Manchester Half Marathon

Tomorrow is the Manchester Half. I'll be looking to place in the master's division, but we'll see how it goes. Lot's of bike miles this week, mostly on the trainer. The legs feel pretty good though, so I expect I will be able to have a good race, despite running Baystate two weeks ago. I've finally found my way back to the pool also, so it has been a busy week. I will probably front load this week and then start into some sort of a taper for Clearwater.
My PR half marathon is 1:22:08 at New Bedford 2007. The Manchester course is very tough, but the goal is to break 1:20 and walk away with a new PR. If that fails, it will be fun to race back up there again this year and I'll start thinking about marathons for next year.

Crossing Back Over (Again)

The whole mess caught on camera. Thanks for the idea Mark and kudos to you for cheering everyone on all day in the rain - there are better days ahead. Also, kudos to my Dad for handing out those GUs - I never saw any at the aid stations until about 22 - way to late. I have fully recovered from the cold (that was inevitable) and I am back on the bike trying to turn myself back into a triathlete for one last time for 2009. I have been running since Tuesday and the legs, surprisingly enough, have bounced right back. I can't remember the last marathon where my recovery has been so quick. Today was a 2:40 brick; 2+ hours on the bike and a hard tempo 5+ miler at around 6:40 pace (last mile 6:25), which felt hard - 6 days after the marathon! Also, I can't believe I am training like this at the end of October! ... but the addiction is strong and I will need to mix hard and easy days, as to avoid injury. Tomorrow will be a day off, really the first day since the race. I also need to scope the weather channel for a good outside day for a long TT workout on the race bike - hopefully I will get some good days in the next two weeks to ride and do intervals. Also, desperately need to get intimate with the pool the next two weeks, as I am now 9 days from my last swim and open-water season is definitely over for me. I can't take any risks after being in that hypothermic state last weekend, so my next open water swim will be in Clearwater.
Next race will be Manchester City Half Marathon next weekend. I feel no pressure with this race. I will race as well as I feel that day. There is prize money at this race, however I will need to have an outstanding race like last year to get me back into the money. See last year's race report; Manchester Marathon was my best running race in 2008 and gave me the renewed confidence to come back and run 2:52 this year at Boston.

Anyway, 11/14 is coming fast and I can't wait to go to FLA and get back in the warm sun. This winter thing has come to stay and I think the snow last weekend is an indication for things to come. It is weird, but somehow I am already used to being on the trainer hours at a time. I'll post again next week. -Kyle

Baystate Marathon Race Report

After running competitively for 34 years, I believe these were the worst conditions I have ever raced in. Certainly the worst of the 31 marathons I have run. It was day that looked like the conditions were going to be pretty good. I was talking with a woman in the parking lot before the race and she said the weather forecast was for the rain to stop around 10:00. Buddy Jim said that it was supposed to rain hard around noon. I had heard that we would have a Nor'easter and that it would be wild in the afternoon. Anyway, it was evident at the start that a lot of fast people had bailed out. I saw team-mate Mike at the start and asked "Where is everybody?" and the answer - they are not coming. Off to a quick start, I was saying at mile 5 that I didn't know what everybody was talking about - these are great conditions! The kiss of death; then all hell broke loose. I was right on track through the first half, fast and felt good, but by mile 16 my toes were numb and at mile 22 I could not feel my feet. Those 37 degree puddles you could not avoid, worked on my feet to the point that they were gone and so was my PR. My race was over, I could run, but couldn't get a good push off with my toes and was falling way off pace. Thanks to Dave for trying to pull me along the last mile plus, but I was just done and not caring about time. I would finish at 2:56:23, 62nd overall and 15th in my AG behind friend Dima. It's pretty funny I would be complaining about having a bad day and running 2:56 (my third fastest marathon and non-Boston PR)! I am just feeling the pressure to get that sub-2:50 marathon on my resume. Anyway, time to get back on the bike. I leave for the 70.3 world championships in three weeks.

Anyway, I would like to congratulate:

Jim Koch, 3:07 and first Boston qualifier (on his first try too)!

Mike Brown Dowling, 1st BAA and 2:34:39 in those conditions? unbelievable!

I am celebrating this week (and still asking myself why I raced in those conditions).

I will post again in a week or so.

Cheers!

Taper Week

It looks like I've survived the beating over the last few weeks. I started taper week with a long over due day off and did absolutely nothing. The body feels good and I've managed to get myself in decent shape. I feel relaxed about this weekend. Weather looks to be good for the race, although I am not glad to see the cold weather come rolling in so early in New England. Anyway, I'll do some easy tempo tomorrow and take the final two days off with no running and try to stay off the bike.

The Good, the Bad and the Over-trained

Not some spagetti western, it seems like I always fall into the third category. Last Friday/Saturday, I absolutely blew-up. I've managed to come back this week and feel a lot better, but I desparately need to get to taper week, which starts next Monday. This training period has been unusual, as I have only trained for seven weeks for this race. LOTS of speedwork and not much junk miles, although I have tried to keep long runs at LSD pace. I have managed to walk the fine line again, but the 43 year old body has stayed together and I think I will have a good race on the 18th. Baystate will be my 31st marathon and I won't be holding anything back. That said, I need to be REASONABLE on what I expect to get out of this race. I need to go hard and yes, I am looking to PR, but I need to stay under control (no caps lock needed!). Mark and I will be trying to get the BAA masters into a scoring position. This marathon is the NE marathon championships and we will be tailing some of the BAA big guns and ... a lot of fast runners from the other teams will be there. Anyway, I will continue to pound on myself for the next five days and then stop. I seem to be used to the torture at this point anyway.

I hope to see a lot of folks at Baystate! Keep fingers crossed for a cool October day.

-Kyle