3-3-3: June Racing and the Next Step in Generalist Training (June 2024)

 

Boston 10K medal, B2VT finisher glass, Boston Dragon Boat 2nd place C Division medal

Boston Dragon Boat Festival
Date: June 8-9, 2024
Location: Boston / Cambridge, MA
Distance: 2 x 200m Sat; 3 x 500m Sun

B2VT
Date: June 15, 2024
Location: Massachusetts, NH & VT
Distance: 142 miles
Goal Time: 12:00:00
Actual Time:  12:27:20

Boston 10K
Date: June 23, 2024
Location: Boston / Cambridge, MA
Distance: 6.2 Miles
Goal Time: 52:42
Actual Time: 54:25

“Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars”

~ Proverbs 9:1

I made the right onto Exeter and then left onto Boylston.  The rain; the heat; the humidity; the lack of running for a week – had clearly taken a toll.  But, I was still within an acceptable pace.  We crossed the Marathon finish line and had a little more than 1 km to go.  The calculations in my head said I would have to average a 7:15 mile for my last kilometer.  (SPOILER ALERT: That wasn’t going to happen).  I sped up a bit over the final stretch but definitely didn’t put myself fulling into the red zone.  Across the finish line, I got my medal from McKenzie and headed to the DM tent for a ceremonial 9:15am Sam Adams.

Living Root getting our awards

The Boston 10k finished up my 3 races in 3 sports in 3 weekends.  I reached my B goal in each of the 3 events: Boston Dragon Boat Festival, B2VT and Boston 10K.  This success was because of generally consistent generalist training over the past 6 months.  Between running, lifting, cycling and paddling, I did the bare minimum to achieve my non-spectacular B Goals.

Where do I go from here? 

I have about 12 weeks until my next big block of events in September 4 events in 3 Weeks:

9/8 - Bike Not Bombs 105 miler, JP

9/14 – Spartan Beast Race, Killington

9/21 – Lake Winni Dragon Boat Race, Alton Bay, NH

9/22 – Lone Gull 10K, Gloucester, MA

Vermont along the B2VT route

With this in mind, I plan to build a training structure around two main goals

Training for life

Some specificity for events I am registered for.  (I need to be able to run 13 trail miles with obstacles, bike 105 and paddle 4 races in a day over 3 weeks – plus Lone Gull.)

Rough Draft of 7 Pillars of Generalist Training

I need to start somewhere.  I will start with a draft using guidelines of health from DHHS while adding two more – accountability and recovery – that are required to achieve the other 5

Accountability – I need to be accountable to myself, my wife and my teammates

Strength – Commit to continued strength training

Cardiovascular Endurance – Continue and increase my running / cycling

Muscular Endurance – add more endurance strength to my workouts

Flexibility – Mobility and malleability are often limited when strength and running are practices.  Need to add to this

Body Composition – cutting fat and gaining muscle.  Exercise is one step of this; calories and quality thereof is another step.

Recovery – sleep better and more. Also commit to hobbies that can help relaxation.

I know many people will find the idea of slowly building a program as the lazy way out.  And maybe that’s true.  Maybe I’m just lying to myself.  Or maybe trying to create a strong foundation, I can do this I like for longer.  We’ll find out which one it is.

And the Celtics had their parade - Tingus Pingus

 

Castles in the Air, Dragons on the Earth: June Racing (June 2022)

 

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

~Henry David Thoreau.

Turin the Black Sword

• Event: Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
• Location: Charles River, Cambridge, MA
• Date: June 11-12, 2022
• Distance: 2 x 200m, 3 x 500m

Out of the peripheral vision I saw us closing on the boat to the left.  Dave was yelling from the back (many of the words that were not acceptable for a family friendly blog like this); we were pushing and panting.  As we hit the last buoys, there was the successive air horn blows… Whoong! Whoong! Sadly, the second horn was obviously for us; we just missed winning our Semis.

