double-d mtn rnr

Week Ending 01-29-12

2012-01-30T18:02:00.002-05:00

I took it down a notch this week due to a very sore hip and the hope of running “fast” on the track. My hip is still sore and my time was in the range of what I’d hoped but not REALLY fast J

M – Lunch 4 in 28:44 (sore and tired from the 2 race weekend)

Out/back on the river 6 miles with Dan in 49:26

T - Lunch 4 in 27:33

PM track workout at the Dome with Dan 8x800 in 2:41

W - Lunch 4 in 28:49

PM Dan’s woods 6 in 40:38

Th - Lunch 4 in 27:46

PM Dan’s woods 6 in 39:46

F - 430am Industrial Park 5 in 38:21 (pouring rain and slushy road)

Lunch 4 in 27:32

PM Dan’s woods 6 in 40:54

S - 6 plus or minus with Petey and Dave La in 56:28

4 nice and relaxing run in 35:22

S - 3 warm-up, 1 mile of strides, 3.1 race in 16:52, 3 warm-down

Totals

Week – 80

Month – 357

Year – 357

Life – 114,430

USATF New England (and Northeast) masters track championships

2012-01-29T14:13:00.000-05:00

I decided to pass on snowshoe racing this weekend when I saw that the USATF NE masters would have a 5,000. It seems very rare to find an indoor track 5,000 and even more rare to find one for masters. I decided I had to take advantage of this opportunity. Oddly, even though I've run over 100 New England championships this would be my first on the indoor track.

I headed down to Providence and gave myself ample time. I got there early and found a good spot for my gear. Running the first event of the day made knowing when the start time would be a much easier task. I like not having to worry and just do my "normal" warm-up. Justin Soucy joined me on the track for a 3 mile warm-up. After that I changed into racing flats and did another mile with strides. I was feeling a bit tired and very nervous. My hip has been bothering me for over a week and I was worried about how it would feel taking 25 laps around the 200 meter track.

Just before the start I chatted with Sean Livingston to see what he was aiming for. I told him I was hoping to run 40 seconds per lap for as long as I could. He noted "maybe we can work together". About a dozen of us lined up and I headed out into the lead right away. We were just a bit slow the first 200 but I kept the tempo steady, although I didn't feel great. At 1200m Sean moved into the lead and the tempo increased a bit (my fastest 200 was from 1400-1600m). I couldn't quite go with Sean but kept running in the 40 second range through 3,000 meters (10:02.8). It was right around that point that the effort began to take it's toll and I slowed a bit. I was able to keep it together crossing the line in second place in 16:52. Sean won with a sub-16:30.

I'm happy with the effort. Going in I thought I could break 17 and my stretch goal was to break 16:50. I'll take it for a January race! On to the XC winter nationals in 2 weeks!!!

400m Splits:
1:21
2:40 - 79
4:00 - 80
5:19 - 79
6:39 - 80
8:00 - 81
9:22 - 82
10:43 - 81 (5:24)
12:06 - 83
13:28 - 82
14:51 - 83
16:13 - 82 (5:29.3)
16:52.2

January long gone by...

2012-01-27T17:50:00.000-05:00

January 1982 – 30 years ago

I raced a lot during my senior indoor track season at Billerica High School, including nine races in January. I started the month with an MVS and Lowell fieldhouse record for 2 miles with a 9:33. I was pushed by strong efforts from Scott Spence and Keith O’Brien as Chelmsford crushed us 56 to 30. I ran the anchor leg of our 4x400 in 57.4. three days later I ran 4:40 to win the mile as we lost to Methuen (at Methuen) 51-35. Teammate Jim Sullivan took second in the mile. Two days later I won the 2 mile race at Dartmouth with a school record 9:31.5 just out-leaning Pat Gilooly at the line. The following week we had two dual meets at Lowell. I did the mile/mile relay and 2 mile/mile relay as we won both meets in a close count (45-41 and 44-42). None of the times were spectacular as I was working toward some fast times at the State Meet. I closed out the month with a win at the State coaches meet with a PR and school record with a 9:25.1. I took the victory over Sean Coughlin with a 65 second final quarter.

1987 – 25 years ago

I only raced twice in January of my final year of indoor track at U-Lowell. I was on the 4x1 mile relay team with Jason Cakorous, Rick Dawe, and John Cotter. Our time of 17:13 still stands as the school record. I ran a PR of 4:10 for my leg. At the end of the month I took a shot at the school record for 2 miles (8:48) but came up short running a PR of 8:52.1 on the fast Harvard track. I took 5^th place at the Harvard invitational.

1992 – 20 Years ago

The big change for me in 1992 was joining the Central Mass Striders, my first race of the year was a tie with new teammate Larry Sayers. We ran a course record (still standing) time of 24:00 at the Freezer five. Ten days later I headed to Fresh Pond for the weekly 2.5/5.0 races. I was using these as tempo runs so that I wouldn’t have to run alone. My goal pace for the marathon was 5:10’s so I was hoping to tempo at something in the range. The first time out I did 8 miles in 40:56, passing through 5 miles in 25:29 for third place. Two weeks later I ran a 5 mile tempo in 25:38 for first place in cold (15 degrees) and windy conditions. In between the two workouts I went to Bermuda for the ADT 10k. I won the trip for taking first in the TAC New England Grand Prix series. I ended up taking 7^th place in 31:10 on a hot and windy day on a fairly hilly course.

