Weekly Log: December 21 to 27

Monday: 5 

Christmas light run from the house with a handful of WTAC guys. Nice slow pace felt relaxed.

Tuesday: 11 

Morning mostly road run from Bradford with Dad. Over to Burlingame campground, a mile of trail on vin gormley and bog bridges in snow which was surprisingly really fun. Enjoyed this run.

Wednesday: 11 

Met Aiden in Old Saybrook. Did a 3 mile warm-up before a 6 mile tempo. Goal was 5-6 miles at 5:35 pace. Hit the first mile feeling really smooth in 5:33, Aiden surged ahead of me and picked it up for a 5:28 mile 2. This felt a bit more uncomfortable and took some effort. Once we got onto coastal roads, I felt really smooth again and we dropped consistent mid-5:20s. I picked it up a little for the last mile of the loop (5 mile loop, pancake flat) which we hit in 5:19. Aiden dropped off at 5, but I felt good enough to finish the last mile. Ran 5:13 running fairly hard but certainly not all out. Definitely faster/harder than tempo effort but feel good about this. 32:22 for the 6 miles, 5:23 average, which is a nice PR from the 5:31 average from last month. Definitely a really good tempo. Difficulty: 2/5.

Thursday: 12 Miles

Big Burlingame loop with Dad and Brady, not all that fun with a lot of the snow melting producing very wet trails.

Friday: 11 Miles

Rainy woody hill, snow pretty much gone but standing water and big puddles everywhere. Wiped out in a rock garden near the end, not fun.

Saturday: 11 Miles 

Started the Border Patrol challenge, a virtual event of 18 routes with points being awarded based on how many routes you do and your placement for each. Thought Ben Utter would be a good choice because as far as I knew, it wasn't technical and I assumed the trails would still be pretty wet from Friday's rain. Warmed up 3.5 miles on dirt roads, used the bathroom and did dynamics before heading off. Got out pretty quick in the 5:30s but puddles, bridges, rocks and some hills slowed it down. Hit the turnaround around 6:50 pace then felt much quicker going back (net downhill), ended up 17:42 which is 6:28 average. We'll see how many of these I can get to before heading back to school in 3-4 weeks, I still have some non-border patrol FKTs I'm considering. 

Sunday: 15 Miles

Ran the cockaponset trail FKT on June 21, getting lost for 5 minutes and falling apart in the heat. I wasn't at all satisfied with the effort, knowing I could run a lot faster. Was considering another go in the winter, and when Ben Nephew took down my time a month ago, I was even more motivated to do it. Drove over late morning, had to park on the road since the parking lot was full. Short mile warmup on the road, used the bathroom, then took my extra layers off and got going. Like most FKTs, it felt hard and fast at the beginning before settling in and feeling good. I remembered from June that this was a tough FKT to hit consistent sub-8 miles on so I was hoping to be in the mid-8s range. 

Was surprised early on to hit consistent sub-8 miles and feel really smooth doing so. Terrible encounter with 10 hikers or so about 2 miles in. I approached them, they were going the opposite direction, only one felt the need to move so I ran off trail for this portion as they gasped and screamed at me. Anyway, hard to recap this one. I felt good, it went by quickly, and pace was in the 7:40s when I hit the turnaround. There were a few slowdowns, such as downed trees, and wet sections of trail but no huge time additions. Lots of stream crossings on this route that demand a lot of focus as many of them don't have bridges but small rocks you can hop. I went deep into one of them since other people were using the rocks, they were amazed. Hit the turnaround in 54:04 which I was pleased with. Made a sudden goal of sub-1:50. The two miles after the turnaround were tough and nearly over 9 minutes. They felt so hilly and definitely was grinding more than on the way out. However the next 3 miles were really fast and smooth, hit some faster miles there feeling a lot better. Went off trail a lot in the last quarter of the effort, lots of intersections with many trail markers, so I'd pick what seemed the obvious choice then would see a blue/red, white, or yellow blaze and realize I had gone off. Legs finally got tired the last two, and the terrain started to feel consistent very technical (I think I was just tired and sloppy at this point). Just missed the sub-1:50, finishing in 1:50:51. Still really happy with the effort, definitely one of my best FKTs.

Weekly Total: 76 Miles

YTD Total: 3,321 Miles (still 7 miles behind my strava total, wonder whats up with that)

Weekly Highlight: Fun hard trail efforts and a really good tempo.

Weekly Lowlight: The long, slow trail runs with frequent knee high water.

Weekly Log: December 14 to 20

Cold week, lots of runs in the 20s and few above 35.

Monday: 8

Local with Keith. Light rain.

Tuesday: 10

Woody Hill w/Dad + Brady.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Early (6:50) around the pond with add on in Newbury with Dad.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Waited all day through the snowstorm, not really wanting to run. Got out there in the afternoon and really enjoyed it. Mix of well plowed fast roads, icy/snowy roads, and a little bit on the beach. Really fun, got to watch a nice sunset on the beach.

Friday: 11 Miles

Met Aiden in Long Wharf, New Haven. We were going to a 12 mile loop through New Haven downtown and parks/bike paths but realized quickly nothing was plowed very well and we were basically running on very busy roads. Turned around, got back and decided to just to do an OAB into West Haven and back. Definitely the worst route I've done with him.

Saturday: 11 Miles

Charlestown road loop with a little bit of beach. Went a little quick (low 6s on the last few).

Sunday: 14 Miles

Mystic LR, wanted to do progressive if I felt good. Did the usual Hewitt-Mistuxet-River-Jerry Browne-Mistuxet-Cove-Wilcox-rt 1 which is 11 but added on Pequot trail + deer ridge, pequotepos and latimer pt lollipop to get 11. Felt pretty good. Got a nice fast rhythm going at the end (6:00s) but legs just didn't have to hammer. Pequot trail hill is tough. 6:28 average.

Weekly Total: 75 Miles

YTD Total: 3,245 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Nothing really good this week, overall just pleased to be at 75.

Weekly Lowlight: Not getting in a workout. I blame studying for exams and the snowstorm but I probably could have done it Tuesday if I really wanted to. 

Weekly Log: December 7 to 13

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 11 Miles

Watch Hill loop with Keith.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Easy laps around Ninigret bike track, criterion and grass fields with Dad and Brady.

Thursday: 11 Miles

Coach sent out some workouts to do over break, and Thursday ended being the day I wanted to do it. I couldn't get over to a track, so I changed mile repeats to 1Ks with the goal of doing 6x1K in 3:08-3:10. Used the Avondale road loop which is great for workouts since its pancake flat and is a nice loop (no major turns) closed to traffic. The loop is just under 1K, so each rep was just over a loop then I did half loop rest, which was either slightly over or under 500m since the two halves aren't equal. Went 3:02/3:02/3:08, absolutely hammering at the start of each one. First two felt fairly controlled, then third one suddenly I was dying and unable to hit the pace. Stopped to catch my breath, changed to 3x500m on .2 mile jog (1:27/1:24/1:30), dying again on the third one then some road 200s in 31, 34, 32, 33 on .1 mile jog. Decent road workout, horrible job on the pacing but whatever. Difficulty: 3/5 (hard to evaluate since I quit big time)

Friday: 11 Miles

Tillinghast trails, some light snow and wet but fun.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Black Point and Niantic Boardwalk road loop with Aiden and Matt Adams, who was in the area (why we ran there). Nice run, Aiden and Matt were both low-key dying, kinda weird. Pouring rain but nice.

Sunday: 14 Miles Run, 17 Bike

Had little motivation to run so decided last minute after waking up to go for an FKT. Figured either Cockaponset Trail or Richard Goodwin and since the trails were pretty wet from the rain, the less technical, Richard Goodwin was the easy decision. 

Dropped my bike off at the end of the trail, Chapal Preserve in East Haddam, then headed over to East Lyme for the start (Mostowy rd). 1 mile OAB warm-up, stretched and used bathroom before starting. Got off pretty well with the pace actually sub-5 for the first quarter mile since it was a steep downhill on very wide trail. This was followed by a 200 foot climb which really slowed the pace down. Really smooth on mile 8, some rollers but almost all either very smooth non-technical singletrack and 3 miles of dirt roads, some washed out and in terrible condition while others were very smooth. All miles sub-6:40 up to this point, felt very comfortable on the singletrack but was hurting a little on the dirt roads. 9 and 10 were much harder with a lot of twists, more rocks and larger hills. Some tiring stuff in there with miles over 8 minutes but nice downhills at the end where I got the pace down. Realized it would be very close to be sub-1:30 or not and I picked it up a little. Accidentally missed a very short section of the trail with .3 to go, but it has minimal effect on the time and distance. Finished in 1:29:22, previous FKT 1:46 (the guy set the full OAB FKT during the run so twice the distance is of course a very different effort). Pretty happy with it and happy with the intensity I maintained. I probably felt a little too comfortable on some of my FKTs but got fairly close to race effort on this one. Definitely a few sections where I was hurting.

