Over the hill

"Just remember, when you're over the hill, you begin to pick up speed."
-Charles Schulz

Time to revitalize the blog?

Turning 30 in a month. James reminded me of my blog post about him when Jillian and I were down in Westport for the 4th.
James has a printed version, and I took some time to show it to Jillian along with some cool photos and news clippings James had of us in his scrapbook.

Still running, definitely slower these days. My 2012 self would laugh at me describing how much tougher it is to run 7 minute miles.
Still biking, but no longer on an old speeder, a 3 year old Specialized Allez that I picked up from Landry's bike shop in Allston. Clipped in. It's serving me pretty well.
I've done 60 miles/96km as my longest ride, and I've mixed in a couple 40 and 50 here in there. I'm not keen to do much longer, but we'll see. I thoroughly enjoy riding 20 at a fast clip.

Jillian and I have talked about going to France. My dream is to follow Le Tour - I'll write about my experience if I/we do go to follow.
Instead, we've talked about doing a road trip. It could be seen as a delayed honeymoon, but also a chance to rent some bikes and try climbing some of my favorite mountain stages that I've only see on TV.

Mont Ventoux, Alp D'huez, Galibier, Tourmalet... maybe even La Planche de belles filles.

Stay tuned.

Lincoln Train Station

There's nothing like this place.

Just came back from a long run with Matt Jennings that began at the entrance of the lincoln reservations, aside the lot of the Lincoln Train Station.

I've blogged about this place in the past. It is a truly unique venue for running in the Northeast. There are fewer places in MA where you can go out for a 90+ minute run (if you wanted to) and never cross the same path that you had been running on. The Lincoln Train Station path is the gateway to miles of trail/forest reservations in Lincoln, including the great paths of Walden Pond! (Probably 3-4 trail miles away from the Station)

Every Sunday in the summer, going in to the cross country season, I would meet up with a bunch of the Deis guys to crush 12-16 miles. Matt and I have been doing this for years, and have since gained expertise on the layout of the trail. I ran 7 with him and added on a little in one of the farm paths near the station towards the end of the run. Finished a lovely 11 miles in an hour and 17.

I love running at this place not only because of the network of trails, but because of the serene beauty of Lincoln. The clear trails take you for miles past vast farm lands, with livestock chatting about. They take you past legendary tall trees, giant hills (Including Mt. Misery), and famous landmarks. There is one excellent view that is hidden in the reservation, that overlooks most of the eastern Massachusetts area - even showing a glimpse of the Boston City skyline.

I plan to do more running here, as I am getting in better shape, and will be looking forward to every minute of it.

Side note: While on a recent date [more like January?] with a girl, I described my Sunday runs with the guys as a barbarian-like experience. I used the metaphor of us being like a pack of wolves crushing through miles of unsettled territory. She seemed to think that was too much, and there was never another date after that... but that's her loss. I doubt she'd appreciate Lincoln in the same way.
Cheers.

James' and my new year's resolution

A couple days after the 1st of January, I got a call from James - who is living out in Fort Collins, Colorado.

We shot the shit for a little, caught up on some of the important stuff... James had been working long hours at his restaraunt, and began talking about running... surprise surprise!

We both had talked about the desire to get back in shape. Not just "run 4-5 times a week" shape, but "feel good" shape - a term given to us by our High School coaches Matt Capstick and Steve McChesney.

The desire was to get back in good enough shape where we could feel like we could race again at a higher level. For James, this meant get the base and mileage up so that he could prepare for running either a Half- or Full Marathon in Providence this spring.

Now, after graduating high school, James and I had also made a pact to run the Boston Marathon together one day - wearing the Newton South Lions Singlets.
I still have my jersey, and am going to hold James to this pact.

I digress, so James and I talked about what it would take to get to that higher level. We would start running every week, and try to be consistent for the next couple months. We made an agreement to text each other a couple times a week to check in on each others progress. Essentially, it would be a motivating factor and a "get your lousy ass off the couch" kind of reminder.

Well, I would say that January was a pretty big fail.. both of us ran limited mileage and texted/called infrequently. However, recently we both started becoming a little more consistent.

Today was the 5th day in a row that I've gone on a run. I haven't done this since August. I had been running 5 miles for most of my runs the past couple weeks, but today I felt pretty awesome. I ended up running 7 miles in a little over 49 minutes, and felt like I could go much longer.

During my previous runs I had a heaving type of feeling, and felt some weird pressure in my lungs. I thought this might be my allergies flaring up, or me just being intensely out of shape.

Today I didn't have that. I finally felt a little bit more like my old self!
New year's resolution is starting to look achievable now. I just want to make sure I continue to not push it, stay healthy, and build up that mileage.

I got back from my run, and had a nice text from James telling me to catch up on the latest episode of Naruto, and give him a call. Pleasant surprise.

I'm starting to feel a little bit of that fire coming back.

Building bridges

^ That being said, I decided to start this up again. I have been recently working a job that has taken up a lot of my time. I haven't been consistently running since before I broke my wrist (August 2011). I have run a few, not-very-serious road races... including the Mayors cup 5k. I ran 18:30 at franklin park for 5k off of virtually no training. Also ran a fun hot-dog 4x1.1mile relay in Manchester, NH with 3 of my other amigos. Also split about a 58 second 400 meter in the Reggie Poyau Memorial Home meet Alumni 4x4 race this past December.

Something has really been missing though, in my life. This time off from running has made me realize how much I enjoy training, being in shape, feeling fit, running with other people, breathing in the cold air, blowing through the carbon rubber of my running shoes... all of the above.

I made a pact with my roommate, Devon, to get back into shape. What does this mean? For me, I want to get back to running over 30 miles per week by March. I think doing this will significantly and positively affect my life, and overall sense of achievement and happiness. It will also give me a good foundation to work with over the next year to begin racing again.

Well, cheers to new training! I look forward to getting to this blog active again!

SD

Starting over, fresh!

So it's really been a year since I sat down and updated my running blog. A lot has happened since last summer, I graduated Brandeis, I finished my collegiate running career, I went to Europe for 20 days, I found a job, I found a new apartment, and I took about 2 months off from any serious running.

Well, here I am, an adult man who works from 7:30-5 during the week. Where do I stand in terms of being an athlete? How do I adjust to my new work hours and fit in time for running? What goals do I have, now that I am done with my competitive collegiate career?

These are certainly the things I've thought about, and want to address in this post. I guess I will start off by listing a few pieces of information:

1. I graduated in May
2. I went to Europe until June 20th, and didn't run a single step.
3. I came back extremely jetlagged
4. I started an excellent job at the end of June
5. I am waaaay out of shape
6. I weigh 15 pounds more than I did my sophomore year when I ran my mile PR

but most importantly,
7. I want to keep training and racing.


Overall, The last 8 years of running have been incredibly amazing. I've had my ups and downs, in terms of performances, but I've made many immortal memories that I will always hold dear.

My senior year of collegiate running was very unsuccessful by my standards. There was no race that I was proud of. I came into the season having run 80-90 miles per week during August, and I just felt burnt out going into the XC season. I seemed to be fighting the whole way to get into racing shape. I discovered that I am also allergic to almost every type of Grass and Tree in New England. That surely didn't help my breathing, or even ability to workout well. My indoor track season didn't fair much better, I ran a number of sub-par 800s and a very dismal mile. My outdoor season was cut short after just one poor 800.

