Doesn't Get Much Better Than This

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

- Henry David Thoreau

Ever since moving here I've been looking forward to making this post. Oh yeah.

Today I ran to Walden Pond.

It's a beautiful 60 degrees and sunny out. I ran the Minute Man trail about a mile to route 2A then followed 2A to route 2. The next half mile or so along route 2 were pretty crappy (very busy), but then I turned into the Walden Pond state park and hit the trails around the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous. Sunshine glimmering on the lake, hills of pine trees reflecting off the water, the occasional light breeze. Perfect.

I briefly stopped by the site of Thoreau's cabin. So quiet and peaceful. Then it was back to the trails. It's about 2 miles around the lake and I went around twice (plus a bit more). I saw probably 15 or so people out there. Some were hiking, some were fishing. There was a single boat out in the middle of the lake.

To avoid route 2 on the way back, and to add a couple more miles, I headed towards Concord. About a half mile from the Walden Pond park is the Concord "Town Woods", another lovely forested area criss-crossed with trails. Those trails took me into Concord and then I eventually found my way to Lexington Avenue, which took me back to the Minute Man National Park where I picked up the trail back to my workplace.

12 miles of bliss.

OK, I'll whine about one thing. There were a lot of bugs flying around down by the water at Walden Pond. I think I swallowed a couple.

To recap the first part of the week, Monday was a needed rest/recovery day (after Sunday's 18 miler), and Tuesday was another recovery day - an easy 6 miler with 6 X 100m strideouts. This will be another big mileage week, but with runs like today's, I'm not complaining.

C-Ya

A 50 Mile Week

chilling winds blow leaves
along the line of cars...
inside, sopranos chant

Here's the summary for last week, and some additional commentary...

Monday was a rest day. I didn't do squat. ...Well, OK, I did an ab workout and some cycling and rowing.

Tuesday was a Lactate Threshold run. I did 10 miles, the first 3 at about a 9 minute pace, then the next 5 at almost an 8 minute pace. The final 2 miles were at a very easy pace (9:30+). It was a good workout.

Wednesday was an easy 4 mile recovery run on the trails outside my workplace.

I learned something about myself on Thursday. I can run 10 miles in 45 to 50 degree weather without taking in fluids (without carrying water). On Thursday, I ran 11 miles. Yeah, that last mile was less than stellar.

On that same run, as I ran past a church in Concord, the streets lined with cars for a funeral, I could hear music coming from within - behind the stained glass windows - high soprano voices in a sort of chant. I was moved just running past the funeral. How many lives have undergone a profound change in the last week or so because someone close has passed away? Change and impermanance, and the suffering that can cause, are a part of life. So is laughter and indescribable joy. Our time is brief, we need to make it count. [Just thought I should explain where that haiku came from - since it's not obviously connected with my running.]

Friday was a recovery day and I did an ab workout and cycled for a bit just to work out the stiffness in my legs.

On Saturday I did 7 miles, including 10 X 100m strideouts. This was the first time I'd ever done more than an easy 4 or 5 miles the day before a long run. I was a little apprehensive about pushing it like that, but I've decided to just trust in this training program. So I ran a couple loops around Fresh Pond and did my strideouts along a nice straight stretch, then finished up with about a half mile back to the house. I felt great but was wondering how I would feel on Sunday's 18 miler. It also seemed strange that, in my mind, this 7 mile run constituted a "short" run.

Sunday morning was very nice. Not too cold, overcast but with breaks in the clouds. Route was down to the Charles River then two loops and back home. The first loop was from the Elliot bridge to the Longfellow bridge (the Salt and Pepper bridge) and back (9.2 miles). This was my first time crossing that bridge on a run. It has much more of an arc (ascent and descent) than the Harvard bridge. It felt good going down the other side. The second loop was between the Elliot bridge and the Harvard bridge (7.2 miles). Round-trip from the house added 1.8 miles for a total of 18.2. Similar to two weeks ago, I slowed down on the second loop. I did not feel quite as exhausted as I did that week, I think due to eating more before the run, but my legs were very tired (probably due somewhat to the previous day's run). I believe I needed more fluids than the one bottle I carried, and I think I also need to be experimenting with my electrolyte strategy. It will be nice when the cities turn on the water fountains again as I can replenish my bottle on the run.

Total for the week was 50 miles.

