New England Championships...

Sunday morning despite being incredibly distracted by my new Blackberry I soloed down to Boston for the New England Indoor meet at Harvard. Walking in the door I had a bit of an urgency in my stride because for one reason or another I felt as if I was late. I met up with Greg, Najam, and Jeff and they expressed their concern over my lateness. Normally I am the first person at the meet and there have been a few instances that the doors were still locked.

My warm up felt good but I could already tell that my legs were feeling pretty flat. The original plan was for Najam and I to try and rip a fast mile but I quickly realized that anything under 4:15 would be a major success considering the heavy volume I have been running since Terrier. There was no doubt that I still had the lingering feeling of the 8 x mile in my legs. After a good set of 75-meter striders I thought I was as ready as I could be so I headed to the line. I had the pole because of my 4:08 seed time but I knew I would be holding on for dear life the first half of the race. About 250 meters into the race I knew that the race was going to be a struggle. Coming through in 63 for the quarter was comfortable but I knew that was all that was in the tank. By the time I approached the half mile three guys including Najam already had a significant gap. Three quarters passed in 3:14 so I knew that if there was a chance at running 4:15 that I would really need to charge. The final 200 of the race went well and I was able to bridge the gap back up to Najam but I had left it way to late. Within a few minutes I was ready to roll on our cool down without a trace of lactate in my system. Looking back at the race I feel as if the pace was knocked back to 4:22 or so that I could have kept trucking to an 8:10 3000.

Our cool down was pretty awesome along the banks of the Charles. Obviously every Boston area runner must loath this run at times but I always find it invigorating. I added on a few loops of the football turf to get in 30 minutes bringing up the daily total to 11 miles. After a quick snack and some Powerade it was back out the door for another 15 minutes around the turf to prepare for the 3000. As we walked back into the field house I started to get a very funny feeling that I have been getting to know all to well. Due to the lack of any quality nutrition throughout the day I could feel the Bonktoberfest knocking at my front door. Rather than fight the bonk I decided to embrace and explore the terrifying feeling with the knowledge that I could experience this in the marathon. When I stood up from putting my spikes on I had a major head rush and need some Powerade to get myself centered. Jeff hooked my up with a FRS energy block and Greg convinced me to down a cookie before heading to the line. We decided that the best course of action would be to run 70 pace for as long as possible to transition to the longer road races on the next few months.

Reluctantly I had the poll again for the 3k despite having an incredibly passive feeling about the race. Off the line I got a pretty good push in the back from Harry Norton and almost went down on my face. Doing my best Bode Miller impression I managed to get my feet back under me which helped the field avoid a call back. We opened up in 2:20 on the money and despite my massive bonkatopia I was feeling smooth and in control. The Dartmouth boys moved over the next kilometer and I let them go without much thought as I kept to my plan of 70 second pace. In the third kilometer things slowed ever so slightly but I felt relaxed and smooth. With 300 to go I got the spark of motivation as two runners attempted a pass. I held them off into the turn and as I got past the pole vault pit I noticed Norton 15-meters ahead with his hazard lights on and in full distress. Thinking back to the contact off the line I decided to throw down over the last 100 to pass him. Harry looked back through the turn and attempted to move but for one reason or another he had no answer. I coasted though the line in 8:43 feeling completely at ease. I jogged directly to my trainers and within two minutes Greg and I were back out on the roads for the last three miles of the day.

On the cool down I revealed to Greg my mileage for the day and week. I explained to Greg that I was not going to chase numbers right now and that I was going to end my week with 98 miles. Previous versions of my training would have seen me push past reason to get the all important triple digit week. Right now control is the one of the most important pieces of my training. One year ago today I was sitting on a bag of ice with an anti-inflammatory patch on my back wondering what the heck was going on. Today I am sitting with a cup of Peruvian dark roast fresh and ready to attack a long run.

Overall yesterday was an amazing day of training. On the surface a 4:16, 8:43 double is nothing to get excited about but given my recent training I am pumped. The fastest interval I have run since Terrier was a 2:23 tenth 800 so expecting a blazing performance would have been silly. I was pleased with both of the races but what was more exciting was how great I felt following each race. I am starting to get the feeling that I am exceedingly fit and ready to have some great performances between 10k and the half-marathon. I could not be more pleases with how my training is going right now and am extremely excited about the Grand Prix 10 miler next Sunday in Amherst.