The take away? I really feel like I didn't accomplish everything that I wanted to. Or at least, now I don't feel like I satisfied my yearning to be fast and achieve my goals. I have this deep need, to get back to a level of training where I can consistently feel good running. After that step, I think I will be able to get back into solid racing shape, and hopefully see more improvement in my times at various distances.

So, with that sentiment, I began my summer training last week! I ran 5 days a week, posting 25 miles for the week (Ran 5 miles on those runs).... a lot of 5's.

This week I started off with a 5 on Sunday, the Duxbury road race (4.2) on Monday, a 6 miler on Tuesday, and a 7 miler yesterday. I am hoping to get my mileage up to around 60 by the end of July, and keep it around there for the month of August.

The Goal: Get back into distance racing form during the Fall. I'd like to run the mayors cup 8K in October/November. I'd also like to race a half marathon in September.

So, I'm setting out now! If I can adjust to this work schedule and stay healthy, then heck I will get back to being a solid racer again!!!

Good health to all.

Summer Training pays Off: The James Vance Story

Foreward: I decided to take on the task of depicting James' progression as a runner one evening this summer, as a group of runners from Jon Waldron's Newton Summer Running Project sat and stood around stretching after our group run. Henry Finch and I discussed how cool it would be for any developing runner or running enthusiast to be able to read James' tale and acknowledge his success and the positive impact of serious summer training. An incredibly dedicated guy, James exemplifies fidelity and discipline in every aspect of his life, whether it be in his nutrition and culinary studies, or his consistent relationships with his good friends. His passion for the sport of running is no different. To this day he continues training and racing events anywhere between 800 meters and a 1/2 Marathon. I've known James since our younger days at the stomping grounds of the Countryside Elementary playground. He's one of the best friends a guy could ask for. I hope that any developing athlete reads this story and will be able to realize his or her potential, and understand that if you put in the work, you can reach your goals, and, perhaps, surpass them.




16:50. James breathes a sigh of relief after finishing 2nd in the Footlocker XC Northeast Senior class 5000 meter race at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. This race culminated a terrific senior year of cross country for James. However, it was the progressive build up of higher mileage weeks in the summer, as well as a consistent work-ethic, instilled upon us by coaches Steve McChesney and Matt Capstick, that led to James' success and incredible improvement.

For James, competitive running began at Brown Middle School under the supervision of running enthusiast and social studies teacher Mr. Shepard. The Brown Bears competed against the three other middle schools in Newton, as well some out-of-city schools including; Concord, Wellesley, and Needham middle schools. Most of the practice time was spent either running the 3 kilometer race course around the middle school fields, playing Capture the flag, eating Mr. Shepard's lollipops, and hanging out by the high school Track. Mr. Shepard's program was mostly about making sure that the kids were having fun with running, and to train us for our 3K races against the other middle schools. Mr. Shepard was notorious for his sideline screams of support during races. The team had practices three or four days out of the week and, for the most part, the team didn't do any exercise on the weekends. Mr. Shepard did a great job at getting the kids to decide to continue running in high school.

There were six of us who showed up as freshman for Newton South High School Cross Country (NSXC) in the fall of 2003: James Vance, Andy Greenspon, David Plotkin, Dan jih, Ben Paret, and I.

Picture: 14 Year Old James hanging out with me and Caitlin before our race at Goddard Park, RI.

During that year we learned everything about the sport of running from Steve, and we began our consistent training regimens. James saw improvement in his 3K time, finishing 24th out of 43 at the Dual County League Freshman Race. Three places behind David.
21 Plotkin, Dave 07 Newton South HS 6:53.5 12:50.77 17
22 Burke, Sam 07 Acton Boxboro Re 6:56.4 12:56.14 18
23 Reichlen, Kris 07 Wayland HS 6:57.0 12:57.18 19
24 Vance, James 07 Newton South HS 6:59.0 13:00.98 20


Picture: Freshman James running

James ran 12:51 for the 3K a week later at the Coaches Invitational, a PR after having run 10-20 miles per week. James would smile after seeing these results now, noting that 6:59 pace is now currently a comfortable pace at which he does most of his training runs. He runs back-to-back 13 minute 3Ks almost every day.

While James had success during his first high school season of cross country, he decided to play tennis in the Spring. James did not attempt the triad seasons (Cross Country, Indoor Track&Field, Spring Track&Field) until his junior year at Newton South.

Going into his Junior year Cross country season, James had built up to 30 miles per week during the summer. Knowing Steve's 40 mile/week policy for Varsity runners, upperclassman James understood that he had to keep training consistently, and run the workouts well given the 30 mile/week Base that he had from the summer.

His work ethic was noticed by Steve. James competed in his first Varsity Race in September of 2005. The race was at Newton South against fellow Conference competitor Westford Academy. This varsity race was very significant for James. From a racing perspective, James began to understand that he could compete at the Varsity Level. The race was also a marker for beginning of his commitment to training at the Varsity level. James knew that he could become a lot faster with smarter, consistent, and just more training.


Picture: James in the back of the pack: Stud Freshmen and Varsity runners doing a hill workout up Bald Pate Hill in Newton. (I took these pictures from Steve's Car, missed the workout due to injury and thus, a photo opportunity arose.)

Despite James' transition to Varsity, He competed in the JV Race at the Dual County League Championship, finishing 17th out of 124 with a 5k time of 19:41. A respectable time given the conditions of the race (A foot of snow on the ground of Franklin Park.)

During the season James trained with the varsity runners, as well as a large crew of talented freshmen runners. James often shared his experiences, and offered his leadership to the younger runners, particularly studs Ben Finch and Andrew Wortham who beat James in races and would end up being selected for Varsity positions at DCLs and the EMASS divisional meet over James later in the season. His leadership was noticed, as James was voted to be team Captain for the following year of Cross Country, alongside myself.

The week after the DCL XC Championship race, James competed at the Coaches Invitational, setting a Personal record of 19:02.4 for the 5K. This would be the fastest cross country time that James would run before his senior year for 5000 meters.

James was selected as an alternate for the Varsity squad at Emass. Unfortunately, the team missed the selection for the All State Meet by finishing 7th out of 38 teams at the EMASS meet. I finished 22nd with a sub 17, but the highlight of the day was Freshman Andrew Wortham's 17:28, a fantastic time for the stud.

James got to see a lot of competition during his junior year. He ran all three seasons, and consistently trained at 40-45 miles per week. During the Winter he often ran the 1000m, however, his favorite distance was the 2 mile which he got to race during the spring. James posted a 4:57 mile at the Acton-Boxborough High School track in the Spring, as well as a 10:43 for 2 miles at the Weston High Track.

Before the summer going into our senior year, the team sat down with Steve and discussed our plans for the summer and our goals for the Fall Cross Country Season. Our team had the potential to one of the top teams in the state. We would lose a few notable senior runners such as Kelton Finch, Scott Wehrwein, Brenden Olson and Nick Abele (Who won't say he's a cross runner), however, we returned a number of talented young runners, specifically the would-be sophomores, and motivated upperclassmen.

James was prepared to train at a new level. Going into his junior year he had run only 30 miles per week, and ended up running 19:02 for 5000 meters. This summer, he wanted to step it up and maintain a high level of training while staying injury free.

"I'm captain, I want to train, I know I can make an impact on Varsity."