The bike ride back was awful. Drank my water in the first few miles then was thirsty for the rest. Thought a turn 3 miles in was right when I was supposed to go straight and didn't check again until 8 miles in. Ride was supposed to 10 miles, but added so much extra distance with the wrong turn and had to finish up with a long stretch on route 1 where I bonked big time. Felt miserable/wanted to call for a ride but toughed it out and finished it. Really hilly, 1300 feet of gain.

Weekly Total: 67 Miles

YTD Total: 3,167 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Getting my 8th (?) FKT, definitely want to pick up a few more before heading back to school. I have my eye on Cockaponset (Ben Nephew just took it from me and I wasn't happy with my effort anyway) and Quinnipiac as well as some in the Hudson Highlands region. I don't feel totally ready for the high elevation gain and technical profile so I probably won't do that many. Also doing the border patrol challenge, which has a lot of routes near me including 2 that are FKTs Mt. Tom and Walkabout trail. 

Weekly Lowlight: Biking

Weekly Log: November 30 to December 6

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 8. Ninigret usual stuff. More splish splash in giant puddles.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Over to Burlingame campground, where I warmed up and cooled down trails, 10xmin hard/min easy in the middle. They all felt like uncontrolled all-out sprints but most were at a decent pace (sub 5) and since each rep was fairly short, it never felt too hard. Difficulty: 2/5.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Went to Carter for a usual perimeter loop but didn't have orange so I went the safe route of staying on the grassland loop. Thought this would be really boring but I guess I like this trail a lot, because it was borderline just as enjoyable as running all the trails here.

Friday: 10 Miles

Arcadia Singletrack w/Dad + Brady, warm day in the upper 50s.

Saturday: 10 Miles

VG + Burlingame trail loop, really awful storm with strong winds and pouring rain and sleet in the 30s. Got cold, parts were miserable. 

Sunday: 12 Miles

Bluff + Haley, we went on lots of cool singletrack, was fun.

Weekly Total: 61 Miles

YTD Total: 3,100 Miles

Weekly Log: November 23 to 29

 Monday: 7 Miles

Run around Ninigret just before dark. Splish splash in the puddles.

Tuesday: 9 Miles

Barn/road mix with Dad and Brady. Got dark so I didn't do 10.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Wanted to workout and do a longer workout, did a 2 mile tempo on South County bike path (10:36), 5x Biscuit City Hill 30s sprints, 4x400 in 70s on 200 jog. Felt totally gassed at every single stage, probably went a little too hard but guess I wasn't feeling totally on today. Anyway, not a bad effort for being solo. Difficulty: 4/5.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Thanksgiving 10 Mile Rhody Loop. Enjoyed this one even though I didn't want to run to begin with. Wet day.

Friday: 13 Miles

Ran the goodwin trail, which goes from East Lyme to East Haddam, point to point. Fairly nice trail going through several properties, a lot of smooth, non-technical singletrack.

Saturday: 8 Miles

Solo dark trustom pond loops, kind of fun.

Sunday: 17 Miles

Late long run from the house, went 6 easy, 6 tempo in 33:06 (5:31 average), 5 home easy. 6:18 average for 17 miles, very pleased with that. Easily the best tempo I've ever done, usually I drop out early or tie up really bad after 4 miles and have to stop because I suddenly can't go faster than 6:20, but today I ran all 6 planned miles, the whole thing felt fairly smooth and like I had more in the tank, and I ran a decent amount faster than planned. A good sign of aerobic fitness.

Weekly Total: 74 Miles 

YTD Total: 3,039 Miles

XC- Weekly Log: November 16 to 22

 Yeah, I'm pretty far behind. Going quantity over quality for these posts until I catch up. First XC race in over 2 years.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Coach announced a 3K time trial very last minute, and already having done a moderate LR Sunday I wasn't feeling like jumping into a race last minute. However, I figured I'd be around and have the time to pace which I greatly enjoy doing. Did a 5 mile warm up solo which is a little long but was trying to hit 10 on the day. Was tasked with hitting 70s, I wanted to go to 2K. Felt fairly hard the whole time with the effort needed to hit the pace increasing every lap. Could feel Jamie right on me, with Nico and Dylan just behind. Hands down the best pacing job I've ever done, hit 70 pretty much right on every single lap. Nico made his move at 1800 so I stepped off there, definitely a hard effort at a pace I haven't done much work at. 4 mile CD on the track with some guys. 

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Chilly Kingman Baja with Andrew, Earl and Forest for first 3. Got sort of lost but still pretty close to the intended route.

Thursday: 8 Miles

Did a pudding hill with Matt Adams as he recapped his entire life for me.

Friday: 6 Miles

Shakeout short rose with Aiden, felt a little tight.

Saturday: 10 Miles

USATF-NE XC Champs at Mine Falls Park, Nashua, NH. 12pm start so I got to sleep in. I was looking forward to the competitive aspect of this race (15:40 seed put me around 18th) but was uncertain how I'd fare on XC surfaces which I've had a history of inconsistent races on and have had very few hard efforts on grass or dirt since my last season (Fall 2018). 

Got out pretty hard and somewhat comfortably, hitting low 4s which is definitely aggressive. Led out wave 2 with a 15s deficit on wave 1, was hoping to catch some of the wave 1 guys. Had a good group of guys to work with, which I maintained a pretty solid pace with in the front. Racing on dirt felt very hard and not comfortable at all, and I allowed the pace to slow to get back into the comfort zone. The wheels never fell off, but I slowly allowed myself to fall further and further back and got completely out the race and way off the intensity required to run well in a 5K. One guy who I had heard of passed me and knowing I should be well ahead of him, I woke up a little to pass him. Stayed more or less in that spot for the rest of the race, running more of 10K-10 mile effort rather than 5K. Mile 2 was much narrower and pretty rooty, not slow but would require some serious mental focus to run fast (i.e., you'd need to be a good XC runner and I'm not). Dropped an embarrassing 5:46 mile 2, seriously wondering what I was doing and if I'd even break 17 minutes. With half a mile to go, I finally remembered I was racing and that I should actually be trying and ran it in at a respectable pace (4:50s???) although I didn't really kick. Came across in 16:31, which I was kind of shocked that it wasn't 17:04. I then realized I was wave 2 and my actual time was 16:16 (actually 16:17, but I have no idea where that extra second came from). Had a slight happiness knowing that when I thought I had run the most garbage race over 17 minutes that I actually ran pretty comparable to my average junior/senior year HS XC times. I then realized that I had come off a 15:21, 15:55 hilly road course and considering how fast and competitive this was, there was really no reason I should have been over 15:50, let alone 16:10. Not a good race, didn't sulk and cry about it like I usually do but I did get out of there immediately, went to the Nashua River rail trail for a 5 mile CD. In the end, definitely a missed opportunity to run really well but also served as an XC rustbuster. I definitely need some actual workouts and races on dirt and grass to perform well on it, so I'm not too disappointed in it. I can't help but think I would have ran much better if a teammate of similar fitness did it, just had no reaction to getting passed because I didn't know anyone.

Sunday: 13 Miles

Pachaug trails with Dad. Body had forgotten how to run technical trail and was shocked. Mind hated the leaf cover, although I've gotten used to both since.

Weekly Total: 58 Miles

YTD Total: 2,965 Miles

I'm going to skip the highlights/lowlights until I'm caught up on logs.

Weekly Log: November 9 to 15

 Monday: 6 Miles

Run from apartment in Dover. Planned on doing an OAB on the dover community trail (paved bike path) which I haven't run much of yet but got kinda of lost. Was able to get back on some other roads and ended up being a perfect 6 which I was looking for.

Tuesday: 12 Miles

Longer workout with a good group. Mostly easy stuff so felt good. Mile tempo on Garrity road in 5:20, 10xboulder field strides (180m), 5x bus stop hill, 2x(200/200/800) on 200 jog, 1200 jog between the 2 sets. Hit 33/34/2:25/36/36/2:19 buildup. Felt good and smooth for all of it, bus stop hills were a little quick. Difficulty: 2/5.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Dino farm with Jamie, Aidan S and Andrew, then 2 mile loop solo to get 10. 

Thursday: 9 Miles

Mile repeats on the track, 4:55 target w/400m jog, 4 total. Felt extremely flat from the start, aerobically not too hard but legs felt very heavy/tight towards the end of each rep. Paced in the first one in the faster group, felt bad. Hung on for the second one which didn't feel good either then dropped back in the second group, paced the 3rd one in 5:00 (their split supposed to be 5s slower), 4th in 5:00 sort of hanging on again. First 2 were 4:56/4:55 i think. Overall pretty hard, 4/5 difficulty.

Friday: 10 Miles

Easy jenkins with a bunch of people, add on with Aiden and Andrew. Shin pretty tight towards the end, these injuries always resurface when I do hard workouts when I'm tight, not surprising but disappointing. 

Saturday: 10 Miles

Long Snell, got moving with a 5:4x mile 9 split and some 6s before. Realized that was way too fast and my fault (kind of just got going when I felt Trevor breathing down my neck), so backed off in the last mile. Still 6:35 average, pretty solid. Shin getting a little worse.

