2012 Pineland Farms 25k

I  know, Pineland Farms (results) was so 'last month'. What's the point writing about it over a week later? Not sure. I wasn't even going to post anything but I figured since I pay big money for this blog I should at least get my monies worth out of it. It doesn't mean I'm going to put quality effort into it though.
My race report in bullet form:

• Drove up with Denis Tranchemontagne on Sunday morning. (note, I spelled that without looking it up. I'm not sure what that means) Uneventful 2hr ride.
• No warm up, no pre-race routine. Someone mentioned it was almost 10 and it didn't even register they were referring to the start of the race. Weird.
• Averaging 30 mpw with essentially no long runs apparently makes me smarter. I seated myself way back, not tempted by my common foes (who were all in front of me).
• The first 5k should have felt easy. It did not. I had stomach cramps almost immediately after starting. Only 24k more to go! Yippie.
• Kept Mike Wade (GCS) and Chris Dunn (aR) in sight (maybe 20 seconds ahead of me) for the first 10k. They weren't falling back and I wasn't gaining. 
• Stomach feeling better.
• Kurt Berna (GCS) was literally my shadow for first 15k of the race.
• Sunny, mid 70's but much drier (humidity wise) than previous years. The breeze was refreshing in the woods. The sun was depressing in the fields. Zero sum game.
• Caught up to Mike in the 3rd 5k section (before the grove). No Chris though. Chris had 1:30ish on us as we passed by the grove.
• Tried to separate from Mike as we left the grove and crossed the road. Had a good gap (so I thought) but the bum caught me (and flew by me) on one of the screaming downhill sections. He looked like he got his second wind. I thought he was gone.
• Feeling better, running better in the 4th 5k section. Caught up to Mike (again). Worked hard on separating from him (again). Dropped the bum (again).
• Continued to work the last 5k section hard. I know it's either short or fast. I like to think fast but I know it's short. Doesn't matter. It's the same as last year.
• Caught a glimpse of Capt Dunn midway through the last 5k. He had no idea I was behind him until I was nearly next to him. He was hiding his pain well. I thought he looked good.
• We were side by side as we entered the last field. I was still pushing the pace but shortly after we entered the field I thought I was done. Dizzy, tired, hungry, legs were heavy. Chris was worse.
• I separated from Chris just a little in the last 2k, finishing just a head of him with a time of 1:57:37. Totally exhausted. No complaints.
• Still waiting for Mike to finish.

At the grove - photo credit Gianna Lindsey

Gianna aR pictures located here --> 2012 Pineland Pics


Comparison to last year.
Conclusion - you get slower when you get older OR you get slower when you run less.

	2012	2011
5k Split	22:15	21:09
10k Split	24:50	24:17
15k Split	25:04	25:02
20k Split	24:21	24:32
25k Split	21:07	20:27
FINISH	1:57:37	1:55:27

2011 Pineland Farms 25k Trail Run

I headed back up to New Gloucester, ME for my 2nd attempt at the Pineland Farms 25k rolling course. I figured having some knowledge of the course and being in decent shape would yield better results. Last year wasn't bad, I just thought I could have run better.

I also brought my family along this year. I know how they enjoy getting up before 6am on a Sunday so it was the least I could do. It really is a great race to bring your family to. The start/finish area (aka 'the Grove') is very active with tons of runners passing by (3 races going on at the same time), music, food and various runner support activities. The overcast skies were appreciated for most of the race but the humidity was a bit much. It really does a number on my hair.

Start of the race

It would appear most folks who run this race break it down into five-5k sections. I'm no different. The 1st 5k is generally fast, slightly downhill, the 2nd 5k gains most of the drop back, the 3rd & 4th 5k's are rollers with the 3rd being more exposed (fields) and the 4th losing some elevation which makes the 5th 5k pretty tough since it's last and there's quite a bit of climbing. My only plan this year was to go out a little slower than last year and hopefully it would pay off in the middle 5k's. Half my plan was successful.

