West Coast Tripping

Once a year we get to travel to the west coast for work for a weekend. My first two years with the Falcons it was up in Seattle (great city BTW) to play the Seahawks, then last year we went to San Diego and in 2013 it was a trip to the Bay Area to play the 49ers. We ended up staying in Palo Alto, two or three miles from Stanford so no running in San Francisco, but it still made to two solid days of running in California.

 

Day One: West Coast trips are always interesting because we leave a day earlier than any other road trip, which means I normally get one full afternoon to explore my surrounds. In Seattle that lead to finding one of my favorite city runs of all time out to Gas Works Park and in San Diego I got to get sort-of-kind-of lost in Balboa Park. As for Palo Alto, I decided to venture over to Stanford to check out the campus. I scouted out a couple of spots I wanted to hit up at walkthrough in the morning which was at Stanford Stadium and after a light lunch I set out for what I figured would be between 10 and 12 miles depending on how I was feeling.

 

I have actually been to Stanford once before about 10 years ago when I ran in the USATF Junior National Championships. It was an awesome experience; I spent almost a week in California with my Dad, my coach and teammates Mark Miller & Mary Proulx. Mary ran the open women’s 10k and I ran the junior men’s 10k. I ended up finishing 13th out of 17 runners with a PR at the time of 32:16. I was running right with Nick End (a fellow Saucony Hurricane) but fell off the pace in the last couple of laps. I believe that Peter Najem and I are the only Keene State runners to run at a USATF Championship and not finish last though.

 

It was cool to be able to run in a couple of the same spots around the campus and reminisce about that race a little bit. I ran the two and a half miles from the hotel through Palo Alto all on University Ave, following that until I hit the main campus and quad. From there I just started taking different turns and trying to explore. I ended up making my way out to Lagunita, which is a big pond that has a dirt trail around it. The pond was empty so it was pretty cool looking, like a giant sunken meadow. I ran around the trail then found what looked like some hiking trails across the road, but I was already six miles into the run and knowing that I still had at least five miles to go before I got back, so I decided it was time to head back through campus. I ran through a couple of different doors and quads, one was field turf which I thought was pretty cool, and ended up next to the track. I made my way down past Maples Pavilion (where they play hoops) then looped around the football practice fields and the total awesome outdoor aquatics center. They had trampolines set up next to the diving pool and people were practicing their gainers and whatnot.

 

After being bewildered by the pool situation I cut through Chuck Taylor Grove (sweet kicks bro!) then onto the track for a couple of laps to relive the glory days. At one end of the track they have three big pillars, one for national champions, one for Olympians, and one for world record holders, pretty impressive. After marveling at that for a few minutes I made my way back through Palo Alto to the hotel. The run turned out to be 11, my longest in a while, but I felt pretty good afterwards.

 

Day Two: I trying to decide where to run on day two over breakfast when our strength and conditioning coaches invited me to join them for a trail run in the Santa Cruz mountains…bingo bango. Our head strength coach is from Cupertino so he had a great run planned out at a place called Rancho San Antonio that has 23 miles of trails. If I ever get back to that area I will 100 percent be visiting this spot. It was awesome.

 

We started our run at the base of the mountains and wound our way to the appropriately named Deer Hollow Farm. As we made our way to the farm we saw a ton of deer, including two bucks, which I don’t ever remember seeing during a run. I see does and little bambi looking deer all the time, but rarely (if ever) a buck. After passing the farm we came to the entrance of the trail de jour, the Wildcat Loop Trail.

 

 

We decided to heed the warning of the picture above…which was stay on the trail and watch out for the cartels growing weed in the hills.

 

It was a little chilly at the base of the hills but once we started climbing it warmed up very quickly. The run was only 5.6 miles (according to my Garmin) but featured over 700 feet of elevation gain. It was a fairly easy run for me as I just stuck to the pace that AJ & Jonas were setting. Jonas and I ended up dropping AJ as he was battling some hip issues on the climb. We stopped at the top to take a few pictures and regroup. You can’t see it in the pictures because of the haze/smog but you could see the bay from outlook we stopped at. I’ll let the picture show what it looked like.

  

 

The way down was fun, lots of switchbacks and a bunch more wildlife, black squirrels, deer, and turkeys in addition to the cows at the farm. Post run we drove around the area a little bit with AJ showing us some wineries and a nearly empty reservoir. It was crazy, this giant lake was almost completely empty and normally it looked like it was 40 or 50 feet deep, no surprise they have wildfires out there. Unfortunately we didn’t have a ton of time before the buses started leaving for the game, so we headed back to the hotel, overall though it was an awesome place to run. If I had the chance I would have definitely done some exploring.

Here's the data from Strava...

 

Matt Tries CX, Suffering Ensues

Over the last year or so I’ve started to become a big fan of cyclocross. I’ve always been a casual cycling fan, I watch the tour every year and now that NBC Sports shows the Tour of California and the USA Pro Challenge I’ve found myself glued to the TV during those weeks too. My recent enjoyment of cyclocross though comes from somehow randomly stumbling upon Behind the Barriers one day. I can’t even remember what I was doing, looking for Olympic mountain biking videos last summer maybe? I don’t know. Anyway, I’ve always thought it would be interesting to look into since it’s hugely popular in New England, a few friends of mine have started racing it, and I’m from the same hometown as multi-time US National Champion Tim Johnson.

 

Powering out of a corner

 

I’ve always been aware of it, but finding that random episode of Behind the Barriers led me to start following it weekly, thanks to the awesome coverage of the sport by BTB and now BTBtv. After I got my mountain bike, I remembered seeing a story about how a lot of beginners will ride mountain bikes in cross races to get started. Since I apparently have this thing where I have to try every sport that has cross in it…cross country, check…cross country skiing, check…skier cross, check…that board game cross fire, check. That really only leaves motocross and cyclocross on my list of cross sports to try. Once the CX (yeah I’m shortening it now cause I’m a CX racer) season started up I figured I would see if Georgia had a series or at least a handful of races.

 

As it turns out, Georgia has one of the bigger CX series in the southeast…score! Unfortunately, the cross season falls during my busiest time of the year during the football season and nearly all the races are on Sundays. That doesn’t work when I spend my whole Sunday at the Georgia Dome or some other NFL stadium. It also doesn’t help that it falls during my XTERRA trail racing season. Those things made it really tough to find a weekend that I could actually race. Originally, I had planned on racing during our bye week, but I ran an 8 mile trail race on Saturday and didn’t want to ride my first CX race on thrashed legs.

 

I scanned the Georgia CX calendar again and low and behold, Dingo Cross, a CX race on a Saturday a short ride up the highway from my apartment. Jackpot! I was even able to get Amanda to tag along, it was at Jeep dealership so she could window shop and I promised a trip to the outlets after.

 

The night before the race I was super nervous. The only bike race I’ve ever done was the bike leg of the one and only triathlon I’ve ever done and it’s been my experience when mountain biking that I’m not that good at it. I’ve got a good aerobic base, but the whole bike handling and power and jumping over barriers deal…I was concerned to say the least. I ended up spending an hour at the softball field across from my office practicing my dismounts, barriers, and remounts on a make shift course complete with trash can barriers. When I got home that night I laid out my kit, a new 2013 Rise Up Falcons jersey, ¾ undershirt, and bib shorts and my new helmet from Rudy Project that I won from XTERRA. At worst I was going to look like I knew what I was doing.

 

Amanda and I drove up to Baldwin, Georgia, a short trip up 985 and pulled into the Hayes Chrysler, Jeep, Chevrolet dealer about an hour and half before the CX5 beginners race started. I made my way to the registration table, got my number then headed back to the car to start getting everything squared away for the race. I got my Specialized Hardrock Disc 29er ready to go and set out for two laps on the course to see what I was in for.

 

The race started on a paved section behind the dealership, I think the story goes one of the employees is a CX racer and convinced the dealership people to hold a race in the big grass field behind their business. I’m glad they did. Anyway…the course started out on the pavement then quickly hit the grass for a twisty, up and down adventure. My original plan was to run for my warm up but after two laps on the course I felt pretty good and decided to just keep riding around a little bit to stay loose.

 

After warming up and changing into my racing kit, I made my way down to the starting area. When they called the Cat 5 racers to the starting line I was a little surprised to see that everyone had a CX bike. I thought being the beginner category there would be at least a couple people like me trying it out for the first time on mountain bikes but that wasn’t the case. A few of the guys said they wished they brought their mountain bikes because of the course, which I was not a fan of. Mentally, I was trying to use the fact that everyone had CX bikes and I was on a heavy ass mountain bike as motivation to carry me through this 30 minute sufferfest I was about to embark on. I still did that.