From the Pits of Angband

In early March 2020, we had probably 25 paddlers lining the edge of the kiddie pool; Dave was standing in the pool.  He asked: “Do you think it’s safe with Corona going around to stand in the pool?”  I theorized the chlorine would probably kill the virus and we would be fine with indoor pool practices going forward.  I was right about the first part; I was wrong about going forward.

The next 26 months, I will not go into detail – we all have our own story of that.

In the Simrarillion, Tolkien tells the tale of the father of dragons.  Glaurung was raised to be the fighter of elves.  He spent a century in the pits of Angband growing to be the great fighter.  In the past 26 months, the Living Root Dragon Boat team had gone from around a 70 or so active paddlers to like 30.  May 1, 2022 was the first time we paddled in a boat in almost two years.  This became our time in the Pits of Angband to grow again.

 

The Fellowship of the Ring

• Races 1&2: 200m qualifiers
• Location: MIT Boathouse
• Times: 61.8” and 60.9”

 Saturday was the 200m qualifiers.  These are short sprints where you put it all out there for a minute (or preferably less).  With a midday start time, it was a nice way to ease into the regatta. Without the early morning wake up, I was able to conveniently make my way down to the river with plenty of time to stretch and pet Quinn’s dog.

We lined up for the first time trial at the same time as Mustache.  We got off the line slowly.  But then pushed a bit more speed.  Unfortunately, for the 200m there is little room for making up time.

The second 200 was fantastic.  We fired off the line like a cannon and were able to maintain if not increase the speed into the finish.  We qualified into the Pool 1 for the main sets on Sunday.

 The Two Towers

• Races 3-5: 500m
• Location: Weeks Footbridge
• Time: 2:22.4, 2:18.7, 2:24.9

I sat calmly at the start.  We had paddled out with a few warm ups and I was in my element.  The Charles has been my athletic home for as long as I remember.  I’ve roller bladed it, cycled it, ran it and kayaked it.  Today, I was in another big event upon the calm waters.  Just adding to my collective memory of the river.

The first race was to place us into our divisions for the Semis and finals.  We had made the top half, now to make the top tier.

The horn went off and we pushed.  It’s one of those feeling you can’t quite understand until you are out in competition.  The ability to push beyond a) your training paces and, b) what you thought you could do.  My arms and back felt like they could do nor more… and yet we pushed on another hundred meters before Dave pushed us again into the final stretch.  As we barely finished in second, I (and probably others) knew they could do it again – and maybe win this time.

The Semis were probably our finest hour.  Not only was it the fastest race, but our boat that could with only 17 paddlers hung on in the A Division to finish just 0.7 seconds behind.

I felt exhaustion coming on.  And maybe many others did as well.  By our finals, the festival felt like it was over – food trucks were packing up and tents were being dismantled.  We went out, we pushed but I don’t know how much we had left.  We pulled off our third straight second for Sunday.  The first race was on condition, the second on training, the third was on heart. 

Our next few months is time to rebuild our foundations for our 2023 return.

 

The Return of the King

• Event: Boston Athletic Association 10K
• Location: Boston, MA
• Date: June 26, 2022
• Distance:  10km
• Time: 58:37

Originally, I thought I was undertrained for this event.  But looking back, I had run 32 miles in the two months leading up to it.  That’s not undertrained, that’s completely untrained.  It’s the most castle in the sky nonsense I’ve ever built.

I tried to keep myself contained.  I hoped to run 9:00/miles for the first three and then drop the hammer for the last few.  I achieved the first part of my goal.  It was the second half that was a failure.  But the second half wasn’t really the failure; the failure was the 4 miles a week I ran to train for a 6 mile race.

Alas, it is time to build back the foundations.  Every step is one step closer to being fit and competitive again. Unfortunately, some days those steps are backward.  Today was the backwards day to remind me to step forward.

