Weekly Log: September 12 to 18

Just one easy meet this week plus some training.

Monday: 6 Miles. South Kingstown dual meet.

Not an important meet at all. First dual meet of four this season, which are held every Monday until the 4th week, which is on a Tuesday. SK was certainly the top team here, does decently in the division, but doesn't have any standouts on the state level. Coming into this, I knew I could win no problem. I still wanted to run hard, but I didn't feel much pressure coming into it nor was it important at all for me. I ran a 18:35 here freshman year, as the sharp turns, pavement crossings, and mixed terrain slow down the pace from a standard XC course. My sophomore year I did not run the course, but the fastest times ever were recorded from the top NK and Chariho runners with times of 16:59 and 17:02 respectively. I had just come off a PR and third fastest time in RI (for this season) of 16:11 for 5K, so I thought a 16:40 would be a great effort here. Course map.

While I was happy to run an easy, low-pressure XC meet, I really hated the course because of the two loop format and frequent change of terrain (and would also find out there were 10 pavement crossings and many annoying sharp turns). We were supposed to run the course jog for a warm-up, but for some reason the SK coach had us walk it. I was slightly annoyed but was okay with it until I realized it was completely cutting into our warm-up time and we would be racing soon. We departed the group with 15 minutes to race time to do a short, but completely improper and rushed warm-up. I wasn't even able to use the bathroom. And even worse, I still had no idea where I was going on a few sections of the very confusing course. I finally got it all cleared up, got a few strides in and awaited the gun. At least, I thought I had it all cleared up. I went out fast without overdoing it right away. I saw a flag at the end of field and continued, but I heard "Matt, turn right" before I got there so I guess I wasn't supposed to go so far. Fortunately, the rest of the course I was able to follow. I wanted to shake any followers off my path and have a huge lead right away, so I continued to run fast. I felt like I was going out just right and not stupidly sprinting the first mile, but the effort felt a little harder than I wanted. The first trail was a little annoying with loose rocks on a slight uphill. There was another field, and once I got past that, I was both feeling better and was enjoying the terrain more. I felt good for the rest of the first loop. There was a small hill at the start of the second loop and I suddenly went from feeling good to can't move my legs. I didn't blow up, but decreased in pace significantly and now really wasn't feeling it. I tried to pick it up, but the sunny fields, loose rocks, slight uphills, and heavy legs made it impossible. When I finally get past the section I didn't like, I was able to get to a better pace, but it was still a little slower than I would have liked. I started to pick it up more in the last half mile, but was completely defeated by a short steep hill before the finish and my last 150m were terrible.

I guess I really did slow down quite a bit lap 2 as I finished in 17:25, way off both what I wanted and the course record. Really disappointing, but on the bright side it was probably the best meet to have a bad race at.

Tuesday: 9 Miles. First east ave of the season. Made a new route, east ave out and back with two loops around local neighborhoods. Really enjoyed the lack of cars and runner-friendly roads, but wasn't feeling it and felt heavy legs the whole time, thirst and it was hot. Pace was really good, but not very enjoyable.

Wednesday: 6 Miles. Timed timothy drive loop. Wasn't looking forward to a track workout or another distance run, but got really excited to find out that we might have a super easy practice with Indian chains and possibly a game. Unfortunately, we not only didn't get that but did something even worse than any of the above options. Timed timothy drive loop. This is a XC workout we have done before where we run hard for 5-6 miles down to timothy drive, out and back on granite and east ave. It's not fun to run roads I run easy frequently at a fast pace, it's usually hot, and it's quite annoying stopping at stoplights during a hard effort. I was hoping we were done with these, but unfortunately we had it again. I wore my watch to monitor pace. Ran out easy for a little bit then took the lead and picked it up. I could've run faster but ran about tempo pace as I didn't want to be super uncomfortable. Somewhere along the way, it got really hot and I got really tired. Not fun. Difficulty of Workout: 4/5 (not really a workout but I don't know what I'd call this)

Thursday: 6 Miles. Hill Workout. Apparently, we were going to have a really hard workout, but I wasn't worried as they're very rarely brutal. I figured the coaches would just increase the number of repeats which would make it tougher. I was thinking three fingers and was hoping for that. It ended up being 3xNarragansett, 1xFinger, 3xNarragansett. I wasn't looking forward to it, but felt great and really strong most of the time (got tired at the end of the finger). Suddenly changed to 1 Narragansett at the end instead of 3. Actually a pretty fun workout. Difficulty: 3/5.

Friday: 9 Miles. To chase hill road and back. First old Hopkinton road in a while. Ran out and back on old Hopkinton, forrestal and chase hill. Rolling hills the whole time. Enjoyed most of them but some really wore me out. Way too many cars. At least I felt pretty good the whole and was happy with pace.

Saturday: 8 Miles. Home XC workout. 3xWesterly (Bradford Preserve) Trail Loop. I was set down for 10:45 splits but didn't know what that meant, both pace and effort-wise as it hard to measure on trails. The uphill (to upper field) was so tiring every time, but I regained energy and felt much better on the return each time. Every time, I felt like my uphill was slower but downhill was faster. I was the only one not to hit their first split or come close, but everyone slowed down while I stayed consistent. Enjoyed it, but makes me a little nervous when facing good uphill runners. Downhills were so fast. Splits: 11:20/11:10/11:10. Four mins recovery on each. Difficulty: 4/5.

Sunday: 7 Miles. Technical and hilly but fun Natchaug (Northeast CT) trails. Afternoon trail stop during CT day trip. Natchaug state forest looked massive so I figured the running there was great. I really enjoyed the trail. Flat sections, dark sections, rocky sections, steep sections. Nearly all single-track.

