Motivated to Succeed

5:30 PM - Ran with Emmy while she was on the elliptical. Left knee a little sore as is the right calf, but overall not bad considering being out of shape and overweight! Felt fine during the run. Determined to do quality run. Ran 5 miles in 43:17, good for 8:39 a mile average pace. Sped up from 8:55 pace to 8:35. All at 2% incline. Trying to get back in shape. Changing my diet too. Trying to eliminate processed foods, ice cream, chips, bagels, and other unnecessaries.  

4:30 PM - Sarah had to go home today so I was in charge of my first official practice today. I only had 3 students show up. Somehow they all thought that the last meet was the last meet for everyone, when in fact we have cross country continuing for another 2 weeks!

We warmed up down to the field and I had them do stretching and then 5 x 1 lap "hard" effort. Fastest lap for guys was 1:28, fastest for girls 1:44. Did a 6th cool down lap together, and then cooled down back to the school.

When I got home I hopped on the treadmill and did 2 miles in 16:20, good for 8:10/mile average pace.  

Can't wait for a date tonight with Emmy watching "The Office" on TBS! 

5:30 PM - Work week's over! (for me anyways). Emm still has to work Saturdays. Urgh. We met and had a workout date. I ran most of my run around 8:35 pace, with 3 x .25 thrown in at 6:40 pace for good measure. Felt good. Did 100 crunches afterwards. Emm finished up on the elliptical. We are thinking (or maybe I should say I am thinking) about getting a second treadmill because 1. I think I am too big for Emm's treadmill and 2. it would be nice to have a running date during the winter which is not possible outside since we get out so late from work.

Total Time: 27:00 Total Distance: 3.26 Average Pace:  8:17

9:00 AM - Today I ran with the CLYDESDALES! I had always joked with Jonny about Clydesdales and how one day we'd have to run with them, but I never really thought it would come true. I got to Schenectady's Central Park, and weighed in. A hefty, hefty, hefty 220 pounds! Gag!

Went for a warm up because I was cold and somewhat annoyed by all the Saratoga runners camping out around my car. Their coach just happened to park next to my car of all the free spaces. Jogged down to the soccer field, checked out a trail, turned around and came back. about 12 minutes of warm up 

THE RACE (9.3 MILES)

MILES 1-2: Lined up with the 8:00 milers. I didn't know how hard to go out or what pace to shoot for. Last year I ran 8:00 pace for the entire race, but that was with a LOT more miles under my belt. I always like people watching at races. Some really bizarre pre race rituals. Hit the first mile in 8:00 flat. YES! Second mile is primarily down hill and we opened it up a bit. There was a cute quartet of kazoos cheering us on. Hit the 2 mile mark around 15:40 (7:40 2nd mile, a bit fast).

 MILES 3-4: Mile 3 had a slight hill followed by a downhill. Started to get passed by a couple, but then caught my breath, and accelerated with them. Hit the 5k right around 24:00. Mile 4 brought us down to the low point of the race through the stockade. 

MILES 5-6: These are the "make" or "break" miles. Mile 5 is all uphill, up State Street. A significant and humbling beast. My goal was just to not stop or walk at all during the race. I plodded on and kept my head down.  A couple people passed me but I let them go. Got to the top and headed toward Vale Cemetery. Right at the 6 mile mark a guy in orange came up alongside us, running effortlessly. His gait and stride were noteworthy. It was Bill Rodgers! Nice to know that I can hold my own for 6 miles against a 60-something former elite runner. Also had Wade Stockman come up on me and pass me as we hit the 10k mark. Wade is a super runner, in his mid-70s. He was a big deal back when my parents ran. He's still slicing and dicing!

MILES 7-8: Mile 7 was tough as it came back up the hill we went down in Mile 2. Plodded up and over it. Now the great two loop outer/inner to the finish line around the pond. I could see a lot of people already finishing (~55:00). Mile 8 hurt. A couple of my runners had made the trek as their mom's fiancee was running. I was struggling to hold form and I was keeping pace pretty well, though I had slowed to probably an 8:15 or 8:20 pace. About 50 people passed me during this portion of the race.

MILE 9 & .3: Kept it together going around the pond. About .3 from the finish a man I know Tom Ostrander came up on me. He beat me by a couple minutes last week at the half marathon. I usually beat him into submission, but lately as I've put on weight we have evened out. He recognized me as a "Galway guy" and I said that it definitely is harder to run after putting on some lbs. We ran together to the finish, me just narrowly beating him.

