November 11th (Monday): Woke up with a sore throat. Normal day at work. Home to run 4.5 miles (31:19) with Derrick. Easy run and good to catch up with him after a few weeks off.
November 12th (Tuesday): Blah day with the sickness setting in. Day off all together from running and night lifting at Fleet Feet.
November 13th (Wednesday): Feeling roughly the same as yesterday. 5.5 miles (39:40) in the evening. Felt good to breath in some fresh air and blow a bunch of snot rockets to clear the sinuses.
November 14th (Thursday): On the upswing. A couple nights of 9-10 hours of sleep, Nyquil (store brand) and some Mucinex. 5.5 miles (37:02) in the evening.
Back to healthy eating!
November 15th (Friday): Normal day at work. Had to stay at work until 5pm due to a high priority tool being signed off. A couple punch list items that needed to be verified the next day. Overtime approved. Boom.v5.5 miles (39:21) in the afternoon.
November 16th (Saturday): Almost all better. Kicked the cold. Slept in. Phone call received around 10am to let me know the work was complete. Work 10:30am-12:30pm. Stopped in at TJ Maxx to see if there was anything new. Grabbed a sweet fleece pullover.
Home to relax and watch a bunch of moves. The Other Woman on Netflix. Cars. PS I Love You. 3 miles (21:15) in the evening with Goup. Bed at a decent hour.
November 17th (Sunday): 7 miles (50:17) with the Fleet Feet Racing team (mostly women's team) at 8am. Easy first 6 miles. Worked in the last mile with Pete (similar to Najem in the speed aspect) and Goup. Sub 5:30 last mile. Boom. Gavs made it out for the run as well from Albany. Sweeeeet!
Relaxed the rest of the day. Listened to Dr. Dre radio on Spotify and this came on. Huh?
Good song, but no what I wanted to listen to at the time.
31 miles for my 1st week back. Felt great to get out there on the roads. Being back in a routine is amazing. I don't feel like such a bum.
October 13th - November 5th: 1 month of no running. The first week was painful, but recovery was quicker than last year. The crap eating started immediately. The day after the marathon I ate about a half a box of Oreos, a whole box of Charleston Chews, and some other random stuff. I began season 1 of Breaking Bad on Netflix at 1pm on Sunday. I did not leave the couch until 1am. 11 episodes and hooked on it hard.
Weakness.
Every single day was dedicated to bad eating and sitting my kester on the couch to watch episodes of Breaking Bad. I felt asleep on the couch multiple nights in a row. Ice cream for dinner. I headed to Keene for Pumpkinfest weekend with thrower Phil Elmer and got rowdy Friday and Saturday night. Ended up grabbing wings Sunday night in Vermont with Ferenc and Boj.
Pumpkinfest masterpiece.
The bag of homemade caramel was put to good use. Some of was heated up and poured over my ice cream. It ended up hardening over the ice cream, but still tasted delicious. The rest of the caramel was eating by the handful as a snack. No cross training and whole bunch of vegging out was done through these 3.5 weeks off.
Vanilla ice cream with caramel.
I did visit my sister one weekend. I hadn't seen her or Bob in a while so it was nice to spend some quality time with them. Always a good thing to see Tucker!
Roommate while I'm at my sister's house in Massachusetts.
After my time off, I officially gained a solid 11 pounds. My mom noticed when we were FaceTiming one night. She said my face was fuller. Oh well (and don't judge me). I purchased a new pair of prescription glasses. Ordered them off glasses.com. Walked away with a steal. Frames ended up being on sale. Free lenses with the purchase of Smith Optics frames (the ones I wanted). Aaaand 25% off coupon I found randomly online. Free shipping and arrived 5 days later from the order date. 72 bucks. Boom!
Loved the time off, but working back into the swing of things. The week of November 4th-10th had a few shakeout runs before the weekly mileage and training starts. 3-4 miles Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. Training has commenced and it feels amazing to be back outdoors breathing in the fresh air. Winter has arrived so it's time to bundle up. Plus daylights savings! Headlamp and high visibility vest!