Weekly Total: 51 Miles
YTD Total: 1,645 Miles

Next week: While most of these weeks so far have been training with only a few meets and only one important meet so far, next week dives into the XC season. So far the amount of meets per week have gone: 0/1/0/1, but this week has three. Monday brings dual #2, this time against Chariho. Depending on the health condition of their top runner, I may or may not have great competition. It's at the home course, which will be exciting, especially if it rains. Nervous about the hilly mile 2 and possible competition, but should be fun. Wednesday is the Stavros beach race, which I'm really looking forward to as it is a great event and I want to run a fast time. Shouldn't be any great competition either, making it less stressful. Saturday marks the ocean state invitational, a meet I have zero enthusiasm for as the course is absolutely terrible and it's a long meet I may have to wait around to race for. Unfortunately, it's the most important of the three as it's a big invitational. Hopefully I run well in all three.

Predictions:

Dual #2 at Bradford Preserve- 1st in 18:02, Chariho's top runner does not compete
Stavros- 1st in 15:49
Ocean State- 3rd in 16:25 (not sure what competition will be like)

*Note: if you are seeing this post again and are confused on why, I accidentally deleted it and had to figure out how to get it back.

Injury Fund Recap

Once again, the summer has come and gone in what seemed like an incredibly short amount. Cross country started up and soon, despite school not starting until September 6th, the first meet rolled around. Unlike indoor and outdoor track where the first meets are solely for fun; extremely low key, short and small events, the cross country season always opens with a major event. It's not quite as important as championship races or massive out of state invitationals, but nearly every team in the state goes to the opening meet and attempts to run a fast time. This meet, hosting eight varsity races named after coaches and officials and two freshman races, runs from morning to mid-afternoon and was something to be nervous about. I enjoyed it both freshman and sophomore year, but after both failure at Schonning and still trying to transition back to school running, I had just about no interest in competing here. But this was a major cross country meet and you can't just skip major meets for no/bad reasons (although some of my teammates would tell you otherwise), so I was in, whether I liked it or not.

The major change for this year was that the meet took place at East Greenwich HS, not the usual Burrillville MS course. This was a new course that was apparently years in the making. While I did enjoy the old Burrillville course, it was not certified, it overlapped several times, and while I'm unsure what the actual distance is, it's a short course and not quite 5K like advertised. Perhaps it was time for a change. The EG course was certified by Ray Nelson and was supposed to be incredibly fast and flat. I'd love to start the XC season off with a PR (current PR 16:12), so it seemed to be a great place to do it. The only aspect of the course that I wasn't excited for the two loop format, but at least it wasn't two by 2.5K loops.

As I stated before, I was not looking forward to this. Even less so when I learned I was running at 12 against two top distance runners I didn't want to lose to, Cumberland's Ben Drezek and Barrington's Mars Bishop. I started to get nervous the days before, worrying about dying halfway through and trying to run a hard pace from the gun. Race day rolled around.

I wasn't super nervous going to the meet race day, but just had a complete lack of interest in competing. To make matters worse, I had very few teammates in my race while most ran the freshman race earlier that day. We arrived about 10AM, after my usual pre-race breakfast on the bus, and spotted the East Greenwich High School for the very first time. I spotted some Chariho runners preparing to race in a few minutes, and from what I saw, the course looked awesome. About half an hour later, we were told to go scope out the course. I didn't think that was a great idea as we had a big group overall and teams were still on the course with more would be coming out soon, but of course, we all went anyway. I did want to preview the course, but I knew it wasn't right risking a clog up on the trails and potentially hurting other's races. Not one to ignore my coach, we were soon doing the thing I had feared- nearly taking up space on the trails during a race. We were able to avoid getting in the way of any runners, but I felt like a jerk and an idiot while doing so. As the far as the course went, it looked great. I thought the grass start that quickly becomes crushed stone double track was a great opening half mile. Next another grass section followed, with a part open to spectators then a part along a fence before starting the main trail portion. It wasn't typical trails- but rather more XC style with a wide crushed stone path. It was somewhat shaded but led out to a loop that was open and hot. the only bad thing about the course was that there were two loops, at least for the 5K. The loop was small rolling hills but short and mostly flat. There were a few sections where the rock was bigger and looser which wasn't very comfortable footing at all.

We took far too much time with our course preview and soon the freshman races were up. Our freshman squad left and our varsity team for the day starting doing a proper warm-up. Within the hour before racing, as usual, I became very nervous. Not only did I have little interest in racing, but it wasn't helpful seeing others sitting casually done with their races. The hour went by, I took care of bathroom problems and got the last of my warm-ups in. I did 4 or 5 strides and took a look at the rest of competition, but really was only worried about Mars and Ben. Even though I wasn't looking forward to this, I was ready to go out hard and stick with them as long as I could. We got in our spots and awaited the gun.



Start to Loop
As usual, we immediately went out hard from the gun. Sometimes it feels really awful running a near-sprint immediately, but it felt right here. Ben, as usual, sprinted out hard and I found myself in second place behind him right after the first turn. I had no trouble getting out and into a position where I could pass easily. I figured Mars was right behind us. I stayed with Ben and noted that we slowed a little but were still running a fast pace. We made the loop around the baseball field and headed into the short first trail portion. Ben pulled away a little bit but I still couldn't see or hear Mars. At first I was nervous that Ben had opened up a very small gap so early into the race, but soon I caught back up and remembered that he just goes out extremely fast. We stayed one-two going back the crowd of spectators when immediately exiting the trail, and before getting on the next trail, Mars caught up to us and I could see him right by me. Soon, Mars pulled up to my side and we were running as a pack. On the wider turns we would run on the side where there was dirt and more traction, which felt like a better move. Soon we approached the main loop.