Race Report: Ras na hEireann USA

The 4th annual Ras na hEireann USA (Race of Ireland and USA) 5km was held Sunday, March 19th. It is a sister race to a cross-country race of the same name held the previous week in Ireland and a number of Irish and US runners do both races. This is a great race (even if it was a bit chilly). This was of course my first time running this race and I can tell you, I will be back next year. I'm currently training for a marathon and have just been building endurance, so I have not been doing any speed work. I figured this would be a good opportunity to gauge my current level before hitting my marathon speed and strength training. Anyway, I was looking for a time anywhere around 23 minutes.

Sunday morning I was awake around 7:00 a.m. and looked out the bedroom window to see blue skies. I figured this was probably good since the weather forecast had indicated overcast skies and a chance of snow flurries. Maybe 30 minutes later I looked out the window to see snow falling -- and blue skies! There must have been one little snow cloud over the house. It didn't last long and didn't leave any snow to speak of. Of more concern was the current temperature. According to weather.com it was 26F and a wind chill of 18F. The forecast called for it to warm up to the low 30's around race time though (wind chill in the 20's). I decided to race in my heavier long sleeve running shirt and shorts (plus cap and gloves). The only downside to this choice was the shirt color: bright red -- and this was a St. Patrick's celebration. Oh well. Next year I'll wear some green.

I got to the race early and got a great parking spot, right behind Davis Square in Somerville. Davis Square is right where the race starts, it's only a couple blocks from the finish, and contains several of the most desirable pubs hosting post-race parties. Around 10:00 a.m. I began my warm-up (in jacket and pants). I used Hal Higdon's basic warm-up routine. I jogged a mile, did a series of stretches, then jogged another mile, finishing with some strideouts. I then went back to the car to change out of the warm-ups and into my racing shirt. I did a few more stretches and then with 15 minutes to go until the start I headed over to the starting line.

The presence of over 2000 runners blocked much of the wind chill and it really wasn't too bad out. (Temperature showed 35F at the car just before I headed over to the start.) They announced the names of several of the Irish guests running the "ras". The only one I had heard of was Crossan, national marathon champion of Ireland. The Irish runners were looking for some pretty fast times. I was standing in the crowd about a quarter of the way back. When the gun went off, it took me 17 seconds to get to the starting line (chip timing mats) so my chip time ended up with a 17 second difference from my watch time.

The first mile was a gradual climb (not too bad) into the wind (not too bad when you're running behind people). I was passing people through the entire first mile. I guess I could have placed myself a little closer to the front. About 3/4 mile into the race was a group of bagpipers and they really added to the Irish theme. I was a little disappointed that there were no splits indicated. I had no idea how fast I was really running, but just continued to push myself as hard as I felt I could. The second mile was a generally long downhill section (with the wind). I was able to pick up the pace a little bit more there. The third mile had a couple small gentle hills, nothing major. As we turned back toward Davis Square and the finish line I continued to pick up speed. When I was within a half mile I just continued accelerating to the finish, the last couple hundred meters were just flat out. Another racer and I were running the same acceleration and were passing runners left and right to the finish. My watch time was 23:15 (chip time 23:32), a 7:29 per mile pace (average).

I feel good about the time. It wasn't a PR, but when I applied Bob Glover's age-adjustment factor it became an "age-adjusted PR"! I was 317th out of 2079 runners, and 44th out of 162 in my division. For the record, the winner clocked 14:19. Pretty freaking fast Irish dude.

All the participants got finisher's medals, a very nice medallion with a celtic knot engraved on it and a built-in bottle-opener (so practical!).

Anita and I immediately headed over to "The Burren" (local pub in Davis Square) for the post-race craic (party). Local band "Down Dog" played upbeat Irish traditional and contemporary music, and at noon the free beer started. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't enough munchies to go around, but I'm not complaining (Anita and I went over to Zoe's in Cambridge for brunch afterwards). It was quite a fun time and I would highly recommend this race.

And now, after some rest, it's time to get back into some serious marathon training.

C-Ya

St. Patricks Day!

Dia duit (Hello)

Thursday was another good run. Though it's still chilly here in the Boston area, it wasn't too bad. I did 8 miles out to Concord and back -- 8:56 pace.

Today is a rest/cross training day. I really took it easy in the workout room today, but I did want to move my legs a bit so I cycled for a little while then did some rowing. I did about half my normal ab workout.

Kai flies in today and I'm looking forward to spending some time with him. We'll go watch the Kansas game tonight. He'll spend the rest of the weekend in New York with his sister, then be back in Boston for the rest of next week.

Of course the exciting news of the day is how well Arizona played (GO CATS!) as they demolished Wisconsin! I hope they can give Villanova a run for their money on Sunday (assuming Villanova wins today).