 

At the gun I got clipped in right away, but got my doors blown in on the pavement. I hit the grass in DFL, but made one pass as we made the first sweeping left hand turn. After a short, bumpy straight section we hit a short steep climb, I jumped out of the saddle and stomped on my pedals to catch the wheel of a pair of riders ahead of me. At the top of the climb we made a hairpin turn, dropped back down a short steep descent into an off-camber left hand turn then back up another short climb. We crested the climb then hit a section of switchback turns that led into the sketchiest part of the course (for me at least) coming out of the third switch back was a barrier. I had not prepared for this rouge barrier. I prepared myself for the seemingly standard set of two barriers, a run up and possibly stairs, but not this 180 degree turn with a barrier thrown in.

 

Fortunately I was able to practice it a couple times and I made sure to try it once at what I figured full speed would be. I powered out of the second turn and came into the barrier turn with a full head of steam. This was one of the many ‘moments of truth, for me in this race. My dismounting practice worked out well, because I successfully unclipped, dug into the turn, hopped over the barrier then ran past one of the guys I was trailing and leapt back onto my bike. It took me a few extra seconds to clip back into my pedals, but I was able to catch the wheel of the rider ahead of me and follow him into the next section of the course. My heart was pounding, partially from the hard early effort and part from surviving my first dismount/remount. Honestly, I’ve been working on the remount part of it for a while. I successfully used a cross style remount in the Tri I did over the summer and even though I’m sure I looked like an idiot, knowing that I’d done it in a race before made me confident I could do it without falling on my face every time.

 

After the trial of the hairpin barrier I latched onto the rider ahead of me and followed him through what turned out to be the toughest part of the course for me. We followed up a nice smooth straight-a-way with another off-camber downhill turn, fortunately everyone warming up on the course had carved out a good line because I would have royally effed this up otherwise. Following the quick decent it was back up a short climb and into a section of super insanely tight corners. The first couple laps I had to use the outrigger to get me around a couple of them, I think the 29 inch wheels made it a little tougher to take some of the tight turns, but I was able to power out of most of the corners pretty well.

 

We made our way out of the twisty section and I was able to stay right on the heels of the two riders ahead of me. We passed the pit area and turned left into a long straight away that led into one of the cooler parts of the course, the corkscrew. The course corkscrewed in on itself then we spiraled back out. It took a couple laps to figure out how to ride it but once I got the hang of leaning into the constant turn I thought I rode it pretty well. Coming out of the corkscrew we zipped through a couple quick turns, which was one of the few parts of the course where I felt like I was riding fast. Another 90 degree turn led into the section I’d been waiting for/dreading…the barriers. I moved toward the outside tape to give myself some space (definitely a move from my steeplechase days) and dismounted a little earlier than the two guys in front of me. I lifted the bike and hopped the two barriers and made another pass before remounting my bike and pedaling hard to catch the next rider’s wheel.

 

I thought I handled the mounting and dismounting fairly well, but I’m sure it didn’t look very impressive. I got a few pro tips from my friend Weston after the race via email that I am looking forward to trying out next time.

 

Once I made my third pass of the race I started to feel more confident. I definitely felt like my fitness was better than some of the guys I was riding with and after nearly a full lap at race speed I felt like my bike handling wasn’t going to cost me a too much. I wasn’t going to win, or even come close to podium but I knew I could at least race the guys around me.

 

Coming out of the barriers I fought to stay in the middle of our three man group despite taking a horrible line through the next section. It took until I watched the third race before I noticed what line I should have taken. The final stretch of the lap was tailor made for mountain bikes (minus the run-up), steep downhill, then a short climb into a rutty downhill. I cut inside along the tape on the second downhill and took a more aggressive line to make the pass into the lead of our three man group. I don’t know if this was a good idea, but I didn’t like being stuck behind people so I went for it.

 

At the base of the hill we had to dismount, 180 degree turn then run up the run up. This took some getting use to, but it ended up being a strong point for me. I ended up opening up a little bit of a gap on the two guys behind me despite the next part of the course being the starting paved straight away.

After coming through the finish and starting my second lap I saw two other guys that I thought I could catch so I started grinding to try and catch them as soon as I could. I caught up going into the hairpin barrier and stayed on their wheel for another half a lap before passing and riding into no man’s land. I was way behind the four leaders, but I kept pushing were ever I could and ended up opening a huge gap on the guys behind me.

 

I felt like I was riding pretty well for most of the race. I definitely lack some important bike handling skills, but I think I did a solid job on my first attempt. I ended up finishing fifth and most importantly I didn’t eat it at any point. I had a couple close calls, I bounced a back tire off one of the barriers, and slipped a couple times on the run up, but nothing too crazy.

 

Here's the Strava info:

 

 

A couple things I learned, which were later confirmed by my good buddy Weston Forsblad…the start matters, like a lot. It was tough being so far behind and having to work to get around slower riders, but at the same time I don’t really know what I’m doing. Also, I need to be gentler when putting my bike down before remounts. On the hairpin barrier turn, twice I nearly dropped my chain from dropping the bike violently. I think this is probably partially due to the weight of my mountain bike, but something I’ll keep in mind. Fortunately, I only dropped the chain from the second rig down to the granny gears and after doing it twice I just shifted before the barriers to prepare myself.

 

All in all it was a fun experience and I’m glad I tried it. I’m no Tim Johnson, but it’s definitely something that I enjoyed and I will probably take a couple more stabs at it. It was nice to do a race for fun and not worry about time or pace. I just went out and raced with no expectations and that was nice.

Peachtree City Classic – USATF Georgia 15k State Championship

This race was a last minute decision. I got an email from USATF Georgia about their Long Distance Running (LDP) Grand Prix a couple days before the Ft. Yargo XTERRA race and saw that the Peachtree City Classic was the 15k state championship and that there was cash on the line for placing in the grand prix overall. I originally thought there was a cash prize for the 15k, but that was wrong. Regardless, I’ve wanted to checkout Peachtree City and its extensive network of golf cart paths for a while, so Amanda and I decided to drive down and check this race out.

 

I ran well at Ft. Yargo, so I figured if I ran smart I would have a chance to place high and maybe get the win. Despite missing the first race of the series I still had a shot at the purse because no USATF members ran as open runners.  The worst I could do was tie for a place in the overall and still possibly win it. Since it was a game-time decision to go to this race, I really didn’t know much about the course, other than the fact that it was almost entirely on golf cart paths. I felt like that would be a good middle ground for me. Paved trails, I might like trails more but I’m probably better on pavement.

 

We got to the race a little later than I would have liked, which made parking a little bit of an issue, then it took forever to find the check-in table since I had to make sure to register my USATF number. Once I got that settled I only had about 15 minutes to get a light warm up in and hit the portos. I jogged around a little and did a few strides then made my way to the start. The weather was a perfect, a little wet and overcast, but the rain stopped pretty early on so it was perfect for racing. Before the gun, I mentally marked a couple of guys that I figured would be at the front, manly an ATC guy and a couple of the other masters’ runners. When I checked in the USATF people told me I was the only open runner, so I knew I had that win wrapped up but I still wanted to win the race if I could.

 

At the gun I got out towards the front of the lead group, but immediately backed off as I could sense it was a little on the fast side and from the looks of the group I thought I could pull it back once we got settled in. I had to fight the urge to run to the front a few times early on after the lead group of six runners started to open a gap of about 30 to 50 meters on me. I didn’t realize it until I saw the GPS data on Strava, but the first mile was a gradual downhill, so I probably could have run with the front group from the get go, but mentally I think it was a good decision to stay relaxed early on.

 

I ended up closing the gap on everyone and catching up to the two leaders just after the two mile mark and my first two splits were 5:26 and 5:40. My plan going in was to try and run 5:40’s so I was a little fast on the first mile, but not really since it was downhill, and right on with the second mile. I ran with the two leaders for about half mile before moving into the lead. I could tell that they didn’t want to set the pace after I caught up to them fairly easily. One guy actually asked me if I had decided to take the first two miles off. The first 2.5 miles were run on the main roads of Peachtree City, but after that we ran to the end of a cul-de-sac then hit the golf cart paths for the rest of the race.

 

Once we got onto the golf cart paths I put in a little bit of a surge and opened up a small gap on the second place runner and dropped the guy that was in third. I slowed down a little bit too much over the fourth mile, due to a long gradual climb. After an up and down first four miles I got back on track and started running in a really good rhythm and opened up a big gap on the guy in second. From mile five to the end of the race I ran pretty much exactly what I wanted to run.

 

My splits from miles 5 to 9 were:
5:42
5:45
5:40
5:42
5:49

 

I know that’s not blazing fast but it was right on pace for what I felt like I could run. It was nice to be able to get into a rhythm and roll like that. I haven’t run a road race that long in a while and it’s a lot different than racing on the trails. The course was really cool. The cart paths were all set back in the trees but they weaved behind houses and every time you had to cross a main road they had tunnels running underneath. It was pretty cool to see the spectators out in the golf carts all along the course.

 

I think I read that Peachtree City has something like 90 miles of golf cart/multi-use paved trails. I’m thinking about trying to convince my parents to retire down there. It’s a little bit of a hike for Amanda and I, but it would be a great place to run and bike every now and then.

