Bates Carnival and EC #2

One down, five to go.

This past weekend, the team traveled to Rumford, ME for the Bates College Carnival and the second Eastern Cup of the season.

This venue is known for hosting some high caliber races, and the competition there was just that. On Friday, we started things off with a 20km Classic Mass Start. Now, if we remember back to last season, I raced in one 20km Classic at Dartmouth, and did not finish. Well, this time went a little differently. I was not (as) sick, and I wasn't alone. 

Definitely not alone. (Silke Hynes/EISA Photo)

The race was tough, as any 20km race is. But this one had the added pleasure of a 10 minute snow squall coming in halfway through the second lap (it was a 4 lap race). 

Remember that sunny start? Me neither. (Silke Hynes/EISA Photo)

This changed things dramatically, and what was once a 2 minute gap between myself and the leaders quickly opened to 4. 5. 6... Eventually I finished somewhere around 6:30 back. And it had warmed up in that time. A lot.

I had ditched my gloves on lap 3. (Silke Hynes/EISA photo)

I ended up 69th overall on the day, with a time of 1:07:02.3.

Day 2 went a bit better. It was a 10km Freestyle, which is more of my race. The catch though was that it had cooled to dangerously cold temps the night before, and the start was delayed so that it could be warm enough. And it was still cold.

Temp went from 0-12 not too quick. (Silke hynes/EISA Photo)

It was a tired race, but i felt that it went better, especially for early season. I ended up placing 51st for the collegiate class, and 86th overall. 27:17.50, 4 minutes behind the winner.

Getting that lunge in. (Silke Hynes/EISA Photo)

Lastly, Sunday. Sunday was the Eastern Cup Classic Sprint, so not my event. It went about as well as expected. After 1.4 km I ended up in 55th overall, 2 seconds out of making the junior heats (3:42.37 vs 3:40.47). On the bright side, it meant that I could get out ahead of the crowds impending doom that was the weather.

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.

Getting over Legs

Last week was an interesting one for me. 

On Tuesday after doing  hill repeats on Leclair Street in Winooski, I noticed a little pain in my left shin.

That continued to Thursday, where I couldn't complete the team Tempo set on North Campus. I met with the trainers, and they said I may be coming down with a stress fracture.

So I did the most logical thing. 

I raced.

RACE REPORT: MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE ALDRICH INVITATIONAL - 9/20/2014

So last race I said that I was gonna try a different strategy, and this week we did just that. The above pack (Tyler, the Cody's, and myself) as well as Aaron and Mike stayed fairly close for the majority of the race. We went out at what I thought was a fairly conservative pace, 5:47 first mile. As the race wore on, the pack broke apart, but we mostly finished close to each other. I was 52nd overall, 30:33. My leg surprisingly didn't hurt during the race, or afterwards. 

The next day, just to keep the pressure off the leg, I went roller skiing with the Women's team in Huntington. A nice 1:15 ski at an easy effort, and I got to know some of the new skiers!

Tuesday, I had the thrill of running a hill workout by myself. Not fun. But, again, my leg didn't hurt! The pictures are obviously not the hill, but the hill is not something I would want to look at. 

Toss in a few days of biking and roller skiing, that pretty much sums up my week. Last night the team travelled to the UVM track for the GMAA Mini Meet #3, the last one of the season. Everyone (well, most everyone) competed in all three events, the 3000m, the 800m, and the 400m. And I did not come in last in any of them! I ran my PR 400 (after running the 3k in 9:59.6 and the 800 in 2:22) in 59.67. And now my leg hurts. It started hurting during the warmup, and continued through the workout.