Gold Star Run for Honor 10k -Swampscott, MA

Good run on Saturday morning, small field, good enough for 3rd place. Splits below:
1-6:41
2-6:29
3-6:38
4-6:44
5-6:41
6.2-8:21
Total: 41:37/6:42

The Great Stew Chase 15k

Over a month later than last year, but almost just as cold. Blustery but not as windy as last year. I ran totally by feel this year, not looking at my watch at all. Pleased w/ the result, first race in 8 months and 35 seconds faster than last year so I'll take it. Not as big a field this year, so it was good for 9th place results. I have literally done nothing but 40miles a week at 7:30-8:00 min pace for the last few months, so this was a good test of fitness. The pace felt comfortably hard and gives me some confidence that I can build speed towards a 1/2 marathon and the Yankee HC 10 miler. Splits below:
1-6:49
2-6:56
3-6:45
4-7:06
5-7:15
6-6:38
7-7:07
8-7:03
9.3-8:52
Total: 1:04:35/6:56

California Running

I have recently been reassigned temporarily to work two week stints in Richmond, Ca, across the bay from San Francisco. While my time has been busy on tugboats I have managed to find time to squeeze in some mileage. While the running is very "grab it when I can" there is a very hilly trail run right around the corner. This area has been providing 5-7milers of very hilly terrain and I even managed to get 40miles last week. Running in shorts and a t shirt has been a nice change of pace, but I miss my family tremendously and have just been trying to make the best of it. I think I can maintain some fitness and a good mental outlook, but I think this arrangement will make it difficult to get the consistent build in mileage and long runs necessary for a spring marathon. So I'll find some other goals in the 10-13.1 range to race towards and hopefully find the build for a fast fall marathon.

Round 2

Ran 10 miles on Saturday and didn't feel too bad. My daughter who had the same bug pretty much slept all day Saturday. Well I paid the price for not taking it easy Saturday. Early Sunday morning I awake to round 2 of the shits. No mileage today, 3 days off for the week and a meager 32 miles. But I did get down to 173...the hard way.

Stomach Bug

Kicked my ass yesterday. Fluids out of both ends, no mileage yesterday, still hoping I can bounce back today and save the weekly total over the weekend. The good news is I am about 5lbs closer to 165.

Winter Wonderland

Beautiful day in Lynn Woods w/ the family. Looking at this picture, I just wish I could freeze everything right there.

Rowing vs Running Rambling thoughts

On an 8 mile run the other day I got to thinking about training, and training through the lens of my own development.  I rowed competitively in college for 4 years. While I was no stellar athlete, I still managed to progress over 4years to a point where I could compete at a fairly high collegiate level. While struggling along in the middle of the pack now, when I was rowing I had broken out of that pack (at least into the chase pack) or to compare, if I was running at the level I rowed at I wouldn't feel stupid racing in really short shorts and racing flats. But lets start at the beginning- I have never been quick, my shuttle run times were always pathetic during the President's Fitness in elementary and jr high school, I lacked acceleration and speed in sports I played-hockey, baseball, soccer. But as I began to shed weight and had a growth spurt (around 9th grade) I found I had some level of endurance, which was above what my peers had. I began Cycling and mt biking and found myself ahead of the pack when distance was involved. The recognition that I had this endurance came without a whole lot of training. I remember the running portion of the Fitness Test in 9th grade, there were two parts a 100 yard dash and a 1 mile run. In the  100 yard dash  out of the 20-30 boys I clearly remember being in the bottom half. Feeling horrible about myself and my unathleticness, I moped over to the start of the mile and began to plod along. After two laps I began to pass most of the boys who had sprinted out ahead and finished fairly easily in the top group. I do remember that it was a "surprise" to myself and others how someone so slow in the dash could run so well (relative to the others) in the mile. I mention this because at this point I would consider it point 0. I had very little consistent aerobic training to explain the better performance at the mile, the only explanation is that I have a fairly good motor out of the box  for endurance. I'm not claiming to be an aerobic monster or even have an average level of endurance, but I am saying is that it seems like my proportion of speed vs endurance is heavier on the latter. This whole thought process got me thinking about running vs rowing and how I managed to progress fairly rapidly in rowing. My mind began to wonder into training theories so here is what I was thinking about:
Two things combine to make you move over a distance:
Mechanics: I am taking about efficiency here. In rowing the energy consumed per stroke given a constant pace. In running I'm talking energy per stride at constant pace.
Motor: I am talking about all the exercise science mumbo jumbo here, VO2max, lactate threshold, slow twist/fast twitch etc etc, all of which I am rather ignorant. In reference to energy, I would consider this the max amount of energy your body could contribute to an effort.

Now each of us has a genetic disposition that determines the point zero ratio of the above for each sport we participate in. 
I happen to think that in my case, the mechanics or rowing were simply better suited to my body than running and made better use of my strong motor.
Now I really don't know why I wrote all this down, it was simply my thoughts on a run.