October 12th (Saturday): 5:45am wakeup. Stumbled around the hotel room while Goup continued to sleep. Downstairs to see if there was any breakfast available. Nothing really. Back upstairs to grab my car keys and head down to the parking garage. Sat in my car and ate a banana with a Clif Bar. Bumped some jams to relax and wake myself up a bit.
Back to the hotel room to relax and received a phone call from Sarah (my sister) to see where I was. She stopped in with my parents around 7am. Chilled in my bed to stay warm and used the heating pad to keep the legs/back extra loose. Started getting feelings of anxiousness in the room from all the questions/comments so my mom and dad left to head out to the course. Goup headed out for a warmup with TPaq. Sarah grabbed her stuff out of the parents car. I changed up and prepped all my stuff. Out for a easy 5-6 minute pre-warmup to push everything out for a final poop. Back up to the hotel room to put on the finishing touches (band aids over the nipples, flats - Nike Streak 4's, and Powerbar gels).
Jogged over to the line with Sarah and Goup with time to spare. No need for any extra layers because it was about 50 degrees at the start. Wished Sarah good luck and made sure she was set at the starting line. 8am start that did not seem to go off on time. Elongated prayer by some dude, a flash mob I couldn't see and other random announcements. Gun went off and out well with the front pack. The ideal pace was sub 5:20's, but that's if all the stars aligned and absolutely nothing went wrong.
The start.
Splits as followed with a couple hiccups here and there:
Mile 1 - 5:21 (solid start, keeping the body relaxed)
Mile 2 - 5:26 (I knocked into Matty P's arm and the watch split at 1:29, but added the 1:29 to 3:56, I'll forgive him)
Mile 3 - 5:24 (rolling side by side with Matty P by this point)
Mile 4 - 5:28 (keeping it under 5:30)
Mile 5 - 5:23 (1st 5 miles: 27:04 - feeling it out and remaining smooth - Powerbar Gel taken - no issues)
Mile 6/7 - 10:49 (split at 6 mile marker over the bridge and saw 4:55. Daaamn. Then the next mile was 5:54 so I used common sense)
Mile 8 - 5:23 (Matty P stopped to take a piss and caught up at some point along the bike path, I dropped the two other guys during that time and Matty P thanked me, saw the entourage along the bike path screaming my name, Matty was bumming that I didn't tell him his name to cheer - I didn't know I would be rocking the miles with him - haha)
Mile 9 - 5:32 (after this, made a push to change the gears)
Mile 10 - 5:21 (niiiice - 54:10, 2nd 5 miles: 27:06, even and feeling smooth - 2nd Powerbar gel taken with some fluids)
Mile 11 - 5:22 (keep it going)
Mile 12 - 5:20 (boom, don't get ahead of myself - starting racing Matty P and gapping him)
Mile 13- 5:21 (right on)
Half marathon - 70:49 Cruising and feeling solid (2+ minutes faster than year)
Mile 14 -5:23 (beautiful, I got this)
Mile 15 5:22 (1:20:59, 3rd 5 miles: 26:49, rocking it - Powerbar gel taken, but not too easily)
Mile 16 - 5:22 (straight away along the residential section and saw the 2 leaders running back from the turnaround point - killing it - sitting in 3rd and focused on the end goal)
Mile 17 - 5:33 (it's all good, just use the downhill - advice shouted from Matty P as I saw him on the way back - he looked effortless so I knew he would close up the gap)
Mile
18/19 - 10:17 (off splits individually but averaged to 5:08 pace, daaang - didn't fully register until reviewing these)
Mile 20 - 5:22 (1:47:33) 4th 5 miles: 26:34, 2nd 10 miles: 53:13 - no complaints here
Mile 21 - 5:30 (uh oh, don't sweat it - Powerbar gel taken and couldn't muscle down the first squirt, spit it out all over myself, tried again soon after and made it happen) One of the leaders (the pack of two) dropped and was sitting on the curb around this time. Badaboom, here comes the podium finish and some more money! AKA Stay within my means and it could happen to anyone.
