Monday: 9 miles - NK roads and Ryan Park trails alone. This was a half-hearted attempt to add some elevation to the Strava challenge (ending today), while keeping things easy. Truthfully, I would have rather just stayed in the woods then run roads. I explored a few side streets off Hatchery Road, finding a couple decent hills, but nothing major.
Tuesday: 9 miles - Calf Pasture Point (3 loops) alone. This turned out to be a decent run. I wasn't feeling it early on, but being alone out on the beach and woods perked me up. On lap two, I believe I saw a flock of about 15-20 snow buntings at the end of the point.
Wednesday: 8 miles - Big River trails alone. My plan was to park at Hopkins Hill Rd and run west over to the overlook and find the mtn bike TT loop. First I looped around some of my favorite twisty trails near the Cardi Rd before crossing over to the overlook side. I quickly found the marked TT loop and followed it for a long time (27+ minutes) before bailing and headed back due to time. I couldn't believe how few miles GPS had me traveling, but I guess you couldn't pick a twistier route than the one I did.
Thursday: 11+ miles - Quonset Bike Path workout with Bob Jackman. Early morning track got nixed by crappy weather - rain and wind. I was hoping that I could still try today's intended workout on the bike path in the afternoon. Bob was interested in joining me which worked out well since it was still raining and there was no way I wanted to tackle the workout alone. Sticking with the MacMillan 10K workout plan, today was a 2 x 2 miles (5 min recoveries) 2 x 1 mile (3 minute recoveries) all at 10K pace. I figured it would be harder to nail this workout on the bike path than the track, but it would be a more realistic feel to race conditions. We headed out in the warm rain (but not much wind) for a brisk (6:50 pace) warm up. Then it was go time. The first 2 miles ticked away rather easily and came in a bit fast at 11:15 (11:20 target). We jogged for 5 minutes (forgot to record on my watch) before heading back in the opposite direction. The effort felt a little harder, but the pace was a hair slower, but still right on target - 11:20. I decided to not record any of the recoveries on my watch. 5 minutes later we began the 2 x 1 mile portion of the workout. This seemed manageable mentally, but turned out to be harder than I thought physically - 5:39/5:35. We nailed it! We finished up with another fastish 2 mile cool down. My confidence is soaring, and now I'm wondering if sub 35 minutes is possible!
Friday: 8+ miles - Burlingame trails alone. A sunny day turned windy, cold, and overcast by the time I ran later in the afternoon. I ran the trails around the campground. I saw one mtn biker early on, but the rest of the time I was all alone.
Saturday: 5 miles - Travel the Trails 5K - 1st overall, 18:11. This was the first race of a potential cross country series put on by the South Kingstown Rec Dept. I believe this course is the SK school xc course and was basically two laps (each was a tad different). It was a chilly but sunny morning. My dad came along and helped out with the kids while I raced. I checked out the course on my warm up. I was already familiar with most of it, but the order and direction were different than what I've run before. After two miles I was running low on time so I stopped at my car for final prep. I wasn't sure what to expect with this race. My body wasn't in racing mode since the hard workout on Thursday. I didn't recognize anyone in the field. One guy my age looked potentially fast. There were also a couple of high school kids lined up front wearing proper running attire. At the horn, everyone seemed to take off in a sprint. I was feeling rather slow, and settled into 3rd place. I glanced at my watch and my pace was fine however. I just told myself to wait and see what happens. I knew I could maintain my pace for the duration, who knows about these kids? Soon enough 2nd place (wearing spikes) was tiring. I surged past him on a very short but steep hill. The leader still had a few seconds on me. After running around fields, we then hit the trail around the pond. Although not hard, it was the most technical section of the course. I found myself gaining on 1st. I then made my move and sprinted by. I kept it up on a gnarly bridge crossing and before I knew it, I was well ahead and alone. I focused on keeping my pace steady for the rest of the race. Mike Galoob (timing) joked that I was on CR pace after lap 1. Well I guess technically I was since this was the inaugural running of the race. The second lap was smooth. I had to deal with some traffic on the loop around the pond. I was running out of steam near the end, but sprinted the last stretch through the chute. 18:11 (5:52 pace). It was fun winning a race (albeit small) in front of my dad and kids. No cool down as my dad and son hiked some of the course and my daughter and I sat in the sun eating first of season clementines. This was a fun race and very well run. I hope they do have more of these races in the future. Results here
finishing up
post race
awards
Sunday: 15(ish) miles - Narragansett Trail (Wyassup Lake to Lantern Hill and back) with Muddy in the early morning. We hatched this plan over beers the night before. I had to be home by 9:30 so we decided we could fit in this run (similar to my run last week) if we started at 6:15. The weather was decent and the trail was in good shape, just covered in a ton of leaves. Navigating was easier the second time around. We made it to Wintechog Hill Rd with plenty of time to summit Lantern Hill. We decided to run down the road and make the climb longer up the hill. It was steep and ledgy. Not knowing how far was left probably helped. Eventually we splilled out onto a expansive rocky overlook. We paused for a couple of minutes before backtracking down. My legs were fatiguing on the way back, but I did not fall. This was a pretty rugged two hour run.
Overall: Another fun week. Li'l Rhody is one week away!
Weekly Total: 65 miles
Last Week: 70 miles
Year to Date: 2803 miles
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