Tough Week

It's been a hard week. That's a good thing. No injuries, just tough hard running all week. On Tuesday, Tim Van Orden and I ran up Mt. Equinox in VT. which happens to be the highest elevation climb that I've done. At the summit, the view was absolutely stunning! It was like Christmas Town up there with the evergreens. At the base it was, I think, 75 F., and on top of the mountain it was low 40's. Burr.

On Wednesday, I ran eight miles in the morning, then did a "little" mountain run with Chrissie Constable on October Mt. When I say "little" I don't mean that to sound like some glorified hill, I mean it just didn't have the grade that Tim and I have been doing. It is an excellent work out. If you live in the Berkshires, check out the Switch Back Trail and try it for yourself.

On Wednesday I did an easy five miles, but on Thursday we burned up the track with some 200m repeats.

I was so happy to do this work out because I felt like I was getting away with having an easy interval day. Oh, no! It was some of our hardest track work yet. Here are my times:

1) 31

2)31 1/2

3) 32

4) 32

5) 32 1/2

6) 34

7) 35

8) 35

9) 35

10) 35



On Friday, I did an easy five miles again. Took Saturday off because of the race on Sunday. The 10 mile Pack Monadnock Race is a race conceived of in hell. It is a very hilly road race with a mountain thrown in at the end. For a good description of the race from one of the legends, read Dave Dunham's blog: http://ddmountainrunr.blogspot.com/

Check this out if you want to see the grade of Pack Monadnock (Jim Johnson's times on the graph) :
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTGD_xhfa7GpuJLHt1nOJ5Fz72RvGdgl89VCz-vhdTI53Q2h-u9mBY2lr4GbrLk-OQFQZ3GZJpvyvOZrhg2BAJgAQDOnRUAp3Rkl0E6Aydqx3RFPN7gHeN_R9OfxL4bsw65uZ2W3SEg8w/s1600-h/packSplits.jpg

I am basically pleased with my effort at Pack Monadnock, as I came in 22ND with a very decent time. Although, I can tell you that I made a couple of rookie mistakes. One, I wore racing flats, which destroyed my legs, and two, I was not properly hydrated.

Also, mentally it was a very challenging race. It took everything I had to stay positive during the run. I felt awful, and I didn't care about anything except for it to be over. My mind went to places I didn't want it to go, but I got through it. For the results:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/May31_PackMo_set1.shtml


I want to say here that I am incredibly blessed to have the love and support of the best team ever: My wife, Ginger , and Tim.

All in all it was tough, but a very rewarding week.