Sunday: 14 Miles

Went soft surface on rockingham rail trail because I was concerned about my shin. OAB with Andrew and Slants, was feeling really good and ready to close super hard at the end but decided to only go moderate the last 4 or so since my shin was hurting a little. Legs felt kind of crappy anyway. Low 6s the last 4 for 6:30 average, Andrew went with on the pickup. Felt very under control and not too hard.

Weekly Total: 72 Miles

YTD Total: 2,907 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Felt good in Tuesday workout.

Weekly Lowlight: Felt bad in Thursday workout and messed up shin a bit. Honestly thought I might have a stress fracture after Sunday's run.

5K Time Trial- November 2 to 8

5K PR this week, really fun team time trial.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Indoor workout with Matt because it was really windy out. Coach wasn't there so Matt made up the workout. 1500 in 4:40, followed by 8x400 in 70s on 2 min rest. I paced the 1500 pretty evenly, felt smooth but long on our 160m oval. 400s were uncomfortable for me, legs felt weird and had breathing/chest issues, not smooth at all. Went 4:40/70/69/68/69/68/68/68/69. Not a very smooth workout overall, was a little concerned how hard this felt but it all ended up being fine. Difficulty: 4/5. Hordy hill warm-up and cool down.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Jenkins with a group, then 2 mile loop in college woods solo to get 10. 

Thursday: 7 Miles

Easy 6.5 with Matt doing a short rose into faculty. Slants told me in the morning that all the Manchester city courses got changed, with the 5K being turned into an out and back on a paved bike path. I whined and cried about it like a baby and made the last minute decision to switch the team time trial, securing a 66% credit/refund towards other Millennium running events. Felt great on the run, but pretty flat on strides.

Friday: 7 Miles

5K time trial, had planned on targeting 73s per lap which would be 15:13ish for 5K. Coach said just two groups, 72s or 75s (basically 15:00 or 15:35ish). The 75s were a bit too slow for what I wanted but the 72s was a huge risk and I could potentially blow up big time, so the 75 group was the safe and easy decision. Kinda of twisted my ankle and nearly fell on the warm up like an idiot, but no real damage done. 

Dynamics and bathroom break before getting spikes on. I think I only did one stride but whatever. The best part of this "race" was the team dynamic, very low stress and cool to be the atmosphere just racing our team but everyone taking it seriously. Our outdoor track is great and being under the lights in low 60s was another plus (I thought it would be hot but without the sun, it wasn't). Coach actually called my name for the first group at 72s, fortunately he was fine with me running in the 75s group. 72s were Spenser pacing, Matt, Tyler, Dylan, Jamie and Aidan sullivan. Tyler and Matt were in-between guys like me but decided to go the riskier route of running a little too fast. 

I assumed we had a pacer, but seconds before going off Nate said he was going to stick in the back even though most of us thought he was going to pace. Kenney was just kind of pushed to the front at the start and stayed there. It annoyed me that we couldn't get someone to pace as Kenney was racing but I figured I'd stay in a position to take over if he wasn't comfortable doing so. The first mile couldn't be much smoother, hit some 74s and 75s, felt extremely relaxed. I was in 4th or 5th for the first lap, then moved up to third as I didn't feel like I should be behind some of the guys ahead of me. I think I was behind Kenney, Trevor, possibly Earl as well through the mile, I felt Aiden move up with me behind. Was kind of impatient early on but realized that it felt easy and now wasn't the time to make absurd moves so I fell in and tried to relax. Kenney's lap after the mile was fairly slow and Mike yelled out a 3:10 2nd K split, which was definitely way too slow. I surged to second to get the pace back on track, planning to take over but Kenney picked it up a little so I stayed there. I tried to pass Kenney towards the end of the 6th lap, but he aggressively surged each time. This was frustrating as I was now surging and wasting energy mid-race just to try to help out with the pacing. I told Kenney I was just trying to help him out and he finally let me by. I ever so slightly picked up the pace every lap from there, trying to negative split the race and drop everyone in the group. Hit the 3K in 9:20 with Kenney and Aidan O'Hern right there, but was able to get some separation soon after. I actually felt quite good here and was able to continue picking it up. However, my legs felt quite terrible and were getting increasingly worse every lap. Some of the guys in the back of the first group were falling apart and I was able to chase some of them down. I finally felt the 5k pain with 600 to go, and while I held it together there was no magical 64s kick like I had in the 3K the prior week. I closed in maybe 70s this time and it hurt. Finished in 15:21, behind only Aidan Sullivan (15:00) and Jamie (15:17). 

Pretty pleased with the performance and nice to pick up a PR. Huge difference in how I felt today and basically every other track 5K I've run. Today I felt strong through 4400m, at NBNI (15:35) and Dartmouth Quad Meet (15:28) I felt strong through maybe 3K, bad races at New Englands (15:44) and America East (15:33) 2019 I only felt good through 2K. I negative split today for the first time ever with 3:06/6:16/9:20/12:23/15:21 splits which is 3:06/3:10/3:04/3:03/2:58. While I still don't think negative splits are the perfect way to race, I'm starting to believe in it much more and have definitely realized some of my races I just went out way too fast. For example, I went out much slower in this race than any of the track 5Ks I've run, today I ran faster than any of those race because the final 2K was so much faster. See table below for comparison of splits:

Saturday: 10 Miles

Kingman trails, felt really lousy, no surprise there. Upper 60s on the run, felt uncomfortably warm.

Sunday: 16 Miles

Watched the Manchester City races then met Aiden at front park in Auburn to run roads around Massbessic lake. Felt okay for 10 miles or so, then not much energy after that. Got dropped. Poor sleep coming into this.

Weekly Total: 60 Miles

YTD Total: 2,835 Miles

Weekly Highlight: 5K PR

Weekly Lowlight: Feeling pretty bad in the workout and on the weekend runs.

 

3K Time Trial- Weekly Log: October 26 to November 1

 Planned team 5K time trial pushed back a week due to snow and cold Friday, ended up changing it to a 3K with 5 guys instead Saturday morning. Fun exploring Portland Maine for the (?) first time Sunday.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Had an interview at York Hospital (ME) for a volunteer position, so I figured I'd just run from there after. Felt a little sluggish starting but a nice loop along the coast, felt good not great overall. Reminded me a lot of the Middletown RI coast.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Jenkins with the freshman at practice + Andrew, added on a mile of trails with Trevor. Wanted to do 10 but it was raining out and my soles were slipping around in my shoes which was really annoying.

Thursday: 11 Miles

Workout with the whole team, longer one with mix of roads and indoor track. Raining again. 2.5ish mile tempo on Short Rose (1.5 mile warmup prior, tempo at 5:35), 6xCoe Hill, 5xBus Stop Hills, 3x800 indoors at 2:30 (equal rest?) with the last one a buildup. 800s were 2:30s for the first two then I went 2:17 on the buildup. Overall a very smooth feeling workout, was pleased with this. Heavy on the last 800 picking it but for the most part everything felt easy and controlled. Achilles (?) was tight which was a little worrying but something I thought about.

Friday: 7 Miles

Pre-meet short rose into faculty, turns out it wasn't my achilles that was tight but another tendon/muscle (posterior to fibula). Hurting a bit towards the end which was really worrying and I was doubting the intelligence of racing the next morning when being in pain during the run. Rolled it out and did a single stride which felt okay. 

Saturday: 6 Miles

3k time trial, leg wasn't feeling terrible so I decided just to go for it. I figured I'm not in great 3K shape with the lack of faster workouts this year and thought running 3:00s for the 1Ks would be a good strategy and put me in position to break 9. Coach told us 30 minutes before that we'd be doing it as a buildup and running 73s through 2k then trying to close. We discussed it and decided we'd rather go 72s then try to close from there which would give a much better chance of sub 9. Andrew was coming back from injury and would serve as a pacer. It seemed really cold (32 degrees) at first but after warming up fairly comfortable and I made the last minute decision to not wear armsleeves (short sleeves, gloves). 

Andrew was slow from the gun which was disappointing. What was also disappointing was that it wasn't set up as a proper time trial at all. There were a stack of hurdles in lane 1 and 2 after the first turn which was really annoying to deal with. I hopped into the back with Aiden behind me and everyone else ahead. It was a pretty good position just sitting in the back and I was able to get into a groove. The 1K was pretty slow in 3:05, mile in 4:55ish. Slants noticed the pace was the lagging and moved to the front to get it back on track. 

The next lap was picked up a bit and the increase in pace was a little uncomfortable. The pack was split up a bit as I had to pass Trevor to stay with the top guys, which in order was Slants, Matt Adams, Kenney, me. Hit the 2K in 6:03. Pace felt a bit quick and uncomfortable, felt like I was hanging on. As we approached the end of the race, I realized 1) I had just hit 800 to go, and 2) I still had another gear. Approaching 500 left, I made a big move on the turn and passed into the lead with a massive surge. I could feel Matt go with me and was worried I had gone too early and would be unable to sustain this kick for a full lap. Neither ended up being a problem as I had a lot left and pulled away. Was hurting the last 200 but never slowed and ended timing my kick perfectly. Finished in 8:51, meaning a 2:49 last 1K. Basically all of that was in the last 600 which I apparently ran a 1:37 (sub 65 pace), which is probably one of the best kicks I've ever had.