Starting in June, James followed Steve's advised summer mileage plan. Since Steve could not meet with us during the summer, he told us at the meeting that Varsity runners should build up to running 50-55 miles per week by the end of the summer.

That is exactly what James did. He ran almost every day in the summer, taking only 2 days off. "I Just got into it, and never stopped." Advised by Men's Cross Country Coach Matt Capstick, James drank a ton of water, making sure to drink his fluids and stay hydrated throughout the day and evening, particularly before and after running. James performed static-stretching after every run, making sure to get his key muscle groups.

James and I even got a chance to meet with returning runners from Lincoln-Sudbury, Acton-Boxborough, and Concord-Carlisle to do runs throughout the summer. A friendly rivalry had been built throughout the past 3 years of competition, and many of the League's best runners knew the Varsity Athletes from the other schools by Name. The top runners in our league were just starting to become familiar with James' name after James' consistent year of racing. They would soon hear a lot more of it, and see more of it at the top of race results.

To James, the summer of training was hard, but not as tough as he originally thought it might be. Having a year of consistent running had made James a lot stronger. Running every day was not a strenuous task. His comfortable running pace quickened slightly during the summer, but his focus stayed consistent. He wanted to come into Pre-Season with an excellent base of consistent mileage, and ready to do work outs to get ready for racing.

James will attest to this, he has never been a small guy. In fact, he had a little bit of baby-fat on his face that stuck with him through middle school and his first year of high school. He has always had a bigger upper body, and bigger legs than some of the Varsity guys.

He came into Pre-Season at the end of August looking SKINNY. His facial features were more rugged and narrow, his slender arms lay by his side, without a shirt you could see his abdominal muscles protruding his skin, his legs were sharp, he had powerfully defined quadriceps and small but efficient calf muscles.

James was in shape. Much better shape than he ever had been. The week before pre-season began, James ran a Lydiard (equivalent of a tempo) workout on the high school track. In his trainers, he ran 17:40 for 5000 meters on the Track. A Personal Record run in a workout. James knew that he was now at a totally new level of fitness.

During Pre-Season we ran a number of workouts, including hills, Lydiards, intervals, start drills, finish drills. The Varsity group consistently worked out as a group. For one 4 mile Lydiard, I came through 3 miles in 15:45, with James and Andrew through in 15:58, and a group of guys in the mid 16:00s. Most of our training runs were run at a slower pace in order to recover from our workouts. Most of our workouts were very fast and very mentally and physically demanding.


Pictures: The Varsity at Brown Invite. From L to R; Sasha, Ben, James, Andrew, John, Me, Will.

Our team was thrown out to the wolves (actually the Warriors) for our first meet. We ran against Lincoln-Sudbury High School at our home course at Cold Springs Park. We would have rather saved this matchup for later in the season. Nonetheless, we competed. Our bodies were tired from the weeks of working out well. In the varsity race, James got out well and tucked into 5th place alongside Andrew, trailing the Big 3 of LS and myself. While James made up a lot of ground on me and the LS trio towards the end of the race, James maintained his position to finish 5th, Andrew 6th.
Results (~2.6miles): 14:01 for myself, 14:10-14:15s for the LS guys, James came home in the 14:30-14:40 range . A good first race. The LS guys ended up beating us, and we began our season 0-1.

The next big race was the 5k Boston Invitational at Franklin Park, taking the place of the "Bay State" XC Race for the season. Before the race, Matt Capstick pumped us up by giving us a range of times to shoot for (Ideally having our top 5 under 17 minutes), and told us to have faith in the training. We had a few weeks of good workouts and consistent running under us, and now was the time to start showing off the results of our fitness.

We went into the race, knowing that many of our league rivals would be racing and watching us. We went in very confident, but somewhat not knowing what to expect. This was our first 5k of the year, our first big test. Luckily we already had a race under our belt, and knew what race-effort would feel like.

The results of the Boston Invitational were phenomenal. Our team place 3rd out of 46, solidifying us as one of the best teams in the State. James finished 19th out of 320 with a time of 16:34. A Huge Personal Record. Almost 3 minutes faster than the best times of his junior year. James was also the 4th best DCL runner in the race, he beat two of the LS runners (Noah MacNeil and Jake Shoemaker) whom he had lost to just a week ago. The time, 16:34, also put James into the top 10 best time performances in Newton South History. The race was also a standout race for myself and for then Stud Sophomore Andrew. Andrew placed 32nd, outkicking LS runner Noah MacNiel, with a shiny new PR of 16:50. I placed 7th, with a PR of 16:10.

Just how did James go from a 19 minute 5K runner to a Top-level 16 minute varsity runner in one year? All the positive factors that I've mentioned about James have contributed to to it, but no factor stands out more than the summer training factor. James had all the tools he needed from his past years of training, as well as many lessons learned and advice given by Matt, Steve, Graduated runners, and running enthusiasts.


Picture: James kicks hard down the stretch of the Brown Invitational XC meet in October 2006. Another mid-16 5k result in the books.

Steve has stressed to us that Senior year of High School is all about giving back. James gave back to the team in myriad ways. From being a key Varsity runner on the course to his leadership off the course, James was a model of dedication and excellence.

Very importantly, he also gave back to himself. He proved to himself that, with hard work, goals can be accomplished and even surpassed. All the effort and energy paid off. James had an amazing experience and story of successful improvement , one that coaches dream of. That season, James proved his commitment to a sport that demands so much effort and energy, as well as a team and group of coaches that shared the mutual respect that he had for them. James' improvement was incredible to see first hand.

James continued to race well. Our team won the rest of our dual meets, going into the conference meet with a season record of 7-1. At the DCL meet, James placed 3rd, and our team won for the second year in a row. That day marked the end of my season, after spraining my ankle going down a hill, I hobbled a little way through the course before Matt and Steve physically made/ helped me drop out of the race. James and the rest of the boys took care of business. Knowing that they had a Lion down, they executed their race strategies perfectly.

James was supportive throughout the whole span of that injury. I will never forget how He, Coach Matt, and a group of friends and teammates showed up at my house that same night to just hang out with me and make sure I was feeling okay.

Since I was on crutches for the next two weeks, I got to watch the team continue training for the big meets. James took on the reigns as the top Lion runner, qualifying for the State Meet individually through the EMASS meet, and placing 25th at All States with a 16:53 at the Northfield Mountain course. Weeks later he would place 2nd at the Footlocker Northeast Senior race at Van Cortlandt Park in NYC with a time of 16:50.

His track season began well. James had his first ever Varsity win in a race at the first Dual Meet indoors. He would later run 9:52 for 2 miles, a 2:45 1000m, a 4:39 mile, and be a part of our stellar 4x800 that placed 3rd at the Class Relays.


Picture: James was the consistent 3rd leg of the NS 4x800.

James' story just goes to show you that with the right mindset, and a lot of consistent hard work, a young runner can see significant improvement over the span of a year. Summer training is not easy. It's not fun to go out for a run while your friends are going swimming or playing basketball... but neither is training itself. It's not all gold and rainbows. Consistent training is tough. You're tired, you're hungry, you'd rather relax, watch T.V., or be outside with friends. Getting out of the door is half the battle.

It's those miles when no one is watching you, no one cares, and no one knows who you are that will turn you into a different runner.

