or smooth at all. I did hit all the splits close to 5:20 except the 200 where I was too fast. I guess the workout might be useful as preparation for a windy races. It was about 1.5 miles to the base of the hill (Ice Pond hill), where I planned to 4x50ft climb. I was surprised I had already gotten in 5 miles, but now was quite cold and not looking forward to it. The hills went quite well and I ran between 5:20-5:40 pace for all of them.  Difficulty: 3/5.

Wednesday: 5 Miles

Rockridge loop shakeout. Not cold today, but I didn't feel like doing this. Felt smooth and comfortable at 6:30s pace (too fast but I got into a groove), but didn't really enjoy it.

Thursday: 8 Miles

Race day. Newport Pie Run. The 8:30 AM start was earlier than I was used to (the school races usually start between 11-1, so I hadn't raced this early since summer) and I had to wake up much earlier than usual. I wasn't super excited for the race, but it ended up being great. I loved the course, set-up, timing and awards. In additional, race conditions were perfect. Felt terrible pre-race and post-race, but besides some heaviness in the first mile and weakness in the last two, I felt great. Completely flat mile 3 was awesome as I just coasted comfortably at a 5:10 pace. I was surprised I managed to stay very consistent and I actually hit my A-Goal of 5:20 pace (B-Goal was Sub-27). Big PR of 26:41 and 4th overall, so I was really happy with this. I've been suffering recently in races, but this was actually enjoyable.

Friday: 8 Miles

Carolina trails in the rain. Nowhere near as fun as the previous day. First few miles were fun as we explored some cool single-track and double-track through pine forests, but got cold and tired of the lack of marking towards the end. Also got very tired, which seems to be a trend on these long (but not very fast) weekend trail runs.

Saturday: 13 Miles

Very fun Wickaboxet/Tillinghast long trail run with WTAC runners. Felt really good during the first 8 mile loop, but the two add-on loops afterwards were exhausting as my legs were getting very tired. Glad to get in a long run.

Sunday: 6 Miles

Early morning rocky neck exploration. Some fun trails, others were boring. Great scenic views at many locations and also ran the boardwalk and beach. Ran most of the trails and got on a few segments.

Weekly Total: 49 Miles
YTD Total: 2,112 Miles

Back to practices :(

Start of Offseason and Little Rhody Runaround- Weekly Log: November 14 to 20

After a disappointing close to a somewhat successful XC season, the offseason has arrived. For many, regionals await in New York on November 26th, whether it be at Van Cortlandt park for the Footlocker race or Bowdoin Park for Nike. A few, possibly just one, Rhode Islander will likely continue onto to Nationals in December. While running well in regionals and then travelling across the country to either Balboa Park, San Diego for the footlocker race or Oregon for Nike seems like a dream come true, only 5 qualify for nike and 10 for footlocker, so that is a dream I am nowhere near capable of achieving right now. I certainly would like to take a shot next year, but as I have little to no chance of placing well at either meet, I decided to enjoy the offseason and run a few fun November races. The offseason started for me as it usually does: with a few days off.

Monday-Wednesday: 0 Miles. So nice to rest up and not have practice in the middle of the free time after school.

Thursday: 8 Miles. I wasn't sure exactly when to resume, but given that Little Rhody was on Sunday and I had 4 other teammates running it, I figured it'd be a good idea to do a course run. I was really looking forward to a big group run, but nearly everyone dropped out and it was less fun than expected. We still had a group of three and I felt very comfortable and enjoyed being out on the trails, so certainly worth it. I was a little worried I didn't know where to go, but the yellow markings were very easy to follow. Most of, but to get in some hard running I decided to run the last road section hard. I felt really good and was surprised I only ran a 5:06 pace. It felt fast, one second faster than last year's Rhody finish, and I correctly predicted that I wouldn't be able to hit this in the race Sunday (although I wasn't too far off).

Friday: 7 Miles. Decided to do a light hill workout, this time being on trails as the race on Sunday is on trails. Mix of hard uphill and downhill repeats in Champlin Glacier Park. Not any long hills, so most were short but steep repeats with many total repetitions. Did a variety of hills, so I can't really explain the workout here. Exhausting as I was out breath the whole time, but my legs weren't too tired. Difficulty: 4/5. Took a little longer as I did this with the same group as Thursday and we came up with the workout as we went along.

Saturday: 4 Miles. Local flat road shakeout before Rhody. A little chilly and windy at the start, but felt fine after a few minutes. Besides some heaviness, felt very smooth and comfortable running at a low 6:40s pace.

Sunday: 11 Miles. Little Rhody Runaround. Was a little nervous going in because of possible rainy and wet conditions. Was also a little nervous race day because it was windy and cold. Conditions ended up being excellent on the trails, which made it perfect for me to hit the time and place I wanted. Nice to have a race that wasn't very disappointing for once as I hit both my goal of second place and low 46s. The trend of big PR's and great races at Little Rhody continues.

Weekly Total: 30 Miles
YTD Total: 2,063 Miles

Another fun week next week, unfortunately the last of the short offseason. No practice and I get to design my own running schedule, which is nice. Probably a pace/hill workout Tuesday and the Newport Pie Run on Thursday where I'll be looking for a big PR. Short school week is definitely something to be excited for.