Pleased with running well under 9 and being able to close like that. I definitely got lucky being able to just hang out in the back most of the race, but it's probably the best way to run a race, even if others are doing the work for you. Matt ran 8:56, Slants 8:58, Kenney 9:02, Aiden 9:08, Trevor 9:10ish. Very solid effort I can build some confidence off of.

Sunday: 12 Miles

Haven't been going too long on Sundays with important races these weeks, and decided to the same today as well as be cautious with my new leg issue. Aiden wanted to run in Portland, so we did that with Kenney and Matt. Really nice on gravel paths around back cove, paved paths through the city and along the ocean (nice views from the hill on top of the promenade). Got off the paths after that and ran on some okay roads to Yarmouth, over some bridges to Mackworth Island which was pretty cool. My legs didn't feel great picking up the pace going back and I allowed to Aiden and Kenney to gap us when they decided to close hard. Fun run in a really cool place, definitely a city well designed for running/recreation.

Weekly Total: 54 Miles

YTD Total: 2,775 Miles

Weekly Highlight: A pretty good 3k where I had a really good kick

Weekly Lowlight: These random aches and pains that bother me every few weeks

Movies Watched: *Headhunters

Oktoberfest 5K- Weekly Log: October 19 to 25

 Race week. Oktoberfest 5K in Manchester on deck for Saturday.

Monday: 0 Miles

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Ran an easy Jenkins with some trails, Coach had me do 6x200m hard on 200m jog when I got back. All 30s-32s, felt pretty hard with my lack of speed right now.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Easy trails at afternoon practice with 4 or 5 guys. Chain and back to some loops around Madbury soccer fields and I added on to get 10 on the track.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Same run as Tuesday except without the trails and with 10 200s instead of 6, a bit slower though. This time with Matt. Breathing felt hard during the 200s, so they weren't comfortable for me despite being run in 34-35s which isn't too aggressive at all.

Friday: 7 Miles

Pre-meet run with Matt and Trevor, who are both doing the race. Strides after which felt pretty smooth.

Saturday: 9 Miles

Oktoberfest 5K. Woke up at 5:40 or so to have my breakfast and get my race items ready before picking up Trevor and making the hour drive over to Backyard Brewery in Manchester. Unlike the upcoming 5K Time Trial, this wasn't a big race for me and I hadn't heard of it until Nico told the team about it. I was surprised I never saw the race despite several extensive searches to find races, but there was a reason for that. Millennium running basically created the event on October 13. I signed up without hesitation once I heard other teammates were doing it. If there's competitive races happening, I'm going to do them. 

Looking at the course profile, there was about 200 feet of elevation gain, quite hilly for a 5K. I didn't really have a set goal coming in other than beating my teammate Kenney. I figured sub 16 would be a good time goal but wasn't sure how realistic it was given that I'm not a great hill runner. 

Arrived at Backyard Brewery at 7:40, 6 minutes earlier than the suggested time sent out via email. Picked up my bib and was disappointed and even mildly upset that the nice drinking glasses were not being given to those under 21. I understand they can't give out post-race beer to those under the drinking age, but I would have liked to get a glass. 

Waited around for a little bit, used the bathroom a few times and headed out for a warm-up with Matt on the first mile of the course. We discovered a few things: 1) the start is awful. It goes across a parking lot, over a cement sidewalk between parking spots with limited to running space due to streetlamps on the sidewalk. After the brief sidewalk portion, there are two very sharp turns to get off the sidewalk and then to get out of the parking lot. I was very frustrated with this as I believe the organizer to be runners themselves, so I'm not sure who thought this is acceptable. 2) After a fast slight downhill on the main road, there's a 120 foot hill just past the half mile mark that averaged around 5% grade. This would be a tough hill and I was doubting my ability to get out hard the first mile due to these two factors. We knew the last mile was nearly all downhill and would be very fast.

Got the final bathroom use out of the way, changed into race gear and got a few strides in. We went in the start corral and awaited the beginning. The interesting format for this race was a time-trial start with 10 second intervals between each runner. I figured it would be an advantage to be seeded behind people slightly slower than you as you would be able to run them down versus running scared trying to hold someone off. We had quite a few teammates racing, who would serve as the primary competition today. 

The competitors: 

-Jarrod Ottman. A unknown distance runner occupying the top seed. His college track times weren't anything too impressive but upon looking at his strava profile, he had some solid time trials lately (1:08 half). I figured he'd likely be ahead of me but wouldn't have a massive advantage.

-Nico Sevilla. 2nd seed. Our top distance runner by a lot, 8:13 3K probably his best PR. There were rumors going around he was out of shape and the training he was posting on strava was questionable. However, Nico is very consistent and one of the best racers I've ever seen. Always toughs it out and puts 100% out there. It was very likely he'd win.

-Scott Mindel. Massachusetts long distance runner with a low 2:20s marathon and solid half as well. I knew he didn't have the track speed some of us did but it likely wouldn't matter in a hilly road 5K. His strength should carry though and he'd likely be ahead of me.

-Matt Adams. Our best mid-distance runner with a 1:50 800 PR. Matt was a big question mark as he's never run faster than 16:20s before but absolutely has the talent and range to do well in longer distances. I thought I had a slight advantage on him and would attempt to run the 10s gap he'd have on me.

-Trevor DeMarco. Freshman on our team, distance runner with 8:50s PR but no sub-16 5K. Really unsure of his abilities as I hadn't seen him race but I expected to be ahead of him. With a 10s deficit from me, I was hoping not to hear him behind me at any point during the race.

-Aidan O'Hern. Sophomore on our team, inconsistent racer but some very solid PRs and has looked great in workouts recently. With a 20s start behind me, I'd be shocked if he caught me but not if he beat me overall. I consider my fitness level to be equal to him on this terrain.

-Kenney McElroy. Another sophomore on our team, barely beat him at the Newport Sunshine 5K three weeks. With a 30s start ahead of him, I wasn't expecting to catch me but was definitely hoping to beat him overall and figured I'd have a slight advantage.

The Race

Jarrod and Nico went off as expected, as Scott, Matt and I moved up. Three of our teammates were supposed to race today and occupied spaces ahead of Matt and I, but weren't able to come as one of their roommates had been in contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. Due to this, there were 3 empty spaces. I thought people would wait until their name was shown on the board, but Scott and Matt went immediately in the next two spots, making it a bit frantic. One of the race organizers seemed to notice this and stopped me from going until my name showed up. I took my mask off (I noticed others started with the mask), walked up to the line and sprinted off at the beep. While this had given me time to relax as I thought the 10s gaps would be a little tight, it also completely removed my advantage of being able to chase as I started 50 seconds behind Matt (see below for video).

I was completely wrong about the start being hard to go fast on as I got out very well. The sidewalk and turns were awkward but it was so early on, it didn't slow me down much. I was sub-4:40 pace on the fast downhill road section, which of course, (the pace) plummeted upon hitting the hill. The hill was very tough but I had built up momentum from the downhill and fast start, and tried my best to power through it. I could feel my legs getting heavier from climbing the hill but it was early enough that cumulative fatigue didn't slow me down too much. I was able to cruise on the short downhill after and get back on pace before slowing again for the last part of this uphill. Hit the mile in 5:11 as the road flattened out which seemed slow. 

I could see Matt ahead having passed Scott which was surprising to me. I wasn't sure whether or not Scott wasn't running well or if Matt had gone out extremely hard. The second mile was tough. The road wasn't particularly smooth (cracks) and it was tough to maintain pace solo. I was disappointed as my average pace continued to tick up, which happened at a greater rate as the road turned to dirt, which was completely unexpected and we climbed the second hill, about 70ft. My average pace ticked all the way to 5:19 after a slow 5:24 second mile. I thought my race was over but was thinking I could still run maybe a 5:15 average pace if I can pick it up on the downhill. Steep downhill to the main road was uncomfortable. I took a look back at the sharp turn and saw Trevor, thinking he was 15s or so behind me meaning I only had a 5 second gap. 

The third mile was kind of crazy as it dropped 100ft. I was tired at this point in the race so I wouldn't say I pushed myself to my limits to finish, but I was able to get going at a fast pace, and a sustain hard, very uncomfortable effort that I was just looking forward to being done. I could see Matt ahead, having dropped Scott and I was slowly closing on Scott myself but didn't have the room to get him. I kept the pressure on the whole way, never running slower than 5:01 pace at any point in the mile. 4:48 for the final mile. I kind of forgot to kick as I was too focused on monitoring my average pace which was going down significantly more than expected. I saw my watch in the middle 15s in the final stretch and was surprised to have a shot at sub-16. I accelerated slightly but definitely not as much as I should have and finished 4th (ahead of Scott, behind the other three) in 15:55. 

I look really smooth here and not weird at all.

