Nick and I went to Boston Saturday to run in the BU Mini meet. Nick is changing gears after a long X-C season, in which he won the NH State Championships, and competed in the USATF Junior Olympics, placing 175th in the National meet (getting caught up in a clog of fallen runners near the start).
I have not run a serious race since January's injury, and this was a true test, racing 3000m on the track. I prepared by staying up all night (OK, so I planned on NOT racing so deliberately scheduled myself to work) and we left at 6:30AM for the 9AM start time. They postponed the start until 10am, so we were very, um, early.
After plenty of warmup, I took off at the back of the section (I was the last seed anyway) and hung there for the first mile (5:22). I passed one person shortly after, and basically just tried to hang onto the pack (we were all seeded very close, within a 15 second window). This worked well for me, and in the last 400m I tried to pick it up, passing one more person and hitting what seemed like negative splits, but turned out to be pretty much another 5:22 pace split. The time counts as a PR since I have never raced it before, and under the circumstances I was very happy. I came back to run the mile with Nick, seeded at 5:10, and ran a 5:12.
Nick ran 2:35 for the first 800m, and I passed him there and tried to drag him along to a 5:10 or so finish, but he started breathing in the track dust and was unable to come back in the last 800m, instead hitting 5:20. This is technically his mile PR, but he ran that as a split in a 2.1 mile race, so obviously he can go faster. His goal is sub-5 by the state meet, and of course a victory there would be nice too.
I am planning on taking a little time to recover but racing again in 2 weeks, probably another 3000m, rather than trying to test the calf and hamstring too much with speed. Hopefully I can log a strong mile at one of the later races this season as well.
====
Darin
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Training
I did 4x 800m at 2:28-2:31 today on the track with Peter Haine and the Kennett X-C team, who have the Division meet this weekend. Yesterday I did 10 miles in the woods with Frank Holmes, who is planning on joining me for the Key West Half Marathon again this year. That event is a great excuse to eat ice cream in the middle of winter. Most body parts seem to be holding together for a change!
The White Mountain Milers half marathon is this weekend; I think I would have rather race the 5k on Saturday but that conflicts with the team's XC meet, and Nick wants to run the half again this year and see what he can do, so I will give the half a shot.
--
Darin
The White Mountain Milers half marathon is this weekend; I think I would have rather race the 5k on Saturday but that conflicts with the team's XC meet, and Nick wants to run the half again this year and see what he can do, so I will give the half a shot.
--
Darin
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Proud Dad
Nick won the NH X-C Middle School State Meet today with a blistering 11:46 for 2.1 miles. He was around 5:30 for the first mile, behind the Tri-County champion who was looking very strong. However, Carlos tried a couple of surges to break Nick which appeared to backfire, and Nick kicked in the last 300 meters to the cries of "look at that kid go" in the audience around the finish line. A youngster from Oyster River came in strong for second. Justin Carbone took the Large School race in 11:52 (Nick's Granite State Flash Teammate).
Melissa ended up a bit disappointed with her finish (17th place?) at 15:34. She wasn't feeling great and this was only her third ever middle school race (she was 7th at Plymouth and 11th at Belmont earlier this year). She has two more years to move up...
Darin
Melissa ended up a bit disappointed with her finish (17th place?) at 15:34. She wasn't feeling great and this was only her third ever middle school race (she was 7th at Plymouth and 11th at Belmont earlier this year). She has two more years to move up...
Darin
Friday, October 7, 2011
getting back into shape
Todays workout was highly encouraging. I ran a loop I cleverly call "Around the Lake" as it goes, well, around a lake. A lot of it is on the road but some is on dirt, including the last mile which is virtually all uphill. My prior personal best (set 2 years ago) was 73:07 for 10.65 miles. Today I managed a very nice 72:44, although I cut the last bit so the net was only 10.46 miles. I was dying miserably at the end, running 7:44 for the last mile (up the big hill) after averaging 6:40's for most of the rest.
I am encouraged enough by this that I may sign up for another race. Although watching Nick win races and go for course records is fun, too. His latest victory was the Kennett Invitational, where he hit 11:38 running alone and against a 30 MPH wind. This was only 3 seconds from the course record that was set during a two man battle between world ranked biathlete Sean Dougherty and Fryeburg Academy standout Silas Eastman (who just broke his course record at FA with a 15:57 last weekend).
That's some good company!
==
Darin
I am encouraged enough by this that I may sign up for another race. Although watching Nick win races and go for course records is fun, too. His latest victory was the Kennett Invitational, where he hit 11:38 running alone and against a 30 MPH wind. This was only 3 seconds from the course record that was set during a two man battle between world ranked biathlete Sean Dougherty and Fryeburg Academy standout Silas Eastman (who just broke his course record at FA with a 15:57 last weekend).
