Testing, 1, 2

After taking some time to play around with Athleticore, an online training log I've been using since September '05, I've recently discovered some nifty filters which provide a nice breakdown of my daily, weekly and monthly training numbers. As a little experiment, I'm going to try and copy-paste some of this data on here and see how it comes out. Lemme know what you think.

Break from boredom, or not

Hey there, hello, it's been a while - almost a week to be exact. Same old story, not worth repeating, so I'll spare you from the boring stuff and get right down to the nitty gritty, which in all likelihood is just as boring. Here goes.

My recovery from last weekend's little jaunt around Foxboro was anything but quick, as I had some calf soreness through Wednesday and heavy quads both Thursday and Friday. The only hard efforts to speak of since then were a hilly 18 miles this past Thursday and a 14 x 1 minute fartlek with one minute recovery the following day. The week totaled a nice, round 80 miles, which if all goes according to plan, will be the case again this week before dropping it down the heading into New Bedford on March 18.

Yesterday was a productive semi-long run of 15 miles, including a 1-2-3-4-4-1-2-2-1 fartlek in the middle (all with 2-minutes recovery) and a 5:28 last mile to finish things up. If it weren't for an iced-over bike path in Millbury, the aformentioned fartlek would have resembled a perfectly symmetrical Egyptian pyramid, but the unplanned-for crappy conditions lead to a necessary alteration in said pyramid's construction.

As of this entry, my legs have seemed to bounce back from last week's Foxboro-induced funk and should be good to go for tomorrow night's hill session in Newton with the crew. Speaking of said crew, congrats to NB Boston teammates Rebecca Donaghue and Jess Minty, as well as the women's DMR on a few sterling performances this weekend at the USATF Indoor Championships.

That'll do it for now. Take it easy.

Quote of the day

Very hilly. At 3.5 miles wanted to jump in police car but it got better after that.
- Casey Moulton's log entry on his win at the Amherst 10-Miler this past weekend

Quote of the day

That's right, no longwinded mumbo-jumbo to sift through this evening, just a hilarious e-mail excerpt from a track dork listserv I happen to be a part of. Digest it well.

Yes my Gordon kids could learn from that. My 4:40 miler ran the first 100 in 14 and 200 in 29 and predictably spent the rest of the race dying. This despite that fact I have been telling him for 6 months now to not go out too fast. He has a 3.8 GPA in biology, once again proving my point that there is often no correlation between intelligence and being a smart runner.

Terrible 10

OK, not so much terrible as disappointing, but it was just one of those days this morning at Foxboro's Old Fashioned 10-Miler.

An ideal first five miles, followed by rough patch from 6 through 8 and a slightly encouraging rebound during 9 and 10 earned me a 53:46, seventh-place finish behind a group of studs who are priming themselves for some good stuff at a little marathon in Hopkinton some eight weeks from now. Also, a congrats to former Stonehill teammates Greg Saia, Kim Nolan and Emily Flowers, who all ran spectacular races today. Always nice to see familar faces and catch up with old pals on a leisurely cooldown.

Anyway, for you number nerds, here's the actual data from my trusty Timex, which unfortunately did not correlate with the not-so-trusty mile markers. You'll see what I mean.

5:24, 5:18, 5:19, 5:33, 5:05, 5:24, 5:35, 6:03, 4:53, 5:08.

As you may have surmised, mile markers 4, 5, 8 and 9 were a wee bit off. A double check of Ryan's, Terry's and Bernie's logs confirms this course calamity.

So, as old Kcoach B would say, it is what it is. What is was turned out to be a long, hard effort which will bode well in the grand scheme of things. Far from a complete disaster, I'm a bit disappointed, but not worried in the least. I'm well on my way to getting where I want to be.

Lastly, I just found out we have a shower here at the T&G, a luxury which was never previously revealed to me in the 2-1/2 years I've been working here. Looks like my commute just got a whole lot more environmentally friendly.

