Find Your Strong

With one quick look at this blog, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what has changed recently. Some of you may already know the news I'm sharing, but now that it is public knowledge, I can talk about it more openly. If you follow this blog even semi regularly, you know how involved I am in the sport of running, even beyond that of a competitive runner.  My passion for running as a sport and life pursuit has motivated me to evolve my professional career in many ways.  Ways that give me the best opportunity to give back and support this community with the knowledge and experience that I've acquired and continue to acquire every day.

With that belief and motivation, I've recently accepted a job offer from Saucony and will be starting work for them immediately.  The position I've accepted will be that of the Technical Field Representative for the Washington DC / Virgina Region.  Saucony has globally been one of the fastest growing brands in the industry and has developed an iconic presence in the sport of running.  I am extremely excited to become a part of this community and contribute to their growing success.

I have now been in this sport for over 14 years and have developed as an athlete and a student within this field.  My employment experience in the industry and professional involvement has grown steadily in the last 4 years and the resulting success has been just as rewarding as my personal success as an athlete. This latest decision will be a great development in my ever evolving career and in the lifestyle that I lead.

As I move forward with these developments, I will not forget the experiences and relationships that have lead me to where I am today. I am extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to represent and work closely with a brand like New Balance. Furthermore, my involvement with the New Balance Boston elite program and the NB Boston Twilight Series will always remain as some of my proudest moments in this sport, both athletically and professionally. I will hold on to those lessons that I've learned and will carry with me the ambition to take on similar challenges.

Lastly, thank you to everyone in my life who has contributed to this development, from the very involved family and friends, to the less involved but equally appreciated followers and supporters. I know I have a lot more to learn going forward and even more to give!


What Is Strong? (60 second) from Saucony on Vimeo.

Race Report: CVS Downtown 5K / US Champs

Photo Courtesy of Scott Mason

This past weekend, I had the very fortunate opportunity to participate and compete in the CVS / Caremark Downtown 5K in Providence, Rhode Island, which also served as the USA Road Championships. Though my result may not have been spectacular, I was very happy to be a part of this great event and like most of my USA Running Circuit experiences had a lot of positives to take away from it beyond the happenings in the race alone. Before I elaborate on that, let's first talk about the non spectacular, but positive race performance that I displayed on Sunday.

US 5K Championships - 36th Overall, 30th American - 15:24 (4:49, 9:50, 14:50)

Again, it may not look like much, but it was actually a nice step forward from my last couple hard efforts (B2B 10k and New Haven 20k). I've been feeling pretty good in my training for a couple months now, meaning I'm running pain free and maintaining a comfortable 70 miles per week. However, the more specific work that prepares you for race efforts like this one haven't really begun yet. So while I may be feeling better on a day to day basis than I have in the past, my body hasn't prepared itself for the faster race efforts. Knowing that, I went into this race without expectation, but with lots of hope! Reasonable hope that I could simply race to my fitness and feel good doing it. Unlike the conditions in Cape Elizabeth and New Haven, the conditions in Providence this weekend were spot on perfect for racing. When I went out for a shakeout run race morning with my roommate Christian Hesch, the crisp clean air was very refreshing after some of the uncomfortable humidity that we've had recently. I knew that regardless of where my fitness was at on that day, I would at least have the opportunity to race according to that fitness.

In the final minutes leading up to the start of the race, I had that very nervous excitement pulsating through my mind and body. It's been close to a year since I've had that feeling, something I used to have on a regularly in past years. Most people talk about this as being one of the worst parts of racing, myself included. But on Sunday, I welcomed it like on old habit. As runners, we often embrace these torturous feelings and emotions, because we know it means there is potential for opportunity. Even though there is both the opportunity for success and for failure, good racers are successful as such because they welcome that risk believing they will utilize that opportunity and succeed more often than they fail.

The gun went off and I spent the next 500 or so meters sprinting behind the massive pack of leaders and trying to get clear of the lead women. My legs haven't moved that fast in quite a while and to exaggerate it further, there was a steep downhill in that first quarter mile. By 600 meters, I was clear of any traffic issues and focused on settling into "race pace", really just guessing at what that might be. I tried to stay as comfortable as I could through the mile. I knew that if I over extended my efforts there, I would never get it back. I went through the mile just under 4:50, breathing heavily but comfortably in control. Within the next quarter mile, I became much more relaxed and was reassured that I was at a very maintainable effort. I was already closing the gap on people that had gone out much too hard (as is easy to do in this race).

