Sort of about biking

I don't usually recommend movies or such in my blog but...

I'd read this book while biking a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.  I recently discovered that it was also a movie, so I added it to my Netflix queu.  Great book and really interesting documentary with a lot of laughs.

Long Way Round



2004TV-MA3 discs


A sort of Motorcycle Diaries for the Hollywood set, this documentary miniseries chronicles the cross-continental adventures of actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they set out on their BMW bikes to travel round the world. Embarking from London and arriving 115 exhausting days later in New York, the duo tackles 20,000 miles of tough terrain, explores offbeat destinations and takes in colorful local culture.

Go Pats!

Eric and I have seen a Patriot's game almost every year since 2001.  We have never seen the Pat's lose...

 

12/22/2001	Patriots 20	Miami 13
12/27/2003	Patriots 31	Buffalo 0
12/17/2005	Patriots 28	Tampa Bay 0
12/17/2006	Patriots 40	Houston 7
12/23/2007	Patriots 28	Miami 7
11/9/2008	Patriots 20	Buffalo 10
1/2/2011	Patriots 38	Miami 7
12/24/2011	Patriots 27	Miami 24

 

Long run

“Long” runs

I’m not sure exactly how to define a long run, but for me anything over 8 miles is a long run.  I’ve found what keeps me reasonably healthy and one of the lessons I’ve learned is that when I start consistently running longer than 8 miles I get injured.  It must be something to do with running more than an hour at any one time.  I’ve also found that I can do some decent weekly mileage if I break my days into multiple runs (more on that in another post).  Anyway, this year I’ve only run 18 times at 10 or more miles. 

13 – 10 mile

1 – 11 mile

2 – 12 mile

1 – 13 mile

1 – 14 mile

The weird thing is that three of those were consecutive days last week.  It just worked out that way.

I’m planning a 20+ mile run in January but other than that I have no plans to run any “long” runs in the near future, although I am planning on racing a couple of half-marathons soon…

Back on track

Yesterday I stepped back onto the Phillips Andover track to see if my calf is ready for some racing.  Dan and I headed out to the track in 40 degree temps and a 10-20 mph wind.  So much for it being “mostly sunny and 49 degree” on weather.com.  We ran 2 miles to the track and added another mile with strides on the track to get loosened up and ready for the workout.  The plan was 4 x 800 in 2:40 (give or take) with Dan and I alternating the lead on each half.  Dan took the first one and ran a very even 2:36.6, the rest (400) was a little slow 2:15 but it felt right.  I must have fallen asleep from 200-400 on the second one and we hit the quarter in 81+.  Yikes!  I upped the tempo and our second one was 2:38.6.  2:06 for the 400 rest and Dan was back in front running another very even 2:36.1.  Our rest was a bit longer as Dan had to take a quick break in the woods.  3:11 later I was back in the lead for the final 800.  This one was much more even, although Dan mentioned after that on both laps I seemed to slow up from 200-300.  Anyway the final one was 2:35.9, and off we were for the run back with an additional loop in the cemetery.  My calf held up fine in the workout and I’m hoping it will feel okay going forward.  If all is well, I’ll race on New Years day.

Haverhill "rail trail" run

Dan and I are planning our version of an 'epic' run. I suggested a course that I've run parts of and even biked the entire length once. We decided that this weekend would be a good time to check out the first half of the course. We met up on Monday and dropped a car out in Byfield (a CDP in Newbury) - http://massachusetts.hometownlocator.com/ma/essex/byfield.cfm and then drove back to Dan's to see if anyone would join us. No one else joined the fun so we headed out just before sunrise.

