Easy Gait

Long time no write. I have been reading a lot about pools and maintaining them. I have been picking the brains of other people who own pools, and finally pulled the trigger. The carrara swimming hole is now open. All are welcome but you may want to wait a few weeks because the water is, uh, chilly. I pulled all the plugs you are supposed to pull, plugged all the plugs you are supposed to plug, primed the pump, filled the basket, drained the cover, dumped about $100 worth of chemicals into the big hole filled with water and I must say I am pleasantly surprised. It is blue and sparkling and doesn't burn your skin when you jump in, or give you any funky twitches when you get out. I can't wait untill is gets a bit warmer and I can come back from a run and just dive in the pool. That will be a good day.

On top of that action, the kitchen guys are coming on Tuesday to install our new cabinets and counter top and i need to get a few things touched up before hand that I never even thought about. Today was the day to demolish the old cabinets and give them to a guy in RI who wants them for his basement kitchen. He said they are perfect. What ever guy, as long as I don't have to pay to get rid of them. They are the ugliest plywood and panel cabinets from 1969 you have ever seen. Tomorrow I will build a wall for the new location of the stove/micro combo. I have never put in a wall at 45 degrees so I bet most of the time will be checking and double checking measurements. It is only about 36 " long but I am a little concerned about the angle part of it. Square walls are easy. I have been taking digital pictures of the progression. I will post them when it is all done.

As far as running goes, the only thing of note is the solid track workout I had on Wednesday. it was 800,800, 1600, 800, 800 @ 2:16, 2:14, 4:40, 2:16, 2:14. Feeling very good and fast. The conditions were, how do you say? Ideal. 60, overcast, no wind. I would be very pleased if the conditions were the same tomorrow. Let's hope the rain we received tonight will keep things cool. Tonight will have to beearly to bed to recover from all the action today. I ran for 57 minutes in ARWR and found they put a culvert in on my bunker trail run. No more floods, until the beavers fill it again at least.

If you are in Boston tomorrow check out the High Performance meet at Bentley. Elite events start at 7:00, open at 6:00. Yours truly will be racing at 7:30 in the 5k. Let's hope for anything other than 14:55!

that's all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First Boston High Performance meet of the year down and three to go. A storm was brewing as I stepped out on my 24 minute warm-up. The whole time I was thinking that right at the gun the winds would pick up and the sun would go away. I missed my guess because not only did both start happening, but the rain started to drive as well making sure that any effort would be more mental than physical in nature. The funny thing is I didn't mind too much because my past 3 workouts had been in much the same conditions. I ran a 8:38 going through the mile in 4:32 and trying to pick it up. I was all alone at that point though and it was, as Kevin said "tough sledding." The wind from the 100m to the 250m was absolutely lousey. I took off around a few guys and never caught the two guys in front of me. Oh well. First meet of the year and it was not a total disaster.

Today I did a pseudo long run at lunch with 68 minutes through ford's folly. A little history here. Henry Ford owned all the land in western sudbury and eastern Marlboro along rte 20. He saw a stream and tried to turn it into a lake so he built a dam. Unfortunately for him, the stream is intermittant and only runs in the spring, after that it just becomes a trickle when it rains. Hence the name, Ford's Folly. I guess people just wanted to make the guys seem stupid. All he did was revolutionize the industrial world and bring automobile's to the masses.

That's all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight was an interesting night worth writing about. Christy and I drove out ot Hyde Park to go see a show. No community theater isn't exactly equity but it is a great time on a little bit more of a budget. We saw Seussical the Musical at the Riverside Theatre works on Fairmont st. A very entertaining show with a few glitches and a couple of sound issues. I really enjoyed the show and think anyone who is looking for something to do a calm Friday night should head on down there and check out the Riverside Theater Compnay. I think people should really go out and support these things a little more. Everyone wants to see Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible III. I haven't seen it but let me guess a few lines of dialogue.

"Ethan you can't. They know you are coming. They saw MI-I and MI-II!"
"I can do it. I have to, he was my friend. 1000 guys with machine guns and a helicopter gun ship don't scare me. I have this pistol and a dirt bike."
(things blow up, tom jumps off something way too high for anyone to walk away from, and bullets fly all around but somehow never hit him because he is running fast)
Bad guy gets killed.
The end.

Instead of spending money to support big budget hollywood and looney bin Tom, we should go out support local community theaters. Live performances are always better, even if the level of acting is not quite as polished.

Wait a second. Let me get off my box.

Ok, back to the real stuff. The run today was a muddy, wet, rainy, Nobscott loop. It stopped raining the last mile, just my luck. The trail was a mess as were the clothes I was wearing. After yesterday's athletic day I just ran for 48 minutes and called it the day. A figured mowing lawn was a good shakeout.

Remember:
A person's a person, no matter how small.