Through the 2nd mile, I continued to stay focused on this effort that felt fast but manageable, knowing that miscalculations could cost me the last mile, but also knowing that I could easily slide into a coasting effort and forget that I was racing a 5k. I hit the 2 mile in 9:50 and thought to myself that it was slower than I wanted but was already congratulating myself for feeling comfortable and relaxed.  After spending a minute or so focused on that thought, it suddenly popped into my head that I had less than a mile to go in this race. At that point, I tried to forget about pace and efforts and how I was feeling, and gave myself permission to just race! There weren't a lot of people right in front of me, but I quickly closed the gap on two guys that were fading back and continued to work up to my teammates that were up ahead. I made a small surge over the bridge and around the two corners to get in range of making a run at Ned and Kramer who were the only two I had a chance at catching. I powered past Ned with about 400m to go and attacked the last uphill trying my best to catch Kramer, but falling short in the final 100 meters. In no way did I feel like I had a kick and I probably expended that with the couple surges I made in the last mile, but it felt really great to be in a race situation over that last mile and working hard to beat people as opposed to just finishing a race.

I entered the finishing area feeling like I had run hard, which was gratifying, but caught my breath quickly and immediately started thinking about how I could have run faster. I have been very lucky to be involved enough in this sport that I am constantly surrounding myself with elite runners. But in that environment, it is very easy to be unexcited about sub par times. Especially when I've run almost a minute faster a dozen times. In reality, I probably couldn't have run much faster on that day and therefore, I won't say that I'm unhappy with my efforts. But then again, I won't say that I'm happy running 15:24. It's a nice first race of the year (not counting B2B and New Haven, where I was more participating rather than racing) and I know that with the introduction of some hard workouts, I'll see big improvements over the next couple months.

Photo Courtesy of John Nepolitan

Fortunately, I only had about 20 seconds to think about the idea of 15:24 before I turned around and saw my friend, Kim Conley charging into the finish behind the Womens race winner Julie Culley, which prevented me from feeling sorry for myself and getting excited for her. Through getting to know Kim, I was confident this would be a great race for her and a big addition to her rising career as a professional runner. In a half joking manner, we had built a friendly pre race rivalry, which was reinforced by her coach, Drew Wartenburg. I say half joking because I was legit nervous that she might beat me, and 25 seconds is not that much of a margin! Kim's had an excellent year thus far and she and Drew deserve all the attention they've gotten. I'm excited to see her success continue toward the Tufts 10k and Pan American Games in Guadalajara. Furthermore, check out a great interview with her here on Flotrack.

Photo Courtesy of Scott Mason

On the topic of fast women, I had a small redeeming moment of finishing ahead of Meghan Peyton, who had left me behind by more than 40 seconds at the 20k two weeks ago. Combining the two races, I think she still has a few seconds on me, so maybe she'll accept a tie breaker in the next couple months! I'm continuing with that half joking tone as I was very proud of these two athletes, but have made some light of my proximity to them at my own expense.  In all seriousness, while also in respect to them, I need to get away from racing women and get closer to racing my own gender.



While I was reasonably satisfied with the way I ran this race, there were much bigger positive to take away from this experience. First, New Balance Boston had a full scoring team of men and that team decisively took the Team Championship with 2 guys under 15:00 and 3 more guys under 15:30. It was great to see a pack of us running so close together throughout the race this early in the season and knowing that I have some great guys that I'm working out with every week. Our women also had a successful day, scoring two teams and placing 2nd and 3rd behind the New York Athletic Club.

Dan Hocking, Jeff Caron, Roland Lavallee, Andrea Sorgato, and Dan Kramer - Photo Courtesy of Steve Vaitones

More positives of the weekend came from the atmosphere and quality of people involved, along with the building of relationships like the ones I've already mentioned above. I've grown such an appreciation for these USA Running Circuit races for that very reason. It creates more than just an opportunity to race, it creates an opportunity to grow the elite community through a weekend experience and not just the 15 minutes during the race. It was such an honor to spend the weekend with others that share a passion for the sport and support it similarly to the way I do. Without these experiences, I may not have had the opportunity to get to know people like Kaitlin Gregg, Cassie Slade (with husband Russell), Daniel Roberts, Yong-Sung Leal, and several others that I met this weekend and now have a growing appreciation and respect for. No matter how many people you know in this sport, there are always more positive connections to be made. The elite community is a very tightly knit group, but it is also ever growing. And I continue to make every effort of growing with it.

