2012 In Review

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to document my running on here, but a lot of times I get a little bit bummed when I do go to blog something because I read all these other guys blogs, like Ferenc, Jim Johnson, or Dave Dunham and I just feel like what I am writing is super boring. Awesome, I ran seven miles in the morning around the streets of Flowery Branch. Yep ran out past the feed mill, down Gainesville street, past the creepy trailer park/horse stable by the lake and back through “downtown” to work. That’s been pretty much every run that I’ve done over the last couple of months. That same seven mile route, the only exceptions have been races (which have been surprisingly awesome), the occasional day I decide to slack off and run five and when I run in whatever city I travel to for work (which hasn’t been too exciting lately.

 

However, even though I haven’t really had a ton of exciting stuff to write about lately, this past year was my best year of running since graduating from college in 2006. Moving to Georgia has been really good for my running. Despite being away from my friends and not really having anyone to train with finding the Dirty Spokes trail series in 2011 sparked me to get back into racing. After a solid spring and summer that year I wanted to add workouts and try to keep my running going throughout the football season. I was able to do that and the results were, like I said before, my best year of running since college.

 

The biggest contributing factor to my successful year of running was being selected to run for the Saucony Hurricanes. The great support that I received through Saucony and having a teammate (Mitch Novy) to race with pushed me to try and carry my running through the fall and early winter so I could hit the ground running in 2013. It has been an absolute blast running for the Hurricanes and I really hope that I am lucky enough to continue to run for them.

 

I was able to win another Dirty Spokes Series title and finished on the podium in all eight races, as well as run a solid 10k and 5k going 33:13 and 15:58 on the road and I fulfilled my new year’s resolution of spending more time outside just enjoying running. While I was definitely pumped about all of that the thing that really made 2012 a great year for running was the fact that I was able to keep training throughout the football season. This is an insanely busy time of year for me with work and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get runs in sometimes. At least that’s how I viewed things in the past.

 

This season, I made a commitment to continue running during the season and try and race the XTERRA Georgia trail series races that take place in the fall. Fortunately, my travel schedule lined up and I was able to run in four of the five fall races, surprisingly winning all four. I think it stemmed from entering the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Challenge 5k with some of my co-workers. This race kept me motivated through training camp and got me out in the early mornings for five to seven miles and I ended up really surprising myself with the result. It made me a little hungrier to get back to road racing. 

 

During the football season I was able to carve out a seven mile run to get into a steady regiment of what I called maintenance training. It was a little tough to find that long of a run around the office but once I was able to find the back roads and neighborhoods that are about 10 minutes away I was ready to roll. While my spring and summer running were really good, I was hitting 70-80 miles regularly, running tempo runs and toeing the line for races ever few weeks, I was really excited with my running in the fall. The 15:58 5k and the four XTERRA wins, I felt like came out of nowhere. The only race I really felt strongly in was the Little Mulberry 10k, but that was only after the race had already started.

 

I ran 2,655 miles in 2012 and I know that’s not some earth shattering number that I going to impress anyone, but it was a great year. Not only was I able to run well but I had a lot of fun and I got a chance to do some really cool runs. My Daily Mile year in review shows the bell curve that comes with trying to train and work in the NFL. I’ve enjoyed using daily mile as a training log for the last couple of years, I feel like it helps me hold myself accountable to document my running. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to start blogging. Going forward though I think I am going to start using Strava.com more. Now that I have a Garmin and I know a few of my friends are using it, I think it will be a cool way to track my training.

Here’s my year in review: http://www.dailymile.com/people/MattHaley/training/2012/summary
 

Here’s a couple other 2012 in review things:

 

My top 5 races of 2012:

1 – XTERRA Georgia Little Mulberry 10k – First this park is a gem, 2.2 mile paved loop around the pond + another couple miles of paved paths on the other side of the pond then it has a cross country course, gravel trail and a five mile equestrian trail. The race course is very fast at the start, almost like a road race then pure XC until 2.5 miles then it becomes a trail race dropping down from and then climbing back to one of the highest points in Gwinnett County. One of my new favorite places to run.

 

2 – XTERRA Georgia Thrill in the Hills ½ Marathon – this was my first half marathon and the course is one of my favorite places to run, Ft. Yargo State Park. The course follows the mountain bike trail with one detour onto the inner loop hiking trail to avoid the monster mile. It has lots of twists and turns and a good amount of up and down but also a few places that you can really fly. I finished second and ran pretty well, but I wasn’t 100 percent ready for this one. I am hoping to improve my time this year.
 

