2011 Year In Review

Alright, I've put this off long enough. Here is my Year In Review for 2011.
Queue fanfare:

That was pretty much the highlight of this post so feel free to stop reading now.

I've covered most of this before so it will be brief.

As 2010 ended and 2011 began I found myself steadily recovering from a really ouch-tastic injury.  The Old Fashioned Ten Miler was another great race for me.

Then I set my sights on the Hyannis Marathon and cruised my way to a respectable 3:19. This wsa a pivotal race because I began to think bigger and to realize that a BQ was definitely in my grasp.

Now it was time to get serious. I enlisted the help of Mary to apply all of her knowledge as the founder of TriMoxie Multisport Coaching to make me a serious running machine.

Unfettered by a weird leg pain I flew down the streets of Boston during the Corporate Challenge to run my first ever sub-6 race (5K or longer).

Then came the New England Relay. But to make it interesting and to give the other teams a chance we ran it as an Ultra. And we still beat everyone but two teams (two full, 12 person squads. Not 2 other Ultra teams)

Time for a break so I ran up a mountain and through a bunch of mud.

Back to serious training. The Providence Half Marathon at which I alternately screwed myself and dominated at the same time. Now I knew that a 3 hour marathon was completely in my sights.

CVS Downtown 5K; my yearly tradition. Yes, I crushed it. And I would have done a sub-18 if it wasn't for that dang hill!

Finally, the Baystate Marathon. The one that I had been training for all year. Could I grab a BQ? Could I run it in under 3 hours. Yes, yes I could. Yeah me!

And to round it all out I threw in a duathlon just for fun. And got 3rd AG.

So all in all I would say this was a pretty successful year. Unfortunately I injured my achilles way back in March. Although I was still able to run with it I have been completely run-free since the duathlon in October. No running for a long time is starting to make me a very angry (non)runner. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

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Nothing to report

Seriously, nothing. I went to Ortho today on the advice of my PT and their only advice is to wear a heel lift. Great. That's totally going to make it heal up really fast now! I figure I should be ready to run again just as the temperature turns from an unusually warm winter straight into -20 degrees. Being injured sucks. Being somewhat injured but knowing you can't run because you'll make it worse is just an excruciating agony.

So since I can't run I suppose I will be

Still Not Running

It's been a month since the marathon and I am still not running due to the issue with my Achilles. (ok, I ran once) It is still swollen and sore so I'm still icing, stretching, going to PT..blah, blah...I even got a Strassburg Sock on the advice of my therapist. And here I am still waiting. And getting fatter. And being super-pissed that it is 60 degrees outside and I'm not running.

Time to get back on the horse (figuratively of course) and get back to training. 2012 will be here soon and I've got big plans for the next year. I can feel all that speed just flowing out of my legs and fading away. Need to run!

Four! Four weeks of not running! Ah ah ah ah.

Wrentham Halloween Duathlon

Postponed from last week due to the snow which means it suddenly fit into my schedule. I've been wanting to do this race for a couple of years so the timing was great. I pulled out the bike, which hadn't been touched in four months, and dug out my shoes, which also hadn't been touched in three weeks, and got ready for my first duathlon!

Realistically I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured that was part of the fun so just go with it. With an extra hour of sleep courtesy of daylight saving time I was ready to race even if it was only 24 degrees out. Really, 24? That's just freakin cold. I'm not a big fan of riding in the cold so I wasn't sure how that was going to go over.

I arrived at the venue, got my number and made my way to the transition area to rack my bike. Now it seems to me that triathletes spend a lot of time setting up and getting everything perfect, at least that's what I gather from all the race reports. So here I was expecting a big to-do and having to get all my gear and stuff just right. Really though, I hung my bike on the rail, put down a towel with my shoes and set my helmet and gloves on the bike. It took like ten seconds.

Race time! No gun, just a "Go!" and off we ran. I figured I would run a conservative 6:30 so I stuck to that and was surprised to see that the leaders weren't that far ahead. Cool. Three miles went by quick and I was doing ok, not great but ok. On to the bike! My first transition ever! This was going to be awesome. I ran int o the area, put down my running gloves, pulled off my shoes, put on my bike shoes, and finished with the helmet and bike gloves. Grabbed the bike and it was time to have fun!

Ow. Remember when I said that I hadn't biked in awhile? Yeah, it took a couple of miles for the crotch to get used to the saddle again. But I was passing people! Hooray for me! Then I got passed by other people. Boo. By mile 5 or so everyone was pretty set so no more passing around me. Everything was going good, I wasn't cold and I was moving along ok. Mile 6.5 my leg starting cramping, ouch. I kept going, it was either going to seize up or not. No time to worry about it. Eleven miles flew by and I began to wonder if I should become a bike racer instead of a runner, so much easier. No! Time for transition 2.

I got right up to the transition area and jumped off my bike and, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! Why won't my legs work right?! So I gingerly and slowly jogged my way back to my area. Did the reverse transition, running shoes back on, running gloves, etc. and ran (um, jogged) back onto the road. Two miles left to go so I dug deep and powered my way to a brisk 7:30 pace. Really, 7:30? Come on legs, quit complaining and move! Surprisingly they did. I managed to finish off the two miles with a 6:45 average. I can live with that. Crossed the finish line in 1:09:29 and I had official done my first duathlon! Yeah me! Oh, and I managed to get 3rd in my AG (Men 35-39). Sweet.

Run 1 (3 mile) - 19:21 Cat/Ov 3/15
T1 - 1:19
Bike (11 mile) - 34:12 3/24
T2 - 1:20
Run 2 (2 mile) - 13:15 2/14
Overall - 1:09:29 3/17


Hee hee, look at those transition times. Ouch.
Other notable racers in attendance: Tracey Jones, Melissa Bair (3rd AG), and Lisa Perna (2nd AG).

First duathlon

Sitting in the parking lot getting ready for my first duathlon, the Wrentham Halloween Duathlon. It's local, it looks like fun,  it's festive. Should be fun!  It's 24 degrees out and I'm wearing shorts. What have I gotten myself into?