Run 4 Kerri

Sunday, August 4, 2013

23:52, 5:59 pace.  36^th overall of 729, 3^rd in age group.  PR!!  Results here.

Just 16 hours after finishing the Block Island Triathlon, my legs were far from fresh and I didn’t know what to expect on this one.  My feet were still a little banged up from the rocks on BI, as I went out for a 2-mile warm-up.  I went one mile with my sons out back, then went solo towards the Town Beach where I saw Seth's wife Amanda, and then met up with Jonny for the return.  A lot of really fast runners out at this race.  I chatted with Crutch, recommended he not to go too far back, and then lined up about five rows back with Jonny, with newest WTAC’er Chris about two rows up.

Mile 1:  The crowd thinned out really well for me.  I enjoyed watching Jonny Rocket race ahead of me, as he gradually increased his lead.  The first mile went by really quickly, and I quickly saw the one mile marker and runner-turned-reporter Muddy.  5:40.

Mile 2:  Turning south on Moonstone Beach Road, I got passed by Bob Jackman, who I wished well.  We quickly turn left onto Card’s Pond Road, where I got passed by Stonington native and BAA runner Laura Brustulon as we exchanged quick pleasantries.  The long straight stretch of Card’s Pond Road was an absolute sufferfest for me last year in the high 80s, but this year was much more palatable with about 75 degree weather.  Slowed somewhat, but not terribly:  6:01.

Mile 3:  The flats ended, as we turned left into the neighborhood to begin the uphill climb.  A couple of slight inclines were followed by steep short hill that walloped me right at the Mile 3 marker.  6:06.

Final steps to the finish, with Laura behind me and 1/2 of Jackman

Mile 4:  Just tried to hold my place for the rest of the neighborhood climb, and then with about ½ mile ago, poured on what I had left.  Downhill shifted into gazelle mode, and approaching the school I re-passed Jackman (yes, I realized he’s recovering) and Laura.  5:54.

 

Part of the WTAC crew at Kerri

Cold, but refreshing post-race

Finished in 23:52, beating my old 4-mile PR (Camire’s 2012) by 16 seconds!  Psyched!  Then Jana checked results and told me I placed 3^rd in age group (behind Keven O’Neill and Principe)!  Double psyched!  I run this race most years, and had NEVER before placed in my age group, but did so on my last time running this age group in the 40s age group.  (Maybe Mike B will sign up to run it next year now.)  Also checked my next year’s age group to see this year’s winning time was 25:07.

 

Picking up age group award

Also really happy for Crutch, who destroyed his goal of 30 minutes by coming in 28:30.  Another good showing and fun outing for WTAC.

Block Island Triathlon

Saturday, August 3, 2013

1:19:11, 9th overall of 323!  2nd in my age group.

Took the 1:15PM fast ferry out of Narragansett with FiveK and Matthew.  Left Narragansett in light rain, but just before the triathlon start, the sun came out!  Set up transition area, went for a short warm-up run on the beach, and headed to the start of the swim area.

Transition area was really packed tight at Block Island Town Beach,
but at least we did have a nice of the dumpster

Swim:  12:16, 127th place. 3 minutes slower than last year, but 20 places ahead of last year.  However, I noticed most of the times this year were a couple of minutes slower than last year, so I'm guessing current had something to do with it?  I thought I had a decent swim for me.  Rounded the first buoy and got punched hard in the elbow.  It smarted for a bit, and then I continued on, where I summarily swim right on top of a guy doing the backstroke - wierd and awkward at the same time.  OK, get off of Mr. Backstroker, and on we go.  The rest of the swim was fine.

Age group winners before the swim start

With Matthew before swim.  Look how calm the ocean is.
Buoy in distant background

Bike:  39:27, 26th place!  Two minutes and 30 places faster than last year!  Average speed 20.0 mph exactly, max speed 33 mph.  Passed many, passed by 3, including one that we sparred back and forth on the hills.  The uphill climb by the airport was a real bear; dropped it all the way down to 1st gear.  At one point I was doing about 28mph passing a truck and a moped - the guy on the moped yelled something indistinguishable at me - yo, buddy, I am in a race here.  The bike was a real challenge, but very happy with outcome.  One SECOND behind speedy Steve S here.