3 – KP Corporate Challenge – I’m picking this one because I never thought I’d dip under 16 minutes, I was hoping for under 17 and thought I had a shot at 16:30 if I ran really well. I made up a ton of ground over the last two miles but in the end I didn’t have the wheels pull out the win. Still it was really cool to run through the streets of downtown Atlanta and finish under the Olympic rings and the site of the 1996 torch.
 

4 – Battle of Allatoona Creek – This race was a random one that I decided to run after seeing the flier on the wall at REI after the Olde Rope Mill race. It was a fun race that started with 5k on a grass field and then headed onto mountain bike trails. It was my first race as a member of the Saucony Hurricanes and my first win of the year.
 

5 – Tie –Gainesville State & Central Park trail races – These two tie because I was able to defend my title at both and I ran them both really well. Gainesville State probably should get a slight edge because it’s another place I run all the time. I like to call that my home course. Central Park was tough because of the course change and the fact that it was 100 degrees.

 

Worst race of 2012

 

The one and only Sutalee Trace Trail Challenge – I learned why it’s a trail challenge pretty quick. Just an awful day, 100+ degrees and seven minute pace for the race, but second place did get me a free pair of shoes that I gave to Amanda, now she has some sweet trail shoes for her mountain bike rides.

Top 5 Runs of 2012
 

1 – Ft. Yargo

2 – Windham, VT – Awesome run with Josh starting and ending at the falls

3 – Little Mulberry

4 – Balboa Park (San Diego) – even though I got lost

5 – Boat House Row (Philly) – I’ve got a soft spot for Philly
 

On to 2013

I know we are a few weeks into 2013 and I have my first race coming up this weekend, but my goals for 2013 are to stay healthy and continue to have fun running. One of the reasons I was so inconsistent in the past is because it became a chore to run every day. I still have those days once in a while but getting back into racing has helped me with that. I want to win the Dirty Spokes and XTERRA Georgia series titles and try to get back to run some solid 5ks and 10ks. A few of my target races for this year are the Peachtree Road Race (I really want to run this one and I’ve got a time for it this year), the USATF Trail 10k Championship and of course the Vermont City Marathon. I really want to run my first marathon this year. I think the timing of VCM works perfect with my schedule and it helps to have a bunch of friends that are planning on running it. Hopefully I’ll be able to pull it off. I’d also maybe like to enter either a Duathalon or mountain bike race. I know I’ll get smoked but I think it could be fun.

 

You can follow my running antics on twitter @falconsmhaley

Training Log: October 1 - October 7

Monday, October 1: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – There was a little bit of light rain this morning, but it was actually kind of nice. Today was a good start to the week. I need to get back on the horse after struggling a little bit last week. The west-coast trip took a little more out of me than I thought it would have.

This run has become my go-to, pre-work run. It starts out a little rough on Falcon Parkway as there isn’t a lot of room to run on the side of the road and there is still a fair amount of traffic with people driving to work and/or school. Once I get through about a mile and half its nice quiet back roads for most of the rest of the run. It also has a couple of good little hills in it and I feel like I run a much more honest pace on the road.

Tuesday, October 2: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – My car tire blew out yesterday, so I had to drop the car off to get it replaced in the morning, which meant no run until after work. Fortunately, I got done with everything early enough to get out for seven miles before the sun set. I hit my FB loop and planned to make the decision on five or seven once I got to the old burnt out factory that I can either turn left and run five or stay straight and run seven. I elected for the seven mile route, but my stomach was killing me. There was a point when I didn’t think I’d make it back to the office. I had to stop in an abandoned lot and take care of it. After that things smoothed out a little bit but my stomach was still off the rest of the night. Just one of those days I guess.

Wednesday, October 3: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles – Same old today. Nothing special, but I did feel much, much better than I did yesterday.

Thursday, October 4: Flowery Branch Roads – 7 miles - Up early again to get in my standard morning seven. Felt okay, but I need to hydrate better. Drove downtown after work for face to face then raced back up to Suwanee for trivia. It did not go well. We got smoked. Oh well, fight on.

Friday, October 5: Little Mulberry Park – 8 miles – Ran from the Hog Mountain entrance out to the carriage trail, up to the west meadow trail, around the ravine loop, down around the pond loop trail, up to east meadow then back down carriage road and around Miller lake back to the car. It’s a solid eight mile run (officially 8 according to my garmin) with some decent climbs, especially the carriage and ravine trails. They use park of this park as a local cross country course and Dirty Spokes is hosting an XTERRA race there in November.