1997 – 15 years ago

This year started well but ended with me out with a stress fracture that I continued to run on until it broke. I still have the screw in my foot. I kicked off the new year with a win back at the Freezer Five running a 26:51 in snow and 15 degree temperatures. A week later I was up at Dartmouth where I won the 5,000 in 15:06. Two weeks after that I closed out the month with a win at the Boston Prep 16 mile in a course record 1:28:49. Teammate and training partner Byrne Decker and I raced together through 13 miles where I was able to gap him and then hold on for the win.

2002 – 10 years ago

I had a reasonably successful January in 2002, with just one major disappointment. I started the year finishing second to Dan Verrington at the Hangover 5k in Salisbury. I ran 16:02 and Dan ran just fast enough to win (15:59). Next up was a qualifying race for the US Snowshoe championships. I headed up to Killington with Richard Bolt to secure a trip to nationals. Richard took 2^nd in 24:12 and I was third in 25:01 over a tough 5km course, some dude we’d never heard of won in 23:37 (I think he was a skier trying out snowshoe racing). The following week we headed out to Colorado for the so called “North American Championships”. The race was not the style of racing I was used to (you had to know the course to know when there would be fast running and when there would be very deep powder). I ended up a very disappointing 17^th place. A week later I hosted a race at Beaver brook and topped a field of 22 running 2.7 miles doing multiple loops around a field with just a hint of snow.

Workout

2012-01-26T05:12:00.000-05:00

Dan and I hit the Dome on Tuesday for the fourth workout in the ten week series. I was feeling beat from a weekend with two snowshoe races along with lingering bronchitis and a very sore hip. Dan noted that he was “feeling flat” after a weekend of no running. This would be our longest workout thus far, but the pace would be ‘reasonable’. The goal was to run 8 x 800m at 10k pace with 400+ rest. The rest is always odd at the Dome due to the unusual length of the track. Dan called our goal pace “optimistic 10k pace” or something like that.

We hit the track and did 3 miles warm-up and another mile with strides. I felt pretty terrible, flat, tired and sore. We alternated leading the 800’s and it actually went pretty well. We hit them all between 2:40 – 2:42, depending on traffic on the track. Mostly the effort felt okay, the first lap always felt easy and the last 1.5 laps was never terrible. The longish (2:20) recovery made it seem easy, well maybe easy is pushing it. After the workout we changed out of flats and did another 2 miles warm-down for a total of 11 miles in the Dome.

I felt okay but if asked to run a second or two faster I doubt I could have. I’m not sure if that is a bad sign as I’m hoping to run 80 second pace for the 5,000 this weekend. Maybe a few easy days will help me bounce back?

800’s Rest

2:41.0 2:24

2:41.1 2:25

2:41.3 2:22

2:41.8 2:47 (stopped to re-tie my shoe)

2:40.3 2:27

2:41.1 2:30

2:42.4 2:29

2:41.6 2:55 (extra to switch into trainers)

Constitution Hill 3.7 mile snowshoe race

2012-01-25T16:52:00.000-05:00

Snowshoe double – part 2

The second part of the first snowshoe season was a return to Lanesboro MA for the Constitution hill 3.6 mile race. I had a lot of fun at this one last year, taking it out hard in the 3’ of un-tracked snow and working with Tim Van Orden and Tim Mahoney. This year there was less snow but it was similarly untracked for long stretches.

I hit the road for a longer warm-up to loosen up a bit from the race on the previous day. After that I switched into snowshoes and headed out for another mile and packed out a little path where I planned to go at the start. The first kilometer of the course looped a big field and was essentially untracked.

When the horn sounded I immediately found myself in the lead, which was fine by me because it meant I could keep the pace slow. I threw in some fast running on a little snowmobile track but TiVo then went by when we got back in the deep snow. Tim M then took the lead for a little and we sat behind him until the loop was completed. At that point I took off at a pace I knew I couldn’t maintain but I wanted to put some distance on Tim (M). TiVo came along with me and very much like last year took the lead at 14 minutes in. By the time we hit the base of the hill he had 13 seconds on me. About ½ way up the 500’ climb I took the lead and he tucked in. I snuck a look back to see Tim M and Ross Krause (both CMS teammates) not far behind. Breaking trail is a lot of work! TiVo said he’d take over whenever I wanted and just as we reached the summit ridge I waived him around. He was off like a shot! The ridge was untracked but nowhere near as deep as last year. He motored away and I just tried to stay on my feet on stay in second place. Not much changed in the last ½ mile of descending and TiVo took his first win of the year and I took second. CMS took the first four places.

We grabbed a few other runners and headed out for a nice easy road run warm-down to close the books on my double-race weekend. Well, I still had over 150 miles of driving to go!

Weekend totals

Drive – 500 miles

Snowshoe – 15+ miles

Results

1 Tim Van Orden 32:58 m 43 CMS

2 Dave Dunham 33:40 m 47 CMS

3 Tim Mahoney 33:58 m 32 CMS

4 Ross Krause 34:18 m 32 CMS

5 Dave Merkt 34:23 m 28

6 Steve Dowsett 34:55 m 23

7 Rich Teal 35:08 m 33

8 Ashley Krause 38:16 f 34 CMS

9 John Agosto 38:37 m 47

10 Erik Wight 38:52 m 52

Car trouble

2012-01-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

This piece came off when I was trying to open my hood

It belongs here

Used a shoelace to tie the hood to the license plate and made it to the race

Whitaker Woods snowshoe race

2012-01-23T17:32:00.000-05:00

Snowshoe double – part 1

I headed up to North Conway for the second annual Whitaker woods snowshoe race on Saturday. It was the kick-off to the snowshoe season and the start of a long weekend of driving and racing.