 

The red is the 15k course, the green marks all the golf cart paths

The final stretch of the course rounded a lake then dropped us back out onto the main road that we started on. It was a cool feeling to come down the final stretch in front of a pretty good crowd despite the wet weather. I was pretty pumped when I crossed the finish line, as I picked up my first state championship.

 

Check out my sweet USATF Gold Medal

I also ended up winning the USATF Georgia Long Distance Running Grand Prix since no USATF members ran the Dalton Half Marathon the next week. As the great Dominic Torretto once said, it doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning.

 

Strava data from the race.

 

Race Report: XTERRA Georgia Ft. Yargo Trail Race

Last weekend Amanda and I drove out to Winder for the second race of the 2013-14 XTERRA Georgia Trail Series at Ft. Yargo State Park. I was looking forward to this race ever since seeing it announced by Dirty Spokes during the summer. Ft. Yargo is one of my favorite places to run and the course that Tim set up did not disappoint.

 

We got there a little later than I would have liked but our plan to park at the A entrance and walk over to the start at the B entrance worked like a charm. I grabbed my number and exchanged a few pleasantries with all of the usual suspects. Amanda pinned my number on, which has been good luck, but for like the third race in a row she put one of the pins all the way through the jersey, pinning the front to the back. Thanks. I did a short warm up over the first mile or so of the course then talked to Matt McNamara (who I’ve now roped into two of these races) about what the course would be like.

 

The 8.5 mile trail course had a little bit of everything, fast sections of hiking trail and fire roads, twists and turns, up and down, everything. It started out on the inner loop hiking trail with a gradual climb before hugging the lakeshore until we reached the man-made dam. From there we were treated to a wide open flat section that led back into the woods and onto the main mountain bike trail. The first two or 2.5 miles were straight forward and relatively flat, which allowed for some fast racing early on. Once we hit the mountain biking trail things got more technical with more twists, turns and roots. Around the halfway point the course straightened out a bit that again allowed for a faster pace before we started dealing with some late race climbs. Like I said a little bit of everything.

 

Tim did a great job of making the course different from the half/full marathon course while still utilizing the same trails. Big shout out to the YABA (Yargo Area Biking Association) for maintaining a great trail system. Okay, now onto the race.

 

I didn’t see any of the normal front runners milling around the start area, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect out of the field. Going into this race, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold up the pace that I ran a few weeks before at Harbins for 8+ miles, so I planned to run more conservative and try to use my knowledge of the course to my advantage.

At the start I went right to the front to make sure was clear of any traffic and tried to settle into a fast but relaxed pace. I felt pretty strong early on and ended up building up a good size lead, probably 50 meters or so, but I was running comfortable. Once we hit the first mile marker, I felt like I was running well, but within myself. I tried to use the early part of the course to run in a good rhythm and stretch things out without getting in over my head. When we hit the mountain bike trail I tried to focus on maintaining a good tempo and working the course, running fast in the sections that allowed for it and using some of the other sections to recover.

 

By this point, I was all alone by a good amount, but I never really had a good idea of the kind of gap I had built up. For most of the race I figured it was probably around a minute or two. I’m not sure where that time came from, but I think it was mostly just me telling myself not to relax and to keep racing. I didn’t want to get caught, so I just kept telling myself to keep racing. I had a few spots where I slowed down more than I would have liked, especially late in the race, but it was probably for the best that I didn’t know how big the gap was. That way I just tried to keep pushing. Hopefully that mentality will pay off the next time I am close race.

 

Three races this fall and three wins. From here, I’m going to run the USATF Georgia 15k Championship on Saturday at the Peachtree City Classic then I’m planning to run the remaining XTERRA Georgia trail races before taking a little bit of time off to recharge before ramping back up for the winter and spring. I’m hoping to start working some more biking into my repertoire this year, we’ll see how that goes.

Here is the Strava data for the race:

A Look Back: September

September marks the end of training camp and the beginning of the NFL regular season, which means a slightly more normal work schedule. With that, training becomes easier and the possibility of racing returns. Surprisingly, I managed more miles (207) in August than in September (170), but I chalk that up to having road trips to Baltimore and Nashville that allowed me to run 10+ miles and the fact that I took a few more days off in September.

 

September was definitely successful for me. My mileage may be down substantially since the summer, but I still ran nearly every day (I take a day off either on game day or the day after depending on schedule, travel, etc.) and ran two solid races.

 

The first race was a road 5k down in the city, the Back to Football 5k presented by the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta Track Club. I got a free entry for this race through work so I figured why not go down and run it. It was a pretty standard 5k, except for the fact that it finished inside the Georgia Dome at the 50-yard line. Amanda and I headed down the Dome early for the 8 am start, grabbed my number and set out for a short warm up. I warmed up about two miles, a little shorter than I would have liked, but enough to loosen up a little bit. I caught up with a few people from the office who also came down for the race before hand, stretched and then made my way to the start.

 

We started at Falcons Landing between the Dome and Phillips Arena, then ran around the Omni Hotel and CNN Center out towards Castleberry Hill and Morehouse College then back down Northside drive to and into the Dome for the finish. At the start, I surged to the front. I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of competition, so I just planned to go out and try to run between 5:05 and 5:15 in the hopes of trying to run under 16:30 and maybe make a run at sub 16. I had control of the race pretty early on and as we climbed the slight rise past the CNN Center and Phillips Arena I started to stretch things out. By the mile mark I had gapped the rest of the field, coming through in 5:05.

 

At this point, I felt like I was going to be able to cruise to the win, but I really wanted to try to get under 16. I tried to keep pressing the pace, but slowed down a little on the second mile, running 10:14 (5:09) through two. I relaxed too much during the last mile and slowed down to 5:18, hitting three miles in 15:32 then crossing the line in 16:01 on my watch, 16:03 officially. Damn! So close. I miscalculated the finish a little bit, not realizing how close the 50 yard line is to the service entrance of the Dome. I held just a little bit back, wanting to really rip coming onto the field, but what I thought was a good 400 meters was really only about 200. Once I hit the loading dock ramp I started sprinting. I knew I was close to getting under 16, so I didn’t really take in much of the fanfare except for the fact that I knew I had to make sure the mascot, Freddie the Falcon, didn’t out kick me in the final sprint. On second thought, for the sake of the story, let’s say I got distracted by the cheerleaders and let off the gas too much and that’s why I didn’t get under.

 

After crossing the finishing line, I got a few high fives and cheers from co-workers that were helping to run the event on the field. I cooled down with a couple of laps on the turf then walked up to the stands to meet Amanda. We waited for the majority of Falcons employees to finish before heading out to Falcons Landing for the awards. Amanda was quick to correct someone that said “The Falcons president ran and none of his staff beat him.” Her response was, “that’s not exactly true.” We hung around for the awards, four tickets to the Falcons-Rams game and a Julio Jones signed ball. Amanda took the ball as a birthday present for herself and I was able to give the tickets to a friend, since I work every game, so overall it was a pretty good haul for a Saturday morning trip to the city. We headed home, stopping at Whole Foods for some pumpkin and apple spice treats, because I was ready for Fall to officially start.

 

Here’s the Strava data from the race:
 

 

I was impressed my Garmin worked inside the Dome. Kudos to Garmin on that one.

The next weekend it was back to the trails for the first race of the XTERRA Georgia Trail Series, my de facto cross country season. I roped a few friends from work into doing this one since it was on the relatively easy trails at Harbins Park. I conveniently “forgot about” the half mile climb in the middle of the race and that the second half was steadily uphill when I told them about it, but they still had a blast and are now hooked.

 

Once again Amanda and I set out early, getting to Harbins about an hour before the race. I warmed up on the first mile of the course then met up with our group for a bit before the start. I ran into Jesse Rappole, Brennan Pratt, Matt Shechtman, and Woody Dover at various points before the race, so I knew it was going to be a battle. All of those guys have the ability to win on any given day and that led to everyone being on the gas from the gun.

 

My plan was to stay relaxed and see how the race panned out, so early on I settled in behind Woody and Jesse. Once we started making our way downhill towards the main trail I moved to the front. I hit the trail with a small lead over Matt, but Jesse made a big move early to get up on my shoulder. The two of us ran together trading the lead and working together to stretch the race out. We were able to string things out a little bit because the wide track allowed us to run a little more compact, similar to a road race. That helped with trading off the lead and kept us from running into each other in some of the turns.

 

I tried a couple of short accelerations out of turns to see if I could stretch the lead at all, but Jesse was up for the challenge and stayed right with for most of the first half. Once we had gotten away from the other leaders, I wanted to make sure we stayed on the pace to try and make it a two person race. I wasn’t 100 percent confident in my fitness going in, so I was hoping that the fact that we strung the race out would give us a better chance at surviving until the end. We hit the main climb in the middle of the race together, but as we started to crest the hill Jesse let a small gap open up and I decided to try and use that to jump away. I was able to get clear at the top of the hill and that move ended up propelling me to the win. I probably went a little too early and the fact that I didn’t allow myself much time to recover at the top of the hill came back to bite me later in the race, but I was able to build up a big enough lead to hold on for the win. I kept repeating the Jens Voigt mantra in my head for the last 2.5 miles “Shut Up Legs!”

