James Joyce - race report

4/26 - James Joyce 10k, spent a good part of the morning relaxing at the hotel before heading over to the start with the crew. This race has 2 starts with the masters getting a 3-5min jump on the open field. This differently makes the race interesting, especially in the open field. As we got off the line it was very appearent where the gap was, the chase pack was myself and 1 other runner. As we moved thru the opening mile it crossed my mind to go and try and hang onto the leaders but never made the move. I was feeling a bit off as my legs felt jello like and my upper was very tight, as I moved thru the course I was in and out of masters runners from the start. At 2m the one guy I was running with pushed away and I never covered the move, the next 3m were pure shit! I wasn't going anywhere and felt like I had nothing to give. Somewhere after 5m I finally started to feel loose and began to move up, I caught a few more masters runners and just pressed to the finish. 

I finished up in 36:10 which sucks! I know my fitness is far better then that, on the cooldown Sarah asked if something was wrong? She noted that when she could see me on the course I looked very tight and not running smooth or efficient. I've been noticing that for the past week or so and all I can link it to is the added stress of changing jobs. 

The plus side is even having a bad race I ran close to a minute faster then last year which I also thought was a bad race. With a month to go to VCM that is the only focus, I have some things to workout before then but nothing major!

A few photos from the race thank to Krissy K.

As for my athletes they all ran well! 

Renee - 3rd master

Erin - 9th master

KQ - 5th open (new pr)

Derrick - top 3 (55-60) 

4/20 - 4/26

Mon - 5am - 5+ (NT) met with Jessy for an easy morning run. Legs felt surprisingly good and lucked out to only minimal rain.

545pm - 9m (4xhills rd) was really struggling with motivation this afternoon. Not sure if it was the weather or what. Finally got going and headed over to hills rd, the plan was to do 4 reps and run quick but relaxed. Wanted to shorten the workouts this week with a race planned for the weekend. 

Times: 256/256/255/248

Very happy with this workout, not only was it my best set of 4 reps this cycle but I felt very strong and smooth climbing! Not bad for lacking motivation.

Tues-640pm - 11+ (1:20:17) decided to wait for Macknight and joined on one of his loops (new for me)

Wed- 5am - 4.5m (nt)

530pm - 11m (16x400) 200R. Met Macknight and Pat Carroll at the skidmore track for this workout. Today was another one of those unfocused days, thinking about it now with changing jobs this week my mind has been running with plenty of other items. The workout itself went well with the target being (77-80) per interval, I was solo in the intervals which added some toughness to this workout.

Times: 78/80/79/80/80/80/81/80/79/79/78/79/78/77/76/75

Thurs - 5pm - 10m (1:14:20) No morning run today as I wanted a bit more rest after yesterdays workout. Decided to head to the bike path and run on the cinder, was a bit chilly out but otherwise nice to be on the trails.

730pm - 1hr massage

Fri - 5am - 5m (NT) body felt pretty good after yesterdays massage

430pm - 9m (1:01:08) It was feeling like winter all over again! snow and all I started to wonder if maybe I slept thru summer. Decided to tuck into the neighborhoods and loop together some random streets to hide from the elements, was a decent run considering the weather.

Sat - 9am - 5m (36:42) normal loop in the neighborhood, legs feel good and have some lift to them.

6pm - 5m (38:04) Easy shakeout in Dedham Ma. First 3m were with Renee and Erin, 2nd bit was solo around the area.

Sun - 10am - 13m (James Joyce 10k) 36:10 - Race report to follow.

Summary - 88m with 2 good workouts and 1 shit race. Had planned another run for Sunday when I got home but by that time I was spent. I shot Eric a text to decide what I was going to do, if he said run again I was gonna force myself out the door. I was instead told to call it a day, the next couple weeks I need to focus on some of the things from this past race and refocus for the race.

4/13 - 4/19 try something new!

As I finished up last week and started to focus on the upcoming week some thoughts raced thru my mind. First and Formost was miles for the week and workout? I envisioned holding the daily miles from last week and try going above 100m. Hell why not right?