It was 9 degrees when I arrived at the race site. I met up with race director and teammate Kevin Tilton and we headed out on the course. We ran the 4 miles putting the final touches on course markings to make sure everyone stayed on course this year. The loop was very fast groomed snow with a little single-track that was also well packed. It would be a good day for the fast guys.

At the start everyone bolted like it was a sprint. I was hurting and in 5^th place in the first 200 meters. I slowly caught up to Chris Dunn and passed him about ½ mile in, then got Danny F on the first climb. At the same time Jim Johnson broke away from Judson Cake. I caught Judson on the second climb and felt pretty good, but JJ was out of site now except on the long straights. I gapped Judson but he came back on the descent and caught me with about 1 mile to go. He really took off in the last mile and I didn’t have another gear. I worked as hard as possible and was rewarded with a third place finish and over a minute improvement on my time from last year.

After a quick change I headed back out to clear the course. JJ & Judson joined me which helped the time go by and made picking up the flagging a lot easier. I was fully in “bonk” during the final mile of clearing the course and was glad when we were done (and JJ gave me a coffee before I collapsed). 12 miles on snowshoes was a heck of a way to start out the racing season!

Place Time Name Gend Age Club Points

1 27:27 Jim Johnson M 34 CMS 100.00

2 28:25 Judson Cake M 34 Acidotic 96.60

3 28:40 Dave Dunham M 47 CMS 95.76

4 29:49 Danny Ferreira M 29 Acidotic 92.06

5 30:33 Chris Jasparro M 44 TNT 89.85

6 31:06 Chris Dunn M 43 Acidotic 88.26

7 31:52 Ryan Welts M 31 Acidotic 86.14

8 33:44 Dan Hayden M 25 81.37

9 33:53 Scott Mason M 54 TNT 81.01

10 34:22 Jason Massa M 44 Acidotic 79.87

Week Ending 01-22-12

2012-01-22T18:23:00.000-05:00

Another solid week despite a cough that I just can't shake. 90 miles, two races, and a track workout. Time to go easy and see what I can do on the track...

M – 8m with Dan, out/back on the rail trail in Georgetown exploring for future runs 63:58

       PM Winnekenni 5m loop in 36:10

T - Lunch 4 in 26:53
      PM Dome workout with Dan, 3 warm-up, 2 warm-down, 4x1 mile in 5:24-5:31 with 300 rest

W - Lunch 4 in 27:41
       PM Dan’s woods 6 in 40:26

Th - 430 AM Industrial park 5 in 37:40
       Lunch 4 in 28:07 (felt lousy)
       PM Dan’s woods 6 in 39:56

F - 430 AM Ind Pk 5 in 39:33 (3 inches of snow)
      Lunch 4 in 27:16
     PM Dan's road 5+ in 39:37

S - 4m in snowshoe setting the course at Whitaker woods with Kevin T in 44:24
     4m race in 28:42
     4m taking down the course with JJ & Cake in 46:51

S - 3.5 warm-up at Constitution hill in 29:05 then another mile in snowshoes
     Raced it in 33:37
    Warm-down on the road with Tivo, Tima, Ross, and ?? in 33:37

Totals
Week - 90
Month - 277
Year - 277
Life - 114,350

First win each year

2012-01-21T05:55:00.002-05:00

My win last week increased my streak to 34 consecutive years. In recent years there have been some close calls where I didn’t get my win until late in the year (latest was 11-04 in 2006). The earliest I’ve ever gotten my win is Jan. 1^st which I’ve done 8 times, oddly they were 8 consecutive years from 1990 ‘til 1997. Below I’ve listed my first win in each year.

09/24/79 2.40 14:21 Dracut – JV XC

04/14/80 1.00 4:43 Dracut Outdoor track 66/71/76/66

01/15/81 1.00 4:42 Methuen Indoor track

01/04/82 2.00 9:33 Chelmsford @ Lowell Indoor track MVS & Fieldhouse record, 2. Spence 3. Obrien

