May 1 - 7, 2017

Monday: Zero.

Tuesday:
     AM:  3 miles, 200', 7:56 pace. Morning road jog.

     PM: 10.3 miles, 1926', 9:51 pace. My wife picked up the kids from school, so I was able to get an evening run in after work run in Pawtuckway with Cooper. Rain earlier in the day made things rather wet but the temps were good -  right around 60 and the humidity was low. Sunshine gave way to passing showers and made for some cool light contrasts and a double rainbow.

Wednesday:
     AM: 7.2 miles, 430', 8:14 pace. Easy morning run. My achilles starting acting up in the first two miles and I almost turned around. Oddly, it improved the farther I ran and I felt totally normal for the last few miles. I've also been having some tightness in my upper calf, near the knee, at the beginning of my morning runs and I'm wondering if the two issues are related. Still, it handled relatively heavy mileage and elevation gain last week, so I'll just have to keep an eye on it.
     
     PM: 8.1 miles, 1639', 8:29 pace. Hill workout, 10 x 2 minutes at McIntyre ski hill. Happy I got out for this one, given that workouts make me anxious and it's easy to find reasons not do them. I have to play mental games with myself, only looking so far ahead on each repeat and not thinking about how many are left to do. The burning in my quads and short, frequent breaths are where the magic happens for working on my weaknesses, though. Getting back to the office, I was light headed for the rest of the day, pleasantly and naturally high. No noise from the achilles.

Thursday: 7.5 miles, 350', 7:38 pace. Easy morning road run.

Friday: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:52 pace. Easy morning run. Got stopped by the local constabulary and asked if I'd seen a horse running loose.

Saturday: 14.5 miles, 1988', 9:52 pace. Sopping wet Bear Brook Trails with the dog. I spent some time doing guerrilla trail maintenance; draining puddles and discretely moving brush in a logged area where my approach trail got obliterated. It was hard to get out the door in the pouring rain at 5 am  when it was barely light out, but the pay off was was a really fun run to start the day.

Sunday: 19.2 miles, 5007', 12:34 pace. Wapack trail out-and-backs from Temple Mountain with the dog. I was a little sluggish to start but picked up enthusiasm a few miles in. Preparing for the shorter 21 mile version of this race has put the trail in a different perspective for me. Terrain that would've been sluggish and tough at 50-mile pace is now viewable as fun and runnable, especially the ridgeline south of Temple Mountain. I'm excited for the race and in a good mental spot; I may or may not win, but I'm going to have a good time either way.

Totals: 80 miles, 12126', 12h 55m. Another good spring week in the books. I feel great and  I'm optimistic for June. I have plans, big plans, and I'm psyched.

April 24 - 30, 2017

Monday: Zero.

Tuesday: 9.8 miles, 591', 8:06 pace. Easy morning run, some light right achilles burn toward the end.

Wednesday: 9.4 miles, 479', 8:45 pace. Easy run at Musquash Conservation Area after work. I almost didn't make it but ran out of excuses, for once. This was my first time in this area, a little odd that I've never been, given that's it's so close. The trail were very runnable but nothing of spectacular quality. Seems like it'd be more fun on a mountain bike. Right achilles burn reared it's ugly head for the last few miles.

Thursday: 8.2 miles, 1437', 8:23 pace. 8 x 2 minute hill workout at McIntyre ski hill. Muddy and sluggish, but good to get some deliberate high intensity stuff in. I should do more of that. NO achilles problems on the uphills, but some light burn again on my cool down.

Friday: 
     AM: 5.2 miles, 286', 8:18 pace. Easy run with a quintuple beaver encounter. They weren't real happy with my being there and were slapping the water with their tails. I've never seen so many, so close, for so long before. Achilles felt fine.

     PM: 7.9 miles, 647', 7:53 pace. Manchester trail scrounging.

Saturday: 14.4 miles, 1903', 9:40 pace. Early morning Bear Brook Trails with dog. We had a close call with a porcupine. Luckily, it shambled off into a boulder cave before the dog noticed anything was up. Again, some achilles burn after about an hour, not really painful but still concerning.