New Englands- Weekly Log: November 7 to 13 (w/End of the Season Evaluation)

New Englands return to Ponganset for the first time since 2011. Great course, but disappointing not to travel very far for a regional meet. Fun going up to Vermont last year, not so much this year going to the same course for the third week in a row. After a disappointing but still decent Class, I was definitely looking for a much better State meet. Unfortunately, States was much, much worse so I wanted a comeback race in New Englands. Thinking back, I've followed up every bad race with a good one (except for a few in outdoor track, but I don't count that because I had a broken arm freshman year and was sick sophomore year), so I didn't see why that wouldn't be the case here. After all, I had just done it a few weeks ago (Avenger Invitational to East Bay Challenge). One of the most frustrating things was that I still hadn't broken 16 minutes in the 5K even though I felt ready to do so in July, so that was something I wanted to cross off the list as well.

Monday: 6 at the barn. Very sore from States the day before, but didn't notice that my legs were especially heavy, which was a good thing. Didn't really enjoy it. Ran through several overgrown trails and ugly ones.

Tuesday: 6 Miles. Track workout. Forgot my spikes for the first time ever, and wasn't thrilled to have the lesser grip of road shoes. 8x400 @ 73 (w/60s recovery): 73/71/68/71/69/68/68/68. Felt pretty good. Woke up without any soreness or tightness for the first time in a week and a half, but became heavy and tight at the end. Difficulty: 3/5. Definitely happy with how this went.

Wednesday: 6 Miles, Weekapaug run. No practice and I made a route in Weekapaug through neighborhood and the roads near the ocean. I definitely enjoyed the route and was happy with the overall pace, but was very heavy and uncomfortable for the majority of the run, especially at the beginning. It did improve in the last couple of miles, but I felt off the whole time.

Thursday: 5 Miles, track workout. 8x200 @35 w/60s recovery. About 33-35 on each. Felt easy before all-out 400 in a very disappointing 57. Also the first time I didn't win an all-out event in practice. Felt perfect first 200 but legs felt worse and worse after that and couldn't move them last 100m where I was passed. On the bright side, I recovered very quickly, wasn't even tired on the cool-down and my legs felt much better than expected.

Friday: 5 miles. Easy run at practice and I felt really smooth. I slowed down throughout, but it made sense with a strong headwind in the last few miles. Enjoyable and a confidence booster. Felt slightly off on the strides afterwards, but I wasn't concerned.

Saturday: 9 Miles, New England XC Championships. I had two to three goals coming in: All-New England (top 25), Sub-16 or Course PR (sub-16:08). If I made just one of these, I would leave somewhat satisfied. If I made none, I would leave disappointed for the third time in a row. My race was pretty bad. I got elbowed at the start and was pushed back as result. This made it much harder to get a good position at the beginning. My mile was decent in 5:00 (and top 25), but faded throughout and finished in 48th. Nowhere near as disappointing or devastating as States, but still very unhappy with how it went. Legs felt weak and wobbly throughout the race and didn't have anything to respond to the people passing me. The one bright side is that I did beat my terrible time from states, although not by much and my time here was terrible as well. My time of 16:21 would have placed me all New-England in both 2006 and 2011, but in this stacked edition it got me 48th.

Sunday: 0. Had fun watching the Avondale 5K. The people I watched seemed to either do well and stay consistent or completely blow up and run much slower than expected. Interesting race.

Weekly Total: 37 Miles
YTD Total: 2,033 Miles (cracked 2K for the first time ever)

End of the Season Evaluation
This season was the opposite of last (cross country) season in terms of success. Last season I ran consistently well in every race up until a bad new Englands race but only knocked it out of the park once (State meet). This season was ups and downs the whole way and ended in defeat. Last season was much better and while this is far from the worst season I've had, it's likely the most disappointing. I set out to break 16 at Sailfest 5k in July and still haven't gone under that mark over 4 months later of hard work towards the one distance. The season was going fine until Championship Season, with three disappointing races in a row at Ponaganset. I'll look at them below, grading each one, showing pre-race goals and giving positives and negatives.

Class Meet
Goals:
A Goal- Win/Sub-15:50
B Goal- Sub 16:00
Goals Achieved: 0
Final Result: 2nd in 16:08
Pros: 2nd Fastest 5K Ever, 27 Second Course PR, 4th Fastest Time of the Day
Cons: Lost (again), No Sub-16 or PR
Rating: B

State Meet
Goals:
A Goal- Top 5/Sub-15:50
B Goal- First Team (Top 7)/Sub-16
Goals Achieved: 0
Final Result: 8th in 16:27
Pros: Got out really well and maintained a good position for the first half, Briefly passed into 2nd on the downhill
Cons: Terrible time (slowest of the season for major meets and only a 2-second improvement over last year), no first-team, awful final mile, awful finish and nearly got caught by up to 10 people (If I was 10 seconds slower, I would've placed 19th)
Grade: F

New Englands
Goals:
A Goal- Top 25/Sub-16
B Goal: Course PR (Sub 16:08)
Goals Achieved: 0
Final Result: 48th in 16:21 (8th from RI again)
Pros: Improvement over states
Cons: Got passed throughout, terrible start, terrible time, terrible place
Grade: C-

I want to get past this awful and disappointing trio of performances and move on to the next races, Little Rhody, a road race, and then the long indoor season.