First Loop
At this point, I knew the pace was fast but I didn't think we were overdoing it. But for some reason, I was getting quite tired. I continued to hang with the group. Mars took the lead shortly after but we still passed the mile mark as a group of 3. I heard the split. 4:48. At first I thought it was off, but later I would realize that it was right and we really did run out that fast. I was running in third now and Mars started to pull away. Perhaps he noted we were slowing down and realized now would be a good time to break away. Even though I came into the race with every intention of hanging with the leader as long as possible, I didn't try to go with him here. I felt drained and I didn't even know if I could match his move, so I let him go and stayed with Ben. At first, I felt defeated and was wondering if I could even stay with Ben, but soon I passed him as well. I felt like he was right behind me, but soon I started to gap him. Mars was much further ahead, but I was trying to extend my lead on second rather than going after first. Mars extended his lead and I extended mine, but I wasn't ready to pick it up loop two.

Second Loop
Starting the second loop was awful. I had barely anything left and at this point I was trying to hold on for second. It didn't go on to long, but was a sufferfest and not fun to run again. It was mostly uneventful. When nearing the end, I kept my eye up on Mars ahead. I wanted to close the gap but didn't the energy and strength and instead kept my current position.

Finish
Sooner or later, I realized I wasn't going to win, but was still scared Ben would overtake me because I knew I wouldn't have a kick. I was looking back at the switchbacks, and even though I had a good lead on him, I was still pretty nervous. When we got back onto grass, I knew it was time to kick but was only able to pick it up a tiny bit. When I heard others yell Ben's name out right after mine, I was really nervous he was coming for me and I wouldn't be able to respond. I pushed it a little more at the end, feeling like Ben was right behind me, but still finished ahead of him.

2nd Place Overall. Timing clock wasn't working, but I was told I ran in 16:40s range. Disappointing and not what I was looking for. Looking at some other times of the day, I could see others were a little slower than anticipated, but I wasn't thrilled with it. I was interviewed and would later find out I actually ran 16:11, the third fastest time of the day, and a one-second PR. Results here. Disappointment turned into success. Not a great race, as I could gone out a little slower, kicked better and tried to hang in there longer, but happy with a PR as that was the main goal for the race. I wish my time had been a little bit faster, but overall happy with the performance. Lots of fun, but non-important races and courses where times don't matter coming up before the Ocean State Invitational on 9/24.

Weekly Log: September 5 to 11

More of a training week, as no racing this week and Stravos postponed Tuesday.

Monday: 7 Miles. Labor day trail/road mix with some Carolina and some Carter. Really was looking for to a trail run, but ended up disliking it as so much was road and it was tougher on my still tired legs. Was originally looking for eight, but completely ran out of desire and headed back for seven while the other two (Tom and Dad) continued on.

Tuesday: 5 Miles. I was extremely disappointed Stavros was postponed, but perhaps better this way as I didn't get much sleep that night and the conditions would be brutal for a beach race. I also wasn't sure if I had fully recovered from Saturday. I was excited to think we might do a track workout in the pouring rain (harder to breathe, but much more enjoyable), but unfortunately we did hills instead. 7xPark: It was awful. I was already not feeling great that day as I was tired, had a headache and felt weak when coming to practice. The wetness and heaviness of my clothes, the clothes sticking to me, the difficulty breathing and the lack of traction I had made this one hell. After the first one, I was probably much slower than the pace I should've been running and tried to run decently but felt awful the whole time. As a result, my team was much, much closer to me than usual and even closing the gap a little bit. Hill workouts are typically a little challenging but almost never brutal. This one was. Difficulty: 5/5.

Wednesday: 9 Miles. Typical high school distance run. Felt really weak for about 4 miles, but felt a little better in the second half. Felt hilly coming back, but didn't get that much elevation gain. Overall this was okay- I was happy with my pace and that I didn't take any breaks, but I wished I had felt a little better overall.

Thursday: 6 Miles. Another hill workout, this time Narragansett ave. I was actually a little happy we weren't doing track as originally planned (soccer game taking place). We had to do seven and I wasn't feeling great so I thought about taking a little easier than usual. I started off hard and actually felt good throughout, pushing it until the end. Happy with this one. Difficulty: 3/5.

Friday: 5 Miles. Super fun Bradford Preserve practice. So nice to have a change of venue from the track, hills and ugly roads nearby. Course jog and then we had to run it hard. I wasn't looking forward to the second part at all, but we ended up doing only the trail portion. I didn't love the course during the jog, but it was really fun during the hard run part. I broke away immediately, slowed down a little on the hill and started to feel crappy/run slow up until the field, but I started to feel better there and felt great on the return, pushing the pace. Ran 10:49  for trail portion. Difficulty: 3/5.

Saturday: 5 Miles. Wasn't looking to this hot and possibly hard track workout. Original plan was 3xMile, but since a football game was starting soon it was cut down to 2xMile and 2xNarragansett. A little grateful for the change but still not thrilled doing two hard miles on the hot track. My target time was 4:50 for each, 3-minute recovery. Felt really good starting, with (oddly) people right behind me (they were going way too fast; I wasn't) but was disappointed to hit the first 400 in 73 because I felt I was moving much faster than that and I'd have to pick it up, both effort and pace-wise. It wasn't fun after that. I started to pick it up, but wasn't feeling it anymore and was getting quite tired. I went through the 800 in 2:25, the 1200 in 3:47 but really ran out of energy at the end and finished in 4:51. Pretty good and not super hard but it was all about #2. I was supposed to get three minutes of recovery, but it felt like he started me really early while I was still recovering. Felt tired from the start and it was tough. I got through it okay even though I was incredibly and weak, but was off pace going through the 400 in 74 and the 1200 in 3:55. Felt terrible but finished in 4:58, not horrible but not super close to the target. Disapointed, but also turned out I got 2 mins recovery. Hills were a little hard because we just did track. Starting was super tiring and the first one was hard but felt much better the second time. Positions were completely changed up, as the track workout had different effects on different people. Difficulty: 5/5.