Sunday:  26 miles, 8000' gain, 13:39 pace. Rambling with Ryan in the Belknap Range. We were  happy to find snow free trail conditions and a good early season mountain run. The trails in here are pleasant, with relatively short climbs and generally runnable footing. A satisfying way to close the week. Achilles burned lightly but never got any worse. I wouldn't call it painful or say it qualifies as an injury at this point, especially when it was able to take so much elevation gain. Something to keep an eye on.

Totals: 81.3 miles, 13327', 13h 53m. My biggest week of the year so far, and I generally feel good. My climbing and technical running skill is noticeably returning and that bodes well for the rest of the year.

I've been doing some thinking - a dangerous thing for a guy who's frequently the dumbest person in the room. Lately, I've been contemplating the privileges I enjoy, bequeathed me by my parents and earlier ancestors. I imagine I have more opportunity and leisure time than any of them and I've been trying to get a handle on how my running (mountain running, specifically) fits into that. I work hard, but it's often cardiovascular work rather than farming, building a stone wall, working in a factory, being a computer technician, or nursing patients in a clinic. I'm the first person in my family to earn a bachelor's degree. Having children of my own has helped put some of this into perspective, as I make personal sacrifices to ensure they have best possible life opportunities open to them and I try to be good role model. I live in a modern world, without any great war to fight or great economic depression to labor under. How do I live up to the achievements of my predecessors? To me, the crux of the privilege question is not about guilt or level of deserving, but how to best make use of the opportunities I've been given. I choose to strive at something I'm good at, running, to achieve something, and to be an inspiration to those who come after me - even if at the end of the day my high water mark amounts to being a big fish in a small pond. It's the least I can do. When I feel like quitting a phrase that keeps coming to mind is; don't squander the gift.

April 17 - 23, 2017

Monday: 7.4 miles, 427', 9:36 pace. Morning recovery run on local roads and trails. quads are in rough shape, climbing is good but downhills are tough.

Tuesday: 6.0 miles, 394', 9:07. Concrete sidewalks in the urban sprawl of Alpharetta, Georgia. Flew into town for an engineering conference. Business travel is always tricky because it's hard to find run time and I tend to overeat when going to a restaurant with a group of people for a few nights in a row.

Wednesday: 6.5 miles, 423', 8:24 pace. Alpharetta sidewalks. Legs are still sore but improving. Need to find some trails.

Thursday: 5.9 miles, 1260', 10:41 pace. Ran Kennesaw Mountain in the dark. Being on the western edge of the time zone, it gets light out much later here than in New Hampshire. I was hoping to catch a sunrise from the top but ran out of time before having to head back to the conference.

This small mountain was fortified by the Confederacy in the civil war, in an attempt to stop General Sherman's army from reaching Atlanta. I'm not superstitious, but I am a history nerd, and it was a little eerie knowing that roughly 4,000 people died in the vicinity. There were old entrenchments and replica artillery batteries high up on the mountain that would periodically pop out of the dark and fog. Reading history is one thing, but getting a more visceral impression of real events is something valuable to me. The thought helped break up some of the boredom sitting in a sterile, overly air-conditioned conference room later in the day.

Friday: Zero. Travel hang over.

Saturday: 14.5 miles, 1982', 9:23 pace. Bear Brook trails with my dog. The unofficial trails I used to access the park suffered the brunt of a logging operation and were hard to follow. The rest day did me some good and my legs are feeling fully recovered, pushing the pace came easily.

Sunday: 9.5 miles, 1709', 9:44 pace. Pawtuckaway Trails at dawn with the dog. I felt great but kept things shortish. This was supposed to be a recovery week.

I also delivered on a promised ride in "Daddy's little blue car" to get ice cream.

Totals: 50.0 miles, 6194', 7h 54m.

Week 15: April 10 - 16, 2017 - Breakneck Point Trail Marathon

Monday: 8.1 miles, 643', 8:47 pace. Now that the snow is melted, I took the opportunity to do some Manchghanistan trail scrounging. Temps were win the mid-70s and I did my best to just ease into it.