That's it for tonight. Take it easy.

Quote of the day

You look like you're ready for bed.
- Jorge commenting on my sleepy state tonight at work

Warming up to winter

So in the last 24 hours we've been slammed with snow, pelted with ice and been thrown into a tizzy over this most recent weather anomaly. Last time I checked, however, it was indeed February -- which is still a winter month in this hemisphere -- and Rand McNally hasn't deviated from referring to this area of the country New England as far as I know, so round these parts we needn't be surprised that the ground (gasp!) isn't clear. So here's to laying off the panic button, hitting the slow-mo, leaving a little earlier than usual and continuing to put one foot in front of the other. It's not the end of the world -- it's winter. The snow will melt, perhaps quicker than it ever has before. Hell, Al Gore guarantees it.

OK, onto other things worth wasting my breath about. The Foxboro Old Fashioned 10-miler is on tap for Sunday, and as always a solid field is shaping up. Last year I finished 5th in 53:17 and I'd like to improve upon both those numbers this weekend. Training has been about as consistent as death and taxes, so I do believe I'm ready to pop a good race.

Speaking of races, some good stuff went down in Boulder this past weekend, and more locally at BU. Alan Culpepper and Deena Kastor showed everyone that they still have it over hill and dale, and round these parts, 1. The studs from Stonehill continued to impress, with the DMR popping a 9:53 to win it all at the Valentine Invite. They're now # 3 in the country, I believe. 2. NB Boston teammates Jeff Caron (3K), Jess Minty (mile) and Christy Carrara (5K) all ran some big-ass PR's at the same meet, with times of 8:16, 4:47 and 17:23, respectively.

And as far as respect goes, this guy doesn't get enough of it. He placed seventh in the 12K this past weekend -- qualifying for World XC -- and last month ran 62:20 for the 1/2 marathon, beating an Olympic silver medalist in the process. I suggest to start noticing if you haven't already.

OK, time for bed. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

I'm not sure what it is, but I know they have it. And I know you can't buy it at Wal-Mart.
- Scott Winston on the drive of a champion

Kickin' it Old School...

Hodgie-San hooked me up with a new t-shirt the other day -- actually it's rather old -- but it's pretty cool nonetheless. On the front is an old warrior donning an Athletics West singlet with "Old School Track Club" emblazoned across the chest above him. On the back are the following practical pearls of wisdom....

OLD SCHOOL COMMANDMENTS

1. Avoid distractions.
2. Have good role models.
3. Be part of a good team.
4. Be serious about fitness.
5. Run on (for) giving surfaces.
6. Train on hills.
7. Incorporate race-speed training.
8. Take chances.
9. Listen to your body.
10. Reward outstanding performances.

Now whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be forever stuck in the slow heat. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will eventually have their place on the winner's podium.

The running gods have spoken. Now go forth my friends, and run fast.

Quote of the day:

For the majority of us, the marathon is a process that you just have to fine tune and you have to learn from each one. If you run enough of them, you understand it. I wish I would have known that 10 years ago.
-Pete Julian

Bippity bop

Scatterbrained as usual, here's a small smattering of what happens to be bopping around my train of thought at the moment....

* Le Supre Bowle. Nice job Peyton, you finally won the big one. You're still up on Tom Brady in horrendous TV commercials (by 634,456) and empty ring fingers (your 9 to his 7). Nice work.

*Work is still kicking my ass, but I was able to finagle a Friday switch in order to attend Reino's 25th birthday extravaganza at the Big City in Allston. Two Blue Moons, five games of pool and 15 of my good buds made for a fun night.

* The return of winter. Snot froze in my nose over the last few miles of my run today, which made relaxed breathing difficult, not to mention painful. Overall, however, it's been a solid season for running, so consider this the end of my weather-related bitching.

* Rage Against the Machine is rumored to be getting back together. Sorry Chris Cornell, but your incessant whining is no match for Zack de la Rocha's unadulterated, well, rage.

