June 16, 2013

June 10-16th Running Log.

With a marathon coming right up you would think that the taper would have started,  I'd be well rested and almost complaining of the lack of miles I'm putting in. Well last week i ran 65 miles with a number of workouts that left me pretty tired. This week wasn't all that different. I wasn't able to get out for as many doubles (ok, so i got none) due to lack of sleep and the need to stay well rested. The weather also played a pretty big role in the lack of doubles and just getting out more. After spending 8 hours in the rain working and taking measurements, than using whatever will power is left to get out for another hour or so in the rain, you really don't feel like getting out of the warm bed at  4am when it's still pouring. Yes excuses, but next time you've spent nearly 10 hours in the rain i don't think you'd want to leave the bed either.

By the end of the week though the weather was beautiful and this past weekend was beyond perfect. We even got out for a camping trip down to Acadia National Park. What a treat!

June 10 Monday: 4am- 7 miles (49:53). Off to a good start. Didn't want to get up this morning but i knew it was going to be a late afternoon and I would probably miss a chance if i didn't go than. Turns out I wouldn't get home till 8pm (bedtime!)

Tuesday: Pm: 9.1 miles (63:27) Bagged the planned mile repeats. Pouring rain this morning wasn't inviting but the dog needed to get out so sacrifices had to be made. Explored some old woods roads. Nearly found the trail to even more trails. Gotta get out there again.

Wednesday: Pm 4.1 and 4.5. For anyone that knows our dog Loki he's pretty much scared of everything. He does okay on the roads but if it's too busy he just gets so scared, he puts himself in danger. I needed to get the car to the mechanic and with Britt gone on business, I had to run back from the mechanic. 4 miles before i dropped the car off with the dog. 4.5 back to the house, with stomach issues...

Thursday: Pm: Unplanned speed session. 4x800 (2:44, 2:45, 2:46, 2:41) roughly 2 minutes recovery between each plus 2x400 ( 77, and 73). Thought about doing nothing, but than this week would have really turned out horrible. glad I got something in, even though the legs were tired feeling.

Friday: Zilch, nada. A big fat zero for the day.

Loki and I getting some miles in on some single track.

Saturday: Am: 3.5 PM 17.1 Arrived in Acadia pretty early. We wanted to get some kind of hike in before the afternoon adventure. Choose Norumbega Mountain, one we haven't done yet. Fun time for sure. The first .6 is on your hands and knees at points, once your about .1 from the top it got flat enough that we started to run/jog slowly. (14min miles?, didn't wear a Garmin). Snapped a few pictures at the top, and we were on our way. Had a bit of fun trying to take a video and run at the same time. Enjoy!



Prepared to tackle Cadillac for 5 hours and 7 Ascents.
Peter and I ready to hit Caddy 7 times.
Filled the water bottle
at the top where there's a fountain and at a few stream crossings.
Stashed water and GU in a few spots as well.
Next time we need more food. 
The Pm adventure was with Peter Keeney a Crow teammate and resident of Bar Harbor. Our plan (well his) was to take 7 different routes to the top. We started at Bubble Pond on Cadillac West Face Trail (0.9mi), upon reaching the junction we took a left and made our first ascent of Cadillac Mountain (1530ft) Next up was a quick up and down (0.8mi total) on Notch Trail at the bottom of Dorr Mtn, that made 2 ascents. By this trip, we had run out of fluids and decided to grab a quick drink at the fountain. We made our way down the South Ridge Trail to the Pond Trail and Cannon Brook Junction. First we took Pond Trail as an out and back (2.2miles) (tough little sucker) than the Cannon Brook trail out and back(1.8miles) where flowing water made things very slippery at times. Lots of boulders were challenging as well. A quick trip back to the Summit of Cadillac, we turned around on our heels and made the long out and back on the South Ridge trail (3.5 miles one way). Making the return trip to the top my toe became more noticeable. For some odd reason, and it's happened before at some point in the last 4 months, my skin separates where the toe meets on the foot on the bottom. It's pretty painful, and step after step i could feel it rip open more and more. Upon a quick look, the cut (as i'm calling it) was pretty deep, luckily no blood. I decided at the top (13 miles in and about 3hour:45 minutes in) to call it and try again for all seven when i wasn't in pain. Peter followed suit, and we made our way down on the auto road. Getting the legs to turn over at this point was pretty hard. I think i knocked off 9:00, 7:18, 7:14 all downhill. Looking back on other descents i was knocking back 6:30's with ease. Shows your how time on your feet can change things. Peter got back up there this morning  (Sunday) at 8am to finish the final two Ascents(what an animal CAW!).