Posted by Ryan at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's getting late so this must be quick. Today was a morning run in the ARWR for 31:12. At lunch I ran to the Sudbury track and did 6 x 200 in 32 and then headed back to work. A couple of friends from work wanted me to show them the trails in Hop Brook so after work I went MTN biking. The biking is pretty slow though because they are winter shut-ins and don't quite have the fitness yet. The new cranks and drive train work very well. Even though I had to buy a special tool to install the bracket cups. Tthank you shimano for making every fastener some weird configuration in which no tool except one you invent can tighten it. Why your a Hex or socket? Too easy!

That's all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and saw that the face of the ground was drying.”
Book of Genesis

Well, northern NE is finally getting a look at just how much rain we received as the water starts to recede and the clouds part. It is confirmed that Lowell is now beach front property so buy it while it is still cheap. 17” of rain over the course of a week must be close to some sort of record. It is certainly a PR for me. Hopefully all the people flooded out will get their insurance checks in the mail and a have a place to crash while their sofa’s dry out. Notice how no one was shot and gangs did not tear through the streets breaking everything in site just because they could. I love New England because the people here. Just because there is a chance to wreck stuff, people don’t. There were some idiots in downtown Peabody paddling around and swimming in a lake of rain and feces like they were on vacation in Maine. Goes to show you can’t screen everyone out. People will do anything to get on the news.

Bentley track is getting its timing down for the Boston High Performance meets. Last night I was cursing the rain again as I drove through a down pour in Weston on my way to the track. Much like the wind dying just before the 7:00 elite events during the series, the rain ceased at precisely 6:00 to allow a dry* warm-up and a rainless track workout. The sun even poked out for about 5 minutes before returning to it’s hiding place behind the clouds.
*The surface was not dry but we need to take baby steps.

The workout was 6x 800 starting at 2:18 going to 2:15 with 2:15 rest after every one.
The splits from my watch were:
1.) 2:18.2
2.) 2:16.5
3.) 2:18.7
4.) 2:19.1
5.) 2:17.2
6.) 2:15.4

Felt a little sluggish and it took a little more effort to get the legs going than it should have. The last two felt the best. 8 strides after the workout with 4 of them at or close to 100% speed really loosened up the legs.

This morning the run into work was quite pleasant with a lot of puddles and run-off on the trails. I may head back the roads because it probably will not be much drier on the way home. Stupid rain.

That’s all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to waterworld. Anyone training in New England right now knows what I am talking about. It has been various degrees of rain since Tuesday. Which matches the various degrees of wetness my trainers are in right now.

Yesterday the trainers were soaked. A little track workout at Bentley in a casual monsoon. I thought Tuesday "At least we get the bad one out of the way early." Ha! Yesterday was just as bad. I decided to wear trainers and do it based on effort. The workout was 3 x 2k and 4 x 400. Here are the splits from my watch.

2k 6:07
4.50 rest
2k 6:11
3:46 rest
2k 6:09
3:42 rest
400 67.56
1:28 rest
400 67.88
1:32 rest
400 68.18
1:29 rest
400 67.17

I tried to keep moving the whole time with brisk active rest just to stay warm. I could feel the shoes filling up with water through the first two 3k segments and then it was just total saturation. I am not sure if this is a good workout or a bad workout. It is what it is and I am looking at it as 4.75 miles of hard work on the track. The conditions were not tailored for a dead on times or consistant laps. The rain went from driving to misting to steady back to driving. All during the workout. I am just praying for bad weather on the first meet of the spring. I will be well prepared for it.

This morning the the trainers were drenched. I had to get the run done in the morning because we headed to Holliston for Mother's day. Surprise surprise it was raining. I was testing my brand spanking new black New Balance Verse jacket which probably saved my life from hypothermia. I unfortunately got a little turned around and confused on my long run through ARWR trying to avoid some flooded trails. So my casual 1:40 minute run turned into 2:10. A lot of slogging through some pretty sloppy terrain.

Here is the picture of the workbench I built on Friday. This should add a lot of efficiency to the projects around the house. I will no longer have to search for 5 minutes everytime I need a tool. It was getting very tedious. Should have been the first thing I did.

That's all I got

Posted by Ryan at 7:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have had a lot to write about and little time to do it. Tonight is no different. Today was a day off from work and the carpet guys came to install a few runners through out the house. I also had a hope that there were some hradwood floors under the linoleum I picked up in the kitchen today but unfortunately it was just plywood sub-floor. looks like I am going to have to tile the floor after all. I also built a sweet workbench in the garage. I will post pictures as soon as I get the pegboard up and populated.

As far as running goes, Tuesday night I had a horrible attempt at the decastella workout. The Nor'easter that has been hanging around for way too long is starting to get a bit tired. avsdi That was sammy the cat jumping onto my left hand to say hello. He loves to work on the computer but is no the best at typing. Wednesday thursday was just more nobscott loops and morning shakeouts. Only one run this morning in my new no doubles before workotus trend trying to get a little more quality out of the track sessions.

