In almost every year, my running success in measured by how my seasons went- Indoor, Outdoor, Cross Country and a few road and trails races usually in the summer. I set goals, and if I hit those goal and perform consistently, it's a great year. A year where I hit some goals and miss others is an okay one. One where I'm off on nearly everything is a poor year. If I were to measure 2020 in this same method, it would be a failure. I don't think I hit very many goals I set out to and I didn't have any breakthroughs. Yet, 2020 is a bizarre year, the first in which I did not have any seasons, and racing was few and far in between. I have massive respect for those who set PRs in their own low-key time trials, I'm just too much of a wimp to go hard unless it's in a real race.
2020 was not a year of breakthroughs in fitness or times, but I did have accomplishments in many other areas- mainly running much more mileage than usual, a lot of hard trail runs and FKTs, finally doing consistent mountain running for the first year ever, and putting in strong training/getting fit in the winter and fall. Overall, I think it was a pretty good year of running. It's hard to have a really special year race-wise with so many races cancelled, and while I probably could have run faster or run more PRs, I'm happy with my final stats, what I got to do, and much of the training I did (certainly room for improvement as well though). Compared to 2018 and 2019, I was consistently healthy and feeling good, rarely ever getting into the depressed zone of having chronic tightness or fatigue, injuries that never seem to resolve or feeling pretty terrible on runs/races.
Like past year-end recaps, I'll have the usual sections of goal review, stats, best pictures of the year, race highlights (race rankings this year since I raced so little) and 2021 goals, with the addition of takeaways from the year, and an FKT ranking.
Goal Review
This year I'm adding a COVID waive, for goals that had their respective meets/races/opportunities cancelled due to the pandemic.
-Break 15 minutes in the 5K (this will be on my list until I do it or until I quit running) FAIL: Technically this should be a COVID-waive, but I did race a track 5K and it didn't happen
-Score in the 10K at outdoor conference COVID-waive: race cancelled
-Break 53 minutes in the Blessing of the Fleet, top 3 COVID-waive: race cancelled, kind of funny to think I could break 53 though
-More White Mountains hiking PASS: Much more running than hiking, but still one 15-mile hiking with 4 new 4Kers + 4 runs in the Whites with the last 2 being pretty special
-Up to 31 highpoints COVID-waive: I doubt I would have gotten to 31, but was very interested in doing some kind of highpointing at the beginning of summer, and still considering up through mid-summer but the National Parks just took too long to open camping
-3,000 miles on the year, 20 mile run, 80 mile week PASS: Cut it pretty close only hitting 80 for the week, but had a decent cushion on the yearly goal, and well exceeded 20 miles in a run. Definitely one of my successes this year.
-Break an existing or establish a new FKT PASS: Smashed this one, 8 new FKTs.
-Run in 20+ states (likely contingent on me doing a big highpoint trip and running most days during it) COVID-waive: 20 is ambitious, but could have been possible with a long road trip. Too many restrictions on camping.
-Run in all 6 new england states FAIL: I can't COVID excuse my way out of this one. Vermont was open all summer, I never went there.
