My journey as a marathoner...

As I sit here waiting for time for my second run, I began to think about what I have done this year, where am I at now and where I want to get by the end of 2011 and beyond. I'm a big believer that constant reflections are good ways to keep track of short term goals which eventually help lead to accomplishment of long term goals. To start, lets go back to 2009 which was was marked by some big ups and downs. Some exciting things happened in 2009 such as qualifying for my first US championship, winning my first new england individual college, breaking my first ever individual school record and competing for Cape Verde (in Portugal) for the first time. But 2009 was also marked by some big disappointments such as my hip injury which put me out for 2 months, missing the NCAA championships and missing the entire outdoor track season. Also non training related things happened such as me struggling to finish undergrad with overloaded classes and also the passing of my mother with cancer....

Monday Dec 20 AM 5 miles, 35min PM 10 miles, 70min Tuesday Dec 21 12 miles, 1:24min, drills Wednesday Dec 22 10 miles, 69min Thursday Dec 23 10 miles, 69min Friday Dec 24 AM 10 miles, 66min w/ gps PM 5 miles, 36min Saturday Dec 25 13 miles, 1:26min w/ gps Sunday Dec 26 16 miles+, 1:57min (snow blizzard) 91 miles

Monday Dec 13 10 miles, 65min (Travel back to Boston) Tuesday Dec 14 10 miles, 65min Wednesday Dec 15 10 miles, 64min Thursday Dec 16 10 miles, 62min Friday Dec 17 7 miles, 50min Saturday Dec 18 9 miles, 67min Sunday Dec 19 off 56 miles

Monday Dec 6 AM 5 miles, 35min,drills PM 10 miles, 70min, core Tuesday Dec 7 12 miles 12 miles1:13min workout 6 mile tempo on treadmill at 1% incline goal first 4 miles @ 5:20, next 2 miles @ 4:50 warm up: 21min splits 5:19, 5:20 (10:39),5:19(15:58),5:16(21:15),4:50(26:05)4:49(30:55) cool down: 21min Wednesday Dec 8 AM 5 miles, 34min, drills PM 10 miles, 69min, core Thursday Dec 9 10 miles, 69min, drills, strides Friday Dec 10 AM Travel to Charlotte PM 5 miles, 37min Saturday Dec 11 Race USATF XC Club Nats, 12 miles, 1:12min 45th place, 30:49 shakeout with Harvey and Tim G: 8 min warm up: 20min race: USATF-Club XC 10k in 30:49 cool down 14min Sunday Dec 12 12 miles, 1:26min 76 miles

BAA 3rd Place at USATF Club XC: Luke Meyer (Yale/UConn-CT), Tim Ritchie (Boston College-MA), Colman Hatton (Bowdoin-ME), David Emerson (Boston College-MA), Brian Harvey (Carnegie Mellon/Boston University-MA), myself (UMass-Lowell-MA), Tim Guerin (UMass Lowell,MA). Photo credit: Mike Scott Before entering my weekly training, I wanted to talk about the USATF club cross country championships, in which I competed as part of the BAA men's team this past weekend in Charlotte, NC. Big thanks to BAA for taking us to the the race and USATF for putting a big field together. Also, big thanks to our team coaches Mike Pieroni and Terry Shea for taking good care of us there and Suzanne Walmsley for a lot of the behind the scenes work.In past years, this event has been up and down in terms of competition, but this year it was really tough up front, which makes it even more special because we finished 3rd! According to this press release from the team website, it was the best ever team finish...

What : New Bedford Half Marathon (13.1 mile). 1 big loop. Race usually lasts just over an hour long. Where : 1265 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA 02740 (Start/Finish in the same area) When : Sunday, March 20, 11am. Arrive at 9am to avoid traffic and find parking. Race starts sharply at 11am. Who : Approximately 2,500 runners are expected. Other info : Being a loop course, the New Bedford Half Marathon is a great spectator race. People will have ample opportunity to watch the race in progress. Spectators can watch the beginning of the race on Purchase Street, walk down Union street to approximately the five mile mark (Rockdale Ave) and then walk back to the finish. See the above map for the course information. Another place for spectators is at the top of the County Street hill (around the 12.2 mile mark) – from this vantage point spectators will appreciate the make-or-break point for the runners as they near the end of the course. Many make this trek between the start, the five mil...

Every runner at some point goes through a bad stretch of performances. Certainly I am no different. In the last few weeks, my performances have been up and down. As Nate would say, I've had some "piss poor" performances. My last outing on December 4 was quite embarrassing one to say the least. What excuses do I have? NOTHING. In the late Summer of this year, my decision to increase volume of training was one that I certainly did not plan for short term success. I have since increased my long runs about 4-6 miles and my weekly mileage over 40+ what I did on usual around this time last year. I am a strong believer that it takes time and patience for results to appear when sudden changes in training are made. Random things will happen that we cannot control because of many uncertainties. It's like watching the stock market go up and down unexpectedly not having a clear picture of why it's happening. One thing for sure though, on April 17, 2011, I hope that the stock...

Monday Nov 29 AM 6 miles, 42min PM 12 miles, 1:20, drills Tuesday Nov 30 AM 7 miles, 50min PM 12++miles, 1:15min (workout) (reps 2-6 were done on lane 2, lane 1 closed for construction) workout goal 6xmile at 4:50 pace w/ 400 rest warm up 24min workout: 4:51.17(1:38.87)4:58.38(1:39.81)4:57.25(1:36.56) 4:55.75(1:40.00)4:57.63(1:36.31)4:59.14 ----37:50 for 12068.75m (5:02.70 per mile) cool down 14min Wednesday Dec 1 AM 11 miles, 1:17min PM 8 miles, 56min, drills Thursday Dec 2 AM 6 miles, 42min PM 11 miles, 1:11min (workout) workout: Aussies quarters warm up: 28min, drills, strides 8x400 w/ 200 quick jog (ran entire workout on lane 2) 67.57(49.0)66.93(48.38)66.62(47.07)68.18(48.69) 67.50(45.81)68.38(46.50)68.68(45.76)68.87(41.18) total 15:15.12 for 24 laps on lane 2 cool down: 28min Friday Dec 3 AM 10 miles, 72min PM 5 miles, 38min, drills Saturday Dec 4 AM off PM 16 miles, 1:44min (Northeastern track meet) shakeout: 5 min, streches warm up: 22min race: 5000 on indoor track, 2nd to Nat...

Monday Nov 22 AM 6 miles, 42min with on/off strides PM 12 miles, 1:22min, drills Tuesday Nov 23 AM 7 miles, 49min PM 10 miles, 68min (workout) workout goal: 8x200 at sub 34 with 200m easy jog rest warm up: 35min actual workout: 34.48(56.09) 34.35(54.69) 31.37(50.44) 32.75(56.19) 31.37(49.94) 32.81(52.75) 33.25(52.63) 33.31 cool down: 23min Wednesday Nov 24 AM off, travel to San Jose PM 6 miles, 42min, drills, strides Thursday Nov 25 AM 11 miles, 1:12min shakeout: 8 min warm up: 25min, drills, strides race: Silicon Valley 5k in San Jose, Ca. 17th overall, 11th America in 14:30. cool down: 25min PM off Friday Nov 26 AM 16 miles, 1:52min PM off, travel back to Boston Saturday Nov 27 AM 12 miles, 1:21min (workout) warm up: out in 44min workout: fartlek back in 37min with 3min on, 2min off PM 8 miles, 56min Sunday Nov 28 AM 15 miles, 1:32 min (workout) with BAA workout: First 6 miles easy, next 1 hr from 6min to low 5min pace PM 8 miles, 58min 111 miles