Tuesday: 10 miles - Ryan Park trails alone. Hot day - 89 degrees, sunny, and humid. I ran with a leaky water bottle for about two miles before stashing it behind a tree. I was a little nervous to run without it for the next 5 miles, but my body did fine. Really hot on the powerline. Total time: 1:15:53. I felt pretty wiped out at night.
Wednesday: 9 miles - Quonset Bike Path reverse ladder workout with 2+ mile warm up and cool down in Calf Pasture Point. I wasn't sure what to do or expect out there today. I wasn't super motivated and the weather was muggy again (only 80 degrees and cloudy today). I decided to try the reverse ladder workout I've done a few times in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect other than slowish times. At least I met my expectations: 2 mile/1mile/800/400 -11:59 (6:09/5:50) /5:56/2:53/78. I'm not sure how to analyze this. I run slower in hot weather. Should I just go into summer-mode and just log miles and forget times and doing workouts? I get enjoyment out of my daily runs, but I'm not feeling the least bit fast. Total time: 1:06:52.
Thursday: 7 miles - Charlestown - Green Hill beach with some roads mixed in alone. It was my daughter's preschool graduation today and I had an hour window to run. I parked next to the new Charlestown Beach pavilion and then hopped onto the beach heading east. The tide wasn't very high and the sand was on the firm side. The water was clear with small well-shaped waves. On the way out I saw a piping plover outside of it's designated nesting area - doesn't it know it needs to stay within the ropes that the humans have put up for them? I continued on to Green Hill. I thought I could run in front of the rocks on the point, but it appears that more rocks have been dumped to fight back mother nature. I was truly annoyed. It didn't matter because Moonstone was completely roped off below the high tide line, so I had to hit the roads of Green Hill. I wandered a bit through the side streets. I found the road that goes over the "hill". Nice views. I guess it's a big enough hill for the terrain view to work on mapmyrun - link . I returned to the beach and ran west. I had enough time to keep going out to the breachway and back. I stopped for a quick dip in the ocean which felt delicious. Total time: 53:00. Got the band back together at night.
Friday: 15 miles - Ryan Park trails (10M) with 5M Wickford roads to/from alone. Great run today in the warm, but dry conditions. I ran from my office so I had to start and end with a shirt and my handheld water bottle. My legs felt a little tight on the roads (7:25 pace), but loosened up just before I entered the trails. I ran around the athletic fields and then ditched my shirt and water bottle. I continued on and was feeling strong. I was feeling confident about maintaining a comfortably hard pace for 15 miles. I did the fun 5 miles around the fields - my only complaint is that the grass is getting high in a few spots that there isn't enough traffic to keep it trampled down. It makes me feel "ticky", but I only end up finding one tick on me every time. Back on the railbed, I then saw a runner coming at me in the opposite direction running really strong. I thought it could be a coworker, then it looked like Aaron R. I finally recognized him as a local runner for a rival team (TNT or NRA). How dare he come on my turf and run my trails (just kidding). If I wasn't 12 miles in, I might have turned around and joined him. I passed yet another runner a couple of minutes later and then two horses. I eventually reached my shirt, grudgingly put it on, and finished up the run. My 10 mile trail split was 1:08:48 - which might be my fastest for this course. I was tiring near the end, but wasn't dying and ran 6:50 pace on the roads back. Total time: 1:43:02. My son ran a mile in gym class today. Reward in hand.
Saturday: 0 - aquarium in the morning with the kids, lazy afternoon at home, and then dinner and a walk in Wakefield. Stand in your favorite state.
Sunday: 17 miles - early long run with the WTAC crew - Jeff, Tom, Mike, and Muddy (first 5+ miles). We met up at the Riverwood Preserve in Westerly off of Old Hopkinton Road. Muddy guided us through the trails here. The entrance is a little sketchy, but the trails are really fun. There is a large rocky hill that provided some excellent technical hillwork. I have to say I wasn't feeling great at first. I'm guessing my legs were tired from Friday's long tempo run, despite not being sore. I felt sluggish. We said our goodbyes to Muddy after 41 minutes as he was off to run a 5K. I perked up as we ran through some familiar childhood places. We began north on Rte 3 then turned right onto Chase Hill Rd. We ran the lanes through the cemetery that I remember biking on as a kid. We then ran up Old Hopkinton Cemetery Rd - talking about the house with the scary dog and the crazy Christmas lights (my favorite display is Santa being abducted by a UFO). I was able to shave some roads off of Jeff's planned course by hopping onto the powerline between Rte 3 and River Road. This is where my brothers rode their short-lived DS50 (or was it 80?). In Potter Hill we ran a couple of loops through the small Whitely Preserve. Back on Potter Hill Rd, Tom wanted to do some 30 second pick-ups. We decided to do 3 telephone poles fast, 2 slow for a total of 6 intervals. This felt challenging in my soaked trail shoes. I was still in recovery mode when I realized the road was climbing a large hill and Jeff and Tom were pushing ahead. I picked up my pace, but wasn't feeling that great again. At the entrance to the Westerly Town Forest, Jeff had left a bag full of chilled water bottles for us. We stopped for a break which was much welcomed. The morning was warming up and I was a sweaty mess. We then ran a couple of loops through the trails here. I really liked this area, and especially liked running the powerlines full of blooming mountain laurel. It's also hilly. We had one detour that lead us down the hill and then back up again - this tired me out. We finally spilled out onto Boom Bridge Road and ran through White Rock and dowtown to Jeff's car at the YMCA. I was busy chatting with Mike, which made this section go by faster and easier. Total time: 2:06:xx. I returned to the Town Forest in the afternoon for a hike with my family. It was nice to walk the trails slowly and take in the views and the blooming mountain and sheep laurel. We also lingered at the river. No complaining from the kids too.
Weekly Total: 58 miles
Last Week: 58 miles
Year to Date: 1203 miles
You've got plenty of base mileage. Speed work will get you faster.
ReplyDeleteNo worries, man! Show those intervals who is boss. Even if they are a little slower than in cooler weather, quality HARD effort is all that matters. Enjoy the slow, summer mode mileage runs and hate the workouts, but reap the benefits of the latter.
ReplyDeleteRuns are looking good, Jonny. That Wachusett run sounded awesome. Are you running the YMCA Back Road Ramble 5k at Watchaug on the 10th?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement guys. Seth, I hope to do that race. See you there?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I plan on doing it. I'm hoping to drag my family along - should be enough food and games to keep them entertained.
ReplyDeleteI'm in for Back Road Ramble as a family event for me also (one of my boys will run it, the other is doing a kids' tri at URI that morning). Maybe I'll finally meet Rhody Seth?
ReplyDelete