Tuesday:
     AM: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:05 pace. I almost didn't get out of bed, but reminded myself of the warm temps. 55 degree mornings are pleasant to run in and, despite feeling a little creaky to start, I felt good enough to throw in some miscellaneous pickups and make it a fartlek run. Most of them were just smooth accelerations uphill for a few telephone poles, but also some ~5 minute up and downhill ones as well. It all went well, considering I was also running in a fasted state.
     PM: 6.8 miles, 372' gain, 8:27 pace. Exercised some restraint and actually ran slow on my lunch run. 80 degree temperatures helped.

Wednesday: Zero.

Thursday: Zero.

Friday:
     AM: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:35 pace. Managed to drag myself out of bed early enough to do the usual route. Scoped some beav' in the swamp on Podunk Road. Spring peepers, phoebes, robbins and turkey calls are making for a much livelier morning soundtrack lately.

Saturday: 28.3 miles, 8806', 11:23 pace. Breakneck Point Trail Marathon, Beacon, New York.

I've wanted to run this one for a while now and this was the year it finally fit in the schedule. Traditionally in April I've done races like Traprock 50K and the TARC Spring classic as early season tune-ups, but this year I was in the mood to try something new. Breakneck, held on the banks of the Hudson River, offers nearly as much elevation gain as the Pemi Loop, and I was surprised to learn how technical the terrain was. This video from 2015 was what really sold me on it.

Ben Nephew was the only competitive name on the entrants list that I recognized but, being outside New England, I didn't recognize most of them. I set no real competitive goals and just wanted to explore a new area and enjoy running hard on some snow-free trail after a long winter. As such, I didn't let it bother me when I was around 15th place for the first mile. By mile two the field had settled down a bit and I'd caught up to the lead pack without straining myself. This provided some useful feedback on my current fitness level as I was often able to gain ground on the flats and downhills, but would quickly give it back on the climbs when running with the other guys - likely a direct result of running on the road for most of the winter.

Another insight was gained by having run the Hyannis Marathon less than two months prior. Despite taking nearly twice as long to cover the same nominal distance, I was willing to accept a much higher exertion level at Breakneck, in the form of very high breathing and heart rates on the steepest climbs, well over lactate threshold. At Hyannis I tried to settle into a steady pace and gradually increase my exertion level to hold it consistently over the course of the race (that was the idea, at least). My mile splits were all between 6:24 and 7:29. A tough trail marathon is really more like a long set of intervals; climb hard for 15 minutes, then recover on the downs, so you shift the load around between different energy systems and muscle groups. My Breakneck splits varied from 6:23 (309 feet of loss) to 21:24 (1031 feet of gain). I see lots of hill repeats in my future.

By about the halfway mark the packed thinned out and I settled into fourth place. I'd occasionally catch a glimpse of Ben through the tree about a minute ahead, but he grew his lead and disappeared. I ran alone for quite a while before catching and passing another runner who was out of water, like me. With a course reroute this year, the overall distance was closer to 28 miles and there was a rather long stretch to get to the last aid station. I pushed a bit on the last few miles, descending hard to lock up my podium spot and finished in 5:22 - good enough to take home a bottle of wine and a blueberry pie.

Sunday: 5.2 miles, 307', 9:32 pace. Easter Sunday recovery run, trying to resurrect my sacrificed quads - paying for those last few miles at Breakneck. It was worth it.

Totals: 68.4 miles, 11302', 10h 42m.

Week 14: April 2 - April 8, 2017

Monday:
     AM: 9.9 miles, 591', 8:06 pace. I feel like I put out the same effort on most morning runs and the time that pops up on my phone at the end is a pretty accurate reflection of my fatigue level. This is to be expected, given that I had a pretty solid finish to last week. Crummy weather  is forecast for tomorrow, so I can take an easy day then.
     PM: 6.1 miles, 304', 8:15 pace. Lunch scrunble. Still tired, but making hay while the sun shines.

Tuesday: Zero.

Wednesday: Zero

Thursday: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:55 pace. Slow, despite two rest days.

Friday:
     AM: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:54 pace. Still slow.
     PM: 6.9 miles, 374', 9:04 pace. Lunch run with Mike. The Piscataquag River in Manchester is running pretty high with the snowmelt and recent rain. We had to bushwhack around a flooded section of trail.

Saturday: 11.9 miles, 723', 7:43 pace.