Total Time: 1:15:42 Total Distance: 9.3 miles Average Pace: 8:08

Finished in 493rd place of 1387 total finishers. This was a blast, and I exceeded my overall expectations. Earned 8th place in the Clydesdale division too! 

3:30 PM - Partly sunny and about 38 degrees. I wore my Stockade-athon shirt to practice today. The flourescent lime green was so bright I think it shined through my sweatshirt! We went running up to the cemetery in Adams, did 2 laps, then up and over the golf course road, down to the field where we had the kiddos run 2 x laps somewhat hard. I did a third cool down lap with L.D. I am really impressed. Everyone is getting so much stronger! I could barely keep up with the top runners today A.U. and A.C. We were flying! Legs felt surprisingly good. Just a little tiredness from Sunday.

Total Time: 27:47 Total Distance: 3.6 miles Average Pace:  7:43

Got home and jumped on the treadmill to do a couple more miles. I had to drive a student home to Pittsfield that didn't have a ride. That was a fun 40 minutes! No really! I learned a lot about adolescence in those short 40 minutes. Emm was on her way home from work and I thought I could beat her. She came down and gave me a "look" I've already busted the treadmill almost and we are in desperate need of a new one. I finished up in 5 minutes and went upstairs. 2 miles in 16:34, 8:17/mile

Total Time:  44:21 Total Distance: 5.6 miles Average Pace: 7:55

12:30 PM - After a morning of homework and planning on Veterans' Day, I decided to go for a run. We were short a car so I opted to jog on the treadmill while I watched two episodes of "The Office". Didn't really pay attention to the show though. Kind of zoned out. Did a 10 minute warmup at 8:34 pace, followed by 7 x 1:30 "on" at 6:40/mi pace and 1:00 "off" at 8:34 pace. Cooled down a few laps afterwards. Felt pretty good! Getting stronger but still too heavy! I think I am gaining muscles in my legs, but my hips are too wide and none of my clothes are fitting me now!

Total Time: 41:30 Total Distance: 5.25 miles Average Pace:  7:54

3:00 PM - Sunny, temp around 62 or so. Gorgeous November weather! Ran with the xc team at BCC as they were doing warm ups and such. Last meet of the season - Western Mass Invite. Many of my runners could not stand the heat and were not dressed properly. Others hadn't been at practice lately and we had had two really crappy weeks of practice altogether. It's just improbable to expect us to be remotely competitive when we are only allocated 3 hours a week to practice. Just kind of discouraging to see so many poor finishes!

Went to the track after dropping Emmy off for her weekend trip to Boston for work. Warmed up with a mile on the outside lane in 8:48. Then did .5 miles in 3:28, .5 miles easy in 4:12, .5 miles hard again in 3:21, 1 mile steady in 7:56, .5 miles in 3:49. I stopped once to take off my sweatshirt because I was overheating and another time to grab a sip of Powerade. Felt pretty strong though.

Total Time: 31:36 Total Distance: 4 miles Average Pace:  7:54

I went jogging around the block with Emm today after stacking wood for 2.5 hours. Was a little sore from that and volunteering for 3 hours yesterday with my seniors at Habitat for Humanity up in Williamstown. It was the first time in a week that I've gone running! Blah! Good news is weight is down to 214 from 220. I will keep trying hard to lose the lbs! Finished the 3 mile run in 22:22. We were huffing and puffing a bit!

3:45 - Stayed after school today with three cross country runners and my co-coach. We made hats and threw our own "Turkey Trot". We went jogging through Adams, MA with our paper hats and had a blast! A bit warm and I was sweating because I was in a sweatshirt. Temp was about 50 and a bit humid. Weird November! Ran about 1.75 miles with them.

On the way home I stopped at Taconic High Track and ran a .25 warm up followed by an 880 in 3:34 and then another .25 lap, then an 880 faster in 3:28. Cooled down one more .25. Felt pretty good. Was listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Love it! Windy towards the end of the run so I cut it a bit short and headed for home. Storm rolling in tonight supposedly. 

