Since I'm so far behind, I'm just going to do some brief updates on the days in between races, then do separate posts for the races. Sitting at my desktop has become really uncomfortable after a prolonged period of time, so I just haven't been motivated. I really need to catch it up, though, or I will get even less motivated.
Sunday, 1/10/16- The triathlon really beat me up, but I really wanted to get in 60 miles for the week. I needed 10 to make it happen. Pouring rain and slippery roads left me with the treadmill as my only option, so I did my usual progression run at 1-3% incline for 10 miles, 7:11/mi pace. Definitely a decent run on sore legs. This completed my first 60 mile week since before I was injured. I was psyched, but it turned out to be too much too soon, and I paid for it over the next few days.
John and I took a trip down to Portsmouth in the absolute pouring rain for the rest of the day. It was the last day I could get to Runner's Alley to pick up my Seacoast Series shirt before the deadline. I was super psyched at how nice the shirt was; it's now one of my favorites. I'm not sure if I'll be doing the Seacoast Series again this year. My calendar is already so full as it is, but we'll see. I definitely plan to do a few of the races, but 5 of them will be pushing it.
After picking up my shirt, I took John to Blitz Air Trampoline Park. It's like Get Air in Portland, but a little smaller. Unfortunately, John and another kid collided, and John got knocked in the nose. He tried to be tough, but it hurt him so badly that he eventually let out a few tears. I felt so bad for him. His nose ended up with a slight bruise across the bridge of it the next day, but wasn't painful. He was still able to jump for awhile after a break, and we played the Terminator arcade game just before leaving, so he was happy.
I had been wanting to check out Earth Eagle Brewing there in Portsmouth, so we drove over there for beer and food. The place had a great ambience. The beer was interesting. The New England Gansta' IPA was excellent. Normally, I love most stouts, but their Black Adder was brewed with anise seed, and I just couldn't stomach it. I tasted like drinking black licorice, so it was definitely not my fancy. The other beers were decent, but nothing stood out. We had dinner there, too. Also nothing fancy, but it was good.
We headed north after that. I wanted to hit Trader Joe's on the way home but pulled into a dark parking lot in Newington to find the power out in the entire shopping center and all of the stores closed. Oh well. Home from there.
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| Shirt for the Seacoast Series |
Monday 1/11/16- Work in Tamworth as usual, followed by a short, but quick, 6.2 miles on Ossipee Lake Rd at 6:47/mi pace. Looked good on Strava, but I was struggling. I felt beat from the week prior.
Tuesday 1/12/16- I knew I was tired, but I still went out for a longer run in the morning. 11.2 miles through Albany and Conway, with decent elevation gain at a sad 7:52/mi pace. It was terrible from the start and just got worse. I felt horrible. I knew then, I needed to take a day off to let my body recover. The 60-mile week that included a pretty tough race had left me with a need for recovery. 5 months ago, I would have been fine, but I had only been back running 6 weeks at this point, so I felt it. And I knew it was time. I was pretty happy with myself for coming back easily and not pushing it and then recognizing when I had pushed it and then backed off.
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| John helped me with the grocery shopping for once! |
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| Eating snow during our afternoon walk |
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| First time seeing the Blackhook Porter, so I had to try it. Not bad. |
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| I decided to do donuts around my driveway my car. That was REALLY fun. |
Wednesday 1/13/16- Slept in the extra hour and skipped the treadmill run for a much-needed zero day. I worked the 24 hour shift in North Conway and got plenty of rest since we weren't busy.
Thursday 1/14/16- I went right from my 24 in North Conway to my 10 hour shift in Tamworth. I brought along my
backcountry skis to make a track outside the new base. It was great. It's still circles, but larger circles! 2.2 miles.
I was ready to run again by the end of the 34 hours at work, and I felt refreshed. I wanted to do something at a quick pace, so I parked in Tamworth Village and ran a flat 9 miles out and back on Tamworth and Depot Roads. They weren't icy, so it was perfect. 7:02/mi pace. Perfect. The run was a little boring, but my goal right now is more to push myself and get back to where I was as fast as possible. So I'm not doing as many runs for fun as I would normally be doing. I tend to save those for spring, summer and fall anyway.
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| Sunrise over Silver Lake on my drive into work |
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| Skiing at work |
Friday 1/15/16- I visited my chiropractor again finally to see what he could find was causing all of my low back, buttocks and upper hamstring pain. It was really hindering my speed, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I was able to run fast, but not without pain. He took another look at my X-ray from the previous visit and examined my back and pelvis. He found that my sacrum was tilted forward causing a strain on the ligaments. He said it was most likely from losing core strength while injured and from overcompensating, all the things I thought might have caused it. It was a relief to hear, even though he really wasn't able to help me with anything other than an adjustment. He advised strengthening which I was already in the process of doing, so I had hope that I was on the right track to getting better and that I wasn't really injured.
Since I was in Fryeburg, I decided to pop on over to Haley Town Rd, one of my old go-to's when I would run after work there. It has some decent climbing, but not so much as to make it a slow run. I ran the same old out-and-back for 8.4 miles at a 7:16 pace. Normally, I'd be happy with that pace, but considering I ran it at a 6:43 pace last April made it a little depressing. Still, I was ok with it. I had to be. I'm not there yet.
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| The new Six03 nordic suit. Made me look like a badass poser. |
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| John getting interviewed after his homeschool group for a Tin Mountain video |
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