Postponed Race Week: 2-1-16 to 2-7-16

This week was going to be light on mileage and intensity to rest my body up for the Belleville Pond Trail 10K in Ryan Park on Saturday.  My legs have been feeling rather tired from winter conditions running, so this was welcomed.  The race ended up getting postponed on Friday afternoon due to a messy storm.  So this ended up being a quiet running week which is probably not a bad thing. 

Monday: 12 miles - Burlingame trails in the morning.  The high temperature got up into the mid 60's today, but because of an appointment, I had to run when it was only about 50.  Muggy!  I did a good loop from my house that included all the fun stuff north and east of the pond.  Total time: 1:33:10 with 737' of climbing. 

Tuesday: 7 miles - Ryan Park trails with Galoob.  We met up to tweak the 10K course since there has been so much single track added to the park over the last 3 years.  The course is the same flow, but incorporates more single track and small hills.  This is going to be fun to race!  Total time: 58:53. 

Wednesday: 8 miles - URI indoor track with Galoob.  Just a tune up for Saturday's race.  3 mile warm up then 4x1000 @ T pace: 3:30/3:35/3:34/3:35 with 1 minute recovery.  Added in 4x100 strides during 2 mile cool down. A little too spicy on the 1000s. Total time: 54:31. 

Thursday: 7 miles - Ryan Park trails alone.  I ran the new course mixing in a few strides near the end.  Going over race strategy in mind.  Total time: 52:28. 

Friday: 0 - heavy rain overnight changed to heavy wet snow in the morning.  What a mess.  Luckily we didn't lose power like others nearby.  Everything was drooping with snow.  I was content to not run with the idea of a snowy sufferfest race looming tomorrow.  Got the call from Galoob in the afternoon that Ryan Park was a disaster.  Race needed to be postponed.  Bummer. 

Saturday: 16 miles - half beach half roads long run fartlek alone.  I had a decent morning window to run, but wasn't sure where.  Yesterday's wet roads would be very icy (low 20's overnight).  The trails would all be blocked by drooping trees.  Plus I would have to snowshoe.  I decided that running the beach would be a good option.  I parked at the top of Charlestown Breachway Rd not knowing if the beach lot would be plowed.  I then ran the two miles of road to get to the breachway.  The road was terrible and I hated every car that passed me by.  Finally I reached the breachway and hopped onto the beach.  It was a mid tide but receding.  The sand was decently firm.  It was cold out, but the sun was bright and the light breeze at my back.  I warmed up quickly and took off my gloves.  I tried to enjoy the solitude and scenery, but in the back of my head, I knew I had a lot of sand running to do and I wanted to get it done.  The rocks of Green Hill were a little dicey and I wished I had done the road detour.  Moonstone wasn't as stony as usual, and I was getting into a good groove.  I saw my first human here.  I kept moving along until I reached an unplanned roadblock - Cards Pond was breached and there was a raging deep river emptying into the Atlantic.  I stopped and reassessed.  I was only at 6 miles.  I decided to make my way back, but I would run around the roads of Green Hill too.  And while I was at it, I thought I would mix in some speed play.  I ran back along Moonstone Beach at a tempo effort for 1.3 miles.  I then slowed things down over the rocks and the icy streets of Green Hill for a mile or so and then did a hard road mile.  My time wasn't great, but the road conditions were crappy.  I jogged around for another mile or so, hopping back onto the beach, before running hard from Green Hill to the Charlestown Breachway (a distance of over 2 miles).  This was challenging and I cursed every time I took a step in soft sand.  More people and dogs out now.  The tough part was seeing the breachway, but it taking forever to reach it.  I was happy to be done with it.  I then jogged for another mile on the icy roads back, before engaging in another hard icy road mile back to my car.  I was at fifteen miles, 8 had been on the beach and 7 on the road.  I figured 1 more road mile made sense.  Total time: 1:59:37 with about 5.5 miles of tempo work mixed in. 

Cards Pond Breach looking east

view to the west

jumping back on the beach at Green Hill

Sunday: 11 miles - early morning run on mostly roads from my house.  The roads were not icy like I feared.  I ran south down roads to the Burlingame Picnic Area.  I then ran the VG trail out to Klondike Rd.  Conditions on the trails were good to.  Just an inch or two of crunchy snow and ice.  The bridges felt a little sketchy though.  I then ran hilly roads back to my house.  Total time: 1:18:20 with 583' of climbing. 

Weekly Total: 61 miles
Last Week: 72 miles
Year to Date: 374
February to Date: 61 miles