States- Weekly Log: October 31 to November 6

AKA the week my legs felt super heavy. States approached really quickly and I was not feeling good about as my legs felt terrible all week, even on race day. Decrease in distance. I'm writing this a week late, so I shortened it.

Monday: 0. Instead of a complete day off, my coach wanted me to do pool running. It was boring, difficult and awkward. I went for 30 minutes then left, as I couldn't stand it anymore.

Tuesday: 5 Miles. 7 repeats on Park Ave, which usually is a good workout but my quads were so heavy and tight that it was awful. Felt and hoped that it would improve over time, but I was way off and slowed down quite a bit at the end of every repeat. Not fun. Difficulty: 4/5 (because of my legs)

Wednesday: 9 Miles. Distance run around town, including some Pawcatuck. Felt terrible and once again heavy going out but improved in the second half and was actually enjoyable after that.

Thursday: 5 Miles. Track workout, which I wrongly assumed to be the last hard run before states. 3x1000 w/90s recovery at 3:03 (73s)- 2:56/2:54/2:57, 5x200 w/60s recovery at 35 (31-37). We were originally supposed to have two 1K's, so it wasn't fun doing the third. Since they weren't any faster than I've done before, I wasn't too worried but it was still harder than it should have been. All over the place on the 200s. Difficulty: 4/5

Friday: 4 Miles. Another track workout, similar to what the freshman had before freshman states. Easy 200s before an all-out 400. 8x200 w/30s recovery at 36 (34-27). All-out 400 in 57, felt heavy and off, nearly getting passed at the end. I wasn't too disappointed with 57, just how it felt. Difficulty: 2/5.

Saturday: 6 Miles. Final run before states + warm-ups. Felt really good and smooth at first, but got heavy in the second half and the pace slowed down without it feeling any slower. Not good.

Sunday: 8 Miles. States. My tightness and heaviness was there, but some new stretch actually got rid of most of it. When it came time to race, it was gone. Got out really well, but faded badly in the second half. 8th overall in 16:27. Super disappointing as it was only two seconds faster than last year.

Weekly Total: 37 Miles
YTD Total: 1,996 Miles

Class- Weekly Log: October 24 to 30

This week marks the first trip of three to Ponaganset to go and run a championship race. This Saturday contains all six class races, and while in some ways it should be the least important I'm most nervous for this once because I'll be contending for the individual title.

Monday: 6 Miles. Originally wanted to go up and watch freshman states (in east Greenwich), hopefully doing my run there as well but couldn't get anyone to go with me and didn't find a good running route. Ended up losing interest and not doing the entire run. Pumpkins neighborhood out and back.

Tuesday: 6 Miles. 7xNarragansett. Windy and crowded. Don't remember much about this one, so I don't have any additional details to post here. Difficulty: 3/5

Wednesday: 5 Miles. Had a math team meet later in the day, so running in the afternoon was not an option. 5AM run and decided to run Ninigret park as I didn't have interest in running local roads. Was not looking forward to a solo headlamp running in 30 degree temperatures. It wasn't fun waking up so early, but I got over it quickly and was now only not looking forward to the cold. I wore armsleeves and gloves and I was only cold in windy section. As I soon as I started running, I got completely disoriented and didn't have a clue as to where I was. It all felt like dark random pavement. It was little comforting finding the bike circuit and eventually I found the trail I was looking forward to. I didn't like the final route but will make sure to find the right path next time. It did feel very comfortable and was fun to get it out the way early.

Thursday: 5 Miles. 4x1200 on the track. The first three had 150 seconds recovery in-between and were at 4:52 pace, which didn't seem too bad as the recovery was good and I had done faster than that for longer distances with the same amount of repetitions. I figured the last one might hurt, but I thought I could get through one and two no problem. It started to pour late into the warm-up, which I didn't mind at first. Soon it started to get very cold, as it was only 40 degrees out and the rain kept coming down. My thin gloves did not help at all. The first of the 1200s went pretty well. First two were somewhat comfortable, although I was cold in-between, hated one windy section and felt off. The splits were really weird and they either felt slower/faster than they actually were. I was getting really cold towards the end and had a terrible last lap for the third one as my thighs completely froze/locked up and I couldn't move them as fast I wanted to. I was excited to be done with the 1200s, but unfortunately I had one more at 4:44 pace after a 5 minute break. I didn't have much confidence that I would hit this one as my thighs weren't feeling good and I was sure they would lock up again. Last one was brutal. On pace first two laps, but last lap was terrible again for the same reason. I also had breathing problems in the last two.
Splits: 3:39 (71/71/77) 3:34 (68/72/74) 3:39 (72/72/75) 3:38 (69/73/76). Difficulty: 5/5 (perhaps only because of the cold and the breathing and thighs problems that came with it).

Friday: 9 Miles. Ran a northern westerly loop, finally getting to explore old Hopkinton cemetery road and river road. Fun route and felt great. Pace was decent but very comfortable.