With this particular experience, I have to give a huge thank you and appreciation to the work that was done by Charlie Breagy (Race President), Jim Harvey (Elite Athlete Coordinator), Tony Vinci (Elite Concierge), Bob Latham (USATF LDR Liaison), and Ian Brooks (Race Announcer and Acting Host). Those people give the athletes this great opportunity and put tireless efforts into making sure we are well taken care of. Furthermore, the athletes would not have their adequate recognition if it wasn't for Chris and Kevin from Runnerspace covering the event so well, despite difficulties that they continually deal with.

Going forward, I don't have a lot planned as far as racing, and will utilize this time to put in some quality work and continue to advance my fitness. I've been patient this summer with my comeback from injury and my build up in basic fitness. I can already see that patience paying off and I am growing stronger as a result. I do have tentative plans to attend the latest development in Elite XC racing, which is the O'er Hills and Far Away Race (OHFAR), being hosted by the NJNY Track Club on October 8th in Lebanon, NJ. With Julie Culley and other knowledgeable athletes behind the wheel, this event will surely be a huge success.

I have a lot of work to do on several levels in the next couple months and I will definitely be keeping track of my progress and updates right here along the way. Thank you again for supporting my efforts in this journey and as always, feel free to contact me so I can support you guys as well.

Race Report: New Haven 20K / US Champs

Photo courtesy of John Tolbert

To start things off, I apologize to those of you who were worried about my finish in the New Haven 20k road race this past Monday. The preliminary results were inaccurate and did not have me listed correctly. I did indeed complete the race and it did not take me 3 1/2 hours to do so! The most recent results have been updated appropriately and are posted.  The result itself was very disappointing for me as I believed my fitness was further along than the time showed. But before I go into it, let's first take a look at the numbers.

Stratton Faxon New Haven 20k - USA Road Championships - 34th - 71:15
Mile splits: 5:18, 5:25, 5:28, 5:31, 5:44, 5:49, 5:39, 5:56, 5:54, 6:08, 5:55, 5:51, 2:25 (.44)
5K splits: 16:48, 34:32 (17:44), 52:28 (17:56), 71:15 (18:47)

With temperatures reaching over 80 degrees during the race and humidity at 93%, it wasn't too far into the race that I realized it was going to be a rough day. I knew I was not very well prepared for this race distance, but I was even less prepared for the weather conditions we had to face that day.  This resulted in one of my most uncomfortable racing experiences to date.

I began the race keying off of my friends from Maine, Josh Trevino and Josh Zolla.  Trevino was aiming for a 5:10 average and Zolla was aiming for a 5:15 average.  The first mile felt very comfortable and left us coasting behind the lead pack of women at about 5:18.  I continued the same approximate effort through the 2nd and 3rd miles, hitting the 5k right where I expected to be in 16:48. At this point, I was already starting to feel the conditions, but was trying to ignore it.  The women's pack had already spread out rapidly and I was running along side Meghan (Armstrong) Peyton at the time.  I was trying to help her out a little, but was also utilizing her as someone to key off of, knowing that she was a smart racer and would most likely maintain good race composure.  By the time we reached 5 miles, the discomfort of the conditions was very evident and I knew I wasn't helping anyone at that point.  I intentionally dropped back from Meghan and spent the 6th mile really trying to relax and try to prevent immediate disaster.  After a much slower mile, I hit the 10k at about 34:30, already about a minute off where I wanted to be at that point.  I then made an effort to recommit to a race mentality in the 7th mile.  It was a faster split, but not by much.  At this point I knew the race was pretty much over for me.

The following miles were more of a survival than a race.  Instead of a focus on racing, I was just focusing on breathing and putting one foot in front of the other.  Fortunately the race was very well organized and there were plenty of water and fueling stations.  I utilized every one of them and ran through every sprinkler and hose I saw.  I couldn't believe how uncomfortable I'd become, especially after feeling so relaxed in the early miles.  I'm sure a lot of it comes from my lack of hot weather races or workouts this summer, but even without that, I never considered this kind of an experience.  In that 7th mile, I saw several elite runners walking alongside the road, already throwing in the towel for the day.  Knowing I still had a ways to go, I continued to focus on keeping a sustainable effort and not succumb to just jogging.  This shouldn't be that difficult of a task, but the 7th, 8th, and 9th miles were the most difficult of the entire race for me.