Run:  27:26, 3rd place overall, 4 seconds behind FiveK.  30 seconds slower than last year, but 2 places higher.  Run is my strong point, but I don't mind saying it was hard for me this year.  Boulders near south end of beach from Hurricane Sandy; some people walked, and I ran around them in the water as my arch discovered a boulder underwater - Ouch!  The rest of the run was not what I was looking for in pace, but given camber at high tide, running through water and thick sand, I guess I can't complain too much.  Splits:  6:46, 6:30, 6:43, 6:38.

The tri is over!

Really challenging, but fun tri!  Congrats to FiveK and Matthew on winning their respective age groups.

Ferry ride back in the evening with this year's
BI Tri competitors Steve, Matthew, and FiveK

Weekly Log 29-Jul to 4-Aug-2013

This week brings us into August.  Sad that the summer is half over.  Another double race weekend coming up, with BI Tri on Saturday (psyched!) and Run 4 Kerri on Sunday.

Monday: 0
Recovery day

Tuesday:
6 miles at Stonington Fun Runs.  Even Crutch and Mark showed up!  Ran one lap with FiveK, only lap solo.  18:56.
Missed the morning track workouts that my fellow WTAC runners put in this morning.  Not something I relish, but I know I've got to put in a few of these to help my game come Fall.

Wednesday:
3/4 mile.  5:45AM 27-minute swim with Steve, Larry, and Tom.  Glassy flat conditions that I'm most comfortable with.  Gave me time to work on my bilateral breathing every 3 strokes.  Not pretty.
3 miles.  Followed up the swim with a group barefoot beach run to the Weekapaug Breachway and back.
7 miles.  Matthew asked me if I could take him to ride some hills in advance of Saturday's Block Island Tri.  Rode from the Town Forest to Boombridge, Ashaway, and back Potter Hill.  He's worried about the bike Saturday and asked if he'll be the last finisher on the bike.  No!
3 miles.  Westerly Fun Runs, week 8 of 11.  18:14.

Thursday: 0


Friday:
5 miles. From the Watch Hill gazebo with FiveK, WhichWay, Crutch, Matthew, and a newbie - neighbor "Sam Adams". Easy pace on roads, and back barefoot on the beach to East Beach, Watch Hill. Promises of coffee at Taylor Swift's place didn't pan out.
1/4 mile open ocean swim at Napatree, with FiveK out front, then Matthew, then Sam and I pulling up the rear. Easy practice on final day before Block Island Tri.

Saturday:
1/4 mile.  Block Island Triathlon.  Separate write-up shortly.
14 miles.  BI.
 5 miles.  BI

Sunday:
 6 miles.  Run 4 Kerri.  Separate write-up shortly.

Weekly totals:
Run: 27 miles
Bike: 21
Swim: 1.25

Week wrap-up:
Another fantastic weekend of tris and road racing.  Will be mixing it up next week with new runs in new territory.

Crabman Sprint Triathlon

Sunday, July 28, 2013


Overall results here.  1:03:19.  39th out of 429 finishers.  3rd in age group!

A perennial favorite of mine.  We had five of us (3 of us Walkers, plus Crutch and FiveK) meet up in Westerly in the wee early dark hours of the morning to start our adventure.  We arrived an hour early, rode the 3/4 mile from the Matunuck school parking lot to the start at South Kingstown Town Beach, got body marked, and set up our space.  I felt there was a lot more space this time than in other tris.  FiveK and I went on a short run warm-up on the course, and before we knew, it was time to get ready and head to the water.

Pre-swim jitters with the gang

 The Swim:  10:48, one minute slower than last year.  I was in the very first wave (mens 45 and over) that left the beach at 6:45AM.  I got into my rhythm, slow but steady.  Got kicked a number of times but I just go with it at this point.  The first buoy came up pretty quickly, as I rounded the buoy and headed for the second.  I actually couldn't see the second buoy at first, and just concentrated on following the rest of the pack.
Now just about every tri I commit some kind of bonehead move.  Here's mine:  I rounded the second buoy, sighted the crowd on the beach, and kept swimming.  After a while I saw a lifeguard on a surfboard right in front of me holding up his hand up in a "stop" gesture.  He asked "Are you OK?", and I just answered yes.  He then told me I was swimming way off course.  I looked and saw indeed my other pink capped Wave 1 peers were swimming in a different direction!  S*%&!  It turns out there were two crowds on the beach, one at the start and one at the finish.  Most people swam towards the finish, while I'm heading back to the start!

