Last race and week of running of my fall season. I like the tradition of doing a Thanksgiving day road race and with Manchester being extremely competitive and relatively close (just over an hour), it felt like the right time to go for it. I actually hadn't raced on Thanksgiving since the 2016 Pie Run. Just a time of the year where I was injured or recovering from an injury. In fact 2020 was the only year since then I wasn't injured or recovering but there weren't many options in the COVID year.
Not really any time goals with the weird 4.748 distance and a big 260 foot hill in the first half. Basically uphill from 0.8 to 2.3 and then downhill or flat to the finish. I would have liked to go for a 5 mile PR, but the opportunity to run in such a loaded field is also a good experience. More of a bonus on the season after getting goal races out of the way.
Monday: 6 Miles- Charlestown, RI
Easy roam around Ninigret. Felt somewhat beat up from Philly, generally I'm more tired 2 days after a race than one. Low mileage again this week as I'm taking time off soon.
Tuesday: 6 Miles- Westerly, RI
Westerly grills perimeter with Dad and Brady. Don't really remember this one well.
Wednesday: 4 Miles- Charlestown, RI
Charlestown beach roads pre-race. Felt heavy to start which subsided but then calves got really tight while doing strides. Put a lot of work in later in the day to reduce that.
Thursday: 9 Miles- Manchester, CT
I liked the race time of 10AM as it meant not having to get up especially early. Being another massive race, I had to figure out parking. Made a plan of parking at a park half a mile from the start, warming up on the bike path there and then running over to the start with 20-30 minutes to go. I didn't know what traffic or parking would look like though so not sure if that would work.
All went well- some traffic and initially looked like the spots were full but able to find easy parking there. The downside was that there was only one bathroom for the park so I waited in a long line. Did an out and back warm up on the bike path- legs feeling a bit flat. Knee a tiny bit achy. Used the bathroom along the path where I could find room because it wasn't worth waiting in the line again.
Jogged over to the start in race gear which initially felt very cold (33 degrees at start, supposed to be 38 so I just wore singlet/shorts) and had me a little worried as I still had 25 minutes or so to the start. Waited in another line for bathrooms which went quickly enough. A few strides and went over to the line. I found myself running behind Conner Mantz for a little bit. Then he ducked under some tape to get to the start. That was only for the elites so I had to go around a block but fortunately wasn't running late. I was in the top non-elite corral but it surprisingly wasn't crowded at all despite it being fairly easy to get into (need to run sub-6:20 pace or so).
Felt pretty relaxed pre race. I figured I'd want to get out in 5:05-5:10 then maybe 5:30 up the hill and just hit the downhills hard after that.
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| If you squint hard, you might be able to see me 5th-ish row on the right |
Recognized the 2nd place guy from Hartford 5K who was really bundled up. Race went out and felt pretty easy at first. My initial instinct was to push up and go faster but I noticed the Hartford guy was right next to me and I felt I had no business being ahead of him. The race felt good for about half a mile. The Hartford guy separated there, I started to feel a bit/tired and we made the turn onto the next street which would go for a while. Towards the end of the mile, we began the climb. I passed the women's winner from Hartford here (16:20ish) so she went out really hard. The clock showed 4:50 for the first mile but I'm pretty sure that was wrong. Hit it in 5:00 via GPS split- definitely a bit hotter than I would have liked especially as I was already having some fatigue.
The hill kind of sucked and I just did not feel strong up it at all. I tried to kept getting past the elite women who had gone out too fast while other guys who had paced it a little better were passing me. I felt pretty gassed and weak the whole time so I didn't dare look at my watch to see whatever depressing pace I was running. 5:48 for this mile- not even close to my goal. But still a 5:06 GAP so I guess not that bad.
Struggled up the last 0.3 miles of the hill before making the turn. Steepest part of the race here- 150ft drop over half a mile. I felt the increase in pace immediately as my calves completely locked up as soon as I picked it up. Just really tight, unresponsive calves. I passed a few of the people who passed me up the hill. Good section for me at around 4:30-4:40 pace. Once the grade leveled out again I just felt exhausted. Probably running about 5:20 pace/effort despite there still being a slight downhill. 5:10 for Mile 3 which was solid but only 5:16 for 4 which wasn't great given the slight downhill.
The end I just tried to gut it out and finish up. Had absolutely no kick and probably got passed by 10 or so people in the last half mile. I saw my watch final time- 25:00. I definitely had a little more in the tank so I wish I had checked it so I could kick in and break 25. But final time 25:02 so whatever. I should have broken 25 but looking at the average pace- 5:16, not bad at all. 5:20 pace is my PR for 5 mile/8K so likely would have been a PR for that. Given the 300ft of elevation gain- I think 5:10 would be doable on a flat course which would be my goal. So a solid but not great race. Felt disappointing though as I did not feel good all in the second half both feeling pretty tired and calves locked up.