Ok, I exaggerated about the "no one cares" part. Your teammates and coaches and family care. You can use that as motivation, reminding yourself that you run for all those people who want to see you succeed. You may still be a "no name" in the competition world. I guarantee you, nobody from any of the schools in the DCL knew that James Vance would end up beating every single one of them in a race that fall. DCL XC champ Jimmy Tyrell from LS included, he had James' number (Dual meet, Boston invite, DCLs) until a bad day at EMASS saw him behind James in the results. Essentially, only you can make yourself get out of the house and run day-in and day-out. Those miles will add up and eventually running will feel easier. You want
to come into the fall season with a large base of miles to work off of. This will allow you to work out better, and recover faster.

I hope to see more developing runners experience the same improvements that James experienced. The take-away from this story is that any JV or young runner can have an impact on the Varsity level, and that impact will come if you dedicate yourself to summer training.

James and I are going into the final Team Cross country season of our lives. James will be a Senior at Johnson and Wales, I will be a senior at Brandeis. We'll both be racing each other at the 8K distance, and hopefully putting together a good group of memorable races off our own summer training programs.



If you ever want to find us, or specifically want to ask James about his experiences, come to Jon Waldron's Running group. Monday's and Wednesdays at 6:15PM at Cold Springs Park by the tennis courts. You can also occasionally find us at Newton South, Weston High, or CC during the summer for the Developing Athletes clinic.
http://www.developing-athletes.com/

Good Health, Run on trails whenever you can, and Always keep your dreams in mind!

Tour fever

Almost one month until the Tour de France 2010 is underway. I'm getting psyched up for it! mainly by the recent jump in media attention towards 97th edition of the famed European bicycle race.

The 2009 top-10:

1. CONTADOR Alberto 21 ASTANA 85h 48' 35"
2. SCHLECK Andy 31 TEAM SAXO BANK 85h 52' 46" + 04' 11"
3. ARMSTRONG Lance 22 ASTANA 85h 53' 59" + 05' 24"
4. WIGGINS Bradley 58 GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM 85h 54' 36"+ 0 6' 01"
5. SCHLECK Frank 36 TEAM SAXO BANK 85h 54' 39" + 06' 04"
6. KLÖDEN Andréas 23 ASTANA 85h 55' 17" + 06' 42"
7. NIBALI Vincenzo 95 LIQUIGAS 85h 56' 10" + 07' 35"
8. VANDE VELDE Christian 51 GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM 86h 00' 39" + 12' 04"
9. KREUZIGER Roman 93 LIQUIGAS 86h 02' 51" + 14' 16"
10. LE MEVEL Christophe 106 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 86h 03' 00" +14' 25"

Contador is back, returning as the man who has won the Tour the last two times that he has competed in the race. Andy Schleck, of the small wealthy European country of Luxembourg, is a previous White Jersey winner...however, he is no longer in that young rider competition and will have a target on the back of his Black and White Saxobank jersey. Lance will be Lance, we'll see what he brings to the mountains this year, he was fantastic last year but didn't have enough power to keep up with Contador and Andy Schleck.
Wiggens, the best Brit of the tour last year, will be back.
Frank, the elder, Shleck is a veteran of the tour, and has finished in the top 10 a number of times.

All those guys will be in the mix, and hunting for a podium finish.
Other riders to look out for: Cadel Evans, the strong Aussie was on the podium at the end of the 2008 tour. Carlos Sastre, the champion of 2008... He beat out both Schleck brothers and EPO Drug user Bernard Kohl to get the win that year, while Team Saxobank was Team CSC. Look out for Levi Leipheimer of the USA, Christian Vandevelde, and time-trial Specialist Fabian Cancellara.

About Floyd Landis' accusations, I say... you can always trust a liar to be a liar. So, even though I think there is a high probability that Lance and all the other top dogs from 1998-2006 were doping, I don't think we can give much credibility to anything Floyd has to say. He denied doing drugs vehemently for two years, and then decides to admit that he did use them, and point fingers at other racers. That's low.

On a positive note:
I'm pumped to watch the race for the green (sprinter's points) jersey this year.
Last year Thor Hushovd barely beat out the Usain Bolt of Cycling, Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish was amazing, he won 7 out of the 21 stages last year, including the famed sprint down the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Here is the video---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdU3_aKZNs



What a monster.
Other than the brit and Nordic-blooded Hushovd, Tyler Farrar of the United States and Team Garmin Slipstream, is a young sprinter that will be noticed.

I'm pumped!
I finished my junior year. It was pretty uneventful, race-wise. A lot of setbacks. I learned a lot during this year. I think I have all the right tools to go out with a bang next year. Summer training for XC starts in a week. I can't wait.

Finally back to normal

I'm in the midst of finals week, but the track season isn't over.

So far, I've only raced once, since getting the death cough in January. I ran a sub-par 1500m at Fitchburg in early April.

I've kinda got back into the swing of things. It took about three months, but I finally have that feeling, while working out, that I'm in shape and can tear up the track.
Last week I ran a 20 minute tempo workout, averaging 5:22 per/ mile. Then John had me do 4x200m pick ups. I ran 28 seconds for each one, felt really strong.

Yesterday, I ran a 6,4,2,6,4,2,6,4,2 workout. Each set was slightly faster than the previous one. While doing some warm-up strides, before starting the workout, I noticed how fluid my body felt while almost sprinting. I haven't had this feeling in a long time. Basically, I started my stride, got to about 85-90% of my full sprint for 80 meters, and by the time I had finished I really didn't feel like I needed to breathe more rapidly than I did before I started.

I guess that means I'm getting back in shape! I had the same feeling during my intervals in my workout, my breathing just didn't feel that stressed, until maybe the last 400 interval. Also, my arm rhythm felt really smooth, I didn't get the burning sensation in my triceps that I do sometimes when I'm finishing an interval.

Overall good feeling. The plan is either to race a New-Balance meet, or to just get myself into good fitness again before I take some time off and start summer cross country training. The collegiate races, other than ECACS and Nationals, are basically over, so I would race in an open meet if I were to race.

I ran 7 miles with Devon today, around 7:10/ mile. Just chilling. So, I'm feeling really good. I'm only running 45 miles/ week right now, tapering off. I'm eager to jump into training for my last season of cross country...
but who knows,
Maybe i'll get something out of this fitness. Feeling smooth.

A chilly Sunday run on the Comm Ave hills

I always get this positive feeling of accomplishment after having run our Sunday Out-and-back long runs on Comm. Ave.

I look forward to our Sunday morning ritual (not just because I need to get my long run over before I go to work but,) because it gives us something to look forward to. By something, I mean the stress-free, seemingly endless progression of the carriage path that starts (for us) at about 1.5 miles into our run.
That path/ side-road will take us from long, flat straight-aways to half-mile/mile ascends up the heartbreak hills of Commonwealth.

9AM Sunday Morning.

It has been a tradition since I've gotten to Brandeis. Usually a captain will send out an e-mail to the XC e-mail list the night before to remind us that, because tradition never forgets, that we're getting up early on Sundays to run a long run. It's like an incentive, for those of us in season, to make sure we don't stay up late Saturday. Doing a cost/benefit analysis, the fewer hours of sleep we would get the night before a Long Run would create a diminishing-returns effect. Which basically means: If we don't get enough sleep, not only will we feel crappy the next morning, we are less likely to get the intended benefits that doing a Long Run would give.