Sunday: 6 Miles. Woke up at 6, ready to head to surftown to watch and get a run in, but I found out that my alarm was way off for some reason and it was really 4:50. Went back to bed and then didn't wake up again until 8:20. It was really 7:10, but I was really upset at first as I had planned on running with a teammate at 6:30 there and now had no run in and no ride down. Almost decided not to go and (miserably) run from home but then realized I could quickly grab a few things and sprint down there. I left at 7:20 and got there at 7:28, just able to watch the start. Ran with freshman teammate Aaron with breaks to catch some of the action. I was disappointed with the race, both with the lack of fast times and the refreshments afterwards, but I was happy to get in a decent and easy recovery/shakeout run. The morning wasn't awful, but could've been better,

Weekly Total: 43 (stepped down from last week total)
YTD Total: 1,594 Miles

Dual meet tomorrow (9/12) at SK (CCMS), possibly the least important race of the season because of a complete lack of competition. Not nervous and very little pressure. Course record of 16:59 (5K) for that course, so that would be cool if I broke it.

First XC Meet- Weekly Log: August 29 to September 4

For some reason, I've had trouble getting this last week's log up even though I never had a problem with time in the past. I'd figured I need to do it before I forget. Week #2 of XC, First Meet Saturday 9/3, Injury Fund Carnival @EG. Smaller log this week.

Monday: 9 Miles. 2nd HS distance run. I'm so tired of the same roads, but the three month gap make the first of the season feel fresh. Picked the river road loop which is usually okay (flat, fast and scenic) but the heat killed me and I had to take many breaks, even jumping in the river at the end. Gradual decline of pace.

Tuesday: 6 Miles. Couldn't make practice and got to run duval trails in early AM instead. Much more fun, considering I was still feeling it after my tiring 8-miler the day before and everyone else had a brutal workout. I wanted to push one of the duval segments but got tired quickly and really just used it as a recovery run.

Wednesday: 9 Miles. New springbrook route (not the roads; just the specific loop I was running): glad to be out of the sun but felt awful from start to finish. Maintained a quality pace but very unpleasant, like Monday. Super humid.

Thursday: 5 Miles. Was hoping for some track as I needed a hard workout to give me confidence for Saturday, but got hills instead. Two fingers (hardest hill workout we do) before one hard Narragansett. I felt okay but thought I was going much slower than usual. I was ready to run the last Narragansett hard but felt completely out of steam halfway through. Somehow I still beat the segment CR on Narragansett summer to ward that I have wanted for so long. Didn't feel genuine at all; I feel like Strava screwed up. Disappointing to get it this way. Difficulty: 4/5.

Friday: 8 Miles. Apache/old pumpkins course neighborhood is fun to run in, but the hills tire me out. Perhaps not the best place for a shakeout, but I went that way anyway. Mixed in another neighborhood and Cimalore field. Run went by really quickly and it was actually a little fun. I felt pretty good except for heavy thighs. So much better than both Monday's and Wednesday's.

Saturday: 5 Miles. Injury Fund XC Carnival. Went out super hard in 4:48 (Fastest 5K mile split by 11 seconds!!!) as I tailed the leader (pack of three) then faded a little and was unable to hang with the top guy (third place for first mile) but got ahead of the original leader. Everyone told me I was high 16:40s/low 16:50s, but my final time was 16:11, a 1-second PR. I will do a separate write-up sometime in the future. A pretty good race. Results.

Sunday: 10 Miles. Recovery loop w/Dad and B. They were doing 16 as a long run pre-surftown on the course, but I opted to do 10 as this was recovery and I wasn't ready to go that distance. Just did the Weekapaug/misquamicut portion as they continued to watch hill. Felt pretty good for most of it; pace was never too challenging. Got really tired in my worn out legs towards the end.

Weekly Total: 52 Miles (much better than I expected considering the typical beginning of season decline)
YTD Total: 1,551 Miles

Racing Bucket List- Rhode Island

I finally got caught up on race reports and weekly logs, and now I get to create a post I've wanted to for a while- a bucket list of races I'd like to run at some point. This list mainly exists because I can't do many races during my school seasons- which takes up a giant portion of the year. As you may have noticed, this edition will only focus on races in the Ocean State. I will be doing a series of follow-up posts to cover other New England races before another follow-up series with a bucket list of Marathons I'd like to run post-college. This is the first of several posts in my Racing Bucket List series.

I will also be ranking these races from least interest to most. I may not give completely accurate or lengthy descriptions on many races, because for many I have only acquired details based off their website and won't really be an expert on the race until I actually run it several times. For Rhode Island, there are six races I really want to run (and a few others that I want to do but not with the same level of interest). This number will likely increase throughout time, which may cause either a future edit of this post or an additional post.

6. OCY Triathlon

Next Edition: September 25, 2016

Despite it being so close to home, I've never gotten the chance to do this local event. While most of the Y events are low key, relatively small and lack elite competition, they're typically run pretty well and you get your money's worth in every category you'd expect. Starting from the town beach, the course looks great: ocean swim, two-loop pond bike, and a fast and flat run. After volunteering at this event for so many years, it'd be nice to finally participate.

