4 on the 4th in Bridgton, ME

Back to racing! Not much to say about this one--felt good to be on the line again. I had some pain in my left achilles that I was letting improve with light mileage--but what really ended up helping it was a 15 mile hike in the White Mountains the day after the race (not to a mention a very therapeutic soak in a very cold stream afterwards). I hiked up Baldface as far as the top of the ledges, but the wind was so powerful I had to turn back (a westerly from the direction of Mt. Washington--can only imagine what it was like up on the presidentials' ridgeline). On the way back down I stopped by Chandler Gorge--heavy rain from Hurricane Arthur had it going like a mill-race! Quite a sight. 

As a consolation, I hiked deeper into Evan's Notch and went up the blueberry/speckled mountain ridgeline, which was in the wind-shadow of the westerly ridge defining the notch, and thus hikable above tree-line. Tons and tons of green blueberries--I was just a bit too early for them, alas. 

Anyway, my officially measured time for the race was 23:42, for 13th overall (I clocked 23:40 for myself, not sure of the discrepancy). 

Christopher's Run

I took most of last week off because my ankle was bothering me a bit. However, it felt fine on Sunday after an easy run, so I want ahead and did the 5K on my schedule. The rest had put some pop in my legs, and I was feeling just the right amount of pissed off (on that scale that runs from middle-distance ("howling berserker"), to ultramarathon ("contemplation of perfect peace and one-ness of the universe"). 

The guy I parked next to told me I was going to win, which I discouraged him from placing any money on, as most of the HFC low sticks were there to represent. When the gun went off I went out after the lead pack, because in my head at least I am a front-runner. The hot pace pulled me along to a quick start, and I settled into 4th. 

Round the mid-way point, two of my HFC teammates caught up to me, and we ran hard for a ways together. Eventually AJ gapped us, and Chris and I ran more or less shoulder to shoulder until the last 400m or so, where he slipped ahead. 

Finished in 6th (5th/HFC) in 16:48. 

Here's a picture I liked taken right before the finish (Chris is just out of the frame ahead of me):

Great Bear 5K

Finish time 17:13, place 3rd. Splits were 5:12 @ mile 1, 10:40 @ mile 2. 

The leader went out like a rocket and won in 14:45--I looked him up afterwards, and he's a Kenyan with a 13:42 5K PR. Needless to say it was cool just to be in the same race as him (he shook my hand after and told me "good job"!)  So, I was mainly racing against #2. I kept pretty close and never really lost contact with him, but somehow couldn't be bothered to close enough to make it a tight race. 

I'm a little disappointed with how I did--I didn't hit my time goal of breaking 17, and didn't really feel like I left it all out on the course. On the bright side my ankle, which had been bothering me a bit over the last week, felt totally fine during the race. 

Ah well--I'm probably going to race again next weekend. Onward and upward...

13x400m intervals

13 x 400m intervals, with 200m jog recovery, in 75,9,7,7,7,6,6,5,7,6,7,6,4. Done in trainers. Conditions were ideal; left my house by 5:35 and was starting my intervals by 5:57--it was cool and clear, with no wind, a perfect spring morning.

This was faster than goal 5K race place (5K RP++, I guess). I will do one more track workout before the Great Bear, probably 9x600, trying to run accurate 80-81 second 400m splits.

ladder intervals

Ladder Intervals @ 5K race pace, 1:20 / 400m, with 400m jog recovery.

200   0:36
400   1:18
600   1:56
800   2:38
1000 3:20
800   2:42 (slow)
600   1:59
400   1:18
200   0:38

Done in New Balance 980s, which are pretty chunky. My left ankle has been feeling a little finicky, but nothing new about that. It generally works itself out after a couple miles. Beautiful spring morning today.