Saturday, October 6: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – It was good to get back out on the GEHC trails for a run. With the sunrise coming around 7:30 I haven’t spent much time out on those trails lately as I’ve been doing most of my runs from the office. I’ve gotten in a few three/five mile runs out there but I haven’t done the full eight since the first weekend of the Strava 100 mile challenge. This was a decent run, nothing too crazy, I didn’t wear a watch and just cruised through it. Amanda hasn’t been out on her bike in a about week and it’s probably a good thing because a lot of the greenway trail was washed out by the heavy rain earlier in the week. It’s also becoming increasingly clear each time I run on the GEHC trails that the back section of the sweetgum trail is going to be unusable pretty soon due to construction.

The construction has actually caused Tim to reroute the XTERRA course next weekend. I kicked around the idea of running a race at the GEHC today, but I decided to save the 35 bucks and wait till next week. I’m fully on board with paying 25-35 bucks for XTERRA and Dirty Spokes because I know what kind of race they put on and where that money is going but it’s tough for me to plunk down 35-40 bucks for a random race. If I had paid for that Kaiser Permanente race I would have been pissed. I got second and they don’t even have results posted anywhere. Weak sauce.  

Sunday, October 7: Monument Run in Washington DC – 8.5 miles – Awesome run! We flew into DC for the game and after doing a little exploring on Saturday night, I woke up Sunday morning and ran from Pentagon City into DC. I headed out to the Pentagon from our hotel in Pentagon City and ran up to the Arlington Memorial Bridge, across the bridge to the Lincoln Memorial. From Lincoln, I ran down to the Vietnam memorial then along Constitution Ave. and up to the south lawn of the White House. I stopped at the fence and looked around for a little while, the security guards perked up a little bit since it was early and I was the only person out there. After the White House I ran back down past the Washington monument, around the WWII memorial then back along the reflecting pool past Lincoln, across the bridge and back to Pentagon City. This was a really, really cool run. The WWII memorial was awesome to see. It wasn’t there the last time I was in DC and it was impressive to see both at night and during the day. I found the Massachusetts section and paused for a minute to pay homage to both of my grand fathers who served in WWII then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the game.   

Weekly Totals: 53 miles on seven runs – This was a really solid week for me. I always have a lot of difficulty staying consistent during the football season with work but I’ve been able to say within the 40-45 MPW range every week this season, except for last week after the west coast trip. This week was a big positive that makes me feel like I really have a good shot of training with some consistency through the season before I ramp things up in the late winter/early spring in preparation for the marathon.

Race Recap - Kaiser Permanente Corporate Challenge 5k

In the immortal words of Josh Ferenc this race was a colossal “cluster cuss”. I entered this race as part of the Falcons G.O.A.L fitness/Health & Wellness program (Get Out And Live). Through our company we got a free entry so I figured I had nothing to lose, save maybe a little pride if I got smoked. I entered the elite field with my Run the Rails 10k time, but I never got my number at work. I figured someone would have it at the race so I hoped in my buddy Matt’s new truck with him and we headed downtown to Turner field on for the race. Upon arrival, all hell broke loose for me.

It took us forever to park then when we got to our tent it was abandoned and resembled the scene after the Skywalker ranch got ransacked by storm troopers in Episode IV. We eventually found everyone in the middle of the pack getting ready to line up at the start. Of course no one had my number. I’d already given up on any hope of being able to warm up, but I thought I’d at least have a number, no dice. At this point I was kind of pissed because I really wanted to see what I could run. I thought about just jumping in and running it with the people from work and hanging out, then I decided (again in honor of Ferenc) cuss that! I threw on my Saucony jersey, hopped one of the fences and lined up just behind the elite section.

Just before the start the race volunteers dropped the rope dividing the rest of the runners and the elite section so I made my way up to the second row and got ready to roll. At the start, I got out good to try and get up with the leaders. About 200 meters into the race I was finally able to latch on to a group of four or five runners, running between 4^th and 8^th or so. I had to do a little extra work to get there but once I got in the group I settled in and ran right on the shoulder of the guy in front of me. I recognized one of them, David Bell, who I remembered from the Thrill in the Hills half marathon. I hung with that group for about three quarters of a mile, but I have a tendency to get impatient, especially with all the anxiety of trying to get to the starting line, so right around the mile mark I made a move to try and catch the next group of guys ahead of us.

I used a downhill to surge and catch the guy in third then second. I took over second place and then focused on the leader thinking I’d probably blow up somewhere around two miles. I took a look at my watch and realized I was running at a good clip, between 5:06 and 5:08 pace on my Garmin. I was a little worried it was too fast, but I just tried to tune those thoughts out and focus on catching the leader. About 1.5 miles into the race we climbed a long gradual uphill that I ran surprisingly well. I was able to maintain that pace and was slowly but surely chipping away at the lead.