Saturday: 7 Miles, Class Meet. Avenger hurt me a little, but after a great race at East Bay, I felt I was ready to run a great race at class. I knew it would be tight, but felt I could pull off the win against Mars Bishop and take my first class title after being runner-up five times (including all three seasons). I felt if I could run low 15:40s, but even if I didn't have a great race I was sure I still be sub-16. None of that happened. One of the most disappointing races of my life. 2nd overall in 16:08. At first I thought I completely blew it and had an awful race, but looking at other times across the board I was #4 for the day, so I didn't seem as bad as I thought originally. Still very disappointing and nothing to celebrate. Now six-time runner-up and no titles. First mile went perfectly and felt great/confident, but everything felt apart after that. Felt exhausted and couldn't pull away or keep up. Maybe I'll do a separate write-up when the season's over.

Sunday: 11 Miles. Decent arcadia loop w/some WTAC members. Really tiring, but I was just coming off an intense race and ate or drank nothing that morning so was running on no fuel. Felt dead on the climb at first and didn't know how I was going to even finish. Overheated badly a few miles in, before finally feeling strong a long downhill stretch. Moved to the front of a spread out group and enjoyed the middle miles before finishing up very tired at the end on less exciting terrain.

Weekly Total: 49 Miles
YTD Total: 1,959 Miles (goal was 2000-one more week)

East Bay Challenge 2016

Last year I was both surprised and unhappy with this edition to the schedule- but I ended up liking the course and having a lot of fun at the meet. For those reasons, I was excited to make a return into 2016. The competition and my expectations of the competition (in turnout, not quality) was the opposite of last year. Last year I expected no competition and there ended up being many fast runners while this year I expected the same top-notch competition but only Chariho answered the call for fast runners. I didn't want to have to worry about place, so I was hoping to not have much competition. It seemed that there wouldn't be any until Chariho showed up. After seeing Kyle Keefe, Chariho's top runner, warm-up it seemed the race would be between him and I. While I thought I was faster than him, last week's race had hurt my confidence and I was nervous about facing him. My plan was to take out hard as usual and hopefully get a big lead on a downhill. I figured my time would be around 16:20, adjusting for the frequent hills.

Also of note was that this was the first I'd race in 3/8 inch cross country spikes. Midway into the season was the first time I had really thought about the effect of different length spikes on performance. I wasn't sure what length to use race day and was a little nervous about trying something new, but ultimately decided to use the new spikes as the entire course was grass field, a relatively soft surface that I could use extra traction on. I was a little nervous about using the longer spikes on pavement crossings.

The Course Map didn't show the course off very well.

I feel like my strava activity was clearer.

My race went well here last year. The stacked competition meant I placed 5th to some that I don't usually lose to, but I was pleased with my 16:59 effort on a hilly course. This season, I'm much faster than last year. Injury Fund went well with a PR of 16:11 (15 seconds faster than last year- but that was a short course), Ocean State brought another PR of 16:09 (54 seconds faster than last year), and Avenger was a little disappointing but I still PR'd (16:09.3). I had taken off 65 seconds from my 2015 pumpkins time.

My numerous improvements over last year improved my placement across the state and gave me an indication that I could take the win. Kyle had beat me in most XC races last year, but his many injuries and my fast rate of improvement kept me ahead in track. He was out on an injury during the dual meet we were to race each other in, so in a way this was the make-up for that. I felt pretty good on warm-ups. First was one lap of the course, then some fun trails exploration south of the Glen. Next, we put on our spikes and headed over to the line. We did strides and stretches while catching the last ten minutes of the girls race.

In those last ten minutes, I started to get nervous. Perhaps this was because I hadn't met expectations last week and didn't want to have a bad race again. Perhaps it was because I don't have much strength on hills and I don't have much strength in multiple loop course. Whatever the reason I was, I didn't have much time to think about it. The last girls were finishing and we were on the line, preparing to race. We waited an extra minute to let the last girls go by, then we were up. Someone spotted another girl finishing and the timer indicated that we'd wait another minute for her as well. We did no such thing. A few seconds later, he raised his arm and shot off the gun, to many runner's surprise.

As usual, I went out hard from the gun. This is one area I've improved significantly in this year. Last year, I struggled with the cross country starts and found them quite uncomfortable to run so fast from the gun, while this year I get out into a good position with ease and enjoy doing so. The course started with a quarter-mile lap around the field. I quickly took the lead and led around the first field. I was slightly confused on one turn, but figured it out quickly. A quarter mile in, I noticed there was no one right behind, and later it was indicated to me that I had a 20-meter lead. I was pleased and surprised with this, but still worried the gap may close. I pushed the downhill on the first field and felt strong but slightly out of control. The rest of the first loop went very well. Everything seemed to play out in my favor. Despite my constant worries of the gap closing, my lead was only increasing and I was feeling pretty good. I felt slow on the steepest uphill and was sure Kyle would gain on me. I hit the mile in 5:00. On the final field of the first loop, I felt like one of my spikes had gotten stuck to a rock or another small object and the spike felt uncomfortable and wobbly. I'd figured the stuck object would come out on the pavement crossing, but as the feeling went on, I started to feel that my spike was loose and coming out. I figured it was leaning to the side. The feeling stopped and I felt something come off, likely one of my spikes. It certainly felt like I was missing one. I was glad to remove the discomfort, and finished up the first lap feeling pretty strong.