I was pretty happy crossing the line, knowing I had broken 16 on this tough course and closed the last mile pretty well. Matt had an awesome race running 15:48 and Nico destroyed with a 15:07.

Kenney finished 5th behind me in 16:10, Trevor was 6th in 16:27 and Scott 7th in 16:28 (apparently recovering from injury but also had a bad day). Full results. Looking at the course profile, the 200ft gain, bad start and 25% on a dirt road, I estimate the course is about 20-25 seconds slower than a perfectly flat and fast road 5K. Looking at the GAP splits above, I clearly got out very well and ran the first hill strong with a 4:51 GAP for the first mile. I also ran the last mile strong with a 4:57 GAP, a good 5-10 seconds ahead of where my last mile has been in other races. I closed okay, 4:34 GAP is far from excellent but it's not terrible either. The weakest part was clearly my second mile, which makes sense. I was fatigued from the first climb, struggled on the second climb without having the speed/momentum going into it that I had in the first mile and slowed slightly on the dirt road. A 5:24 split is poor, a 5:14 GAP is certainly better but definitely mediocre considering my average GAP was 4:59 and my average pace 5:06. Looking back on how I distributed my effort, I was definitely pushing the most in the first mile then let up a little too much. I pushed the last mile mostly well but had I needed something faster or had I been racing someone, I think I could have found enough to drop another 5 seconds off. Overall, these are very minor errors as I think I ran very well overall. Every single race this year has been disappointingly mediocre where I either made too many mistakes during the race or simply wasn't at the fitness level I needed to be to run a great race. This race was a significantly better performance than any other in 2019 or 2020. Hopefully, it marks a return to form after a long, long struggle with overtraining and injury. I set a road 5K PR, the first PR I've set since January 2019 (easily the longest I've gone without PR'ing).

4 mile OAB cool down with Nico and the 2nd placer Jarrod.

Sunday: 12 Miles

Road loop around Bow Lake with Aiden and Kenney. Nice weather and very scenic route, but was very much feeling the race.

Weekly Total: 58 Miles

YTD Total: 2,721 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Having a race come together really well for the first time in a while.

Weekly Lowlight: Feeling off in Thursday's workout.

Movies Watched: The Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Weekly Log: October 12 to 18

 Monday: 6 Miles

Easy run with Mike and Andrew, broke off at 4 miles and finally found the Dover Community Trail which I've searched for on previous runs. Getting dark at the end, this will probably not be a window that works for me in the future.

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Rainy morning practice. Missed Matt Adams who I usually work out with by 2 minutes, and had to go solo. Andrew was there so I had company for the warm-up. Workout was 6x(2min on/1 min off). Fartleks, for whatever reason, are a struggle for me and this one was no different. I had the additional annoyance of carrying my bulky pants in my hands as I didn't take it off pre-run in the off chance I could catch Matt. First few were sort of smooth, then the later ones the time felt really long and I was slowing/hurting towards the end. Was able to keep a solid pace through the 4th one, but tightened up midway through the 5th and was slowing a lot. Cut the 5th one 10s early and took an extra minute of rest. Ended up sort of salvaging the last one but it still wasn't great. Pulled on my achilles a little bit, as it was feeling sore on the cooldown. Disappointed as its usually really hard workouts that do that to me, even though today shouldn't have been that bad. Ran the following paces for the ons: 5:02, 5:13, 4:49, 5:07, 5:47, 5:20. Difficulty of Workout: 4/5.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Afternoon practice with a bunch of guys, did a dino farm with them then ran barefoot around the turf to get to 10. Achilles was definitely feeling worse which was concerning but felt okay on the turf miles.

Thursday: 11 Miles

Did some massaging of my achilles pre-run as I was nervous about it going into another workout, fortunately it ended up doing the trick as I barely felt it at all. Longer workout with a really big group: 2-Mile gate to gate tempo, 6xBoulder field 180m strides, and 5x600m in 1:50 on 600m jog. Overall a pretty good session. Felt a little uncomfortable wrapping up the tempo, but besides that everything felt very smooth and comfortable. Ran the tempo in 10:45, going 5:29/5:16. Aidan O'Hern and I dropped everyone slightly which was a little strange because some of the guys behind are much faster and we were supposed to run the 2nd mile faster. Jogged over to the field, very comfortable "strides" at 4:50ish pace, felt quite easy probably because I was expecting us to do actual strides at a fast pace. 600s were also fairly smooth, the long rest obviously helped with that. Nice mileage for a workout. Difficulty: 2/5.

Friday: 10 Miles

7 miles with Aiden doing a short snell in the pouring rain. Everyone else went on trails but Aiden can't run trails due to an ankle injury so I just went with him. I also don't like wet trails. Felt smooth but definitely kinda tight from workout. Added on a few miles on quiet roads where my soles starting slipping under my feet which was annoying.

Saturday: 15 Miles

Wiswall w/Aidan Sullivan, Tyler, Trevor and James. Aidan pushed the pace from the front pretty early on and I was feeling somewhat tight at the beginning and was hoping to go slower. Stayed with it, planning to slow down when I turned off on my own to do a longer route (Bennett) so I could get 15 instead. Ended up feeling much better in the middle miles and especially so in my solo miles. Didn't do anything crazy the last few miles, but was still sub 6 the last 3 miles or so pretty effortlessly. 6:17 pace overall for 15, which is easily the fastest I've gone on a long run. 

Sunday: 10 Miles

Wasn't sure where to run but ended up going to Kennebunk elementary school which serves as the parking for the Eastern Trail, a 6-7 mile dirt path (think rail trail, not sure whether it is actually a rail trail) out to Biddeford. Nice trail, but felt really lousy in the first half. Felt better in the second half which went by quicker but legs noticeably quite tired.

Weekly Total: 70 Miles

YTD Mileage: 2,663 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Doing well on the LR and in Thursday's workout.

Weekly Lowlight: Brief achilles scares. 

Movies Watched: Enola Holmes

Survey this week (already sent this to some of you)

Weekly Log: October 5 to 11

 Training.

Monday: 0. Kinda sorta tweaked my knee during the race, so took Monday off to be cautious. Knee hurting when bending it all the way and very stiff.

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Easy trail OAB with Matt Adams. Knee very stiff/sore the entire time but a lot better than I expected. Came in nervous that I had a serious injury that would require at least a few days off.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Solo trail run, went a little early so I could watch the womens 5k/mens 10k WR attempts live. Jenkins with thompson forest/college woods/oyster river trail, probably 7 trails/3 roads. Testing out new shoes, NB 880s.

Thursday: 11 Miles

8 in AM, 6x800 in college woods with Matt. Felt quite difficult, definitely partially due to high leaf and pine needle cover on the trail that had us working a lot harder to go forward as we kept slipping. Was positive splitting every rep until the last one where I found something. Pretty hard overall. Slight downhill on odd reps, slight uphill on even. Had to nearly completely stop for a biker on #4. 2:27/2:34/2:29/2:37/2:30/2:34. Difficulty: 4/5.

3 in PM, didn't feel like doubling today but Andrew and Mike were doing a short run so I just joined  them. Cemetery OAB plus a short downtown dover loop.

Friday: 10 Miles

Trestle with a handful of guys at practice into a 2 mile loop solo. Shin a little tight towards end, probably the new shoes.

Saturday: 14 Miles

Cedar Waters with a bunch of guys (Jamie, Dylan, Aidan S., Trevor, Alex). Ran a very comfortable 6:45 mostly even pace with them through 10.5, then was itching to close fast which I did. Went a little too hard/fast at the end with splits of 5:54, 5:18, 5:28, 5:20 pace for .6. Still very smooth, just getting heavy at the end. Certainly much lower effort than last week's tempo even though this was faster and at the end of a long run. Ended up running 5:21-5:22 pace for 3ish miles at the end, not bad and definitely the fastest I've closed a long run.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Lunchtime run at Mt. Agamenticus in York, ME. Drove halfway there only to realize I forgot my watch and had to turnaround to get it. Last 2 miles of drive on a rough dirt road, cars everywhere on the side so I knew parking would be an issue. Saw one car getting ticketed by a park ranger, so I continued on to the main area where I got really lucky that there a spot open on the side of the road (when I left the line of cars probably went half a mile down the road). Started with a decent 150ft climb on the ring trail, which was pretty crowded followed by a very steep rock slab descent 1.5 miles in. About 2 miles on wide dirt/rock trail which was quite unpleasant as motorized bikers were using them and I ate their fumes every time I ran behind them. Was happy to turn back onto singletrack, although I had to stop frequently to check my maps as there were a lot of trail intersections. Trails/intersections were very well marked, however with signs, blazes and distances. Finished the run "summiting" the three major hills of the place- third hill, second hill, and first hill (mt. agamenticus). Third and second hill were both fairly steep and technical, some sections near both with a lot of leaves on the ground which was tough to run through. Mount Agamenticus itself was much more open, and had really nice views of the ocean as well as mountains to the north. Pretty crowded as it's only half a mile from the main parking lot, and there's also an auto road to the top/facilities. Followed a cool gravel manicured trail down the "mountain", and ran pretty fast down ring trail back to the start which was a little difficult as it was quite crowded. 

