December 6th is
really early for me to be "racing" at the 5k distance. Heck, I'm less than a week into my first mesocycle of '09. Having 1.) already done Tabata's on Wednesday, 2.) still having pain every day, and 3.) beginning to prepare for a
30k nordic race at the end of January I thought it would be wise to turn the event into a "long" training unit.
Christine's Crusade 5k Trail Run presented by TEVA was an event that we were supporting behind the scenes with volunteers and event management consultation. The RD, 'Drea McCusker, is a teammate of ours and her sister is the namesake of the event. My two oldest and I arrived early to help fellow teammate, Steve McCusker (husband of the RD), set up. My car thermometer read 16 degrees when we pulled into the PCA campus in Dover. I felt pretty good about the decision to set the course the day before as the ground had frozen pretty solid overnight. After setting up I decided to begin the first of 5 loops I planned to do on the course. I wanted to get in somewhere in the ballpark of 7-9 miles that morning. At the beginning of the second lap I spotted local elite runner
Jim Johnson scouting the course in the opposite direction. I had not met Jim before, but learned of him through another teammates blog and had begun to follow him through his own entries. After introducing myself he was gracious enough to switch directions and finish his warm-up with me. By the way, that would be the last time we'd run together that morning...more on that later. Jim discussed a little of his background, his current team (
Central Mass Striders), and his plans for the coming snowshoe racing season. While we ran and talked we met up with another local elite runner, Tim Cox of
PR Racing. Tim, his fellow coach Brent Tkaczyk, and a strong showing of their CBNA track & field program were there to race and support the cause. Turns out that Tim and Jim knew of each other but hadn't actually formally met. Those two would battle, along with Mainer Bob Winn, for the lead with Jim ultimately pulling away and winning the event. Having already run 3.5
before the start of the race and not really needing to run the next 3.5 hard I forced myself to hold back when the "GO!" command was given and the race began. To be honest, I probably ran a negative split on Lap #4 overall as my competitive juices flowed and I saw a number of friends and acquaintances ahead of me and within "striking' distance. Within 200 meters of the finish I finally caught former UNH prof Bob Kenefick and ran with him to the tape. Can't remember the last time I crossed a finish line and neither looked at the clock or my watch...I still had another loop to run. When I looked at the
results later in the day I actually ran 7:17's. Not bad. I lingered in the finish area for a few minutes, drank a couple of cups of HEED, and went out to sweep the course for my final 'glory lap'. Although the course was mostly flat, it was the longest I had run in a couple of months and I really didn't have any significant pain issues while I was moving. This morning was a different story unfortunately. Predictable soreness in my left AT which renders me hobbled for the first 30 minutes or so when I get out of bed. I think I'm probably going to go back to the boot and perhaps a week or so of the 800 mg of IBU daily. It probably also wouldn't hurt to get back into the habit of my Hammer Nutrition Whey just before bed in an effort to promote protein catabolism and tissue repair. The first week of training went pretty well. Taking today as a zero day before hitting it hard again tomorrow. My first race of '09 is six weeks away. Plenty of time.
Gilford, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- The first event of my self-proclaimed "Slow-Twitch Decathlon" is in the book. This morning with temps hovering between -1 and 1 above I stepped to the line of first event of 2009 and my first ever winter triathlon. To be honest, I bet I wasn't alone. It may have actually been the first ever winter triathlon in NH. If anyone else can lay claim to that one go right ahead. My expectations coming into today were not surprisingly tempered by at least two things...the fact that it's only the end of January and I haven't spent more than an hour on my skis. You know what they say about the best laid plans. Now, before you rush to judge those comments as excuses, know this...I never make excuses for my performances. I own my performance today. Fact is, I learned a great deal about winter triathlon today and I had a fantastic time doing it. The first leg of this winter tri didn't include any swimming which I was actually happy about. It did start with a 5k trail run (two 2.5k loops) on the new Gunstock Nordic stadium course. Having pre-rode the loop prior to the race I knew
to expect the first half as a climb and the 2nd half as a descent. I started conservatively and tried to just find a rhythm and warm up. I frankly was a little surprised to pass as many people as I did on the ascents on the first loop. Feeling good after the first 2.5k I decided to pick it up a little on lap #2 and by my support crews unofficial count I picked up 10 spots and arrived at the first TA in 18th place. Anticipating the mountain bike loops (3 of them on the same Stadium course) would become a little choppy and that I might spend quite a good bit of time with either my foot down (Moto-style) or walking the hills I made a last minute decision to stay with my Salomon screw shoes despite having my old-school Ritchey pedals still attached. It actually worked fine and I'm not sure it really made any difference. Most of effort on the 2nd trail run leg was lost on the mountain bike section as I lost a ton of spots to stronger, fitter, and more technical riders. Here's a lesson I learned: Riding the indoor trainer less than 10 times since November is neither winter mtb-specific enough nor close to sufficient to develop any appreciable riding fitness. If I go back in 2010 I'll correct that. I managed to slog through three laps with pretty consistent splits despite feeling like I was hike-a-biking as much as I was riding in laps 2 & 3. After a quick splash of HEED in transition I set out on what I anticipated would be my biggest technical challenge...XC skiing. My well documented 25+ year layoff from the sport became very obvious very early as I once again started losing spots to faster more technically superior skate-style Nordic skiers. While I'm no stranger to the faster more superior skate technique, for some reason (perhaps my own self-doubt) I stuck with what I knew...the old-school classic style. And just in case I needed yet one more self-imposed logistic handicap, I ignored the well known fact that in Nordic skiing it's common to wax your skis. Although I was slow enough for comfort on the descents (thanks to my snowplow) I really struggled with the flats without any glide whatsoever. Lesson #2: Spend more time getting comfortable with the skate-technique by spending time on your skis and pay the $6 to get a wax job (not that 
kind of wax job). After the first of two 3k loops I felt my right quad start to act a little squirrely and I made a quick pit stop to my crew and drank a little HEED. For me, Hammer Nutrition products are worth their weight in gold and as I expected the crampy feeling resolved and I finished the race without any health issues. I'm proud to say I didn't fall during any discipline today although I took the hills very conservatively...some may say too conservatively. The results aren't posted yet and I really wasn't interested in sticking around to find out. Plus, my faithful support crew had spent the morning standing out in the cold. With a finish time of just over 2 hours I'm sure I finished in the back 1/4 of the field but I'm really pleased with my effort today. I kept repeating my favorite racing mantra all morning, "Give nothing less than everything you have.". The 2009 racing season has begun and there are 9 more endurance sports on my "To Do" list.