 

 

3 Days of Columbus: BAA Half Marathon (10/11 - 10/13/14)

2014 BAA Distance Medley medals - 5k, 10k, Half and Medley

Race: BAA Half Marathon
Location: Boston, MA
Goal Time: 1:27:20
Actual Time: 1:28:59

The last time I ran a "distance medley" was in same place White Stadium.  Of course that was 22 years ago, a relay and the distance were track distances.  Mark ran the 1200m; I think Donavin ran the 400 and Benjamin ran the 800. (I could be wrong; it's entirely possible I forgot the salient details of a minor race at the Boston City Championships back when George Bush Sr was still President.)  I finished the race with a 1600m.  It was one of the best runs of my life.  I managed to get us into second place.  I remember trying futilely to close that last 100m on South Boston High School. (In retrospect, with some knowledge of game theory, it would have been better to run easy for that last few and accept 2nd place to save myself since I had to run the 2 mile the next day and the mile the day after that.  Maybe I would not have been so tired at the end of the mile and dropped to third?)

Well, the BAA distance medley was not a relay and the distances were longer.  They were also over a longer period of time.  April was the BAA 5k and June held the BAA 10k.  Columbus Day weekend finished with the Half Marathon. The half marathon starts right next to where I practiced high school football.  It runs along the golf course and out of the park and onto the 203 bridge that goes over Forest Hills.  At the base of the bridge is the mile one marker.  I hit it at 6:30.  While this is a little quick, I figured it was okay since it was downhill, but then I heard Mark Duggan - and his Irish accent - behind me: "Well, that was too f---ing fast." indeed. For me, the next five miles continued at that too fast pace.  But - once again- they were downhill.  So while my plan had been to speed up each mile, I just kind of kept the even too fast pace.  So that by mile 5, I plan had caught up with my speed...

The Medley was a big target for me this year.  It was the first year with age group prizes and I really felt that I could get into the top 3.  After the 5k in April, this was confirmed.  My 18:59 had put me into second place in my age group.

Around mile 3
Photo by Thomas Cole

Age group or not, the turn around at mile 5 of the half marathon offered me an opportunity.  At the start Matt had told me to line up with Megan.  I had not wanted to push my way to the front.  So I figured I'd catch up with her on the road.  The turn around was the first time I saw her.  And then as I pushed harder (now going back uphill from Fenway back to JP and Roxbury) I was slowly pulling Megan back.  I wasn't speeding up but somewhere in my head I thought that was okay because I had banked time in those first five miles.  So every downhill I would close the gap with Megan to about 20 yards.  And every uphill, she'd open it back up again.  But each time I closed it by a little more and she opened it by a little less.  By the time I had made it to the 10 mile turn around: a) I had put myself in perfect position to catch Megan, and b) at 1:07 flat, I was at the perfect spot, if I could run the last 5k at 6:30/mile, I would achieve my goal.

I had been less prepared for the 10k than I had the 5k.  It showed.  My 40:40 dropped me from 2nd in my age group to fourth.  That meant I had to beat one of two names on a page Jamie Hull or Zach Mills in the half, if I planned to crawl back into the top three.

Mile 11.5, the last time I saw Megan (212)
Photo by Tom Cole

There would be no clawing my way back this time in the distance medley.  22 years ago I had made an exciting charge trying to catch Chucky from Southie High.  Today, my piriformis just made the rolling hills back to the Shadduck and the uphill back toward the zoo just painful.  Then when we entered the zoo - I got a side stitch.  As we weaved through the walking paths of the zoo (but unlike Miamiman - didn't see a single animal) I felt knew 1:27 and then 1:28 were slipping away from me - as fast as Megan was.  The only thing that kept me running was the desire to beat two people I didn't know - Zach Mills and Jamie Hull.  Finally we left the zoo and through Playstead to turn toward White Stadium - home of virtually every track meet and football game in my high school career.  On the path from the zoo to the stadium, my mom and Aunt Judy and Uncle Larry were cheering for me and other Somerville runners.  This brief second in the park really pumped me up a bit and I was able to gather myself for the last quarter mile.  I came in right under 1:29: 1:28:59.  It is my 3rd fastest half marathon ever and might have put me in good with the medley.