Mon - 5am - 6+ (46:39) met with Jeff and hit the normal loop. He is in the nearing the end of his taper and clearly feeling good. I let him control the run and drag me along.

4pm - 8m (56:40) did a few neighborhood loops before hitting the bike path. Was a bit stiff but loosened up after about 30mins.

Tues- 5pm - 10m (67:33) ran the 1st 5 with Macknight, we caught up (had a 4-5 day stretch of no run or being home at the same time) stopped at the house to stretch a bit then out to finish up solo.

Wed- 5am- 5m (42:00) started out with Jess and Jeff before peeling off to head home.

6pm - 15m (track workout) Met with Jim Sweeny at the UA track. Got in a nice warmup with him and Nick, also saw Lozier and caught up real quick. The plan was 8xmile (6-550) wanted to keep the first 4-6 controlled then try and pick it up on tired legs. I've done extended mile reps before but never more then 6. We took 400 rest between each rep to keep the legs from fully recovering. 

Times: 603/557/553/551/543/536/530/520

Holy hell extremely happy with this workout, and glad I had company during it.

Thurs - 430pm - 13m (1:42:34) Met Shaun at the price chopper in malta and made the trek over to the trail head. We met up with Adam (who was biking) and made our way onto the trails, within 5 mins of being on the trails I stumbled almost went down but caught a tree which may or may not have cut my thumb open. Shaun immediately gave me some shit about not getting hurt (much deserved last summer i managed 3 falls on 1 run)

Fri - 5am - 6+ (53:10) met up with Jeff and Jessy for our normal morning runs. Jeff is closing in on his marathon and looking ready for a huge PR! The run its self was relaxed and pretty warm out. Legs were still tired from wednesdays workout.

430pm - 10++ (track) Met with KQ and Renee at the Shen track, got in a 3m warm up then paced KQ in her workout (mind you I didn't do great at controlling the pace early...oops) It took me a little to get into the workout, my legs seemed to loosen up pretty well and we cruised through.
Times: 602/608/611

Sat - 8am - 18m (2:25:33) Ran from U Albany with Joe B, Joe M, Pat and Newman. The plan was for a rolling hill 12m loop then others would add on. I stayed with Pat and Newman for the 12m loop before breaking off to do some on my own, the temps got up quick on the run. After I had finished 15m I saw Joe B and Joe M fueling up and decided to join them for my last 3m instead of going solo. The legs were off and on today but my hips were really tight, leading me to cut it a little short from the original plan of 20m.
After the run we hit up some brunch at Cafe Madison, I came home for a bit before meeting back up to play 9 holes of golf (haven't played in a while, hooked a few shots off course towards some houses...didn't here any glass break so i'm calling it a win)

Sun - Out the door at 5am to head to Kingston and watch Jeff run his marathon, I had ideas of doing my run while we were down there but once we scoped the course it didn't look like it would pan out. At the start I would guess there were 25-30 ppl between the half and full, we drove out to the 9m mark which is on a rail bed. It looked to be a scenic course but holy hell your running solo with nothing but your own thoughts. It was awesome to see Rich get the win and also see Jeff run a 40 min pr (again running by himself)

6pm - 11m (1:16:10) I had this whole plan to watch the race run then come home and finish off what ever miles I might need. Well no run at the race, then proceeded to come home and sleep for 2-3 hours watch some playoff basketball then convince myself to stope being lazy and get out the door. Surprisingly the legs felt great today, which is a relief I was expecting them to still be sore.

Summary: 103m (new high) really happy with how this week went. Had an awesome workout on wednesday and to come back friday and hold marathon pace is a huge confidence booster, all well getting a new high for miles. With 5 weeks to go I plan on 2 more big weeks before coming down, this next week might be a bit lower 90-95 with the plan to race at James Joyce but I will play the miles by ear on how my legs are feeling.

4/6 - 4/12 Just like new

Last week ended interestingly, with my car breaking down on the trip home. Realistically wasn't that bad, got an extended weekend and saw some of the guys I wouldn't have been able to see other wise.

Mon - planned day off - plenty of traveling and picking up my car. 

