Monday, November 28, 2011

Andover Country Club Cross-Country race

This was the sixth time I've run the Andover CC XC race and each year the course is slightly different.  The flavor is always the same, a mix of grass and paved and a lot of "rolling" hills.  This year I was really aiming for this race and took a (relatively) easy week.  I didn't run any triples this week and trimmed a few miles off my weekly tally in hopes of a fast run.

On Sunday morning I headed down to Chelmsford for a nice easy 5m run to loosen up a bit.  My plantar fascia was still very sore from racing on Thanksgiving.  It was great to break up the morning with an easy run on the rail trail with Dave La and Scott (and his friend) while Petey biked along.

I spent the rest of the morning trying to not be too nervous about the race.  Boy do I hate noon starts, too much time sitting around thinking about the race (never mind that I was running the race course over and over in my mind all week).  I headed over at 11 and met up with the Quintal brothers when I picked up my number.

Jim Pawlicki joined us and we headed out on the road for an easy three mile warm-up.  Last year Mike Q took fourth place, Jim took 7th and David and I were 8th and 9th place respectively.  Mike is back in good form after foot woes and Jim is also on the mend from plantar fascia problems.  David ran an excellent sub 28 at the Feaster Five so it looked like we'd all be out there mixing it up.  After our warm-up I changed into racing flats and did another mile with some strides to get the pulse (way) up and get a feeling for how the various parts felt.  Nothing fell off so that was a good sign.

I headed over to the start line and found a good spot in the middle of the fairway next to my CMS teammates and Nate Jenkins.  As is always the case in XC, people just blasted out at the start.  I went out in control, knowing the course very well and how hard the hills would hit if I red-lined early on.  There is a dangerous little bridge crossing and a 180 degree turn both in the first 200-300 meters of the race.  My goal was to safely negotiate both and then start moving up.  I was in 10th or so at the 180 then started rolling.  I focused on catching Jim and then slowly moved up and passed David in the first 1/2 mile.

Jim and I continued to move up as Nate was gone off in the distance and Mike had moved into third.  David flew by us at an amazing pace about 1 mile into the race.  Over the next mile I worked my way back to David and slowly edged ahead of Jim.  I caught David somewhere near 2 miles and clawed my way up into fourth place soon after.  Mike was well up in third and looked very strong, I was thinking more about how close DQ was behind me.  I knew if he was close with 1/2 mile to go he'd use his great kick to do some damage.  I snuck a peak on one of the turns and tried to keep moving.  Mike mentioned how he crawled up the final hill, but it didn't look that way to me...he really turned it on and was out of sight.  I CRAWLED up the final hill and tried to work that last 1/2 mile.  I ran as hard as possible right to the line and was happy to hit the finish (and the ground) nearly a minute faster than my time from last year.  David rolled in a few seconds later and Jim was not far behind.  The only sour note of the day was not fielding a complete team of racing team members from CMS.

Next up:  USATF convention in St Louis and a hilly road mile race in the shadow of the Gateway arch.

Here is the course map from the Andover CC race:
ttp://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/59269764

 Andover CC 3.5 Mile XC Race
                                                  Andover, MA
                                               November 27, 2011
 Place Div/Tot  Div       Name                 Ag S No.  City            St Team         Gun Time   Pace 
===== ======== ========= ==================== == = ====
1   1/44   M2039     NATE JENKINS               28 M    1 Andover MA         SAUCONY        16:53.59  4:50
    2   2/44   M2039     ERIC ASHE                   23 M    6 Boston MA                                        17:03.00  4:53
    3   3/44   M2039     MIKE QUINTAL         33 M  185 North Andover MA   CMS            18:14.20  5:13
    4   1/70   M4049     DAVE DUNHAM        47 M    8 Bradford MA        CMS                    18:43.00  5:21
    5   2/70   M4049     DAVID QUINTAL       48 M  203 Salem NH           CMS                      18:57.35  5:25     6   4/44   M2039     DAN LOUNSBURY     29 M    7 Cambridge MA       New Balance    19:10.17  5:29    
    7   3/70   M4049     JONATHAN MAY      42 M  196 Charlestown MA     SRR                19:12.37  5:30
    8   5/44   M2039     JAMES PAWLICKI      37 M  260 Beverly MA         CMS                  19:16.33  5:31     9   4/70   M4049     JOE O'LEARY                44 M    4 Medford MA         SRR                   19:20.73  5:32
   10   5/70   M4049     DAVE HANNON          40 M  214 West Roxbury MA    NETT        19:37.21  5:37
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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Week Ending 11-27-11

I dropped my mileage down a bit this week to "rest" for the two XC races.  Pretty happy with the results.