I missed the second mile mark and I didn’t hear my watch beep for the spilt, but I was really trying to focus on cutting into the lead. I knew I didn’t have much in the way of wheels, but I figured if I could catch the leader on the long straight away over the final 600 I’d be able muscle past him and get the win. At this point I was really surprising myself. I took a quick glance back as I rounded a turn but I didn’t see anybody, I still felt good and I was almost sure I would catch the leader. This was a shock since I figured I’d be struggling to finish in the top 10 not having a shot to battle back for the win.

With 800 to go I was sure I was going to win. I could see myself powering past this guy and running away from him at the end of the race. We made the final turn onto Hank Aaron Blvd and I started the hard charge for the finish line under the Olympic rings outside of Turner Field. I’d closed to within 20 or so yards of the leader and felt like I was going to pull even and then past him any second, he went out too fast I told myself…but…with about 200 to go, reality set in. I just didn’t have any more gears or any more gas. I made one last push but it didn’t do any good, over the course of the race I’d closed what was probably a 100-meter lead down to 10 or 15 meters but that was as close as I was getting. I ended up cruising through the finish in 15:58 for second place.

When I looked down at my watch, I was pumped. There is no way in hell I thought I’d run that fast. I thought 16:30 would be a great result. It was the fastest 5k I’ve run since Iron Teams in 2007 when I ran 15:30.  The last 5k I ran was in Philly in 09 and I ran 17:04. I’ll take 15:58. I just wish I would have run one during the summer when I was really training. Either way, it was a great race for me and it has really made me feel good about the fact that I’ve pushed myself to get into work early and run before starting my day.

Overall it was a good experience. It was fun to run with people from work. Everyone was pumped that I got second and finishing under the Olympic rings was really cool. My only complaint, besides running bandit and having to explain my situation to the RD was that they had no results and no awards. Kind of weak sauce for such a big race (25,000 people).

Catching Up

Catching Up

I’ve been MIA from the blog for over a month now, so this is going to be a brief rundown of the last couple of weeks. After I got home from vacation it was right into training camp at work so I haven’t had a ton of time to run or blog. I will say that this was probably my best camp in terms of running. That’s not really saying a whole lot since last year I logged a whopping 51 miles for the entire month of August and probably even less the year before that. Comparatively, I ran 174 miles this August, not bad when you consider I took four days off after the Dirty Spokes finale. At this point though, just getting out the door is a victory in my book. While I do hope to run some races this fall, my training is more focused on being prepared to hit the ground running in the winter after the football season ends, unlike the last two years.

 

Picking up where I left off…Amanda and I spent about a week back home and I ran on the roads in Middleton and then I ended up biking 35 miles one day to mix it up a little bit. After getting back to Atlanta I raced the finale of the Dirty Spokes Trail Series at Sawnee Mountain. I won the race in 24:38, Tim has it posted as a 3.5 mile race, but I think it is a little bit longer. Last year I ran 21:34 and after talking with a couple of people post-race I was able to confirm that they took out the steepest section of the decent and made the trail a little longer to reduce the risk of someone falling. As it turns out the results are listed as 4.0 miles so that makes it about three minutes longer than last year and that would make sense.

 

My running hasn’t been great over the last few weeks but it’s been solid. My parents got me a Garmin 210 for my birthday and after playing around with it a little bit I came across the Strava Trail Runner Magazine 100 mile challenge. The premise was to run 100 miles in 16 days. That doesn’t seem all that hard on the surface, but with my work schedule it was definitely a challenge. I ended up getting to work early and running seven miles (occasionally five) during the two week stretch. I finished with 104 miles in the 16 days, including one day off and one day that didn’t count because Strava.com only counted miles logged with a GPS device, so I lost out on 8 miles.

 

Since I got back from my vacation back home, I’ve hit 40, 15 (oosh), 33, 37, 45, 37, 45, 49 and 48 mile weeks. I can’t believe it’s been nine weeks since my last post. At this point in the year my training is all working towards being prepared for the spring, but in order to keep myself going I am trying to use short term goals, like the 100 mile challenge to keep me from getting lazy or bored.

 

I’d love to be able to hit between 40 and 50 miles each week, but I think my log over the next few months is going to resemble the last few weeks, sometimes I’ll hit 40-45 others will be 30-35 and then I’ll have a handful of low weeks due to long days at work and late games. For example, this week I ran Monday before our game, but took Tuesday and Wednesday off because I was completely exhausted. That’s just kind of the way it is at this time of the year.

