Apr 26 - May 2

Mon - PM 17 miles (7 with the Road Ace)
Tue - AM 10 PM 9
Wed - 0 (right foot is bothering me a bit, better be safe)
Thu - PM 17 miles (3 with the KHS Boys)
Fri - PM 10 miles with Larry Sayers and Heidi Westover
Sat - AM 20 miles (16 mile workout in 1:21:49)
Sun - 0

Total - 83 miles

Wednesday Workout

No workout for me this Wednesday. I have some tenderness in my right foot that is causing me to adjust my foot strike. Consequently my right knee is tight. I will ice and be back tomorrow.

Apr 19 - Apr 25

Mon - 0 (why not)
Tue - 12 with Mark pretty quick (crazy bathroom emergancy at the end)
Wed - AM 10 PM 12 w/ track workout
Thu - AM 10 PM 10
Fri - AM 10 (Putney 62 minutes) PM 13 in Burlington(VCM Course)
Sat - AM 13 PM 7
Sun - AM 21 w/ Greg and George Adams

Total - 118 miles

2 x 3 mile

Objective : 2 x 3 mile comfortably hard

Keenyans : Me, Greg, James, Pete, Dan, Erin, George Adams, and Josh Ferenc

Result:

Set 1 (5:18 / 5:15 / 5:10) = 15:43

Set 2 (5:15 / 5:07 / 4:55) = 15:17

Overview : I am glad to have changed it up a bit and do something longer. It was actually Greg's idea (as most things are). The effort was comfortably hard which is a pretty fun place to be. James had no soreness and did some quarters with my Dad. It was also awesome to see Josh out there cranking out miles. We missed you man. Hopefully it will be a regular appearance. Well, back to chasing miles.

Apr 12 - Apr 18

Mon - 16 miles (7 solo, 7 w/ Mark, 2 with the KHS Boys)
Tue - 17 miles (Keene Solo) Watched Shawn Provost (Sophmore) run 4:38 in the mile
Wed - 17 miles w/ track workout
Thu - 12 miles (I am a bit tired from yesterday)
Fri - 17 miles (out and back on the rail trail)
Sat - 12 miles (Tempo- last mile 4:38 (slightly down hill))
Sun - 15 mile struggle trot
Total -106 miles

5 x Mile

Objective : 5 x mile at 4:50 pace

Recovery : 400 meter jog rest

Keenyans : Me, Andy, James, Greg, Goupil, Peter Najem, Erin, and Dan.

Result :

4:42 / 4:45 / 4:44 / 4:44 / 4:42

Overview : Today was my best mile repeat workout to date. It was hard but I also felt strong and eager. James and Andy did their final Boston Workout and both looked really fresh. I can't wait to see how it plays out. Peter did and insane tune up for his 400/800 races this weekend. His seed time for the 800 is 1:48. He runs Friday at Princeton. Greg got back on the horse with some fast and consistent quarters. He was laying low because of some abdominal issues but is full force now. Afterwards, we again headed to Armadillos where we met Mark and Mary. Another great Wednesday in the books.

Fyffe Takes Todd's Trot

By AL PIKE

apike@fosters.comapike@fosters.com
Sunday, April 11, 2010

Monika O'Clair photo Jacy Christiansen of New Ipswich wins the women's portion of the Todd's Trot 5K road race in Durham, Saturday.

DURHAM — Justin Fyffe made a "spur of the moment" decision Friday night to run Todd's Trot. It didn't take him much longer to cover the 5K course Saturday morning.

He made the two and a half hour trip from East Dummerston, Vt., worthwhile by winning the seventh annual road race in record time. Fyffe finished in 15 minutes, 9 seconds, which was 12 seconds faster than the previous mark set by Ben Schmeckpeper in 2007.

Fyffe, who was running Todd's Trot for the first time, won easily despite a stiff headwind that probably prevented him from breaking 15 minutes.

"My goal timewise was 14:50," said Fyffe, 29, who has been running competitively for the past three years and is training for the Vermont City Marathon on May 30. "That obviously didn't happen. But I'm still happy. It's all relative to the course. I think I could run that fast on a flatter (surface), less windy of a day. This course was awesome. It was fun."

Matt Russell of Ogdensburg, N.Y., finished a distant second in 15:49 with Manchester's Peter Mallet third in 15:53, Durham's Scott McGrath fourth in 15:58, and Concord's Mackenzie Kilpatrick — the 2006 winner — fifth in 16:03.

They were the only runners to break 17 minutes.

"I'm ramping up my miles so I felt strong," said Fyffe, who plans to defend his title next year. "I had a good workout this past Wednesday so I felt I had some good leg speed. I wanted to get into a 5K and I felt like I had some wheels.

"I'm used to running longer distances so this felt like a sprint," Fyffe added.

Schmeckpeper, the three-time defending champion, did not run Saturday's race. Edmund Dantes of Verseilles was sixth with Rye's Stephen Hennigan seventh, Dover's Cullen Fergus eighth, Durham's Andrew Clemence ninth, and Colin Chapman of West Point, N.Y., 10th.