5. Ocean Road 10K

Next Edition: October 2, 2016

Some of the best races are held in Narragansett, and this seems like a great one. The course is exactly as it sounds- 10 kilometers on ocean road in Narragansett. Starting at the Point Judith Lighthouse and ending at the Narragansett Town Beach, this course looks scenic and mostly flat- a perfect chance to run a 10K PR, run another race in the great town of Narragansett, and experience a unique one road course.

4. Belleville Pond 10K

Next Edition: (Likely) February 2017

I'm somewhat cheating here because I've already run this race, but that was a while back and in the snow. I'd like another opportunity to run this course again, snow-free, as the course pictures look amazing and I remember very little about it. Trail 5Ks seem too short but the 10-mile was too long for me, so this would be a good distance on trails to race. Also, it seems to have a good variety of terrain to mix things up. My only concern is that this race won't be held by the time I get to run it again.

3. Jamestown Bridge 10K

Next Edition: April 2017

I'm not a huge fan with the way Trimom has been running their events lately, but can't deny that many of them look like a lot of fun (Trinewport nearly made this list). And this one definitely does. I love running over bridges, especially as they typically provide excellent views of whatever they're on top, usually water. I've never gotten the chance to actually run over a big bridge, and this seems like an excellent opportunity to. Obviously, the scenery would be amazing the whole time, but just the opportunity to race primarily race on a bridge seems amazing.

2. Shad Bloom 10K

Next Edition: May 2016

This was a hard decision between this and #1, as both look exceptional. It's always fun to run on an island, and even better to participate in a rare race there. Of Block Island's few races, only one is a trail race. It's 10K, an excellent distance for racing trails, and also has a variety of trails with a steep climb at Mile 4. Many great statements have been made about this race, and it certainly looks like a lot of fun.

1. Pell Bridge Run

Next Edition: October 23, 2016

Once again, another bridge race. Only this one doesn't go over twice, isn't put on by Trimom and goes over a longer and bigger bridge. The course map just looks awesome, and the start time is a fantastic 7:15 AM (in October!). A bigger and better (or at least looks that way) edition of #3.

Stay tuned for the next entry.

Start of XC and Schonning 5K- Weekly Log: August 22 to 28

The summer is coming to a close (school summer), and this week starts cross country. While I enjoy the sport seasons and like to meet some of the new runners, I don't enjoy the massive difference between the start of XC training and my summer training. Typically, in the first weeks my mileage completely dies and unfortunately, that's what happens this week. I really enjoyed running 50-mile weeks, but I guess the speedwork will be helpful as it's certainly something I lost some of this summer.

The final summer racing events are here. The last Westerly fun run on Wednesday, and Schonning 5K on Friday pretty much seal the deal and are the last time I feel like I'm still in summer running mode and not XC mode. Seeing as it's my last summer race, I'm going all-out at Schonning. I originally pondered going just for the win and running somewhat easy, but seeing as my current best 5K is a 16:12, I'm going for a second sub-16 attempt. Going into this race, I have two major goals: Sub-16 (B Goal of PR) and Win (which shouldn't be too difficult, and would give me my first back-to-back win ever). It'll be a big race for me. I know I'm capable of the PR, and I'm pretty if I give it my all, I can dip under 16 minutes.

Monday: 6 Miles.

There were many people there on the first day, but most were girls and the two gender's practices are merged this year, just like track. I was ready for nearly everything today- I could do a hard workout, a normal distance run, a mix of the two. The only thing I was praying we would not run is a timed all-out effort longer than 400 meters. Unfortunately, we were running three miles all-out on the track. It felt unbelievable going on the warm-up. I was so nervous. I've never more than eight laps on a track, I wasn't prepared to give an all-out effort today, and we never do timed distances over a mile, especially not on the first day. It was really hard for me to accept the fact that we were running 12 laps hard. I was really just hoping this was just some kind of joke. It wasn't.

I finally prepared myself to do this, but even then I didn't feel ready. I decided I wanted to make this as comfortable as possible and going out hard would not help me achieve me that. Figuring my best 5K pace is 5:13, I aimed to go out in 5:20 for a while and if I felt pretty comfortable hammer it at the end. We eventually started what looked to be an awful sufferfest. I also realized, as the entire group was starting together, I would have to lap people frequently. To make matters worse, the soccer people were also doing some kind of workout, and even though they were in lane 2, they still got in the way.

I ran out super easy, but certainly not jogging or anything like that. It's nice that with all the fast track races and workouts I've done, 5:20 pace feels pretty easy. For about 50 meters, people were right behind, at 150m they weren't too far behind, but after 300 I was running solo. My first lap was an 81. I ran it very comfortably and conservatively, but I picked it up a little bit since I usually slow down after the first lap (which is usually fast). The next lap was nice, but by lap three I was already lapping people. It was all fine at the time- crossed the mile (1600) in 5:18, which was excellent. Still feeling pretty great. The second mile was a little harder. At this point, I was regularly lapping people, which had become quite annoying. For some, it was not the first time I had lapped them, and I even lapped the second place runner. Occasionally, I would have to go all the way out into lane three because of the soccer players, and then swerve back into one. After about 6 laps, I was getting pretty tired. I knew I could run a few more laps at this pace no problem, but wasn't sure about 6 of them. 2 Miles (3200) in 10:40 (5:22 second mile). Right on 5:20 pace, but pretty tired at this point and starting to wish it would end. At this point, lapping people was awful and I nearly hit some of them because I was unwilling to go even farther out of the way to give extra room. Many of them actually gave me support, but I was far too tired to say anything back. Eventually, the end neared, when I was extremely tired. I picked it up a little at the end, but was once again way too weak to actually have a decent kick. Finished in 16:00 (5:20 final mile). Immediately got water and went looking for shade. I didn't GPS it (not sure if I should've- I would've liked to see the real distance, but didn't want/need to be looking at my watch), but I'm guessing it'd actually be closer to 5K (and that's what Aaron got on his GPS). As a 16:00 three-mile, this was not impressive nor should be an all-out effort for me, but as a 5K, that's something I'd be really happy with. Disappointing and uplifting at the same time.