Tomorrow will be an easy run with some stridouts, then on Sunday is the "Ras na hEireann USA" -- a 5K in Somerville. This looks to be quite a fun time with post race parties held in about a dozen local pubs! I have no idea how well I'll do in the race -- anything around 23 minutes would be fine (I haven't been doing any speed training) -- but I'm sure the post-race celebration will be top-notch. (I'll take a Guinness, please.)

Slan go faill (Bye for now)

St. Patricks Day!

Dia duit (Hello)

Thursday was another good run. Though it's still chilly here in the Boston area, it wasn't too bad. I did 8 miles out to Concord and back -- 8:56 pace.

Today is a rest/cross training day. I really took it easy in the workout room today, but I did want to move my legs a bit so I cycled for a little while then did some rowing. I did about half my normal ab workout.

Kai flies in today and I'm looking forward to spending some time with him. We'll go watch the Kansas game tonight. He'll spend the rest of the weekend in New York with his sister, then be back in Boston for the rest of next week.

Of course the exciting news of the day is how well Arizona played (GO CATS!) as they demolished Wisconsin! I hope they can give Villanova a run for their money on Sunday (assuming Villanova wins today).

Tomorrow will be an easy run with some stridouts, then on Sunday is the "Ras na hEireann USA" -- a 5K in Somerville. This looks to be quite a fun time with post race parties held in about a dozen local pubs! I have no idea how well I'll do in the race -- anything around 23 minutes would be fine (I haven't been doing any speed training) -- but I'm sure the post-race celebration will be top-notch. (I'll take a Guinness, please.)

Slan go faill (Bye for now)

Recovery Week Begins

under Spring's rains
Fall's leaves blend
into the soil

I meant to post earlier this week, but have been quite busy at work. So it's a good thing that this is a recovery week in my marathon plan.

After last weeks "not so slow" runs, and a rest day last Friday, on Saturday I had a recovery run. I ran over to Fresh Pond and went twice around. It was a total of about 5 miles. There is a weekly time trial there and I got a chance to watch the racers as we passed going opposite directions. Quite a range in age. Of course there were a number of young people really cranking it out, but there were also a number of much older guys (it was mostly guys). I would say some in their 60's and 70's, and one guy looked like he could be 80 or so. And although he wasn't very fast, he was certainly giving it quite a go. Hopefully, 30 or so years from now, I'll still be giving it my all.

Then there was Sunday's long run. 17 miles. For some reason, I was just tired. I started out OK, but after about 12 miles I just felt tired. My pace started around 9:10, by midway was around 9:20, and probably dropped to 9:30 by the end. Maybe I was still recovering from Thursday's fast run. Or maybe I just didn't eat enough Sunday morning before running (it was a little skimpy -- just a Clif bar, and I carried diluted Gatorade with me). Just plain tired.

So, after a rest day on Monday (I did an ab workout, a little cycling and some rowing), yesterday (Tuesday) I did 8 miles. The workout included 10 X 100m strideouts. And again, I felt great. Except for the strideout section of the run, I was running about 8:55 miles (for 7 miles). Makes me think maybe Sunday's struggles had mostly to do with insufficient nutrition.

Now it's off to work (and an easy recovery run on the trails at lunchtime).

C-Ya

A couple not-so-slow runs.

Wednesday was a recovery run. I did 5 miles easy on the trails near work (Minute Man National Park). It was nice to get off the roads for a bit. It also seemed like I was going way to fast. I was trying to really hold back but I still ended up running too fast. I guess that's a good thing that I now have to consciously run slower on my recovery runs. I'm hoping that means I really am making some progress. It seems like it when I look at runs like I had the next day.

Thursday was a medium run of 10 miles. I just focused on maintaining a consistent pace. Not too fast, but I didn't allow myself to slack off either. Time was 1:29:40. That's 8:58 per mile. It felt wonderful.

Today (Friday) is a recovery day so I did an ab workout and some rowing at lunchtime. Most of the soreness from yesterday is gone now. Tomorrow will be an easy 5 in the morning, then 17 on Sunday. Weather looks to be great this weekend!

And on my reading project...

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions (so far). My reading list for the remainder of the year currently looks as follows (still subject to change at whim):

Already read:
Melville - Moby Dick
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

Currently reading:
Joyce - Dubliners (short stories)

Next up:
Joyce - Ulysses (want to read this prior to the 23rd Unabridged Edition of the James Joyce Ramble 10K in Dedham, Mass.)

The remaining will be read in chronological order:

Swift - Gullivers Travels
Austen - Pride and Prejudice
Bronte - Wuthering Heights
Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter
Eliot - Middlemarch
Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury
Hemmingway - A Farewell to Arms
Orwell - 1984
O'Connor - Wise Blood
Nabokov - Lolita
Pynchon - The Crying of Lot 49

[Hmm. Interesting lineup for the summer. I may have to intersperse a couple more modern works in there.]