The first mile was on road as the abandoned rail trail that runs along the Merrimack River had a couple of low spots that are currently flooded. We hit the trail for about a mile running behind the now capped land-fill. We had to exit the trail due to high water (and no bridge) over Johnson Creek and headed out via the old quarry. It was a short detour that had us back on the rail trail on one of the nicer sections. Smooth dirt, no climbs, no turns. We were also aimed right toward a spectacular sunrise. The running was fine and we made our way toward downtown Georgetown. The trail dies out in a housing development and we hit Route 97 for a half-mile. Then we turned north (at Townsend Oil) and connected with the old Boston to Newburyport line. We were stymied by an un-crossable stream that flows into Pentucket Pond. This one had a short gap and deep water, nothing we could jump. We had to backtrack just a bit to get around this and back on the trail at Mill street. This got us onto another great section of the trail that was perfect for running. Right near the end of the trail we had to bail to go around another stream and then we exited the trail at Byfield post office. The trail actually continues right up to the highway but Jim Pawlicki and I had discovered a few years ago that there was no good way to cross the highway at that point. Instead we headed east over Route 95 then turned onto Fruit street where we'd left the car. All in all we covered about 12 miles, with a little out/back at the end.

The goal of scouting the first half left us with a positive feel that this could be a fun run. I'll have to check out the section from Byfield to Newburyport but I believe that it is all very run-able and has no impediments. The rest of the route will head into the Martin H Burns Wildlife area, hook back up with the rail trial to the Newburyport MBTA station then continue on the rail trail north to the Merrimack river (crossing via Route 1) then back on the trail until just after Route 110 when we'll turn west and finish on the ghost train trail.
Looking forward to a long run sometime in the near future!

Route for the rail trail:
http://www.runningmap.com/?id=339383

Week Ending 12-25-11

Starting to feel decent, slowly getting back...

M - 430am Industrial Park 6 in 45:03, Lunch 4 in 26:54, PM Physical Therapy
T - 430am Ind Pk 5 in 36:38, Lunch 4 in 25:54 (!!!!), PM Dan's woods 5 in 37:01
W - 430am Ind Pk 5 in 36:42, Lunch 4 in 25:51 (!!!!), PM Dan's woods 5 in 37:24
Th - Lunch 4 in 27:36, PM 5 at PT on Treadmill including 5:59 mile & 2x800 in 2:43 - 33:09
F - 5am 3+ with Petey and Dave La in 29:23, Lunch 4 in 29:29, PM River 8 with Ken T & J2 in 57:33
Sat - Various trails at Maudslay with Woody, Ken, Dan, Greg P, and Derek - 1:20:26
Sun - River trail 10+ with Dan in 1:19:00

Totals
Week - 82 miles
Month - 214
Year - 3,797
Life - 113,998

Guess what Eric got me for Christmas!

Workout

I had my final appointment at Pinnacle PT yesterday.  As is usually the case I try to do a test run to see how my injury feels at a faster pace.  Since last week I've been running quicker at lunch and I've gotten down to 620's for four mile and felt fine.

I hit the treadmill after treatment and started with a 1.5 mile warm-up (10:58), then
1 mile - 5:59
400 rest - 1:57
800 - 2:43.4
400 rest - 1:58
800 - 2:43.8
1 mile warm-down - 6:50
Total 5 miles in 33:09

Next up: some easy running and another test on Tuesday.

Shortest day - Longest run

Well it is the shortest day which got me thinking about my longest run on this the first day of winter.   Since 1978 I've only only had a dreaded zero on Dec. 21 four times.  My longest "days" were the 16 miles in 1987 and 2000.  1987 was a rare triple and 2000 was a not rare triple of Industrial park 4, lunch run 5 and a 7 mile from home.  Note that I'm still doing the lovely industrial park loop. This was during a 102 mile week.  The 15 miles in 2002 was my longest single run.  I ran the Watertower 10 with Mark Behan and then continued on my own doing the Industrial Park 5 (in 32:28!) total time for the run was 1:42:38.

Dist	Year
4	1978
8	1979
4	1980
7	1981
10	1982
10	1983
0	1984
0	1985
10	1986
16	1987
12	1988
13	1989
13	1990
12	1991
13	1992
11	1993
11	1994
13	1995
10	1996
4	1997
13	1998
7	1999
16	2000
10	2001
15	2002
10	2003
0	2004
5	2005
0	2006
13	2007
11	2008
8	2009
10	2010

Week Ending 12-18-11

Finally feeling a little better, PT must be helping.  Also, got some good ideas on ways to maybe avoid this injury in the future.  Onward...

M - Lunch 3 in 24:38, PM Dan's road 5 plus an extra mile in 49:39
T - 430am Industrial Park 5 in 40:12, Lunch 4 in 31:46, PM PT @ Pinnacle
W - 430am Ind Pk 5in 39:40, Lunch 4 in 31:56, PM massage @ Salem Massage
Th - 430am Ind Pk 5 in 39:09, Lunch 4 in 30:58, PM PT
F -  430am Ind Pk 5 in 39:47, Lunch 4 in 29:24, PM Dan's road 5 in 38:41
Sat - 7am 2+ with Petey into 6- more with Dave La total 8 in 65:18, PM River out/back 4 in 28:43
Sun - 730am Winnikenni 8 (plus a little more) with big group in 67:46

Totals
Week - 70
Month - 132
Year - 3,715
Life - 113,916

Looking back - Billerica High & U-Lowell

Looking back as December long gone by…

30 Years ago

I started my final indoor track season at Billerica High with two races and the anchor leg in a relay.  I started the season with a 1^st place in the mile in a meet against Haverhill high (we lost 36-50).   I ran 4:32 with splits of 65/68/71/68.  A week later we were back at the Methuen field house for the Methuen Invitational where I won the mile in 4:28.2 which at the time was a meet and field house record.  I finished the day anchoring our mile relay team running 58 seconds for my leg as we took 6^th place in 3:53.1

From my High School traing log.  Wow!  Lots of fast running!

25 Years ago

I ran just one race in December of 1986 taking 2^nd place at the Harvard invitational.  I ran the 5,000 meters in 14:15.6 and noted in my training log that I “Felt Great (for 2 miles)!”.  Splits of: 4:37, 4:39, 4:32 and :27.

Looking back

20 Years ago

Three races in December of 1991, one was a relay and one was a workout at a race.  I started the month with a 5 mile race in Brockton (part of the Hockomock Swamp Rat series).  Mike Woodman and I were together for the first 2 miles before I pulled away for the win in 24:44.  Woody took second with a fine 25:17.  Two weeks later I ran a 5.16 mile leg in the Whitinsville relay.  We finished 2^nd to a CMS team (1:13:20 to 1:15:33), and I ran 25:52 to run the fastest time on my leg.  I finished the month with a visit to the Fresh Pond race.  These races are a Cambridge tradition with people turning up to run either the 2.5 or the two loop 5 mile course.  I was using it as a tempo run in preparation for the Olympic trials marathon.  My goal was marathon pace for 7.5 miles.  I ran through 5m in 25:37 to take first in the 5 mile and continued on alone for another lap.  My 2.5 mile splits were: 12:42, 12:56, 12:59.

From the HSR archives

Earliest Sunset

We still have another week until the “shortest day” but as of today we start having a later sunset!  Yesterday’s sunset was at its earliest (4:10 PM) which it had been since December 6^th, the daylight hours were shorter because of a later sunrise.  Since I run well before sunrise I don’t really care about what time sunrise is but running in the woods after work means paying attention to sunset times (it is also a well known fact that Zombie activity is much higher during nighttime hours and my opposition to Zombies is well documented).

So here’s to the later sunsets!  By December 31 the sunset will be 10 minutes later (4:20 PM) which at current running pace means an extra mile (or so) of running.

Sunrise/sunset calculator: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

 

Looking back

15 Years ago

I only raced once in December of 1996 but it was one of my better races to date.  I headed down to Huntsville Alabama for the Rocket City Marathon which I’d run a couple of times before.  I started “slowly” in a pack of 15 runners for the first 5 then into the top 10 by the ½ marathon.  I moved into the top 5 at 16 and although I “bonked” at 21 miles I was able to keep an even pace and take 2^nd place overall in 2:19:50.  I ran very even with the first half covered in 69:51 and the second 13.1 miles in 69:59 which makes that the most even I’d ever run a marathon.  This ranks as my second fastest marathon.  Dan had an excellent run with his 2:22:38 and Dave Weatherbie closed out the CMS scoring with a 2:36.

Week Ending 12-11-11

Ugly, ugly week...which makes it two in a row.  Working my way back very slowly.