Mile 22 - 5:33 (I believe Matty P was cruising by me in this mile or around here with ease)
Mile 23 - 5:31 (okay, okay, you got this Eric - pouring water over my head the last couple miles and the remaining miles because the sun was out and it was warming up slightly)
Mile 24 to 26 - 17:01 (almost puked my Gels back up at one point, but keep it down - stop splitting the watch and focused on the finish line - 5:40 pace for the 3 miles, last 6 miles: 34:35)
Mile .2 - 71 seconds
Official time: 2:22:21
Into the top 3 finisher's corral to wait for the podium finish announcement. Sweeeeet! A bouquet of flowers and a sweet glass plaque. Lots of stretching and moving around so I wouldn't tighten up like last year. Over to the elite tent to see the rest of the gang. Greeted the family (Aunts, Uncles, Parents) with a big hug and whatnot. Great to see them at the finish line!
The next couple hours was spent stretching, walking around, eating mad food, pounding cans of Coca-Colas. Signed up for a free massage. Very relaxing. Watched intently for my sister to finish. I must of grabbed food when she crossed the line because I had no idea she finished.
Back to the hotel to take a hot shower and change up into some comfy clothes. Downstairs to greet everyone and grabbed food at the hotel restaurant. Pigged out on a portabella mushroom sandwich and rewarded myself with an Angry Orchard.
Over to Newtown, CT with the family and Goup to relax the rest of the day. Some foam rolling. Lots of food and chilling on the couch to take a load off the legs. Just shy of a 4 minute PR on the day in 1 year. I have to be thankful for having my roommate and teammate as my coach. The training is working out well and loving every minute of it. It felt pretty awesome to have Matty P say that I made the race and we wouldn't of run that fast if I wasn't there. He also stated that if we had just sat on each other and waited until the end, I would of beat him. I don't know about that, but I'll take it any day.
October 10th (Thursday): Cereal for breakfast. Leftovers for lunch at work. Finished off the rest of the yogurt container. Brought my personal spatula spoon along with all the goods (granola, Clif Bar, and a fruit strip) to dip in my yogurt. Home to chill on the couch. Out at 6:50pm for 5 miles total (4 miles of running plus some strides in the parking lot). Smooth run and feeling good.
Big ole dinner to fuel up for Saturday. FaceTimed with my sister Kate and then with my Dad. My dad had recommended watching Breaking Away for a motivational movie. I decided to park it on the couch with my dinner and find it on Netflix. Awesome movie. I recommend it highly (and the movie is from 1979, I know, right?). It has Dennis Quad and Daniel Stern (the taller robber from Home Alone, Wet Bandits) in it. A good laugh and got me in the right mindset.
Bed at a decent hour. Some laundry done for the weekend of racing and traveling.
Pasta, BBQ chicken, and broccoli.
October 11th (Friday): 6:15am wakeup? Huh? Yeah, I couldn't fall back asleep. Could of been the nerves. Not sure. Stayed in bed for a while before arising to attack the morning. Bowl of cereal was the first course for breakfast as I entered the kitchen. Oat bran was the second course of the morning at around 9am. Finished it off with a hefty omelet. Cleaned the house, organized my room, did the dishes, finished doing my laundry, big breakfast items, and packed up the bags for the weekend.
Clean room. Clear mind.
Broccoli omelet.
Left at 2:15ish from Ballston Lake. Prepared Goup and I each a chicken and avocado wrap for the road trip. Picked up a fellow NEF athlete in Albany before heading down to Hartford. Smooth ride. Arrived at 4pm. Expo from 4-5:30ish. Lots of free snacks and a great deal at running store vendor. A pair of shorts and a couple singlets. Carefully picked out the keepers and purchased them. Dropped off a couple people at the elite dinner. Back to the hotel to change up for a shakeout.
Cool.
Easy run at 6pm. Just shy of 3 miles (20+). Might of been a more epic experience than last year. I had my bright yellow Nike Lunarfly 4's on my feet trotting down the street sidewalks of downtown Hartford with Goup. Passed a guy walking towards us and he commented along the lines of, "Ooo, those are so crisp." I am luckily down with the lingo (Crisp's definition = fresh, dope, swagger) and knew it was a good thing (not an insult). Smiled, thanked him with a head nod and continued on our way.
