Weekly Log 1-2-12 to 1-8-12

Monday: 8.5 miles - Saunderstown hilly roads and Rome Point trails alone.  The parking lot at Rome Pt. was overflowing, so I drove down to the park and ride and began my run from there.  The temperature was hovering around 40, but the wind on the roads was whipping.  I ran the Plum Point Rd hill and then made my way to Rome Pt. and ran different loops around the more obscure single track, hitting the hill 3 times.  After exhausting my options there, I hit the road again, and debated tacking on more mileage, but decided to just return to my car.  Total time: 61:10.  It should be a pretty good mileage week, so I was fine with this amount.   This run felt like 9, but it wasn't that fast, so I'll call it 8.5. 

Tuesday: 11 miles - Ryan Park trails alone.  Chilly (high 20's) and windy, I still opted for shorts and warm gear over my core.  This worked well.  I ran the new fields loop, then did the usual woods routine.  I was surprised to see so many people out walking on this cold day.  I repeated the 3 mile field loop for a total time of 1:22:09.  This was a nice and easy effort. 

Wednesday: 4.5 miles - Ryan Park tempo run with coworker.  Plan A was to do a solo speed workout on the Quonset Bike Path.  I wasn't planning to go all out as I have a race on Saturday, so I was happy to change my plan and run a fast 4 miles with Tom in Ryan Park.  We dropped off his car at the shop and then parked at the upper Oak Hill Rd lot.  I thought we could warm up by running through the fields and then making a tempo run out of the 3 mile single track loop.  Our warm up ended up being pretty snappy, so I'm not sure it technically qualified as one.  Anyway, we ran hard on the single track section near Rte 4.  I was hammering the downhills (Jeff W style) and working hard on everything else.  On the last steep decline I rolled my right ankle badly - I watched it happen and it was sort of disgusting.  I stopped and was in pain.  After a minute, we began slowly jogging, and it felt good, although I wasn't sure if it was only because it was so cold out.  By the time we made it to the next single track section, I was ready to push the pace again and test it out.  It held up really well, and I had a blast sprinting through this narrow, twisty section.  We then slowed it down for a nice cooldown before calling it a day.  I would have tacked on more miles if I was alone, but not overdoing it at this point makes sense.  At work I iced my ankle for a half hour.  It is slightly swollen and painful, but I'm optimistic I lucked out.  Total time: 32 minutes. 

Thursday: 9 miles - Calf Pasture Point beach, trails, and roads alone.  I was excited to test my ankle in the "warm" conditions today.  I ran a little tentatively on it, but for the most part it was a non-factor.  I ran two loops around the beach and trails with an interlude on the Mount View roads grid.  My legs feel really fresh, and I'm getting excited for Saturday's race. Total time: 69 minutes. 

Friday: 7 miles - Calf Pasture Point beach, trails, and roads alone.  I opted to run here again to test my ankle on the beach.  Despite being still slightly swollen and black and blue, I had no issues with it today.  My plan is to try to forget about it during the race.  Mid 50's today and it felt awesome to run in just shorts and a t-shirt.  It's funny to think about how easy the 40 miles came to me in the last 5 days.  Tomorrow should be fun.  Total time: 53:28. 

Saturday: 9 miles - Resolution 5K Beach & Trail Race - 8th place - 19:58.  Separate write up to follow. 

Sunday: 16 miles - long run with Muddy and Jeff @ 6AM.  It was my choice of the course today and so I had us meet at the Meadowbrook Pond parking area.  It was very dark to start, and we ran the roads to the Carter Preserve.  The moon was setting as we began (from Kings Factory Road):

The first section of trails was really tricky with no light.  We made our way to the large field and ran around that before hitting the large hill on the power lines.  I debated even trying the next 3 miles of trails, but everyone was up for the challenge.  Luckily the woods are open and the light slowly emerged.  Still Jeff fell twice and Muddy once (although he contends it didn't count as his knee never touched!).  They seem to enjoy these trails, so I'm glad we did them.  After 66 minutes we emerged on Rte 112.  We wound our way through Shannock as Jeff and Muddy reminisced about the good ol' days.  They also were unknowingly hammering, or so it felt to me.  After enjoying the views from North Road, we turned left and hit the big climb up Shannock Hill.  This perked me up and it was mostly downhill or flat for the next two miles.  There was one more hill on the roads before we entered Carolina Mgmt Area.  Muddy lead us here, and was picking up the pace (he was hungry).  We finished through the fields and returned to our cars in 2:05:30.  I really liked this run.  It was amazing how cold the open valleys were compared to the wooded roads and trails.  We just needed a little more light at the start. 

Overall: Lot's of miles, but they came easy - my legs never felt sore or tired.  I experienced the worst ankle turn of my life, but seemed to escape anything major.  The beack 5K was fun and I finished about where I thought I should, but I'm a little humbled about how far behind my teammates I was.  I'm looking forward to the Ryan Park 10K at the end of the month. 
Weekly Total: 65 miles
Last Week: 41 miles
Year to Date: 65 miles
Last Year: 2501 miles