8 x Mile...

Durning my lunch break today I started thinking about the afternoon workout. My original plan was to do some faster work to feel quick going into the New England meet this Sunday. As I sat with my peanut butter and jelly I decided that I wanted to hit the longer stuff hard so I decided to jump in with both feet and do 8 x mile with 400-meters rest. When Fyffe picked me up I asked if he minded shifting his original plan of 4-6 x mile to a longer workout. Fyffe is always up for that sort of action so we were ready to rock. Justin and I figured that if we ran 5:10 pace that we would stimulate the right system and get a solid mileage total for the afternoon.

Fyffe and I met up with the usual cast of characters at the bank at 3:15 and headed out for our standard warm up. After a few striders Justin, Andy, James, and I got into the mile repeats. Greg, Boj, and Jeff opted for something shorter heading into the last race of the undercover season. The workout went much better than expected and I felt stronger and stronger as we progressed. For some reason I had a lingering fear that I was going to fall apart late in the game but I got in a groove and produced a solid effort. 5:01, 5:06, 5:01, 5:04, 5:03, 5:00, 4:56, 4:52. On the last repeat I started to get a little bit sick of the grind so I ran hard for the last 300-meters to finish things off. I had a funny thought following the third interval. I had already done a 3 x mile workout and I still had to do the longest mile repeat workout of my life! It was a funny feeling which probably led to some of the anxiety I was feeling late in the game.

Justin, Andy, James and I had an awesome bonkapalozza on the cool down. I had a pretty great punch drunk feeling and started to feel a little loopy over the last mile but I managed to get home. Justin and I knocked back some cream sodas that Pete Najam had left from the Super Bowl to get out blood sugar back on track. Overall we got in a great workout that was much faster than expected with 17 miles of volume.

Next up is a mile 3k double Sunday at Harvard.

Mark

What does this mean...

What does this mean for American distance running? Every time an American has success in an important race that is seemingly always the first question asked. Personally I am sick of this saying and get annoyed every time that I hear Dwight Stone fire it off. Lets face some pretty amazing facts. We are in fact as Americans one of the strongest distance running nations in the world. Every year our international teams perform better and our athletes run faster and place higher. With the success of our women middle runners last year, and the fantastic accomplishments we had in the 5000-meters I think it is time to put this question to bed for good.

For one reason or another so many distance runners seem to have this entitlement complex that makes us think that we are so important and pure. That somehow the simplicity of our pursuit makes us better than our counterparts in other sports. Just where and when this complex was formed is a mystery but it is absolutely mind numbing if you are around it enough.

What really brought this issue to a head for me was our nations nordic combined teams success at the Olympics. Nordic skiing and the combined event have been around since the eighteenth century and are a true test of fearlessness and endurance. Our team has clearly lived and trained in obscurity knowing that one day they would have the chance to medal at an Olympics. These brothers in arms have been launching themselves off remote ski jumps and putting in countless hours of training to hone their strength and form. When Johnny Spillane made his mad dash for home from over a k out he was living in the moment while simultaneously living his dream. Thankfully for all of us the first question he was asked post race was not what his performance meant for American nordic combined athletes.

Mark

California and such...

Last week was a whirlwind that left me completely spent by Sunday afternoon. My training took a bit of a hit with two days sacrificed to travel and the logistics of having a puppy. I only managed five miles of work at marathon pace or faster which is a dramatic drop from the previous week. Luckily the lack of fast paced training was made easier by the 70 degree temperatures in Sunny Long Beach, California.