Stats
Total Mileage: 3,347 Miles, PR
Highest Week: 80 Miles, PR (January 13 to 19, January 27 to Feb 2)
Lowest Week: 14 Miles (March 30 to April 5, Achilles injury)
Longest Run: 30 Miles, PR (September 5th, Pemi Loop)
Highest Month: January- 328 Miles, PR
Elevation Gain: 205,794 feet, PR (Never cracked 100K before)
Most Elevation Gain in a Run: 9,208 ft, PR (September 5th, Pemi Loop)
# of Mountain Runs: 14, PR (+3 Hikes)
# of Mountains Summited: 51
Highest Mountain Summited: Mt. Washington, NH (6,288')
# of New White Mountain 4000 footers: 9, bringing me to 21 (Jackson, Willey, Field, Tom, Cannon, Garfield, S. Twin, Bond, Bondcliff)
# of New High Points: 0 :(
# of Places Crossed Off My Google Maps Bucket List: 8
Longest Running Streak: 27 days
Longest Non-Running Streak: 5 days (Achilles injury early april)
# of Races: 10
Road- 4
XC- 1
Trail- 1 (classifying Ridge to the River as Mountain, not trail)
Mountain- 1
Indoor Track- 1
Outdoor Track- 2 (Time Trials)
# of Countries Run In: 1 :(
# of States Run In: 6 :(
Rhode Island- 153 Runs (45%)
New Hampshire- 129 Runs (38%)
Connecticut- 40 Runs (12%)
Maine- 9 Runs (3%)
Massachusetts- 7 Runs (2%)
New York- 1 Run (<1%)
# of Municipalities Run In: 63
Durham, NH- 104 Runs
Westerly, RI- 59 Runs
Charlestown, RI- 52 Runs
South Kingstown, RI- 13 Runs
Stonington, CT- 9 Runs
Groton, CT- 7 Runs
Richmond, RI- 7 Runs
Dover, NH- 7 Runs
Hopkinton, RI- 5 Runs
Exeter, RI- 5 Runs
West Greenwich, RI- 4 Runs
Voluntown, CT- 4 Runs
Municipalities w/3 or Less Runs:
Rhode Island- Burrillville, Coventry, Jamestown, Narragansett, Newport
Connecticut- Barkhamsted, Berlin, Chester, East Hampton, East Lyme, Hamden, Lyme, Madison, New Haven, New London, Old Saybrook, Prospect, West Hartford
Massachusetts- Boston, Hadley, Lincoln, Milton, Mt. Washington, Needham, Princeton
New Hampshire- Allenstown, Auburn, Dublin, Gilford, Lincoln, Madbury, Manchester, Nashua, Newbury, Newfields, Newington, Newmarket, Newport, Northwood, Nottingham, Orange, Randolph, Rye
New York- Cornwall
Maine- Camden, Kennebunk, Newry, Portland, Wells, York
# of New Places Ran (Listed in Chronological Order): 40
(West Rock Ridge, Cockaponset State Forest, Hammonasset Beach, Fort Adams, Harvard University Indoor Track, Blue Heron, Washington Secondary Trail, Blue Hills Reservation, Airline Trail, Connecticut College, Pawtuckaway State Park, Buck Hill/Douglas State Forest, Skinner State Park, Nehantic State Forest, Franconia Notch State Park, Wachusett Mountain State Reservation, Monadnock State Park, Quinnipiac Trail, Mt. Washington State Forest, Mt. Cardigan State Park, Groton Long Point, Belknap Range, Schunnemunk Mountain State Park, People's State Forest, Mount Sunapee State Park, Crawley Preserve, Camden Snow Bowl, Presidential Range, Great Bay NWR, Paul Sweet Trail, Sunday River Resort, Wells Estuarine Reserve, Odiorne Point State Park, Bear Brook State Park, Sugar River Rail Trail, Agamenticus Trails, Eastern Trail, Back Cove Trail, Massabesic Lake, Goodwin Trail
Furthest Run from Home: Camden, ME
# of Segment CRs: 115 (Almost certainly a PR)
# of FKTs Set: 8 (9 if you add the Cockaponset one-way as an extra)
# of FKTs Failed: 4
Movies Watched: 116
Video Games Completed: 9
Miles Biked: 85 Miles
# of PRs: 3 if you count road events (Road 5K vs Overall 5K), 1 if you don't
Monthly Mileage Charts/Graphs:
-the 2020 totals don't add up, I made a mistake somewhere
-2020 was clearly much more consistent with mileage without the injuries of 2018 and 2019 and HS low mileage, I PR'd in mileage for every single month (barely for August and December)
Picture Gallery
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| January: Post run replenishment at Madison Coffee House, my new favorite coffee spot (CT) |
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| February: Boston Common (MA) |
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| February: Massachusetts State House (MA) |
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March: U.S.S. Constitution (MA)
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March: Bunker Hill (MA)
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May: First Time to the Catskills (NY)
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| May: Storm King Mountain (NY) |
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July: Alander Mountain (MA)
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| July: Mt. Race Ledges on the AT (MA) |
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July: Mount Cardigan Summit (NH)
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| July: Lake Winnipesaukee (NH) |
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August: Mt. Washington (NH)
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September: Bondcliff Summit (NH)
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| September: Mahoosuc Ridge to the River Challenge (ME) |
Race Ranking
Instead of doing the usual top 3-5, bottom 3-5 races, I'm just going to rank them all here. After all, I only raced 10 times, few were especially bad or great.