 

I think that the fast early pace probably helped as much as it hurt because no one really seemed like they had much left in the tank at the end of the race. Brennan ended up catching and passing Jesse, so I was definitely trying to keep an eye out for him over the last two miles. I had this grand plan of really hammering the final paved section, but by the time I got there I was just on a mission to get to the finish first. I was fortunate to hold on for a really exciting win. Going into the race I wasn’t sure how well I could run because my training has been mostly maintenance miles. Once I got into the race I just went for it. Anytime I am fortunate enough to win its special, but to be able to win against such a deep field was really exciting and it was a great confidence booster. Also the 12 pack of Terrapin Recreation Ale and the Rudy Project gift certificate were pretty sweet. 

 

Huge win for me and a big confidence booster for the rest of the series this fall. However, it was a little rugged the last few miles. With the next race being 8.75 miles, I’m definitely going to have to run a little smarter.

 

Here’s the race video, featuring a sweet commercial for Saucony for the first minute or two of race action.
 

 

I also was interviewed by XTERRA for getting the win. Here is a link to XTERRA’s race coverage:
http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/dsp_content.cfm?id=3705

 

September wrapped up nicely with two solid races coming off of training camp will hopefully lead to a successful fall season. On the upcoming calendar, I’ve got XTERRA Georgia races at Ft. Yargo, Big Creek and Little Mulberry parks and I’m toying with the idea of running the Peachtree City 15k, and possibly the Georgia Cyclocross race in Marietta in November.

Training Camp Training Log - Week Three: The Adventure Continues

Monday, August 5 – Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – I hustled out the door and hit the road by 7:15 so I had enough time to get in seven. It wasn’t anything special and my legs were actually pretty dead, but it’s another day.

Meals
Pre run: Honey stinger waffle & tea
Post run: English muffin with maple almond butter & oatmeal with walnuts, brown sugar, and maple syrup (we have some from Brattleboro, VT at work)
Lunch: Turkey on multigrain with spinach, cucumbers. Carrots. PBJ Trail mix.
Snack: Bunny Grahams
Dinner: Flank steak with a ton of scalloped potatoes
Another super long day. In the office by 7 and out at 9:30.

Tuesday, August 6 – Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Woof. This morning was a straight up death march. I probably should have cut it short and gone five, but today is going to be another long day, so I wanted to be try and get seven in since I was running by 7:15 again. Who knows what tomorrow will bring with an early practice.

Meals
Pre run: Vanilla Honey Stinger waffle with tea
Post run: English muffin with maple almond butter & a bowl of smart start with vanilla almond milk (I was starving)
Lunch: Tuna on multigrain with spinach and sun chips (I caved and had chips today instead of carrots)
Snack: Annie’s organic ‘cheese-its’ and a chunk of granola bar
Dinner: Chicken & mashed potatoes

Wednesday, August 7 – Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – I had to wait until later in the day to run. It was super humid, so the run was a little miz.

Don’t remember the meals, but I had pizza for dinner. Little bit of a fat kid day.

Thursday, August 8 – Mall Roads – 5 miles – I didn’t have long to run because I slept in, so I rolled five before heading out to get a few errands done before the game. I got the car taken care of to the tune of 500+ dollars to get the plate changed WTF…not cool.

My eating was terrible today. I started out good with a myoplex shake, English muffin with maple almond butter, then before the game I had a PB&J smoothie. At the game is where it went south. I was starving so I had Caesar salad, cliff bar, popcorn (twice) a small ham sandwich and a Justin’s almond snickers.

Friday, August 9 – Day off – Zero – My first day off since April 27, every other day I’ve run at least three (probably more like at least 5) or ridden my road or mountain bike. After getting home from the game at 2 am and having to be back in the office by 8:30 was a little rough. I was completely exhausted by the time I got home and took the zero.

I was hoping to sneak in a trail run at Little Mulberry as a birthday present to myself, no dice, long ass day at work after a late night at work. Awesome.

Saturday, August 10 – Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Big time birthday run of seven miles on the Flowery Branch roads. This was a little bit depressing as I didn’t get any time to myself yesterday or today. Amanda made me a kick ass Captain America cake but I was too tired to even eat any of it when I got home. Oh well, at least I got in a solid seven in the morning.

One of the positives of the day was that we announced that we are going a Back to Football/Play 60 5k before our first home game. It might be a month away but now I’ve got something that I can definitively put on my race calendar for the fall.

Sunday, August 11 – Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Training camp is officially starting to wear me the funk out. My legs feel like R. Kelly’s doo doo butter but, again a silver lining, I was able to eat some of my Captain America cake and that was delicious.

Weekly Totals - 38 miles on six runs - Like I said before, training camp is starting to wear on me. I need a day to sleep in bad. I've also kind of gone off the rails with the diet, at least in terms of tracking it. I've got to try and get back on that track.

Training Log: #CampLife Part II

Monday, July 29: Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – I had a chance to get in early and run seven this morning but I slacked and took my sweet time getting moving in the morning. Not happy about that, but I still got in a solid five this morning.

Meals
Pre run: Half an English muffin w/ maple almond butter & tea
Post run: Honey nut cheerios with vanilla almond milk and a banana
Lunch: Turkey on multigrain with spinach, cucumbers and honey mustard, a vanilla greek yogurt, and a pack of bunnies.
Snack: Cheddar bunnies
Dinner: Baked pasta (one of Amanda’s specialties)

Tuesday, July 30: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles - I snuck out a couple minutes early to get in seven this morning, which was really nice. The weather was amazing. High 60s with low humidity, it was absolutely awesome…except for the fact that I was running the Flowery Branch roads loop and not some sweet trail.

Meals
Pre run: Chocolate honey stinger waffle & tea
Post run: Smart start with vanilla almond milk
Lunch: Turkey on multigrain with spinach, cucumbers, and honey mustard. Carrot sticks and a greek yogurt.
Snack: Cheddar bunnies
Dinner: Leftover baked shells and a piece of Amanda’s Swedish tea ring

Wednesday, July 31 – Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – I wanted to go seven but I was dragging ass this morning. I also stopped and talked to Brian for 20 minutes about the softball game that I skipped last night. I was hoping to either ride into work today or get a mountain bike ride in after, but it’s looking like a full day for us. Maybe Amanda will want to go for a spin later. I tweeted at Red Bull this morning and they were awesome and swung by the office to drop of some Red Bull for us. They gave us Red, Blue and Silver editions. I’m super pumped about that. Phase 2 of my master plan to someday get sponsored by Red Bull is underway. It would be way easier if I was just faster though.

Meals:
Pre run: Chocolate honey stinger waffle & tea
Post run: Smart start with vanilla almond milk & an apple
Lunch: Turkey on multigrain with spinach, bacon, and sweet baby rays. Bunny grahams
Dinner: Chicken (w/ cashew crust from Fresh Market) and Rice. Pirate Booty
 
Thursday, August 1 – Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – This is starting to get familiar. I was hoping to make it to trivia tonight, but I only made it for the last question. I need a beer.

Meals
Pre run: Chocolate honey stinger waffle (last one NO!) & tea w/ honey
Post run: Smart Start w/ vanilla almond milk
Lunch: Turkey on multigrain with spinach, cucumbers and honey mustard. Carrots & a greek yogurt.
Snack: Cheddar bunnies
Dinner: Small piece of pork w/ a ton of rice and corn. Strawberry greek yogurt

Friday, August 2 – Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Got my a$$ in gear this morning to fit in seven. Felt okay to start but I’m tired from training camp. My whole body is just gassed. Today was the toughest run to get through that I’ve had in a while. It’s probably a cumulative fatigue thing. Hopefully tomorrow I can get in a bike ride before or after work. Maybe that will help. I’m definitely dipping into the Red Bull stash before Friday Night Lights tonight.

Meals
Pre run: Half (err…3/4) of a PowerBar harvest bar and tea with honey
Post run: Honey nut cheerios with vanilla almond milk and a banana
Snack: A few handfuls of PB&J trail mix (I was freaking starving at 11)
Lunch: Three soft tacos (two chicken, rice, spinach & cheese and one just rice & cheese), greek yogurt
Snack: PB&J Trail mix & red bull
Dinner: two 100 calorie greek yogurts w/ granola & a bag of pirate booty at 11 p.m.

Friday Night Lights…woof

Saturday, August 3 – Chicopee Woods – 8 miles – Mountain Bike Ride – After work I headed up to Chicopee Woods to roll on the mountain bike for a bit. I am not a good mountain biker. I fell a couple times and being tired it was a little bit rough, but I just tried to enjoy being outside and doing something different. I did beast Granny’s climb, for me anyway, and I actually caught a guy that started at least 3 second before me, so that was positive.

