Veteran's Day 10k

In four years at Tufts I was all-NESCAC each year. However, I never made the first team. I was 11th as a freshman, 12th as a sophomore, 8th as a junior, and then finally 9th as a senior. As a freshman I was happy with my performance, the other three years I left my conference championship disappointed. Perhaps the most disappointing of the four was my senior year when I went from being in 3rd place with 1k to go (and moving well) to 9th place at the finish line. To make a long story short as poorly as I ended up running over the last 1000m of the race I still had a great shot at getting my first first-team all-NESCAC. With approximately 300m remaining I was dry-heaving and wobbling towards the line. As a few dudes started to ghost me like Patrick Swayze (including my own teammate Matthew Lacey) I was holding on to 7th place (the last spot). As I willed my failing body (the only time in my entire life this has happened) closer to the finish I could taste first-team. Then I heaved one last time and out of the corner of my eye I watched two of my teammates fly by me right before the line. Josh Kennedy who had finished 7th the year before and Brian McNamara (my roommate for 3 years) shattered my dream of first-team success. Granted, our team ended up winning the meet as we had four guys in the top nine, but I was a little down about it. Yet afterwards, Kennedy and Mac were laughing it up having realized the situation during the final stretch. They knew, yet they did it anyway. No hard feelings though, they did what they had to do.

So, I tell this story because this was pretty much my race today at the Veteran's Day 10k. Will Viviani and I led a great pack of two other Pacer teammates (Bert Rodriguez and Steve Mance) through about 5k, and then all three ended up out classing me in the final 1000m of the race. (However, to his credit Bert ran a pretty gutsy race as he got a few seconds on Will and I at about 4-4.5 miles. Also Mance died in the fifth mile and then came back to life in the sixth which was also pretty awesome.) So this race was basically a team time trial, as we passed only one guy the entire way. Needless to say, the four man pack was a dominating force.

I got off the line really smooth and strong as we supposedly went through the mile in about 4:48. I say supposedly because we also supposedly went through the second mile in 5:12. Something tells me the marker was a little off. Ahead of our pack was a group of foreign friends and our other teammate Steve Crane. They were on pace to break 15 through the 5k so we let them go early. Other than that we were chasing Wilson Komen from Georgetown Running Company (who fell off the aforementioned lead pack) and we never quite closed the gap. So I maintained the lead of our tight pack until just after 5k. Then Bert started getting in on the lead action. From that point until about 4.5-5 there was a lot of lead changing in the group. I think we all grabbed the lead for at least a few strides.

Finally Bert got a few seconds on Will and I, and Mance started to fade a little during the fifth mile. The worst thing about running with these guys late is that they are all faster over the shorter distances than yours truly. So, I knew that even if I got a stride or two on either of them I was screwed. Regardless, I continued to trade mini-moves with Will as we sat about five seconds behind Bert for most of the fifth and sixth miles. As we neared the six mile mark Bert got a few more seconds, Will passed me for good and got a few strides on me, and then back from the dead comes Steve Mance. The photo below shows exactly how it went down. I am the guy presumably in third.

So, four guys from my team got me (the three in the picture plus Steve Crane), which is actually pretty awesome. I ended up 7th overall in a time of 31:33 after a few foreign friends dropped out and two were disqaulified. Don't ask me what happened because I have no idea.

Overall this was a solid effort after my biggest two weeks in over five years. I felt strong today but by no means fresh. I had a little bounce at the beginning but got sluggish towards the end. I am confident that I can run faster with a little rest, and that come January I will run two faster back-t0-back.

94

It's been five years since I have written a 94 in my log. It has also been five years since anything in the 90's followed anything in the 90's in consecutive weeks. So, things are going well right now. Below are my last six weeks of training. I apologize to anyone that is a loyal reader of the blog (if there are such people???), my lack of posts is pretty lame. I like to put a lot of time in to posting, but I haven't really felt like I have had the time. So here are a few bullet points to catch people up:

* Army was an OK race. I went out pretty quick (25:15 @ 5 miles) and actually felt ok, but then at around 6.5-7 I started to feel crappy. I limped home to finish in 51:25. For those of you doing the math at home, that means my last 5 were in 26:10. There is no question in my mind that I peaked at Philly (which is fine with me) and that my five weeks of tapering started to have an impact. I was literally doing nothing and your body needs something in order to sustain a high level of performance.