02/05/83 2.00 9:11 Colby/Bowdoin Indoor track Quintal 2^nd 9:12

01/14/84 2.00 9:16 Colby Indoor track

06/15/85 3.11 15:03 Bay state games Outdoor track

10/04/86 5.00 24:36 URI Invitational XC

06/07/87 5.00 23:45 AHEPA Road Race 446/941/1427/1911

02/07/88 3.11 14:29 NY versus Boston Indoor track Only 3 Entrants! 439/441/436

02/19/89 10.00 50:03 Tewksbury 10

01/01/90 5.00 24:47 Hangover classic

1/01/91 5.00 24:17 Hangover classic

01/01/92 5.00 24:00 Freezer five

01/01/93 5.00 27:10 Hangover classic

01/01/94 5.00 24:41 Freezer five

01/01/95 5.00 25:09 Freezer five

01/01/96 6.21 30:28 Hangover classic

01/01/97 5.00 26:51 Freezer five

05/24/98 4.30 25:29 Wachusett Mountain

01/24/99 16.00 1:26:52 Boston prep

01/22/00 3.11 25:53 Greylock Glen snowshoe race

01/07/01 4.90 25:03 Weary Traveler

01/26/02 2.75 17:39 Beaver brook snowshoe race

01/11/03 4.00 38:49 South Pond shuffle snowshoe race

03/20/04 3.30 21:43 Merrimack river trail snowshoe

05/03/05 2.85 16:03 Felton Frolic trail race

11/04/06 6.21 36:20 Jack London trail race

02/04/07 3.15 19:28 Fudgicle series

01/19/08 3.30 29:40 South Pond shuffle snowshoe race

02/28/09 4.60 38:32 Hawley Kiln snowshoe race

07/13/10 2.00 10:42 WCRC track series

03/05/11 4.60 39:20 Hawley Kiln snowshoe race

01/14/12 3.15 17:21 Fudgesicle series

Track workout #3

2012-01-18T05:21:00.000-05:00

Dan and I hit the Milford track for the third in a series of 10 workouts. This one looked pretty tough, especially coming off a "big" weekend (race and long run) and my hacking cough.

We did 3 miles warm-up, then 1 mile with strides before hitting the workout. 4 times 1 mile with about 300m of rest (the weird track size made the rest very short). We exchanged the lead every 1/2 mile to mix things up and had a solid run of: 5:31, 5:28, 5:28, and 5:24. Our rest was about 1:30. The warm-down was another 2 miles for a total of just under 11 miles in the Dome.

On to the next thing...

Week Ending 01-15-12

2012-01-17T03:56:00.004-05:00

A good week in the books despite catching a nasty cough from one of my co-workers. 90 miles for the week with a long run, a track workout, and a race. On to snowshoe racing next week!

M - Lunch 4 in 27:23, PM Dan's work woods 6 in 40:30
T - 430am Industrial Park 5 in 37:28, Lunch 4 in 27:07, PM track workout at the Dome
W - 430am Ind Pk 5 in 37:53, PM River out/back 6 with Dan in 45:51
Th - Lunch 4 in 29:33, PM Dan's woods 6 in 41:14
F - Lunch 4 in 27:45, PM Dan's woods 6 in 39:59
S - 3+ warm-up, 3.15 race in 17:21, 3+ warm-down all with Dan
S - 20+ run on rail trails with big group from Bradford to Salibury in 2:41:12

Totals
Week - 90
Month - 187
Year - 187
Life 114,260

In the sun but it was cold at the finish of the Rail Trail run, more miles than the temperature

Epic Train Trail run

2012-01-16T12:33:00.000-05:00

Dan came up with the idea of a long run from Bradford to somewhere via rail trails. I suggested a run that would end at the Winner's circle which would cover rail trails in Bradford, Boxford, Georgetown, Newbury, Newburyport, and Salisbury. Somehow we convinced another 11 guys to join in the fun. Temperatures ran from 6 degrees at the start to 12 at the finish. We covered the 20.5 miles in just over 2:40. The last time I did a run over 15 miles was nealry 6 years ago (not counting races), and so far I feel no worse for it.

Here are some pictures:

Tivo would have liked the stair climb section

Trying to stay warm at the 10 mile water-stop

One tricky section with ice

Joe and Dan at the Newburyport train station

Dismount

View as we crossed the Merrimack river

Done!

Fudgesicle 5k

2012-01-15T17:02:00.000-05:00

I've been running Fudgesicle 5ks (actually 3.15 miles) since 'back in the day'. I haven't run one in a couple of winters. This year we've had no snow so no snowshoe racing...so I headed over to Tewksbury on Saturday. The races are $1 and the course is marked and has mile splits, and results are posted on CR after. They always get a decent crowd and it is great to have the race done and head for home by 9 AM.

Dan V was planning on running 5:20 pace for 2 miles then easing up. I have been sick for the last few days and wasn't sure what I could run. My plan was to push the pace with Dan through 2 and if I felt good enough try to continue on. We did the course as a warm-up then did a couple of strides and we were off.

Dan took the lead about 1/2 mile in and I tucked behind him until we hit the mile (5:27). I moved to the front and kept the pace honest, Dan moved back in front at about 1.5 and I took over again just before 2 miles. I hit 2 in 10:53 (5:26), about 2 seconds up on Dan. The last mile was tough with a solid headwind and a slight up hill. I managed to close out in 5:46 (16:39) and 42 seconds for the final part.

In all I was pretty happy with a 17:21 and a win. Dan came in 30 seconds later in second. I figure the time would be a little over 17 on an actual 5k course, decent effort. The win gave me my 34th consecutive year with at least one win. The time is my fastest on the course as a master, my previous best was a 17:30 back in 2006.

1 Dave Dunham          166   1/4   47 M4049 Bradford   MA   17:21 5:35
    2 Dan Verrington       167   2/4   49 M4049 Bradford   MA   17:51 5:45
    3 John Rheaume         174   1/10 30 M3039 Lowell     MA   18:00 5:48
    4 James Sullivan        74   1/2   26 M2029 Chelmsford MA   18:05 5:50
    5 Liam Skinner         100   3/4   45 M4049 Lowell     MA   18:37 6:00
    6 Frank Georges        809   2/10 34 M3039 Lowell     MA   20:14 6:31
    7 Mike Hurton           96   1/8   53 M5059 Tewksbury MA   20:24 6:34
    8 Trish Bourne          76   1/12 47 F4049 Tewksbury MA   20:54 6:44
    9 Kali Langeria         93   1/2   19 F1519 New Boston NH   20:57 6:45
   10 Dan Beaulieu         172   3/10 30 M3039 Lowell     MA   21:03 6:47

2011 - Breakdown

2012-01-14T04:01:00.004-05:00

Ran over 3,800 miles for the year but on average only ran 5+ miles at any given time...

