Was feeling kind of bad about my running as of late. All been slow trail runs around 10 min/mile pace and last weekends 5k was a disaster. I know i had a trail marathon the week before and ran one of my highest mileages of the season but i've just been feeling sluggish lately. I knew i'd be upset if i didn't drive the 2.5hrs to the greylock trail race today. I just didn't want to get blown away and maintain my good race record. The first 4 min of running are flat as we make our way to the base of the first climb of about 1000' or so in 2.5 miles. I started slow as i was determined not to go out too fast and be conservative. i didn't feel that bad during warmups which was a good sign and felt like i had some fight in me maybe...This one guy ben nephew almost always wins easily unless there is a true elite racing so he was gone, then the next pack were 2 guys, one of whom i had beaten by a very slim margin a couple of races ago for the first time. I was content to be in 4th place after 10 min of climbing. There were a lot of guys though, you could see on the switch backs not too far back. One guy kind of passed me and blew by me so now i was in 5th place. Another guy in the next 5 min barely went by me and didn't get too far away. Another guy was right on me. We crested the hill with me in 6th place and it was time for the long 2.5 mile downhill to the turnaround. I ran kamikaze like i usually do and easily passed the guy in front of me and almost caught up to the guy who had passed me easily earlier. The guys in 2nd and 3rd were within striking distance as well at the bottom but i knew my climbing skills are relatively weak to theirs. I just wanted to hold my position. I now had at least 1min maybe 1:30 on the people behind me at the 5.1 mile mark. time for the 2+ mile uphill. I felt pretty good, aided by being in 5th place. i always get this spirit when i know i'm doing pretty well for myself. I held my position and then annihilated the downhill...i was 15 sec back with 5k left of 4th place. The downhill was over though. The next part was more technical and i felt tired and exhausted but i knew everyone else was too. I finished it out in 5th, minutes ahead of 6th and about a min back from 4th. Good confidence booster today! Last year i finished 18th, and was over 10 min slower than this year. I also rather foolishly decided i'd climb greylock (highest mtn in mass) after. I decided on my way up i would do that and one of my friends said he'd be up for it too, but after racing bailed. smart! It was only 2.2 miles to the top and ~2200 feet up. I chose the steepest trail and it took me 1hr 21 min. I was sucking it on the way up, feeling my breath in my ears, couldn't get my heart rate to chill out. about halfway up i thought i might kill myself but fought on. The top was awesome...i met a girl who was doing the entire appalachian trail...she had started from georgia! Pretty cool. Ran down a slightly longer way 2.8 miles in 40 min. Tonight i ate tons! it was awesome. Total exercise time today 2 minutes shy of 4hrs....
north west CT and western mass are beautiful. I enjoyed the drive lots!
only major complaint was my left achilles/calf started acting up today...doesn't feel bad now, will ice it. the right one which has been troublesome is fine at least...will probably rest up tomorrow. will hopefully have a better mileage week than last week.
| 