* Running miles topped work hours this past week, 75 to 62. If all goes according to plan, the gap between this A:B ratio should lengthen considerably over the next month or two, with A (hopefully) holding steady and B taking a 33% reduction.

* Two weeks till the Foxboro 10-miler and another six till the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon, two races which I am very much looking forward to. I'm feeling good about the progress of my fitness and do believe I'm ready to rip a couple good ones. Races, that is.

*Vermont City Marathon, May 27th. As the aforementioned Reino would say: Note it.

And that'll do it for tonight. A long-overdue eight hours of sleep is in order. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

So it’s kind of just a curiosity. I don’t have any crazy goals. I am just curious to see what eventually I can get out of myself. I have no idea how I will do at the marathon.
- Ryan Hall

Stupid is as stupid does

Anyone else think Forrest Gump resembles/sounds like Peyton Manning?

Sorry, that's insulting to Mr. Gump.

Go Pats, I mean Bears!

Quote of the day:

I'd like to get it. I like to get all the records.
- Craig Mottram

Crashing currently

I'm currently hungry, unmotivated and tired, so I think the logical solution will be to eat, watch TV and go to bed. Before I go, however, a quick shoutout to this speedy sunavabitch for shattering my short-lived Stonehill school record of 4:09.77 in the mile this past weekend at BU. Mr. Gill's 4:07.22 currently sits him atop the D2 rankings, and the scary thing is he's only gonna get faster. Good stuff continues to go down in Easton.

And as Mr. Carrara would say, that's all I got. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

To run 3:50, you have to train at that pace. Not 3:40-pace! 3:50 is 57.5 per quarter, so you need to be able to float at that pace. Training at 53 or 55 pace does not help on the 3rd lap when you get tired. You have to put in numerous workouts at the desired and attainable race pace -- and keep a training log.
- Jim Spivey

Uneven ratios

Sorry for recent lack of posting, but the proverbial man has had me tied down. Luckily, things are leveling off some — it looks that way anyway. Hell, I had my first complete day off today in 15 days, AND I have another one on Thursday. What the hell am I gonna do with my time?

Anyway, last week's mileage topped out at a six-month high of 75 with work hours totaling an even 60. The preceding 6 weeks' ratios looked a bit like this...

1/14-1/20 - 70:49
1/7-1/13 - 70:50
12/31-1/6 - 55:59
12/24-12/30 - 65:64
12/17-12/23 - 60:56
12/10-12/16 - 60:58

Good news is I'm feeling stronger every week. You may notice a bit of a 3 weeks up/1 week down pattern with my mileage which seems to be working out well. There is no such rhythm to my work schedule, however, but if anything, the craziness of holding down 2 jobs keeps me from overanalyzing my running. For now, it's a fair tradeoff.

As for specific workouts, there aren't many. For four weeks, I did a once-a-week basic hill workout prescribed by Kevin and a few fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants tempo runs. A couple races, some 20-30 second strides every now and again and exactly one track workout with 3 miles worth of low-intensity intervals pretty much sums up my last 20 weeks of training since coming off the stress fracture. No magic formula, just overall consistency and enjoying what I'm doing on a daily basis. Then again, that might be the magic formula right there.

Quote of the day:

What I’ve learned is why I look forward to getting out the door everyday. Those two years off had something to do with it. Things work out better when you treat them as they are. Running is just a sport, it’s no longer everything like it used to be. Now I can do whatever I want. There’s no limits — I feel like I’m unstoppable.
- Mike Smith

Poor planning

I failed miserably in my quest today to progress from 5:40 down to 5:20 pace at the Frostbite 15K in Raynham. As far as mistakes go, however, it wasn't too bad.

After a 5:24-that-felt-like-5:40 first mile, I decided to "not waste good time", as former Kenyan superstud John Ngugi would say, and maintain my effort level as long as it felt comfortable, which ended up being the entire 9.3 miles. I felt fantastic the entire way and I'd like to think I could have went another 4 miles or so without much added undue diress, but I'll wait for March 18 and the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon to see if that holds true.

