James Joyce 10km

Looks like it will be a good day for the USATF NE 10km champs tomorrow.  Hoping it is a good day for everyone out there fighting the good fight!

Map of the course: with 102' of climb

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/32381026

 

Eric and Murdoch

Eric Morse and his young dog Murdoch will be racing this weekend at the Humane Race.

My favorite line from the race website:

• Bitches that are in any stage of heat are prohibited.

You never see that on a USATF application!

Good luck guys...

Track

This six week stretch is my longest consecutive streak of weekly workouts since 1990.  I guess there is something about moderation.  I thought a couple of weeks back that we had pretty much hit a plateau and the times since that week have proven that out.  Once we get by the 6km championships (May 8) it might be time to change up the workouts a little.  I like doing “K’s”.  Kilometers (1,000 meters or 2.5 laps) are a great distance; I feel they provide just the right mix of speed and distance. 

            6x400 with 400 rest                                                     Total    Total    Avg

Date                 1           2          3          4          5          6          Time     Change Change

03/24/11          1:17.9   1:18.3   1:17.9   1:18.7   1:16.9   1:15.7   7:45.4    -       -

03/31/11          1:16.0   1:16.5   1:16.7   1:16.9   1:15.2   1:14.9   7:36.2   9.2    1.5

04/07/11          1:15.1    1:15.2   1:14.6   1:15.3   1:13.9   1:14.7   7:28.8   7.4    1.2

04/14/11          1:14.4   1:13.9   1:13.7   1:12.9   1:13.8   1:11.5    7:20.2   8.6    1.4

04/20/11          1:14.6   1:14.2   1:12.5   1:13.2   1:13.6   1:11.2    7:19.3    .9      .1

04/20/11          1:12.6   1:14.5   1:14.8   1:13.1    1:13.2   1:12.1    7:20.3    1.0    .2

Track

It was hot and windy on the track yesterday.  Dan, Craig, and I alternated the lead on our 6x400 speed workout.  It was probably the toughest conditions this spring and I felt lousy.  Dan set the tone early with a very fast first 400.

72.6
74.5
74.8
73.1
73.2
72.1

Now a couple of easy days and off to the races...

Mt Washington Hall of Fame - class of 2011

The second class for the Mount Washington Hall of Fame has been announced!

From the official press release –

Derek Froude, the first person to run up the Mt. Washington Auto Road in under one hour, joins four-time Mt. Washington champions Mike Gallagher and Daniel Kihara this year as the 2011 inductees to the Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of Fame.  These three extraordinary runners will be honored this summer in a ceremony held at the base of Mt. Washington on Friday, June 17, the evening before the 51^st running of this all-uphill race to the summit of the highest peak in the Northeast.

Stats on each (from my records)

Derek Froude – A two-time winner and the first runner to break one hour.  He set the course record in 1990 with his 59:17.  Derek raced three times from 1990-1992 and his only defeat was a second place finish in 1992.  Derek also twice competed in the Olympic marathon finishing 34^th and 35^th place respectively (http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fr/derek-froude-1.html).

Mike Gallagher – Had four consecutive wins from 1968 to 1971, only Bob Hodge has more consecutive wins (five).  He ran a personal best of 1:06:13.  The world-class skier from Killington Vermont was victorious in all of his attempts.  He was a three-time Olympic cross-country skier (http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ga/mike-gallagher-1.html).  At the time of his second win he held two of the top three times.  His third and fourth victories were unprecedented.  In his final win in 1971 he took a 51 second victory over Amby Burfoot as the field topped 100 runners for the first time with 112 finishing.

Daniel Kihara – Had four wins in five attempts from 1996 to 2002.  His only loss was a sixth place finish in the weather-shortened race in 2002.  All of his times were between 58:21 and 1:00:06.  He has the single age records for age 28, 32, and 33.  He is the only runner in the history of the race with three sub-one hour finishes.

10km

I’ve only run a few 10km’s since turning 40.  It isn’t easy these days to find a 10km race!  It seems like everything is either a 5km or a half-marathon, not much in between.  I’m aiming for a 40+ personal best this weekend at the James Joyce Ramble.  I’ll be disappointed if I don’t break 35:00 and my stretch goal is to break 34:30.

Here are my 10km’s over the last 7 years, only two of them were “flat” two were mountain type races and BOF runs about a minute slower than a normal 10km due to the big climb.