In the evening, I stuffed over 450 square feet of laminate floor in the back of the Foz. I calculated the weight out to 722 pounds and measured 3 inches of sag at the receiver hitch. The drive home was performed... gingerly, but ultimately uneventful. Saggin' wagon, indeed.

Sunday:
     AM: 7.5 miles, 942', 9:02 pace. I squeezed in a brisk 1:08 lap of the Skyline Trail in Middlesex Fells before meeting a friend later in the day. This was my first warm, dry trail run in months and it felt glorious to do some legit trail running again.

PM: 15.3 miles, 3619', 14:02 pace. An afternoon double traverse of the Blue Hills Skyline Trail with Keith. I dragged ass a bit on the return leg, experiencing nausea and a headache. It was only in the upper 60s but I felt hot. Barfed in the parking lot at the end.

Total: 77.6 miles, 7730', 12h, 05m.

Despite two off days, I never really felt much pep in the legs. My Fells loop was at a good effort level, but I'm not really sure it counts as a workout. In any case, I accumulated some good time on my feet, built some elevation gain, and a took a refresher course on running technical trails. Good enough.

Week 13: March 27 - April 1, 2017

Monday: Zero. Pouring rain. Sniffed some Minwax fumes while staining pine boards for my family room ceiling.

Tuesday: 
     AM: 10.0 miles, 591', 7:20 pace. 33 degrees, damp, and overcast. I ran well with little effort, not really noticing the hills, but then again, I should after two full days of rest.
     PM: 6.1 miles, 287', 8:08 pace. Easy lunch run. On the Manchester bike path that I frequently use, I passed by a house surrounded with yellow crime scene tape and cop cars around it. The local news is reporting a murder. Yikes.

Wednesday: Zero. Road running in the dark and rain is a bit beyond my tolerance for risk, so no AM run. No lunch run either because I got stuck in a meeting.

Thursday:
     AM: 9.9 miles, 591', 7:19 pace. Settled in to a moderately quick pace again, probably a direct result of the zero day. Paid a short visit to the horses across the street since they were close to the fence.

     PM: 6.8 miles, 375', 7:52 pace. Lunch run with some scrambling. I disturbed a couple of turkey vultures near the top of Cigarette Butte and got to watch them soar around from the top of the cliff for a bit.

Friday:
     AM: 9.9 miles, 591', 7:54 pace. I managed to exercise some restraint on this one and keep the pace easy.
     PM: 5.8 miles, 1041', 8:49 pace. 10 x 60s hill repeats on Harrison Street. It was snowing hard enough that I had to squint my eyes to see. The ground was still warm and everything was melting before it could accumulate.

Saturday: 9.7 miles, 470', 7:44 pace. Easy run in the post snowstorm slop.

Sunday: 11.9 miles, 702', 8:13 pace. A little tired, not much restraint was needed to go slower than 8s.

Totals: 70.5 miles, 4639', 9h 14m.

Week 12: March 20 - 26, 2017

Monday: Zero. Rest day.

Tuesday: Zero. Cranky hamstring.

Wednesday: 10 miles, 591', 7:42 pace. Strava GPS app gave me a bonus 2/10ths of a mile on my staple morning route.

Thursday: 9.9 miles, 591', 7:48 pace. Only 1/10th of mile extra today.

Friday: 9.8 miles, 591', 7:56 pace. Back to normal.

Saturday: 14.8 miles, 4918', LOL pace. "Ran" the Hancocks and East Osceola in much slower, more taxing conditions than I'd hoped. There was a firm, packed base but ankle-deep fresh snow up top made it like running on the beach, except with elevation gain. My pace was slow and I didn't feel that great, but the biggest benefit was probably recalibrating my level of patience from the roads to trails.

Sunday: Zero. I slept in and let a cranky hip and some soreness rationalize myself into taking a zero day. Still, there's value in this in that I can do a little self-examination. Is it better to take a zero day when my motivation is low and I give in to excuses that are always lurking in the background? Are they valid excuses or not and how do you draw the line? Just because I felt a little hip pinch a few times am I flirting with a serious injury, or is it just normal creaks in the machine? I don't have answers, but it's best to remind myself that I can't take decisions back, so just let go and move forward.

Totals: 44.5 miles, 6690', 8h 14m. Modest mileage but mediocre volume when looked at in hours.