M - 4 at Lunch in 30:02 a bit sore from racing.  PM Winnekenni out/back 8 with Ken T in 59:18
T - 4 at Lunch in 28:44, PM Dan's woods 8 in 59:01
W - 4 at Lunch in 28:45, PM Winni 8 alone in 55:33...felt good
Th - 3 warm-up, 1 mile of strides, 5k XC race in 17:37, 4 warm-down
F - 4 at Lunch in 29:29, PM Winni 8 with Dan in 59:16
Sat - 8+ with Petey and Dave La on the Freeman Rail Trail, later nice easy 3 in 27:12
Sun - 5 in morn with Dave La, Scott S, ???, and Petey on the bike 41:30.  Noon race, 3 warm-up in 24:30 with DQ, MQ, and Dreamy-Jim in 24:30.  1m of strides then 3.5 race XC in 18:43. 3 warm-down in 24:44

Totals
Week - 86
Month - 357
Year - 3,550
Life - 113,751
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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Most raced on date?

Thanksgiving is a popular day for people to race, and I'm people.  Here are the most raced on dates for me and also the breakdown for Thanksgiving.

Rank
No

First time
Last time
1t
15
Jan-01
01/01/90
01/01/11
1t
15
Jul-04
07/04/84
07/04/10
3t
8
Apr-25
04/25/79
04/25/09
3t
8
May-03
05/03/79
05/03/08
5t
7
Jan-05
01/05/80
01/05/03
5t
7
Jan-18
01/18/82
01/18/09
5t
7
Feb-07
02/07/81
02/07/09
5t
7
Apr-18
04/18/79
04/18/09
5t
7
Apr-28
04/28/79
04/28/01
5t
7
Apr-29
04/29/81
04/29/07
5t
7
May-05
05/05/79
05/05/01
5t
7
May-12
05/12/80
05/12/07
5t
7
May-19
05/19/82
05/19/07
5t
7
May-24
05/24/85
05/24/09
5t
7
May-25
05/25/79
05/25/03
5t
7
May-26
05/26/83
05/26/10
5t
7
May-28
05/28/83
05/28/11
5t
7
Jul-08
07/08/94
07/08/07
5t
7
Aug-21
08/21/83
08/21/11
5t
7
Sep-15
09/15/80
09/15/06
5t
7
Sep-17
09/17/79
09/17/05



Thanksgiving
DateLocationDistTimePlField
11/24/88BostonMA5.0025:30122400Jordan Marsh
11/26/92AndoverMA4.9625:3233060Feaster five
11/25/93AndoverMA4.9624:1753167Feaster five
11/23/95AndoverMA4.9624:0728000Feaster five
11/28/96AndoverMA4.9624:3813010Feaster Five
11/26/98AshburnVA6.2130:483450Thanksgiving race
11/23/00AndoverMA4.9625:1432749Feaster Five
11/27/03NewburyportMA3.1117:5214755Winners Cicrcle XC
11/25/04NewburyportMA3.1117:094644Winners Cicrcle XC
11/23/06NewburyportMA3.1117:4515884Winners Cicrcle XC
11/22/07NewburyportMA3.1117:2914958Winners Cicrcle XC
11/26/09NewburyportMA3.1117:26121200Winners Cicrcle XC
11/25/10NewburyportMA3.1117:3761500Winners Cicrcle XC
11/24/11NewburyMA3.1117:373482Winners Cicrcle XC
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Friday, November 25, 2011

Winners Circle XC race

On Thanksgiving I headed over to Newbury for the Winner’s Circle 5k 22nd annual XC race.  This was the first year that the race would be held on a new course.  I had checked out the course previously and found it to be an excellent (if tough) course.

I headed out 50 minutes before the start and ran over the course.  There were very few wet spots despite the rain from the previous day.  There was a little bit of ice and temperatures were right around freezing.  I felt pretty decent warming-up but was nervous about the start.  Mass start XC races tend to be very fast and I don’t like to (or I’m not able) to go out that fast.  I wanted to make sure I got out and didn’t get tripped up.  Fortunately the course was very wide and there would be plenty of room to pass.  I headed back to the car and changed into racing gear and my Inov-8 212 trail shoes.  The grip would come in handy for taking sharp turns and getting up/down the hills.  I did another mile of running with some strides and headed for the line.