I tried to push the downhill field at the beginning of the second lap. It was tiring when climbing again and I wasn't looking forward to the three upcoming hills. I had a good lead at this point and my only concern now was that I felt weak and was fading. I hit the second mile in 5:11. The second time up the steepest section was brutal as I was lacking energy. I felt quite slow going up. The last mile was tough. I wasn't feeling very strong anymore but tried to keep pushing, although at some points it was very difficult. I had another moment where a spike felt loose, wobbly and uncomfortable before it also fell out. Perhaps I did a bad job with tightening the spikes on one shoe. I was feeling very tired on the final uphill. The 90 degree turns made it easy to see how far my lead was, and this was the first time I was satisfied with the gap. I realized even if he had a great kick and I had a terrible one, I'd still win. I crossed onto the final field. My coach yelled for me to kick, but I didn't really have anything here. I tried to pick it up a little but lacked the strength to finish strong. I made my way around the field and made the turn onto the final straightaway. My mile three split was called out. It sounded like 15:36, but I wasn't sure if it was 15:36 or 16:36 (it was probably 15:26) and wasn't really paying to the times at all during the race. I saw Kyle on the opposite side of the field, still having to make the final loop. Then I saw the clock. The times were in the 15:40s and I was shocked. I had no idea I was running that fast and it looked like I was going to break 16. This gave me extra motivation and I was able to pick it up more. Unfortunately, I wasn't close enough, creating another soul-crushing moment where the clock ticked up and up and it didn't seem like I was getting much closer. I came very close, but I saw the clock tick 16:00, then 16:01.

I was thrilled I had PR'd, nearly broken 16, and won. I thought there was no chance of getting a PR here and I did. I couldn't believe I was 20 seconds faster than I had originally anticipated. I had replaced last week's poor performance with a great one. No matter how great my race went, it was so disappointing to just get over 16. Breaking 16 would have made this the perfect race. Chances are if I had kicked earlier, I would have done it too. It was odd being so satisfied as I had crushed my expectations, yet still leaving disappointed. Full results here. I did end up enjoying the course once again.

Another odd part of the race was that after checking on my spikes, it turns out none of them fell out and all were not only intact but also in good condition. One had pierced a hard leaf, which made some sense, although is certainly a disadvantage of the longer spike.

It's also quite disappointing that the cross country season is almost over, and all the stress-free meets are over. I enjoy running at ponaganset, but the meets held there are too big and important to have a lot of fun at. I want to have the stressful Championship races over with and run well in them, but I don't want to transition back to track. Fortunately, my time here will reflect well on that course. Last year, I felt that I ran all-out, or nearly all-out on both courses (East Bay and Ponaganset). I ran 24 seconds faster on the ponaganset course one week later at class, and then six seconds faster than that a week later at states. I feel like the gap should be similar, which would translate to a 15:37. That seems a little fast, I feel that I can run under 15:50 on the course and perhaps even a low 15:40s. Running the course Sunday made me a little nervous as it was a little hillier than I remembered. First race of the day on Saturday I'll find out what I'm capable of.

East Bay Challenge- Weekly Log: October 17 to 23

This week's race again falls on Thursday: The East Bay Challenge. This will be last meet before championship races, all held at Ponaganset this year. While all on fast grass fields, the amount of hills slows times down on this courses, making a PR unlikely but a fast time still possible. Going for the win after last week's disappointing performance.

Monday: 8 Miles. Still feeling very sore ever since Friday, I was starting to worry. I was happy to get a slight reduction in time and decided to run easy today. My typical distance run is 7-9 miles at 6:20-6:40 pace, so easy was only around 6:50. Felt comfortable at first, but had to make a bathroom stop at the library four miles in and splits slowed into the 7s for the first time in a while towards the end. 6:49 pace was pretty good for a recovery attempt.

Tuesday: 7 Miles, Narragansett Hill Workout. I was glad we were finally doing fingers as I find the Narragansett repeats to be very boring. Most people had shorter workouts than me, especially the freshman, who have freshman states coming up on Monday. Two fingers + one Narragansett. The fingers always start out well, but get very tiring on the second set, especially on linden and ward as they're the hardest. I noticed that people were much closer to me than usual, which was a little worrying, but I was able to break away after a few hills. I felt strong in the first set and was really happy to see a 5:31 first mile, which I felt translated to 4:50 in GAP. It ended up being a 5:05, not nearly as satisfying. My second set wasn't very good as I felt pretty tired at that point. Difficulty: 4/5. Not sore, meaning taking Monday easy was a good move.

Wednesday: 8 Miles. It's suddenly been very hot this week, odd for mid-October. I certainly felt it on this run. I didn't want to overdo it, but wasn't happy about splits getting much slower. I ran a good first two miles at 6:30 pace as usual, but started to feel quite awful after that and watched my pace get slower and slower until it was high 6:50s. Ran some really bad mid-7s splits without being able to do anything about it as I felt extremely horrible. First time running to the town Forrest from the school, which was much more pleasant than the road. There was a slow tractor which stayed right behind me but never passed coming down canal, which made the run a little more fun. The driver said something positive about my running when he finally passed me on Perkins, but I couldn't exactly catch it.

