Week of Delmar Dash 5 Miler

March 31st (Monday): 10.5 miles on the day. 3 mile tempo in the middle in 16:05. Big batch of burrito mix for the week.

Pure fuel.

April 1st (Tuesday): 3 miles (21:08) in the morning. Night lifting session. 3 miles (21:58) AFTER lifting with Ryan Sweet. Ouchies.

April 2nd (Wednesday): 3 miles (21:26) in the morning with Derrick. Normal day at work. First quality workout on the track. Meet up with Pete from the team and we all warmed up. 3+ miles (21:46). Some strides and onto the planned workout. 5x800, 5x400. Alternating with half rest. The classic Keene State workout.

2:26, 71, 2:26, 71, 2:26, 69, 2:26, 69, 2:26, 68.

Happy with the times. 15+ on the day. Buffalo Wild Wings (not impressed) for some dinner and a beer with the guys.

April 3rd (Thursday): 3 miles (22:02) in the morning. 7 miles (50:31) up in Saratoga with Megan and Shaun.

Pizza, brewski and Redbox (Meet the Millers)

April 4th (Friday): 9 miles (58:37) with Scott Mindel at 5:15pm. Quality run with good conversation.

April 5th (Saturday): 6 miles (42:05) with Scott and Goup at 11am. Relaxed the rest of the day.

April 6th (Sunday): Down to Delmar in the morning. 2.5+ mile warmup (19:23) on the first section of the course. Stacked field and was pumped to see so much talent on the line. Off the line well and fast first mile and in 4th place. 4:50ish. Held on for a 6th place finish and a slower 2nd half for 25:20. 5+ mile cooldown (43:31). A couple easy miles with a few kids that were lost during their fun run.

70 miles for the week with a good workout and hard race.

Photos from the week featuring Madison :)\

No captions necessary.

One Day Off + Madison!

March 24th (Monday): Day off.

March 25th (Tuesday): 8+ miles (57:59) with Goup.

March 26th (Wednesday): 3.5 miles (25:02) with Derrick in the morning. Normal day at work. Another 11 miles (80:22) in the evening on the Shen high school campus. Warmed up and cooled down with Goup. While he worked out, I ran around. 14.5 miles on the day and feeling good.

March 27th (Thursday): 3+ miles (23:48) in the morning. Another normal day at work. 9 miles (54:25) in the evening. 7+ mile tempo in 40:46.

 Breakfast for dinner!

March 28th (Friday): 7 miles (51:47) after work.

March 29th (Saturday): Attempted a track workout (first real workout since before the marathon. So it's been a few months. The goal workout (did not make it up and Goup did not make it up). 6x1000, 6x200. 200 rest on everything. Blahh. Survived 5x1000 and killed the 200s.

3:14, 3:08, 3:10, 3:19, 3:17, 32, 32, 31, 29, 29, 30.

Plus, this was completed at 8am in the morning. Gross. Not my ideal workout or time of day to do it. 2 mile warmup, 2 mile cooldown. 10 miles on the day.

THE BEST PART OF THE DAY WAS MY NIECE MADISON WAS BORN!!

5 weeks early and a wittle bugger!

 Proportion of how small she is :)

March 30th (Sunday): 13+ (1:42:18) miles from the Fleet Feet store in Malta with the team. Pancake breakfast to follow. Ran with the women's team for most of it for a relaxing run.

65 miles for the week with a couple "Rust Busters" and a day off. Keep it going!

Week of Fast Friends 4.5 Miler

March 17th (Monday): Easy 6 miles in Congress Park with the We Run the Capital (WRC) group. Easy slow run that aided the recovery of New Bedford well. Quality dinner at night. Chicken wrapped in bacon.

Baked with chopped up onions. Topped with chili powder, cayenne, and ground cinnamon.

March 18th (Tuesday): 3 miles (21:44) in the morning. Work 9am-5:30pm. We had a 24 hour shutdown so I was allowed to adjust my schedule accordingly. Boom. Another 6 miles (43:18) down in Albany before the lifting session. Chipotle for dinner.

March 19th (Wednesday): Work 6am-2:30pm. Run @ Fleet Feet with the local high school team. 9.5 miles (64:31) for total miles. 4 miles on my own. Another 5.5 miles with the team plus a little more. Free pasta dinner at the store. Boom again!

March 20th (Thursday): Solid 9 miles (61:31) in the evening.