Back to the hotel to stretch, shower and head over to the elite meeting. Fairly short meeting. Dropped off the water bottles, picked up our swag (all white NEF pullover, uhhhh yeahhh), and down to the hotel restaurant for some mad grub. Exact same dinner as last year for Hartford. Tomato, basil, and mozzarella. Homemade guacamole with chips. Grilled Tuscany chicken sandwich. Devoured all of it. Goup helped on the appetizers. Dinner with some ARE guys (Kevin Treadway, Nick Webster, Jaime Julia) and Matty P (plus thefiancé). Back to the hotel room after some jokes were exchanged to relax the mind. Prepared the gear for the following morning before crashing for the night.
October 7th (Monday): Slept in. Protein shake for breakfast. Some heavy rain during the day. Steak, mushroom, onion, and spinach wrap for lunch. Normal Monday at work. Home to relax and chill. Waited for the rain to stop. Out for 10 miles total (9+ plus strides) around 6:15pm. 66:47 total. Felt smooth on the strides. Left the bath of water outside to cool off for a ice bath. Added a bunch of ice before taking a 30 minute soak. Lots of foam rolling and sticking before submerging the legs.
Chicken wrap for dinner. Bed early.
Snack right after work.
Chicken marinated with hot pepper juice and rings. Spinach and chopped up red pepper.
October 8th (Tuesday): 3 miles (21:20) on my own in the morning. Protein shake. Carpooled with Goup to work. Steak, mushroom, onion with ranch wrap. Didn't have any wraps so I bought one in the cafeteria for 83 cents.
Bowl of cereal for a snack after work. Crashed for a couple hours on the couch. Woke up when Goup walked through the door back from his track workout. Upstairs to change up for an easy 5 miles (33:30) at 7:15pm. Back to do the dishes while making dinner. Chicken and veggies (avocado) over mixed up with yellow rice for dinner. Bed by 10pm.
Chicken and steak at the same damn time.
Looks gross. Tastes bomb.
October 9th (Wednesday): Slept in. Protein shake for breakfast since I had some time to kill before departing for work. Busy day at work. Watched a co-worker teach the New Contractor Orientation for the 1st time. Steak with mushrooms and onions mixed with Spanish yellow rice for lunch.
Back to the house to run 7 miles (48:21) with Goup around 6pm. Lots of foam rolling and sticking. Icing. All the extra precautionary things never hurt for race day. Another round of chicken with veggies for dinner.
October 10th (Thursday): Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Work 7:30am-4pm. Leftovers from last night. Finished off the 2 pound StonyField yogurt container. Dipped my fruit stripe, Clif Bar, chocolate chip graham cracker snacks, and finally some granola. All separately. Utilized my mini spatula spoon at work. Boom!
Stopped to pick up the mail. Grab a few things for dinner and more raw fuel for the weekend (yogurt, chicken breasts, vanilla almond milk). Home to relax and eventually get out for a run at 6:45pm. 5 miles total (4+ plus strides). Felt smooth and ready to roll.
Back to the house to foam roll, FaceTime with my sister Kate, and prepare a big dinner. Pasta, chicken and broccoli. FaceTimed with my dad for a bit. Watched Breaking Away on Netflix.
October 4th (Friday): 6am wakeup. 4+ miles (29:03) at 6:25am. Protein shake for breakfast. Finished making my burrito mix from last night. Busy day at work running around closing things out before the weekend. Productive day overall. Home by 4:30ish. Chilled.
FaceTimed with my sister Erin for just over 1 hour. Grabbed a quick snack (a spoonful of honey, a handful of graham cracker snacks, and a swig of cran-raspberry juice). Out for around 7pm. 8+ miles (55:09) on my own. Back for a protein shake and a bowl of cereal. Started watching Extract on Netflix and fell asleep hard on the couch.
It doesn't matter if I tuck my sheets in. After just one night of sleeping, ruined.
October 5th (Saturday): Slept in until about 8am. Broken up night of sleep, but well rested. Some oat bran for breakfast and heated up the legs to get them extra loose. Out for 6 miles (43:21) through the back neighborhoods. I wish I had a pair of glasses that allowed me to record parts of my run. I run by a barn all the time. It has a open fence door that animals stick their head out of sometimes. There were a couple chickens outside of the door. Sticking it's head was a goat. As I passed by, it began to "scream" at me (like in the YouTube videos). All I could do was smile and laugh to myself. I ended up looping back past the barn about 20-25 minutes later. This time the goat was inside the barn, but up on the window sill. "Screaming" again. Slightly muffled because it was behind the glass. Truly entertaining.