For you number crunchers, the mile splits from my trusty Timex were as follows: 5:24.77, 5:16.14, 5:15.89, 5:23.93, 5:22.22, 5:17.71, 5:31.52 (hill), 5:15.39, 6:48.73 (5:13 pace for the last 1.3 miles, no 9-mile split) for a total time of 49:37 and a 5:19 average mile.

Although it deviated from the original plan, I was more than happy with today's effort. Placed me fifth out of 413 to boot, out of the money but good enough to win me a heavy duty, full-length ice scraper, which looks as if it will be getting a bit of use this week. More importantly, for the first time in about 2-1/2 years I'm feeling good, feeling strong and having fun. The fire's starting to heat back up again after smoldering for way too long.

That'll do it for tonight - a fine night I might add - as the Patriots booted by the Bolts and move on to face the Colts in an AFC title tilt next Sunday. Fitting, too, that the game was won on a field goal by Adam Vina, er, I mean Stephen Gostkowski. Hey, a Pats' win is a Pats' win. It doesn't matter who gets the credit.

Quote of the day:

At this rate, I'll be in a home in by the end of the year.
- Greg Ward, who is slowly losing it (read the quote closely and you'll see why)

Here's my plan...

...and I hope to stick to it. I've entered this race tomorrow with the goal of completing a 15K progression run in the following manner:

- 1st 5K @ 5:40 pace (17:30/17:30)
- 2nd 5K @ 5:30 pace (17:00/34:30)
- 3rd 5K @ 5:20 pace (16:30/51:00)

The idea is to get in a longer tempo-ish effort without completely thrashing myself. So why enter a race you might ask? Quite simply, it has to do with productivity. For me, it's much more effective to do such a workout in a race environment than to attempt a similar effort by myself. Banging out long runs, fartleks and interval sessions all by my lonesome has never given me much trouble, but without fail everything goes to shit when it comes to the one-man planned tempo run. Perhaps it's a mental block or some other undiscovered ailment, but a longer, steady workout with prescribed splits has never treated me well. For whatever reason, I'm much more focused when I'm around other people in a race atmosphere, even if I'm not actually racing. Make sense to anyone out there?

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about the progression of my fitness over the last 6 weeks, so I believe the biggest challenge tomorrow will be holding back if I'm feeling good. The only exception I'll make to deviating from the aforementioned plan is if I'm within striking distance of a top-3 placing with less than 5K to go. At that point 5:20-pace gets thrown out the window and it becomes a matter of winning back my entry fee. Call it the Road Whore's great dilemma.

Quote of the day:

Type:	Easy Run
Distance:	15 mi
Time:	1:33:00 (6:12 / mi)
Comments:	ymca track 113 laps

- From Casey Moulton's training log

How I spent my day off....

No, they're not mine, in case anyone thought I pulled a fast one. These two little monsters are my cousin Anthony's kids, 3-1/2 year old Sean and his 1-1/2 year old sister, Alicia, who my mom just happened to be babysitting today.

"Uncle Mario", as I'm inaccurately -- but affectionately -- called by the two of them, paid his second cousins a little visit today with half a dozen munchkins from Dunkin' Donuts. Well, the two of them were happier than pigs in shit and the three of us had a grand ole time this afternoon watching SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer and playing hide-and-go seek. Ahh, the joys of being young again...

That's it for now; I've gotta go hone my hiding skills. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

- Me: How many munchkins are in the bag?
- Sean: [Takes out a chocolate one and stuffs it in his mouth] Five, Uncle Mario.