Nearly 500 runners were gathered and after some brief instructions we were off.  I stayed on my feet in the first 100m and found myself in the top 10 by the first turn.  By 200m into the race I was in third place with youngster Dan McColley leading the way.  As I drew even with McColley (who wished us all good luck as we passed him) Tim Murtagh and Mark Coogan both pulled up along side me.  As we headed up the first hill we formed a lead group of three.  I stayed with them until just after the mile when Murtagh surged and I was all-out and could not follow.  Coogan settled into second place and not much would change the rest of the way.  I glanced back around two miles and saw that I was well up on the next runner so there really was no reason to hold back.  I ran as hard as I could but Murtagh and Coogan continued to pull away.  The last mile was tough with one steep short hill and another little incline just before the 3 mile mark.  I was happy with the effort and the result, a third place finish.  I immediately headed back out on the course and ran back to cheer on the DRC including mom who was looking strong when I saw here with less than a mile to go.  I added an extra mile in before heading over to the awards ceremony.  The Winner’s Circle had things moving along and 1 hour after the race started the results were posted and awards were being handed out.  I got a pleasant surprise winning $50 for my third place. 

Wild Turkey Cross Country 5K
Nov 24, 2011 Newbury, Massachusetts
=================== == = ===== ================== ========== =====
    1   1/43   M1829  Tim Murtagh         20 M   356 Rowley MA            16:48.78 
    2   1/52   M4049 Mark Coogan         45 M   522 Exeter NH            17:18.55 
    3   2/52   M4049 Dave Dunham        47 M   155 Bradford MA         17:37.05 
    4   1/37   M0117   Dan McColley        14 M   537 Brentwood NH       18:40.28 
    5   2/43   M1829  Ben Chase              19 M   517 Newmarket NH     18:45.05 
    6   1/53   M5059  Bill Solimine           51 M   554 W Newbury MA    18:53.81 
    7   3/52   M4049  Alexander Bruskin 43 M   118 New York NY        19:06.53 
    8   1/36   M3039  Curtis Moore          30 M   158 Gorham NH          19:24.05 
    9   2/37   M0117  Alex Chase              16 M   515 Newmarket NH    19:30.80 
   10   3/43   M1829  Matthew Valli         23 M    11 Newbury MA         19:35.05 

Next up: Sunday I’ll head to the Andover Country club for the 32nd annual Cross-Country race.
Finishing shot by Richie Blake

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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Yes, even more stats...

Wins by location

More stats!  Here are my top 20 wins by location.  The win in Lowell last weekend was my 37th win in “The Spindle city”.  That leads the list.  Of course, the places I raced a lot have higher odds of having more wins. 

  Location            St            No.            First                 Last                  Notes
1 Lowell             MA            37            09/30/80          11/20/11            9 GLRR 2m series & 4 EastEnd Club
2 Worcester      MA            23            02/14/88            12/12/09          15 CMS series 5k races
3 Methuen         MA            15            05/07/80          11/01/98            10 HS Indoor track
4 Tewksbury     MA            13            04/23/80            02/04/07          7 Fudge-series races
5 Billerica         MA            12            09/29/79            04/29/07          7 HS XC & 4 HS Track
6 Boston            MA            10            11/14/81           10/08/00 Includes biggest field (3121) and longest race 62.2
7t Andover        MA            9            09/15/80            03/20/04          4 @ The Merrimack River Trail
7t Chelmsford   MA            9            04/29/81            07/05/99          5 Fourth of July
7t Derry           NH            9            01/01/90          01/21/01            3 Derry 16m
10 Hanover       NH            8            01/09/82            01/10/97          6 @ Dartmouth Relays
11 Londonderry NH            7            10/21/89            03/12/95         
12t Haverhill     MA            6            04/17/82            12/25/08          Sapienza twice
12t Sterling      MA            6            01/01/92            01/01/97          4 Freezer five
14t Cambridge  MA            5            01/24/82            03/18/95          3 Fresh Pond wins
14t Concord     NH            5            09/13/87            02/26/95          3 Penacook
14t Hawley      MA            5            03/04/00            03/05/11           3 Hawley Kiln
14t Hollis        NH            5            10/06/90            01/26/02          4 Applefest 1/2
14t Lynn          MA            5            02/02/91            07/16/08          3 Lynn woods & 2 Stew Chase
14t Nashua      NH            5            07/27/88            07/29/07          2 freeze your buns series
20t Fitchburg  MA            4            04/07/84            07/27/94          2 CMS series
20t Reading     MA            4            09/28/81            06/15/85          3 in one day at Bay state games
20t Wilmington MA           4            10/09/79            09/25/81           All HS outdoor track
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