Similar to this.
Back to the house to foam roll and eat some food. Chilled on the couch and watched some movies on TV. Stopped off at Walmart, Target, and Marshalls/Homegoods in the late afternoon. Random things purchased. Some necessities for next weekend (Gatorade, Clif Bars,and cereal for the week). I also bought a new cellphone case because it looked pretty sweet and inexpensive.
Back to the house to relax for a bit and head down to the bike path for an evening run. 6 miles (40:30) along the soft terrain of the bike path at 6:15pm. Stopped at Hannaford's for some more shopping. Bananas, chicken, almond milk, and orange juice. Home to foam roll, make a protein shake, and ice bath. 20 minutes. Extra cold. Worth it. Finished the movie Extract and watched Daydream Nation on Netflix. Bed by 11:30pm.
A true ice bath since I purchased a 5 pound bag of ice.
October 6th (Sunday): 7:30am wakeup. Tried to go back to sleep. Didn't work. Downstairs to watch some televsion and relax. I loaded the dishwasher and ran it. I made myself a bowl of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest. I poured the milk and realized I was washing all the spoons in the dishwasher. I rushed and found a solution.
Measuring spoon!
I had intentions of a morning long run at some point, but it just didn't happen. More food consumed (a Clif bar, a fruit stripe, graham cracker snacks). Television movie. Made a "game" out of it while watching the movie Colombiana. Every commercial break I had to complete a part of chore (emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, washing dishes, tidying up areas, organizing paperwork/things). Worked out well. Goup home around 2pm. We headed out for a long run together. 15+ miles (1:41:47). Goup and I ran the first 11 together. Solid run. Last long run before Hartford.
Back to the house to make a protein shake and ice any slight soreness/tightness. Epic fail while making my protein shake. I was using the spatula to scrap the container clean.
What a waste of yogurt.
Over to the Dollar General to attempt to find water bottles. Picked up some steel wool for dishes, Armoral for the interior of my car, and ended up finding the perfect water bottles. Only 30 cents too. Clearance! Stopped at Hannaford's for a couple things for the week. Steak, yogurt, and sweet potatoes.
I will make them very distinct looking.
Back to the house to prepare some food for the week to ease the nervousness. The two crucial things are preparation and marination. Chopped up all the chicken and steak. Sorted it into individual Pyrex containers. Glass makes it easier to clean after it's done marinating. Pick your weapons of choice. The more, the merrier.
The major ingredients (the hot pepper rings - I used the juice and rings).
Makes it easy to just cook up, sauté up some veggies, and throw in a wrap or over some rice.
While prepping the meat, I cooked up some chicken in ranch dressing, sriracha sauce, and chili powder. Simple, spicy and delicious. Watched some television and relaxed before bed. Body is itching for Saturday and sleeping is gonna be rough this week.
October 3rd (Thursday): 4 miles (28:35) on my own at 6:20am. Out and back through the neighborhoods. 15+ out, 13+ back. Foam roll, protein shake for breakfast, and made a chicken wrap for lunch. Home to have some graham cracker snacks to fuel up for the workout. Chilled on the couch for a bit before heading upstairs to use the bathroom and change up.
Over to the track with Goup at 5:45pm. Individual warmups. 3+ mile (20:17) on the normal loop. The workout was quick, but with sufficient rest. 3xmile (half rest, 800), 4x400 (half rest, 200). Football practice was in session on the field under the lights. Worked out well. Coach moved the golf cart off the track and the area was illuminated very well. Squeezed a Powerbar Gel on the walk over to the track from the parking lot. Changed into flats. Some strides and started up.
4:43, 4:46, 4:43, 65, 65, 64, 65. Boom. Cruised right through and felt strong. Total time for the 6 miles was 32:54. Rest was kept honest, but nothing crazy. Focused on the intervals. Goup had a good workout too. Cooldown 2.5 miles (18:10) through the neighborhoods. 16 miles on the day and ready to roll in 1+ week at Hartford.
