Week of June 20, 2010

Another uneventful week of training. Still trying to shake a cold (nose & throat congestion) that I been fighting on and off for the better part of a week now. Hectic work schedule and lack of sleep are not helping.

I haven't hit stride yet in my summer training program. There's not too much post-marathon issues to deal with. I just need to get the mind, body & spirit commited and focused on the next big push.

This weeks' Tuesday Night Track (TNT) showed the first signs of life.
Norm Fuller, Mark Bailargeon and Bill Wheeler in attendance.
We all did warm-up together but on the track everybody had their own agenda.
Mine was 400s with 200 jog recovery. Work has been beating up lately and I wasn't going to come close to the 16-20 reps I had envisioned in my head all week. Instead 10 reps 76-77 per except the 1st @ 74 (group frontrunner mentality ) then two fast with Wheels 72, 68 and with Norm (one all out ofcourse) 66

On a steamy Saturday evening I took my Nephew, Josh Labonte, up to Northampton High to run the 3rd Annual Northampton Mile, his first race (a soccer kid). I done this Mile on the roads before and really enjoyed it but today I was going to take a somewhat relaxed approach. I wasn't expecting to run a superfast time and wanted to make sure my race wouldn't take away from whatever Josh might need from me in terms of getting him to the start line and pacing him out - being his first race .. ever.

So instead of warming up with a good couple miles, I hung around prerace trying to get Josh to do some basic strides or pre race routines - nothing doing - he wasn't interested.

After a lap or two of solo easy jogging and some easy strides feeling oh, so unready, I headed off for my heat which would go off about 20 minutes before Josh's. Given the lack of prep I didn't feel that bad emotionally. My stride, however, was U G L Y - even for me.

The effort didn't feel that hard at the begining, although the 76 second first 1/4 mile split was less than inspiring. I just couldn't hold a smooth stride at that rate with stiff legs. But I was holding my own for the most part and it appears no one over 40 year of age was ahead of me, so an age group win seems very possible if I just keep on moving. 

Flew down the hill at 1/2 mile in full stride. It wasn't till about 3/4 mile that I started to feel the envitable slow down. I got overtaken real bad on the final 100m track straightaway by some high schooler who went sub 5. In 2008 I was clocked 5:00.1. This year 5:01.5. My Pr is 4:56.5 at a Smith College All Comers. It would have been nice to PR today but considering the mile couldn't be further away from my best distance and not going thru a proper warmup I was content with today's 5:01.5.

Splits 76, 2:29 (74 downhill), 3:44 (75), 5:01 (77)

I recovered quickly (as usual for me), jogged up to the start to meet Josh for his heat. I ran alongside trying to pace Josh the best I could - neither of us having a clue how fast he  could run a mile. We started with a 1:40 split and slowed down some to a 1:55 but overall Josh held up great - especially when you consider his running program likely consists entirely of laps around a soccer field.

The 2010 Northampton Mile - 6/19/2010

Northampton, MA

Event 3 Mixed 1 Mile Run
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Name Age Team Finals
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Finals


1 Lutz, Ian M17 Leeds, MA 4:39.80
2 Clayton, Dan M21 Northampton, MA 4:44.80 Male Alumni Winner
3 Keith, Tyler M18 Florence, MA 4:46.00
4 Hunter, Harrison M16 Northampton, MA 4:51.80
5 Sullivan, Alex M16 Forence, MA 4:59.10
6 Landry, Rob M41 Ludlow, MA 5:01.50

Event 3 Men 40-49 1 Mile RunEvent 3 Boys 11-13 1 Mile Run

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11-13 Age Gr: * 5:53.50 6/22/2008 Jake Ross

Name Age Team Finals
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1 Milsark, Rory 11 Northampton, MA 6:22.20
2 Howe, Sam 13 Florence, MA 6:39.40
3 Milsark, Ethan 11 Northampton, MA 6:45.90
4 Norton, Sam 11 Northampton, MA 7:12.90
5 Venne, Francois 13 Florence, MA 7:14.10
6 Labonte, Josh 11 Ludlow, MA 7:17.70



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40-49 Age Gr: * 5:42.80 6/20/2009 Joe Brautigam
Name Age Team Finals
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1 Landry, Rob 41 Ludlow, MA 5:01.50*