Weekly Total: 61 Miles

YTD Miles: 2,593 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Feeling good on the LR/closing hard and getting to watch 2 historic WR's go down live.

Weekly Lowlight: Early week worrying knee pain and struggling a bit in the cross workout.

Movies Watched: Hubie Halloween

Poll of the week is inspired by me slipping on leaves and deciding fall is actually the worst season to run trails because you can't actually go fast. 

Newport Sunshine 5K- Weekly Log: September 28 to October 24

 Raced my first 5K of the year, getting in a decent effort after running mostly maintenance/injury prevention mileage rather than really training.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Morning practice with Matt Adams, did a Wednesday Hill doing a tempo on the Wednesday Hill road portion (2.6 miles, rolling hills). I was okay doing both a shorter tempo and a slower pace as this was my first real workout in some time. Matt said he usually goes out slower in his tempos than progresses to 5:30. Despite agreeing to do this, I did a terrible job pacing and ran the first mile in 5:39. It felt good but was definitely a harder effort than high 5:30s as there were a few 50ft hill climbs (and descents). Mile 2 had much more downhill and I more or less cruised to a smooth 5:19. Despite feeling pretty comfortable up to this point, I suddenly got pretty tired/weak and had to go to the bathroom. I ended up jumping in the woods for a short amount of time to take care of business before finishing the last half mile which didn't feel great. 2.6 miles in 5:29 pace, equates to 5:24 GAP. Definitely a little aggressive for tempo pace for me right now, next time I'll probably want to do 4 miles at 5:35 pace or so. We went way too fast on the CD, probably my fault.

Difficulty: 3/5.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Pudding Hill easy with a bunch of guys, added on with Earl where we picked up the pace from 6:50s to 6:00s. They felt okay, definitely a bit fast post-workout. Not sure whether this was his doing or mine but I blame him.

Thursday: 11 Miles

7 in the morning, practice with Matt Adams again. We did a light workout of 10x400 in 75s w/200m jog going 76/76/76/75/75/75/74/74/73/71. Felt pretty good. Slightly heavy and breathing a little off but overall comfortable and smooth besides those two issues. Difficulty: 2/5.

4 miles at Wagon Hill farm, a bunch of loops on XC style grass and gravel trails. Pretty nice but small place.

Friday: 10

Everyone was working out, so I did their warm-up with them in college woods then went for a easy trail run solo (dino farm). Sprinkling out.

Saturday: 7 Miles

Slept in and drove over to the rockingham rail trail. Nice and easy relaxed run, felt a little tight in the first half but better in the second. Mixed in some strides towards the end, some felt very smooth, others felt more forced.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Newport Sunshine 5K. Originally we were hoping to have 4 of us, but in the end, just Kenney and I drove over in the morning. We ended up arriving 20 minutes late due to a issue on Kenney's end which made me a little nervous. As we pulled into the grass parking, we saw only around 10 cars or so and instantly expected an extremely small field. It was only in the low 40s in western nh here, and I felt really cold until we warmed up. Got our bibs, shirts, took care of bathroom issues (thank god for the one porta potty there). This race is interesting as it does not start at any kind of facility/park. It shows corbin covered bridge for the start, you park in the grass field adjacent to the road, and there are no buildings or facilities within a half mile. I was expecting a lollipop course, with the second mile a loop. When I got there, I learned the course had been changed to a cone turnaround OAB, with an addition lollipop turn on gravel paths in a cemetery. This was pretty disappointing. I knew the old course was very hilly (200-250ft gain), and wasn't sure how this change would affect the elevation gain. Kenney and I warmed up out to the cemetery and back. When we got back, the 20 minutes lost getting here really affected us. I used the bathroom, then switched to singlet, put on bib and changed into racing flats, all while the racing directions were being given 50m away. I knew I wasn't going to miss the race as we still had 6 minutes, but we didn't end up having time to do dynamics or strides. 

Got over to the line, and despite saying there would be 10 person waves everyone started at once. The unique feature of the race is that it starts and ends just before/after a covered bridge which was pretty cool. I tried to get out hard, but unlike the fun runs this summer, it didn't feel smooth/low effort. I was pushing, and it definitely took some serious effort to get the pace fast. Much of this was due to how heavy my legs felt. Was sub-5 for a little bit, before slowing down to 5:08 over a hill. We made the turn onto oak street and Kenney pulled slightly ahead going into the cemetery, I was able to pass him on a tight turn and we hit 5:08 for the first mile. 

We turned left out of the cemetery, and ran down a pretty steep hill where Kenney pulled ahead again. We turned onto another road, and shortly after approached the cone turnaround, which Kenney ran past and missed. I shouted his name, but took a small lead here. I thought I was starting to open a gap, but was destroyed by the steep hill going back up, where I apparently ran over 8 minute pace on one section. Kenney passed me, but we pulled even on the flat section. A horrible 5:46 mile 2. I can blame some of that time on the cone turnaround and steep uphill, but much of it comes down to a lack of mental focus trying to get the pace back on track. I was pretty discouraged at the beginning of the third mile, seeing a high 5:20s average pace, still having almost a mile to go, feeling heavy as ever, and generally just wanting to give up. Kenney pulled away slightly but I stayed within striking distance. Suddenly, some distance has passed and I saw the covered bridge in the distance. I hadn't checked my watch in a little and was surprised to be so close to the finish now. Kenney only had 5-10m on me, and I had enough to the tank that I could now go for it. I accelerated greatly, pulling even with Kenney and putting in a really hard effort approaching the bridge. I was truly racing here, and the hurt was there, probably for the first time in the race. I held it for a bit, and when Kenney pulled ahead slightly, I thought it was over. I was close to giving in and backing off, but held the pace for a little longer, and Kenney broke. I kept the hard effort on in case he had a late surge, but pulled away, crossed the bridge, and made the right turn onto the grass field to finish. I was very surprised to see the clock still in the 15s, ticking up towards 16:00. Crossed in what I thought was a 15:58, but was given a 15:59 officially. Kenney crossed in 16:07. Full results.

Saw the 3.01 distance on my watch and instantly became extremely skeptical. However, it made a lot more sense considering I was at 5:27 average pace at point and worried I wouldn't even break 17. After review, I checked out every strava activity I could find for the race and my best estimate is that the course was 3.05 miles. My map is clearly messed up somewhat as it cuts through the woods in points. I also don't know how the tight turns in the cemetery, and cone turnaround affected the distance. My best estimate is that this is worth a 16:16 for full 5K. I came in expecting 16:10-16:20 due to my lack of workouts recently and how hilly the course was. The new course still had 200ft of elevation gain, and while slightly less than the old course, it's probably evened out by the tight turns. The GAP is roughly -8 seconds from my average, which should be 5:14-5:15 assuming it's actually 3.05. So roughly a 5:06/5:07 average, likely suggests I could run well under 16 right now on a pancake flat, fast course. Hopefully that suggests I'm in 15:30 or better shape on the track.

In the end, I think this was a solid effort but there are some clearly weak parts of my race that I need to work on. I'll summarize this with pros/cons.

Pros

• The time/effort. Obviously, I and no one else knows exactly what this is truly worth as the course was never measured, which is the only accurate way to know the distance. I think 3.05 is a good guess, and a 16:16 is a quality effort for my current fitness state for the course profile.
• The win. Not a huge deal, especially as Kenney is more a mid-distance runner. Still it was nice to pick up the win, as I rarely ever win and often have lacked the kick or drive to stay in the race in the final stages in the past. Not this time. Additionally, I feel like I really wanted to beat Kenney and without having him in striking distance/being solo would resulted in a jog to the finish most likely.
• My kick. I closed in 4:20-4:30 pace for the last quarter mile which I'm really pleased with. If I finished every race like this, I'd likely cut off some time and catch some people. Having a kick is key to staying in a race/being competitive/getting under ambitious time goals and absolutely something I will need to have a breakthrough/compete at the next level. It's promising that I have this now with only maintenance training.

Cons

• Race tactics. I ran the first mile solidly (4:52 GAP), going out hard and attempting to maintain 5k pace. However, I think my race tactics from there to half a mile left need some serious work. On pretty much every uphill and downhill, I settled allowing Kenney to put some ground on me while I probably could have pushed myself to stay with him. Additionally, even though having a kick worked out today, I should have and probably could have pushed the middle of the race/last mile and won by more/run faster than way.
• Motivation. Related to the first one, but slightly different. I had negative thoughts for much of the race and was heavily disappointed by how slow mile 2 was, that I couldn't put any ground on Kenney, and generally that I was definitely slacking off a bit. Fortunately, I was able to get my act together and find motivation to kick, but I definitely need to work on motivation/mental toughness to not slack off so much in the middle.
• Hill strength. Again, this is somewhat related to my negative attitude mid-race, but even had I pushed myself to stay with Kenney more, my uphill running is a major weakness. I slow greatly, don't attack the hill, get passed by many people in bigger race. 