Delectable domination

Photographic proof of me dominating the infamous Italian grinder -- don't dare call it a sub -- from Oliva's Market on my lunch break at PR Running this afternoon. Just how impressive was my maiden mangia-fest with this gargantuan greasepile encased in half a loaf of Italian bread? I finished the entire thing in one sitting, an accomplishment I'm afraid can only be fully appreciated by two faithful readers of this blog, namely Ryan Carrara and Mark Driscoll. They both can vouch for the greasy goodness that only this $3.50 mass-produced Milford marvel can provide. And believe me, it was well worth every penny.

And with that, I'm off to bed in an attempt to sandbag some extra sleep heading into what's already shaping up to be another wacky, work-filled weekend. Take it easy all.

Quote of the day:

Running is who I am. I feel like I've lost part of my identity without it. I'm determined to get it back.
- Michael Mann

Set me free

About to head home in a lil bit, but my day was just made that much brighter by a 65-year-old woman who came in here looking for the Nike Free to run the Disney Marathon in this weekend solely because her "daughter recommended it." Unfortunately, we don't carry the shoe, but in retrospect I should have referred her to my buddy Nate Jenkins. Now that he's a Saucony guy, perhaps he has an old pair of his beloved Nikes lying around. Oyyyyyyy vei. And with that, I'm out.

Quote of the day:

In my opinion, I had three factors: The first one was the physical part; I was very well trained. Second, I was mentally and emotionally relaxed; I was very tranquil. And third, it definitely was my day! Everything that I did to prepare, and all the sacrifices I made, all came together on that day.
- Marilson Gomes dos Santos

Crawling along

Slow day manning the fort here at PR Running. Granted we've only been open for 45 minutes as of the posting of this entry, I've seen only one customer walk through the door so far this morning and all he bought was four pairs of women's underwear. Yes, he. Sometimes it's just best not to ask any questions.

Anyway, it appears to be shaping up as one of those days, so stay tuned. If this snail's pace keeps up, I just may be able to squeeze a week's worth of entries in as little as a few hours. That's wishful thinking, at least.

Take it easy.

Let's get it started

Yes, those are man tights and yes, this is a recent picture. As recent as this morning, actually, in what was my first race of 2007. So far I'm (laughably) undefeated in the new year with a 26:25 win at the Freezer 5 in Sterling. The name of the race was fitting because I'm not sure I've ever been so cold in my life. With temps in the mid-30's, a steady rain and persistant wind, I came up with the bright idea of wearing a singlet, light gloves and the aforementioned man tights. No problems to speak of until 3-1/2 miles when my arms tightened like a vice grip. I imagine this is what rigamortis feels like. Luckily, the 'ol legs didn't experience any problems and I held a comfortable lead through the chute. The finishing time was in the ballpark of what I thought I was capable of running and, more importantly, I felt strong and in control while clicking off some fairly consistent splits. In case you're curious, said splits looked something like this: 5:14, 10:31, 15:45, 21:10, 26:25.

Overall, I'm happy with the effort and feeling good about where I'm at right now as 2007 gets underway. I'm still a long ways off from where I want to be, but I'm on the right track and confident that I'll get there. To steal a line from Billy Mills: "Believe, believe, believe."

And that's it for today. Happy New Year!

Quote of the day:

Be the dream.
- John Chaney

'Tis the season...

...to run with friends. It's been great, really, as I've only had to venture out solo a handful of times during the last 9 days. Last Friday was an easy hour with Hodge in Sterling before getting caught in the rain all by my lonesome on Saturday. Last Sunday marked a first for the weekly Carrara long run, as we fielded a full 7-person team for 92 minutes of nature romping through the Sudbury Town Forest. Monday's Second Annual Christmas Day run with KTGwyth went off without a hitch, and Tuesday saw a dandy little group parading around the Hopedale loop, with myself, the aforementioned KTGwyth, Mark Driscoll and Dan "The Man" MacKay all taking part in the fun. A couple solo shuffles through Auburn - including a hearty helping of hills on Thursday - took care of the next two days before venturing back to Hopedale on Friday, this time with Sean, Dianna and Driscoll, for 7 easy miles followed by the best brunch this side of 495. Yesterday capped the week with an easy 5 miles from the store after work and this morning was another solo shuffle from home to end the year on a high note, that being the fact I'm healthy and happy to be in good working order.

