The second week of vacation was spent in Maine the first three days, and then in RI for the balance. We had two big birthday parties for my kids - one Friday evening at the beach with friends, and a family party on Sunday. There was a lot of planning/coordinating going on, and running was not the focus of my time. I still got out there when I could.
Monday: 8 miles - Hancock/Lamoine roads (3 miles dirt) alone. This morning my legs were finally feeling heavy from the race on Saturday. It took me a while to get going.
Later in the day, we did our traditional Day Mountain hike with family and friends. The kids led the way up and down the mountain this year!
Tuesday: 10 miles - Hancock hill/tempo workout in the early morning. I ran up to the busy Rte 1 to run a long hill a couple of times. The shoulder is wide, so I just tried to tune out the traffic. I began the climb after three miles. The grade felt easier than it looked, until I neared the top and felt a little woozy. I kept running as it flattened out and then turned around and did it again. The hill was 135' in .6 miles (4.6% average grade). I ran them at 6:34 and 6:41 pace. I then kept up a good effort on the three miles back to the house. Total time: 1:06:14 - 6:36 average pace.
My son and I got dropped off to hike together as the rest of the family was tired of hiking later in the day. We hiked up the Asticou Terrace to Eliot Mountain and then continued on to the Jordan Pond House where we met up with everyone for tea & popovers (and soup). Super fun and delicious. Lobsters back at the house later at night.
Wednesday: 6 miles - Hancock/Lamoine roads in the early morning. My legs felt horrible and I looked exhausted before I even started this run. I'd been reading a book about the race to the first sub 4 minute mile and was determined to run a fast road mile before I had to go home (which was this day). The prospects for a good time looked dim as I struggled on my dirt road warm up. Still I gave the flat (slightly downhill) mile a decent effort. Sprinting this distance is no longer daunting which is a good feeling. I did the Mud Creek (Road) Mile in 5:16. I immediately dropped my pace considerably as I jogged back.
We drove home the rest of the day, first stopping in Ellsworth for shopping and lunch, and then again in the Portland area for dinner at our friends house (also stopped at the DeLorme Map Store).
Thursday: 9 miles - Local roads to and from the Carter Preserve trails. This was chore day, and I waited for my chance to run, which came in the afternoon. It felt warm in the sun and I ran roads from my house to the powerline in Carter. Despite heavy legs, I felt obligated to give the new Grassland Mile Strava segment a good push. Running on the thick grass around the field was not easy, but I managed a 5:38. I then took the long (and more hilly) way home.
Friday: 15 miles - South County Bike Path MP training with Muddy. I contacted Muddy the day before to see what he had planned, and I decided to jump into his marathon training workout in the morning. He told me 10-12 miles with 5-6 at marathon pace (6:25ish). This turned into 15 miles with 9 miles at about 6:20 pace. The pace felt easy enough as we were able to talk the entire time. Even the last two "cooldown" miles were still peppy. Fun workout. Total time: 1:41:08 - 6:44 average pace.
Saturday: 3 miles - 9xhome trail loops in the late morning alone. This is all I had time for. I need to do more trail work, so I'll be doing this more often. Good twisty gnarly trails. Total time: 25:05.
Sunday: 10 miles - Carter Preserve trails with Greg and Galoob. I was going to do another marathon workout with the Davenport clan in Westerly, but it was evident on Saturday that my legs were toast. My brother ended up driving down Saturday night, so I was going to see if he wanted to run trails with me. Then Mike asked me what I was running and it worked out to meet him at Carter Preserve for ten miles (he was biking to/from there). The three of us had a blast running the red/blue trails out to the Grassland Mile. I asked them if they were up to the challenge. Yes they were. It is extremely humbling to see how fast and easy they ran this. I was so far behind. My pace was faster than on Thursday and I improved my time to 5:28, but Mike ran 4:54 and Greg was a couple of seconds behind him. We regrouped and ran the mile in reverse to recover. We then did the powerline hill and took the blue/red/split rock trails back. Very fun run. Total time: 1:13:35.
Overall: So vacation is now over. It was a blast. I need to figure out what my early fall racing plans are going to be, and try to focus my training on them.
Weekly Total: 61 miles
Last Week: 49 miles
Year to Date: 1984 miles
Sounds like a great week! I bet the area you were in was beautiful. I've never been to that part of Maine, but I've heard good things.
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