Looking at the results later, I had beat both Hull and Mills.  AND I beat Mills by enough that should have put me into third in my age-group for the medley.  Alas.  Two elite masters runners who didn't sign up for the medley per se did run all three events.  So those two took first and second - I took 5th. bummer.

Shoutouts

Liz and John Hadcock both won their age groups.
John won his age group in the Medley!

SRR Teams -
Mens' Open (of which I was the lead scorer) - 3rd
Mens' Masters (of which I was also the lead scorer) - 3rd
Womens' Open - 3rd


***
Also on the Weekend

Saturday - New Bedford Whaling Museum

For my mom's birthday we headed South to New Bedford -

There be Whales, Captain

I think the North Star is that away

Urvi aboard the Lagoda

Even Urvi has to watch her head aboard

Sunday - Canucksgiving!

Thanks to the awesome spread from Amy and Maple Leaf Joe Lauer

Beauty, eh?

Joe carving the Turkey

Monday - Tufts 10K and MiT Museum

Liz K.

Jen

Barbara

Polaroids, Polaroids everywhere and not a drop to drink

Urvi in the Kinetic Sculpture

Cheers to a great weekend...

6.2 Lessons in 6.2 Miles: BAA 10K (6/22/14)

Right about 9km with Neil
photo by Tom Cole

Race: BAA 10K

Location: Boston

Goal Time: 40:00

Actual Time: 40:40

Lesson 1: Come early, travel light…

The race start was 8:00.  I decided running down like I did for the BAA 5k would be a great warm-up and I wouldn’t put myself at the mercy of the MBTA or parking issues. (Apparently, one can avoid all parking issues by getting into Back Bay at 6:30 like Kimi did.)  So I left the house at 7:10 or so and was at the start line ready to go at 7:40. I met the usual suspects at the start line: John Hadcock, Bradley Harris and Paul Clark.  Bradley and I pushed our way to close to the start.

At the gun, I felt great.  I found a comfortable pace as we ran down Commonwealth.  I didn’t make the mistake of following Bradley again like Ribfest.  My first mile was in the ±5 second range of my goal.  Anytime, I can Avoid my ownpersonal Noid of dashing out too fast in the first mile, I will have a good day.

Lesson 2: …but bring a bag to check

The second mile pointed to the errors of following Lesson 1 too much.  I wore my “marathon racing shorts” as I term them.  They have reasonably big pockets.  (Most racing shorts don’t or just have a back pocket large enough for a car/bike key, a $10 bill and an ATM Card – Not that anyone who thinks they should steal my racing shorts would find those items in mine.)  The pockets in the marathon shorts are great for putting in a package gummy bears and Gu and what Bex once termed “energy cubes.”  What they are not designed to carry is a cellphone, wallet and keys when you are running at 10K speeds. 

I spent the second mile switching the 3 items around the two pockets.  It was like some obscure Nash game theory puzzle.  Eventually, I settled with wallet in right pocket, phone in left pocket and keys in my hand.  If one is concerned with running form and efficiency should never do this.   I probably wasted so much energy – both physical and mental attempting to solve this Gordian knot of a problem.  Next time, I bring a small bag to check my keys, wallet and phone.

Aside: Efficiency breaks the “I before E except after C rule” – just in case you try to spend 3 minutes making the squiggly line go away.  Is it one F and two Cs? Is it two Fs and two Cs?

Lesson 3: Don’t get too amped up around family and friends

In reality I probably should have learned this at the Providence Marathon in 2012.  At Providence, all my miles from 1 – 23 were within 10 seconds of 7:12 – EXCEPT mile 9 where I passed the boys: Anthony, Tim, etc who were cheering us on.  That one was a 6:50 because I got amped up and ran with some over-hyped adrenaline for that portion.  Between the actually running too fast and the extra jump of heart rate, I’m sure those 25 seconds cost me 2 minutes on the back end.

The turnaround of the BAA 10k was about 4 blocks from my parents’ apartment in Allston.  They made their way down to the 3 mile mark to cheer and take pictures.  Knowing they’d be there got my heart racing and got me once again running too fast.  Despite mile three having the two hard hills on the course – up to the BU Bridge and up to Allston – it was my fastest mile.  Oops.

Lesson 4: If you expect good things, train for them.

This might seem obvious.   But my early season had gone so well when I trained for the BAA 5k/James Joyce Double.  I had a hard time getting back into training for the Ribfest/26 x 1/BAA 10K Triple.  And by mile 4 that started to show.  The legs that had carried me to a near PR at BAA 5k and a PR at James Joyce now failed me as I went back up the hill to the BU Bridge.

It was my slowest mile; and, while I thought I was running well, it was obvious I just didn’t have the ability in my legs to race for a PR or near it. 

Lesson 5: Remember to have fun!

I run for fun.  I like to do it.  I like to race.  I like to converse with the crowd – if I can breathe. 

Somerville Road Runners were manning the water stop at Mile 5.  (Once again Lesson 3 applies here as well.)  I came running in and “Iceland” Tommy, who is not in SRR but a friend, was the first in a long line of friends cheering as they handed out water to the runners.  I grabbed a cup from either Tom Bok or from Megan Hyland who were the first two in line.* I took a sip as I ran past many others cheering – who I can’t even name them all.  I dumped a bit over my head.  And then there was still a little left…

To have fun with the last half a cup, I threw it on Tim Harden as he stood with another cup to hand off to runners.  It got him pretty well just off center-mass on his left side. It would have counted as a hit in BRM.

SRR Volunteers at the Mile 5 Water Stop

Lesson 6: Dig Deeper, there’s something there.

Right before the 9km mark, I heard someone yell out: “Go Neil.”  I looked ahead and twenty feet up in a yellow Arsenal jersey, I saw my friend Neil Cronin.  I thought to myself, I’m gonna catch him.  And while announcing my intentions to him, I caught up with him and briefly posted myself behind him while I regained my breath.  (Classic cycle racing move.) I caught my breath right at the 9km mark.  I pushed a little ahead of him.  Then I could feel he caught up with me.  I died a bit and felt like I was all done for and said something to the tune of: “Go for it, I got nothing left.”

But, I did have something left.  And, for the next 600 meters to the two of us pushed past each other and then back four or five times.  Each time I thought I couldn't run anymore I realized I could race a little bit more.  Maybe there are those races I can find more when I thought I had nothing? Maybe I can dig into the well a little sooner and maybe more often?  Maybe I’m starting to understand the difference between merely running a race and racing a race?  I don’t know, maybe there is an arc to come.

Lesson 6.2: End on a High Note.

To borrow from The Oatmeal: “When you see the finish line, start sprinting like a coked-out orangutan.” The six mile mark is on Boylston right before you turn onto Charles for the longish straight stretch into the finish line.  Right as we hit 6, I picked up the pace.  Neil told me to “get it!” 

I had learned to not start all out sprinting with 0.2 miles left from the Lone Gull10K last year.  But, in a steady progression I built up speed until about 2/3 of the way down Charles street I started sprinting like a coked-out orangutan.  I came in at 40:40.  The pace was better than Ribfest had been last week.  It placed me 188^th overall/ 14^th in my age group.

I dropped a place in my age group in the Distance Medley rankings to 4^th.  So, I’ll have to have a great half marathon to finish in the top 3 (rather 2^nd or 3^rd because 1^st currently has a 4 minute lead).  However, I’d would have had to have a great half marathon, even if I did run close to my James Joyce time.