Mary, the Dianes and myself headed out of Keene at 1:00 on Tuesday to make it down to Logan for a 4:05 flight to LAX. We got a little bit lost in Revere looking for the parking service but made it to Logan with time to spare. I had never flown Virgin before and after our flights I don't think I will be able to go back to a standard carrier. Realistically Virgin should consider a name change to ADHD America because of all the gadgets and media available on their flights. Mary and I had hoped to make it to Long Beach in time for Lost but our shuttle was late picking us up so we had to put fate into our DVR. Wednesday Mary and I woke up at six and made our way to the store to pick up provisions for the week. It felt so good to go for a stroll down the street at seven am in a t-shirt. After a quick bowl of oatmeal Mary and I headed down to the waterfront to get in our first run. Eight minutes into our run we were at the beach and were absolutely in heaven. Mary put in eight and I continued on another four miles by myself. Five miles into the run I had my shirt off and found myself blasting by startled joggers in winter hats and gloves who must have been wondering who the sweaty psycho was. When I got forty minutes out I decided that I wanted to haul for a bit so I threw down all the way back. Mary and I spent the rest of Wednesday chilling at the beach. I never thought my first swim in the Pacific would be in February, so it goes. Wednesday night Mary, the Dianes and myself headed out for dinner at the Long Beach Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. After a few brilliant shrimp tacos, of course, I managed to blow our servers mind with my savant like knowledge of all things Gump. In the shuttle ride back to the hotel my seventeen hard miles caught up to me and I zonked out on Mary's shoulder.

Thursday was the first day of the conference so I had to get out the door at 6:30 to be able to have enough time for a shower before heading across town. I did the same out and back twelve miler from Wednesday but took it a bit easier the second half. The conference was terrific and I walked away anxious for the second day. Michelle Garcia Winner is at the leading edge of research concerning students with high functioning autism. Michelle has been recognized by congress for her important contribution to this expanding field. Following the workshop I headed out for another five miles along the sunny shores of Long Beach. Following another dinner out on the town with some light shopping I managed to fall asleep on a city bench while waiting for our shuttle.

Friday morning I was greeted with the most awe inspiring sunrise of my life. I was kicking myself for a few minutes for not having my camera but I let it go pretty quickly and decided to just let the moment happen. Friday's workshop was not as helpful as Thursday's because I am already in the process of building a social thinking curriculum but it was still stimulating. I had the chance to talk with Michelle and explain my work and she opened to door to go back to California in June to present my work at another conference. Following my run Friday afternoon I was starting to feel pretty wiped out. I should have napped but made the decision to head downtown with the gals for some shopping. Mary and I headed back down to Belmont Shore for dinner later that night. We were lucky to find an amazing Mexican restaurant named Super Mex that is famous for burritos. My shredded beef burrito was almost as inspiring as the sunrise and the atmosphere was incredible. By the time Mary and I headed back to the hotel we were both wiped out.

Saturday morning I headed out for the same twelve miler along the shore. I met up with Mary toward the end and added on a mile before heading back to the hotel. We did some cartwheels on the beach and posed with some palm trees before heading back to the hotel. It was unfortunate to have to leave because Saturday was set to be an amazing southern California day with temperatures in the eighties. The flight home was pretty uneventful for the most part. When we landed in Boston I managed to really get Mary laughing with some bad jokes. We made quite the scene for a couple of minutes and I almost had Mary convinced to yell that she was tired of all these snakes on the plane but she chickened out. We blasted back to Keene in well under two hours and were out the door in a matter of minutes to become the life of Steve's 30th birthday party at McCue's. The highlight of the night was Steve's rocking rendition of Rockin' in the Free World with the house band Fat Tuesday.

Sunday morning Mary and I were up early to go get Eko in Ashland. I was so tired that I fell asleep on the brick hearth with three people talking in the room. When we got back to Keene I crashed in bed for the afternoon and watched the winter Olympics. As I said it was a long and exhausting week that saw my training take a minor hit. Back to work this week with the goal of hitting 105 miles.

Marathon training week one...

The first week of marathon training went exactly as expected and I am looking forward to continuing my training in the warm air of Long Beach, California this coming week. I wrapped up the week with 96 miles on only eight runs. Factor in a five mile day on Thursday because of some stomach issues and things look even brighter. The real pearl of the week is knowing that I got in seventeen miles of volume at marathon pace or faster. The true measure of how successful this venture is going to be is how many weeks that I can stack that are similar to this. Obviously it is going to be tricky getting mileage into the 12o range with everything that Mary and I have going on right now but I will give it my best. (Insert Sean Connery joke here)

Right now Mary and I are preparing for our annual Super Bowl party. The entire Keene training group is coming over for some quality food, excellent conversation, professional level table tennis, and ummm, right the Super Bowl. I have just wrapped up making a massive serving of New Orleans jambalaya that will keep the party going all night.

Check back this week for updates from Long Beach at the Michelle Winner Social Thinking Conference, or the beach!

