Monday: 11+ miles - Ryan Park trails alone. Great weather today, but a tad hot (84 degrees). I began at the high lot on Oak Hill Rd and zigzagged the west side of the park for 35 minutes before taking the rail bed over to the east side. I was thinking to myself how quiet it was, and then I ran into a bunch of people the rest of the way. My pace started slow, but was decent the rest of the way. Total time: 1:24:30.
Tuesday: 8 miles - Rome Point trails and beach alone. Another nice day. My plan kept changing, and I ended up just staying in the park today. Right at the start I was chased by an angry beagle. The mother/daughter owners were very apologetic, but I was annoyed. I then proceeded to pass them four more times during the course of my run. By the end we were laughing about it. My pace was peppy on the trails and slow on the shoreline. I felt pretty wiped out at night after two days running in the heat and humidity. Total time: 1:02:55.
Wednesday: 9 miles. Doubled down today. First, I ran an easy five miles in Ryan Park. My energy and legs felt much better than the night before. My plan was to run hard at night, so I kept the miles and intensity low. Kind of fun. Total time: 40:08.
At night I was able to do the 5K Westerly Fun Run. I met my kids and parents down in Misquamicut after work. I ran the kids race with my daughter as a "warm up". My legs felt tired and my high hopes of putting up a good time were tempered. The start is always fast for the 5K. Lots of teenagers go out fast, and I wanted to be in front of all of them. I led the way for the first mile. Glancing at my watch, I could tell the pace was a little hot. Oh well. My first mile was 5:35 (5:30 GPS). I could tell I had one person close behind as I began the second mile. I did my best to run it strong, as this mile is always slow on this course. I soon could tell that my company was a fast high school kid. I stayed in front of him as we descended the short hill and then we hit the short but steep climb. I sprinted up it thinking that this was the place I could pull away, but the kid latched onto me. After passing the 2 mile marker, he then went past, and I was in no shape to stick with him on this night. I tried my best to hold onto a decent pace (mid 5:40's). The last 1.1 miles took forever and I finished up in 17:55. This is a slow course, and roughly translates to 17:30's. My overall GPS pace was 5:41 (I was hoping for low 5:30's). It was still a blast hanging out with family and friends on a beautiful night.
Thursday: 7+ miles - Old Mountain Field trails and nearby roads with Nathan. We met up at SC Commons for a lunch run. We are trying to revitalize the group lunch runs we did earlier in the year. We took the wide grassy trail through the woods over to athletic fields and then ran the short bike path over to the start of the OMF 5K course. I knew the trails would be muddy and overgrown, but Nathan didn't have any reservations, so we went for it. Not as wet as I thought, but the path was only slightly still visible. We followed the course (more or less) and then ran some more roads before taking the wide trail back to the commons. The pace was quicker than what my legs were expecting, but it was great to have some weekday company. Total time: 56:50.
Friday: 21 miles. Another double. 8 miles - Summer Solstice Sunrise run with the WTAC crew and Chris G. Muddy organized this 2nd annual event, and we all met up at the Weekapaug fishing lot at 5AM. It was much cooler than last year, but a very pleasant morning. The six of us: Muddy, Mike B, Jeff, FiveK, Chris, and myself headed east through Weekapaug and then continued towards the rising sun along the beach. We stopped for a quick photo and again at the breachway before heading back mostly on the sand trail. This was really challenging in the thick sand and gentle headwind. My legs and hip were sore, so running with friends definitely helped. We ran by our cars after 5 miles and continued west along Atlantic Avenue. We crossed over to the ocean at the Westerly Town Beach, and ran back to the breachway. The finishing touch was a quick swim/bodysurfing session in the chilly ocean water. Great time with good people. Total time: 1:05:13.
13 miles - Summer Solstice Half (half trails half roads) solo. It was very quiet at the office today. I decided to leave from work and run to Ryan Park. I was feeling tight and tired before I left, but immediately had good energy running. My hip was tight, but it didn't get worse as I went, so I just ignored it the best I could. I ran through the village and onto Loop Rd (dirt). This interesting road passed through some estruaries and then I picked up the old railbed at the end of it. I connected it via some other roads to Ryan Park. I then ran mostly the wider easy trails of the park. I headed over to the west side and ran the Rte 4 trail, the field trails, and some wooded single track. I then ran back east and ran around the pond and athletic fields. My pace was good the entire time as was my energy. I returned to my office via the railbed and Wickford roads and then tacked on another mile to get 13 for the run and 21 for the day (to properly celebrate the June 21st Solstice). Total time: 1:37:24. Fun long day in the sunshine!
Saturday: 5 miles - Burlingame trails with my wife. My body is beat up from the Solstice. This was an easy run through some of cooler trails of Burlingame. We ran part of Sammy C's to Secret to Schoolhouse Pond, to VG, to the north camp loop, back to VG, and the old lane back to the end of Shumankanuc Hill Rd. Is it just me or does everything seem more overgrown than usual? Total time: 57:17.
Sunday: 8 miles - Glacier Park trails with connecting roads alone. I skipped the early group run knowing that I needed to let my body recover further. I was feeling better today, and thought that if anything, I would sneak in a few miles after the kids went to bed. Instead, I found myself running in the midday heat as I had some time to kill after dropping my son off at a birthday party at the Water Whiz in Misquamicut. Beforehand, I wasn't sure what sort of party it would be (parents stay or leave?), and at the last minute I threw running shorts into my car. Good call. I drove to the Glacier Park, but the lot was full. I decided to park 3/4 mile down the road at Rotary Park. Crossing a very busy Airport Road was annoying, but the rest of the run was great. I was cruising around the trails, hitting most trails in both directions. I pushed a little harder on the way back up the green dot trail as there are a couple of steep little climbs. I decided to make a Strava segment out of it, and found that my time just barely beat out Jeff on a run he did back in December. Should be some fun competition on this one. Total time: 58:56.
Overall: Another solid week of training. It definitely took some time to recover from the 10K. I'm looking forward to the start of summer track sessions and maybe a long tempo run next week.
Weekly Total: 69 miles
Last Week: 60 miles
Year to Date: 1468 miles
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