I've noticed frequently this year that many times, there's been swarms of small bugs around town that fly into me, often hitting my sweat and dying on my body. It's very annoying as many times I have to wipe them off me, getting unwanted crushed bug guts on my hands and face, shield myself while running or occasionally they will fly into my eyes. This was one of the worst runs for these small bugs as I was attacked several times: on Potter Hill road, on Canal and in Wilcox Park, a location they often visit. Hopefully the cold will kill them off soon.

Thursday: 8 Miles, East Bay Challenge. Absolutely destroyed the course with both an 8-second PR and a 48-second (not sure on this one, no results exist before 2015, yet the meet has apparently been held for a while) course record. After last week's disappointing race, this was the confidence boost I needed. I felt like I'd run around 16:20 on a great day, yet I was nearly 20 seconds faster than that. Very happy with this race. Will definitely do a separate post, just like last year. Moved from 9th to 7th in State Rankings, which is a good sign. Results.

Friday: 8 Miles. Felt great, and took the opportunity to go for a shirtless rain run. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but being soaked two miles in at a sub-6:30 pace changed my mind and I enjoyed the rest of it. A great run.

Saturday: 6 Miles. I don't enjoy Saturday practices, and this one wasn't very fun. Only one coach showed up. I was prepared for an easy track workout that wasn't supposed to be very difficult. The freshman got 10x200 w/30s recovery at 5K pace and an-all out 400 which sounded quite fun, but we had the same hill workout as Tuesday. Went by quickly and didn't feel too hard, but lost interest as I actually wanted a track workout and forgot my GPS which I usually use for the hills. Difficulty: 3/5.

Sunday: 9 Miles. Ponaganset course preview to determine what length spikes I'll wear for the upcoming championship races. Wore 3/8 inch which were completely worn down from the pavement crossing (there's only two-but going across the parking lot didn't help). My spikes were great on the grass, but not on the wooded trail which takes up the majority of the course. 1/4 inch is likely for the upcoming meets. This is the first season I've really paid attention to spike length. Tillinghast management 20 minutes later. Perimeter trails. First loop was fun and weather was great, but had no energy after that and didn't enjoy the trails as much. Will have to return and explore neighboring wickaboxet as well.

Weekly Total: 54 Miles
YTD Total: 1,910 Miles (my original goal was 2000 miles for the year- looks like I'll break that in early November)

Class Championships on Saturday. Looking for a time 15:45 or faster.

Weekly Log: October 10 to 16

Just one meet this week, Thursday at the Avenger Invitational. No brown invitational as previously planned. As I'm really late with this log, I'll keep it brief (and because I don't really remember any of the details).

Monday: 8 Miles, Pawcatuck Loops. Last day of the three day weekend. Felt really tired on a relatively hilly route.

Tuesday: 6 Miles, Seven Narragansetts. Not an extremely difficult workout, but wasn't feeling great and the large amount of repetitions was getting quite boring. Gradually slowing down as I got weaker. Difficulty: 2/5.

Wednesday: 10 Miles, Greenhaven Loop. Since I'm running out of options for new routes, I've been wanting to run this one for a while. It's too long to run if I'm not instructed to run for an hour, so I haven't been able to in the last few times. I broke my PR for longest school distance run at 9.1 miles. The several miles on route one were not pleasant. Ran a little too fast and was feeling more worn out pre-meet than I wanted.

Thursday: 7 Miles, Avenger Invitational. I really didn't want to race this, and it certainly wasn't helping that I would have great competition up front and wasn't running until 5:20 (waiting around for 2 and half hours). I later found out that two possible up-front contenders dropped out and only the fastest of those three remaining. Even though I enjoyed the course on the warm-up, I was really nervous about facing him.

The start was absolutely awful. The EG coach was telling us directions, but no one on my end of the starting line could hear him because he wasn't talking loud or into a megaphone and was on the other end. When he finished, he walked into the middle. I figured he'd give louder directions, but instead raised his arm and suddenly the race was started. I had no idea this was coming and lost a few seconds, not having the usual great start. I quickly took the lead, but noticed I wasn't feeling very strong. I kept pushing until the mile, but started to feel incredibly weak. I noticed half a mile in that there were many people in the lead pack (but there were only three). I led up until the mile in 4:45, where Jackson Cronin passed me.

I was feeling really awful and didn't go with him when he started to pull away. Eventually, the gap stopped opening but he had too big of a lead for me to close it. I never really made a move to try and catch him. I didn't feel strong and I felt like I was slipping on the terrain. Mile 2 in 10:04 gave me a little confidence that I could pull out a big PR, but my lack of effort and strength made mile three slow. I felt like I was slightly gaining on him at the end. I saw the clock ticking just over 16:00 and tried to sprint to get a PR. My strong kick at the very end only showed how much I really left out on the course. The clock disappointingly ticked up and I crossed in a PR tie of 16:09. I actually ended up slightly PR'ing as this time was 0.6 seconds faster than my time at Ocean State Invitational.

