Great Bay 1/2 Marathon

Headed to Newmarket, NH on a perfect Sunday. Family didn't make the trip as these longer races present logistical challenges w/ two small kids; I missed them at the finish. My goal was to run 7 min pace, I felt that if I had a great day sub 7 was within reach. I ended up running 1:31:45 which is on the nose 7 min pace results. The course and weather was perfect, definately hillier than I thought it was going to be. The scenery, fans and refreshing breeze made this race about as perfect as it could be. I am pleased w/ the result and my fitness to date and really looking forward to some more races in this distance range. Next marathon will be in the fall, I just can't gear up for it and I am too excited for 10k's, 10 milers, 5 milers and the like this summer.  Splits below:
1-6:43
2-13:42 (6:59)
3-20:29 (6:47)
4-27:32 (7:02)
5-34:33 (7:01)
6-41:35 (7:01)
7-48:32 (6:57)
8-55:43 (7:10)
9-1:02:50 (7:07)
10-1:10:05 (7:14)
11-1:17:05 (6:59)
12-1:24:15 (7:10)
13.1-1:31:45 (7:30)

Charlestown Track Pyramid

Headed over after work, didn't quite know how hard this workout would be, it turned out to be a good one. Steady rain towards the end made it wet, but the wind wasn't too bad. I was fearing that middle mile, but I was in the groove fairly good by that point and it was the 1200 after that was tough.  I wasn't quite sure what kind of rest to go for, it ended up to be either 1:30 (1/2 lap)jog for the shorter ones and 2:30 (full lap) jog for the longer ones. Pace wise I was just going for 5k for the bulk and trying to open it up on the 200's and 400's. I watched the clock on the way up the Pyramid and didn't on the way down and just ran by feel-pleased with the consistency without starring at splits.
200-38.4
400-1:32
800-3:05
1200-4:50
1600-6:23
1200-4:52
800-3:07
400-1:28
200-39.0

Charlestown Track 10x400

Ran over to the track with about a 30 minute window after work and banged this out. I had thought about something like 15x400 with a 200 jog, but as I was tight on time I figured I'd shorten the work and the rest. I did a 100m jog in between  which worked out to about a 40 second jog. Not a really tough workout but with minimal rest I was getting fatigued by the last two. Perfect weather, cool and dry with a slight breeze, if I had the time I would have liked to try and do 15.
1-1:29
2-1:29
3-1:31
4-1:31
5-1:27
6-1:30
7-1:29
8-1:29
9-1:25
10-1:23

Salem Green 5k Cross Country Race

Headed over to the Salem Green Golf Course on Sunday w/ the family. Nice race, lots of small steep hills and a ton of people. Really surprised to see so many people turn out for this. My kids hung out in the sand trap while I ran, a really great morning. Lately I have been thinking less and less about the marathon distance and more and more about the shorter stuff. I think I might bypass the spring marathon and aim for a decent 1/2 marathon time-mainly I just cannot get motivated to run more than 12 miles and run it slowly. We will see how the spring progresses, I might try and go a little longer this weekend. This race was a ton of fun and I am looking forward to hitting some more short races like this, plus it is fun w/ the family there.Results

Charlestown Track 6x800

Beautiful day, bit of a headwind but otherwise perfect running weather. Having not run this pace for some time, it was a bit of a shock to the system on the first two but the rest went by fairly solid. A good effort, not too tough, but no too easy either. Took a 1/2 lap jog in between.
1-3:07
2-3:12
3-3:13
4-3:11
5-3:10
6-3:03

A great weekend! With No Running!

Logged only 21 miles last week. A variety of ailments working through the house, I had a cough and fever Weds-Friday. My son has the same and my daughter had an earache, fever etc on Saturday morning. So with beautiful weather over the weekend I just decided to give my body a break from running and enjoy it. My poor wife and daughter spent Saturday morning in the doctor's so my son and I tried to make the best of it, so we ended up spending the morning at the beach!!!! It was absolutely a perfect day for flying kites, digging holes, and collecting "stuff" Was probably some of the best one on one time I've had with the little guy in a while. We went as a family to gammy and gampy's on sunday and had a great day burning leaves in the perfect weather. That afternoon Allison and I even got to spend about 3 hours alone recollecting on the joys of having been married for 7 years (Anniversary today).  I'll get back to the mileage this week and hopefully the fatigue and funk I've been trying to plod through for 2-3 weeks will be behind me.

C.R.A.S.H. B.'s 2010

I've gotten in pretty good shape over the last year so I figured I'd relive the Glory Years and head down to the Indoor Rowing World Championships on Feb 14th w/ my best bud Pat and hammer it out one more time. Last time I did this was 1998.  At about 900 meters down I remembered how brutal this sport is. It is unbelievable how in about 3 1/2 minutes you can feel utterly spent.  With no rowing under my belt but a significant amount of running I felt very confident aerobically going into it, but once I hit half way my legs just crapped out. My goal was 7 minutes and for the first 2/3 I was right on target, but the wheels came off the cart pretty quickly with about 800 to go. Final time was 7:03, Pat kicked my ass with a 6:54, there is always next year! Turned out to be a great day, grandparents had the kids so Allison and I went out for a nice  Valentine's dinner afterward.