Anyway, I can probably find more pros and cons, but this race, while a decent effort for now was also somewhat of a mixed bag. There were things I executed well, while I struggled in other areas.

Weekly Total: 57 Miles

YTD Total: 2,532 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Working out and racing again.

Weekly Lowlight: Lack of mental toughness during the race.

Movies Watched: Tenet

Here's a little preview of the next two months for me:

October:

After slacking off most of the year, partially due to laziness, partially due to injury, I'm hoping to start actually training in October. I've already done two workouts, more than I've done really since March (or summer if including fun runs) and my first 5k of the year. I'd like to continue doing 1-2 light or moderate aerobic workouts to increase my 5k fitness and make myself much more comfortable for races. I'd also like to increase mileage into the 70s consistently, but that might be trickier as I still deal with smaller ailments from time to time which force the occasional day off and I'm not going to try hitting 70 in 6 days. I'd like to keep the long runs, but without anything longer than 5k (for the most part) on the horizon, I don't see the need to go extra long or hammer these. 

On the racing front, Newport Sunshine 5K likely won't be my last hard effort of the month. I'm on the fence for another low-key 5K, this time in coastal MA, on October 18th. I fear a short course again, and with other races, I'm not sure whether or not this would be too much. Coach B wants us to race some time trials, which I was excited for as I was expecting a hard 5k and 3k/mile on the track which would be fun to compete with the whole team. He's suddenly changed to saying he wants a 6k on the track and 4k on cross course which doesn't sound fun competing in such bizarre distance when I could potentially challenge my 5K PR. So those would probably be the 24th and 31st and regardless of what ends up happening with distance, I'll likely be racing some sort of time trial or two late in the month.

October 18- Miles for Kyle 5K (Squamscott, MA) *10/12 update: not racing this

October 24- Unknown Time Trial (Durham, NH)

October 31- Unknown Time Trial (Durham NH)

November: 

The main goal for November is to actually have big efforts in races and run fairly fast. I'm almost certainly going to race the Manchester City 5K. The positive of this race are 1) it's put on by a legit organization, Millennium Running, 2) it's a lollipop format and 3) it's nowhere near as a hilly as Newport Sunshine. The cons (to running fast) are that 1) there's still some decent hills that will slow things down and 2) one wave starts mean it'll be hard to work with other people. I'm hoping I'll be fit enough coming in that I can run fast despite the hills and maintain a fast pace solo. Hoping for 15:30s or so. There are two other possibilities, Little Rhody Runaround and Newport Pie Run. The former I'm not sure whether I'll be tired from 3-4 weeks racing, whether I'll want to drive home for just a 2-day weekend and whether I'll be ready for a hard trail effort. If I do it, I'm going to try very hard to win my first Rhody and probably attempt the CR.

November 8- Manchester City 5K (Manchester, NH)

November 15- Little Rhody Runaround (Charlestown, RI)

Weekly Log: September 21 to 27

First week of practice.

Monday: 5 Miles

Was bummed to find out I still had lab, which really shortened my running window/prevented me from making practice. Contemplated whether to run at all, but compromised between a real run and a day off by doing an easy 5. Asked to Mike to go, we ran cemetery laps together for 4 then I added on a mile. Easy run, felt solid.

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Went to morning "practice" only to find out I was the only one there and coach had no plans for me. Decided to take the opportunity to run trails, combined Oyster river trail, thompson forest and west foss farm to make a nice loop. Felt pretty good, run went by quickly. Nice cool temps in the high 40s.

Wednesday: 9 Miles

Made practice today, showed up exactly at 3 with Andrew. The other guys decided to start a minute early and not wait for us, so it was just us. Coach said trails so went exploring in East Foss farm, lots of turnarounds getting semi-lost. Ended up being unable to find the connection to Bennett road I was seeking and giving up. Felt pretty gassed towards the end and had no desire to add an extra mile. Quite warm out.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Hot again, coach wanted trails again. Bunch of guys this time, led them on a dino farm. Felt pretty good and ran a bit faster than I normally would. Unknown to me, everyone else didn't feel great and wanted me to slow down. Aiden and I added a 2 mile loop in college woods to get 10.

Friday: 10 Miles

Bennett with first part trails, last 6 roads. Earl pushed the pace and I had to reach a bit, not very comfortable. Did some strides which felt horrible.

Saturday: 16 Miles

Planned a nice coastal road loop in Rye and Portsmouth starting in Odiorne Point state park. Pretty nice run and felt very good strong the whole way. Missed the turn towards Newcastle and had to improvise and change the route a bit. Felt really good and ready to close fast the last few miles but for some reason Earl was worried about dropping the other guys by too much so I decided not to anger him and ran with him. 

Sunday: 11 Miles

Bear Brook state park in Allenstown. Attempted a specific route but got very confused to the high amount of trail and unmarked intersections (some were marked, many were not). Ended up adding extra mileage running in circles before more or less figuring it out (not really, but at least was no longer lost). The second half I was a lot less confused but mountain bikers were everywhere. Constantly running off trail if possible, many times stepping off the trail to wait for them. Was shocked that hardly anyone said anything, let alone thank you when I did this. Definitely some people who came off as rude. Fortunately some of the bikers towards the end were very friendly, but unfortunately I had to stop maybe 5-10 times/mile towards the end, really killing my momentum. Some fun trails here, will have to run here with Forest Mackenzie as he knows the trails well and when there's a lot less bikers.

Weekly Total: 71 Miles

YTD Total: 2,475 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Pleased to hit 70 for the first time in 6 weeks or so, and to have a pretty solid road long run for the first time in even longer. Except for a few runs, generally felt pretty good and mostly healthy which is hopefully the way things should be.

Weekly Lowlight: Nothing terrible. Hot days, feeling tights, still some foot discomfort, may have tweaked my other foot on Sunday.

Movies Watched: The Devil All the Time

Ranking Every Mountain I've Summitted: Part 1- The Bottom Tier (60-41)

Over the last few years, I've developed a passion for hiking, and more recently, running up mountains. It's been a lot of fun going around and summitting various peaks in the Northeast. Unfortunately, I have yet to have any mountain adventures outside of this region, but there's also a lot to see here. I hope to expand on my current list of summits and explore other areas of the US, but for now I still have a decent list of summits. Not all mountains are made equal, and that is quite clear when comparing small viewless mountains in southern New England with alpine ones further north. I enjoy rankings like this, and with many new mountains added this year, it seems appropriate to do this as I have no future mountain plans until next summer, and while I could add a few to the list, it's fair to say my mountain running "season" is over. To rank the mountains, I came up with 4 categories that represent how great a mountain can be: the views, the summit, the trails, and the elevation. I rated the first three categories out of 10, and the elevation was mostly used to distinguish bigger mountains from smaller ones. For example, some of the Acadia NP mountains would get high marks in all three categories but it wouldn't feel right to rank them ahead of any white mountains, as the whites are much higher. I assigned the following elevation ratings: 8000+ feet=5, 5,000+ feet=4, 3,000+ feet= 3, 1,500+ feet= 2, 0-1499 feet= 1. A perfect score would be a 35, scoring 10s in every category and being above 8,000 feet. 

Note that with all my rankings, this is completely subjective and based off my experiences there. I unfortunately had to exclude the following mountains as it was very foggy the days I summitted them and I am unable to provide a view rating: Moosilaukee, Jackson, Willey, Webster, Cannon, Bare (MA), Greylock, Holyoke, Hitchcock. Here are the rankings for the 60 mountains I've done, specifically the bottom 20 so the post isn't extremely long. I'll try to remember to update this if I end up adding a few in the next months. I tried to put photos where I could. All photos were taken by me except otherwise noted but I didn't add any photos taken by someone who wasn't with me.

60. Round Mountain (CT)

Elevation: 2,297'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2018, July 2020)

View Rating: 3

Summit Rating: 2

Trail Rating: 3

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 10

(Stolen from the Gazelle Running Blog)

Coming in last is Round Mountain in Salisbury, CT just south of the Massachusetts border. It really feels like a subpeak of Mt. Frissell and likely does not much prominence. While Round Mountain isn't a bad mountain, there's just nothing remarkable about it and it isn't one I'd recommend. There's only trail going towards it which has been horribly overgrown both times I've done it, the views are mostly obscured by small trees and the summit itself is simply a pile of rocks on the side of the trails. The summit is fairly tight and definitely not a great place to stop. Nothing wrong with round mountain, just one of the least exciting mountains on the list.

59. Saddle Ball Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 3,238'

# of Summits: 1 (April 2018)

View Rating: 1

Summit Rating: 1

Trail Rating: 5

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 10

As the second highest peak in Massachusetts, Saddle Ball mountain seems really cool but is nothing more than a high point in the middle of the woods, without even as much as a cairn to mark it. The worst summits are the ones you don't realize you summited until you start going down. There are no viewpoints anywhere along the way. However, the trail that goes over Saddle Ball and towards Greylock is still a cool ridgeline trail (just below treeline) through pine forest which gives it the edge over Round Mountain.