Time-wise, I ran decently but nowhere near what I'm capable of. For place and toughness, a weak race on my part and confidence-hurting.

Friday: 9 Miles, ran the distance run really hard because I was feeling bad about Thursday's race. Not a great move as I became quite tired and it wasn't that enjoyable. 6:11 pace.

Saturday: 5 Miles, hard track workout. I really hated the track workout on 10/1, which was very hard mile repeats. I first heard we were doing a timed mile, then easier and shorter stuff which didn't seem so bad. I was sore from not taking Friday easy and a little nervous I might not be strong. The mile was enjoyable because I got to chase the others by starting 30 seconds behind. I cranked that out in 4:31, which is close to projected 1600 PR and was an actual 1600 PR. I went out in 64, so I was a little disappointed I slowed down so much, but I guess that was inevitable. Felt really strong. 5 minutes recovery, than a mile closer to 5K pace. My target was 4:52. It wasn't too bad, and I ran a 4:54 somewhat comfortably. We were told we were done with the workout there, but coach was upset at a comment made by someone on the team and we were doing 4x400. I would've preferred to be done, but it didn't seem too bad. Then we switched to a mile, same pace as last time. That one was really tough. Coach yelled to me to hammer the last lap, and I was able to do that and run a 4:44. Pretty happy with this effort and happy that I felt good. Difficulty: 4/5.

Sunday: 13 Miles, long Sunday run in Portsmouth. 11 and half miles on the Sakonnet greenway trails, which looked awesome based on reviews, pictures and the trail map. I feel that it may have been fun in other circumstances, but it didn't live up to my expectations. 1.5 miles at the glen after to preview my Thursday course (East Bay Challenge). The 11.5 had almost no elevation gain, yet the glen had about 75 feet of gain in just over mile. Brutal run, one of the hardest of the week, because my legs were so sore from the pervious three days.

Weekly Total: 58 Miles
YTD Mileage: 1,856 Miles

Double Bradford Preserve- Weekly Log: October 3 to 9

Two races this week, both at the same venue. Final dual meet of the season on Tuesday against Prout, Narragansett and Middlebridge, and Run for the Pumpkins 5K on Saturday. Excited for both.

Monday: 9 Miles. Another distance run. Didn't have a good route planned out so did several smaller loops instead. Didn't feel great but it went by quickly.

Tuesday: 6 Miles, XC Dual #4.

I was a little nervous coming in because I didn't know how I could possibly beat my time from the first meet here or even run the first mile anywhere near that fast again. This time the competition was Prout. I figured Jonny Eckel would be much closer to me than the Chariho runners were last time but I still wanted to have a good lead before I entered the trails. Warm-ups went okay, we did our strides and soon it was time to race.

As usual, I went out hard from the gun. Like last time, I diagonally cut across at the start until I took the lead then settled in a little. I gapped the field quickly, but quickly noticed that it wasn't as comfortable as last time. I glanced back at one of the switchbacks and was surprised how close Jonny was (not super close, but much closer than the Chariho runners were last time on this course). Wanting to increase my lead as much as possible before entering the trail, I kept running hard. I slowed down a bit lap 2, but kept the effort the same and had a decent gap on Jonny before entering the trails (maybe 100 meters?). Once again, I was shocked to hear my incredibly fast mile time, especially as I thought I couldn't run 4:49 again and planned on not running out so hard (but did anyway). I split my fastest mile split for 5K ever of 4:42. (Jonny's was 5:00).

Cool shot of how the field was broken up 200 meters in.

I pushed the hill as much as could, at least for the steep portion. It was slow like expected and that also made me slightly nervous that Jonny might close the gap a little, but I was fine. I felt slow and tired going up immediately after the steepest section until the pumpkins intersection. The slight downhill gave me a boost, before the long and slow climb up to the upper field. It was quite relieving to make the turn onto the upper field, one of my favorite trails anywhere, as I both felt an increase in pace and energy. The downhills were fun. As soon as I spilled out on the field, I picked it up again and increased pace until I was sprinting. One of the best finishes I've had this year. I heard my mile 3 split of 16:02 (It actually sounded like 17:02, which scared me a little) before finishing in 16:40(Jonny 17:29). Really happy with that time on this great course. Always sad to the see the dual meets end and go onto to higher pressure races.

Wednesday: 9 Miles. Once again didn't have a good route planned out and ran several smaller routes to make up my distance run. Felt a little sick/full. Got swarmed by lots of small bugs in Pumpkins neighborhood (which would show up several times this week and next).

Thursday: 6 Miles. Hill workout as expected, but tried out a new hill this time off of high street. 9xHillview Ave. Wasn't feeling awesome but somehow managed to lap everyone. Only felt strong on the first one, as it started out steep and then had a smaller grade throughout. Really short hill, which made the first few easy but recovery was really short too. It was getting pretty tiring towards the end, but the new setting and hill made it fun. Certainly nowhere near as hard as field street, but not the easiest hill I've done either. Difficulty: 3/5.