 Date                                        Time     Pl         40+ Pl   Name

05/12/07 Ripton, VT                39:05   2          1           Green Mtn Hill Climb

05/03/08 Riptonm, VT              39:20   3          1           Green Mountain Hill Climb

08/09/08 Shelburne, MA         36:05   59        9          Bridge of Flowers (USATF GP)

01/01/08 Salisbury, MA      35:04  11     3       Hangover Classic

09/20/09 Gloucester, MA        35:17    70        15         Lone Gull - USATF NE

Kicking it in for a win at James Joyce.  Note the classy "Rat" shirt.

Week Ending 04-23-11

Not a bad week...another 80 mile week (five in a row), another good track workout, and another race.  I think I'm headed in the right direction and I'm certainly looking forward to the two New England Championships in the next two weeks:

James Joyce Ramble - 10km - 05-01-11
Medical Center - 6km - 05-08-11

M - Lunch o/b four in 27:21, PM River o/b & o/b 8 in 56:36
T - Lunch o/b four in 27:08, PM Dan's woods 8 in 57:04
W - Lunch River four in 28:48.  PM track workout with Dan and Craig (6x400 in 74-71)
Th - Lunch o/b four in 28:49.  PM Dan's wood 8 in 56:43
F - 430am Industrial Park five in 35:43.  PM o/b o/b River 8 in 58:25
S - 3 warm-up in 22:04, 1.5 more with strides, 16:47.1 5km, 2.5 warmdown in 18:14
S - 10+ with Petey and Scott S on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in 1:23:11

Totals
Week - 82
Month - 280
Year - 1,085
Life - 111,286

Top 5km's as a master

I've been fairly consistent as a master (this is my 8th year in the 40+ age group) although 5km isn't my favorite distance it is one that is easy to compare from year to year.

Here are my top 20 times as a master.  I suspect the Concord race was a little short, but it was supposed to have been a certified course...


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Rank	Time	Date	Location		Place	Field		Type	40+ Place
1	16:27.0	04/25/08	Concord	NH	5	255	NHTI Delta Dental	Road	4
2	16:28.2	01/13/08	Hanover	NH	9	11	Dartmouth Relays	I Track	2
3	16:28.5	09/24/05	Eliot	ME	35	961	Eliot Festival	Road	9
4	16:30.0	06/07/09	Lincoln	RI	60	420	USATF NE champs	Road	16
5	16:34.0	05/06/07	Westford	MA	53	613	USATF 5K championship	Road	12
6	16:34.9	10/02/05	Syracuse	NY	30	338	Syracuse Festival of Flowers	Road	3
7	16:35.0	06/10/10	Hollis	NH	13	685	Fast Five	Road	4
8	16:35.8	04/18/09	Ipswich	MA	4	284	Chase the Gorrilla down Arigilla	Road	1
9	16:35.9	04/11/09	Lowell	MA	6	10	George Davis Invitational	O Track	1
10	16:42.8	04/25/09	Greenwich	RI	2	505	Scott Carlson memorial	Road	1
11	16:44.0	04/16/11	Rochester	NH	3	238	Girl's Inc	Road	1
12	16:44.7	04/05/08	Concord	NH	5	270	SEA race	Road	4
13	16:46.0	07/08/05	Newburyport	MA	2	81	Pat Poletta	Road	1
14	16:46.0	04/07/07	Concord	NH	7	261	SEA	Road	4
15	16:47.0	06/01/08	Lincoln	RI	64	425	USATF 5k champs - Rhody	Road	16
16	16:47.1	04/23/11	Medford	MA	8	10	Tufts Invitational	O Track	1
17	16:52.0	04/27/07	Concord	NH	3	156	NHTI	Road	2
18	16:53.8	05/15/04	Exeter	NH	11	303	Fit 4 Kids	Road	5
19	16:55.0	04/02/11	Concord	NH	7	365	SEA race	Road	2
20	16:59.0	03/12/06	Nashua	NH	7	61	Freeze your buns series	Road	2

Tufts 5,000

Well, it was wet and raw at the Tufts invitational…but the wind wasn’t bad J

I had decided to race at Tufts when I found nothing that really jumped out at me as an interesting race.  I was hoping to run a season best, aiming for under 16:40.

I showed up extra early to make sure I had plenty of time to warm-up.  I’m glad I did, as the meet was progressing at a rapid pace.  I guess they had fewer entrants than expected and the weather was a big motivator to keep things moving along.