I desperately tried not to line up near the front. I didn't want to get sucked into a faster-than-I-wanted-to-go pace. This was actually hard to do. I was probably 10ft from the start line and I was still second row. How the heck does that happen? Of course I lined up behind the only person in front of me who didn't go out fast and was already frustrated after 25 ft of running. Thankfully things settled down within the first 1/4 mile and I motored along at a fairly relaxed, easy pace. The course had kilometer markers so the 4:16 1st kilometer didn't give me any idea what pace I was running so I waited until the 5k point to find out if things were going according to plan. 21:09 (about a minute slower than last year) felt good, but I was a little nervous watching some of my competitors creep out of sight. The 2nd 5k section is probably the toughest but with fresh legs all it really ends up being is slower than you'd like. I still didn't feel like I was pushing the pace at all but I was catching some of the guys who went out a little quick. I wasn't gaining any ground on my competitors, in fact I had all but lost sight of Denis and Jeff way before the 10k mark.

Water bottle swap!

I never really felt bad during the race but I do remember feeling sluggish, especially during the 3rd and 4th 5k sections. I felt like I was working pretty hard but it wasn't translating into any speed. I was drinking plenty from my handheld and dumping water on my head at the aid stations but the humidity was wearing me down. It's amazing (to me anyways) how slow I actually ran during the 3rd and 4th 5k sections compared to last year. I ran that section nearly 9 minutes slower....in a 10k stretch. Ouch. I can't honestly say what went wrong other than the sauna-like conditions just wore me out.

2011 Splits
5k	5k Time	5k Pace
1st	0:21:09	0:06:48
2nd	0:24:17	0:07:49
3rd	0:25:02	0:08:03
4th	0:24:32	0:07:54
5th	0:20:27	0:06:35
FINISH	1:55:27	0:07:26
2010 Splits
5k	5k Time	5k Pace
1st	0:20:17	0:06:32
2nd	0:24:15	0:07:48
3rd	0:20:52	0:06:43
4th	0:20:54	0:06:44
5th	0:25:23	0:08:10
FINISH	1:51:44	0:07:12

As I came through the Grove I grabbed a fresh (cold) water bottle from my daughter for the last 9k loop. Even though I had apparently crashed over the last 10k I was still passing people and surprisingly don't recall many (if any) runners passing me since very early in the race. Generally I ran alone but I did go back and forth with Christin Doneski (1st female o/a) for most of the race. I came up on Scott Hornney around the 20k mark and apparently put a spark back into his race (and mine). He had been running alone for a while and probably relaxed a bit too much. As soon as I caught up with him his pace increased. Then my pace increased. Well how about that? I was racing again! I made a couple of surges hoping to drop him but he stuck to me like glue (the bum!). Finally, on the last little climb before entering the field I made one last surge and opened up a small gap. Thankfully it was enough to get me to the finish, slightly ahead. Strangely I ran the last 5k nearly 5 minutes faster than last year (even though I ran the previous 10k 9 minutes slower?). I have no idea what that means...I must be some sort of schizophrenic runner or something.
Good news, I placed 13th overall out of 325 finishers. Bad news, almost everyone ahead of me was a masters runner! (results). Next year will be different (I hope).

Pineland Farms 25k Trail Race

Pineland "Farms". Oh, I get it, it's an actual f-a-r-m...

NOTE: Long Post - This was such a great event with so much to talk about.
On Sunday I headed up to New Gloucester, Maine for the Pineland Farms 25k trail race. I have no idea where New Gloucester is, I just followed the GPS. This would be another acidotic RACING team event. Initially we were focused on knocking off the host team of Trail Monster Running. However, my thin skinned and apparently sensitive 'teammates' on my other running club (Gate City Striders) decided to put a team together as well, most likely to challenge aR. Oh what a tangled web we weave...