Weekly Log 6-6-11 to 6-12-11

Monday: 10 miles - Wickford roads 3M to Rome Point trails 7M with coworker.  I ran the (boring) roads to Rome Point in 7:10 pace, and it was challenging with the warmer weather and noticeably higher humidity.  Running in the woods was such a relief.  We took it slower, but increased the pace as we went.  Our time was 51:46 for this portion.  Nature highlight: a female American Redstart on the trail.  Total time: 1:13:14. 

Tuesday: 10 miles - 8x400 workout on Quonset Bike Path with Calf Pasture Point cooldown.  I mixed things up a little bit this week.  The hot muggy weather forecasted for Wednesday and Thursday convinced me to get my speedwork in today.  Today was hot too, but not very humid - 85 degrees with a light breeze.  My plan was to skip my typical 3-4 mile warm up, as I thought I might opt to ditch the sprints when it came time to do it.  Instead, I planned to do the workout first (short sub mile warm up), and get it over with.  This seemed to work fine, and I was happy with my 400 guesstimates - definitely faster than last week.  After completing the speedwork, I stopped at my car and drank some water.  Then I put on my running hat (to keep the sun off my newly shaved head and also to dip it in the ocean later), and headed off on my cooldown - a little over 5 miles.  The tide was high, but I was able to jump the tidal stream with a really good leap.  I stopped twice to splash water on my arms and face, and to fill my hat with the cool salty water.  Heat was never an issue today.  We'll see what kind of runs I can get in the next two days.  Total time: 1:16:21. 

Wednesday: 7 miles - Rome Point trails alone.  I planned on a conservative run today due to the heat.  I arrived at the parking lot at 1:30PM and it was 91 degrees out.  My plan was to run 7 miles with a number of stops at the shore to cool off in the bay.  And keep it slow.  I found a nice pace and never got too hot.  It didn't seem very humid out.  I actually wished it was windy.  I didn't need to swim - I just dunked my hat three separate times.  Total time: 52:34. 

Thursday: 9 miles - Rome Point trails alone.  Today ended up cooler (if you can call 86 and humid cool?) than forecasted, and thus my run was longer than I had forecasted.  I had the trails to myself today, as was evident by all the spiderwebs I was collecting on my head and body.  I was keeping the pace on the easy side again, but I was 30 seconds faster out to the point than yesterday.  I had to stop on the hill, as there was a mother and baby deer in the trail.  The baby was small and adorable, and the mother looked angry at me.  Eventually they wandered off the trail so I could continue.  I ran the beach today, but I was cut short by the high tide.  The sun was hot, so I kept my shoes on and headed back for the woods.  The rest of the run was uneventful, and my mind was on the Pisgah 50K race I've decided to do in September.  I was also thinking about how well adapted the human body is to running in the heat.  Total time: 66:01. 

Friday: 10 miles - Ryan Park trails (2 x 5M) alone.  I wanted to do my usual hill work on the roads, but the lure of the woods on another hot day (as the bumper sticker states - "trees are cool") was too strong.  I know I'm always mentioning weather forecasts, and I'm going to again.  How does low 70's and low humidity turn into low 80's and high humidity?  At least the heat created storm clouds.  I couldn't tell if I was feeling raindrops or deer flies out there.  My plan was to do the woods loop twice, with a water break between efforts.  I wasn't planning on pushing too hard, but running alone tends to turn into a time trial.  On my first lap, I set out in my on the edge of normal and hard pace.  I tried to ignore my watch, but inevitably I glanced at it, and then raced to finish sub 7 minute pace.  I reached my car in 34:56 and got some water.  I never felt hot today, but I couldn't help but notice how sweaty I was.  In fact, my shorts were so wet in front it looked a little suspicious.  Luckily, by the time I was a couple of miles into lap 2, my shorts were completely sweat soaked, and didn't look so weird.  I began lap 2 at a recovery pace, and then after a mile I was back to lap 1 effort.  I checked my watch at almost 4 miles, and was one minute behind.  I wasn't sure if I could (or wanted to) duplicate the half mile plus sprint of lap 1, but my legs felt really strong, and I was able finish up in 35:58.  Total time: 70:54.  With this run I reached 1000 miles for the year! 

Saturday: 0

Sunday: 15 miles - North South Trail (Burlingame portion) out and back alone.  Pretty interesting run - worth a separate write up.  First of bimonthly long runs for September trail 50K.  Total time: 2 hours.  Also, family trip to Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven. 

Weekly Total: 61 miles
Last Week: 51 miles
Year to Date: 1018 miles