Month	Single	Double	Triple	Day off	>3 runs	Days	Total miles
January	12	11	1	7	0	31	198
February	7	17	4	0	0	28	299
March	10	16	4	1	0	31	308
April	8	20	2	0	0	30	347
May	6	23	2	0	0	31	368
June	9	15	6	0	0	30	317
July	5	20	6	0	0	31	337
August	6	8	15	0	2	31	418
September	5	9	16	0	0	30	417
October	10	9	5	7	0	31	184
November	6	14	9	0	1	30	390
December	8	14	6	3	0	31	289
Totals	92	176	76	18	3	365	3872

365	25%	48%	21%	5%	1%
Days
						Ave per day	10.61
	684					On days run	11.16
	Actual runs					Per run	5.66

Dome workout #2

2012-01-13T04:02:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday Dan and I did our second workout of the new year. The track at the Hampshire Dome is pretty active, but mostly you just need to watch out for kids (and parents) who exit the soccer fields that the track encircles. The schedule for this week had us doing 800/800/Mile/800/800 with very short rest (the 5 laps to the mile track makes for some very interesting and very uneven rest. We decide to aim for 2:42-2:44 for the 800’s (the goal was 10k pace but we felt that was a bit slow) and 5:25-5:30 for the mile. We were pretty much in the zone for the 800’s despite my knocking down a little girl during one of them. I did the same during the mile as I saw the kid but she jumped in front of me at the last second. I helped her up, asked her if she was okay, and sprinted down the straight to catch Dan. I guess the adrenaline was pumping as with hit the mile in 5:15. Dan said running on the track makes his neck sore because he has to actually look where he is going! J

Dome	800/800/M/800/800	with Dan
Interval	Rest	1/10/2012
02:45.6	0:42
02:43.2	2:27
05:15.2	1:49
02:43.8	0:45
02:43.7	1:08

2011 - County and State high points

2012-01-12T04:06:00.000-05:00

Eric and I did a little bit of traveling to pick up some state high points in 2011

States 6 (total of 40)

07/21/2011 Mt Elbert, CO 14,433 10 mile round trip with Eric 3:18

07/22/2011 Black Mesa, OK 4,973 9 mile round trip with Eric 1:31

07/22/2011 Mt Sunflower, KS 4,039 4 mile run with Eric including the summit 33:00

07/23/2011 Panorama Point, NE 5,424 Walk up with Eric

09/03/2011 Hawkeye Point, IA 1,670 6 mile run after parking at hp

09/04/2011 Charles Mound, IL 1,235 3m run from locked gate

Counties 30 - total of 176

By Year:

2011 30

2010 56

2009 37

2008 26

2007 12

2006 2

2005 0

2004 0

2003 3

2002 1

2001 0

2000 0

1999 1

1998 1

1997 0

1996 0

1995 3

1994 0

1993 1

1992 1

1991 0

1990 0

1989 0

1988 2

2011 - Mountains (top ones I ran up)

2012-01-11T03:55:00.004-05:00

Top climbs by Ascent total:

Rank Peak Name Gain Date Elev Mi

1 Mt Washington 4788 06/18/11 6,288 15.2 - Pulled calf at 5m

2 Mt Elbert 4433 07/22/11 14,433 10 - N Mt Elbert trail w Eric

3 Old Speck 3104 08/05/11 4,160 7.6 - Some very tough footing

4 Owls Head 2868 11/11/11 4,025 18 - LWT to FBT to OH slide

5 The Horns 2552 09/24/11 3,805 16 - Cool trek alone

6 Sugarloaf Mtn 2500 09/24/11 4,240 5 - Tough climb/long day

7 Mt Greylock 2088 11/19/11 3,488 14 - With Eric and Murdoch (dog)

8 Northfield Mtn 1883 02/25/11 1,083 5.4 - Setting the course

9 Northfield Mtn 1883 02/25/11 1,083 5.4 - Setting the course

10 Northfield Mtn 1883 02/26/11 1,083 5.4 - Race!

11 Northfield Mtn 1883 02/26/11 1,083 5.4 - Taking the course down

12 Mt Kearsarge 1820 02/21/11 2,920 8 - Nice run in the snow for sunrise

Top climbs by summit elevation:

Rank	Peak Name	Ascent Date	Elev-Ft	Notes:
1	Mount Elbert	07/22/11	14433	Great run to the State HP with Eric
2	Great Dune	09/13/11	8690	Tough sand run!
3	Park Point Lookout	09/12/11	8571	Walk up
4	Mount Washington	06/18/11	6288	Race to the top in 1:09:11
5	Panorama Point	07/23/11	5426	Drive up to State HP with Eric
6	Black Mesa	07/22/11	4973	Black Mesa trail with Eric
7	Sugarloaf Mountain	09/24/11	4240	My highest New England peak done solo
8	Catherine Knob	08/26/11	4175	Dirt access rd
9	Old Speck	08/05/11	4160	Run up/down the AT alone
10	Bigelow Mountain	09/24/11	4145	Run up/down the AT alone
11	Mount Sunflower	07/22/11	4039	3 mile run with Eric on dirt roads
12	Owls Head	11/11/11	4025	Awesome run with Al & Pals