My pink cap swim wave starts

The swim is over!  Rejoice!

The Bike:  30:32, two minutes faster than last year.  Felt really good on the bike (except when Jeff D blew by me early in race).  Near pancake flat, able to push up to 26 mph in places.  Average 21.6 mph.

Finishing lap 1 of 2-loop bike course

The Run:  18:48, ten seconds slower than last year.  I had a good run overall, as I got into my groove passing runners early and kept all my splits sub-6 minute pace.  I caught up to Ben ("Gunshow"), ran with him for a bit before passing, and kept making my move up.  When I passed Chris Huesman, he kindly told me there were 4-5 runners in our age group ahead of me (you can spot people's ages marked on their legs).  That gave me the incentive to pick up the pace a few seconds, as did seeing FiveK on one of the loops, as I was determined he wasn't going to pass me.

Finished the race, and then one nice part of being in Wave 1 was that I could go back out onto the course and see friends and family finishing their run.  Saw Tom running it in, then ran out and ran with Mark for a bit before waiting for Matthew.  Ran in with Matthew, which he said he was appreciative for.  Great race!

Mid stride pacing near finish

Congratulations / thanks to:

• FiveK for completing his first triathlon and with awesome times.
• Mike Crutchley for also completing his first triathlon and vanquishing his swim fear.
• Crutch again for saving the day by ferrying all of our bikes to the tri and back.
• My two boys for finishing well and improving their Crabman times (Mark took 4 minutes off; Matthew 5) .
• Shira for finishing and winning her age group!
• Jana for getting up at 4:30AM with us, putting up with our whining, and taking all these photos.

Post-race:  The WTAC gang

Blessing of the Fleet

Friday, July 26, 2013

I have run this 10-mile mid-summer race every year since I started running in 2003.  The first nine years I raced it, ranging from a high of 1:11:52 in my debut to a low of 1:02:43 in 2010.  This year and last has been a special treat to run together with my 13-year old son Matthew and watch his triumphs and help in any way I can (e.g., fetching water, advice on tangents, etc.).

The weather was favorable this year, overcast and low 70s.  We ran a warm-up with Mike B and settled in probably 10 rows back from the start.  Last year Matthew ran a 1:17 in this race as a 12-year old, and this year he initially was gunning for 1:14 but then upped the goal to 1:10!  OK - 7 minutes average, meaning a number if not majority of miles would have to be dipping into 6:50s.

The first mile was the usual chaos of just trying to stay upright while weaving through people.  Despite this the first mile came through at 6:35.  We backed off for a 2nd mile of 6:49, and after checking with Matthew, he felt good.  Mile 3 was really fast again, but I'm not sure if that was attributed to feeling good or Matthew's Boumenot sighting as he wanted to reel him in.

(l-r) me, Matthew, and an unidentified kindly runner
helping to run Matthew in

Final steps to finish at near sprint

As we turned out of Scarborough and up onto busy 108, the miles slowed back down for 4-6:  6:44, 6:46, and Matthew's only mile north of 7 minutes at 7:05.  Mile 7 was a fast 6:37 in the dark wooded hollow as he caught up to Mike again.  By Mile 8, Matthew was saying it was starting to hurt, but with 8 miles into the game, I told him just to try to hold his course.  Miles 8 and 9 were 6:46 and 6:45, and we're at the final mile!  With a quarter mile to go, a strong black runner went past us and signaled back to Matthew to catch up to stay with him.  Matthew glanced at me, I nodded, and he took the bait!  A really fast final mile in 6:31!  Awesome job for a final finish of 1:07:47, 6:47 pace.  136th place of 2,406 runners.  Top 5%!  Not bad for a 13-year old.

Goal of 1:14 1:10
All destroyed as Matthew takes 10 minutes off last year's
time to go under 1:08 with a 6:47 pace

Weekly Post 22-Jul to 28-Jul-2013

Mid-summer is here, and with it come two of my favorite races:  Blessing of the Fleet on Friday, and Crabman Sprint Triathon on Sunday.