Here is my Strava data from the ride - see I'm not good at this stuff.

Meals
Breakfast: I caved a little and hit Dunkin Donuts for a corn muffin and tea
Lunch: Almond butter and strawberry jelly sandwich with chips
Snack: Greek yogurt
Dinner: Homemade pizza with homemade organic dough.

Sunday, August 4 – Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Got moving early today, so I could get in seven before work. Good choice, but I was starving all day long, not really good for my camp “diet” My legs are definitely feeling some cumulative fatigue. I am eyeing Thursday as a possible day to sleep in and I’m really excited about that.

Meals
Pre run: Vanilla honey stinger w/ green tea
Post run: Smart start w/ vanilla almond milk & a little bit of scrambled eggs
Lunch: Turkey on multigrain with cucumbers, spinach and honey mustard. Carrots. Snack size (small) peanut M&Ms
Snack: PB&J trail mix
Dinner: Small cup of chili and a greek yogurt. Amanda made burritos but I didn’t get out of work until after 9 so good thing I ate something at 7.

It was a super long day and it’s not going to get any better the next few, but at least it started off well with a seven mile run. If I can do that and get through camp I’ll be in good shape.

Weekly Total: 36 miles on six runs with one hour-plus mountain bike ride. Another training camp week in the books. Woof. I am tired, but I'm managing to keep running. It's going to be difficult to keep this up with how long our days are. I think I need to find a way to take a day off that is a real day off, not just a day that I didn't run.

p.s. - Big congratulations to @WildFerenc for placing 15th at worlds.

Training Log: Training Camp Week 1

Monday, July 22: Mall Roads Loop – 5 miles – I thought long and hard about taking today off.

Tuesday, July 23: Gravel Springs – 7 miles - This will probably be the last time I do this run for a while with training camp starting up on Thursday. It’s been a solid little loop for me during the spring and even though I got bored with it occasionally, I am sure I will miss it once I get back to running the Flowery Branch loops every day during the season.

Wednesday, July 24: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Today was most likely my last shot to run seven for a little bit. I’m only going to have about 30-35 minutes to run during camp for the next few weeks. On some of the off day’s I might be able to squeeze in an hour run or ride my bike to the office, but that remains to be seen. For now it’s back to the roads in the Branch and it’s back to maintenance miles for the foreseeable future. That’s a little depressing, but it’s also why I doubled up on the races last weekend.

Thursday, July 25: Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – Normal five mile route, out to McEver Road then down to Flowery Branch, past the post office and back up by the Wrigley plant to the facility. Took it fairly easy as my legs are starting to feel the last few days of standing up a lot.
Friday, July 26: Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – I want to be mindful of what I eat during training camp because it can get out of hand quickly, so I’m going to start trying to log it here to try and keep myself honest.

I woke up at 6 and had a chocolate honey stinger waffle with organic green tea (w/ honey) then hit the roads for five around Flowery Branch. This will probably be my standard run during training camp. Hopefully I can get few seven milers in and a bike ride or two, but the majority of my running will be five in the morning.

Pre run: Chocolate honey stinger waffle & tea
Post run: Bowl of smart start cereal w/ vanilla almond milk & a banana
Lunch: Roast Beef on multigrain bread w/ lettuce and some sweet baby ray’s (a little fat kid to start), carrots and a small bowl of black bean chili w/ quinoa (not chili weather but I wanted to try it).
Snack: Small cup of PB&J trail mix and a handful of gummy bears before practice.
Snack 2: Greek yogurt w/ granola after practice
Dinner: Small bowl of three cheese tortellini and some pirate booty

Wow. I feel like I eat a lot.

Saturday, July 27: Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – Back on the grind. Flowery Branch five. The good thing is I am still excited to run each day and I’m making sure I get out the door with enough time to get a run in. I’m trying to make sure I have time to run five as many days as possible during camp and it’s going well so far.
Pre run: Chocolate honey stinger waffle & tea
Post run: English muffin with maple almond butter and a small bowl of smart start w/ almond milk
Lunch: Turkey, spinach & cucumbers on multigrain w/ some carrots and a smoothie
Snack: Cheddar bunnies
Dinner: Chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas & broccoli and a greek yogurt

Sunday, July 28: Flowery Branch Roads – 5 miles – S.S.D.D. I did have to get myself going a little earlier because we had a lot going on this morning. Up at 6 and out the door before 6:30 to have time to run for 35 minutes. Got it in and generally felt better about my day than I would have otherwise.

Pre run: Vanilla honey stinger waffle & tea
Post run: Honey nut cheerios with vanilla almond milk & a small serving of scrabbled eats (I needed some protein)
Lunch: Tuna fish on multigrain with spinach, carrots, and greek yogurt. Mixed bag of bunnies
Snack: Cheddar bunnies
Dinner: Blackened chicken, red beans & rice, and green beans. Greek yogurt for dessert.

I think I’m doing okay with my training camp meals.

Weekly Total: 39 miles on seven runs – That’s a rather drastic drop in mileage, but the key thing is that I ran every day. During camp that’s my biggest goal, run as many days as possible. I may try to work in a bike ride on a couple of the players off days, but for the most part I just want to run as much as I can. It’s probably only going to be about 30 or 35 miles a week, but it is was it is.

Rad Run: Avalonian Ridge Run

Vacation. Finally. Amanda and I had a little bit of a rough start after our flight was delayed three hours, but we made it home for our annual New England summer trip. I originally planned on racing at Pingree in the North Shore Trail Series race, but after getting in so late I decided to bag it and just get some extra rest. After we woke up and took the obligatory trip to Honey Dew, Amanda’s dad picked her up at my house to take her down to Rhode Island for the week, while I hopped in the car and headed up to Vermont to spend a couple days in the mountains with Josh Ferenc (aka @wildFerenc…aka the Last Hero & Only Hope).

 

When I got to Vermont, Josh and I headed out for 12 on the power line trails a short drive from his house, a nice little warm up for Sunday’s quest; a run from Josh’s house over to Putney Mountain some 16-18 miles away.

 

We woke up early Sunday and loaded up with a big breakfast, I went with two English muffins, one with Maple almond butter and one with nutella, while Josh did the same plus two fried eggs. I also downed half a Red Bull, knowing at some point I was going to be suffering for energy. Gregg Hammett met us around 8:30 and we set out on the trails behind Josh’s house.

 

The beginning of the run wasn’t too bad because it was so early, but things start off with an asphyxiating climb before things start to level out…a little. After what felt like an hour of running up we hit Athens Look out, a small clearing with amazing views of the surrounding mountains. In the distance you could clearly see Stratton Mountain and it’s wide cut skiing trails, which was really neat. From the lookout when ran down to a ridge trail called the Jamie Latham Trail over to the Pinnacle, another small summit lookout with a really cool lean-to shelter that looks like a log cabin that someone cut in half.

 

When we reached the Pinnacle, we met up with Justin Fyffe and stopped to take a gel (peanut butter GU) and have some water. I was carrying a 20 oz Salomon bottle, while Gregg also had a small hand held. The gel helped for about 30 minutes, but being 90+ minutes into the run already I was feeling pretty tired. We hopped onto the Pinnacle trail and started making out way to Putney Mountain. I took the lead for this section and tried to keep the pace solid, we weren’t running fast but I didn’t want to dog it either. After about 20 or 30 minutes in front I missed a turn and Gregg and Josh corrected the course while I settled in behind. This is where things started to go south.

 

Just short of the two hour mark things were going great. We were running conversationally, even on all the climbs, laughing about a bunch of dumb stuff and talking about different ideas for training runs and races. Once we’d passed the two hour mark and with all the climbing we’d done I started to run out of gas very rapidly. I was doing okay keeping up on the flatter and downhill sections but I dropped way back on even the slightest climb. I know how Richie Porte must have felt when he was struggling in the Pyrenees. Every up hill, even if it was only 20 or 30 meters was miserable. I put my head down and tried to grind up and when I’d pick my head back up I’d be 20 feet back. For all the excitement I felt at how well I ran the hills during the Peachtree, the mountains of Vermont quickly reminded me of why I said I wanted to spend more time in the north Georgia mountains next spring. I went from running to riding the struggle bus in a very short period of time.

 

We made it to the “Five Corners” trail intersection, where Josh originally wanted to take the West Cliff trail down then back up a tough switchback climb to the summit, but because he could see that I had cracked from the climbing and he could sense Gregg was starting to struggle due to the fact that he ran a 10 mile race the day before, Josh had us stick to the Ridge line trail that only included a short .3 mile climb to the top of Putney Mountain.

 

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t hang, but told everyone that if they wanted to do the full 18 I would be all for it, but they’d just have to wait for me at the top. I knew that mentally I was still in it and still enjoying the idea of running, but physically it was going to be rough. I felt like I could do it, but it was going to be a battle for every step. Gregg and Josh both settled on being okay running 2.5 hours (16 miles) instead of 3 (18) and we went on our way.