2011 - some stats about races

2012-01-10T04:08:00.000-05:00

Most races in a year

Rank

1993 59 1

2006 57 2

1991 57 3

2007 49 4

1982 48 5

1992 47 6t

1981 47 6t

2009 46 8t

1980 46 8t

2000 45 10

1996 44 11

1995 42 12

2008 41 13

2011 40 14

2010 38 15

2002 34 16t

2001 34 16t

Most races without a win = 75

Longest stretch without a win Rank

05/03/05 11/04/06 550 1

03/20/04 05/03/05 409 2

07/02/97 05/24/98 326 3

01/26/02 10/27/02 274 4

12/12/2009 7/13/2010 213 5

05/09/09 11/15/09 190 6

3/5/2011 9/10/2011 189 7

2/2/2008 7/16/2008 165 8

Week Ending 01-09-12

2012-01-09T16:46:00.000-05:00

First full week of the new year found me on the track for my first workout at the Hampshire Dome and my first indoor track race in four years. 85 miles for the week. So far my calf is okay so I’ll keep on keepin’ on.

M – 8 with Petey in 69:47, later in the day out/back 4m on the River in 28:11

T – 430am Industrial Park 5 in 37:17, Lunch 4 in 28:15, PM Workout at the Dome 3 warm-up, 6x800 @ 2:41, 2 warm-down.

W – Lunch 4 in 30:25, PM Dan’s woods 5 in 38:12

Th – 430am Ind Pk 5 in 38:26, PM Dan’s woods 5 in 37:14

F – 430am Ind Pk 5 in 37:36, Lunch 4 in 27:46, PM Dan’s woods 5 in 37:11

Sat – 10 @ Petey’s some with Dave La and some with Petey…and some alone 1:25:40

Sun – 3 warm-up with Eric & Murdoch, race 1,500, warm-down, warm-up, race 800m, warm-down

Totals

Week – 85

Month – 97

Year – 97

Life – 114,170

Moving pretty slowly, post-800 meter race

Dartmouth Relays = two 40+ PRs

2012-01-09T03:58:00.002-05:00

This weekend marked the ninth time I hit the track at the Dartmouth relays in the last 31 years. This was the first time for both of the events I tried (1,500 & 800). I’ve been very lucky at Dartmouth picking up six wins along the way (including three in one day). I also set and broke the Billerica High School record in consecutive years. The 4x1 mile relay win in 1987 still stands as the U-Lowell record.

This time out I decided to run a very unusual double (at least for me) the 1,500 & the 800 meters. I’ve only run the 1500 once (in college) and the 800 twice (once in High School and one a year and ½ ago). I really would have preferred to run a 5,000 but they didn’t have one for either masters or open runners. The longest event was the 3,000 which was the last event of the day. The 1,500 was the first event so my decision was pretty easy.

I was a bit nervous but most of that was worry about how my calf would react. So far I’ve had no problems with the race and speed work I’ve done so off I went. I met up with Eric and Murdoch and headed out for a 3 mile warm-up. After the warm-up I switched into racing flats (no spikes) and headed around the track for another mile and some strides. The field was very small so there wasn’t any jostling as we headed off on 7+ laps.

I took the lead at 200m and tried to run an even pace. My goal was to run in the 4:40’s, I thought a really good day would be a sub-5:00 mile equivalent and would be happy with anything equal to a five-O anything. I slowly pulled away from the chase and built up a 3+ second lead with a lap to go. I went into my kick but that was essentially the same speed as my running up ‘til that point. Mark Coogan yelled at me with 100m to go “you better kick, they are coming”. Unfortunately I was already full-out and was caught right at the line, missing out the win by 5/100^ths of a second.

Eric grabbed Murdoch and we headed out for another 2 miles as sort of a warm-down, then I got back on the track for another 1.5 with a couple of strides. I was not really worried about this race but hoped to run even and maybe get a masters PR (2:29.9 in Amesbury in 2010). Another small group lined up for the 800 and we were off in a blur. By 200 I was alone in third place with the leaders 7-8 seconds ahead. It was a lot of fun and over before I could really get going! I came away with third place and a new PR by 3 seconds.

Splits

1500 meters
37.6
1:15.4	:37.8
1:53.8	:38.4
2:32.6	:38.8
3:10.7	:38.1
3:48.6	:37.9
4:26.5	:37.9
4:44.65	:18.2

800 meters
36.6
1:13.1	:36.5
1:50.4	:37.3
2:26.92	:36.5

All results from the Dartmouth relays

Date Dist. Time PL

01/10/81 2 9:41.6 6 PR and School record - Old record by Kevin Curtin

01/09/82 2 9:31.5 1 Won on a kick 2. Pat Gillooly 9:31.63. New School Record

01/08/83 1 4:18.0 R 4x1 mile David Quintal 4:28, Art Demers 4:24, and Joe Regan 4:30 = 17:40

01/10/87 1 4:10.0 R 4x1 mile Jason Cak 4:28, Rick Dawe 4:20, and John Cotter 4:14 = 17:13.4 UL record

01/05/91 1 4:20.0 R 4x1 mile relay with Brad Hurst, Gary and Artie. 6th place relay 420/430/438/450

01/06/91 1 4:20.6 1 Lots of pushing around 67/212/318

01/05/96 .99 4:12.0 1 Dartmouth triple 1^st race of the day

01/05/96 1 8:44.5 1 2nd race of day 30 starters! Barry Harwick 2^nd in 8:44.8

01/05/96 3.11 15:39.0 1 3rd race of day. 505/1005/1504

01/10/97 3.11 15:06.0 1 Felt lousy K splits 300/600/901/1204

01/13/08 3.11 16:28.2 9 Slow first 200 then on pace, alone from 200m-3400m.