So that does it for '06. Due to a whole smattering of circumstances, this blog has taken a back seat in recent months, but I've decided that I'm not going to pull the plug on it just yet. Hopefully things will fall into place in the near future and that valuable ingredient often referred to as free time will resurface to some degree and my contributions to this space will be more fruitful than they have of late.

Thanks to all of you who have visited frequently, lurked quietly, contributed graciously and commented honestly over the past year. Your efforts are appreciated and didn't go unnoticed by this author, even if it seemed like I abandoned this project from time to time. You are what have made this experience enjoyable for me, so thanks again.

Until next time - and there WILL be a next time- take it easy.

Quote of the day:

A long December and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last.
- Counting Crows

Rocky Mountain high

Greetings from Colorado - let's cut right to the chase. Early highlights from my weekend trip thus far:

* Sitting next to perhaps the scariest, but most soft-spoken dude I've ever encountered in my entire life on the flight from DC to Denver. Turns out he's a holistic healer from Rhode Island on his way to Boulder for some sort of hippy healing seminar. Picture Mark Wetmore - ponytail and all - with a beard. Yes, it was really that frightening.

* For my first run at altitude Oscar took me to some trails nearby his place here in Lakewood. He told me "the loop" takes about an hour. He also warned me we would do a little climbing, but nothing too strenuous. 40 minutes and 1,600 breathtaking feet later we're at the top of Green Mountain as Senor Ponce proclaims, "That's Denver way down there." When I inquire as to just how high up we are, he laughs, "6,900 feet rookie. It took me 2-1/2 months after I got here before I did this run." Apparently, 2-1/2 hours was plenty of adaptation time for me.

* Dinner at a kick-ass authentic Mexican restaurant, complete with Mariachi band. I was the the token gringo among los Mexicanos, but got by just dandily with my limited Spanish vocabulary, including but not limited to: si, no, gracias y agua por favor. I was asked to refrain from singing, however.

And that'll do it for this brief edition; more to come soon. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

"I didn't want to discourage you rookie."
- Oscar, on his reasoning for not telling me about the 1,600 foot elevation gain on our run yesterday.

Still kickin'

No, this blog hasn't completely shit the bucket yet. It's on life support and I reckon it will hang on till the end of the year, at least. I vaguely remember Kemibe posting something about the inevitable downfall of undertaking such an endeavor, but since he's terminated any evidence of said claim, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, not much excitement to speak of since the last posting, unless you count working 64 hours in a given week exciting. Actually, it kinda was. The adrenaline rush of finishing up at one job and rushing to the other provided small moments of excitement, but by Sunday I was pretty wiped. On the running side of things, my planned down week fell in nicely with the unplanned temporary spike in work hours, so no real trouble to speak of there. And just as well, because it allowed me to take care of some minor Achilles niggles earlier in the week, which as of right now thankfully aren't presenting me any further problems.

Kevin has helped me map out a rough plan for the next few weeks which should bring me into the new year in pretty good shape. Hopefully by then I'll be able to piggyback some of my workouts off of Ryan and his Boston Marathon cronies as I get ready for the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon on March 18. That's the working plan as of right now and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Lastly, I'm off to Denver for the weekend to kill some vacation time, visit old pals Oscar and Carrie and make good use of a $133 Travelocity VIP round-trip special. It will be my first trip to the land of the Rockies and I'm very much looking forward to it. With any luck, I'll keep a journal and post it here when I get back. Keep your fingers crossed and it just might happen.

Best of luck to my New Balance teammates out in San Fran this coming weekend at Club Nats, as well as former Chieftain cross country teammates Sean and Dianna who are heading up from sunny San Diego.

And that'll do it for me. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

The fire is still there. That's the only reason I'm coming back.
- Jason Lunn