 

On the Horizon

I have a couple of things that I’m using to keep me motivated right now. It’s tough to say focused and get out the door most days if the goals I set are all months away, so this fall I’d like to run the Xterra Georgia trail series  as well as a few 5k road races.

 

 The first thing on my extremely tentative schedule is the Kaiser Permanente Corporate 5k during the second week of September. I’m not sure that I’ll actually be able to make it from the office to Turner Field for this race on a weekday, but I’m going to try. 95 percent of the reason I entered was the fact that we have a company team running it and I got a free entry, but if I can get down there in time it should be fun to run with some people from work and it will be a good test to see how much fitness I’ve been able to hang on to over the last month since my mileage has dropped from 70+ mpw to 30-40 mpw. I entered the elite field, since my Run the Rails 10k time qualified me (you had to have a race result that was six minute pace or faster), but I am probably going to get roasted. After a quick look at the results from the last couple of years, it would probably take a mid to low 15 minute run to win (last year was 15:13 – 2010 was 15:37 and 2009 was 15:14), earlier in the summer I think I would have gotten under 16 minutes, but right now I’m hoping for anything under 17. I’d like to finish in the top 10, but this is going to be more about having a little fun and getting a good hard effort in.

 

After the corporate challenge, I’ll be aiming for the Xterra Georgia series. Last year every race was on a road game Saturday, so I had no chance to make any of them. Even the fall fitness race that is literally in my backyard was the week we went to Seattle and left on Friday. This year I should be able to make most of these races, which the exception of the opener at Harbins, as I will be in San Deigo that weekend. I’m okay with that though, since I always, without fail, run slow at Harbins. I’ll aim to kick off the series with Fall Fitness at the GEHC in early October. After or before that…who knows.

 

Other than that I will just try to keep getting out the door and getting runs in as many days as possible. Amanda got me a Nike fuelband for my birthday, so I’m currently obsessed with reaching and surpassing my goal (3500 fuel points – that seems soft but my runs aren’t worth what I thought they would be). Without a run I come in between 2500 and 3000 fuel points for an average day, so in order to get my goal I need to get out the door for a run. I am really looking forward to testing it out in the offseason. I’d love to know what those 20 mile days with 10-12 mile workouts would be worth! It’s a little silly, but it’s a fun way to keep me from being lazy during the football season.

 

I’ve also gotten a good bit of use out of the Garmin watch that my parents got me for my birthday, yes my arm basically like the Ironman suit now. It’s been good to know the distances of runs around work and it’s allowed me to do a little exploring.

Training: July 9 - July 15

Monday, July 9: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Status quo for the morning run. I felt a little bit sluggish after slogging away in the heat on Sunday. It was brutally hot today so I opted for one run. As much as I want to keep my mileage up this week it is going to be a little tough traveling back home.

Tuesday, July 10: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Ran the normal loop. I ran the last mile or so a little quicker than normal today. After feeling a little sluggish yesterday and only running once I wanted to try and turn my legs over a little bit.

PM Run – GEHC Trails – 5 miles – Out and back on the greenway. The weather was actually pretty nice for this run.

Wednesday, July 11: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Today is a travel day. Amanda and I are flying up to Boston for our vacation. I wanted to go longer today but I had to stick around the house in the morning to do a couple of work things before leaving for the airport. I also had hopes of running as second time when we got back to Middleton, but Dad made burgers so I feasted instead.

Thursday, July 12: Hamilton Falls, Vermont – 12 miles – Awesome run on an awesome day with Josh Ferenc up in Vermont. I drove up early and met Josh after he got out of teaching summer school. We jumped in his truck and drove up to Hamilton Falls where we ran down to the dam, went up and over the dam then down around to a campsite. We ran through the campsite trails back to the base of the falls then climbed to the top and swam for about 30 minutes before heading back to Saxtons River.

On the way back to his house we stopped at an ice cream shack on a farm that ran on the honor system. It was really cool. We grabbed some ice cream, I went with peanut butter cup, and hung out for a little bit before heading back to the house and tooling around on Josh’s scooters for a little bit. We even traded some guy an old bike seat for a pair of clipless pedals. I have no idea if they are any good or even if I’ll be able to find a pair of shoes and cleats to match, but for free it’s worth a shot. We hit the Vermont country store then I drove home to meet Amanda to hang out for the night.

Friday, July 13: Middleton Roads – 11 miles – In an attempt to avoid the heavy horse and deer fly population in my hometown this time of year, I elected for a road run this morning. I ran down maple street/62 to the old Danvers state hospital (fun fact - Arkham Asylum from Batman was based on Arkham Sanitarium, which HP Lovecraft based on Danvers State Hospital and it is now an apartment complex.) ran down Gregory street then back roads to Rt. 114 down to River St. all the way to Boston Street and back home.