Following a great day of races at BU on Saturday, Most of us were in bed by midnight. Some great results: In the mile, Devon nipped his old PR with a 4:14 low, Ben PRed by 3 seconds to run 4:16. Chris tied his PR at 4:19, Marc ran a (6?) second PR to get 4:21.
In the 3k, our freshman, Alex, ran an 8:32. A very solid performance, the equivalent 2 mile (~3.2k) time is better than his High School PR of 9:18.
On Friday, The girls also raced well. To name some, Grayce got the School Record with a 5:00.3 mile. Erin ran 5:06, Marie 5:09. Julia 2:16 for the 8.
It was an exciting weekend.

We were all in the gym by 9AM on Sunday. John came, told us how many miles we were running (which ranged depending on who raced, or who was sick, or who was coming back from injury.)
We lethargically got outdoors, into the 10 degree F, about 20 minutes later and departed for the hills of Comm Ave.

From Brandeis, it takes us a mile descent to get to Norumbega Rd; which is a windy, desolated, rolling-hill rd that leads us to rt 30.

view from the bega tower (taken from google images)

We take a left out of Bega, onto rt 30, passing the Newton Marriot Hotel.

The guys running 10+ miles formed a solid pack of 8-10 guys once those running less than 10 tailed off from our pack to run shorter routes. The long straightaways of rt. 30 quickly turned into rolling hills and a few short ascends.

Approaching the first of the Heartbreak Hills, we catch a glimpse of the Newton Firehouse on the intersection of Washington St. and Comm Ave. The 19th mile marker of the Boston Marathon, and the marker of the first set of killer hills. This hill has been deemed, by Ben Bray, as "Merga's Hill".

During the 2009 Boston Marathon, a few of us were standing by the firehouse waiting for the Lead Mens pack to come. Taking the famous turn from Washington St. onto Comm Ave, Deriba Mera (Ehtiopia)

made a huge surge, and immediately strung out the lead pack. A VERY clear move to take the lead, at the VERY FIRST heartbreak hill. Awesome, the perfect word to describe the scenario. The lead pack was formed by a dozen of sub 2:10 marathoners, and a number of World/Marathon winners from the past decade. Course Record Holder, Churuyoit struggled to match Merga's move, as did a number of Africans, along with USA Champion Ryan Hall, who naturally stood out due to his bright blond hair and tall, pale arms and legs.

A number of us laugh whenever "Merga's Hill" is brought up in conversation. The term resonates with a clear situation that occurred during the 2009 Boston Marathon. Merga was the tough runner who outlasted every runner in the heat of Beijing Marathon, except for winner Sammy Wanjiru (Kenya). After watching footage of that race, it was only natural for me to want to cheer for him as soon as I found out that he was in the Elite field of the Boston Marathon. I was standing right by the side of the road, next to the firehouse, with a bunch of my buddies right when Merga took the lead. He zoomed directly in front of me, not more than 5 feet away from us, as I yelled something along the lines of, "GO MERGA! THIS IS YOUR DAY!"
A lady, directly to my right, looks directly at me and sternly says "Go Ryan", as if I should have known better than to cheer for a non-American. In the midst of the chaos, I had simply forgotten that Ryan Hall was in the race. I stood there, and semi-embarrassingly cheered "Go Ryan" while my friends laughed and cheered.

As we start running up the hill on Sunday, some of us silently remember the determination that Merga displayed running up the first hill; a move that was decisive for him to win the race that day. We remember silently, not just because our quick pace combined with the steep incline forces our bodies to ask for more oxygen, but because the moment deepens our focus and reminds us of times when our own risky moves have rewarded us with success.

Merga's hill is steep. We know that, once we reach the top, there will be more hills. We blaze one. Passsing individual runners, waving and receiving waves from groups of people training for the 2010 Marathon. We pass Newton city Hall, blaze up the youth-race section of Heartbreak hills, and continue towards Chestnut Hill. Devon, Ben, Chris and I turned at the intersection of Comm Ave and Center St (6 miles out from Brandeis). We get there in a quick 41 minutes. A few of the guys, running longer than a total of 12 miles for the day, continue up towards Boston College and the next set of approaching hills.

The way back to gym is much faster. Instead of ascending, we are mostly descending, and running on flats. Ben, who ran a PR yesterday, lets us go to run his own pace, a more conservative pace.

We run back, past City Hall, as Devon comments on the John Kelley statue that stands along the carriage path.

Part of the positive accomplishment feeling that I get after having run a long run up Comm Ave is due to the fact that so many legends and stories have come out of the remarkable and historical race that is the Boston Marathon.

Countless tales of putting the mind-over-body theory into test by running up the grueling hills. Essentially, as a group of young runners, we are living those stories every Sunday.

We are experiencing the same feelings of longer running; such as aerobic intensive breathing, water depletion, lactic acid building in our muscles. It's just fun to be out there and experience these factors as they come.

Before reaching the descent of Merga's Hill, Chris has already dropped us. Devon and I are running a brisk pace (~6:40/mile) and we are content with keeping that steady. Going down, passed the Firehouse, into the Auburndale section of rt. 30 Chris slowly creeps away from us. There is a point where I say to Devon, "We're not catching him". As we run the flats that lead us to the Marriott, we approach the turn back onto Bega. Referring to Chris, Devon states, "He's flying." We've gained no ground on the sophomore.

We drive past the rolling hills of Bega, and make our turn onto South st, with 1 mile left of our run. Generally, we start out runs by heading down South St, a descent, so coming back we hit a curvy ascent that takes us pass the Chareles River Apartments and leads us to the Brandeis gym. The mile-to-go marker can be tempting, sometimes getting the best of us by making us challenge ourselves and our watches to see how fast we can get back. Guys on our team have been known to come back sub 5:50 in the past. The record for our generation may stand around 5:20, which is incredibly and inappropriately fast for a non-workout day.

Devon and I reach the gym, finishing our run at 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 30 seconds. We went 41 minutes to get to 6 miles, and came by slightly faster (sub 40). It was a pretty solid run, both of us felt that it was nice to run our long runs at a quick, but not overly aggressive pace. My legs felt good, I felt like I could have run over 12+ miles if I had. Definitely a satisfying feeling, knowing that you ran far, and your body desires running further.

Comm Ave is satisfying. During the winter, when the trails are covered in snow, we'll run this run about every Sunday. During the summer/spring/fall we'll drive over to the Lincoln Train Station to run our long runs on an extensive set of trails that takes us to WALDEN POND. We look forward to those runs as well, since you can run upwards of 14+ miles and never cross the same path you ran on before.

I'm happy with the long run. I'm still getting into the swing of things during this indoor season. I hope that I can continue to feel good running, and get some fast racing in. I ran some pretty solid workouts last month, but I came out a bit tired and sick. Now, after having taken some time to recover, I plan to start running well and seeing how fast my legs will carry me this winter.

Upcoming Open-er

Dartmouth Relays coming up this week. Should be a fun meet, a season opener a lot of us.
Running the 800 -- me and Ben Bray
Running the mile -- Dan Anastos, Devon Holgate, Kerwin.
I have to check which of our girls are running, and what events.

Ran a 7x400, 2x200 workout with Devon and Ben yesterday,
66,65,65,64,64,63,63, 28,28
Considering the 2 minute rest in between intervals, I would say it was my best workout of the season so far, and one of my best 400 workouts I've run in college.
Should be exciting.