Shoutouts

Jenn Fonda had a PR

Mark Duggan had a PR

Liz Cooney finished 3^rd in her age group

John Hadcock finished 3^rd in his age group and stands in 1^st in the age group in the Medley.

*- Bonus Lesson – Grab Early, grab often

When going into the line at a water stop, try to grab as early as you can – as long as there is no huge back up at the first few people.  Point to the water you intend to grab – hopefully getting eye contact with the person holding it.  If you grab early then you can try again if you drop it.  Last year at the Derry 16 miler, I hadn’t grabbed water yet and near the end of the line I was going get one and some guy jumped in and out of line taking the last water right in front of me.  No warm Gatorade for me for another 3 miles – jaggoff!

Run as One: BAA 5k (4/19/14)

Me and Brendan at the finish

Event: BAA 5K
Location: Boston, MA
Goal Time: 19:00
Actual: 18:59 (Masters PR, 2nd Faster 5k ever, 9th age-group)

Every year the Boston Corporate Challenge is a clusterf**k.  The start is on Charles Street between the beautiful Public Garden and the world famous Boston Common.  The first 200 meters runs to Beacon Street and takes a left.  The start is 3 lanes wide; the left is one.  Everything comes to a complete stop.  It's famous in the running community for being a disaster.

As part of the Boston Marathon race weekend, the 5K was the launch of retaking the streets after last year's bombing.  I had been so focused on running this race and helping Urvi to the marathon that I didn't even think of it as being an emotional time.  Even jamming to the line - as they opened the 6:00/mile and under corral at the last possible moment - I didn't think about it.  But as I stood there and BAA officials and the Mayor spoke about last year, I started to well up a little.

Fortunately, the mayhem of the moment kept it from getting too bad.  This year, the BAA 5K increased to 10,000 entrants.  This mass of humanity led me to the issue of getting out and to that turn in the first 200. Bradley had suggested that I "toe the line with the Elites."  To be honest this seemed a little excessive.  I mean, if there are multiple people breaking 14 minutes, I don't want to be the schmo in the way.  So I lined up about 6 rows from the start line.  That was far enough up, I felt.

As one speaker was finishing up some statements, midsentence the Mayor blew the horn.  That took everyone off guard.  It was like he was going at 8am no matter what.  I managed to nudge through the crowd once everyone realized we were going.  I avoided two people who were not even close to 6 minute miles and two people who fell (and, assisted a third to keep him from tripping...) Once I had made the left onto Beacon, I knew the issue was now running - no longer a race to avoid gridlock.

I settled into a good hard pace.  The course is great on both a racing and an aesthetic level.  It turns off Beacon onto Commonwealth Ave.  The lovely divided avenue is a beautiful stretch.  This is where many fans set up.  I saw Tommy M. along the stretch.  There is a turnaround at Charlesgate - which means you go down through the tunnel under Mass Ave and turn around right before Kenmore - back to the tunnel under Mass Ave.  Urvi said this was her favorite stretch, because through the tunnel everyone was high fiving and yelling.  It was the first time we could celebrate the running again.  Boston was coming back.

I kept rambling at a comfortably uncomfortable pace - right above 6 minute/mile. We took the right on Hereford and Left onto Boylston.  Four blocks ahead, you could see the finish line to the marathon.  People who were going to and coming from the Marathon Expo were lining Boylston and cheering for the 5ker's (I saw John Gorvin at Exeter). This was when I realized what I was doing was important to me.  I wasn't just running a 5k.  I was rekindling those running/athletic spirits.  I was small part of the retelling.

Once I got through the Marathon finish line, there was about a mile left to the 5k finish line.  I had wanted to put it into another gear, but that wasn't happening.  However, I was able to maintain my pace.  As we made the turn back onto Charles Street, I saw I could break 19 minutes.  With a sprint and a flourish, I did: by a second.  It was my second fastest 5k ever and put me in 9th in my age-group in a 10,000 person field!

Next up - James Joyce Ramble

Shoutout to Mark Duggan - PR!!