Tomorrow is another scheduled track workout. I believe it weill 2k's and strength stuff. I just hope the rain lets up. All the weather forcasters are predictiing it is supposed to be awful tomorrow. I would really like a day better than tuesday's 45, wind, rain.

Have a good weekend, stay dry.

Posted by Ryan at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday was my first LFD of the year. It was supposed to be a long slow day after the track workout and a long day of trying to get our pile of dirt and moss to resembles a yard. So far it is nicest pile of dirt I have ever scene. Sunday I met in Lincoln with Adam, Paul, and Mario for a nice LSD but it was all for not. At just about 55 minutes it turned into a silent run which pretty much means we are running too fast for a good sunday political debate about turning Navajo into the national language. We did an 1:43 which would have been an 1:48 if we had it my way. I am calling it 15 but it was probably longer.

Today was a counter nobscott with the hill in 47:10. Six strides at the end. Someone who owns a red rx8 was driving up and down every row in the parking lot looking for the closest possible spot to the building. It takes about 2 minutes to walk from the furthest corner of the lot to the door. I have no idea, why they would waster all that gas for no good reason. Speaking of which, tomorrow I have to buy gas and I have not had to for 3.5 weeks. It is not going to make me happy.

Off to bed for me. I have a track workout tomorrow and I am going to do everything in my power to make it 2 good ones in a row. If I could only quit my job I would be able to gaurantee it.

That's all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last three days of running have been spectacular here in New England. 75 and sunny. There has not been too much going on for me until today so there wasn't much to post except for base mileage. Today was the first postitive step I have taken in my training for a while. I hope it can turn this listing ship right ways up.

This morning at Bentley was a solo track workout in the blazing sun. Which I didn't mind so much because the wind did not pick up until halfway through the workout. It was supposed to be 3 x 800 in 2:18 with 2:30 rest, mile in 4:44, 2 x 800 in 2:28, mile in 4:44. The actual splits were 2:15, 2:16, 2:17, 4:43, 2:20, 2:18, 4:46. I took this as a moral victory because I had not been feeling too hot all week for some reason and was dreading the workout a little bit fearing another disaster like tuesday nights fiasco. This morning I was actually able to stay down on the track, run strong, and get rid of that floating over stride crap that stung me at Penn's and Tuesday night. I had an awful third lap of 74 on the last mile but closed with a 70 to bring it to only 2 seconds over pace.

Tomorrow I have a nice easy long run on the trails.

"Until that time keep your ear to the grind stone"

Posted by Ryan at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The past four runs since the last entry have been exactly the same, in a way, chilly and rainy. Beautiful may weather has blown into massachusetts.

Yesterday at lunch I did a relaxed Nobscott shakeout in 34 to try to get ready for the evening workout. Did not work. The track workout was 1 mile in 4:47 (4:40 target) and 9 x 400 in 3 sets of 3 at 64, 68, 64. Only it was more like 66,63,65,68, 67,67, 64, 63, 66. It was as ugly as it looks. I have was having a terrible feel for the track and had trouble finding an easy gait. I was just all over the place. I am hoping it is a little hang over from the thursday/friday effort last week. It should have been out of my legs. Oh well, you just take what you can get.

This morning I ran the 6 mile trail into work in 38:35 and took the 7 mile trail home 44:18. These are just guesses but the feel about that. I will need to run them many more times to know for sure. Both runs were in a steady fall-like rain. This morning's rain was chilling.

Poor Beckett is throwing for the sox tonight in what Remy described as a "driving mist." Umm, Remy, that is called rain.

That is all I have. Tomorrow I am going to try to open the pool by pumping the water off the cover and getting all the leaves out of it. This will be my first pool opening so the fingers are crossed that I don't destroy anything too expensive.

That's all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More exciting base training for everyone to absorb. This morning was the typical ARWR 371 run with christy in 32:23. You may notice that I have renamed this run from what I have used previously. It turns out the other name, based on a no fly zone out in new mexico, was previously trademarked. In order to avoid a messy copyright infringement lawsuit I have decided to change the names of my runs in Assabet River Wildlife Refuge to ARWR runs. The naming convention has not yet been made yet because I have not even figured out too many good loops. Lets hope this puts an end to the whole sorted affair. I would hate to have to resort to the nuclear option of lawyers, courts, jesters and kings over something so small.

Today at lunch was a counter nobscott in 46:12 with two and 4/5 sets of lifting. The last 1/5 was missed because Corporal Lutz, demonstrating hulk like strength, broke the lat pulldown cable like a cheap piece of 10 lb test line.

That's all I got.

Posted by Ryan at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)