The Long and the Short of it.

Solobreak sightings are at 0:09 and at 0:35, where there are still over fifty riders behind me. I must have been on the ground longer than I thought, 'cuz I found the back soon after...


Tomorrow is the shortest race of the year for me, the Millennium Mile in lovable Londonderry, NH. It's looking like we'll have a nice contingent of Team BOB misfits toeing the line at 2 pm for the mostly downhill sprint. I've done this once before, in 2008, making the line in 4:51. It hurt. The winner was sub-4. This year I've got no plans to even attempt to equal or better that mark. This time it's just an excuse to run out in the middle of the street and spend some pub time with my mates afterward.

The chief reason for this is that in just four short weeks, I'm signed up for what will (in all likelihood) be my longest running race of the year, the Boston Prep 16 Miler in the next town over from Londonderry. I did this one once before too, also in 2008, running 1:51:17 or something like that in a raging snowstorm. To this day, that is the furthest I've ever run in my life, with probably close to 18 miles on the day since at this race you have to park a mile away from the start. I can't predict how that one will go yet, but I'm hoping for reasonable weather with better footing than last time. I'm looking forward to throwing down against the Ironmatron as well as possibly Feltslave. Maybe even zencycle? GCD? You owe us an update too BTW. The race closes at 800, and they have a startlist posted online, currently with 515 registrants. Don't let that fool you though, as mail-ins are not on that list so the race is closer to closing out than it appears. The weather is a crapshoot, but the entry is only $40 and you get a real technical base layer, much better than a t-shirt, and the post race food is good.

Since the Norwood Turkey Trot 4 miler back in November, my running focus has been on building endurance only. Translation: I'm going out and running slow, mostly on the trails, concerned only with staying out there a bit longer than the time before that. In California I bagged a few runs of over 90 minutes, with hills. Then at nats I kinda banged my knees up a little bit while hurling my tired old body down onto the ice. That was setback number one, and the snowstorm last week was number two. Prior to the snow though, I did get out on Saturday for 12 miles or so in Borderland. That's flat, so I tried to make it tempo and my legs were pretty sore this week. Wednesday found me on a treadmill for the first time in over a year -- well that sucked. On to Christmas. With all my holiday obligations taken care of on the eve, I was free to find some low-traffic industrial byways for a good run on Friday. I hit Blue Hills, and ran some big hilly loops on Royall Street, Green Street, and the Reebok campus, with a detour up and down the access road at around the hour mark (btw, the road was cleared and salted, and would even have been safe on a road bike except for two patches near the top where the snowguns from the ski area coat the pavement with overspray). Total mileage was around 14-14.5 in exactly two hours. That's a lot for me, hence my low hopes for a fast mile tomorrow. My only goal is to beat Duano...

So now I need a training plan for the rest of January. I am not a fan of running in the street to begin with, but the woods are in no shape for trailwork right now (except for snowshoes). Forget the treadmill; I think a 35 minute "better than nothing" run is about my limit there. That might suffice for mid-week. So my best bet looks like finding races on the weekends, and praying for a January thaw. And I have to hope the bash damage on my knee is only that. Thanks for reading.