* I have been stretching everyday. Some days are better than others, but overall this has made a huge difference in how I feel. I also use The Stick a lot. Long term this will help prevent injuries as I raise the bar on my mileage totals.

* I have been taking Endurox for about a month now to help with recovery. I have been feeling great out there, so it is definitely doing something. I usually use about a scoop or so after each of my runs. My flavor of choice is chocolate.

* Steve Crane and I have recieved invitations to run at the Houston Half Marathon, site of the 2009 USATF Half Marathon Championships. This is the race where Ryan Hall broke an hour for the half a couple years back. I am hoping to break 1:06 and inch closer to the trials qualifier (1:05:00), should be a great place to give it a go.

* I am running in two races around DC in the near future. Tomorrow (November 9th) I will run in the Veterans Day 10k down at the Tidal Basin. Next Saturday (November 15th) I will run an 8k Cross Country race at the site of the 2009 USATF National Championships held in February.

* My cousin Sam Brigham of Montpelier High School in Vermont recently finished with the 25th best time at the Vermont State Championships. With this he qualified for the New England Championships held at Derryfield Park in my home state of New Hampshire. At New Englands he ran his best race of the season on a tough course and finished 135th with a time of 17:22. I am pumped for him as this was his first season of XC, mad props to the Brigham crew in Montpelier.

* I am working on some crazy projects right now (literally at this moment), three to be exact. More on those in the future, but they are taking up a lot of my time as well.

* I think the Pats are still a scary team. Once the training wheels come off Matt Cassel things will get interesting I promise. The team played extremely well in that loss to Indianapolis.

That's all I've got right now, I'll write a race recap after the Veteran's Day race. Train hard.

