June 6 & 7, 2009
Well, my 1st go at since the Boston-Holyoke marathon double five weeks ago. It went about as well as I expected. Nothing to complain about too much here. I have been laying a bit low since then; putting a few pounds on enjoying cookies, ice cream and all sort of other things that I denied myself before the marathons. I've been logging a modest 30-50 miles/wk. Things feel fine. I just felt some down-time would be good for the body and mind. Hopefully I can break this year into two race seasons and avoid the overuse type injuries that come along with racing at a high level all year thru. So this weekend was all about getting back into the grind. A double race weekend. It's something I rarely do but that's how the schedule worked out this year.
1st up: The Harpoon 5.?? miler. My brother-in-law Dan Pavoni did this race last year with me. Our wives come along for the fun. Dan (pictured right) is long on strength and flexibility; quick on the one-liners; but unfortunately, short on any good cartilage in the knees. He'll run a casual 8:30 pace. He's in it for the beer.Like last year the original 5 miler course has been replaced with an 'alternate' route that starts and ends in the same spot behind the brewery and as such will not be the advertised 5.0 miles. 5.3 was the official race distance. Nobody seems to care too much. After all it's the Harpoon 5 Miler - everybody's in it for the beer !
In short, the race went about according to plan. A 5:30 1st mile. I just figured I'll jump into a somewhat conservative pace and see what I can hold onto. As I suspected, the lack of tempo training since the marathons along with extra poundage, will limit what I am presently capable of. I figure after a couple miles my stride will likely wind down into a fast jog. To my surprise I held on well; logging mostly 5:40 miles thereafter except a suspect mile 3 (6:10). In the end, I did about a minute better than last year on what might have been a bit little longer of a course. The overcast cool temps much better than last years' brutal mid 80's basting.
We stuck around around for some beers and soaked in the sun - which was so nice as to wait until post-race to make it's appearance. And also, to collect my 2nd in the 40's age group winnings: a cool Harpoon Winners' Mug and a 6-pack of Harpoon UFO-White Ale.Dan and I took couple turns whipping down a 20 meter shoot they had set up with a radar at the end. Dan, knee brace and all, took honors with 16.61mph best to my (all too humiliating) 16.5mph. Damn I suck at the short stuff.
some splits...
5:30, 11:11 (5:41), 17:26 (6:15), 22:55 (5:29), 28:34 (5:39), 30:16 (1:42)
Place Div/Tot Div Nettime Pace Name Ag S Race#
===== ======== ===== ========= ======= =====
1 1/694 M2139 27:11.7 27:11 5:08 Terrance Shea 35 M 26 Cambridge MA
2 2/694 M2139 27:20.9 27:20 5:10 Michael Decoste 26 M 794 Somerville MA
3 3/694 M2139 27:26.1 27:26 5:11 Alex Taylor 29 M 1473 Somerville MA
4 27:27.3 27:27 5:11 Alasdair McLean-Forema M 1876 Cambridge MA
5 4/694 M2139 27:55.9 27:56 5:17 Edward Breen 27 M 939 Medford MA
6 1/112 M4049 29:03.4 29:03 5:29 Gregory Picklesimer 42 M 1092 Newton MA
7 5/694 M2139 30:44.9 29:36 5:35 Bryan Duffy 31 M 32 South Boston MA
8 6/694 M2139 29:55.4 29:53 5:39 Michael Guarascio 25 M 69 Boston MA
9 7/694 M2139 30:10.8 30:10 5:42 Dan Nelson 25 M 1127 Brookline MA
10 2/112 M4049 30:16.2 30:15 5:43 Bob Landry 40 M 342 Ludlow MA
772 395/694 M2139 45:34.5 44:56 8:29 Dan Pavoni 39 M 354 Granby MA
Rhody 5k
USATFNE Grand Prix - Stop #4
Ain't got a lot to say about this one. While I wasn't expecting much on the back end of a two race weekend, I would like to think I could at least hold the pace I ran 2 months ago over the twice-the-distance hilly Holyoke St Pat's 10k.
This year I thought I ran a even, conservative 5:30 1st mile. As I headed downhill at the 1 mile marker, I still felt in control. It didn't take long before, once again, I started dragging my slow-a** around this course. Oh, well. Nobody needs to read sad commentary about a mediocre race from an average 40 year old runner. I didn't have my 'A' game today, but you go to war with the army you have. (race photo courtesy http://doublejrunning.blogspot.com/ )
Splits: 5:30, 11:14 (5:45), 17:04 (5:50), 17:38 (33)
93 28/123 M4049 17:38 5:41 Robert Landry 40 M 160 Ludlow MA GREATER SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS
Greater Springfield Harriers failed to repeat as Male Master Champions without our anchor, Kent Lemme. I didn't exactly pull my weight. When I first joined the Harriers, I wasn't honestly figuring to be much help with anything on the shorter side of the half-marathon. No excuses. I'll make sure to put my best effort forth, for the team, next time. Every second counts.
-------------- MALE MASTERS TEAM RESULTS--------
1. WHIRLAWAY RACING TEAM 15:39 16:04 16:10 16:12 16:24 ( 17:13) ( 17:15) = 1:20:29
Sean Livingston, Craig Fram, Scott Anderson, Mike Cooney, Mike Platt, Mark Gibson, Reno Stirrat
2. CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS 16:02 16:26 16:29 16:57 17:37 ( 19:52) ( 20:05) = 1:23:31
Joe Shairs, Tim Van Orden, Dave Dunham, Dan Verrington, Kevin Connor, Edward Coleman, David Krom
3. GREATER LOWELL ROAD RUNNERS 15:46 16:33 17:09 17:19 17:47 ( 18:14) ( 18:49) = 1:24:34
Tom Doody, Mark Reeder, David Oliver, John Barbour, Tom Offenbacher, Andrew Biancheri, Ej Hrynowski
4. GREATER SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS 16:29 16:39 17:38 17:44 17:48 ( 19:58) ( 20:34) = 1:26:18
Joe Lemay, Ronald Lombardi, Robert Landry, Francis Burdett, Peter Fratini, Richard Clark, Ramon Alicea
On a positive note: It really wasn't all that bad of a weekend. A good track workout and two races, or in a better frame of mind - 2 decent tempo runs. The next couple weeks will be a better indication of what's possible for the rest of the summer. Next up the Longmeadow Father's Day 10k and Springfield's 4th of July 5k. 8 weeks of training remain before Beach 2 Beacon. Time to get serious.
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