That's some good company!
==
Darin
Sunday, October 2, 2011
First 5k road race this season
I took Nick and Melissa to the 3rd annual Gary Millen memorial 5k today. After running around yesterday at Coe-Brown's Black Bear Invitational with the high school team, giving splits and cheering on the Kennett kids, I was a bit fatigued. I planned to try to run with Nick, maybe picking it up if I was feeling good in the last mile. The pouring rain didn't encourage fast times, either.
We started out at 5:51, which was a bit quick for Nick (who was going for 6:00 per mile pace) and a bit slow for me to stay with the leaders, but overall a good split. I went 6:13 for the second mile. I never understand why on this course, where the second mile is down hill, that this is the slowest mile, but it seems to be the case every year. I left Nick in mile 3 and ran 5:41, but it was not enough to catch the leaders, including race winner Steve Piotrow (17:55) and long time racing companion Jasmin Lepir (18:13). I finished in 18:18, which is my season's best (naturally, as it's my first race), and Nick finished next at 18:54, which is his PR (prior best was this race last year, at 19:41). Melissa hit her best too at 24:21. The three of us won age division awards.
There is another 5k coming up in two weeks at Whitaker Woods, and the kids have their home X-C invitationals this week, so much more to come!
--
Darin
We started out at 5:51, which was a bit quick for Nick (who was going for 6:00 per mile pace) and a bit slow for me to stay with the leaders, but overall a good split. I went 6:13 for the second mile. I never understand why on this course, where the second mile is down hill, that this is the slowest mile, but it seems to be the case every year. I left Nick in mile 3 and ran 5:41, but it was not enough to catch the leaders, including race winner Steve Piotrow (17:55) and long time racing companion Jasmin Lepir (18:13). I finished in 18:18, which is my season's best (naturally, as it's my first race), and Nick finished next at 18:54, which is his PR (prior best was this race last year, at 19:41). Melissa hit her best too at 24:21. The three of us won age division awards.
There is another 5k coming up in two weeks at Whitaker Woods, and the kids have their home X-C invitationals this week, so much more to come!
--
Darin
Friday, September 16, 2011
Nick wins his first X-C race of 2011
Nick ran a 12:10 for the win in his debut race for 2011 Cross country season. He ran evenly (6:01, 6:09, the second part a slightly harder mile) and put about a minute between himself and second place. The team captured first with a perfect 15-50 score over Berlin. Kingswood apparently had some type of trouble getting to the meet and missed the race. The next race is Thursday 9/22/11.
Training for me this week was 800m repeats, distance run, uphill repeats, and easy run with a game or two all with the HS team. I am ready to race a 5k somewhere... just need the time and a race to run!
---
Darin
Training for me this week was 800m repeats, distance run, uphill repeats, and easy run with a game or two all with the HS team. I am ready to race a 5k somewhere... just need the time and a race to run!
---
Darin
Friday, September 9, 2011
Back on the track
After a long hiatus from racing, I finally put on some racing shoes tonight. The first annual Gary Millen Memorial Mile took place at the Kennett High track at halftime of the opening football game (Kennett creamed John Stark) of the season.
My first order of business was to avoid injury. Everything else was just about getting in four laps as best as I could.
When all was said and done, I managed a respectable 5:12 for 3rd place behind Kevin Tilton (new course record -- it was a mile on the track!) at 4:38, and Tim Livingston, at 4:47. I was by myself the whole way but was successful at avoiding injury, so let's see how it goes from here!
Darin
My first order of business was to avoid injury. Everything else was just about getting in four laps as best as I could.
When all was said and done, I managed a respectable 5:12 for 3rd place behind Kevin Tilton (new course record -- it was a mile on the track!) at 4:38, and Tim Livingston, at 4:47. I was by myself the whole way but was successful at avoiding injury, so let's see how it goes from here!
Darin
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Slow recovery
The recovery process is so slow that I have actually lost conditioning despite running. I can't run fast enough to get good training, but at least I am running.
I am assisting at the high school with the distance squad, and that is a lot of fun. The team is a great bunch of kids, and the drills and runs are helping me get back into shape. Alex is slowly getting back into shape (6:20, 6:15 in the mile his last two meets), and Nick is competiting in his first middle school track season (mile/800: 5:42/2:45; then 5:42 [1st] / 2:39 [1st] and 70 for the 4x400 at his first two meets. Melissa is a bit behind although she runs once a week or so to try to keep involved.
No races for me anytime soon as I am sore every day and I simply cannot hold a long run or any speed training at all without increased pain. I am hoping that the slow training program will get the muscle back strong enough to train in the summer; until then, it's relatively easy running with a few sprint drills here and there to try to strengthen up.