01/08/12 .93 4:44.65 2 Lost by .05

01/08/12 .49 2:26.92 3 Pretty even, only one gear J

2011 - Workouts

2012-01-08T04:00:00.002-05:00

I did a total of 19 track workouts last year, which is the most I’ve done since 1992! I’ve found that if I do more than 2 miles of actual “speed” I end up getting hurt, hence most of my workouts are very short. I’ll take ANY workout because I only do workouts when I’m reasonably healthy so I’ll take this as a good sign.

Dan and I have started Indoor track workouts at the Hampshire dome. Fingers Crossed!

	6x400 with 400 rest						Total
Date	1	2	3	4	5	6	Time
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
04/07/11	1:15.1	1:15.2	1:14.6	1:15.3	1:13.9	1:14.7	7:28.8
04/14/11	1:14.4	1:13.9	1:13.7	1:12.9	1:13.8	1:11.5	7:20.2
04/20/11	1:14.6	1:14.2	1:12.5	1:13.2	1:13.6	1:11.2	7:19.3
04/27/11	1:12.6	1:14.5	1:14.8	1:13.1	1:13.2	1:12.1	7:20.3

							Total
	3x1000 with 600 rest						Time
5/12/2011	3:18.0	3:20.0	3:14.0				9:52.0
5/17/2011	3:13.5	3:14.0	3:12.5				9:40.0
5/31/2011	3:13.3	3:13.4	3:09.3				9:36.0

	2x1m with 800 rest
6/8/2011	05:28.5	05:26.4
7/27/2011	05:29.8	05:29.4

	4x400 with 400 rest & 4x200 with 200 rest
8/17/2011	1:13.7	1:13.6	1:13.6	1:11.8
	0:35.1	0:35.1	0:35.7	0:35.2

	Pinnacle treadmill test
1/20/2011	02:43.5	02:43.5	02:43.5
	Pinnacle treadmill test
1/27/2011	02:59.0	05:27.1	03:00.0
	Pinnacle treadmill test
10/27/2011	02:59.5	01:22.5	01:21.2
	3m "tempo run"
11/1/2011	16:28
	3x1000 with 600 rest
11/9/2011	03:16.7	03:14.6	03:14.3
	Pinnacle treadmill test
12/22/2011	5:59	02:43.4	02:43.8

	4x800 with 400 rest
12/27/2011	02:36.6	02:38.6	02:36.1	02:35.9

Long Run - next weekend (01-15-12)

2012-01-07T12:08:00.000-05:00

If you are interested let me know...

Mark you calendar for the little kahuna 20.5 mile epic run from Bradford, MA to Salisbury, MA on January 15.

This very flat course from Dan's house in Bradford to the Winner's Circle in Salisbury (211 Elm Street, Salisbury, MA) has a net drop of 67 feet. The course is a combination of road (6 miles) and trail (14 miles) with the longest road stretch on road being just over a mile. The trail is very run-able (assuming we get no snow).

Please let Dan (dverrington@aol.com) and Dave (dave.dunham@comcast.net) know if you plan on running so that we can set up a car shuttle. The plan would be to meet at the Winner's Circle at 7:30am and then carpool to Dan's house. Depart from Dan's house at 8:00am. Anyone who may be interested in shorter run please contact Dave and Dan for more information (this can easily be set up).

Course map : http://www.runningmap.com/?id=340592

Course breakdown:

Running Total	Terrain	Split Dist	Notes:
0.97	Road	0.97	Dan's house to dry section of trail
1.97	Trail	1.00	Trail to Quarry - bail to avoid river
2.76	Road	0.79	Quarry to trail
5.09	Trail	2.33	Nice long stretch to Georgetown
5.89	Road	0.80	Trail ends, short road stretch to connect with Boston/Newburyport line
6.17	Trail	0.28	Short trail section - bridge out
6.58	Road	0.41	Around the bridge out via Mill street
8.94	Trail	2.36	Back on the trail for a nice long section
9.15	Road	0.21	Another bridge out, into neighborhood to get around
9.29	Trail	0.14	Short trail section to Byfield center
10.67	Road	1.38	Road section to get over route 95
14.64	Trail	3.97	Longest trail section from Rt 95 to the Newburyport train station
15.00	Road	0.36	Connection to the Clipper City Rail Trail
16.00	Trail	1.00	Rail trail to the Merrimack river
16.45	Road	0.45	Crossing the Merrimack via sidewalk on Route 1
17.69	Trail	1.24	North on rail trail through the marsh
18.46	Road	0.77	Short road section to avoid neighborhood and cross Rt 110
20.17	Trail	1.71	West on the Ghost Train Rail trail
20.50	Road	0.33	End of trail to the Winners circle

Totals
6.47	Road
14.03	Trail

Shortest
0.14	Trail
0.21	Road

Longest
1.38	Road
3.97	Trail

Racing (December & 2011)

2012-01-06T04:02:00.000-05:00

Races

December was not a good month for racing (I didn’t race at all) but 2011 wasn’t too bad as I race 40 times. I only averaged 4.14 miles per race, a very low number for me. This was definitely an unusual year where I only ran 8 times longer than 5 miles. My longest race was 7.6 miles at Mt Washington! I hope to fix that in 2012 with some races in the 10 mile to ½ marathon range.