Tuesday: 8 Miles.

Unable to make practice, so I did the workout on roads. Originally planned an easy eight through Weekapaug, but now had to sacrifice that plan as one of my coaches wanted me to run mile repeats (what they were doing at practice). With the repeats at yesterday's pace (5:20) and only 400m recovery, this seemed hard. I wanted to circle back on a loop, but not have to do many loops, so I planned on using the surftown Weekapaug loop as my course to run hard on. Seeing as I had a big 5K on Friday, I decided it'd be smarter to try and run target 5K pace (5:10). I felt fine on the warm-up, but the first mile was brutal, lung-busting, and seemed too drag on. And it felt like I was sprinting the whole time. I took an extra moment on recovery for water before continuing, but was both dreading the upcoming repeats and wasn't even sure if I'd be able to make those. Whatever the case, I was at least doing one more. I finished out that loop and started another. The second one was equally brutal. I was thinking about doing 2x1000 or 2x800 or 1x1200 instead of continuing this brutal workout. I decided with the 1200. I pulled to the side to catch my breath and took a little extra recovery (600m) before I decided to continue on. I changed the route slightly and ran out and back on noyes neck. Before I got to the end, I decided to push all the way through to the mile. I was slightly off, but at least I finished it. Jog back to water fountain, run back. Splits were: 5:13, 5:16, 5:21. I don't that doesn't represent how my race will go, but doesn't give any confidence either. Difficulty: 5/5.

Wednesday: 4 Miles

Hill workout, six Narragansett hill repeats. Not bad at all. A little hot and a little heavy on the breathing, but got through them feeling pretty strong. Way off my personal best time on the hills as usual. Difficulty: 3/5. Overall, I would have liked to do a little more mileage for the day, but didn't happen.

Later that evening...I did not run the fun run mile. Picked up my last trophy and signed up for Schonning. It's interesting how these trophies have progressed, and luckily I've been able to collect all six of them.

Thursday: 9 Miles

First distance run of the XC season; I'm probably doing the rest of these solo. Slightly depressing to do similar routes frequently and alone, but not like anyone else can run sub-7 pace for 6-8 miles anyway. 55 minutes to run around Westerly. Got the bathroom break out of the way, and felt better than expected. Went up to the baseball field and back, then tried to run most of the Schonning course to get a feel on what it was like for Friday. I was happy to see both Margin and Clark were both freshly paved- but I couldn't run all the way down Elm because of construction. At that point I had about six miles and was looking for 8, and that's when I stopped feeling good. Running up the hill on granite was tiring and even though my route flattened out after that it was still tough, and I started to feel the heat.

Friday: 6 Miles

Schonning 5K. I was going to do a full write-up, but it just didn't go the way I wanted to at all. I wanted the win and sub-16, and not felt only ready to do so but felt like I had done everything right both race day and race week. I wanted to run about 5:08 pace the whole time, hopefully a little faster mile 3 and try to kick at the end. Mile one was absolutely perfect and while I wasn't feeling great, I felt like I had plenty left. I don't know what happened, but I slowed down quite a bit for the rest of it and ended up with an average pace of 5:14. It was hot and tiring after the turn onto Clark. Super disappointing. They also messed up the turnaround, which everyone ended up completely skipping because of poor course marshals, so it only came out to three miles and I wasn't able to get the course record of 16:21 (I would've been about 16:15). I'll try and put this one behind me and focus on Injury Fund, but what a massive disappointment.

My nine consecutive performances at this race:

 Winners all the way back to 2008 (Adjusted times for 2016 and 2013 short courses are approximately 16:15 and 17:07)

Saturday: 6 Miles

Saturday practices are never fun, and if it's a workout they're usually incredibly challenging. In this aspect, this one did not disappoint. I kinda just wanted to sleep in/die after Schonning disappointment, but I was here instead. Even more disappointing was that I found out the team just played games and did light running on Friday. It sounded really fun, of course one of the few practices I missed. I didn't know what we were doing, just that it was hot and we were on the very open track. Then I got it: 1 Mile, 4x400, 1 Mile. Pace was between 3K and 5K, but not a race pace in any distance for me. I was supposed to run the mile in 4:55, the 400s in 71, and the mile again in 4:55. It sounded really tough especially going back up to the mile. I did the mile. I felt like was running hard, but it wasn't too tiring and I got through it fine. I went 73 for 400, 2:26 for 800 and 3:41 for 1200. 4:55 exactly for the final time. I was surprised that just two minutes later, still catching my breath, I was already starting the 400s. I was definitely happy about the shorter distance, but the recovery was only 45s (although he gave me about two minutes between 3 and 4) and I hit 71 for every single one of them. They were quite tiring and I couldn't imagine doing more than 400 meters at that pace. I got a longer recovery (about six minutes) before the final mile. I was very tired at this point and not at all looking forward to it. He gave me an option: hard 800 in 2:12-2:15 or the mile in 4:55. I didn't really want to do a longer distance, but I figured the faster speed would feel worse than the longer distance. I picked the mile and was finally off. Only about 200 meters into it I was counting down the meters and laps and was getting tired. It would be a long and very brutal final three and half laps. The hardest track workouts we do make me more tired than in most races, feel incredibly weak, start to lose feeling in the thighs/legs, form starts to break down, and even start to stumble and stop running straight. It's usually accompanied by a brutal headache immediately after. I had all of these in the final three laps, and it was incredibly tough. I went through in the same splits: 72/2:16/3:41. It was really hard to finish it, but I did. Apparently my final split was 66 and I finished in 4:47, but that doesn't sound right considering how awful I felt at that point. Perhaps I heard wrong and I ran 76 for the final 400, finishing in 4:57. Difficulty: 5/5. Absolute hell, and super hot with very little shade.