It wasn't until I hit mile 10 that I started to feel a little bit of life again.  It may have been the shaded park that gave me some hope, it may have been the passing of BAA member Jeanette Faber, or it may have been seeing a 6:08 mile split and realizing that I was running very close to the pace of an everyday training run. I realized that I had let the extreme discomfort of those previous miles dictate my mental attitude.  The mentality and idea of discomfort can often last much longer than the actual physical discomfort.  I had zoned out into this slog of run and needed to snap out of it. I tried to mentally prepare myself for one last push to the finish which was just a couple miles away now.  As I hit the next mile in 5:55, I was crushed by the fact that I had accomplished so little.  I knew the possibility of salvaging a good race was long gone, but I was still hoping to regain some confidence in those last couple miles. Instead, it was just a matter of getting to the finish line and accepting the embarrassment of a slow time.

After finishing, I dumped a couple more bottles of water over my head and tried my best to regain composure.  In doing so, I found my friend Josh Trevino who despite being in the best shape of his life, had also faded drastically and was several minutes away from his goal performance.  I quickly realized that though disappointing, my race experience was not far off what others had experienced.  Now several days later, I am still unimpressed with the time that sits there next to my name, but feel better about my overall efforts and my ability to push through an extremely difficult day.  At the very least, I got a decent training run out of the day and worked a little bit more on mental and physical toughness.  I've been away from hard racing for a while and need all the practice I can get with regards to racing tough.  The biggest positive was being able to see the course and experience this event for future years.  I was very glad to be a part of this event and am very thankful for John Tolbert and the rest of the staff for providing such a great opportunity. I will certainly be back and plan on taking several minutes off this years performance.

Furthermore, I want to thank Chris and Kevin of Runnerspace for covering the event.  Be sure to check out all the great coverage on their US Running Circuit website. You won't see much of me in the Men's Race video, but Josh and I get some good camera time in the early stages of the Women's Race video.

Photo courtesy of Runnerspace.com

Next up, I'll be participating in another USA Road Championship, but will drop back down to a distance that I have a little more experience with.  Next weekend, I'll be in Providence, RI for the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K, where I hope to place higher and hopefully avoid trailing the women leaders as I did last week.

There are no immediate race plans after that, but I plan on getting into some heavy training and with that, will start posting more training information here on the blog.  I continue to be excited for the months ahead and look forward to sharing those experiences with so many of my connections within the sport.

Healthy and Back to Training

And just like that, August is over and summer is nearing its completion. As usual, it's flown by and has been packed with various events and pursuits. I'd like to think that I've been rather productive in my pursuits this year and feel fortunate that I've been able to be so active in the activities that I know and love. But being the ambitious person that I am, I'm continually looking for more. Included in this ambition is my pursuit of a successful professional career, but also the desire to improve my individual running success ...the original reason for starting this blog.

For you track fans out there, you know we are right in the middle of a World Track and Field Championships taking place in Daegu, Korea.  As a sport, we view this as the culmination of a season and a year of racing. For that reason, it's usually around this time that I tend to think back on my own 12 month cycle and think back to past years as well. I think about where I was when I was watching those other Championships, who I was most inspired by, where I was in my life, where I was in my training, what my goals were, and so on.  When doing this, it's scary to realize how much time has passed and how quickly it's gone by.  Four years ago, I was watching the Osaka World Championships during a big transition in my life.  I had just left behind my engineering career and was making an aggressive jump into the world of running, both as a professional career and as a professional athlete. Up until this point, I was more of a participant in the sub-elite sector of the sport and did not view myself as a professional. That attitude changed in 2007 and the months following this change were the most successful of my life.  Some may say that my achievements did not qualify me as a professional. This may hold true, but I believe being a professional is more of an attitude and a commitment, as opposed to a rank. At that transition, I knew the next 10 months would be consumed by my progression as a professional athlete.  Unfortunately, 8 months later, I had the first major disappointment of my career.  I was in the best shape of my life, but had no way of proving it.  An injury that would keep me out the remainder of the season had rerouted the path that I had already planned out in my mind.