Tues - 5am - 3.5m (nt) no need for the watch as I knew I had plenty of time between the run and leaving for work.

430pm - 10+ (1:09:56) felt completely off this whole run, part of why I hate days off. Effort was relaxed and happy with the time, just felt like a fish outta water.

Wed - 5am - 5m (NT) met with Jessy, Jeff , Renee and James at the shen track. Short warm up then paced Jessy thru the 1st 2 repeats of her workout.

6pm - 11m (8x1k - 600r) met Gavs and the rest of the ARE crew at the track. The weather wasn't to bad for a while the last 4 reps were in rain/hail and some other shit! Overall workout went great, took a bit to get comfortable on the track and get into pace. This was planned to be a threshold workout (330-335) started out a bit slow but worked into it nicely.

Times: 340/338/336/333/332/330/327/319

Gavs did every other with me, I asked him to start on the 2nd so I would have help on the last rep if needed. Ended up skipping the cooldown as all my dry stuff got wet and I was freezing!!!

Thurs - 5pm - 10m (1:15:36) with Shaun and Derrick. Did a loop around BL legs and lower back were very tight.

730pm- 1hr massage - holy hell!! Knots on knots on knots...this was painful to say the least.

Fri - 5am - 7m (56:37) normal loop with Jessy and Jeff.

530pm - 8m (1:01:20) in pinebush with the ARE crew, legs are still sore from massage.

Sat - 830am- 15m (1:58:19) met with Renne,KQ, Erin, Dave and Mark on the bike path.

Sun-9am- 21.5m (2:31:13) met with Jim Sweeny at the battlefield preserve with the plan for 20-21m. Felt really good, last few miles were rough climbing back to the car. 

Summary: 91m happy with the miles and getting a day off in there. Had 1 good workout and a solid long run. 6 weeks left! 

3/30 - 3/5

Mon - 5am - 8m (1:03:17) holy crew this morning!!! This was a blast to cruise with everyone this morning..legs felt good, almost had a fall on some ice.

W/ Jessy, Jeff, Renee and KQ

530pm - 5m (36:20) Woof!! I slacked off on hydrating through the day an ate like shit!! Payed for it on the run today felt horrible for 3+ miles.

Tues - 430pm - 14m (6xhills rd) 1/2m climb. Met up with Jessy for a warm up and both hit the hills for our workouts. Felt really smooth and strong on the climbs, I had 1 slight bitch out moment on the 5th rep. After that i was back in service and pissed at myself for being a bitch on the previous rep.

Times: 257/254/257/256/258/253

Through 4 that was close to my best workout, being able to hold it for 2 more was awesome!

Wed- 5am - 6.5m (52:17) met with the normal crew today and was able to get the first half of their run done. Calfs were tired to start but quickly loosened up.

6pm- 7.5m (53:54) started out solo until I spotted Macknight on his way home. Turned around to move my car and gain some company on the run. Was interesting weather, warm in spots and cold in others depending on the wind.

Thurs - 4pm - 13m (1:28:02) overall just a weird day. Was called into work at 140am came home late morning to try and sleep. Was feeling the lack of sleep before the run..but it was almost 70 out!

Fri - 5am - 8.5m (1:05) met Jessy and jeff did 3x30/60/90. Was surprisingly warm out this morning.

530pm - 7.5m (45:46) second workout. 3x30/60/90 legs were pretty tired but was able to push on the pick ups.

Sat - 8am - 19m (2:16:57) in Athens VT with Ferenc. Awesome run on some dirt roads. 

Sun - 9am - 11m (1:20:10) was pretty sore walking around this morning but once I was out the door everything felt good. Had one stop when i noticed a boxer an Doberman in the road (great) the owner quickly called them into the house, but not before I was able to notice the boxer was blind..much like my own dog. Overall nice an quite on the back roads.

Summary - 100m really good week with 2 good workouts and a relaxing long run. Feeling very strong these past few weeks. Next week will be a bit down with a day off tomorrow..unless the news from my car comes back really bad (might have to blow off some steam) a little back log - my car broke down Saturday morning on my ride, luckily I was close to Ferenc's house. Was a good start to the day!