 

We ran the ridgeline trail to where it met with Banning road then jumped back into the woods for the final climb up to the Putney Mountain summit. This wasn’t a long climb but as soon as we starting going up the wheels came off. I was instantly dropped and my left hamstring began to cramp up. After about 45 second, I thought I was going to be reduced to walking. At this point, I didn’t know we were only about a quarter mile from the summit, so I had to have a little personal Pow Wow to try and figure out how I was going to keep going. One minute into the climb and it was over for me. Josh, Gregg and Justin were all out of sight and I was battling to put one foot in front of the other. I tried to walk a little but that didn’t help my hamstring so I started shuffling up the mountain and just kept telling myself to get through it and if I could make it where they eventually stopped to wait for me then I could take a minute to stretch out. I took a few pulls from the water bottle, put my head down, and started grinding, but honestly, walking probably would have been faster.

 

After a few minutes, I came to a trail intersection and to my right I could see what would turn out to be the summit of Putney Mountain. Once I came out of the woods and realized it was the summit I was instantly happy to be out there running again. We stopped for a minute while I tried to loosen my hamstring then made the short half mile jaunt down to Fyffe’s car. It was an awesome idea by him to leave his car at Putney Mountain and I am eternally grateful to his wife for dropping him off at the Pinnalce, otherwise it would have been five miles down the mountain to his house.

 

When we reached his car, bingo bango, he brought gatorades! That was the best Gatorade I’ve ever tasted. According to my GPS the run was a little over 14 miles but since it was all trails and mostly pretty rugged I’m calling it 16. That’s what the map says, so that’s what I’m calling it.

 

We all piled into Fyffe’s car and hit the culvert, a swimming hole that was gloriously cold. Gregg had been talking about it since the first few miles of the run and it definitely, lived up to the hype. We also hit a natural spring on the way back to Josh’s house, which I thought was really cool. I don’t get a chance to do that much in the suburban sprawl of Gwinnett County. We all rode back to Josh’s to change then headed into Bellows Falls to the Shona Grill for some much needed caloric intake. I went with a VT cheddar bacon burger with maple mayo and sweet potato fries. It was amazing. I wish I’d ordered two burgers and went without the fries.

 

After pigging out we headed back to Josh’s to chill for a bit before we rode bikes down to the river for another swim, then hit up a local farm for some fresh maple walnut ice cream. Yes I had maple sugar on pretty much everything I ate. When in Rome right? It could be worse, a few years ago when I was living in Philly Josh came down and had cheez wiz on literally everything he ate for two days. See, maple sugar is looking a little healthier isn’t it.

 

Over all this was an awesome run. It was a real adventure for me. Despite the fact that I had some serious struggles I really enjoyed exploring some new dirt and running with good friends. Runs like this and the one I did the week before in Unicoi are all steps towards me trying to become a better trail runner and runner in general. I’m going to need more and more like this if I want to run some of the Rock/Creek races I’m eyeing for next year.

16 miles – 2:26 minutes – 3,086+ feet climbed.

Strava Data:

 

 

Now I need to find another Red Bull and some Vermont Peanut Butter Company peanut Butter.

Race Recap: Dirty Spokes Haw Creek 5.5 Mile Trail Race

Saturday I headed out to Haw Creek for the sixth race of the Dirty Spokes trail series. Amanda and I headed out a little bit early to make sure we got a parking spot since there is limited parking. I warmed up with lap around the course then did some stretching and caught up with a few of the usual suspects to talk about the course and race plans. Also, today was my first race in my new Saucony kit. It's sweet. My shorts are a tad big but it's a sweet looking uni.

 

My plan for the day was to run to win, but I also knew that Haw Creek was likely to be the fastest course of the series. At 5.5 miles it’s one of the shortest, but it’s also double track and not very hilly so I figured it would be a good course to get out and roll on. I also figured it would be a good tune up for Peachtree. As I made my way to the start I ran into Mitch Novy and Jesse Rapole. I talked to them for a bit and found out Mitch was running the short course, which was one lap and 2.75 miles. I decided to relax at the beginning and let Mitch do a little bit of the work before taking over and trying to put some distance on Jesse during the second lap.

 

At the gun, Mitch and one of the youngsters, Alec, took the race out really hard which was perfect for my plan of letting the guys running the short course do some of the work on the first lap. Unfortunately, this didn’t last very long. Once we hit the trail I passed Mitch, who had dropped back, and closed a 20 or so yard gap on Alec. I ran with him up until about the half or three quarter mile then I took the lead with a strong acceleration out of one of the tight corners. I tried to maintain my acceleration as long as possible which effectively broke the field, Jesse was caught too far back to cover while Alec and Mitch had no interest in running with me since they were running the short course.

 

I kept pressing every section that was open while pulling back on the reigns a little in some of the corners. Around two miles I ran into Tim who was checking the course on his mountain bike. He gave me a quick time check on the guys behind me and I tried to use him as a pacer as he rode a head. I came thought the first lap with sizable lead and really rolled the first mile of the second loop trying to stretch things out the best I could. When I saw Tim, he said I was about 20 seconds up, but I didn’t know if that was on Jesse of the short course guys. Turns out it was the short course guys because when I crossed the finish Amanda told me I was about 90 seconds up on Jesse and the guy in third from the ATC.

 

I finished in 31:22 (5:42 pace), which was pretty solid considering I ran most of the race solo and I still haven’t had the workouts that I feel like I need. At the end of the day it was another win and 15 points for me, which means all I’ve got to do is show up to the finale at Sawnee Mountain to claim my third straight Dirty Spokes title. Also, despite the venue change I won for the third time in a row on the penultimate race of the series, with two wins at Central Park and now the win at Haw Creek. I’ve been gearing up for the tour and British people love saying penultimate.

Rad Run: Easy's Running Currahee

On Memorial Day and all, I decided to take a ride up to Toccoa and run up the mountain made famous by the men of Easy Company (check out the first episode of Band of Brothers). The run starts at the Col. Robert Sink trail at the site of Camp Toccoa, which was where the US Army trained paratroopers prior to and during WWII. The trail follows what used to be Currahee mountain road roughly three miles up to the summit. I say roughly because it most likely does not begin at the same spot where the paratroopers began their “three miles up, three miles down” training runs, and according to my Garmin it was a shade short from the parking lot.

 

The trail starts out fairly moderate for the first two miles. It’s more rolling hills than mountain run, but just before you get to two miles you run down to the base of the mountain and arrive at a small cabin, from then on it is straight up to the summit. I set out with a plan to run the final mile climb three times. I didn’t really have a goal time set in my mind. I just wanted to get up it.

 

I’ve run up Currahee once before and I took Amanda and her sister up it last spring, so going into the workout I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. It’s a long grueling climb to the top, according to Strava it is 11.2% average grade, but the final quarter mile or so the grade ratchets up to nearly 30%...like I said rugged. It gains 602 feet over the mile and it’s rated as a category 3 climb.

 

When you reach the top there are a couple of radio towers, but no marker like it is portrayed in Band of Brothers. It seems like the land was sold off right after the camp was closed and no one really thought about the fact that the summit would carry such cultural and historical significance. However it still provides a really nice view of the surrounding areas.

Training Log: June 3 - 9

Monday, June 3: 10 Miles
AM - Reservoir Trail – 5 miles – Ran out and back on the Rez trails before our flight back to Atlanta. The trails were a little wet from the big thunderstorm we had overnight but it was nice to not be running in 90+ degree weather. Side note: Amanda and I found two of three geocaches around the Rez on Saturday. One of them was in a paintball pod, which I thought was cool. It was funny how close to the trail they were and I’ve never noticed before despite running on the trail like 15 million times.

PM – Greenway Out & Back – 5 miles – Out and back on the greenway after we got back from the airport. Nice and easy stroll with Amanda riding next to me on the bike. We stopped at Fresh Market before we got home and grabbed some prime rib kebabs for dinner, so good. I love that place. It’s like a Trader Joes or a small Whole Foods.

Tuesday, June 4: 12 miles
AM - Gravel Spring – 7 miles – A little bit of a slog this morning. I think my legs were tired from the travel day yesterday.

PM – Greenway Out & Back – 5 miles – Ran with Amanda riding next to me on the bike. Standard post work run. After the run/ride we made dinner then I headed over to George Pierce Park for our first slow pitch softball game. We got worked. 23-1. I went 1 for 2 and narrowly missed a couple of outfield assists but it was a tough loss. One the other team took far too many pitches for softball and two, we were trying to smash the ball and hit too many pop ups. Better luck next week.

Wednesday, June 5: 15 miles
AM – Gravel Springs – 7 miles – Big time struggle bus day for me. I think it was because I was tired from getting home late last night (the game started at 10pm aka my bed time) and running around for an hour that night.