Saturday, July 14: Middleton Roads – 11 miles – Same run as yesterday. I’ve never done this run before but it’s not bad. The section along 114 is kind of shitty and the first 35 minutes or so has you out in the sun quite a bit, but overall it’s not a bad route.

Sunday, July 15: Zero – Today was a day off from running but I went to OSG and played paintball all day with Danny and Chris, so I definitely got some exercise in. After getting home and showering, I drove down to Old Lyme, CT to meet Amanda and her family to hang out at a beach house for a few days.

Weekly Totals: 63 miles on seven runs – This had to be one of the first weeks I have had without doubling in about four months. I wanted to run more, but when we go home it’s tough to get a ton of running in unless I do it all in one run because there is so much we want to do. I got some good runs in including an awesome day up in Vermont with Ferenc, and my road runs at home weren’t bad either my mileage just suffered a bit without the secondary runs or the one really long day that I’ve been getting in lately. I’m not overly worried about only getting 63 miles in this week and I don’t mind backing off a little bit going into the Dirty Spokes series finale next week. I am going to have to back off during August because of work and while I am sad to see my 70+ mpw streak end, I could definitely use a little bit of a break.

Race Report - Dirty Spokes Central Park Trail Race

This race report is a few weeks old...It was sitting in my dashboard as a draft...whoops.

This was a big race for me personally. After struggling at Mt. Tabor and then having a miserable experience at the Sutallee Trace I kicked my training up a notch to try and get ready for this race. I logged five weeks over 75 miles and put in 72 miles the week of this race. I know that’s not a crazy amount of mileage but with my schedule it’s what I can realistically get in without feeling tapped out. I also think that, for me, 75-85 miles a week is my sweet spot. I’d love to ratchet it up and run 90-100 mile weeks but that’s not realistic for me.

Heading into this race, I backed off a little bit and only ran a couple of doubles in the week before. I still ran my monster mileage/workout day with my 8 mile/11 mile double on Monday. My workout (11 miles w/ 10 sets of 30-60-90s) went really well. It was faster than what I did the week before and had me feeling confident early in the week. I was also coming off of a road PR in the 10k (even though it’s still soft), which was a big confidence booster, but I was on my feet and out in the sun all week at work, so I was a little nervous about that.

Saturday morning I woke up early (5:30 am) to do clips, which wasn’t bad because I was up early all week with minicamp at work, ate an English muffin with some peanut butter then headed out the door to get to Central Park around 7:30. When I got to the rec center at the park and walked over to get my number I tried to figure out where and how we were going to get on the trail, as there is no trailhead at the rec center. Apparently last year there were too many cars at the trailhead parking lot, which also serves baseball and softball fields so Tim was forced to move the race to the rec center and reverse the direction of the course.

I grabbed my number and met up with Mitch to head out for a 2.5/3 mile warm up where we went over most of the course. Getting a third loop on it before the race was definitely beneficial. The race was two laps on a 2.5 mile trail (which I’m pretty sure was a little longer than that). I knew that the last section of the loop was going to be tough. It was tight with lots of twists and turns and from my experience last year I knew it would be chalk full of lappers.

After the warm up, Mitch and I headed over to the start line and tried to find a little bit of shade as it was really starting to warm up. When we got to the line I saw Jesse Rappolle from Big Peach and a Steve Wilcox from Atlanta Track Club and knew that those guys would most likely be upfront at the start. I got in a few strides, talked with Jesse for a minute then toed the line. From the gun I wanted to get out well because I didn’t know how we were going to get on the trail and didn’t want to get stuck in a bad spot like I did at Olde Rope Mill.

At the start, we ran through the parking lot then around the backside of the rec center before climbing a fairly steep hill and making a hard right onto some power line trails. Once we hit the power line trails I tried to open it up a little bit and see if I could stretch it out a little. Jesse settled in behind me and we ran the down and up a switchback hill. At the top of the hill I knew it leveled off and then was slightly downhill until you hit the woods. I put in another short surge, just trying to use the downhill but keep a relaxed effort. I ended up carrying this surge into the woods and ran well for the next mile or so. We came out of the woods and jumped onto a single track trail (in the truest sense of the word…the trail was maybe eight inches wide). At this point, I felt really smooth so just tried to keep it rolling, knowing that I had a slow section coming up. Before we hit the last section of woods, I took a peek back and didn’t see Jesse. I brushed it off, figuring he was closer than I thought rather than further back.