Monday:  0
Rest day after yesterday's endurance fest.

Tuesday:
7 miles.  Fun in the Borough at weekly Stonington Fun Run series.

FiveK, JP, and WhichWay way out in in front (far right)

Matthew & I about 100 places back

Lots of people enjoying a drink dockside tonight

Wednesday:
3 miles.  Westerly Fun Runs, just 4 weeks left now.  18:19.

Thursday:  0
Car broke down on way home from work, and killed any chance of fitness.

Friday:
4 miles.  Mid-day Misquamicut road and beach run with Crutch.  He's still nervous about Crabman swim, but glad he's sticking it with it.
11 miles.  Blessing of the Fleet race with Matthew.  Separate write-up to follow.

Saturday:
1/4 mile ocean swim with Matthew pre-Crabman.
1 mile easy shake-out on the beach.

Sunday:
1/4 mile Crabman.
11 miles Crabman.
6 miles Crabman, including warm-up and cool-down.

Weekly totals:
Run:  32 miles
Bike:  11 miles
Swim:  1/2 mile

Light numbers, but that worked well with double races on the weekend.  Psyched about Block Island Tri coming up next weekend!

Weekly Post 15-Jul to 21-Jul-2013

Monday:  0
Rest day.

Tuesday:
4 miles.  Hot Misquamicut Beach mid-morning run on a day off.
2 miles.  Nick Bottone Track Mile.  5:13.  Full results here (including a mug shot of Muddy, Jonny et al that I posted)

Temperature on both my car and a local bank read 92 degrees as I pulled into the track at ~5:30PM.  Last year I was disappointed and literally depressed for days after I ran this race one second slower than my PR (5:11 in 2012 vs 5:10 in 2010), so this year, especially given the heat where I know I perform poorly, I completely threw out any notion of a sub-5.  I set a very aggressive goal of a PR, and a more moderate goal of 5:20, one which I knew would still require a lot of hard work.

Finally, start of the heat

 This year I learned from repeated constructive criticism last year (see, I can listen!) that running in the Masters group hurt me, as the 2nd place guy in last year's Masters heat was more than a minute behind me and I had no one to pace off.  I toed the line with the Elite heat, where I don't belong based on my age or speed, but it definitely helped.

Damn, these top 4 guys are fast and efficient looking!

First lap felt OK.  Footsteps behind Muddy, Jonny, and Jackie.  Split of 75 reminded me that sub-5 was out of the question and just try to stay relatively consistent.  Second split was 77.  Like Muddy, by the 3rd lap I was losing it both in terms of speed and aptitude, and the math was too complex for me to figure out my split.  I heard Leanne (WMS track coach) yelling, "Hurry up and catch your father!", so I knew Mark was right behind me as well.  Muddy and Jonny were way ahead of me by now, but Jackie was in range, and even though she's obviously not in my age or sex, she gave me a target to focus on with 200 yards to go, and I passed her just before the finish line at 5:13.35 vs 5:13.81.

End of lap 2: Muddy, Jonny, and way, way behind them is me,
with Mark literally on my heels

Catching Jackie in final 100 yards, and holding off Mark
(Jonny's comment on FB to this photo was perfect:  " Father still ahead of son (barely).  ")

So glad this race is over!  Don't like short distances to begin with, and even less so in the heat.  I'd like to try for a PR again someday, but the conditions would have to be different.

Wednesday:
3/4 mile.  Ocean swim.  5 of us:  Steve, Larry, Jeff D, Tom, and me.  I swam 12 minutes east of the Town Beach (by which time the rest of the crew had made it down to Charlestown), and covering the same distance back took me 17 minutes against the current.  Arms were really tired.
3 miles.  Westerly Fun Run week #6.  Results here.  Another hot one, but not nearly as bad as previous night.  I long for the crisp, cool temps of fall, but I also don't want the summer to be over.  Can't we have both ... 40s or 50s in the early AM with low humidity, and upper 70s and sunny afternoon for the beach and BBQs?