I had a pretty decent year setting masters personal bests (PR) at:

Mile – 4:57.9 (old best 4:59.9 in 2007)

6km – 20:17 (old best 20:22 in 2008) This is also a rare LIFETIME PR (odd distance)

4 mile – 22:07 (old best 22:20 in 2006)

5 mile – 27:49 (old best 27:52 in 2007)

10km – 34:28 (old best 35:04 in 2008)

I had some close misses on 40+ PR’s with:

2.5 miles – 13:23 (missed by 6 seconds, 13:17 in 2005)

5km – 16:34 (missed by 7 seconds 16:27 in 2008)

Mt Washington – 1:09:11 (missed by 3 seconds 1:09:08 in 2008)

I was top master 17 times, 2^nd master 8 times, and 3^rd master 6 times. I also took 1^st place overall three times which continued my streak of winning a race every year since 1979. In addition I took 2^nd place twice and 3^rd place overall six times.

Racing does not come cheap! I spent $470 on entry fees, $875 on lodging and flights, and I drove 5,118 miles (which at the government rate of $.55 per mile = $2,559.00). So added up it cost me $3,554 to race. On the plus side, I won $350 J

Worst race of the year = Hallockville Orchard snowshoe race, I was flat from the start and had no energy. If you race enough and put it on the line you’re bound to have a dog once in a while.

Best race(s) of the year =

Taking 2^nd in the masters at the USATF 10km trail championships was probably the high point of the year. I was also very happy with my 15^th place (56^th overall) at the USATF NE 10km road champs @ James Joyce Ramble where I ran a PR of 34:28, close behind that was my 34:38 7^th place overall (3^rd 40+) on the Track at the USATF NE 10,000 meter championships. My very short mountain running season was topped by a near masters PR at Mt Washington and a good battle with Ace Runner – Craig Fram. My final race of the year also probably ranks as one of my best, taking 4^th overall and top master at the Andover Country Club XC race.

Races everyone should try = The

Derby Street

mile in Salem MA is an absolute blast! Basically a straight shot with a little bit of drop. Before you know it the race is over, cool location and well managed. The Moose on the Loose relay in Nashua is a great team event. I ended up on a 2-man team which was a lot of fun. The Lynn Woods Relay is also a great team event, we went back looking to lower our team record but the slightly altered course and our older legs kept the record out of reach.

The new Winner’s Circle XC race at Pipestave (Newbury, MA) was everything you’d want in a cross-country race. The footing was good, the course was well marked, there was plenty of room to pass, results were posted by the time I’d finished warming down. Great job by the WCRC!

The Lone Gull 10k will be sadly missed. I ran the final version and was glad I’d done it a few times. Too bad great races like this go by the wayside and stupid “races” like the Warrior Dash succeed.

Looking ahead to 2012

This will be my ninth year in the master’s category and I’m hoping it will be a good one. I’ll be shooting for PR’s at the mile, 2 mile, 4 mile, 5 mile, 10 km, 12 km, 10 mile, half-marathon, and Mt Washington. Based on this year and my current fitness, if (and this is a big IF) I can stay healthy it isn’t unrealistic to go for a bunch of PR’s.

Track

2012-01-05T04:00:00.000-05:00

I hit the track with Dan for the first in a series of 10 track workouts at the Hampshire Dome. Hopefully I'll stay healthy enough to run these! I normally only do 2 miles of total speed (like 4x800 or 8x400) but the workout that Gate City Striders had listed of 6x800 at 5km race pace sounded pretty good. It'd be 2 more halfs than I'd normally do but at a pace 3-5 seconds slower than I'd normally aim for. We tested out the big track (5 laps to the mile) doing a 3 mile warm-up and avoiding the single digit temps outside. After another mile with strides we were ready to go. Nearly 50 folks broke up into 5k & half-marathon groups and those groups broke into small sub-groups to make sure the two lane track wasn't too clogged. Dan and I usually alternate so I took the first one. Joe from GCS blew by at 400 as we hit the first one in 2:41.2. He decided to stick with us and we'd alternate leading each half. As Dan noted 'it is a lot easier when you only have to work on two of them, all the others you just hang on'. We stayed pretty close to pace, or at least I did as Joe and Dan ran well under goal pace for the last couple. I was pleased with the effort and I'm looking forward to some more fun on the indoor track.

Note: Our rest was 483m due to the unusual distance of the track, so that made the rest slightly longer than ideal but only by 20-30 seconds.

6x800	Hampshire Dome	with Dan
Interval	Rest
02:41.2	2:26
02:41.3	2:28
02:39.7	2:24
02:41.2	2:28
02:38.6	2:36
02:41.1	0:59