overtaking haynes

wanted to wake up early and trail run at huntington before work. just not possible with the 15 min round trip of driving. got 3.0 in on a pretty hilly loop, ended up running down gallows hill and up limekiln. wasn't super stiff and was able to go under 10 min mile which is good for me and my morning jog. Had a few minutes to stretch out after which helped my planned workout during lunch.

Since i have limited time these days and going to a track takes to long and i don't even feel like i have time to stretch, i've been doing tempo workouts as my primary stress. I think these are probably the most important for the half marathon and long trail races but i could be wrong. Warmed up for 0.12 miles or 1min so i could time my 10k on the treadmill. I hate being off on the distance when running and having to get to 6.32 instead of 6.2. Psychologically it's bad. Anyways, decided to try to beat my previous treadmill workout time of 38:45. I started the first 3 miles in 6:11 instead of 6:18 and felt fine. I realized i would have to go faster if i wanted to break 38min. I decided to do the next 3 miles in 6:03 and for the last 1/4 mile went under 6min pace. Total time 37:57. Was definitely glad to be done but didn't feel all that bad.

After work ran 1.61 miles with kristin on whortleberry because didn't have more time.

drove up to cape cod yesterday to hang out with my parents who are staying there on the bay. Did not get a chance to run yesterday. Ran 8.75 miles at nickerson park which was pretty nice. mostly paved bike paths but found some side trails. one led to this abandoned road with grass up to my waist. somehow there aren't any ticks this year.

Looked around at races to do over the weekend in cape cod. Found only 1 (a 5 mile race) one town from where i was staying. Was hoping to simply go under 30 minutes. Even brought my race shoes in case i did a track workout or something. racing is so much better than having to do a tempo run or track workout by yourself. I did a 1.51 mile pre race warmup and found out that the course was going to be extremely hilly. There were at least 3 hills all with at least 50ft rises and the course was out and back. There were ~400 finishers so a surprisingly large field. I went out almost with the lead pack, i was back about 15 sec after the first mile which i ran in 5:45. It was uphill so i felt pretty good about it. Got to mile 2 in 11:55. Also uphill. I was running with 2 guys in 7-9th place up the last hill before the turnaround and one guy pulled away a bit and i pulled away from the other guy. At the turnaround it was clear how close the rest of the field was and i said to myself, crap, i feel ok but not that great cause it was kind of hot, 75-80C and there were about 15 people within 30 sec of me. 2 of them were girls, and one especially fit looking girl was no more than 15 sec back. CRAP! i just kept running my own race hoping no one would try anything. i heard no footsteps which was good and then with about 2 miles to go i heard some people yell "GO EMMA" and first woman. surprisingly no one in the crowd urged her to catch me. there were a couple of cheer crowds and aid stations and i'd go by and then 5 sec later i'd hear routing for the girl. With about a mile to go she pulled even with me. i said good job but i didn't really mean it, i was not going to go down easily. usually when someone comes from behind late in the race you have no chance. i matched her speed and then pulled a second in front of her, taking the shortest lines i could. there was 1/3 of a mile left and i could see the crowd. i didn't have much left and i started feeling a little sick in the stomach with the exertion. i made the last turn and looked back as i pushed it, YES! I was pulling away. I looked back several times just to make sure because i didn't want to hurt anymore than i had to. It turned out she was only 20! Whatever, i'll take my 8th place finish and victory over all females :)

Race turned out to be 4.87 miles according to my gps. I was proud of my 6:02 pace avg which held steady with the very hilly course.

later in the day ran about 2.7 at cape cod national sea shore.

ok i'm proud of myself because i found out that the girl i beat has run a 4:55 mile which is better than my PR and has run a 16:40 5k on the track which crushed my PR.

ran 2.85 with kristin, then got to 8.36 on my own. so hot and sunny with no shade! kristin knows i like to get 10 in so nicely ran with me to 10.04 miles after when i was going to stop. 