Week: 9, 11/01 - 11/07 Week Miles: 94.01, November miles: 104.51		94.01
Saturday	easy 10.5 over in Arlington, Custis trail and some balance on the track, did a few striders and felt ok out there, great week and a 2008 mileage pr	10.5
Friday	easy run out there today, felt good for most of the way, Roosevelt Island	10.5
Thursday	good run in the morning with Jeff Caron (UMaine Alum), out along the toe path in Georgetown, felt good today, pretty smooth after last night's terrible evening run, did a GU pack at 46 minutes again and think it helped	13
Wednesday	AM - Morning workout, got an extremely early start today, 6:30 AM warm-up, 3 miles easy on the warmup and felt sluggish, snapped out of it to run 20x400 in 69-70 w/ 35 sec rest, felt solid, 4.5 on the cool down PM - Easy 6 miles, stretched and sticked afterwards, felt like crap on this run, was pretty tired and yawning and had the hiccups, I was a mess	18.51
Tuesday	felt ok today, not great, sluggish towards the beginning, Roosevelt Island again	10.5
Monday	11 miles in Baltimore, did a 9 loop and added on grass loops in the middle, felt ok out there even though I did the 20 yesterday	11
Sunday	really solid long run, out on the NCR trail north of Baltimore, did GU packets at around 6.5 and 13 miles out there, was a little tired towards the end but overall had great rythym out there	20
Week: 8, 10/26 - 11/01 Week Miles: 90.51, October miles: 310.01 Top		90.51
Saturday	finishing the week off, Roosevelt Island again, probably a loop PR, had everything working today, didn't push too hard but took advantage of the good vibes, what a great week of training, feel great	10.5
Friday	easy run, out to Roosevelt Island, felt ok out there but not great, still time was pretty good out there	10.5
Thursday	second long run, felt good out there today, took a GU at 1/2 way, out on the capital crescent trail along the canal	13
Wednesday	AM - Workout morning, 12 miles total, 3 up, 4 mile tempo run in 20:20 (5:00, 10:00, 15:04), 2 min rest, 1 mile in 5:05, 4 mile cool down, felt pretty crappy after 2.5 in 12:31, over a pretty dead feeling PM - 6 mile easy run, left ankle is a little sore but worked up over the course of the run	18.01
Tuesday	easy run out to Roosevelt Island, felt pretty sluggish but got through it, time was respectable though	10.5
Monday	easy 10 miler out to Lincoln via McArthur Blvd, felt pretty good but took it really easy	10
Sunday	evening long run, after a long morning of shooting at the Marine Corps Marathon, ran at a good clip and legs were sore towards the end, out in Silver Spring, good tough run	18
Week: 7, 10/19 - 10/25 Week Miles: 82, October miles: 310.01 Top		82
Saturday	easy 10, felt good today, legs and body were fresh this morning	10
Friday	easy 10 in the morning, felt tired but got through it ok, out into DC and back through Arlington	10
Thursday	easy 12 out to Roosevelt Island, felt decent until the last few or so	12
Wednesday	workout day, 3 miles warm up, 7x800 in 2:20 (6-2:22ish, 7-2:25ish) w/ decreasing rest from 60 sec (5 sec off each interval), after the tough 7th one I took a full 3 minutes and did an 8th in 2:21, felt better out there but had lost my fastball, cooled down 4 miles, overall a decent workout but I know that I can feel better out there	11
Tuesday	another day out to Roosevelt Island, about the same time, 1:10:38, felt a little tighter and more sluggish this time around	10.5
Monday	Roosevelt Island, two laps, felt pretty good today, tried to take it easy but was in quite a good rhythm out there,a beautiful fall day	10.5
Sunday	back to real business with a great long run today, absolutely hammering the Shirlington loop, Orange GU around 1:08:44, really chilly as I wore a hat and gloves	18
Week: 6, 10/12 - 10/18 Week Miles: 81, October miles: 310.01 Top		81
Saturday	easy 10 in the morning in Annapolis, woke up @ 5am and was throwing up, tried to rally, successful, 10 was off, but I made it through	10
Friday	easy 10 in the morning, out from Iwo Jima down to the point where Cherry Blossom runs, 1:11ish on the total time	10
Thursday	easy 12 mile day, felt pretty good, three laps and little more on the Roosevelt Island, 2nd lap was my strongest	12
Wednesday	workout day, 3200 in 9:59, 3 min rest, 400 in 69, 3 min rest, 3200 in 9:51, 3 min, 400 in 67, 3 miles warm up, 4 miles on the cool down	11.5
Tuesday	2 laps around Roosevelt Island, decent effort out there, felt ok	10.5
Monday	easy 10, McArthur loop out to Lincoln, tired but not too bad out there,	10
Sunday	long run, Shirlington loop, pretty solid run, pace was pretty good the whole way	17
Week: 5, 10/05 - 10/11 Week Miles: 50, October miles: 310.01 Top		50
Saturday	solid 10 in Baltimore during Em's marathon, up hill, down hill, all over the place for about 68 minutes, felt ok but wasn't enjoying the downhills	10
Friday	easy 8 out there today, felt ok	8
Thursday	easy 8 on the standard loop, felt ok but not great, gave new shoes a go, still too big	8
Wednesday	back to work, easy morning run, 8 miles on the canal	8
Tuesday	staying retired	0
Monday	day off after race	0
Sunday	3 up, 3 down and a 10 mile race in between, Army 10 miler, splits were (5:03, 9:58 [4:54], 15:06 [5:08], 20:08 [5:01], 25:15 [5:07], 30:26 [5:10], 35:39 [5:12], 40:55 [5:16], 46:32 [5;37], 51:28 [4:56], official time gave me 51:25 which was nice, did pretty well early on but moved too early on 2, should have chilled a little longer, last couple were a definite struggle	16
Week: 4, 09/28 - 10/04 Week Miles: 39.5, September miles: 233.5 Top		39.5
Saturday	another day off, because why not?	0
Friday	easy 6 loop, felt good out there	6
Thursday	back was really messed up, but hey, no problem, take a day off	0
Wednesday	6x200 in 33, 200m jog rest, 1xmile 4:43, 2 min rest, 6x200 in 33, 200m jog rest, 3 miles on both sides	11
Tuesday	easy run the day before working out	6
Monday	easy run today, lower left back/butt hurting a little from stretching the previous day, not sure what happened but it worked itself out during the day	6
Sunday	solid run after a weird weekend, did the two laps around Roosevelt Island, felt strong towards the end but apparently ran really slow out there	10.5