10. USATF-NE XC Championships
November 21, 2020
Nashua, NH
I came into this race fit and off some great, consistent performances. With an absolutely loaded field and very fast course, this race easily had the potential to be really great for me. But my lack of recent XC experience showed, as I wasn't aggressive after half a mile and let myself slog into a really slow second mile and give up unnecessary places. This was a pretty poor showing considering what I had just come off, but XC is still a learning process for me.
Grade: C
9. Westerly Fun Run CR Attempt
July 29, 2020
Westerly, RI
I've had some really strong runs here in the past, but the CR was not to happen this year. Went out hard, and unlike the previous entry where I wasn't pushing it anywhere near enough, I just had nothing on this day. Faded badly in the second half to run a mediocre time not really that close the CR. A disappointing result but not all that big of a deal.
Grade: C+
8. Newport Sunshine 5K
October 4, 2020
Newport, NH
After very little road/track work for the majority of August and September, I had a lot of rust built up and it really showed here. Still in decent shape, but race tactics were horrible. Sort of saved it with a really good kick, but my overall time wasn't stellar and probably could have been had I maintained the effort required in the middle of the race.
Grade: B-
7. People's Forest Trail Race
August 1, 2020
Barkhamsted, CT
People's forest is tough one to evaluate. I'm very pleased with the effort but made a major mistake of going off course for 4 minutes, which is a huge amount in this kind of distance. A time 4 minutes faster would potentially be top 3, but it's not the time I ended up getting.
Grade: B-
6. Bottone Mile
August 12, 2020
Westerly, RI
Bottone Mile is only an acceptable performance given my lack of speed since getting injured in Mid-2019. I have yet to really get that speed back (haven't done anything fast), and it definitely showed here. Trying to run fast failed, hurt pretty badly, and resulted in a positively split (I faded the whole time because I don't know how to pace) and embarrassing 4:38. 4:38 is pretty bad and maybe the worst time of the year, but it sort of passes because I'm not very fresh for that distance right now.
Rating: B-
5. USATF-NE Indoor 3K
February 23, 2020
Boston, MA
While this race wasn't quite what I wanted, it's hard to find much fault in anything I did. I put myself in the race, and tried to hang tough when I was hurting badly in the second half. The end result may have been pretty underwhelming, but as a first race in a year, it's hard to know exactly what shape I'm in and I figured it out in this race. A solid, if not impressive performance.
Rating: B
4. Mahoosuc Ridge to the River Half Marathon
September 12, 2020
Newry, ME
This performance may seem like a massive failure since I was dusted (3 minutes behind) by Sam, but I'm mostly pleased with my paces and efforts in the mountains. Certainly some areas to work on as well, but some positives to take away for sure. I've really only had one good mountain race up to this point (Loon 2018) and this adds another one.
Rating: B+
3. 3K Time Trial
Durham, NH
October 31, 2020
8:51 isn't all that impressive as I've run in the 8:50s many times now, but tactics were very solid in this one. Slower start with 4:55 through the mile, but stayed in it, and executed a perfect kick of a 1:37 last 600m. Last mile would be in the low 4:30s (assuming it was a full two mile), which is significantly better than I've finished any race. Just need to work being able to do that without going out slow, and I'll have a big breakthrough soon enough.
Rating: A-
2. 5K Time Trial
Durham, NH
November 6, 2020
My only significant PR of the last two years, it was nice to update my 5K PR and make progress towards sub-15. Raced this one really well tactically, as similar to the 3K, I stuck in the pack and stayed patient at a conservative start, then took over and ramped it down. Wasn't able to have much of a kick, but definitely the best feeling 5K I've run on the track.
Rating: A
1. Oktoberfest 5K
Manchester, NH
October 24, 2020
Picked up a new road PR of 15:55 on a very challenging course with 200ft elevation gain and a mile of dirt road. Came in expecting 15 seconds slower, so a really pleasant surprise to come out with a sub 16. Handled myself pretty well on the uphills which is unusual for me, and finished very strong the last mile (4:48 on downhill, 4:57 GAP) which compensated for a somewhat weak second mile. This was the first of a trio of races where I ran well due to great fitness, great tactics and having confidence, it's just unfortunate these parts of my running that were so strong never lead to anything really great. I'm still pretty fit right now, although maybe not quite as sharp/race ready, so we'll see what 2021 brings.