9:30 AM - Got up early and headed down to Troy, NY with Emma and my brothers Jonny and Harry. Annual Turkey Trot fun! Jonn couldn't run because he had surgery on his hand yesterday, but Harry and Emma were signed up for the 5k and I was signed up for the 10k. I told Emm and Harry I would run the race with them. We found a parking spot and then jogged over to the start line around 9am so that we could use the facilities before the race. Kind of bummed we didn't get the size of shirts we ordered. This is an annual problem. Stupid race organizers ask what size shirt you wear and then don't order the size for you anyways! Grr. This was the largest field they've had. Over 6600 runners! We lined up a bit far back but it was still fun.

Race conditions at the start were cloudy skies and temps in the high 20s to low 30s. I should have brought spandex, but alas I did not have any. We lined up and waited for the gun.

THE RACE: (5k) - Bandito Fabuloso

MILE 1: Very, very slow. We ran a 12 or 13 something. Blah! Started picking our way through the crowds and running on the sidewalk. Harry was keeping up fine! We were following Emm who was setting the pace in front. It is actually kind of fun to start towards the back and just race around slower runners. We did this last year to great effect because we arrived late to the starting line.

MILE 2: This mile was much faster, right around 8 minutes. Pushed it and Harry kept pace and actually pulled me along! Really fun!

MILE 3: We kept on pushing, even as the crowd thickened as we caught the stragglers falling back to us. Many of the 6600 runners are not even "Weekend Warriors" as a sub 21:00 5k will get you in the top 75 usually. We pushed all the way to the finish and I am certain our last mile was a sub-8:00. 

We finished with a "gun time" of 29:43 and 29:44. Emm got 1675th place overall, 78/283 in her division, and Harry got 1680th place and 292/532 in his division. I ran bandit. If I looked at our actual splits, I would put us around a 25:30 5k minus the incredibly slow first mile. FUN!

THE 10k RACE - 10:45 am Race conditions: high 20s/low 30s, overcast skies. Note: should have worn spandex! Numb legs!

I jogged to the car after the 5k and switched shirts quickly before hitting up the port-a-johns and getting in line for the 10k. The 10k is a championship race, but always much smaller, typically 500 or so runners. Today there were 752 finishers. Didn't know how to approach this race given my poor training this fall and especially given the goose egg "0" mileage last week! I was hoping to average somewhere near my 8:08 pace at Stockadeathon a few weeks ago.

MILE 1: (8:35) Went with the flow for the first mile as we made our way out for the first of two loops. Ran the 5k course in reverse. Bittersweet because the long gradual downhill turned into a long gradual uphill x 2! 

MILE 2: (7:24) Way too fast! Got sucked along with a group and didn't watch the time! Oops! Made a decision to slow down before the 5k mark.

MILE 3: Feeling pretty good as I made my way around the corner and the start of the second loop. I hit the 3.1 5k mark somewhere around 24:30. 

MILES 4-5: Hurting a bit. My fingers and legs were starting to get numb and I started to get passed by people that had 1. not run the 5k minutes before and 2. had saved some in the tank for the second loop. I just kept my pace honest and hoped for the best. Ran these somewhere in the 8's.

MILE 6: Finished with little feeling in my legs. They almost hurt from the cold! Fading but that was to be expected with poor training. Finished with a smile though and picked off a couple people :D. Only a few seconds off my pace from Stockadeathon! Not bad!

Total Time: 50:42 Total Distance: 6.22 miles Average Pace: 8:11 

5:00 PM - Snowing and blustery winds in Galway today. Emm and I are still up at my parents house for the weekend. I stopped at a grocery store and picked up 4 D batteries and plugged them into my mom's stationary bike. Did 42 minutes of riding, 12.5 miles total. Set the resistance for most of it between 7 and 8 out of 10. Got a good workout. The bike is a bit small for me and I hit my knees a couple of times on the arm rests. Should feel the burn tomorrow. Got to get out and get in a run though! Must make time to get 'er done!

Total Time: 42:00 Total Miles: 12.5 Average Speed:  17.85 mph

3:20 PM - Overcast and a wind around 10mph. Temperature was 36 degrees at the start. Went to Taconic High School track and ran while I listened to an episode of Car Talk from NPR. Had a strong run. I did a mile warm up and then 4 x 800 with 1 x 400 recovery between each. Then cooled down for a mile.

• Mile 1: 8:21
• 800 #1: 3:28 w/ 1x400 recovery: 2:12
• 800 #2: 3:23 w/ 1x400 recovery: 2:12
• 800 #3: 3:20 w/ 1x400 recovery: 2:20
• 800 #4: 3:22 w/ 1x400 recovery: 2:11
• Mile 5: 7:52