Mark

12 mile progression...

Today I did my first serious marathon progression run. I have been talking to many of my fellow New England runners about marathon training and what I have taken away is that longer progression work is the keystone to any marathon program. The plan for today was twelve miles starting at 6:00 pace and working down to 5:00 pace over the final miles. From the first strides of the run I knew was in for a solid effort. I passed three miles in 17:04 feeling strong and ready to accelerate. The first three miles of the loop are moderately hilly so I was very confident that I would be able to roll on the flats of West Keene. Five miles was passed in 28:14 and I made it to seven in 39:00. Ten miles was reached in 54:40 and I still felt excellent so I decided to push the pace over the last two miles. Around eleven and three quarters I started to get a little tired but I was able to push through and make it to twelve in 65:30. I was pretty psyched following the workout and I began to get distantly excited about VCM. This workout also brought my marathon specific work to seventeen miles for the week which is very exciting.

Mark

Wednesday workout...

Yesterday the usual suspects headed over to Baker Street for our typical midweek madness. I was much more relaxed heading into the warm-up this week. Last week I was a little high strung and may have been running faster then the others wanted to. This week I was excited and relaxed about the idea of running a longer workout. My workouts have been pretty intense the last couple of weeks but lacked volume. Fyffe, Andy, and I planned on running 10x800 around 10k pace with 400 meters rest.

During the first interval I was a feeling a little uneasy because I was having a difficult time adjusting to the slower pace. Luckily I was able to get into a rhythm after that and was extremely pleased with my workout. 2:23, 2:27, 2:26, 2:25, 2:24, 2:23, 2:23, 2:23, 2:23, 2:23. What excited me the most was how easy this workout felt following the more intense work of previous weeks. I did not feel any notable fatigue until the second to last interval but I was able to relax and stay on pace. Justin looked great over the last couple of intervals and I thought about really tearing into the last rep with him but reason prevailed.

We had another comical cool-down despite a few hecklers that tried their best to bait us into a fight. It seems like our society is so focused on posturing right now. Why everyone has such a desperation to prove their toughness with their fists is beyond me. Since I was dangerously close to a total bonk I kept running while visualizing the bowl of Dove chocolates that Mary had left on the kitchen table. I was psyched about the solid afternoon of training.

I am not sure about the plan for this weekend yet. I want to do the snow shoe race at Northfield Mountain but I would also like to do a longer tempo effort on the roads. Mostly, I just want to sleep on Saturday and prepare for an awesome Super Bowl Sunday.

Mark

Welcome, who cares?

Evolution of an athlete...

I have had a super time heading to Boston the past couple of weekends to hit the boards. I am always psyched to see different friends and competitors in the tight confines of Boston's indoor facilities. With the current popularity of blogging and online logs I have been fielding a lot of questions about the location of my log. I have tried a few different online formats and have not really liked what I saw. I thought Strands was the answer but it does not really seem like the community has gotten off the ground. With the regularity that I check my friends blogs it seems fitting that I make another addition to the training blogosphere.

I am calling this blog Evolution of an athlete because of my rather unorthodox goals that I have set for myself heading into my third decade. I have been joking around with my friend and training partner, Greg Hammett that I want to be looked at as a well rounded endurance athlete. With that being said my goals for this calendar year are sweeping and unique and will require a tiny bit of evolution on my part.

2010 goals

Run a "fast" mile:

Snow shoe race:

Run 2:22 for the marathon at VCM:

Complete and win an Xterra mountain triathlon:

Return to bicycle hill climb racing:

Plan of attack

First on my plate this year was racing the mile in an attempt to crack 4:10 for the first time since 2004. Following eight weeks of some basic speed work at Baker Street with the Keene training group I was able to run 4:08 last Saturday at the Terrier Classic. Given that my body was a wreck last week, strained hamstring, strained calf, etc... I was more than happy with my effort. I ran even the whole way but once again was lacking the big finishing gear that I had earlier last decade. So it goes... With a "fast" mile in the books it is time to turn my attention to running 2:22 at the Vermont City Marathon the last weekend of May. There is going to be plenty of excitement along the way with snow shoe racing but the primary focus is on the marathon. The day after the marathon I will begin to formulate my training for the triathlon.

Mark