For some reason part of the data is missing. Here's the actual course we ran.

I had stashed some water and Gels at the bottom of South Ridge, but i wish i had left something more substantial. Note to self, bring or stash more food for long runs like this. Fuel can make or break the trip. 
Very happy with the run itself. Came out to 17.1 miles by the time we made it back to the car 4 hours 8 minutes. 
Sunday: Nada, legs tired for sure. No niggles of pain, just soreness and the need for some solid rest.

Total miles: 52.5 in 9:51:06

Bay of Fundy International Marathon this coming weekend should be an interesting one. 



June 7, 2013

Looking back on May

I've been contemplating writing up a report for my past two big events this past month, but the more I think about it, I can just wrap it into one. Why the heck not. You may have noticed I attached a new banner at the top. Each of those pictures have great meaning to me, and each brings inspiration to be and do better.

Running in May

May started off with school ending, and one of my best semesters (grade points wise). I think by the start of May I was coming off the hectic, tragic, truly inspiring events of the Boston Marathon. I say inspiring because so many people who aren't part of the running community came together plus it affected the whole city and sports teams. I vow to return in 2014 to Boston.

I did a few big events that I really wasn't training for or focusing on at all. They both pretty much happened on a whim. Thanks to my good friend from the County I was able to run the Fredericton Marathon on May 12th a mere 28 days after the Boston Marathon in Canada. Not really sure what I was thinking but hell it was great! Really awesome to run somewhere new. Like I said no goal in mind going in, but we decided soon after arriving that we needed to show those Canadians no Mainer's are to be ignored and come GCI 50k they better be nervous because this year is the National Championships. We ran 2:54 and 2:55 respectively for 5 and 6 place. Excellent showing.

Side note: The Great Cranberry Island Ultra Marathon staff (AKA Gary and Mary) announced that this would be the last year of the BEST RACE EVER. If you're on the short list of participants or really should be, make sure you run. Maybe not the whole thing, but come get a training run in. It's truly an experience you don't want to miss. This will by my focus of the summer. I had signed up for a 10k a week after, and I plan to run the 10k, but the 50k means more to me as it's the last edition of this spectacular event. 

The other big event was Cabot Trail Relay. I got an invite sometime in March to run for the Rhino Redux team, on the four teams from Maine. Some absolutely great people on all four of those teams. The Maine-iacs grabbed first for the 17-leg 178 mile relay, while my team the Rhino's grabbed 6th, the Maine Hags 7th, and Maine Running Fossils 70 out of 71 teams. 
Again another event I vow to return to. (I think this is become an addiction far beyond what I originally thought). I got to run two legs coming in 3rd for leg 1 and winning Leg 13 at 2am in the morning. My only regret is having a coffee at midnight. Note to self Coffee past midnight when nervous doesn't settle well!

Leg 1: 

Leg 13:


May's mileage was down a bit from where it could be, but running is a gift and I wanted to be at least healthy through this month so the summer would start off with a bang. June through August will be tough as i've got big plans running, work, school, and wedding planning going on. 

By the numbers

186.8 Total Miles 
1 Marathon (28 days after the Boston Marathon): 2:54:26 3rd Fastest Marathon out of 6 total now.
2 Cabot Trail Relay Legs (L1-3rd place, L13-1st place)

Run on my friends.