Monday: 8 miles - Calf Pasture Point bike path, beach, and trail alone. I originally headed out here for a flat recovery run, but instead I was doing some potential course measuring for a theoretical race for my wife's library. The location seems to work well and is in the same section of town as the library. The idea is to have a run and walk option. First I measured the run course that I thought was 4 miles, and GPS had it right at 4. The plan is for a lollipop course that utilizes the bike path (2M), wide trail (.75M) and beach (1.25M). It's flat and very scenic. Then I ran again to measure the walk option which I thought would be 2.5 miles (out and back on bike path to the beach), but it came out a little long. I doubt any walkers really care about the accuracy, so it should be fine. I continued to run to get in an even 8 miles for the day. What surprises me is how easy high 6's pace on pavement is.
Tuesday: 10 miles - Saunderstown hilly roads alone. It was nice to get this sort of training run in. I parked at Rome Point, but instead of hitting up the trails, I jumped onto the road. My legs were feeling pretty good, and I tried to keep a nice pace as I warmed up to the first hill - Gilbert Stuart Road. I picked up my pace as I neared the start of the Strava segment. I was able to climb quickly and not feel totally terrible. A quick glance at my watch near the top and I thought I might have just set the record (owned by Galoob). I then turned around and headed back down the hill and soon enough I was beginning the slow and steady climb from the brook to the top of Snuff Mill Road. Even though this is the easiest grade by far of any of the climbs I'd be doing, the length makes it almost harder. Once at the top, I then zigzagged around the Plum Beach neighborhood hitting the climbs on Cottrell and Plum Beach. My last climb is the second hardest (to Gilbert Stuart) on Plum Point Road - some really steep sections. I could feel the fatigue setting in. I picked up the pace on my last mile (mostly downhill) to my car. Total time: 1:07:11 (6:41 pace) 950' of elevation gain.
Wednesday: 8 miles - Ryan Park trails with my boss. We haven't run together in a long time, so it was good to get to do this today. The weather cooperated - it did rain for part of the run, but it was so humid anyway it actually felt good. We ran the trail on the west side of park, hitting a few newer ones that he hadn't been on yet. After 4.5+ miles, he headed back and I ran a few more easy miles. Total time: 1:04:58.
Thursday: 10+ miles - NK roads (6M) and Rome Point trails (4M) solo. I wasn't sure where to run today, and if the weather was going to hold up. I ended up deciding on a pretty fun course that allowed me to run two very different 1 mile loop intervals. I parked at Rome Point with the idea of doing the Waldron Rd 1 mile loop, but instead of heading directly there on roads, I ran the wider trails of the park, and then hopped onto Terre Mar Road. It was muggy, and lightly sprinkling, but there were bits of blue sky too. I just didn't want to get stuck in a thunderstorm. I can deal with everything else. My energy was a bit low thanks to soda with lunch (which was not healthy as well). I was thinking my planned mile interval was going to be disappointing and painful. I ran an extra mile of backroads (along the bay), hoping to feel better, which did indeed happen. I then ran the Waldren loop hard. My GPS pace was way off most of the time(probably due to thick tree cover). My pace was still showing over 6 minutes at the half way point, but this was not at all accurate, or I was in really bad shape! Finally, near the end, my watch was showing 5:20's and under 5:10 by the very end. It was a good effort and I hoped I would be happy with the time when I uploaded it, which I was - 5:18. My pace dropped for a while as I recovered. I made my way back towards the trails, but did explore a side road I had never been on before. Back in the woods, I again stayed on the wider trails, first heading out to the point, and then working my way back to the parking lot. I had the idea of doing the yellow dot loop as another mile interval. It measures .9 miles on GPS, but definitely feels like a true mile. It's a fun loop, technical in places with a 75' climb mixed in near the end. My fastest time was 6:05 (done twice). This time I felt fast, but I didn't feel like I was working crazy hard. I was super focused on my footing and avoided smashing my ankle on the stonewall crossing. The loop felt good, but I had no idea how I did. Again I was pleased to see it was 5:37 - way faster than previous efforts, but didn't feel that hard. I jogged the main path back to my car to finish up in 1:13:13.
Friday: 13 miles - Ryan Park trails alone. This was a nice relaxed run in the warm weather. Sometimes I feel rushed to get sections of these longer non-loop runs out of the way, but I was able to not force it today. It was kind of hot out (high 70's), but my body seems to be adjusting well as I was never really hot. Plenty of shade now with the trees just about fully leafed out, but I did notice the GPS beeping miles off later than normal. Lots of bird activity that included many singing orioles and great crested flycatchers. I forgot to mention I saw a woodcock on the trail out here on Wednesday. Sometimes I'm curious how much I would actually see if I wasn't running. I thought I was going to go the entire run without encountering humans, but I eventually passed two horses on the rail bed - they were friendly and told me I didn' t need to stop "jogging". Thanks for the compliment? My legs felt pretty good throughout, but were carrying some heaviness from yesterday's miles in them. Total time: 1:42:31. We'll see how my legs are feeling on the track tomorrow morning.
Saturday: 8+ miles - CHS track workout with Muddy at 7AM. I was excited to have some company on the track this morning, and even more excited when Muddy was expecting to do the Aussie Quarters workout. This was my third time doing it, so mentally the workout seems manageable now. My problem is that I might not be working hard enough on the 400's and running the fast recoveries too fast. Not sure. Awesome workout nonetheless. Results: 83/82/81/82/80/80/79/80 with average 48 for 200 recoveries = 18:04 5K.
There was a decent south wind which made things interesting, and it was rather muggy.
Sunday: 3 miles - 9xhome trail loops alone at 8PM. Happy Mother's Day! Busy day spent mostly in Newport at Sachuest (no Fuller sightings). After the kids went to bed, I was checking out the day's activity on Strava and suddenly had the urge to run. Honestly I was content to zero today, and my upper legs are pretty sore from yesterday's track workout and just alot of recent running. But the power of social media had me putting on my shoes and running in the fading light. After almost tripping on the first lap, I was able to nimbly navigate the twisty trail even as it was getting very dark out. It was really quiet out except for the frogs down in the valley and the weather was perfect. Total time: 23:41.
Overall: Fun week with some more intense efforts. No big plans for the upcoming week. My wife did point out that next Friday was Bike to Work Day. Why not run to work? It's only 22 miles....
Weekly Total: 60 miles
Last Week: 74 miles
Year to Date: 1089 miles
Jonny Hammett: Race Director?
ReplyDeleteNice 10 miler! Sounds fun with all those climbs!
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