58. Mount Megunticook (ME)

Elevation: 1,385'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2018)

View Rating: 1

Summit Rating: 1

Trail Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 11

It's a shame to rank mount megunticook so low, because Camden Hills is a really nice area and has other great summits and views in the park. The trails around Megunticook are a lot of fun, technical and steep but minimal scrambling (quite runnable). While nearby Ocean Lookout is technically on the slope of the mountain and is a great view, the summit itself is nothing more than a cairn in the woods (there may be a sign as well). Since Ocean lookout is not directly on the way to the summit and there are many routes to the summit that could be viewless, it's not the most exciting mountain even if there are nice views nearby and great trails.

57. Mount Frissell (MA)

Elevation: 2,454'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2018, July 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 1

Trail Rating: 4

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 12

Coming slightly ahead of Round Mountain, Frissell is very similar (Round is basically a subpeak on the slope of Frissell). It's still fairly unexciting as the summit is completely wooded/viewless but it gets a few points over Round as there are some cool steep rock slabs going up to it and there's a few decent lookouts just near the summit. 

56. West Peak (CT)

Elevation: 1,024'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, December 2019)

View Rating: 3

Summit Rating: 3

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 13

There's nothing wrong with West Peak, in fact, it's a rather nice hilly running spot (Hubbard Park) in Central Connecticut. There's a solid viewpoint at the summit, although not panoramic and the area is too urban for the views to be too special. 

55. Mount Tom (NH)

Elevation: 4,052'

# of Summits: 1 (June 2020)

View Rating: 2

Summit Rating: 3

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 14

While Mount Tom is a 4,000 footer, it's quite lacking in views or epic trail sections as the trail (an OAB to the summit), including the summit is completely wooded. There's at least a cairn marking it and it doesn't feel as tight as some other wooded summits on this list, but it's disappointing there's no clear overlook anywhere to get great views. You can kind of peek through the trees and barely see the landscape in the distance but there's no special views to stop for.

54. East Peak (CT)

Elevation: 976'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, December 2019)

View Rating: 3

Summit Rating: 5

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 15

(Stolen from the gazelle running blog)

As the second peak of the Hanging Hills, East Peak is very similar and close to West Peak. However, the summit is better as it's more open, giving a greater degree of views to take in, and castle craig, a stone building with stairs to the top adds a bit to it.

53. Mount Norwottuck (MA)

Elevation: 1,106'

# of Summits: 2 (April 2017, May 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 3

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 15

(Stolen from the Gazelle Running Blog)

The Holyoke range in Western Massachusetts doesn't rival the Berkshires in height, but are quite cool and interesting on their own right. However, each mountain in particular is pretty small and unremarkable. The ridgeline is great, and Norwottuck is the highest point of that. It offers a small summit with decent views towards Amherst, although it's not a very wide viewpoint. Trails are fun and steep but nothing special and feels very similar to many CT blue blazed trails.

52. Ragged Mountain (CT)

Elevation: 761'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2017, August 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 5

Trail Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 17

Despite being the smallest non-coastal mountain on the list, Ragged has some surprisingly nice lookouts and trails. There's some nice reservoirs on the west side of the mountain that make the views nicer. The trails are very technical and hard to run on, not my favorite (beds of jagged rock) but certainly unique. It's definitely a cool spot but the mountain just isn't big enough to rank higher.

51. Mount Tom (MA) 

Elevation: 1,201'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2018)

View Rating: 6

Summit Rating: 2

Trail Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 17

As a state reservation, Mount Tom is awesome, with a great mix of wooded trail, some technical and hilly, but still some flat trails around a pond. The highlight is easily the portion of the Metacomet-Monadnock trail, a 180 degree open technical trail along cliffs that goes for a mile which is probably one of the best stretches of trail in Massachusetts. There's decent valley views at the summit and along the ledges, nothing special due to the lack of height/amazing surrounding environment but similar to CT and other MA mtn views. Unfortunately as much as I like this place, the summit is very disappointing. There's radio towers all over, graffiti, cement, fences, and metal railings in poor condition. It's quite unpleasant to look at and really takes away from the natural beauty of the place.

50. Prospect Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 2,030'

# of Summits: 1 (September 2017)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 3

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 17

(Stolen from the gazelle running blog)

Prospect Mountain gets points over the last two as the views are more impressive, mostly from the extra elevation and more mountainous area at the south edge of the Adirondacks. Lake George downtown and the lake itself offer some variety in the views as well. However the trails are quite lacking, with a dearth of options and certain trails being poorly established/marked. There's an auto road to the summit which takes a little away from the summit itself.

49. Mount Rowe (NH)

Elevation: 1,680'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 6

Summit Rating: 3

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 17

Mount Rowe is essentially a side peak of Gunstock Mountain. The summit is fairly lame as it's wooded and marked by a radio tower, but there's a decent semi-open nearby ledge view. The biggest draw is probably the trails as the entire Belknap has a very well marked/established trail system with many option for each summit and a single trail traversing most of the range. 

48. Belknap Mountain (NH)

Elevation: 2,382'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 3

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 17

A few peaks over from Rowe, Belknap is the highest peak in the Belknap range and highest point in Belknap county. Like Rowe, the summit is wooded, although Belknap has a fire tower which offers okay, if somewhat obscured views (the views off the south slope are much better). The trails are slightly better than Rowe as Rowe has a service road for its portion of the Belknap Range trail and there's some cool open rock running.

47. Loon Mountain (NH)

Elevation: 3,065'

# of Summits: 3 (July 2016, July 2017, July 2018)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 3

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 19

(Photo from my mom)

While Loon offers great views of the some of the higher mountain peaks for miles, it can't escape the mediocre category due to the lack of real trails. The ski area summit doesn't really do it any favors either. It's easy to enjoy the views but generally isn't a great running or hiking spot, the biggest reason why the race there isn't especially fun/unique.

46. Mount Sunapee (NH)

Elevation: 2,726'

# of Summits: 1 (August 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 4

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 19

Sunapee, as ski resort, is pretty similar to Loon. The resort is smaller, the summit is smaller and the views are slightly worse. However, Sunapee gets the edge, as being a State Park, there are several singletrack trails on both slopes of the mountain which is a lot more fun than running up service roads.

45. Brace Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 2,310'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 4

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 19

For a smaller mountain, Brace has pretty nice valley views and a partially open grassy summit, both significantly better than the ones on nearby Mount Frissell and Round Mountain. However, the trails are mediocre in at least 2 of the 3 directions (I haven't gone south from there). Going towards on the S. Taconic trail is a fairly lame doubletrack and poorly marked trail and going east towards CT is an extremely overgrown trail many times of the year. Solid peak, but nothing more.

44. Long Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 920'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 3

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 19

Long Mountain is the easternmost peak of the Holyoke range, and despite being smaller than Norwottuck, the viewpoints around it are somewhat better and certainly much more open. The summit is wooded and unclear where it exactly is, so far from dramatic. The stretch of trail is a little more fun and exciting than the one over Norwottuck as well.

43. Bear Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 1,283'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2019)

View Rating: 6

Summit Rating: 6 

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1 

Overall Rating: 19

Bear Mountain in the Hudson Highlands is solid in every category. Decent views, large summit, and quality trails. However, it's not great in a single category. The views are partially obscured by bush growth in every direction. Many of the trail are manicured doubletrack, including part of the Appalachian trail. The summit is full of tourists who took the autoroad up. It's an enjoyable and easy mountain to summit, but is lacking in certain areas.

42. Wachusett Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 2,005'

# of Summits: 1 (June 2020)

View Rating: 4

Summit Rating: 4 

Trails Rating: 9

Elevation Rating: 2 

Overall Rating: 19

(Stolen from the Gazelle running blog)

With a grassy, open summit with radio towers, and not a lot of views due to growing vegetation, summiting Wachusett isn't the most special experience. What brings it up greatly is a large and generally fantastic trail system. There are many miles of diverse singletrack, from flat dirt on the base to very technical rock hopping and scrambling towards the top. The amount of trail and the technical factor is uncommon for the area and height of the mountain, which makes it all the more impressive. It's no surprise many Massachusetts mountain runners opt to run here often when they can't drive further up.

41. Mount Pierce (NH)

Elevation: 4,311'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, August 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 3 

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 3 

Overall Rating: 20

To honest, Pierce probably doesn't deserve to be this low. It's a 4000 footer and has some pretty good views nearby. It's just hard not to compare to the rest of the Presidentials, which are easily some of the best mountains in the Northeast, and Pierce is significantly worse in every way compared to them. There are decent views just past the summit, but unlike the other Presidentials, there is very little above treeline trail around Pierce. Due to this, there isn't really any of the breathtaking vistas found in the other presidential peaks. The summit is wooded although the woods aren't quite as dense as some other peaks so there are still sort of views. The trail to Eisenhower is awesome, fairly gradual while the trails descending towards Crawford notch are standard, steep and technical White mountain slopes. Pierce is a nice mountain, it just doesn't compare with its neighbors.

I'll stop here to make these posts manageable to make in the future. None of these are bad mountains, they're just generally not fantastic either. The next tier will focus on the middle 20 which are all pretty solid.