March 21st (Friday): 7 miles (49:49) in Keene with Sears and Goup. Athen's for subs.

March 22nd (Saturday): Bagel for breakfast from the Fowler kitchen. Over to the race venue to use the restrooms, pick up the number and warm up with the group. 3 miles (21:35) on the first part of the course. Rocked the watch for the run.

Rolled on the course. Slowest in 3 years, but still grabbed the win. 5:09, 5:21, 5:14, 5:16, 2:33. 23:45 for a final time.

 Yeah. It was in the 30's and John Lennon is rocking no shirt behind me.

3.5 mile (26:30) cooldown with the group. Grabbed a mini charcoal grill on the prize table. Relaxed at Andy's house for most of the night before hitting up a few bars in Keene with the gang. Good times.

March 23rd (Sunday): Pub for breakfast. Killed pounds of food. Chilled and napped on the Fowler futon in the midmorning hours. Over to Ferenc's for a quality 18 miles (2:07:19) with Goup and Ferenc.

70 miles for the week. First quality week of miles with many more to come.

New Beford Half Marathon Race Report

**YEAH I KNOW. A WHOLE MONTH LATE ON THE REPORT**

March 15th (Saturday): Slept in. The normal organize the house/room before heading out for the weekend for a race. Breakfast. Down to Albany to pick up Joanna with Goup to carpool over to New Bedford. Joanna works part-time at the Hampton Inn so we scored made cheap rooms for the weekend. Made it over to Fairhaven (town over) to check into the hotel by 2ish. Packet pickup was open until 4pm. Quick drive over and back to the hotel to change up for a shakeout run.

5 miles (34:47) with Goup. Stretched, sticked the legs, and showered up. Two people were "busy" in the next room. We were hoping they would get it out of their system before we headed to bed. Called into The Pasta House for reservations. Only can make reservations for parties 6 or more. Whatever. St. Patrick's day weekend so it was busy at the only nice restaurant in Fairhaven. Walked over and waited for about an hour. Worth it. Fried calamari and some pizza for dinner. Rocked my new orange corduroys for dinner. As we were finishing up, I received a compliment from a tipsy guy with green pants, an orange sweater, and a belt buckle with a suggestive saying on it.

Stopped at Walmart on the walk back to pick up some Gatorade. Back to the hotel to watch some television and crash for the night. Clothes all laid out for the morning.

March 16th (Sunday): 7am wakeup. Down to the lobby to grab the free breakfast. Saw a Belgium waffle maker. Boom! Some butter and fake maple syrup. Chilled and upstairs to change up. Packed up the room and on the road by 9ish. Short drive over to Y. Inside to destroy the bathroom. One stale, but waited in line.

Breezy out, but sunny. Warmed up 2.5 (18:57) with Goup and Joanna. Back to the car to decide on the level of warm clothing I needed. Decided on just a thin hat, thin gloves, half tights, and arm sleeves. Made it to the front line after some swerving/bobbing/weaving. Knew the competition was deep so dipped back a few rows to control my first couple miles. Goup and I discussed the night before and the morning about what to do to run a smart race.

Splits went like this:

Mile 1: 5:24
Mile 2: 5:40 (changed gears and left the pack I was running in)
Mile 3: 5:25 (16:30)
Mile 4: 5:32
Mile 5: 4:57 (26:59)
Mile 6-7: 10:07
Mile 8: 5:09
Mile 9-10: 10:19 (52:35, 25:36 2nd 5 miles)
Mile 11: 5:47 (wasn't changing distance on the guys in front of me, it was just that brutal for everyone)
Mile 12: 5:32
Mile 13: 5:18 (uphill/downhill)
Last 0.1: 54

Photo courtesy of Krissy K.

Finish time: 69:47

Happy with the results and a quality step forward in the training. Still very early in the year.

2.5 mile cooldown (19:17). 18 miles on the day. Major food intake inside the gym. Fish sandwich, seltzer, and a Powerbar protein bar. In the car and on our way back to NY. 45 miles for the week due to the beginning of the week (home for a few days for personal reasons). No worries.

Home For A Few Days

March 10th (Monday): Drove home yesterday to spend a few days at home. My aunt's longtime boyfriend (aka basically our uncle) passed away. He was a great man and it was unexpected. To be home with family and friends was a blessing in disguise. I was able to see my sisters from California (especially my sister who is due May 1st). 4+ miles with Sarah in the afternoon.