Stopped at Hannaford's for some quick dinner. Kashi frozen pizza and some yellow Spanish rice for burrito mix. Stopped at the mailbox place to drop off the rent checks. Home to heat up the pizza and cook up the rice for lunch the following day. Used my new silicon lily pad top that suction cups to pots/pans/bowls. Some yogurt with granola. Utilized my new mini spatula spoon. Bed at a decent hour.
September 30th (Monday): Slept in like a champ. Out of bed at 7am. Some breakfast. Bought lunch at work. Buffalo chicken sandwich special. Home to run with Derrick and Goup at 5pm. 7 miles (48:30). Back to stretch, foam roll, and throw some warm clothes on. Picked up Derrick to bring him to the Toyota dealership up in Saratoga.
It was very interesting to see the differences between my sales transaction compared to Derrick's one. Two very different people looking for two different cars. Stopped at Subway with Derrick for dinner and dropped him off. Over to the grocery store at 9:15pm to do big shopping.
Home to relax and get to bed at a decent hour. Bowl of cereal before bed.
October 1st (Tuesday): Day off from running. Work 7:30am-4pm. Caught up with a whole bunch of stuff once I arrived home. Threw a couple loads of laundry in the washer. Loaded the dishwasher. Wiped down the counters and stove top. Scrubbed the toilet because it had a layer of something in the bowl (built up over the past couple months). Relaxed. Washed my sheets after so many weeks/months.
Omelet for dinner. Bed by 10pm.
Spinach, onion, and mushroom. Ketchup. Hot sauce. Sriracha sauce.
Bed is slowly getting there. Purchased a few more pillows. I even tucked in my sheets.
October 2nd (Wednesday): 4 miles (29:03) at 6:15am. 3 miles with Goup and added on another mile. Protein shake for breakfast. Chicken wrap for lunch. Normal day at work. Taught NCO in the morning.
Stopped at the Post Office to ship back my at home try-on pairs of
glasses. No shipping label in the box so I had to rush back home to find it. Swung back before 5pm so I could ship it out on time without penalty. Phew!
Quickly changed up and headed out for an easy 7 miles (46:30) with Goup at 5:15pm. Chilled out for the night. Foam rolled. Iced. Snacked on a bunch of food. Bed by 10:30pm.
September 27th (Friday): 3 miles (22:27) on my own. Quick day at work. Closed out things before the weekend. Home to relax and coordinated with Ferenc to meet up with him at the dealership where there was a Toyota Tacoma he just might possibly purchase.
Met up with Ferenc at 5ish down the road in Ballston Lake. It ended up being a 2 door gold Tacoma rather than the 4 door silver Tacoma as the guy described. Bummer. Convinced Ferenc not to get it since it wasn't what he wanted. It was a great deal, but not the exact truck.
Back to the house to chill and change up for a run. Ferenc ended up driving back to Vermont around 7pm. I headed out for 8.5+ miles (59:58) plus a 6 x parking lot strides post run. 12.5 miles on the day.
September 28th (Saturday): Early wakeup around 6:15am. Packed up the bags for Leominster and on the road by 7:15am. Arrived at my sister's house just before 10am. Out for a quick 3.5 miles (22:27). Back to stretch, foam roll, and shower up.
Into Worcester for bridesmaid dress shopping. Yayy! Appointment around 11:30am. I thought they were gonna be at one store for a while so I headed to the bank with my mom's car. It ended up being a short visit so it was somewhat hectic to get back to them. Into Boston for some more bridesmaid dress shopping. Some window shopping as well. Stopped for food at Joe's American Bar and Grill. Chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso. Fresh bread with butter. Buffalo chicken mac and cheese (see below). Banana cream pie for dessert.
Bombdiggity.
Home by 7pm or so. Changed up and headed out for a 2nd run around 7:45pm. 5 miles (38:34). Lots of walking and standing throughout the day so my legs were sorta tired. The mac and cheese was sitting real heavy the whole run and I felt like I was gonna throw it up. Held it down.
Bed by 11pm. Tucker slept with me out in the living room on the air mattress the whole night.