Sunday: 0 Miles

I was actually looking forward to this, but my coach told me to take the day off because of Schonning Friday night and a hard workout the morning after. Oh well. I did something hard every single day except Thursday, and that wasn't exactly easy.

Weekly Total: 39 Miles (a big step down, but got in plenty of quality workouts)
YTD Total: 1,499 Miles

Summer Race Ranking

It was a really fun summer for running, despite some brutally hot temps. Much of that came down to the racing. Sometimes running can be boring or unpleasant, but I typically love racing, especially during the summer, where I pick a variety of races and choose different distances. I raced way too much this summer, but I couldn't resist not running some amazing looking races. I definitely had too high of a number in total, but got a good mix of super hard and fast efforts on the road and some more fun but slower ones on the trail. I ended up doing 11 races total.

The Races

*Notes a PR (6)

June
*Rocky Point 5K

July
Loon Mountain Race
*Sailfest 5K
*Heil Vesturgatan 24K
Run with the Beavers
*Blessing of the Fleet

August
Block Island Triathlon
*Run 4 Kerri
*Bobby Doyle Summer Classic
Rhode Warrior Tri
Schonning 5K

Here's how they broke down in numbers:

Category
Five Fast Road Races
Two Triathlons
Two Long Trail Races
One Long Road Race
One Mountain Race

Distance
Three 5Ks
Two 10-Milers
Two Sprint Triathlons
One 4-Miler
One 5-Miler
One 10K
One 24K

State/Country
Eight in Rhode Island
One in Connecticut
One in New Hampshire
One in Iceland

Finish Place
Two 1st Place Finishes
One 2nd Place Finish
Two 3rd Place Finishes
One 4th Place Finish
One 8th Place Finish
One 12th Place Finish
One 14th Place Finish
One 48th place Finish
One 67th place Finish


Overall, I did pretty well in most of them, but some were clearly better than others. I ran great in a few, but in many I left disappointed. I'll give a brief description on why each performance earns its spot- to see a longer write-up on each check back on previous posts. I will also include a letter grade for the performance and include original goals and final results to compare what I expected and how I did.

11. Bobby Doyle Summer Classic
One of my favorite races. Extremely stacked competition where a 5:40 pace couldn't crack the top 100. Great, mostly flat course through Narragansett. An opportunity to not run only the five-mile distance, but to smash my previous PR by several minutes. Despite all of this, I lacked any and all excitement pre-race and screwed up my pre-race routine. That should've been the first sign that it wasn't going to be my day. And not only was it not my day, but it was one of my worst races: not just during this summer, but ever. I rarely ever fade this badly, and my time barely improved over last year's, being a whole minute and a half off what I wanted to run. The only thing that prevents me from giving it an F and declaring it my worst race of all time is the heat and humidity factor (also making for a brutally difficult race), which isn't a bad excuse and slowed nearly everyone down on that day.

Original Goal: 26:40-26:59
Final Result: 28:10
2015 Rank and Grade: 1st, A+ (From Top to Bottom)

Grade: D

10. Run with the Beavers
Sometimes I love trail racing, and that was enough to get me to sign up for this race. I was certainly excited to do it. I'd give it my best shot, and I thought I could do a 6:30 pace, adjusting for trails. What followed was an 1 hour, 12 minute brutal sufferfest where I genuinely felt like I was barely moving at points. My pace was about 7:15, not only incredibly far off but a huge positive split and a whole six to seven minutes slower than what I expected.

Original Goal: 65-68 Minutes
Final Result: 1:12:45
2015 Rank and Grade: N/A

Grade: C-

9. Schonning 5K
I was both excited, feeling ready and really wanted to try and break 16. I knew it would be hard but felt that I was in shape to do it. Went out perfectly through the mile, but really just didn't have it after that. 5:08 planned splits became 5:18s and threw me way off track. I still got the win like I wanted, but very disappointing time wise. On top of that, the course marshals screwed up and it ended up being 3 miles, so I wouldn't even know what my real time was. Not a awful race, but incredibly disappointing and not fun to fade that badly.

Original Goal: Sub 16 and Win
Final Result: Win, but 15:42 for 3 Miles (About 16:15 for 5K)
2015 Rank and Grade: 3rd, A-

Grade: B-

8. Rhode Warrior Triathlon
This was really just another opportunity for a fun, low-pressure event, but I actually ended up performing well overall. The sprint competition wasn't exactly stellar (many of the top guys were in Half Iron/Olympic), so my third place finish didn't mean anything, but I was pleased overall with my time. My transitions were horrendous, and my bike was quite slow, but I did fine in the parts I enjoy. I thought my swim was great, and even though I originally wanted 5:40s pace for run, I was still happy with the 5:55 pace, especially as it felt pretty good.

Original Goal: N/A
Final Result: N/A
2015 Rank and Grade: N/A

Grade: B

7. Block Island Triathlon
Despite my increasing lack of interest in biking, I still enjoy the triathlons and take them seriously, just not as seriously as running races. However, after giving up Fat Clam/Crabman and Goddard, this was now the only tri I had history with and naturally I wanted to beat some of my times. Considering my complete lack of training, this actually went pretty well, at least much better than expected. I was really happy with my swim, and even though I though it'd be awful my bike wasn't bad and a Course PR. Unfortunately, the worst part was my run. 6:15 pace seemed very doable, but I came nowhere near that. I can give a few seconds to high tide, but running 6:45 seemed ridiculously slow for a four miler, given that it was a race. Overall a good performance, but nothing like the one I had last year.