==
Darin
I am assisting at the high school with the distance squad, and that is a lot of fun. The team is a great bunch of kids, and the drills and runs are helping me get back into shape. Alex is slowly getting back into shape (6:20, 6:15 in the mile his last two meets), and Nick is competiting in his first middle school track season (mile/800: 5:42/2:45; then 5:42 [1st] / 2:39 [1st] and 70 for the 4x400 at his first two meets. Melissa is a bit behind although she runs once a week or so to try to keep involved.
No races for me anytime soon as I am sore every day and I simply cannot hold a long run or any speed training at all without increased pain. I am hoping that the slow training program will get the muscle back strong enough to train in the summer; until then, it's relatively easy running with a few sprint drills here and there to try to strengthen up.
==
Darin
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Back at it
After two months of rest and rehab, my torn calf muscle has finally healed enough to allow me to get outside for some training runs.
Recovery takes so much longer as you get older, and despite attempts to maintain fitness during the rehab process, I have lost what seems like two year's worth of fitness in the two months.
While there probably won't be any races in my near future, I am going to be training hard with my sons, one of which is on the high school team, and the other, on the middle school team. While Alex is hoping to score some points for the HS team, Nick has his eye on the school records, so he is highly motivated to train hard. Nick and I have done a couple of 6.4 mile runs this week, and with track practice officially starting next week, we all hope to use these early workouts to get in much better shape. Neither of them have been running much either, so at least I can still keep up!
My GPS watch was still set on .25 mile intervals, which goes back to my last run outside, which was the millennium mile! It will be a long time (if ever) until I will hit a 4:28 again, but the journey starts now!
===
Darin
Recovery takes so much longer as you get older, and despite attempts to maintain fitness during the rehab process, I have lost what seems like two year's worth of fitness in the two months.
While there probably won't be any races in my near future, I am going to be training hard with my sons, one of which is on the high school team, and the other, on the middle school team. While Alex is hoping to score some points for the HS team, Nick has his eye on the school records, so he is highly motivated to train hard. Nick and I have done a couple of 6.4 mile runs this week, and with track practice officially starting next week, we all hope to use these early workouts to get in much better shape. Neither of them have been running much either, so at least I can still keep up!
My GPS watch was still set on .25 mile intervals, which goes back to my last run outside, which was the millennium mile! It will be a long time (if ever) until I will hit a 4:28 again, but the journey starts now!
===
Darin
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Dartmouth Relays... season ending injury
Well, it was great while it lasted.
At Dartmouth, I was looking to try to PR at the 800m, and it was not an issue of besting my times from last year, but by how much. All-American is 2:06, and I thought I had a legitimate shot.
There were several problems going into the meet. I was sore in the achilles on the left side, having been not quite right since the double back 800m (in spikes) 3 weeks ago (where I ran 2:12 only about 20 mins after PR'ing in the mile). Also, the race was at 9:30 AM, instead of the usual Friday afternoon. This meant that I didn't have much time to get warm, loose, stretched, or relaxed. It was all about getting there before 8:30 (2+ hour drive) and then trying to compress the warmup as much as possible. I was spending time chatting with folks I hadn't seen for a while, including Adam Harder, who was coming off a bad achilles injury, Bill Newsham from GBTC, Laura Barre, and a few other Mass Velocity teammates.
The race itself got underway, and I started out in 2nd place behind a Canadian. He took off at sub 2:00 pace, and I let him go a little, but came through at 30, then 61. By 600m we both started fading, but I realized I had been on my toes (in the spikes) for all 600m and I was fatiguing in the foot/calf area very badly. I tried to get off my toes but the spikes were relatively unforgiving. I came through at 1:33, so I only needed a mere 33s 200m to get my target time, but I was starting to think something was wrong. At 700m, I started to back off a little, and the change in pace caused and abrupt searing pain in my calf along with an audible pop. Within 1 step I had stopped dead (in lane 1) and fortunately I wasn't creamed by any other runners. I limped off the track (a very good sign in itself) and went over the to training area. Tucker Taft helped find me a trainer and some ice.
The trainer gave me the Thompson test, which I flunked, suggesting a tear of the Achilles. I knew that it only hurt on the medial side, however, and I was able to limp a tiny bit (plus I didn't faceplant, which is the typical achilles tear outcome). Within 48 hours the swelling had gone down enough for me to deduce that it was a gastrocnemius tear, rather than achilles, and so now I am out for 3-6 weeks with a long rehab course to follow.
If only I could have finished the race!!
So I won't be wearing spikes any more, and I suspect the mile will be the shortest distance I will be able to race for a long while. These never heal completely, and there is always a serious risk of recurrence. The good news is, I don't need surgery, and I should be back running before I decondition completely.
