Weekly Log 5-20-13 to 5-26-13

Somewhere on the web I found out about this upcoming race and I'm now trying to arrange childcare so that I can run it next Friday night.  It looks like good competition for a flat and fast 7.4 trail race.  I need to do this run!  Very excited. 

No big plans for the upcoming week, but with travel on the upcoming long weekend, I'll probably have lower mileage.  I plan to sprinkle in some trail speedwork during the week, possibly the longish Browing Trail segment that my KOM time was recently obliterated by a local runner.  I'm not sure I can match it, but it will be a good hard effort (GPS 2.8 miles - feels like long 5K).  Kind of excited about this as well. 

Monday: 10 miles - Ryan Park trails alone.  Muggy and hot (80 degrees) during my run.  My body isn't adjusted quite yet to these summer conditions, but I felt pretty good most of the run, just a little flat.  I began at the athletic fields and worked my way over to the west side.  I decided to pick up the pace on a couple of segments.  First, on the Middle Trail, I felt like I was flying and thought I would better my CR, but alas it wasn't to be.  I started too slow I guess.  I regrouped and a few minutes later I was attacking the long railbed segment (.9M GPS).  My turnover felt good, and I was relaxed, but fast.  The result was 4:56 (5:38 pace).  Sweet!  I had trouble recovering from this effort with the heat, and searched out the flattest, easiest trails back to my car.  Total time: 1:13:51. 



Tuesday: 10 miles - Rome Point trails and beach alone.  It was hotter than yesterday (85 degrees) and my legs felt fatigued.  My plan was to wander on the trails for a while, then run up and down on the beach, then wander trails some more.  I was hot on the trails, especially climbing the hill.  The beach was unforgiving with all the rocks and thick sand, and I didn't go as far south as I planned.   I compensated by returning via the roads.  Total time:  1:20:21. 



Wednesday: 8+ miles - Big River trails solo.  Trail workout Wednesday.  My plan was to head down to SK and run the Browning Trail, but I think I'll put that off to Friday.  Instead, I headed to Big River and parked at my new favorite spot - Greasy Joe's.  I decided to do a 2 mile-ish warm up by heading down Foster's Folly and connecting back to the start via some non-descript trails and the New London Turnpike.  I ran past the start of the segment I planned to run as a the workout (Lego East to West) to make sure GPS lined up correctly.  I then jumped into the workout.  I was moving fast, but I wanted to run a pace I could maintain for the duration (which I guessed would be about 25 minutes).  The segment is almost 4 miles of twisty smooth single track (GPS measures 3.1M but is way short).  Despite the cooler temperature (75 degrees) and clouds, it felt really muggy.  This wasn't going to be easy.  The trail continuously turns back on itself, and it's hard to know how far you've gone.  Once I crossed the wide dirt road I knew that I only had about 10 minutes left, but with more elevation change.  At the top of the hill near the mannequin I noticed someone off to the side of the trail lying down.  I thought she might be hurt until I realized there was a man underneath her and they seemed to know eachother pretty well.  I don't know if they noticed me sprint by.  Anyway, I was beginning to tire as the terrain became more technical.  I'm sure I was slowing down a tad.  I finished up and took a brief break.  I could tell from my watch that I ran a little over 25 minutes.  I debated which way to go back, feeling pretty tired.  I headed back on the NLT before turning off and reconnecting with Lego safely past the mannequin couple.  Total time: 1:05:57.  I was annoyed when I uploaded the data and noticed that GPS didn't match up with the Lego segment.  I tried uploading it a different way, but same result.  Stupid space watch....




Thursday: 10 miles - NK roads and bike path alone.  I was busy at work and didn't think much about today's run.  Easy miles seemed like the way to go, so I parked at the Rte 1 end of the Quonset Bike Path and planned to run an out and back (flat, no traffic).  The problem with roads is that I enjoy seeing my GPS pace on them (unlike trails) and it's hard to keep things that easy.  So I guess I would call my run a moderate effort - not hard, but I was working a bit (sweating up a storm with the wind at my back on the early miles and battling the wind the last three miles into the wind).  The result was an unplanned progression: 7:12/6:59/6:44/6:48(only "hill")/6:44/6:38/6:36/6:23/6:21/6:18 Total time: 1:07:02.  These occasional road runs make me feel better about my training, and now I can return to the woods. 



Friday: 14 miles - Ryan Park trails alone. Awesome run today in the muggy, drab weather. I sprinted the five Strava segments and recovered for a mile or so between each. Can't wait to upload my data, but I won't be able to until Tuesday (left my data stick at work). I felt fast out there. Total time about 1:43, with 4.5 miles of speedwork. To be continued.

The results are in!  New CR's on three segments - Rte 4 loop, rail run (up), and middle trail.  Still can't touch Jackman's CR on the roots run (I think he took a shortcut through the pond!).  3rd fastest effort on the longer rail run (down).  Total time: 1:43:28. 





Saturday: 5 miles - White Horse Ledge & Echo Lake trails alone.  Family trip to North Conway.  After a long drive and nice hike around Echo Lake State Park, I was able to slip out for a short run.  My plan was to run on top of the towering White Horse Ledge -great views from the house we were staying at.  Unfortunately, it was ridiculously steep, and I had to do a lot of power hiking.  I also ran into one dead end, and out of time to get to the highest ledge lookout.  I did get some great views and satisfaction out of this run.  Total time: 51:11. 

White Horse Ledge from house

Echo Lake with White Horse in the background

View from White Horse - Cranmore in distance

Sunday: 5 miles - North Conway roads alone in the morning.  This was just a hazy morning shake out on flat roads.  My goal was to run White Horse again (using different trails), but I just wasn't feeling it when I woke up.  Instead I ran an out and back on roads, and felt like I was working too hard for a slow pace.   Total time: 37:05.  We spent the rest of the day at Storyland and I had a blast going on rides with the kids - especially the water ones even though it was cold and windy.  We then drove to my parent's place in Stoddard, NH, and took the scenic way - through the Presidentials.  New snow on the ground up there! 

Overall: A really fun week spent mostly on trails and pushing myself. 

Weekly Total: 62 miles
Last Week: 73 miles
Year to Date: 1224 miles