Not expecting much out of this 800m race this weekend. I'm not sharp yet, so this race is more about just experiencing track racing again, and getting my body to understand the feeling of track racing. This is important, because the effort involved is much different than the effort of running an 8k on cross country, the pain is a lot more intense, and the style of racing is much more aggressive; which I like... but for some people it takes a while to get used to this kind of racing. I'm excited to race, even if it won't be the fastest 800m I'll run.

Special congrats goes to Dan Darcy of Bentley. He's been a long time friend of our team, and one of my co-workers currently at Marathon Sports. He ran 4:10 at the BU mini meet this past weekend. A Huge PR. Congrats Dan!

A New Year Update

I just wanted to get a quick one in, it's 12:00 AM as I'm writing this and I have to be at work by 9:45Am in Brookline in the morning so I want to get to bed soon.

I moved back into Waltham, to work, hang out, run before classes start up again (Jan 19th.)

Training has been going well, my past 4 weeks have been (miles/week)
60,65,55,70. And this week I'm at 68 but I still have to run tomorrow, so it will be a bit over 70.

I've run a solid workouts with the guys, it will be interesting to see what kind of shape we're all in coming back from break. Our first 2010 meet is the Dartmouth meet which is the Sunday after this one.

I talked to John about what races I will be racing this month and the plan looks something like this;
800 at Dartmouth, mile at the Brandeis home meet a week after (which would mean I will have to defend my title), mile or 1000m at the BU Terrier Meet.

The Brandeis meet is a week earlier than it was last year, so if I run the mile it will be interesting to see what kind of shape I'm in. I ran 4:22 in the meet last year.

It's a long way away, but the focus of the season is pointed towards D3 Regionals, All New Englands, UAAs, and possibly D3 Nationals.
We've got a bunch of talented runners going into this track season. I think we can achieve a lot. The key is to be proactive about staying healthy and keeping sickness away.
The last few meets are meets that require qualifying times. I'm not setting high expectations for the first meets, but I do want to focus on qualifying for those meets. The key is the training, just gotta get the work in. The first races are coming up, but it's still time to get the important work in.

Transition from XC to Track

Today marked the end of the Brandeis Mens XC season. The guys finished 24th at the NCAA National Championship meet in Cleveland, Ohio. While the team finish was not as low as the guys would have liked it to be (We were 20th the year before), Paul Norton's 7th place performance proved to be the highlight of the day.

Paul narrowly missed out on being an All-American last year. It's great to see that he broke the top-10 at the NCAA meet. He's been a much better runner this fall; More fit and a lot more competitive and his performances have indicated that.

Currently, I'm getting ready for Track. Doing a lot of core work, as well as lifting with many repetitions. The Cross Country season didn't pan out the way I would have liked it to have. I got "the flu" three times this fall. I don't know whether it was the flu, but from a period of early September to early November I got sick three times with symptoms being soar throat, a lot of coughing, and nose blowing.

It's a shame that being sick inhibited my performances this fall. I came into the season in the best shape of my life. I even managed to PR in the 8K by 30 seconds while being sick.

I'm trying to do the little things right now; like getting my sleep, eating healthy, doing core consistently, not going crazy on my runs. I think it will pay off for track... I also ran a lot of mileage this summer and early fall, a lot more than previous years.

After the UAA meet, I took 5 days off, then got sick again, so I decided to take some more time off. The past two weeks I've been running light just to get back into it slowly. The Winter track season is pretty long, and I want my best performances to come in February and early March.

Our first meet is the Northeastern Meet at Reggie Lewis in early December.
While I may not race in it, I think it will help get us all geared up for track.


In our locker room we have a white board where most of us try to put down our (serious and lofty) goals for the season. The XC season goals are whiped off, and are being replaced by track goals.

I'm curious to see what this track season will bring. We have a lot of talented track veterans returning, as well as some fresh newcomers. Mainly, Alex Kramer'13, a 9:17 high school 2-miler, who has not yet raced in a Brandeis Uniform due to injury this fall.

We return three runners who have broken 4:20 -- Ben Bray, Chris Brown, and Devon Holgate. Devon, a 4:14 miler as a sophomore, is looking to get under 4:10.
We also return 6 runners who have run 1:57 or better.
We have the talent to get a pretty solid DMR together. My goal for the team is to have an All American DMR this winter. Brandeis placed 7th in the DMR at the NCAA D3 Championship meet indoors three years ago, one spot off All American.

The season hasn't even begun, but I think it's good to have some goals in mind. My PRs for track and field are as follows:
400m - 52 seconds (Relay Split from High School)
600m - 1:25
800m - 1:57.4 (UAA indoor 09)
1000m - 2:36 (Tufts Meet 09)
1 mile - 4:22 (Brandeis Meet 09)
3k - N/A haven't run one yet
5k - N/A -- (16:10 FP high school)

My goal is to PR in every event I compete in.

Mid October update

Less than 2 weeks until UAA's, hosted by Case-Western in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm pretty lucky at this point to be on the top 9 going to the conference meet. First off, I might get to see my relatives who live out there. Second, I've been sick with flu-like symptoms and Strep-throat like symptoms for the past month.

Right now, I'm coming off a down week where I had to take 3 days off to shake this weird soar throat I had. It was so painful that it hurt even to swallow food or drink water. I went to the doctor's office, and was told that the lymph nodes around my neck are swollen and that I was still recovering from whatever I had a few weeks back (right before the UMD meet where I still PRd by 30 seconds despite being sick.)

Nevertheless, she gave me a flu shot and a H1N1 swine flu "mist" to help my immune system since the doses would be too small to adversely affect me.

I ran 6 miles yesterday, and 9 miles today, and finally feel 100%. I will consider last week an extreme "down week".
My season has gone like this:
Bentley race, finished first along with the top 4 guys, two 80-85 mile weeks, then UMD where i was 5th for the guys, then 2 weeks down like 60-50, then two weeks at 85, then New Englands where I was 6th on the team, but bombed.

So, overcoming this sickness has been a pretty ridiculous affair. It's been a month long process of recovery, and I guess I may have tried to come back too fast by running 85 mile weeks leading up to New Englands.

Anyways, the guys and girls have kicked ass. We've only run our full squad for two meets; the girls have not even run a full squad at any of the meets yet.
Paul has been dominating D3 runners, at New Englands he was right behind All American and 2 time Regional Winner Edgar Kosgei from Williams. Paul was 6th in the meet, out of all division 1 2 and 3 runners with an 8k time of 24:41. The time was so impressive, because he ran that same time at a much faster course (UMD) four weeks ago.


Dan Anastos ran a 25:26 this past weekend at the Albany invite. He was our #1 runner at the meet, we didn't race Paul, Chris, Marc, or Devon (our consistent top 4). It's a breakthrough performance for Dan, whose previous 8k best was 26:20. This should solidly put him up there with our top 4 which is great news for our team.

Dan has had his struggle with figuring out how to get to the next level during the past two years at Brandeis. I'm wicked proud of him for this race. It means a lot to me, and to him for sure. We were freshman year roommates, and he's one of my best buddies at school. We've been through a lot and it's awesome to see him get to where we knew he could be.

Our rankings will probably fluctuate a lot because not enough coaches will be aware of this, or even look at the results of the meets. John knows what he is doing, and he's playing it safe with a lot of our teammates who are coming back slowly from injuries or sicknesses.