Rating: A
FKT Ranking
FKTs were a huge part of the year, fun hard time trial efforts on trails. They're a lot of fun to go after and race a trail you normally wouldn't or haven't been to before. Very few trails are alike, so it's fun to test and compare your trail running ability to others on unique routes. I started my FKTs in the last two Decembers, establishing a Newport Cliff Walk FKT and then improving up on it in 2019. This year I went for already existing FKTs, taking down 8 FKTs in the progress. I'm happy with my effort on most, but some are definitely better than others, so here's the ranking.
8. Cockaponset Trail (1st Attempt)
June 21, 2020
Chester, CT
This is the only FKT I've taken that I could say was a pretty poor performance. I can blame most of that on the heat, but there's no way to be happy with the time I put out there. Went fairly hard from the start as usual, getting a few decent miles down before fading after just 2-3 miles. Was about 30s/mile slower than a true race effort through the turnaround, just before which, I got completely lost and spent 5 minutes searching for the trail. The way back the heat exhaustion hit me hard, as I averaged over 10 minute pace when I was running sub-8 early on. Faded horribly to post a huge positive split.
Grade: D
7. Nayantaquit Trail
June 2, 2020
Lyme, CT
Fortunately, things get a lot better after the first Cockaponset FKT, every other trail effort here is at least respectable. This was a short 3.5 mile loop that was relatively local (by FKT standards) and with no existing male FKT, seemed like an easy pickup after Breakheart Trail. Ran it pretty hard, and with nothing to compare with, I'll continue to think of it as just solid.
Rating: B
6. Arcadia Trail
May 23, 2020
Exeter, RI
Another solid effort, but one in which I got pretty tired and faded somewhat in the return. It's hard to know how good this is with only one person to compare to, but compared to my other FKTs, it doesn't feel like I left everything out there.
Rating: B
5. Breakheart Trail
June 2, 2020
Exeter, RI
I was pleased with this one, maintaining sub-7 pace on the hilly but not technical singletrack trail and keeping a pretty effort throughout. Felt weak on the hills, so there may some room for improvement there.
Rating: A-
4. Sunapee Resort Loop
August 5, 2020
Newbury, NH
The last 4 are pretty tough to rank because I'm very pleased with the efforts I sustained and didn't feel like I left much out there or made many mistakes. This was a fun loop with a 1500ft climb up to the top of Mt. Sunapee on single-track, followed by a very fast descent on service roads. Did pretty well on both, last half mile on road could be better but overall a solid effort. Felt like a bit of comeback after failing 4 straight FKT attempts.
Rating: A
3. Cockaponset Trail (2nd Attempt)
December 27, 2020
Chester, CT
Came back and put away my disappointments about not putting up a very good FKT time 6 months ago. The FKT got taken down in November by Ben Nephew, and it was nice to take this back and put up a time I'm happy with. Kept a really good effort throughout averaging sub-8 pace when I only had a few miles sub-8 in June with many over 10. This probably would be my #1 FKT performance but I lost a minute or so going off trail.
Rating: A+
2. Goodwin Trail One-Way
December 13, 2020
East Lyme, CT
I find that when racing trails, I sometimes get into a groove and don't push it nearly as hard as I should have. That was not the case for Goodwin, where I felt the pain for much of the effort and it felt pretty similar to a road half marathon. Probably slowed down a little much after Mile 8, but got a pretty good time out there with only few mistakes that I think will be hard to top.
Rating: A+
1. Wachusett Mountain Loop
June 13, 2020
Princeton, MA
The only FKT I've done with steep mountain downhills, this is perhaps the only route here that is actually very challenging. Took a good chunk of time off the previous FKT, running every section pretty well including both the ups and downs. Really fun route, I recommend doing runs here.
Rating: A+
Key Takeaways
Some takeaways from the year
1. I got a lot better at the long run. Prior to 2020, I had never run over 16 miles, and had only run over 15 once. Long runs were not a frequent item in my training, with very few runs ever going above 11. In 2020, I pushed my long run limits frequently, PR'ing 4 times for distance (17 in Jan, 18 in Feb, 21 in Mar, 30 in September). I did 24 runs of 15 miles or more in 2020, despite having only hit 15 miles four times prior to 2020. This felt pretty hard at first, but I got better and better at it being able to close well and feeling very comfortable past the 12-16 mile mark which had always been a very uncomfortable place for me in the past.