PM – Robin Hood (south) Workout – 8 miles – Two mile warm up on the greenway then 4x1200ish (.83 miles) on the homesite loop behind my apartment, followed up by two more miles for the cool down.

I had originally planned on doing 4x800, because that’s what the trail sign says the distance for one lap is. However on the first repeat, I noticed it was only about .4, so I ended up doing 1.5 laps for the first repeat. After that little fiasco, I decided to go with two laps per repeat so each one would be about 1200 on the trail.

Splits: 
4:12 (1.5 laps)
5:09
5:18
5:18

I went with roughly 2:30 rest per rep (a little shorter on the first).

Not a great workout, but I’m glad I got out there and tried to run a little quicker than my normal slog. Cooled down two miles after for eight total.

Thursday, June 6: 12 miles (recovery day)
AM – Gravel Springs – 7 miles – Nice and easy seven mile recovery run.
PM – Greenway Out & Back – 5 miles – Another easy recovery run with Amanda riding next to me on the bike.

Friday, June 7: 10 miles
AM – Gravel Springs – 7 miles
PM – Greenway – 5 miles

Saturday, June 8: Buford & Hamilton Mill Roads - 11 miles – Ran out to gravel springs then up to Hamilton mill road then back to south Bogan and back up to the GEHC and down to the house.

Sunday, June 9: Rocking the Suburbs - 15 miles – I’ve found a good solid long run on the roads from my apartment. I headed up to the GEHC and then out on Woodward Mill road to old Suwanee road. From there I ran up to Roberts Road the out onto Buford highway. I dipped into George Pierce Park and ran on the greenway for about a mile and half then up Martin Farm road to Town Center park, back on the greenway, through the Morning View neighborhoods and then back on old Suwanee and back up to the GEHC and down to the house. Good solid 15.

Weekly Total: 85 miles on 12 runs – Great week of mileage and one decent workout. I do want to get back to trail running though. I haven’t been doing much of that lately. I’d also like to jump in a 5k in the next couple of weeks before the Peachtree.

Training May 27 - June 2

Monday, May 27: Currahee Mountain – 10 miles (3xmile workout) – Being Memorial Day and all, I decided to take a ride up to Toccoa and run up the mountain made famous by the men of Easy Company (check out the first episode of Band of Brothers). I ran out to the base of the climb then did three mile repeats on the final climb, then headed back to the car.

 

Splits:
Mile 1 – 9:23
Mile 2 – 9:38
Mile 3 – 10:05

 

I felt like I probably could have run a little faster on the first and second one, but I was completely toast by the third. Either way, it was good to get out and challenge myself on some terrain that I struggle with. (more to come)

 

Tuesday, May 28:
AM - Gravel Springs Loop – 7 miles – Nice, easy recovery day. My legs were a little beat up from Currahee, but I cruised in under 50 minutes, which has been a struggle in recent weeks.

 

PM – Greenway (w/Amanda) – 3 miles – Amanda had a really long day at work so we decided to cut things short and turn around at the first bridge for three instead of the normal five. I was completely okay with that, but happy I still got in 10 for the day.

 

Wednesday, May 29: Gravel Springs + Waterworks Rd. – 9 miles – Ran the normal morning loop then ran up waterworks to get an extra two miles in. We are traveling back home to visit my mom today, so I had a little bit of extra time. I originally planned on shaking out when we got back home but ended up bagging it.

 

Thursday, May 30: Topsfield-Wenham-Danvers Rail Trail (w/ Amanda) – 10 miles – We headed over to Topsfield to check out the new (to me) linear common rail trail that connects to the Danvers rail trail. Amanda rode my dad’s old Gary Fisher mountain bike and we ran out five miles to Danvers high then turned back. It was super hot. 90+ with some humidity. I’m definitely not ready for that yet. The trail was great though, even though it was an out and back we both enjoyed being able to get off of the pavement for a bit. The trail is nice and wide and has some cool town line markers, man I would have loved racing for those town lines when I was in high school.

 

Friday, May 31: Peabody Street to Masco XC (aka the old stomping grounds) – 11 miles – Another scorcher…I dropped my shirt a mile in due to the heat and made a couple of stops along the Ipswich river to dunk my head and cool off, yup that’s a townie move, so what? I ran from the house up to Essex street, then over School St, down liberty to Peaboby St then out on the old Masco XC course (90 percent road) then back to the house. Glad to get it in early as it just got hotter as the day went on.

 

Saturday, June 1: Rail Trail (w/ Amanda) – 10 miles – Woof…super hot. I was absolutely dying, so it was good to be able to run something easy and flat. Unfortunately, I had to miss the XTERRA final race, but my 500 points held up so I am the 2012-13 XTERRA Georgia Trail Run Series Champ (25-29). Check out my sweet certificate. 

 

 

 

Sunday, June 2: Peabody Street to Masco & Back – 11 – Ran the same run as Friday and it was another scorcher. Nothing too special about this run, I kept it nice and easy and made a couple stops at sprinklers and once at the Ipswich River, again complete townie move. Hung by the pool for the rest of the day.

Weekly Totals: 73 miles on 8 runs – I was happy to still get in 70+ miles despite having a travel day in the middle of the week. I was pumped to get a chance to do the Currahee workout. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a while and haven’t had a chance to get up there. It was also nice to get 70+ miles on only 8 runs, normally I’m doing 12 runs a week. It was good to get in a bunch of hour-plus long runs. I thought about going to the Bretton Woods Fell Race on Sunday, but decided to pass and stay near home. Next up is more workouts and I need to find a road race to jump into to see where I’m at before Peachtree. I’ve also got to do something on the trail to get ready for the final two Dirty Spokes race.

Catching Up

It’s been a little while since I’ve taken the time to update my log so here comes a short and sweet overview of my training the last two months or so (wow it really has been a long time). When I last left off I’d only been running 40-50 miles a week, so I have successfully upped my mileage. I went from 50s to the mid/high 70 with a down week in between due to the NFL Draft. I probably jumped a little quicker than I would normally like to, but I did it by adding a second run of three to five miles in the afternoon on most days, so that really helped me up my mileage without putting a ton of extra stress on my body all at once by increasing the length of my morning runs. Ideally, I’d prefer to just run 10 on one run then seven and three, but with my work schedule that’s where I am at.
In addition to increasing my mileage I ran four races, all on the trails (three wins, one nightmare), rocked an idiot 20 miler at Ft. Yargo, and had the race that I’ve been super excited for canceled.

You’re an Idiot
I will gloss over my idiot 20 miler real quick…I was trying to be a tough guy and I was really frustrated with some stuff at work, so to get my anger and aggression out I decided to run 20 on the trails at Ft. Yargo. Terrible idea. I should have gone with my old standard of running a really hard workout, like the time I caught Wilson on the Base Hill 10 mile tempo, blacked out with a mile to go, and apparently sprinted through traffic on Rt. 9. Anyway, I ran the half marathon course then added on the seven-ish mile hiking trail. It was fun for about 15 miles and the last five were awful. My legs were completely dead, I was dehydrated, my feet hurt, and I had to take a couple Raymond breaks along the way. I got home and booted. Woof. Whatever, I still got 20 in.

The four races…

Dirty Spokes Olde Rope Mill 6.5 miler
I had my best run at Rope Mill park, taking first on a tough 10k course against some stiff competition, including a high school kid that made me really nervous for the first three or four miles. It was my first win in three tries at this race too so that made it extra sweet. I went out a little conservative and hung behind Jesse Rapole for about a mile and a half before I decided to surge and take the lead at the top of one of the numerous short climbs. From there I was able to open a good gap that I maintained until the final two miles were I really opened things up. I ended up running sub-6 minute pace on a tough course.

Mountain Goat Alatoona Creek 9 miler
The next week I returned to Allatoona to defend my crown from last spring. The course was different this year and didn’t have as much of the cross country style open fields as last year, but I was able to open up a big gap early and despite the water logged conditions I cruised to the win. I also won $100, can’t beat that.

Dirty Spokes Running the Rocks 10k
My next race was Running the Rocks at the 1996 Olympic Mountain Bike trails, which is one of my favorite races and Tim from Dirty Spokes really put together a fun course, the best of the three that I’ve run during my time here in Georgia, but some stomach issues ruined this day. I woke up really excited to run, I was feeling really charged up after the events of the Boston Marathon and I just wanted to get out and run hard after all of that, you know try and return some positive energy to the world. Unfortunately, something I ate the day before changed that. I had major stomach issues before and during the race. I was able to hang with Jesse until about 1.5 miles before I had to let of the gas. Once I took care of my stomach issues, I was able to bring the race home and I managed to finish second. I definitely had to forget this one quickly.