And I'm still taking suggestions for important English/American narratives to include (though the queue is starting to get a little long now).

Off (Running) Topic (for you literary types out there)

One of my goals for the year was to read books that I probably should have read in high school or college, but either didn't get the opportunity, or didn't complete the reading assignment, etc. My mother has been doing something similar ever since she read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and realized she hadn't read many of the books that were read and discussed in that reading group.

So I started the year by reading Melville's "Moby Dick". (I know, people either really love it or absolutely hate it. I thought it was awesome.) Then, this week I read Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". (Another amazing piece of literature!)

My question to those of you out there who would care to comment is: What books (in addition to those listed below) do you think really should be read by anyone who would consider themselves well-educated? (And let's limit ourselves, this year, to English and American novels.)

My list, so far:

Melville - Moby Dick
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Nabokov - Lolita
Joyce - Ulysses, Dubliners(short stories)
Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter
Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury
Orwell - 1984
Pynchon - The Crying of Lot 49
Austen - Pride and Prejudice
Swift - Gullivers Travels
Eliot - Middlemarch
O'Connor - Wise Blood

[I feel like someday I should read Milton's Paradise Lost, but I don't think I'm up for it this year!]

What do you think?

Ahh...40 degrees

So today was quite nice (compared to recent weeks). I did a 9 mile Lactate Threshold run (basically a tempo run) - 3 miles easy, 4 miles at 15K pace (under 8:30 per mile), and 2 miles easy. Averaged under 9:00 per mile for the entire 9 miles. I'm not convinced that my distances are very accurate, though. It's possible I ran a bit further than planned. One of these days I'll measure it with my bike computer.

It's warmed up enough that I could ditch the running pants and jacket, and run in shorts and long sleeve shirt. I was too focused on pace to have any sort of "zen" moment, so no haiku today.

C-Ya

Improving Weather

facing the wind
above the snow covered pond
a black hawk floats

Thursday, the weather warmed just slightly. There was a forecast of snow and the weather radar showed what looked like a small snowstorm making its way towards Boston. So I got out on the roads on the early side of lunchtime and got my 10 miles in. I noticed a medium sized pond along my course was completely covered in snow. Then I saw a black hawk (at least I think it was a hawk) just floating on the wind. It never did snow. No complaints here.

Friday was a day off. Usually that means cross-training and an ab workout, but it was Anita's birthday and I had a little bit of shopping to do at lunchtime. I took a total day of rest (no workout at all).

Saturday morning, I did an easy run out to Fresh Pond. Still pretty chilly in the morning. By the afternoon, though, the weather was feeling pretty nice. I think it warmed up to about 40F.

along the river bank
jagged sheets of ice
creak and crunch

After a day off on Friday and an easy run on Saturday, I was ready for my medium long run scheduled for Sunday. Once again, it was fairly chilly in the morning and I dressed appropriately for the weather. When I left the house, it was about 29 or 30F. Down by the Charles River, the wind picks up and can feel quite brisk when running into it. All in all, though, it was quite a good run. I ran to the river (just under a mile), then did the 10.2 mile loop from the Elliot Street bridge to the Science Museum and back, then the 2.9 mile loop from the Elliot Street bridge to the Western Ave. bridge., and finally back home. Total distance was 15 miles. And surprising myself, I averaged under 9:10 for the entire run. And this was run in running pants, long sleeve shirt and jacket. I can't wait to get out in the warmer weather in shorts and t-shirt again.

What a contrast to last week's miserable run. I went 1 mile further and did the whole thing 7 minutes faster. I'm feeling pretty good about this training program I'm following (Pete Pfitzinger's for anyone interested). I feel stronger already. If things continue to improve like this, I think I'll be seeing that PR at my next marathon.

C-Ya

Still Running in the Cold

under the snow,
under the ice,
a stream flows

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a good workout. 8 miles with 10 X 100m strideouts in the last mile. I barely squeezed the workout in between two meetings I had. It's still pretty cold here. A jacket over a long sleeve shirt, running pants, and a cap were all necessary. Cold and windy.

Last night we had dinner with friends at a place in east Cambridge called Helmand. Afghan food. Very tasty and reasonably priced. I was surprised to see that the place was completely full (reservations were required on a Tuesday evening). Highly recommended.

Today was an easy recovery run of 5 miles. It felt almost as cold today. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow in the afternoon. Hopefully after I get my 10 miles in.

C-Ya