Friday: 6 Miles. Really surprised when my coach gave me a 30-minutes for my distance run instead of 60 minutes. It was somewhat of a pleasant surprise as I was feeling weak and not looking forward to the distance run. Figured out a route as I went along.

Saturday: 9 Miles, Run for the Pumpkins. I was pretty sure I had the win, so my main goal was for a fast time. I was hoping to break 18 on the course, but really wasn't sure I'd be able to. My plan was to run hard from the gun and hopefully have a big lead at the end of the mile. Race day came. The whole XC team was going which would be interesting to see how times would differ with the XC course. I figured the pumpkins course was about 80-90 seconds slower. I got another course preview when going on a jog for the course marking. That was fun, but actually left me much more tired than I expected. I was also surprised how wet the field was and wasn't happy that I didn't bring dry socks and my feet would be wet when racing. I did the usual warm-up routine with my team, minus the first warm-up as I was still out on the course marking warm-up. Changing into spikes was not fun as my socks were still wet and there was nothing I could do about it. I did about 4-5 strides before heading to the line. It was really wide this year, which was nice as many people got to start at the front. I wanted to make a last-minute bathroom stop but wasn't willing to wait in a 5-person line. Eventually, we all lined up and the gun went off.

I went out exactly like I would in a cross country race, perhaps even harder. I instantly had the lead at the first turn. There was a good gap between me and the next runner when entering the trails, but I was still nervous that it wouldn't last. Of course, I was wrong but the slow hill section certainly didn't convince me of that. It was very interesting to hear after that many of my XC teammates occupied the top positions for the first part of the race. I noticed when getting to the top of the hill that I still hadn't fully digested and I had discomfort in my stomach. Perhaps I ate too much or too close to the race start. The section that followed the steep part was tight but fun as well as the short gravel road section where I tired to figure out how big my lead was. The long straightaway sections that followed were fast, but not very exciting. As I wasn't feeling great, I didn't want it to drag on and this section wasn't helping. I finally got to the end of it, passed the road and onto the new trail detour. This trail certainly was interesting as it was very soft and had incredibly sharp turns, but seeing as it took away the longer field finish I think I preferred last year's course.

Next came the twisty pine forest section. Hansel and Gretel was fun. It felt like it took a while, but it was by far the best trail on the course with the fun twisty sections and very different terrain. It felt slow but I had no idea how this would play into my time. At one sharp switchback, I tried to look back and see the next person but was accidentally went off course as I was not looking at the flags ahead. I looked up and realized I was on the path, then quickly corrected myself back on. I probably only lost a few seconds, but it was a confusing moment. I was recognizing specific places in Hansel and Gretel, like the stone wall Brightman jumped over last year and coming up to the rock. It felt like I was in there for a long time. There were a few logs runners had to jump over, which I did not appreciate as I was quite tired and barely able to get over them. On many, I couldn't even clear it all the way and my spikes hit the top. Going over the big rock at the end was very difficult and I stumbled over it, barely getting my footing down. Passed the mile two marker.

I was really tired at this point and wanted to take the XC return path back, as it is much more enjoyable and easier. The last mile wasn't fun. I really wanted the race to end and the slight downhill wasn't helping me much. The path was also getting boring and dragging on, feeling long again. After a while, I finally reached the intersection to go back down. I wasn't able to push it as much as I wanted, perhaps since I was feeling crappy. I did have a good finish at the very end, but not a great one and I certainly would have preferred to run last year's finish. Turning the final corner was disappointing because I saw how far off my time goal I was. I suppose I underestimated how slow the course was and I probably could have pushed it a little more. I guess I'll come back next year with the same goal in mind (if I run it next year).

Immediately after finishing, I felt very hot and exhausted. It took me a few minutes to recover. It was interesting to see how others finished, but many were slower than I expected. Very brief cool-down to follow. Full results here.

Sunday: 6 Miles. I figured since I like running in Mystic, I might enjoy the trails there. I found a map of the pequotsepos trails and it looks like the perimeter trails plus a trail off maritime drive. I didn't realize that it would be raining, and that made the run pretty unpleasant with slippery surfaces everywhere

Weekly Total: 51 Miles
YTD Total: 1,798 Miles

Next week's race is a new addition to both RI XC and the Westerly Schedule: The Inaugural Avenger Invitational on Thursday. While its likely I'll hit off a PR and perhaps a win, I have little interest in this race for a few races (see below)

1) The Course- I actually mostly enjoy the terrain of the new EG course, despite the fact that there are several pavement crossings and it's a little hard. The two-loop layout really made it much less enjoyable, turning a good course into a okay or possibly bad one. Starting that second loop is mentally tough and not something to look forward to.

2) The Competition- This is a Rhode Island only meet, meaning I can't let anyone Rhode Islanders who shouldn't be ahead of me beat me, which is much more stressful than racing out-of-state strangers. Sometimes I welcome competition, but when its at a venue I don't enjoy or don't have confidence in running well there, it makes it even more stressful to race runners close to you.

3) The Time- A weeknight invitational where I don't run until 5:20 in the last race of the day.

Westerly will not be making an appearance at Goddard Park for the Brown Invitational, which I'm glad about because one Goddard park race is enough for me for a year.