Original Goal: Improvement in Each Category
Final Result: Significantly Improved Each Time in everything but the run
2015 Rank and Grade: 5th, A-

Grade: B

6. Sailfest 5K
My first sub-16 attempt and my first fail at doing so. Not quite as disappointing as the above entry, but still somewhat disappointing and not exactly a smart race. Went out in a 4:59 and then started clocking in splits in the 5:20s. Faded really badly. My final time was actually pretty good- and still a big PR, but it was disappointing having a good race instead of a great one. My pacing wasn't great either- and incredibly inconsistent for 5K.

Original Goal: Sub-16
Final Result: 16:12
2015 Rank and Grade: 8th, B+

Grade: B+

5. Heil Vesturgatan 24K
I was really using this for an opportunity to get used to racing longer distance as well as jumping into a fun event where I wouldn't have to worry about going out hard. I never planned on going on all-out, but ran faster than anticipated, felt strong and also won. For a hard but not all-out effort, success.

Original Goal: N/A
Final Result: N/A
2015 Rank and Grade: N/A

Grade: B+

4. Rocky Point 5K
I was looking to see what I could do in the 5K coming off my track season, so I picked this event because the course looked pretty good. I wanted to run about 16:20, and wasn't far off. Also placed well and ran the race exactly how I wanted to. My GPS split actually got me at 16:10, so that was definitely encouraging for future races.

Original Goal: 16:20
Final Result: 16:27
2015 Rank and Grade: N/A

Grade: B+

3. Loon Mountain Race
I came in with little expectations, but found myself not only enjoying most of it, but constantly feeling strong and moving up as others faded...except for Upper Walking Boss, which wasn't exactly my strong suit, dropping about 10 places, and two places in my age group. Overall, I was very pleased with both my time and place and had so much fun out there.

Original Goal: N/A
Final Result: N/A
2015 Rank and Grade: N/A

Grade: A-

2. Run 4 Kerri
I doubted I would break 21, but I thought if I ran well I could come close. I felt like I was fading a little bit after only a mile, but actually broke away from the pack I was with and maintained a sub-5:20 for the rest of it. I didn't quite have the kick I had last year, but happy with my splits and time.

Original Goal: 21:00-21:15
Final Result: 21:10
2015 Rank and Grade: 4th, A-

Grade: A

1. Blessing of the Fleet
I was very happy with my 2015 performance, but one year later I knew I was capable of much more. I had set a goal of 5:50 pace a while back, and felt ready to run it. I had some concerns, but they weren't major. I felt much worse than expected out there but went out a little hard and never had a problem with consistently running sub-5:50 splits. It was definitely tough at the end, but I never gave up or slowed down and as a result, I not only broke 59, but 58 as well. The best performances are when you not only live up to your expectations, but smash them. One of the best...ever.

Original Goal: 58:20-58:59
Final Result: 57:42
2015 Rank and Grade: 2nd, A

Grade: A+

Before I press the publish button, I want to set a few things out there for 2017 summer racing. I'm already thinking about it, but here are a few things I want to put down now before I forget them.

• Amount- It's nice to be able to analyze many race results than just a few, but 11 is way too much, considering it's not even one of major seasons. I want to drop the number the back at least to 8 the next summer.
• Triathlon- I don't really care for biking and have no desire to do any training, but I'm certainly not ready to give up the tri yet, especially as I really enjoy the swim. I want to do at least two next year- probably including a return to Block Island. Also worth considering is returning to the Olympic distance and training a little more for the swim.
• Mountain Racing- Definitely the best and most fun addition to the racing calendar, so I either want to return to loon and/or try out a new mountain race. Absolute must for 2017.
• 10K- It's been a year, and I'll have to wait another to update my very slow 10K PR of 38:32 (which I broke several times, in both hard runs and blessing). I need to run this distance in 2017.
• The Definite Races- Kerri, Bobby Doyle, Blessing, Schonning
• Sailfest- not sure right now, but perhaps it's better just to lay off the 5K and focus on longer races as the summer training focuses on endurance anyway. On the other hand, it's a pretty good race, with an excellent course and great refreshments that I could maybe even win. 50/50 on whether I'll do it in 2017.
• June/July- of course this could completely change, but I'm thinking about waiting until July to start my summer racing. This would reduce the number of races and give me more recovery from the end of track. Of course, there a few races that look great. If I'm feeling confident about my mile fitness, I may try the Bottone. There are also a few other great looking opportunities in June, but some are farther away.

It's sad to see the summer racing go. Overall, it was actually pretty disappointing. I had some of the worst performances I've ever run and really lacked in the great performance department. Overall, I'm still running well but this summer just wasn't as great as last one. Hopefully the cross country season will go well.

Next up...the Injury Fund XC Carnival on September 3rd. There's supposed a very fast and certified new course at East Greenwich HS, so hopefully I can beat some good runners and beat my current best 5K of 16:12, perhaps even dip under 16?

Despite the end of summer and start of XC, I have one more to be excited about before completely converting to both school mode and cross country mode. Stavros Beach Race on September 6th. Despite the small feel of it, this is a truly fantastic event that is one of WTAC's finest races (I probably only like Rhody more). I had so much fun here last and can't wait to be back for this year's edition. Low tide, and a course record to break. It's coming up soon.

From Schonning 2015 to 2016, 13 Races in the Green Singlet