Dirty Spokes Mt. Tabor 8 miler
I rebounded well from my nightmare day at Running the Rocks to pick up my first win at Mt. Tabor. Now the only Dirty Spokes races that I haven’t won at least once are Heritage Park and Running the Rocks (and Haw Creek, but that hasn’t been run yet). This was a weird race in that it wasn’t all that hot out but I felt like I was melting, and I also felt like I was running a lot faster than I was. For the first time since Gainesville State, Mitch and I ran the same course as the 8 mile race was a double loop while the 4 miler was a single loop. I decided to go out with him and just try to work together to see if we could get things rolling. I know if Woody Dover, my main competition, would want to go out that hard and I felt like I had the benefit of having someone to work with. That worked well for about two miles, then I took the lead to try and spell Mitch so he wouldn’t be leading the whole way. We ran together for a bit then I started pulling away as I surged in and out all of the tight turns. My legs were not feeling good so I was trying to force myself to run harder than my legs thought they could handle. That plan worked pretty well for six miles, then it was a death march to the line. I was able to hold off Woody for the win though. The course is called Mount Tabor, but there isn’t a lot of climbing, however it’s one of the tougher courses for me because it’s so tight. There are a lot of tight turns and not a lot of spots to open up your stride. Also this one should be called running the rocks…cuz…mad rocks yo.



Since I got into the swing of racing I my running was feeling much better. I’ve also successfully recruited Amanda to join me on most of my afternoon runs. I run while she bikes, we even got 10 in one afternoon a week or two ago. I did find myself in a bit of a rut in early May though. I was running a good amount of miles but not great quality miles. I was just kind of running. Then I got some family news that hit hard and the USATF Trail 10k Championships, my big goal race for 2013 got canceled. That was a shitty couple of weeks, but I soldiered on thanks to some motivation from Strava’s May Massive. I’m rocking that Challenge. As of this writing, I’ve run 481 km in May and I rank 28th in the world and I’m the 15th highest ranking American, pretty good for running 7 in the morning and 3-5 at night.

Once I found out I’d be missing the XTERRA Georgia Championship due to an impromptu trip home and with the USA Champs race being cancelled, I’ve had to focus on Peachtree as my big race. That’s helped me get out of my little rut. That and a beautiful new pair of Kinvara 4’s that make me want to run fast every time I put them on. I’ve started working in an up tempo morning run and got in a killer 3xmile workout up Currahee in on Memorial Day (more on that soon…for real).

Training Log: March 11-17

Monday, March 11: Barbed Wire Road – 8 miles – Hit the barbed wire road loop for eight after work. I forgot my shoes, so I had to run in my destroyed pair of rides, which was not good because my hamstring was killing me by the time I started climbing back up cash road. Woof.

Tuesday, March 12: In Town Five – 5 miles – I headed into work early to run, but got stuck with clips that took longer than I had planned. I had to rush and only was able to manage five. I’m a little disappointed with that, but at least it gives me bit of a break after yesterday’s hamstring destroying run.

Wednesday, March 13: In Town Five – 5 miles – Same story as yesterday. I got out for my run about 10 minutes earlier than Tuesday, but still only managed five. The week is not shaping up like I planned.

Thursday, March 14: Barbed Wire Road – 8 miles – I finally got a chance to run a little bit longer this morning, but the route was not a good choice for the a.m. There were a ton of high school aged kids on JM Turk and Cash road which meant I was taking my life in my hands for about 7.5 miles of the run. Not doing that one in the morning again…at least not while school is still in session.

Friday, March 15: Greenway Out and Back – 5 miles – I had to go downtown today for a press conference so I waited until the afternoon to run. Amanda hopped on the bike and joined me for five miles on the greenway behind our apartment. Really nice day, I could have run all afternoon, but just wanted to get a shakeout in before tomorrow’s race.

Saturday, March 16: Dirty Spokes Gainesville State Trail Race – 9 miles – Up early for a short ride up to Gainesville State College for the second Dirty Spokes series race of the year. I met Mitch Novy (formerly a fellow Saucony Hurricane, now running for Reckless Running) down by the registration tent and we hit the trails for 20 minutes to warm up. I’ve got a longer post coming about the race, but in short I took the lead just before the mile and ended up running away from the field to take the win in 30:19…ten seconds faster than last year. It was a little bit of a shock as I didn’t think I had the legs to run that quick, but a huge confidence booster. Spent the afternoon at Suwanee Beerfest with some friends, good times.

Sunday, March 17: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Struggle Bus…big time. My hamstring was super tight so I took it very, very easy.

Weekly Totals: 48 miles on seven runs w/ one race – It wasn’t the week that I was hoping for but the solid race on Saturday made up for that. I’ve gotta get my mileage up though, otherwise when the races start getting longer I am going to struggle. I am kicking around the idea of doing a race next weekend but we’ll see how my hamstring responds.

Training Log: March 4 - March 10

Monday, March 4: Vermont Roads w/ Josh Ferenc – 7 miles – I spent Sunday up in Vermont with Josh and we decided to wake up early on Monday morning to run before he had to go to school and I had to drive back to Mass. We stuck to mostly roads for this run after yesterday’s post-holing session. We ran out on VT 121 then down 35 before finishing out the run by coming back to Josh’s house on some snowmobile trails. It was a nice relaxed run, but I snuck up and took a town line in the early going. It was a little cold, but that’s because I’m soft now when it comes to weather. Overall though it was awesome to be able to run with Josh for an hour. Afterwards we headed down to Josh’s school where he showed me his classroom and I did a little bit of work. I was a little sketched out going into the school but got a visitor’s pass so that helped me relax a little.

After leaving Bellows Falls I stopped by Keene State and hung out with Pete (my old coach) for about an hour. He was getting ready to head to DIII National’s so he told me about the team and asked about work and life. It was good to get a chance to talk to him for a bit. Before I drove back home I stopped at the bookstore and scored a sweet dri-fit Keene State t-shirt which I be wearing with pride around Georgia.

Tuesday, March 5: Loon Mtn. - Zero – I didn’t run today but Amanda, my brother and I headed up to Loon Mountain for a day of skiing. I actually used my Garmin and my Strava app to track our progress though. In total we covered over 25 miles with our average speed hovering around 10 mph (including lift rides up). I think my max speed was almost 44 miles an hour. Bluebird day too, one of the best weather day’s for skiing that I can remember. Sunny, low 40’s, no one on the mountain.

Wednesday, March 6: Masco Out & Back – 11 miles – From my parent’s house, I ran up Essex street, over school street, down liberty to Peabody street then out to Middleton Road in Boxford. I ran the old cross country course back around to Masco then over the highway and back home the way I came. This was a really good run, considering the fact that we skied all day on Tuesday. I ran 1:13 for the entire thing and averaged 6:40 pace, not blistering by any means but after skiing for the first time in a year yesterday I will take it as a solid effort.  

Thursday, March 7: Loon Mtn – Zero – Technically another day off from running, but Amanda and I decided to hit up Loon again since they have a Tuesday-Thursday deal where you can get lift tickets for 20 bucks off if you by the day before. It was another great day on the mountain, a little cloudy and slightly cooler than Tuesday, but again no one on the mountain and the snow was a little bit better.

Friday, March 8: Middleton Roads – Snow Run – 8 miles – This was a day that I probably should have gone to the gym and hit the treadmill, but I was feeling a little stressed out and despite the foot and counting of snow that we got I wanted to go outside. I do feel like I redeemed myself in terms of being soft to the weather with this run though. I started out with the idea of running around the reservoir trail but that was quickly squashed as the snow was knee deep. I decided to stay on some of the back roads around town, which turned out pretty well. It was a ton of fun running in two and three inches of soft powder and I had a stupid grin on my face for the entire run because I had a blast just being the only person outside not shoveling or snowblowing. There were a few spots were the wind made it a little tough but all in all it was an awesome run.  

Saturday, March 9: Middleton Roads – 7 miles – Ran a similar route as Friday but I cut out a couple of the cul-de-sac neighborhoods, which made it a shade over seven instead of eight. I took it easy and stayed right around seven minute pace. It wasn’t as fun of a run as yesterday but it’s always nice to get out on the roads around my parents’ house. I definitely miss the quiet roads around 

Sunday, March 10: Day off – With today being a travel day I decided to close out “vacation” with another day off. I probably could have gotten out for a few miles when we got back to Georgia, but I decided to be lazy and relax on the couch.

Weekly Totals: 33 miles on four runs + two full days of skiing – This was a little bit of a weird week with traveling back home to Massachusetts, spending a day in Vermont then spending two days skiing in New Hampshire, oh and running in a massive snow storm on Friday. It was nice to take it a little bit easier, but I was glad that I was still able to get something active in with the two days of skiing. I’ve got to step it up next week though. It will be nice to have some more daylight in the afternoons, but the sun is going to come up later which is going to make it a little bit tougher to try and run in the morning. The next Dirty Spokes race is coming up next weekend. They moved the Gainesville State race up a month, so I won’t be in as good of shape as I normally am for it but it will be nice to run a flatter course vs. the hilly Olympic mountain bike trail course that has been this weekend in the past.