September 29th (Sunday): 5:45am wakeup. Bathroom. Oat bran with milk and brown sugar. On the road by 6:15am. Arrived at the race venue by 8:10ish. Inside to register and back to the car to organize my shiznit. Warm up at 8:25am. 3 miles total (2.5 miles, then another 0.5+ mile to the starting line). Some strides and light stretching before a 9am start.
Vroom!
In the words of Beyonce: To the left, To the left!
I saw my competition was cut out for me from the showing of Kenyans/Africans. Off the line well and felt out the early race strategy. Lead the 1st half mile or so. Chilled out and let them swarm me. Downhill 1st mile. In the group through in 4:54. The Africans communicated to each other in another language and threw in a couple surges. I covered the first one and held on for the 2nd one. Once we hit the first uphill section, it strung out and turned into a hammerfest. I moved into 3rd place, but once we hit the next downhill section. Gone. All three of them. Left me in 4th place by myself. ARE Racing Team member Jamie caught me around 3 miles. Woke me back up. Back into a groove and followed right behind him. Passed him with confidence just before 5 miles on an uphill and said we needed to work together. Charged through the last mile up the hill and could see 3rd place. Ran out of real estate and finished up in 32:00 flat for 4th place.
Back to the car to change up and cool down by running the course all over again. 7 miles (48:59). I realized there was maybe 2 fast miles overall on the course. The first one and the 5th mile. Everything thing else had uphill or turns (or both). Happy with the effort and final race before Hartford. After the awards and texting Goup, the guy who won ran for AIC and ran 24:0x at Franklin Park. The guy who finished 2nd won the Hartford Marathon last year in 2:15:xx. I don't feel so slow (haha).
Out to lunch with a few buddies before driving back to NY. Home by 2:15pm or so. Crashed hard in bed for about 3 hours. 3pm-6pm. Woke up in a haze to head downstairs to sit on the couch for the remainder of the night. Snacked and decided to not shakeout a few miles in the evening. 89 miles for the week for the start of the taper. A couple weeks left until the marathon.
September 25th (Wednesday): Standard day. 4+ miles (30:48) on my own at 6:20am. Protein shake for breakfast. Pasta with chicken (marinated in sriracha sauce), spinach, and onion. Out of work by 4:15pm.
Down to Walmart for an eye exam at 4:50pm. Quick exam and one of the ladies was helping me pick out glasses. I couldn't make a decision and she was waiting on my try-on at home pairs to arrive from glasses.com. So I felt obligated to buy a pair, but I just couldn't. Grabbed my prescription from the doctor and was on my way. Purchased a plastic bin, ice cube trays, and kitchen garbage bags. Making my own ice bath for my feet/achilles as a precautionary action. Felt great to do it after the Palio Half. Recovered well with the help of that.
Home by 6:30pm. Chilled on the couch. Mustered up the motivation and energy to change up for a run. Out the door at 8pm. 7+ miles (51:34) with the high visibility vest and headlamp. Home to foam roll and snack on some food. Bed by 10:15pm.
September 26th (Thursday): 5:50am wakeup. Out for 3.5 miles (25:28) with Derrick. Back for a protein shake. Quick day at work. A delicious lunch made that morning. Lightly sauteed up some sliced apples and onions. Spinach, black/pinto beans. All in pasta.
Home by 4:30pm to relax. Snack and get ready for a run. Powerbar gel taken before the run and washed it down with some water. 6 mile loop mapped out for the workout portion of 5:05 pace (goal for the run). 3 mile warmup (morning run loop) in 19:02. Trotted off and started up the workout.
Mile splits: 5:14, 5:11, 5:06, 10:03 (the mile splits were off), 5:14. 30:48 for total time of 6 miles. 5:08 pace. Took a couple miles to get going, but happy with the solid effort. 3 mile cooldown (reverse morning loop) in 20:25. 12+ miles total for the afternoon.
Some snacks and bed a decent hour. 15.5 miles on the day.
Cheap. BPA Free. Attempt at an ice bath.
On the couch. Cold, but nothing crazy. Served a purpose though.
Delicious cider donuts as a reward. Last 2 of the batch.