I headed out and did loops around the track and the throwing areas.  That way I’d be able to keep an eye on the action and make sure they didn’t get even further ahead of schedule.  I was race ready when the women hit the track for their heat of the 5,000.  I was not taking any chances that they’d combine heats (like they did the last time I ran a 5,000 on the track 2 years ago).  They did not so I headed out for another 1.5 miles along with strides.  I felt okay as we gathered for the start.

There were less than 20 guys on the line (and apparently a few were just “pacing” others and had no plans to finish).  At the end of the first turn I was squarely in last place.  I settled in with four guys from Tufts and we hit the 400 a little quicker than I wanted.  The pace then got closer to what I was looking for and I worked with the Tufts group.

They were running evenly, each of the four would take a turn at the lead of our group and the tempo would increase for 100-200m then slow as the next guy would move up.  I found myself anywhere from the front of the group to hanging off the back depending on who was pushing the pace.  It also didn’t help the pace that all of us would swing wide (lane 3) on the front straight to avoid the VERY deep puddle that took up the first 2 lanes.

I felt pretty decent through the mile but after that I struggled.  I ran fairly even splits, they were just a couple of seconds slower than I wanted.  The last 400 was my slowest despite trying to kick.  I guess I just didn’t have another gear.  Some days you feel great, some days you feel awful and some days you feel like I felt at this race (somewhere in the middle).  Oh well, it is just another stepping-stone toward my goals for the spring.

Splits:

77.3

80.3

80.1

80.0

80.0

81.0

81.7

80.1

80.8

81.5

81.9

82.4

40.0

16:47.1

Kilometer splits

3:17.6

3:20.1

3:22.7

3:22.4

3:24.3

Steeple jump or just lane 1?

Event 5  Men 5000 Meter Run
=========================================
    Name                           School                          Time

=========================================
  1 Gisore, Antoine            New England College   15:34.20
  2 Andrews, Tyler            Tufts                             16:01.20
  3 Ladd, Aaron                B A A                          16:23.20
  4 Haskell, Andrew          Tufts                             16:29.60
  5 Ndisabiye, Steven        New England College   16:34.70
  6 Antokal, Erik               Tufts                             16:37.60
  7 Lawrence, John            Merrimack                   16:46.30
  8 Dunham, Dave             CMS 40+                    16:47.10 
  9 Hutchinson, Samuel      Tufts                            16:54.50
10 Lewis, Peter                 Tufts                            17:03.70

Race

I'm heading to Tufts on Saturday to try and run a decent time for 5,000 meters.  I've only raced on the outdoor track 3 times in the last 15 years.  I've only run the 5,000 on the track once since 1987!

Here are my last two outdoor track 5,000's:

 

05-08-87 BC Invitational @ Newton, MA - 4th place in 14:11.6 (U-Lowell school record at the time)

04-11-09 George Davis Invite @ Lowell, MA - 6th place in 16:35.9

 

 

Track

Had another good workout with Dan and Craig at the P.A. track.  I felt a little better than last week, maybe the conditions were better?  Craig really has some wheels, I think he was under 70 on the last one.  I think I've pretty much maxed out.  My legs won't turnover any faster than this.  I think the change from week to week (shown below) pretty much shows that we've hit full speed.  It just feels good to get moving.  I'm really looking forward to the two Grand Prix races (May 1st = James Joyce 10km & May 7 = 6km champs) which are coming up fast!  Hitting the track this weekend for the Tufts invitational.

 

	6x400 with 400 rest						Total		Avg
Date	1	2	3	4	5	6	Time	Change	Change
03/24/11	1:17.9	1:18.3	1:17.9	1:18.7	1:16.9	1:15.7	7:45.4	-	-
03/31/11	1:16.0	1:16.5	1:16.7	1:16.9	1:15.2	1:14.9	7:36.2	0:09.2	0:01.5
04/07/11	1:15.1	1:15.2	1:14.6	1:15.3	1:13.9	1:14.7	7:28.8	0:07.4	0:01.2
04/14/11	1:14.4	1:13.9	1:13.7	1:12.9	1:13.8	1:11.5	7:20.2	0:08.6	0:01.4
04/20/11	1:14.6	1:14.2	1:12.5	1:13.2	1:13.6	1:11.2	7:19.3	0:00.9	0:00.1