The goal is to be ready for the end of the season; UAAs, Regionals, and Nationals.

Indoor track is also looming in the near future. UAAs is my main concern at this point, if I can get a few workouts in then I may be able to race well and possibly be in the top 7 that races at Regionals. It's not up to me, it's up to who will step it up at the next meet. We want our best 7 guys to run at regionals and nationals.

I'll update again soon. The season hasn't gone as well as planned, but I still may have a shot at racing well. I put in a ton of good work in August and September. Hopefully I can get back to the fitness I had during the beginning of the season, and if not, no worries, our best guys will run at regionals, and track is in the near future.

UMD

Been a little sick the past 2 weeks. Ran Umass Dartmouth invite last Saturday, placed 40something-th and was 5th on the team with a 30 second PR of 26:07. Actually I was 6th, since my buddy Ben ran 26:05 in the Sub Varsity Race.

Very proud of the guys, Paul got 3rd in 24:43, Chris ran 25:20, Marc 25:30, Devon 25:35. Sold run. We got 4th out of 37 teams.
Our girls kicked ass, they got 2nd in the meet, Grayce led the way in 18:24. 3 other girls broke 19 minutes. Solid race.


The tuesday workout before the race we ran another set of 10x600m on the grass.
The times we put down were much faster than the previous week's.

Feeling pretty fit, but right now I'm just running easy trying to shake this cold.
Today I woke up without feeling congested so that's a good sign.

Next race might not be till New Englands at Franklin Park. Can't wait, Franklin Park is a place I'm very familiar with.

In August, Devon and I ran a 25 minute tempo there. The place is in prime condition for racing, not too soft, light cut grass, and a well nourished bear cage.

A little tidbit on respect for my coaches

Recently an article came out in the globe about Steve and his progression as a coach at Newton South;

http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/articles/2009/09/13/winning_newton_south_cross_country_coach_shares_his_love_of_running/

Favorite quote by now senior Elizabeth May--

“He’s so good at getting the best out of you without yelling at you or pushing you,’’ said May. “He’s got this way of recognizing someone’s potential from day one and then he just gets it out of you. You see how much he loves the sport, how much it’s given him, and how much he gives to it. You want to work hard and be as passionate about it as he is.’’

Truth. I credit Steve mostly for getting me to feel passionate about the sport of running, even as a 15 year old. Steve, Matt Capstick, and my coach John Evans all have pretty similar coaching philosophies which is something I really value.
Steve and Matt really worked on my growth as an athlete, while John is now helping me realize my potential as a collegiate runner.

What I really respect about Steve, Matt, and John is their unconditional belief in my ability and progression as a competitor. Steve and Matt always believed in me, whether it was during a dual meet against LS and CC, or during the mile finals at the All State Meet.

John is very consistent with his goals and belief as well. After having a good race, he'll remind me that I'm in great shape and that it's to be expected; the good performances will come from the good training. When he talks to us one-on-one he'll tell us the goals he has for us. Sometimes I'm taken aback to how far (How fast) he thinks we can go. I really feed off of this self-actualization and belief in one's potential.

I can't thank my coaches enough really for the satisfactions and rewarding experiences I've had as a runner.

Brandeis vs Bentley race

This has been the team's first cross country race of the season the past three years.
Every year it serves as a mini indicator of our fitness coming off of 2 weeks of preseason.

The past two years I've come into this meet feeling pretty tired, and I've competed poorly, mostly in part to the fact that I ran too fast on most of my training runs.

Coming into the race, I thought that this year's race had the potential to be much different than the previous races. I had run a lot more doubles, been more consistent with training, and ran some pretty solid tempos.

Warmed up with the team. Felt pretty relaxed.


The race has always been held at Weston High School since it has a pretty good soccer/lacrosse field network that extends out to Weston's middle school.

The race is always approximately 6k, 6000 meters. Each year the course varies and each year it's not exactly 6k. Last year it was shorter... this year it was a little bit longer.

The race started off pretty slowly. We were running a little slower than tempo pace, but we gradually picked it up. The past two years I've always fell off the lead group after the first mile, but this year I felt pretty relaxed. Throughout the rest of the race, I ran in a pack with Dan, Paul, Devon, Chris, Ben, Ryan, and a few Bentley guys.


The last mile we started picking it up a bit. I was feeling pretty strong and, knowing that we would be finishing with 700 meters on the track, I started to accelerate a little bit knowing that there are not many places I feel more comfortable running on than the track.


Ended up just running the last part of the way with my 4 buddies; Devon, Dan, Paul, and Chris. We put a gap on the Bentley crew and the rest of the field and finished strong.


Overall, it was a great effort. Both Men's and Women's teams beat Bentley's comfortably.
I felt great running tempo effort with 4 of the guys.
We had a few guys sitting out that might have joined our top pack at the finish..
Alex Kramer '13 is our stud frosh. He has been running workouts with the top group but recently hurt his hip. He should be back running very shortly since he thinks its only a small strain.
Kerwin Vega'11, Zack Schwartz'11 should also be with us shortly. Kerwin ran 25:25 last year for 8k, Zack was our 5th man at nationals.
Marc Boutin'12 was our 2nd man at nationals. He also didn't run the race due to injury.
These guys are recovering quickly and could still have an impact on our top group of 5. We will need 7 healthy guys ready to go by regionals and nationals if we are going to do the big things that John wants us to do.
We're currently ranked 3rd in D3 Northeast, 13th in the nation. To live up to these expectations, we need to be healthy and ready to go by November.
Today was just a scrimmage, kind of a test of our fitness. We will put in a lot of good work the next few months and it will be important to do the little things; like getting sleep and drinking water in order to keep ourselves healthy and fit.

Our first big race is UMASS DARTMOUTH INVITATIONAL in 2 weeks. 8k, should be exciting.

Results,

Bentley v Brandeis Dual Meet @ Weston High School

September 4, 2009

Distance: 6,000m



Men Time

1. Sam Donovan, Brandeis 19.54

2. Devon Holgate, Brandeis 19.54

3. Paul Norton, Brandeis 19.54

4. Dan Anastos, Brandeis 19.54

5. Chris Brown, Brandeis 19.54

6. Steve Bergantino, Bentley 19.56

7. Ryan Cheng, Brandeis 19.59

8. Ben Bray, Brandeis 19.59

9. Alex Hulse, Brandeis 20.00

10. Andy Watson, Bentley 20.01

11. Jake Newfield, Brandeis 20.05

12. Will Collins, Brandeis 20.06

13. Dan Fava, Bentley 20.08

14. Mik Kern, Brandeis 20.10

15. Brian Sutherland, Bentley 20.12

16. Sean Reagan, Bentley 20.19

17. Ryan Salvo, Bentley 20.27

18. Tom Witherell, Bentley 20.29

19. Aaron Udel, Brandeis 21.28

20. Ray Chen, Brandeis 21.35

21. Gabe Kimbel, Bentley 21.46

22. Mark Jordan, Bentley 22.17



Team Score: Brandeis 15, Bentley 48

Entering XC 2009

Had a good week coming into pre season. Ran a few good workouts and ended up feeling pretty easy on most of my training runs.