4.1 miles during lunch on treadmill

after work ran 3 with brother then another 2.2 on own. somehow the 95+ degree heat didn't really bother me today.

during lunch ran 0.14 miles to get treadmill up to speed. was going to do my normal 10k tempo run but didn't feel like i had enough time today. decided to try and pick up the pace and go 5. Very ambitiously started at 5:56 pace with no warmup and that really wasn't going to happen. switched within the first 1/4 mile. decided 6:00 was fine though. Came through the 5k at 18:35 and thought how i could so run at least my PR right now of 17:45. Last 1/4 picked it up to just under 6 pace again and finished in 29:57. Could probably break 29 minutes on a treadmill all out and in a cold 45C room. starting to gain confidence in myself.

 pm ran 3 miles with brother and then 2.2 on my own.
 

4 miles treadmill during lunch

after work ran 3 with bro

then ran 3.3 with kristin at huntington 

4.1 miles on treadmill during lunch

5.9 miles after work out and back drummer lane 

had to go to a wedding in nyc in the afternoon so had to run in the morning. not the best for tempo runs. warmed up 1.1 miles then did the limekiln gallows hill loop. ran it in my racing flats and had a surprisingly slow 7:16 first mile! there is ~150ft of climbing but still! usually i'm around 6:45. I pulled it together and got to 19:37 by mile 3 (6:10 pace going down hill). The downhill ended and 26:11 was the next mile (6:34) finishing up in 32:55 for mile 5.0 and 33:28 for the loop which was measured at 5.08 miles (6:36 pace overall). 

cooled down 1.1 miles, terrible blisters. the bottom of one of my feet is black. no idea why the blister turned black.  

40 min run from parents house to new house. only 4.46 miles. was about 90C, had planned on running earlier but woke up around 11am after getting back from wedding around 2am.  

ran to huntington and back in the am

after work ran 1 mile on treadmill as warmup then did 40 min tempo at ~6:11 pace. went 6.46 miles during that time. Cooled down to make 11 miles total.
 

10 on the treadmill after work. just more efficient than running on any sort of hilly surface. also got fans going so cooler than outside. 

first run from new house. pretty nice terrain. Ran 1.5 miles to topstone park and did a loop. 

on the treadmill during lunch. local trail race at huntington tomorrow...could i possibly win...new local race series with no more than 50 people in it. last winner won by like 8 mins in a 10k...please no one good show up

was stressed out about performing on my home turf and almost decided not to race the night before. woke up tired and groggy. got to the race and did a pre race warmup across the field for about 1.2 miles total. parking lot already full and there looked like at least 5 people who were skinnier than me and looked fast. kristin came with me and i told her i'd probably only finish 10th. even in my trail racing shoes during warmup i could barely muster a 9 min mile and some guy caught me going to pee across the field. it was pretty hot and what made matters worse is that one guy looked super fast.... i would notice later at the starting line that he had a syracuse cross country tatoo on his leg. There was a 52 yr old who has beaten me in the last yr although i beat him this year at a race and also another young 50 something who has beaten me in a half marathon and 5k in the past yr. let's say crushed me. i really wasn't feeling like this was going to be a good day. anyways, we started on the flat carriage road for half a mile...the course map was posted on line so i knew what i was getting into. in the first 1/2 mile the syracuse runner put on what seemed like 20 sec. i said to the 52 yr old running with me "wow" and he told me the guy could run a 31min 10k on the road. the course turned onto a technical mtn bike trail and the 52 yr old sprinted down the hill right before it to be leading into the single track. i immediately passed him because i was far superior on the technical terrain and somehow gained on the syracuse runner. i pulled to within 10 sec at the 1.5 mile mark. he sprinted away though going probably 4:30 pace on a carriage road and i didn't see him at the turn off to the 5k and 10k course. I was feeling pretty good and it helped knowing to keep pushing on uphills when i knew were the resting points were. i had run so many times on these trails that i knew all the lines. there was this horrible section that went over underground wires. literally 4 uphills and downhills of 100ft all in a row over rocky terrain with it being so steep you couldn't really run down it. I thought i would see the runner up front. i didn't and was kind of in shock how i could see 2 mins ahead. i was determined not to look back to see where the other runners were. By mile 4.5 i was getting very tired but kept pushing. skipping to the end...the guy in front took a wrong turn onto the 5k course and got disqualified. so i actually won! my first victory ever.  38 starters including women but who cares. 38 runners in the 5k who i was ahead of too. what's even better is my time is listed as 47:25 online when i ran something like 48:05. The next fastest runner was only 49:18. He ran 2:52 at Boston last year. Cooled down 1.1 miles had horrible blisters from racing shoes as usual. 

have the escarpment trail race 30k next sunday and i just remembered i've done wait....0 long runs. i know it's too late and probably bad to even do any sort of long run but i needed to see if there is even any point still going. Wanted to wake up at 4:15am, unfortunately woke up at 12:56 am with my left eye killing me...some contact issue. got back to bed finally didn't end up running until 5:30. ran 2hrs 9 min. saw a dead snake and some bobcat thingy and its cub. it may have been a fox but had a short stubby tail and had whiskers. it seemed relatively small  though. i've had bear poop twice on my porch already. 

