Two (and one) Down.

So I was gonna do a recap of preseason, but I never got around to it. My Bad. So here is a little of that, plus a triple race report!

So, to kick off preseason, I decided to try my hand at a 7km trail race at Great Glen Trails as a benefit to my friend and Olympic Biathlete Sean Doherty. It was a good mix of single-track and wide trail, and it was a decent field for a bunch of local runners.

Up and over the bridge! Photo by Meg Skidmore.

The course started with about 200m of wide trail before dropping into the first bit of ST, and had quite a few technical pieces to it, but was still a blast! I ended up first overall (second if you count Sean, who raced as a bandit) in 28:36, and came home/went to school with a sweet new 'Adidas Climatube"

Right behind Sean! Photo by Meg Skidmore.

Following that race, I drove with my dad back to Winooski Park for preseason running camp, which was pretty much the same as last year, but with a few new faces from the seven first-time runners we picked up this season.

After camp, classes started, then that Saturday we had or first race of the season. This is the third time we have run the Shacklette Invitational at St. Anselm College, and it the best we have run as a team to date. The race started out rather slow for this meet, with the leaders going out rather conservatively for the first 5k.

Somewhere around 5k. Photo by Coach Joe Connelly.

After that, though, they picked it up, as did everyone else in chase. For SMCXC, I led the team to 8th place out of 9, with a 41st place finish overall. Our next three (Liam, Ross, and David) were within 15 seconds of me, all above 50th place.

200m to go. Photo by Coach Joe Connelly.

It was a good team effort, and the rest of the top 4 for us were all in their first college race!

Yesterday was the Vermont Technical College Invitational, but this year on a new course. Things went out a little fast (my bad, again), but as a team we were able to hang on and win the overall, with Ross placing third, myself fourth (30:03), Liam sixth, and David seventh.

Fast start. Photo by Vermont XC

This edition of the course started the same as always, with a fast first mile followed by a killer downhill into a cow field. But we then climbed into this campground, which added even more climbing on the loop in there. Also, the course measured long by a bit. But anyways, it was a great race!

I am in much more pain here than the smile says. Photo by Vermont XC

This coming weekend the team has a double effort (at least the nordic guys do), with the Sleepy Hollow TT, followed by our first team appearance at the NYSEF Climb to the Castle!

3 Races to cover!

Alright, so it was midterm-season here at St. Mikes, so the time to blog has been limited. I'll just cut to the chase here and give out the race reports, with just a little bit of stuffing.

First up was the Vermont Collegiate State Championships at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, VT. This was the same course that we ran the Vermont Tech Invite on last year, so we had a bit of an advantage on already knowing that it was a very dirty course. 

It was a good race, nice having Middlebury there to chase down, I ran what at the time was my best race all season, coming in 13th (SMC Harrier#2) in a SB time of 29:33. As a comparison, I came in 13th at the Invitational last season in 32:21. That is 33 seconds per mile faster. What.

That week, coach told me not to run much, and to do more cross-training. So, I went for a bike ride.

Next came the NE-10 Preview Meet/Gates Farm Invitational at Franklin Pierce College. This course was, um, challenging. Going in, someone gave us the idea that it would be a flat and fast course. It was flat like the Rockies are short. The defining feature of the 2k loop is a section affectionately known as "Executioner Hill," a 150m long grade with 35m of vertical (500ft long, 115ft up), in some places pushing grades of 35%. The first mile mark was at the top. And we ran up it three times (1k out and back + 3x2km loops). It was a tough race, but still fun. I ended up placing 22nd overall, in 32:35, third for the team.

Lastly, this past weekend was the 24th Mayors Cup in Boston, MA. This race brings in elite runners from all over the world for 25-30 minutes of racing in historic Franklin Park. I ran what is definitely my best race so far, running my second fastest 5k while running a PR of 28:10 in the 8k. Franklin Park is actually a flat and fast course,and having the elite field there really helped. I was 125th overall, and the third St.Mikes runner, but this race was really a breakout performance for me.

One Week

Preseason has ended, and school has begun.

We wrapped up our week with a run on the Rollin Irish Half Marathon Course in Essex, VT. Coach only wanted me running about an hour so I didn’t get to run the whole thing, but still managed a little over 7.5 miles.

Gil crushing the course with a 1:24:21

The next day, I rode into BTV to watch the last two races of the Green Mountain Stage Race, the Cat2 and Cat1/Pro Crits.

And I got a flat tire on Wednesday.

RACE REPORT

Saturday was the first race of the season, the Shacklette Invitational at Saint Anselm College. Being our first race, I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming into the day. I felt good for the first mile and a half, holding between 5:30/mi and 6:00/mi for the first two miles. Then I burnt out a bit. I had gone out just a bit too hard, clocking in at 5:10 for the first mile, and was the #1 Knight to the two-mile mark. I fought back for the last two miles after trying to do my best recovering on the third mile, and pulled out a 30:15, good enough for 44^th place overall and third for the Purple Knights. Race pacing has always been a weak spot of mine, and I think that I need to rethink (or come up with) a better strategy for the future.