M - Physical Therapy at Pinnacle.  PM 30 min bike.
T - AM bike 30, PM bike 60
W - AM bike 60, PM PT then bike 30
Th - AM bike 60, PM 4m out/back on the River in 33:58
F - AM bike 60, PM Dan's woods 5m (a little too fast) 41:37
S - AM bike 60 then 5m at Petey's 3 with Petey in 30:00 then 2 more with Dave La total 48:20
S - Winni 5m with Ken Tripp, felt a bit better - 41:47, then bike 60

Totals
Bike - 6 hours
Run - 19 miles

Action Dave sits on the foot of his creator - Ken Tripp

December races

I was surprised to read in Mike Quintal’s blog that his recent finish at the Mill City Relays was his first race EVER in December.  Of course that got me thinking about my stats.  I already track how many races per month but hadn’t figured out grand totals by month.  So I knew that the most races I’d ever done in December was 7 (in 2007) and I also knew by total number of races which months I’d done the most races in (11 in May of 1982).  What I didn’t know was how many races I’d done for ALL Decembers, so that is what I compiled.  I’ve run 1,162 races and hope that I’ll be over this most recent calf/Achilles injury to race again before THIS December is over.

Full stats by month below but here are some of the take-aways…

May is my most raced month with 138 races.

December is the least raced month with 76 races

I have my most wins in January with 47

I have my most PR’s (personal records) in both May and September

Road races lead the list in almost all months, the exceptions 45 Indoor track races in January, 51 Mountain races in June, and

44 XC races in November.

The most miles raced would be 834.69 in October (which makes sense with a lot of Marathons).

The fewest miles raced was December with 375.48

The lowest average miles per race was January with 3.51 miles (a lot of those were ¼ miles run in relays indoors)

 

Month	#	Dist.	Avg	PL	PR	CR
January	118 races	413.99 miles	3.51 miles	47 wins	33 PR	11 CR	45 Indoor, 37 road, 34 snowshoe, 1 XC, 1 Trail
February	107 races	526.51 miles	4.92 miles	37 wins	28 PR	11 CR	42 road, 35 snowshoe, 29 Indoor, 1 XC
March	76 races	635.37 miles	8.36 miles	27 wins	15 PR	10 CR	45 Road, 19 snowshoe, 5 Trail, 2 Indoor, 2 Outdoor, 1 XC
April	100 races	549.44 miles	5.49 miles	25 wins	34 PR	9 CR	49 Road, 38 Outdoor, 11 Trail, 1 Indoor, 1 Mountain
May	138 races	603.52 miles	4.37 miles	32 wins	36 PR	16 CR	51 Road, 42 Outdoor, 31 Mountain, 8 XC, 6 Trail
June	111 races	698.92 miles	6.30 miles	31 wins	28 PR	14 CR	51 Mountain, 41 Road, 9 Outdoor, 6 Trail, 3 XC, 1 Bi
July	97 races	536.56 miles	5.53 miles	37 wins	17 PR	15 CR	64 Road, 14 Mountain, 8 Trail, 8 Outdoor, 3 XC
August	85 races	497.56 miles	5.85 miles	20 wins	20 PR	9 CR	41 Road, 19 Mountain, 15 Trail, 8 Outdoor, 2 Tri
September	86 races	616.99 miles	7.17 miles	28 wins	36 PR	14 CR	45 Road, 28 XC, 7 Mountain, 6 Trail
October	93 races	834.69 miles	8.98 miles	33 wins	25 PR	18 CR	47 Road, 34 XC, 10 Trail, 2 Mountain
November	86 races	632.58 miles	7.36 miles	17 wins	15 PR	11 CR	44 XC, 32 Road, 10 Trail
December	65 races	375.48 miles	5.78 miles	24 wins	25 PR	11 CR	26 Road, 25 Indoor, 8 Snowshoe, 5 XC, 1 Trail
Month	Year	Races
Jan	1982	9
Feb	1982	10
March	1993	6
April	1981	9			Total	1162
May	1982	11
June	1993	9
July	2006	9
Aug	2011	7
Sept	2005	5
Oct	1980	6
Dec	2007	7
Nov	2009	5