==
Darin
At Dartmouth, I was looking to try to PR at the 800m, and it was not an issue of besting my times from last year, but by how much. All-American is 2:06, and I thought I had a legitimate shot.
There were several problems going into the meet. I was sore in the achilles on the left side, having been not quite right since the double back 800m (in spikes) 3 weeks ago (where I ran 2:12 only about 20 mins after PR'ing in the mile). Also, the race was at 9:30 AM, instead of the usual Friday afternoon. This meant that I didn't have much time to get warm, loose, stretched, or relaxed. It was all about getting there before 8:30 (2+ hour drive) and then trying to compress the warmup as much as possible. I was spending time chatting with folks I hadn't seen for a while, including Adam Harder, who was coming off a bad achilles injury, Bill Newsham from GBTC, Laura Barre, and a few other Mass Velocity teammates.
The race itself got underway, and I started out in 2nd place behind a Canadian. He took off at sub 2:00 pace, and I let him go a little, but came through at 30, then 61. By 600m we both started fading, but I realized I had been on my toes (in the spikes) for all 600m and I was fatiguing in the foot/calf area very badly. I tried to get off my toes but the spikes were relatively unforgiving. I came through at 1:33, so I only needed a mere 33s 200m to get my target time, but I was starting to think something was wrong. At 700m, I started to back off a little, and the change in pace caused and abrupt searing pain in my calf along with an audible pop. Within 1 step I had stopped dead (in lane 1) and fortunately I wasn't creamed by any other runners. I limped off the track (a very good sign in itself) and went over the to training area. Tucker Taft helped find me a trainer and some ice.
The trainer gave me the Thompson test, which I flunked, suggesting a tear of the Achilles. I knew that it only hurt on the medial side, however, and I was able to limp a tiny bit (plus I didn't faceplant, which is the typical achilles tear outcome). Within 48 hours the swelling had gone down enough for me to deduce that it was a gastrocnemius tear, rather than achilles, and so now I am out for 3-6 weeks with a long rehab course to follow.
If only I could have finished the race!!
So I won't be wearing spikes any more, and I suspect the mile will be the shortest distance I will be able to race for a long while. These never heal completely, and there is always a serious risk of recurrence. The good news is, I don't need surgery, and I should be back running before I decondition completely.
==
Darin
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Milennium Mile
Last week, Nick and I went to BU for the second Mini-meet. Nick set his PR at 5:26.1, while I was not feeling great and managed a 4:55. We planned on doubling back in the 800m as well, but the snowstorm was on the way and we needed to get out of Boston fast! Interestingly, Nick's first 200m split was 3 seconds faster than mine. Alex raced the 1500m last week at UNH with a 5:47 finish.
The big race for me was the Milennium Mile, where the four of us drove to Londonderry for a perfect day of racing. It was about 45 degrees and cloudy, and the race drew a record 1100+ registrants (although only 927 completed the race). I raced to a 20 year PR at 4:28 (I was 4:34 at this race twice in the past few years) and I was the top 40+ runner this year. I started off in 66/67 for a 2:13 first half, and slowed a bit into the finish. My recent cold symptoms caught up with me to some extent, otherwise I think I could have gone even faster (there is always next year!). The extra core workout and stretching routines get the credit for my increased speed this year.
Nick PR'ed at 5:14, Alex had a PR at 5:47 (the same as his 1500m time, which is consistent with the downhill nature of this course) and Melissa had a PR despite having a bad cold over the past week, hitting 6:49. Her mile split at nationals was 6:50, so obviously she can go faster!
Mass Velocity Teammate Bobby Segal was there, hitting 5:39 (that's got to be a PR!) and potential new teammate Harris Hardy took second in the 40+ category with a strong 4:34.
More indoor track races are coming in January...
===
Darin
The big race for me was the Milennium Mile, where the four of us drove to Londonderry for a perfect day of racing. It was about 45 degrees and cloudy, and the race drew a record 1100+ registrants (although only 927 completed the race). I raced to a 20 year PR at 4:28 (I was 4:34 at this race twice in the past few years) and I was the top 40+ runner this year. I started off in 66/67 for a 2:13 first half, and slowed a bit into the finish. My recent cold symptoms caught up with me to some extent, otherwise I think I could have gone even faster (there is always next year!). The extra core workout and stretching routines get the credit for my increased speed this year.
Nick PR'ed at 5:14, Alex had a PR at 5:47 (the same as his 1500m time, which is consistent with the downhill nature of this course) and Melissa had a PR despite having a bad cold over the past week, hitting 6:49. Her mile split at nationals was 6:50, so obviously she can go faster!
Mass Velocity Teammate Bobby Segal was there, hitting 5:39 (that's got to be a PR!) and potential new teammate Harris Hardy took second in the 40+ category with a strong 4:34.
More indoor track races are coming in January...
===
Darin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)