68th of 8,360. Got out of there immediately as there was no post race food at all. Calves were absolutely wrecked so I only did about a mile cooldown.
This was an event I wanted to do for a while but I thought was just it okay. The competition and crowd support was excellent but the course felt pretty unremarkable with zero noteworthy scenery. That combined with the really weird distance made this one feel kind of bland. I'd do it again, but it lacked that special feeling that Beach to Beacon, Falmouth and Philadelphia had. I probably prefer pie run given the roads are much more interesting and it's a full 5 Miles.
Friday: 15 Miles- Killingly, CT
Trail weekend getting in some progress on different trails before some time off post fall season. All three trail runs with Dad and Brady.
Conclusion of North-South trail. After doing much of the long rural road sections in West Greenwich, Coventry, and Foster in October as well as running the Buck Hill end section in 2020, I only had this 15 mile section left going through Killingly CT, Glocester and Burrillville. On paper, it seemed a little more interesting than the last few runs as it was mostly trail.
The first 8ish miles were pretty unremarkable being mostly paved road, dirt roads and some awful washed out sections. We had stashed some gels at the entrance of GW Management Area and some water to refuel. The next 3 miles or so were really fun along lakes and pine forest trails. Really cool stuff, possibly the best part of the NST. Then it got dark, switched to headlamp vision and I absolutely bonked. Felt truly horrible around Mile 11, even taking a few walking breaks. Really had to gut out the rest of the run which was a challenge in the low vision, cold and with some challenging and/or hard to follow sections of trails. Absolutely cooked at the end.
Very happy with be done with this one as I have now done the entirety of the North-South trail. The trail goes from the Atlantic Ocean in Charlestown to the RI/MA border in Burrillville. I run the southern sections some frequently in Burlingame and Carolina as well as some sections in Arcadia. Overall, this is not a very good trail as a whole. The sections through Burlingame, Carolina, GW and Buck Hill are nice but so much of the trail is either on paved road or really crappy washed out dirt roads. As in that probably makes up at least half of the distance. I'm glad to have done it as I run mostly in RI and it is the trail going across RI, but wouldn't really recommend it as there are just so many lousy or non-trail sections. I can't imagine many long distance trails being much worse than this one. I'm really enjoying making progress on these long distance, very satisfying to do point to point runs on one marked trail and eventually just having done a long connecting point to point trail. Next I'd like to get in some of the CT blue blazed trails and also continue right where North South leaves off and do the Midstate trail across MA (ending at NH border).
Saturday: 8 Miles- Ledyard, CT
First run starting in Ledyard before, I believe. Wanting to make progress on the CT blue blaze trails, the one local one I haven't run at all is the Pequot trail. And at only 8 miles long, it was a good shorter run to recover between two longer ones. The trail goes from Ledyard across route 2 and 165 ending in Preston.
A quarter mile uphill on road before a really sketchy trail access in between two houses. Felt like trespassing but clearly blue blazed. The next section of trail was on an awkward slope through very leaf cover which was uncomfortable to run on and irritated my ankle a bit. Another mile or so of road before a really nice section of trail- non technical rollers going by some cool farms and even a brief pine section.
This was in contrast to the rest of the trail- another mile or so of road and then crossing route 2 into a technically closed section. After a ridiculously steep but short climb (30% grade according to strava) we came out onto a construction power line dirt road. The remainder of the trail was either on or frequently crossing this dirt road and was confusing to follow. What little singletrack remained was not very good with a bunch of extremely steep trail sections followed by washed out very technical descents.
Overall- not a very good trail. That 2.5 mile section between Thomas and Lincoln Park road is excellent but everything else was either really lousy trail or road. But glad to get another blue blazed trail done.
Sunday: 19 Miles- Ashford, CT
Point to point run of the Natchaug trail, another Blue Blazed trail. After doing some trails with many road sections, road crossings, washed out dirt roads and/or lousy trail sections, the Natchaug was really enjoyable. Only one short road section about a third of a mile in the entirety of the trail, minimal road crossings and the vast majority on really nice singletrack. Rollers and some technical terrain keep it from being a fast one, but a manageable level of challenge. Unlike N/S and Pequot, it was an enjoyable romp deep in the woods. I believe this was my third longest run ever and probably my longest in over 3 years. I felt pretty good overall- legs getting tired in the second half from time on feet but never bonked. Highly recommend this trail. I think we saw one person the entire length of the trail (3+ hours). A few very scenic spots along rivers although few pine forest sections.
Weekly Total: 68 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Getting in my first Manchester Road race and finishing up a relatively successful Fall road racing season. Natchaug trail was a fun outing as well.
Weekly Lowlight: Racing on really tight calves not being recovered from Philadelphia.
Movies Watched: 22 July
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