The final section of woods was tough. It was a roller coaster with a ton of tight turns and it killed my pace. I was really worried about getting caught or giving back a lot of time here. When I came out of the woods I tried to get back into a rhythm on the flat power line trail as I headed out for my second lap. I struggled a little bit climbing the switchback but settled down again on the downhill afterwards. I tried to maintain that pace all the way back into the woods, but with about two miles to go I was starting to feel like I went out too fast.

My legs started to get really, really heavy. My lungs felt alright, I wasn’t gassed but I felt like I was running in cement shoes. I tried to battle through it, hoping it was just a rough patch but the further I ran, I kept feeling like I couldn’t settle in without slowing down. After rough half mile, maybe three quarters of a mile I finally started to get back into a rhythm at a faster pace. I put my head down and grinded up the short uphill past the water station where I dumped two cups of water on my head to try and combat the heat, and focused on finishing the race strong.

I rallied really, really well on the next stretch, which was single track trail cut into the side of a hill. Any ground that I lost during my little pity party mile, I made up on this stretch. Knowing that the last half mile was going to be slow due to the terrain, I really pushed to try and finish strong. Once I got back into the woods it was nightmare city. I ran into a ton of lappers and about 600 meters from the finish I was completely exhausted from yelling “on your left” at the people in front of me. I stole a couple of glances back and didn’t see any sign of Jesse so I eased up and cruised through to the finish. I crossed the line in 31:43, which was about 1:07 faster than I ran last year. I’m definitely in better shape than I was last year and that’s why I think this course is a little long. It was my second win of the series and my fourth win of the year (all have come since joining the Saucony Hurricanes) and in 12 Dirty Spokes races I’ve managed to finish in the top three 11 times.

I guzzled about a gallon of water and had some Herbalife lemonade, which was really good, but it was like 25 bucks (no thanks) for the powder. I waited for Mitch to come in, hung out and talked with a couple of the usual suspects and grabbed my winnings, a box of cliff bars, a pair of Tifosi sunglasses, a coupon for the Treetop Quest (SCORE!), Montrail water bottle and a medal. Mitch and I ran about a mile and a half cool down before I headed out to Nitro to play some paintball. Good day all in all, but man was it scorching out.  

I’ve got about a month before the series finale at Sawnee Mountain now. My plan is to continue to hit right around the 75 mile mark but add in a few hill workouts. I’m thinking Chicopee Woods or the hills around the GEHC should be a good primer for the Sawnee race. I’m also traveling home for about a week just before the race, so I might taper a little during that time, but it will be good to get in a few runs back home.

Training: July 2 - July 8

Monday, July 2: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Status quo for the morning run. I’ve been locked into this 8 mile run pretty much every weekday for the last few months. It’s automatic at this point.

PM Run – Ivy Creek Greenway – 5 miles - I originally planned to try and get a longer run in the afternoon but it was just way too hot, mid to upper 90s. I ran out and back on the greenway to get in five. It was kind of nice to ditch the hillier three mile run I normally do for the flatter five mile route, but it was sweltering.

Tuesday, July 3: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Standard morning run. The mornings have been getting really humid lately, which is not doing good things for my running wardrobe. As soon as I finish and can finally get the sweat away from my body everything is completely soaked. Yeah, it’s gross.

PM Run – Suwanee Greenway – 10 miles – This was originally supposed to be a hill workout, then I decided to change it to a tempo run, and then it became a survival run. I got out of work a little bit later than I would have liked, so I decided to just try and get in a good solid tempo run, but it was still really hot out. Before my “warm up” was done I made the decision to bag the workout and just get in 10 miles at a slightly raised tempo. I wasn’t really happy with his, as I’ve stuck with every other planned workout I’ve had this year. When I got going I just felt awful and I didn’t think I’d get much out of a bad workout, besides being pissed off at a bad workout. I struggled through the 10 miles called it a day.

Wednesday, July 4: Ivy Creek Greenway/Mall of GA – 5 miles – Four the fourth, Amanda and I planned to meet Matt and Kat early to bring Matt down to one of the MARTA stations so he could head to the starting line for the Peachtree while we drove down to the finish at Piedmont Park. I woke up around 5 to try and get five miles in before we headed out. I ran out on the greenway with my headlamp and then decided to jump up on the mall road to run in the street lights. It was about 75 with 94 percent humidity, so this was more of a ‘let’s make sure we don’t take a zero today’ kind of run.

