DH Jones 10 Miler

2/23 - Today was the DH Jones 10m in Amherst MA, we met at Fleet Feet Albany at 7:20 to make the drive down. We arrived around 9:40am relaxed and caught up with a few people before heading out for a warm-up at 10:20am. The warm up was very relaxing and full of joking around, I did notice some funny looks from others around us. Once we got back to the gym I got changed up and headed out to the starting line, I tucked into the 3rd row and awaited the start of the race. Right off the start I latched on to my teammate Megan and rolled thru the first couple miles with her, I decided prior to the race that I would wear a watch but not bother with splits and just see what happened. This worked out well as we cruised thru the opening miles, around 3-3.5 I fell off the group during the climbing. I checked my time at 4m (23:xx) once we hit the dirt road it was a mix of mud and ice, I was able to lock in with a group and roll thru this section hitting the half way point in (28:52). Over the next few miles I locked in with a runner from greater Lowell and kept pushing together the rest of the race, on a few of the turns I was able to check back and see where Pete (teammate) was and how close he was. Pete has (1:50 - 800m speed) with all the downhill I was running a bit scared that he would roll-up on me. I came thru 8m (45:02) and knew I was going to have a good day, we hit the final hills coming in and continued to press to get thru them as quickly as possible. With the change in the course we made a left hand turn at the 9m mark, I felt my legs starting to hurt and tighten up. Again the runner from Lowell gave me a boost by taking the lead again to help us close the gap, I checked the watch as I knew we were close and figured we had at most 1/2mile left and started to change gears to get close to the finish. As we turned into the parking lot I wasn't sure when to start a full sprint, I decided to wait until I could hear Eric as soon as that happened I was able to close up pretty quick. Finished up with a time of (57:44 63rd overall)

Finally a good race, it was like a weight lifted.

Coming into the finish 

Final Push

Wk 8

Mon - 8+ (55:30) keep it pretty relaxed, did a combination of loops to create a new one.

Tues - am - 3m (20:44)

Pm - 3m (19:30) busy afternoon had to rush to not be late for weight training 

Wed - 7m (52:02) awesome to keep it nice and easy

Thurs - 8+ (55:44) met with Meghan for a run in saratoga..followed by some food and beers.

Fri - 8m (52:04) weather sucked and roads were icy. Ended up on the treadmill.

Sat - 5+ (35:10) it was a bit tough to just call it at 5 the weather was so good could have run for hours.

Sun - 16+ DH Jones 10m (57:44)

Total - 59m

Week 7

Mon - 7.5 (60:00) keep it very easy today, legs felt good. Only issue was a strange discomfort in my right side / hip, hopefully it's nothing.

Tues - 0m decided to heat and rest my side.

Wed- 5m (38:30) side felt much better then Monday, had a few twinges here and there. For the most part felt good.

Thurs - 5m (33:06) ran on the treadmill, side was a bit sore to start felt good once I picked up the pace. Last 1.5m (8:00)

Fri- 9m (1:02:34) first full run with no pain in my side.

Sat- 11m (1:15:00) with Renee, Johanna and Eric. Keep it honest, legs were a bit tired today.

Sun- 7m (52:09) needed a rest day, slept in and took a short day on the treadmill.

Total - 45.5m 

Tough week not sure what caused my right side to hurt but put a bit of a damper on my week. 

Week 6

Mon - 8.5m was pretty tired from this past weekend. Could feel the legs but always happy to get out the door.

Tues - 9+ (60:30) took the day off from work, get some relaxing in and hustled out a relaxed run before heading to lifting.

Wed - 7.5 (60:00) in the storm stayed in the neighborhoods, made it the whole run with only one close call. In the final min I felt my feet slip and was very close to busting my ass, some how saved it.

Thurs - 6m (40:20) just a lazy day, lacked the motivation to run. Almost thought it was going to be a zero but around 9pm I got that surge I was looking for, got my lazy ass up and out the door. It was awesome to run.

Fri - 7m (46:20) was nice to run in some daylight before heading over to Keene. Felt really relaxed a bit surprised by the time and the effort.

Sat - 7m (49:00) in Keene keep it easy with the planned run for tomorrow.

Sun - 24m (2:42:19) this was an awesome run with some lifers! Meet up at Ferenc's house, rode over to the marathon loop with Josh, Greg and Eric. We rolled out on the loop seeming very relaxed. A few rollers in the early parts but mostly flatish around an hour in we turned to a dirt road and hit a beastly climb (never fails on a Ferenc run) after a 20min climb we were coming down the back side heading towards town. Almost as soon as we got onto pavement again the pace began to increase, we started to roll into town. Made one quick pit stop at the graffton county store for a drink the proceeded to roll in the final 4-4.5 miles.

This was an awesome run with some great friends, always enjoy running with this group.

Total - 69m