4.32 mile am run on trails behind house at the rock lot. surprisingly good and not too overgrown. after work did loop around rock lot on roads 6.57 miles total. devastatingly hilly for just wanting an easy run. 

ran on treadmill after work. last speed work before escarpment trail run on sunday. weather looks to be cool which is good since i don't think i have the endurance i used to and the heat would make it far more obvious. maybe thunderstorms though which sucks. 

warmed up 1 mile, did 40 min tempo run...was unsure what speed to go then decided to gradually increase speed. Started first 10 min at 6:11 pace, then second 10 minutes 6:07 pace, 3rd 10 min 6:03 pace, minutes 30-35 (6:00 pace), minutes 35-40 (5:56 pace). Did not feel too  hard which was good. definitely getting fitness up. the two fans i used certainly helped.

cooled down 1 mile.

 

on treadmill after work, started slow and increased pace to 6:22 by the end. 1h 15min

4.5 miles on treadmill during lunch

5.5 miles on treadmill after work. ran 6:49 pace down to 6:40 pace for 4.5 miles

I had previously done this race in '08 which was without a doubt my best year racing due to the epic coaching of Haynes who has since abandoned me although he promised to give me a training plan...

I finished 6th in '08 with a time of 3hrs 26 min. I had stayed overnight at a hotel but decided to just drive up this year because it's only about 2hr 15 min. Thunderstorms were in the forecast but held off. Temp was pretty reasonable. I said hi to a few people i recognized and before i knew it the race was climbing 1800ft in the first several miles. I was in 6th place up to the top of the climb and was definitely pushing it. a large number of people were behind me half way up the climb but they were dropped. One guy eclipsed me on the downhill but i was in no mood to take risks on the slightly wet rocks. All the fast guys were smart and did not wear shirts or hip belts for extra weight. I was not smart. Another couple of guys caught me on the first downhill but one got dropped. One surged slightly ahead. As I climbed to the highest point of the course a past winner, now in his 50's began to catch up from out of nowhere. This section gained 1200 feet in 0.9 miles (so i've read) up to the high point of 3940ft. I caught the guy in front on the downhill and then we ran together. There was much chatting and i know i dogged the mid section of the course. I could have pushed more i think but it was hard to really get into a good rhythm on the sketchy terrain when i've been doing so much treadmill running. With 4.2 miles to go i had two guys right behind me. I had overtaken one in '08 on this section and it was perfect for me. I put a good 3 mins on both of them on the last downhill. This is the only section of the course i like. no longer overgrown and a lot fewer little rocks, more boulders and big drops. With about 1.5 miles to go i saw another runner in the distance. i was sure i would overtake him but could never make up the distance. lost out on 6th by 22 sec. winner (ben nephew) was ridiculous as usual running 2:58:59 to take his 10th title while i ran 3:29:22. At least i was still under 3:30. Very happy with my run considering i've done no long runs at all and didn't feel like i pushed myself all that much. Have told myself this is a race i will do only every other year due to how demanding it is. My left toenail felt excruciating pain such that i have never felt when i washed off in the lake. Some horrible blister or something was going on under there. 2 days later my quads are still sore. Will hopefully run on wed though. .

am run, came back on trails behind house and gambled cutting through the woods to try and find house to avoid an extra 1.5 miles. found it! 

4.5 mile loop am. quads still sore. new shorter loop so i'm not late (or as late) to work. 

same 4.5 mile loop pm in reverse. 350ft climb either way  

am 6.13 miles. ran 2.05 through woods behind house.

lunch ran 4.12 on treadmill. so nice to be done with 10 early and not have to run

after work.

3.7 miles am

went for a 3.9 mile hike to top of bogus mountain 

later ran 1 mile with kristin and then another 3.2 for 7.9 total