After running we picked up Matt and Kat, dropped Matt of at Doraville (I think) then drove down to Piedmont park, which I found without the GPS after only being there once and having no clue how we got their the first time. (I love shutting off the GPS when I know I am close to a destination and know the way. I always feel like Luke Skywalker and say to myself ‘Luke you turned off your targeting computer, is everything alright?”)

We got to the finish in time to catch the men’s and women’s overall winners (the men’s winner ran 27:30 something…feeding) and then watched the stream of 60,000 people come through the line on 10^th street. We saw Matt finish and regrouped, he got us some phenomenal peaches and we jumped back in the car to head home. I was a little bummed that I didn’t see any King of Pops carts, but with what I ate the rest of the day that was probably for the best.

After dropping Matt and Kat off, Amanda and I headed out to Buford Dam to do a little hiking, just a few miles though nothing crazy. We soaked in the Hooch for a few then headed back to the car. Amanda was a trooper. It was really hot and we ran into a slow moving group, so naturally I put on the burners to roast them up the ridge trail and Amanda hung right with me despite feeling like she was going to pass out. We got some Gatorade and water then headed home to make a 4^th of July feast of hot dogs, burgers and Summer Shandys.

PM Run – GEHC Trails – 3 miles - I got out the door for three in the afternoon because I was disgusted by myself after eating lunch. I could smell hot dogs the whole time and I’m not sure if it was because people were cooking them or because I was sweating them out.

Thursday, July 5: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – I was hurting after yesterday and I really wanted to sleep in, but I fought it and got out for my standard AM 8.

PM Run – Ivy Creek Greenway – 5 miles – Battled the heat to grind out five in the afternoon before trivia. I was a little bit late meeting everyone because it took me about 35 minutes to cool down enough to take a shower. I’m glad I got the five in though, because I’ve got Brian and Amy’s wedding this weekend, so it’s likely that I’ll have to take Saturday off.

Friday, July 6: GEHC Trails – 8 miles – Standard morning run. Nothing out of the ordinary.

PM Run – GEHC Trails – 3 miles – Managed to squeeze in a quick three before heading up to Chateau Elan for Brian and Amy’s wedding rehearsal. It was really nice, quick rehearsal, nice dinner at the winery and then a fun mixer. Amanda was able to make it up for a couple hours too.  

Saturday, July 7: Zero – Day off – Not pumped about taking a zero, but we got home late from the mixer then I had to be back at Chateau for golf at 8:30, so there was no time for me to get it in. After golfing I took a quick shower then drove back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.  

Sunday, July 8: Ft. Yargo State Park – 14 miles – I finally got to sleep in a little bit, which was vital after we got home around 1:00 am after the wedding. I milled around for a while and watched the Tour then Amanda and I grabbed some breakfast. She headed to work and I drove out to Ft. Yargo for a run. I went with a double loop of the hiking trail so I could stop half way and grab a water bottle for the final seven miles. This turned out to be a really good call, as it got hot fast. My first lap was pretty normal but my second lap was a death march. I drank most of my water and stopped at both bathrooms where I turned on the shower to try and cool myself down. Needless to say it was brutal, but I’m glad I got it in. Barberitos for a burrito after.

Weekly Totals: 77 miles on 11 runs – I'm really happy that I hit my mileage goal despite taking a day off. I feel like I’ve kind of hit the plateau for my training were it is at right now. I definitely feel like I need to mix things up a little bit if I want to keep improving and running well. I don’t know if that is added miles or adding another workout or if it just feels that way because I haven’t raced in a couple weeks to see where I am at. It will be good to get a change of scenery as I am going home for a few days and will be able to get some different runs in back in Massachusetts. I am also planning a trip up to NH/VT to get in on the Keenyan Summer for a day with some friends which will probably be a wake-up call but it’s always fun to get it in with those guys. I might even throw in a random race while I’m up there for spits and whistles.

The next race that is definitely on my calendar is the Dirty Spokes Series Finale at Sawnee Mountain on the 21^st. I have the points title wrapped up at this point, provided I don’t lose to Mitch by 20+ spots, but I would like to close out the series with another win. Sawnee Mountain will be my last race for a little over a month as training camp begins at work the next week. That means the next week I will try to hit 75 again then back off a little for the final series race then I will have to play it by ear as training camp is an incredibly difficult time for me to train. My goal is to maintain 20 miles a week during camp and then try to run between 20 and 40 miles per week during the football season, while running a couple of fall races. It’s really odd to think that I have to get in the majority of my running from January until August when my favorite time of the year to run is the fall, but that’s how it goes. I am still planning to run as many Xterra races as possible and I’d like to use the fall as a chance to run some 5ks. My hope is that putting races on my calendar will help get me out the door.