The race is held in honor of Peter "Todd" Heuchling, a standout athlete at Oyster River High School who collapsed and died during a training run for the U.S. Military Academy. As is customary, several cadets made the trip from West Point to run in the race.

"I wanted to win and I wanted to set a course record and I accomplished both of those things," Fyffe said. "You never know. There's a lot of fast runners out there and you never know who's going to be here. There's plenty of quality runners in New England. Today was my lucky day I guess."

The women's race was much closer with Jacy Christiansen of New Ipswich outlasting former Dover High School and University of New Hampshire runner Lesley Hocking. The 16-year-old Christiansen crossed the finish line in 18:05, nine seconds ahead of Hocking.

"I did the course for my warmup and I felt like absolute crap," Hocking said. "So I was just happy to be able to run my half-marathon pace. I've been feeling kind of down this week so this is a good step toward being healthy again. Second place is all I wanted today."

Christiansen and Hocking were the only two females to finish under 19 minutes.

"I wanted to win," Christiansen said, "but I wasn't sure who would be here. I just decided to go out and do my best and not worry about who was here."

Heidi Westerling, who did not run Saturday, had won two of the last three races, including last year's record-setting run.

"Without Heidi Westerling showing up I thought there was potential (to win)," Hocking said. "I was just glad to get a good race in. I wasn't disappointed with second."

Christiansen, who finished third at Todd's Trot in 2008 and second last year, didn't come close to Westerling's 2009 time (16:54).

"It went pretty well," said Christiansen, who attends Mascenic Regional High School. "I felt very smooth through the first mile. And then the second mile was kind of tough and I felt a little bit like I was running through glue. Fortunately the second woman (Hocking) came up next to me and we were battling it out and she really pushed me through the last mile.

"I pulled away from her near the end because I knew what I wanted," Christiansen said. "I wanted to beat her."

Manchester's Mary Garrity was third in the women's race with Lee's Lydia Travis fourth, Durham's Meredith Mistretta fifth, Stratham's Emily Block sixth, Melissa Hurley of Ashaway, R.I., seventh, Kristina Smith of Poland, Maine, eighth, Dover's Sara West ninth, and Durham's Hannah Herzs-Kahn 10th.

Overall, there were 508 finishers.

"It was a good race," said Hocking, who is training for a fall marathon. "When I got to the top of Bagdad hill I caught up to her and she surged. I caught up to her again and she surged. We passed each other probably three times before she surged on Dennison Road I guess it was."

While Christiansen and Hocking swapped the lead several times, Fyffe led virtually from start to finish and was never pushed.

"It was mostly a solo effort," said Fyffe, who won the Vermont high school Division I state title in the 2-mile run in 1997. "There were a couple youngsters ahead of me the first couple yards but they always run out fast. That didn't last more than about 50 meters. Then after that it was pretty much a solo effort. I did do the course as a warmup so I knew what to expect. I knew where to surge and I knew where the hills were going to be. I knew where I had to conserve energy and where I had to spend energy."

Monika O'Clair photo Vermont's Justin Fyffe set a course record in winning the seventh annual Todd's Trot 5K road race in Durham on Saturday.

Apr 5 - Apr 11

Mon - 5 miles (still not right but feeling better)
Tue - 18 miles (I am back in full force)
Wed - 16 miles w/ track workout
Thu - 8 miles
Fri - 18 miles
Sat - 17 miles
Sun - 10 miles (Putney Solo)
Total - 92 miles

8 x 400 / 8 x 200

Objective : 8 x 400 / 8 x 200

Receovery : 60 seconds recovery in between 400's and 200 jog in between 200's

Keenyans : Me, Greg, Andy, Boj, James, Dan, Clynt, Angela (Superwoman), and Erin Greene and the whole Joslyn clan.

Result :

59 / 61 / 64 / 65 / 65 / 65 / 63 / 62
31 / 31 / 31 / 31 / 30 / 30 / 29 / 26

Overview : It was pretty hot but I thought it was a good day to run. It was cool to see more people show up this week and I hope it is a theme that will carry on through the good weather months. Afterwards we all headed to Armadillos and enjoyed some good conversation and training plans. I look forward to next week. Sorry Ben, I had to bail on the workout because of some crazy disease. I am going to try and give it a go this week or next week. Andy rocked it though.

Mar 29 - Apr 4

Mon - 13 miles
Tue - 13 miles
Wed - 17 miles w/ track workout
Thu - 15 miles
Fri - 16 miles
Sat - 5 miles (fever 102.1)
Sun - 0 miles (fever)
Total - 79 miles

3 x 1200

Objective : 3 x 1200

Keenyans : Me, Greg, Andy, Mark, Boj, and James

Recovery : 400m recovery up to 3 minutes

Result :

3:20 / 3:22 / 3:21

Overview : I am glad to get something good in. It seems like it has been awhile. The other guys did 4 efforts but I wanted to keep it simple and hit my numbers. I also wanted to leave some in the tank for this Saturday. Andy and I are going to do Ben Nephew's tempo long run. It should be epic. I hope to see others next week. Same time same place (4:30 Keene High). I love to route for others.