The next 3 years consisted of a roller coaster of varying struggles, injuries, and emotions. Certainly not the path I expected. Despite struggles with my career path as well, I know I've had great success in my professional pursuits and have grown my knowledge of the sport and industry to levels that I was unfamiliar with 4 years ago.  I am certainly proud of the achievements I've had in this sport, knowing that the best I have to offer is still ahead of me. So those 3 years have certainly been useful in the amount of knowledge and experience that I've acquired. But what happened to being a professional athlete? Regrettably, as much as I tried to use my love of the sport and pursuit of excellence as motivation, the professional attitude I acquired had gradually faded. In the years of 2009 and 2010, I had gone back to being just a participant in the sport that I had worked so hard to be a part of.

Now in 2011, thanks to a couple exceptional doctors and some key motivating factors from those closest to me, I am back on a plan to follow through with the professional mindset that I had acquired 4 years ago. For the first time in these past few years, I have had a 3 month span of pain free running. When looking at my running career thus far, the biggest set backs I've had have resulted from injuries in my lower right leg. The most recent being a reoccurring stress reaction along the lateral metatarsals in my right foot. After the 3rd flare up of the same injury, still not knowing what the problem really was, I was pretty close to giving up on it all. I was considering the idea of custom orthotics and possibly surgery, but was unsure if these would even help or if any of it would be worth the physical and financial stress.  Fortunately, in May of this year, much of this frustration came to an end when I saw Dr. Dan Dyrek and Dr. Jillian Rockoff. After a single visit and evaluation, Dr. Dyrek was able to tell me every single issue that was holding me back. More importantly, he knew exactly what we needed to do to address these issues. Without going into a lengthy analysis, he basically figured out that my foot was not functioning properly because of the position and mobility of some key joints. He told me I should not get custom orthotics until after we improved that functionality. He also said that I was a million miles away from being a surgery candidate. This was such a relief and I walked away from that first consultation with new hope and justification that I still had a chance to continue my original pursuits as a professional athlete.

It has certainly been a slow progression, but the work I've done with Dr. Dyrek and Dr. Rockoff (also in conjunction with my massage therapist, Carly Shea) has paid huge dividends as far as what I am now able to handle. Most of my running progression has still been in the form of building base mileage with small amounts of intensity being phased in.  Currently, I'm up to about 70 miles per week, which may not seem like much, but for someone who has struggled to maintain 40-50 mpw, this is a big accomplishment. My first test of fitness came in the Beach to Beacon 10k Road Race just a few weeks ago, a race I have run 11 times in the last 12 years. Confided by the fact that my mileage was more consistent than the past couple years and I was running without pain, I talked myself into thinking I was in better shape than I was. I ran the early miles very aggressively, but the lack of workouts combined with hot conditions resulted in me fading to a disappointing 32:53. Though I was certainly not happy with that result, I quickly put it behind me, knowing I was a bit too greedy with what I wanted from that race.

Now, a few weeks further along, my next race effort will be this weekend at the New Haven 20K, also serving as the US Road Championships for that distance. Despite being sick for the last couple weeks, the past month of training has gone well and I am looking forward to this event. Since my fitness is still just beginning to develop and I still haven't done much for intensity, I realize I will not be very competitive in this race. In addition to a lack of fitness, I am still holding on to about 6-8 pounds of useless weight, leftover from the injury months. This is certainly an elite race and in a field that usually runs under 60 minutes, I will be much further back, aiming for around 66 minutes. I am not ashamed to cross that line several minutes behind my friends as long as I run to my current fitness and use it as forward progress. This event has been on my list for a while and will be a valuable opportunity to great connections I've made within the sport. These events are always great experiences and I plan to make the most of it. This will also bring me into new territory as my longest race to date is 15k. I am not putting a lot of pressure on myself, but hope to take more positives from this than the 10k last month. From there, I hope to bring some confidence to another notable race on September 18th, the CVS Downtown 5K, another US Road Championship event.

I'm super excited to see how my training and fitness will progress in the next few months, and if I am able to maintain the health and resistance to injury that I've had in the last few months, I will hopefully have some notable achievements to look back on at this time next year.

In conclusion, I hope that with better training consistency, there will also be better blogging consistency.  So please check in for more updates and journeys to follow and I'll continue to act as a resource within this sport as much as I am able. On that note, be sure to check out what my friends are doing as well by scrolling through the side bar on the right. The most recent addition and a highly recommended read includes my house guest from the Falmouth Road Race weekend, Kim Conley. If you don't know who she is now, you will soon.

Thanks to everyone for following this blog and know that I appreciate all the support!