Weekly Log 11-8-10 to 11-14-10

Monday: 0 - crappy weather day, couldn't get motivated to run.  Went and bought new Free Runs. 

Tuesday: 13 miles - Wickford roads (6.5 miles) to/from Rome Point trails (6.5 miles) with Dan.  It was nice to do a long run with someone else for a change.  Weather was decent enough, except when facing the wind.  Nice pace on the roads and in the woods.  I picked it up on the roads on the way back - covering the final 3.25 miles in 21:25.  Total time - 1:35:01. 

Wednesday: 10 miles - 6 x 800 (or more accurately .5 miles) on Quonset bike path with 3+ mile warm up and 3- mile cool down on Calf Pasture Point roads.  This was a fun but hard workout.  I mapped out a way to squeeze in 6 800's on the 2.3 mile bike path (one way) with .2 or .3 mile recovery jogs in between.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  Strong tail wind for first 3 and head wind for last 3.  My results: 3:01/2:52/2:53/2:52/2:56/2:54 - total running time of 1:17:45. 

Thursday: 0 - legs are tired and told me not to run.  I did have an outrageous amount of energy today though.  I raked my front yard, played bass off and on all afternoon, and then 2.5 hours straight at band practice. 

Friday: 12 miles - Vin Gormley trail plus roads to/from with Pard.  I took today off to make a 4 day weekend and get a break from the craziness at work.  I met Pard at the trail near his house and we ran the Lil' Rhody course backwards at an easy pace.  Great weather - 40 degree start, 50 degree finish and sunny.  The course is in tremendous shape: no blowdowns, dry as a bone, even the leaves are getting packed down (oaks dropped them early this year).  Should be a fast one next Sunday, but remember "this is a TRAIL race". 

Saturday: 9 miles - Shumunkanuc Hill roads and Route 91 alone.  I pushed this early morning run.  My legs felt pretty good and I thought I would try to do a 7 mile 7 minute per mile run.  I was right on pace for the first two miles.  I was surprised at how cold I felt despite it being 40 degrees at my house when I left.  When I hit the 3 mile mark (I think) I was suddenly a minute off.  I'm not sure how that happened.  At 5 miles I was at 36:15.  Annoyed, I pushed the hilly Burdickville Rd hard, and then decided to keep running after 7 miles (50:20).  I added two hilly miles and finished up in 64:08.  My guess is that my legs were not at full strength, because the effort was there for a fast run.  I have to rest my legs later this week so that they are hungry for Lil' Rhody. 

Sunday: 6 miles - Shumunkanuc Hill roads solo.  I snuck this run in during the late afternoon.  My first mile was pretty fast, so I decided I would push it, and have this be my last hard workout before next Sunday's race.  This run was hard, but I was rewarded with a great time on a hilly out and back.  The course can be described as first mile more ups than downs, 2nd mile all down, 3rd mile all up then reverse direction.  My results: 6:44/6:32/6:52/6:26/7:10/6:10 Total time: 39:54 (6:39 pace).  This run was only topped by an awesome family hike with another family on the Long Pond Ell Pond trail earlier this afternoon.  The amount of green is stunning - hemlocks, mtn laurel, and giant rhododendrons.  Tricky terrain for the five five and unders, but no one got hurt and had a lot of fun.  I think the kids' favorite part was eating my homemade GORP.  Good week - 50 miles again - have to remind myself to take it slow this upcoming week....

Weekly Total: 50 miles
Last Week: 40 miles
Year to Date: 1,182 miles