Back to reality (my mind wanders easily and often):  Chatted it up with Nick and Tom on the first 1/2 mile (that's as long as I could hang w/those fast cats).  It was really funny that this little guy smaller than Mason, maybe about 7(?) was running right alongside Tom and Nick for the first 1/4 mile.  At one point he slowed, but then he sprinted on Maplewood to catch up with them again.  I joked with Nick that he was his competition for tonight, but finally, after several valiant attempts, the reality and science of pacing had him drop off.  Speaking of which, a fast looking Asian guy about 20 passed me pretty strongly at 1/2 mile in so I didn't flinch as he went after the lead guys (Nick and Tom).  However, again, a pace too fast cannot be held, so I retook the same guy at about mile 1.5, by which time he was panting and ended up finishing 1:20 behind me.  The urge to take off fast is so compelling and one that I've succumbed to too often, so I'm really proud when I see the likes of Mason and my own two boys (as well as others) not sprint out and run a more consistent race.  Final time 18:21, for a 5:54 pace.  Happy with that, especially in heat.

Thursday:  0
Needed rest day.  Haven't run many miles so far this week, but two back-to-back nights of racing in the heat followed by late nights (yes, anything later than 9PM is late for me!) compiling and posting race stats (which I love) have left me exhausted.

Friday:
6 miles.  Friday beach run and splash.  Weekapaug roads with Tom and Mike B, beach from Old Town Beach to Weekapaug, and then a jump in the water at Fenway Beach.

Saturday:
43 miles.  Long ride with FiveK from his place up into the Charlestown hills, where we went past Jonny's place, but no Jonny's car as he was out early on a group trail run.  After some good climbs, made our way all the way to Watch Hill, where we hammered on Ocean View Highway Strava segment to take 3rd of 239 averaging 26.4mph on the short 1.1 mile section.  It's amazing how many more cyclists use Strava than runners.  Great ride; great training.

Spent Sat afternoon ocean swimming, eating, and jumping rocks with the family
at Beavertail State Park - one of RI's true gems

Sunday:
21 miles!  Ran with Muddy from Weekapaug up to Charlestown hills via Woody Hill and Bradford.  When we were running South Woody Hill Road, Muddy's famous last words were something like, "The deerflies haven't been bad this year".  Ran short trails in Woody Hill, and when we stopped for a pit stop, the deerflies and mosquitos were feasting upon us.  It seemed every swat I took to my head and body felled a deerfly.  Back on the roads, we had several dozen following us for a little while.  Uggh!

Them Charlestown hills are a tough workout.  Ran past Jonny's house for day #2 - this time our yells got a response from him, but we couldn't figure out if it was "What?!", "Strava!", or "Shut the xxxx up!".  Water and snack break on Buckeye Brook put us back into insect territory.  It was a crazy sight as we were dancing around in the middle of the road trying to eat and drink while swatting bugs at the same time.

Took Klondike (newly paved!) down to Route 1, where after already having 16 miles into the game, we set out to run 3 miles at sub-6:30.  We did it (6:08, 6:22, 6:06), but it was as much a mental as a physical challenge going after that 3rd mile.  The cold drinks and jump into the ocean were a huge welcome after this long and hard run.  Smuttynose in just over two months!

8 mile Misquamicut spin with Mark.  Bad news for Tom and I at Crabman - the kid is strong on the bike as well.

4 miles with Matthew.  It should have been an easy run, but for some reason my legs were feeling sluggish by this point in the day.

Weekly totals:
Run:  43 miles
Bike:  51 miles
Swim:  0.75 miles

Weekly recap, and week ahead:
Incremented my age by 1 (Mike B - are you thrilled that I'll be exiting your age group next year?); however, I'm not quite ready for the retirement home yet.  Really pushed it by riding 43 hard on Saturday, and then running 25 the very next day.  Although I still wasn't able to PR in Bottone (early in week), I am feeling elated by the endurance test of the past weekend.

Now the next two weekends will be back-to-back double race weekends:  running the Blessing with Matthew Friday as I try to help pace him to a PR, and turn around early Sunday morning with the Crabman - excited to race Crabman myself, but also to see how FiveK and my boys will fare, as well as several other WTAC'ers.  The following weekend will be Block Island Tri (my favorite), followed by Run 4 Kerri.