March 19th, 2010 - Training - Tyngsboro/Westford/Chelmsford/Lowell - 7.4

Day 78 - I took the day off from work to spend some time with Rachel up in Maine. My mom came along with us as she was starting to get cabin fever too. We ended up going to Kennebunk to let the dogs run their butts off. Unfortunately, that didn't leave me much time to run my own butt off, but it was fun to see the boys have their day in the sun. Boy, and what a beautiful day it was. It was in the upper 50's where we were on the beach, but closer to the 70's when we walked inland.

We got down to Bush senior's stomping ground around 11AM, and left for home around 2PM. We stopped by the Kittery Outlets on the way home, taking Route 1 for most of the return trip, so we didn't get back to Tyngsboro until about 4PM. Thanks to DST and Mother Nature, the sun was still out and the temps were still in the upper 60's.

Fortunately, I had packed my running clothes, hoping to get in a run (that never happened) on the beach. Rachel took the boys and the car home while I decided to run home from Tyngsboro. It's basically the same course I did on Wednesday night, but in reverse. The only variation was that I was going to cross the Rourke Bridge and take the boulevarde, instead of the congested Middlesex St.

The conditions were absolutely perfect when I left Tyngsboro, but after sitting in the car for over two hours, my body was no where near ideal running condition. I had also brought along my worse (worst?) pair of trainers, since I thought I was going to be running close to the ocean.

Also, I was still feeling the after-effects of my Chocolate War from the night before, where I had sunk a few battleshitsships.

I went through the first mile of the run in 7:12 and felt that it was the perfect pace considering the situation. I got to mile two with a split of 7:03 and felt that THAT was the perfect pace. Remember how I said that I do my best thinking when I am running? Well, I also have some pretty bad ideas too.

To keep things interesting, I decided to test whether or not I could get a faster split at each remaining mile for the rest of the way home. I still had 5 miles to go at this point!

I got to mile three with a split of 6:46! I guess I could have sandbagged it, but I was feeling really good at this point! I admit, I was starting to feel the limits of this experiment by the time mile four came and went with a split of 6:44.

I knew that I probably had, at most, two miles left in me going at these speeds, and I was starting to feel the effects of eating junk food all day, and not hydrating properly. Grime was starting to build in my mouth, and the sweat was pouring from my cap. The long and extreme cold of the past winter had me forget what it was like to run in these temps!

Mile five was a little past the UML Boathouse and my split there was 6:41! The breeze from the river definitely helped me during this stretch, and also seeing all of the other runners out there. I can't even remember the last time I ran on this side of the boulevarde (other than during the Mill City Relay) with so many other runners out.

I was near exhaustion, mainly due to my crappy (heavy) trainers, by the time I crossed mile six with a split of 6:27! That was all I had in me, and I also didn't want to burn out two days before New Bedford. I took it easy on the final 1.4 miles, and treated the last stretch as a cooldown. It was a fun experiment while it lasted.

The entire ran came out to 7.4 miles, at an average pace of 6:51. A lot better than I had planned, and it looks like the intense run knocked my hips back into place. The soreness is gone with only my left foot having any residual pain from the track workout on Thursday night.

I'll be working the Holyoke race tomorrow morning/afternoon, and it looks to be an all day event. Rachel and I have plans to take the boys out for a walk up in Nashua when I get back, so I'll most likely put in a 5K at my favorite place to put in a trail run, Mine Falls!

Here's the final card in the GLRR deck...for now: