Tuesday: 0 - sick day again. Not feeling terrible, but running didn't make much sense.
Wednesday: 8 miles - East Greenwich roads and trails alone. I decided I needed to run today. Yesterday I stumbled upon the Frenchtown Park / Frye Nature Preserve looking for a nearby playground for my kids on their election day off. We hiked around the mill remains and pond, but there was a map showing more trails. I thought I would explore in there and then run down the road a bit and explore another potential small trail system (Briggs/Boesch Farm). I did not feel great as I began my run. My body felt tired and my lungs still not fresh. I pushed on and after a mile of roads, jumped into the Frenchtown Park trail system. The trails were more technical (with rocks) than I anticipated which was cool. The tough part was the amount of leaves on the trails. I had on my Nike Frees and could not get any traction at all. Still I was pleased with the 3.5 miles or so I ran in there. I then ran down the road to Briggs Farm. They have a nice map of the trail system (on an active farm), but I got confused instantly. The main trail had cattle on both sides and then there seemed to be a new wire across the main path. Was I supposed to stop there? I wasn't sure and the cattle were getting all excited as I ran by. I decided to turn around and head back on the roads to my car. Total time: 1:00:27 with 416' of elevation gain.
Thursday: 10 miles - dirt hill workout alone in the cold November rain. My health continued to improve. The weather was dreary so I opted to stay warm by running hills. I ran trails in Cuttyhunk and then made my way over to Pardon Joslin Rd to my favorite unimproved dirt road hill. I pushed the downhill and then turned around and ran back up at a challenging pace. I did this 4 times. I had to keep squeezing the water out of my shirt as it felt cold and heavy on my chest. It seemed too cold to not wear it however. This was a hard workout, but super rewarding to complete. Felt epic in a way to be all alone in the woods running up and down this giant hill in the rain. Total time: 1:14:43 with 1,260' of elevation gain.
Friday: 10 miles - Rome Point shoreline (6 miles) plus some trails and roads alone. Full moon and the low tide was corresponding to my usual lunch run time. I decided to run the coastline around Rome Point south past Plum Beach. One day I want to make it all the way to Casey Point. I don't know if this is possible. Today I made it pretty far, but inevitably faced a roadblock. The low tide was -.3 feet. I need to check other full moons to see if it goes even lower. Also, wind direction may help. Oh, and getting my feet completely wet. We'll see. It was chilly out there today and rather quiet. Another run with an epic feel to it. Fun stuff! Total time: 1:18:42.
Saturday: 16 miles on two runs. First was a sunrise trail run in Arcadia with Muddy and Matty P. I mapped out a loop that included some new to me trails/dirt roads, but parts of the Breakheart, Escoheag, and Mtn Tom trails too. It was chilly at the start (27 degrees) and my chest was feeling crappy again (cold coming back?). The pace was peppy at times (on the dirt roads) and slow on the technical stuff (lots of leaves). I enjoyed the long big climb up Austin Farm Rd to the top of Escoheag Hill. We also had decent climbs up Penny Hill and Mt Tom. We returned to our cars with some time to spare so we bagged a couple of more easy miles on wide trails. Total time: 1:44:04 with 1,090' of elevation gain. I then drove my kids to karate in Westerly and on to the twins' 1st birthday party in New Hampshire. I snuck out with my brother Greg just before sunset for a short run up Daniels Mountain to Moon Ledge. This was an awesome spot. The trail up sucked because of all the leaves and it was so damn steep. Greg had terrible road shoes with zero traction and fell often. The views from Moon Ledge are awesome. On the way back down I watched Greg slip about 20' on his butt. He got up and then disappeared down the trail. It was getting dark at this point, but I stayed on course. Total time: 20 minutes with 527' of elevation gain.
Sunday: 10 miles on two runs. I spent the morning outside doing yard work, and when I finished I decided to bag a few miles doing home trail loops. The weather was awesome. The loops went well. My times (3 laps = 1 mile) were good, and it got my kids to run around in the woods while I did them. My daughter insisted I do a 10th lap. Total time: 23:56. Although not terribly exciting, the terrain is actually pretty gnarly with small ups and downs and tight turns. Not bad trail racing practice. In the afternoon we packed the kids' bikes in the car and met another family down in Ninigret. This was time for my normal run of the day. I wasn't feeling too inspired to run by myself here, but then I checked Strava for some segment motivation. Hmm. I could do the Arnolda loop (just under 2 miles) and then the bike circuit loop (.9 miles). Mix in a warm up, recovery, and cool down, and the time should pass rather quickly. I wasn't sure how fast I would be. My cold was still "coming back" and my body was tired from all the previous days' running. Still I gave it my best shot. The Arnolda loop was first and it felt long. It was really hard, but I was pleased to see that I averaged 5:37 pace and set the CR. It took me some time to recover as I jogged passed the family to see if they were still having fun (yes!). I made my way onto the bike loop. There were a couple of soccer games going on and I wondered if anyone would recognize the bald bearded man sprinting around the bike track. I reached the start of the segment (NW corner) and just let my legs go. I felt much faster than on the Arnolda loop. Parts of this loop were tough, especially when I was running into the wind. I finished strong and was surprised at my finishing time (well under five minutes). When I uploaded the data I had run the .9 miles in 4:34 (good for 5 minute flat average pace) and the CR. Total time for the 7.1 miles was 47:09.
Overall: Great week considering the two sick days to start and never feeling 100% healthy for the duration. Li'l Rhody next Sunday, so another easy week on tap.
Weekly Total: 54 miles
Last Week: 59 miles
Year to Date: 2,850 miles
November Total: 70 miles
Other than the cold sounds like a good week. Daniels Mt to Moon Ledge sounds good and I like the elevation chart. Hope Greg is ok!
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