 Crispy, thin, thick, bendy. We had it all for the BLTs with mad accessories.

March 11th (Tuesday): Off. Day of togetherness with the family. Services in Greenwich. The rest of the day was spent at the restaurant. Good food and good company all around.

 Scallops. So tasty.

March 12th (Wednesday): 5 miles (34:04) in Newtown.

First draft and concept of tattoo idea for the 4 siblings.

March 13th (Thursday): 8 miles (55:44).

March 14th (Friday): 5 miles (31:18) and felt like crap.

Still Cold

March 3rd (Monday): 8 miles (60+).


March 4th (Tuesday): 7 miles (47:42). Weight lifting. 5 Guys Burgers and Fries
.
March 5th (Wednesday): 8 miles (55:10).

March 6th (Thursday): 5++ miles (40:31).

March 7th (Friday): 9 miles total. Ran outside for a few miles, but it was brutally windy out. Ran over to the local gym and ran on the treadmill for 5+ miles. Ran home. Picked up my 10 pound slab of smoked bacon from a buddy after work. BLT made with avocado and raw onion.

 Pure healthiness.

Lightly toasted and real Hellman's mayo.

March 8th (Saturday): 2 miles at the Summer Expo for the good running form clinic. 9 miles (60:44) in the evening. Down to Albany to hang out with some buddies and grab some beers.

Another diesel sandwich with bacon.

March 9th (Sunday): Day off. Volunteered at the Summer Expo again and ran 2+ miles with good running form clinic group. 51 miles for the week and just waiting for warm weather. As I type this, I was able to run in shorts and a long sleeve. It's a totally different ballgame now.

Breakfast before heading to the expo.

Week After DH Jones

February 24th (Monday): 8+ miles (58:03).

February 25th (Tuesday): 7-8 miles. Not sure exactly what I ran this day. Weight lifting at night.

February 26th (Wednesday): 8.5+ miles (61:39).

February 27th (Thursday): 10 miles with a 5 mile mini tempo in 29:24 in the middle with Pete Rowell. Solid through a hilly 4 miles and the last mile was a bit of a stretch at the moment for Pete, but he is transferring over to distance well.

 Fuel for the run with a couple peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches (with the butt ends).

February 28th (Friday): Goose egg.

March 1st (Saturday): Goose egg. I'll take them now before the serious training starts.

March 2nd (Sunday): 14+ miles (1:42:03) with Ricardo, Pete, and Megan. Relaxed all day and made some buffalo chicken strips. Breaded with egg and flour. Fried up in the cast iron pan. Tossed in Texas Pete hot sauce and melted butter. 48 miles for the week. Down week, but its all good.

 Homemade buffalo chicken strips. Bomb.

 Cleaned the stove-top because it was overdue. 

 

DH Jones 10 Miler Race Report

*For people who are reading this. I am finally catching up on my last month and a half of training and races. Sorry for the delay*

February 23rd (Sunday): Oat bran for breakfast at the house. Down to Fleet Feet to meet the rest the team to head over to Amherst, MA. 2 hours over and arrived by 9:30ish. Picked up the number and hit up the bathrooms before the warmup. Chilled in the cafeteria and prepared the racing gear.

2.5 mile (19:11) at 10:20am along the first mile+ of the race. Back to change up and decide on the level of warm clothing I needed. Decided on half tights, singlet, arm sleeves, hat and gloves. Over to the starting line for a few strides and line up with the entire New England/New York squad. Stacked race and ready for an fast start.

Off the line well. Quick first mile in 5:05ish and settled into a pace. This was the first hard effort of the year so I wasn't fully prepared, but have run well here the last two years.

First mile and eyes closed hammering down the hill.

 First hill was a shock to the system at 2.5 miles. Starting going backwards and had a group pass me on the hill. Re-rallied on the downhills and through 5 mile in 26:45. Negative split the 2nd half and finished up strong in 53:15 (26:30 2nd 5 miles). Poorly ran race with an aggressive first couple miles. Ran a tough race and happy with a top 10 finish in a stacked field. Next up is New Bedford Half Marathon and I need to run more relaxed (smarter).

 Strong finish.

3.5 mile cooldown with a couple of the guys. Awards, food and on the road. Stopped at the Amherst Brewery and received some terrible service. So bad we left after 45 minutes and we weren't even served our beers. Pathetic. Chipotle for a monster burrito and some soda. Home safely. 54 miles for the week and ready to slowly start up the spring racing season.