2. I became a real mountain/trail runner. Without many summer races, I was able to explore a new passion of mine- trail running. While I've always enjoyed trail running, I usually had kept trails for easy day and roads/track for hard days in the past, but that changed this year. Spent a lot time running hard on technical trails, and getting much more comfortable with the steep ascents and very technical descents found on the harder trails. The best runs were definitely those further away that have some kind of mountain or big hills, with harder terrain and elevation but very rewarding reviews. Absolute blast to run some of the places I did this year.
3. Good adventures in the White Mountains. While I didn't go to a lot of new areas this summer, I did get to go to the White Mountains 5 times, each being pretty great. I ended up checking 9 new 4000 footers, ran on some epic ridgeline, and crossed off running the Presidential Traverse and the Pemi Loop, the latter of which had been on my bucket list for some time. Really great area that I'm excited to return to in 2021.
4. Loss of interest in hiking. Unfortunately, not every takeaway can be positive. With all my new interest and fun in mountain running, hiking was pushed to the side. I did two solid hikes in early summer, then did everything else as a mountain run. It's disappointing to do so little hiking when it was probably my favorite thing to do in 2018 and 2019. It's still really fun it's in own way and allows you to spend more time on the trails and enjoy the view more, as opposed to the rushed nature of trail running. I hope I do more cool hikes in the future, but I foresee myself doing mostly mountain running if that is an alternative.
5. I completely failed at highpointing. I kicked off the highpoints in 2018, getting 8 and still getting another 4 in 2019. The plan was to have a huge year in 2020, going on a road trip to get much of the southern HP's. Instead I got zero and have absolutely no plans at time to go do them. I'd really like to make progress at this, but unfortunately have left so many for another time. To be fair, the national parks I was depending on staying on were closed, but COVID can not explain a partial loss of interest in continuing them.
6. I figured out how my body works (kind of). Prior to 2020, I averaged lower mileage (40s) with very hard workouts. This approach didn't work well sometimes as I burnt out badly some seasons and became injured others. In 2020, I did less workouts and easier workouts and higher mileage (60s), I never once burnt out or got seriously injured. This approach feels a lot better and puts me in much better fitness going into races, so hopefully I can stick with it.
7. I wasn't totally injury free. 2020 was a nice return to form after being plagued by injury in 2018 and 2019, but it wasn't 100% smooth sailing. My two major injuries of 2019, achilles tendonitis and shin splints showed up every once in a while and forced an off day and/or avoidance or roads and hard efforts. My foot also really bothered me in late August, causing some unplanned 5 day weeks. While it didn't end up derailing the year, I was rarely 100% healthy and there was a few times I was really concerned whether I'd be out for a while. It isn't a huge deal, but keeping injuries from becoming major will be very important going forward.
I'm sure there were more takeaways I can add, but nothing is jumping out at me right now. To wrap up, here are my goals for the new year.
Goals for 2021
-Break 15 Minutes in the 5K. Again, this will be something on my list until it happens. I can really feel the potential for it now, I'm not far off and in the right race, can definitely do it.
-Break 31 Minutes in the 10K. I've been wanting to make my debut in this distance for a while now, but due to injury in 2019 and COVID cancellation of outdoor in 2020, it's been delayed two years. I'm very much a rhythm runner who can do well running a pace I'm comfortable with for a longer period time, and I think I could do very well in this event.
-Run in the 6 New England States + New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Maybe I should separate this two, but I failed to get Vermont this year and have to go back for it in 2021. Connecticut and Massachusetts are local enough that they should happen, and of course I'll run in NH. Plenty of routes to do in Maine as well. New York isn't far and there's some FKTs/trail I want to do in the Hudson Highlands. New Jersey and Pennsylvania aren't far either, but will be a little trickier. I haven't run in either state in a while, and have destinations of interest in both.
These are the only 3 concrete goals I have right now, simply because there aren't a lot of specific things I want to do right now. I definitely want to focus on traveling more, doing more mountain runs, doing more FKT and highpoints, and running well but I'll have to figure those goals out when they come up. For now, I'm looking forward to running in the new year and finally closing down on some goals that I've had for a long time.