First week of practice we went to the Chestnut hill Reservoir to run a tempo workout.
Had two main "fast" groups; dan,chris,alex, paul and me,devon,zack, and marc.
Zack and Marc ran 20 minutes for the tempo, Devon and I continued on to run 25 minutes. We covered about 2.8 laps.

The next week, we had another tempo workout at Chestnut hill Reservoir. Devon and I passed the spot that we had previously run 25 minutes in at about 24:10, so we kept going for another 50 seconds. That is a pretty good sign.

First race is this Friday against Bentley. An annual dual meet that covers 6km. John is having us train through the meet, so I will most likely be in the midst of a mid 80 mile week even with the race.

Feeling good. The most important thing for me is to be training comfortably and controlled. Previous experience has told me that if I feel good training, I should relax and not get excited because I have had the tendency to get tired and put myself in a hole.

This season looks promising. I'm coming off of an incredible summer of training. I've run more doubles consistently than I ever have going into a season and I'm running some really awesome workouts.
I will consider this race on Friday to be a success if I'm just feeling controlled throughout the middle and can kick home with my boys.

Preseason commences!

August 19th. First day of preseason. I've been living in Waltham at our house on south street for about a week now. Just a bunch of track guys living in a 3 story apartment.

Today we had our first preseason meeting. Met with Lynne and Lisa and filled out a few health forms. After getting the necessary info out of the way, we went on our first run as a team.

Without fail, we blazed our first run. 10 miles in about 64 minutes, ~6:24 pace on a very rolly loop called livingston tailor 10 or New Res 10 since it requires a lap around a reservoir about 4 or 5 miles in. And not just Res, since we run around the weston reservoir often and this "new" res is located in wellesley.

It's kind of a tradition that never fails. Our first week back we don't sit back on our training runs.
I'm a little concerned. Last week I ran 86 miles, a lifetime high. I want to take it easy this week, but most of my runs have been sub 7 minute pace.

What I'm happy about is that I feel good running sub 7 minute pace. I've never in my life felt this comfortable on training runs.

As we start incorporating harder workouts I want to be able to make sure I get my recovery days in. So I'll be looking to hold back on my following runs.

Had a BBQ with the girls team and our new freshmen today. Great success.
Looking forward to the rest of preseason.

11 miles on Prospect Hill

It's the 11th day of August. I had One week until the beginning of preseason. I just completed an 80 mile week, and I look to continue running high (actually lifetime PR) mileage.
Today was absolutely gorgeous
...if you were sitting in the shade. Outside, with the sun beating down on my back as I ran up the Waltham roads to the beginning of Prospect Hill, I felt like every single water molecule in my body was evaporating up towards the sun.
Not a cloud in sight.

But even with my body begging for water 5 minutes into my run, my legs felt very strong. From my apartment on South St. it's about a mile to the beginning of the Prospect Hill trail.
From there, it's only about a 7 minute uphill run to the outlook section.
I made it up to that part in no time, and my reward?
A glamorous view of Boston.

(not my pictures)


Felt pretty strong going up the hill. The top of Prospect is only some 800 ft above sea level. The outlook is about 500 ft, so it was another steep ascent on trails to the top of the climb. It lead to a nice view of Rt. 128, I-95 and overlooking the ex-polaroid factory and a few other commercial buildings.



Beautiful run. Not any pain in my knees on the downhills which I was worried about, but that's a good sign.
Side note: None of these are my pictures, they were taken by others lucky enough to get to the view checkpoints.
About to go eat. Waltham is wonderful. I get to hang out with my buddies, chow down, run, and work for a week. August is good. Sitting here listening to "Dont call me Daughter" by Pearl Jam.
Good song, look it up if you don't know it!!

The trivial month

August, for a cross country runner, would appear to be one of the most important months of the year other than November. This is the month where the training may seem the most important because it is the training that occurs in the month of August that seems to determine how good a runner feels in October and November during the Championship-Race part of the season.

Running too hard in August can lead to a feeling of tiredness later in the season. If you push it this month, you may feel like you're burning out in the later part of the season.

Very similar to what happened to me last summer.. Coming into sophomore year I had only run twice a day, twice before in my lifetime. Since I was working 9Am-4pm at a summer day camp (which was a great experience), I didn't have time to train the way I would have liked to. I would have ideally got up to 70 miles per week during the middle of summer with doubles which would have made 70 miles easier to run in one week.
Instead, I would run every day after work. So I was forced to run about 10 miles every day except for two days, my long run on Sunday (12 miles), and usually thursdays (8 miles).
I had come from a base of about 60 miles from my freshman year, with running 8 miles a day still not being easy for me. So this adjustment was tough. I found myself feeling tired all the time. By the time August came, I actually got sick for a week and my training during the month was severely altered.
Instead of being at 70 mpw for most of August, I had weeks of 40,50, then 60.

One more thing, ideally it's nice to take the mileage down when September comes around because when we're at school we start incorporating Key Workouts. Not just running every day, but having fast or long workouts twice a week, sometimes 3 times.
Running interval workouts like 8x1000, 12x600, or 5x mile or even a 25 minute tempo requires a lot more rest when you're just starting the season.

So to get back to my progression of last summer -- I ran too fast on my single runs during the summer, I didn't run enough in August, made up for it by increasing my mileage to 75 then 80 mpw in September while adding in workouts.
So by October, I was done. Legs were done. Felt pretty bad.
I came out of it okay, I ran 47 minutes for 8 miles in my training shoes in late November when I was kinda bummed about not being on the regional team. I just wanted to prove to myself that I was in good shape. I had been doing solid workouts all the way through the season, so when we started peaking and lowering our mileage in November I started to feel a bit better.

I'm determined to make this year different. See, it's a delicate balance -- summer training. You don't want to push it, but you have to be consistent.

My knee started bothering me 2 weeks ago, so I took 2 days off last week and now I feel pretty strong again. I'm wearing this knee pad underneath my left knee which has worked wonders. 15$ payed off.
I ran 80 miles 2 weeks back, then last week was mid 40s-- a down week.
The next few weeks I'd like to keep around 80-85.
80 is the most I've ever done, and it feels surprisingly great. I've never felt so good running doubles every day. I make sure my first run of the day is really easy.

Well!!!
I hope this continues to be a month of good training. I ran 14 miles on Sunday with a few Brandeis guys. I never felt so smooth on a long run like I did last Sunday. ran 14 in about 1 hour and 36 minutes and I felt like I could run 10 more miles. Legs never felt like they were burning, like they have in past year's long runs.

It's an unbelievable feeling.

I wish I could always feel that way. Not knowing how fast you are running, but just gliding along, every step transition of the foot and leg feeling like nothing, Lungs breathing, heart pumping at a relaxed but consistent beat. It's one of those feelings you live for. It's what makes us (runners) a different breed. We live for the ecstasy that is running. Sometimes it can't be explained. Sure, we all go through our ups and downs. But, nothing beats the satisfaction of pure running, and even the sense of accomplishment. I've seen guys that can't stop smiling after the end of a race, after running a personal best, even after pushing well past the point of exhaustion. The sport rewards hard work. Sometimes, it just takes while to get the rewards.

To summarize--
August is going to be an important month for me. I want to be consistent without pushing it too much. Just get myself geared up for the Fall.
If you ever see a bunch of shirtless hoodlums running by Walden Pond on Sunday mornings (around 9:30AM) then it's likely us (the Brandeis summer crew)
We run by here --


Good health.