The combination of busy at work, Memorial Day weekend, and too much running has me writing this a little late. Last week was an awesome week of running: a brutal hill workout, a solo track session, and a long hilly exploratory run. I even helped direct and time a "race". Good stuff. I'm itching to race again and tone down the volume of training, but when the weather is nice, I can't help myself.
Monday: 12.5 miles on two runs. First, I ran an uninspired easy run in Ryan Park. I was busy at work and this was my best option, although I am getting sick of this place. It's time for a break. 9 miles in 1:14. After dinner, my son and I headed to Ninigret Park so that I could measure the upcoming Charlestown Run/Walk-athon while my son biked. I was super pleased to see the bikers had already marked the .9 mile loop with half mile markers and a 5K finish line. After 4 laps we called it quits. 26:31. Legs felt exhausted.
Tuesday: 11 miles - Gilbert Stuart Rd hill workout with Galoob. Warm day and sunny. I convinced Mike to meet me here for a hill workout as I didn't have time to travel further for hills. My idea was 5 repeats (over 200' gain). Mike made it more interesting by making it 6 repeats and running the steepest section of the hill hard and then again sprinting a gradual uphill section on the backside. Essentially it was a 12 x 1 minute hard workout. I sort of followed suit, running the backside hard, and running the entire steep side rather hard too. This was a blast, but very challenging. I had a good day climbing. Total time 1 hr 21 min with 1,497' of elevation gain.
Wednesday: 8.5 miles - Rome Point trails alone. Recovery run. I gave this place a shot since the parking lot didn't look busy. Legs felt tired - mostly my quads from descending yesterday. The tide was really high and I couldn't make it far on the beach. Total time: 69 minutes.
Thursday: 9 miles - Cuttyhunk trails, dirt and paved roads, and Queen's Fort trails alone. I timed this run completely wrong and ran during the only period of steady/heavy rain for the day. My plan was for another recovery run as my quads were still quite sore (I had already ruled out a planned workout). I parked at Cuttyhunk and then the light rain intensified. I ran a mix of terrain before heading east on Stony Lane towards Queen's Fort (a place I read about somewhere and noticed that there may be trails, or at least an old lane to run). It's funny running down a road in the pouring rain. I was completely drenched and there was no use trying to avoid puddles or the streams on the sides of the road. Every time a car passed, I could only imagine what the people inside thought of me. I found the Queen's Fort entrance and entered. I stayed on the main path and followed it for quite some time. I then reached the end (?) and then backtracked and explored the other side trails. I saved the best for last (the stone fort remains), but it was raining so hard that visibility was an issue, and I don't think I ever found the actual fort. Still a cool place, and worth checking out again in better weather. Plus, you can tack on a couple of trail miles while out on the roads. Total time: 69 minutes.
Friday: 22+ miles - Wickaboxet/Tillinghast Pond trails plus 2 x Plain Meetinghouse Rd hill climbs with Galoob. Day off from work and I couldn't wait to run long today. After exploring this area with my family the previous week, I knew I had to come back and run. We began by running up the biggest road climb possibly in the state - 344' in .8 miles. We ran up it very well and then Mike showed me a cool unimproved dirt road with a more gradual hill to head back down. We then connected with the newly blazed blue trail in Wickaboxet. This new trail connects to the Tillinghast Pond trails for a great 10 mile loop of easy single track. We kept the pace snappy the entire time. I thought the day was cool, but running I noticed that it was very muggy. After an hour and a half we stopped at our cars for a quick break. We rejoined the loop and soon found Rattlesnake Ledge which was pretty cool. At the far eastern end of the loop, there is a white blazed trail that leads up a good hill through a West Greenwich Land Trust property. We were now at the top of the hill on Plain Meetinghouse Rd again. We ran down, turned around, and climbed back up (Mike's idea). This time, I was struggling mentally, but still managed a good push to the top. We again took the dirt road back down and then ran the part of the trail loop we missed in Wickaboxet, before continuing back to our cars in the opposite direction past Rattlesnake Ledge. Total time: 2 hrs 53 min. Good overall pace and 1,707' of elevation gain. Great run!
Saturday: 4 miles - north Burlingame trail loop in the afternoon. This was just a recovery run from my house after timing the race in the morning and two hours of brush removal around the yard. My legs felt pretty darn good. 33 minutes with 417' of climbing.
Sunday: 9 miles - CHS solo track session in the morning. I decided to try the workout Mike suggested earlier in the week: 4 x (400/600 @ R pace, 200 Fast) with 200 recoveries and 400 between sets. This proved to be too much for me, at least for now since I haven't been doing R paced intervals (roughly mile race pace). The first 400 was too fast and then reality set in on the 600. Even my "fast" 200's weren't very fast. After two sets, I switched the 600 to a second 400. Results: 72/1:55/34/74/1:55/34/76/74/34/76/76/34. Overall, I was pleased. My targets were 75-76 and1:52-1:53 (no target for the 200's although I thought they would be faster). Total time: 63 minutes.
Weekly Total: 76 miles
Last Week: 79 miles
Year to Date: 1339 miles
May Total: 263 miles
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