Monday: 12 miles - Burlingame snow covered trails in the morning. Presidents' Day. Just a great run in the woods. It was cold. The trails were packed down in most places by fat bikes, 4x4 trucks (north camp), and others. I wore trail shoes with Yaktrax for just a little extra grip. Hit up all the fun single track in the NE corner of the park. My pace felt peppy throughout. Total time: 1:33:35 with 635' of climbing.
Tuesday: 10 miles - Saunderstown roads alone. It was windy, foggy, and wet. The temperature was in the low 50's - almost 50 degrees warmer than at the start of my run yesterday! My plan was a normal run with some good hills mixed in, hoping not to get splashed by cars. My legs felt tired on the climbs, but I managed a good pace overall (7:21), considering I got 1,025' of elevation gain. Total time: 1:13:30.
Wednesday: 13 miles - flat roads of NK workout. Workout Wednesday. No Galoob (Quebec), so I was going to go solo. It was too nice out to do the indoor track. I opted to do a block of marathon pace (T pace didn't seem appealing to me). My plan was 2 mile warm up, 10 miles @ 6:14 ave., 2 mile cool down. I parked at the Quonset bike path lot, and ran around Allen's Harbor as a warm up. Warm with the wind at my back, but cool running into it. My first few miles would be mostly into the wind and very exposed on Quonset roads. I began the M block. I peeked once at my watch near the 1 mile mark to check my pace (6:08 at that point). I wanted to make sure I wasn't too fast or too slow. I then ignored my watch for the next 6 miles. I just ran by feel. I reached Rte 1 and then ran east on the bike path to Potter Rd. At the intersection with Quidnessett, I checked my watch - almost 7 miles averaging 6:13 pace. I was feeling a bit tired at this point, so I tried to pick up my effort so I wouldn't fall off pace. I reached Mount View and finished on the 10 miles on the far end of the bike path - 1:01:17! 6:08 average pace. I guess I picked it up too much the last 3 miles, but I feel good about this workout. I shortened my cool down to just one mile. Total time: 1:22:46.
Thursday: 11 miles - roads with hills. My legs didn't feel beat up at all. I decided to park on the NLT near Rte 102 and run roads from there (mostly paved). I began right away with a hill. I felt sluggish, but it warmed me up fast. I continued west on Old Ten Rod Rd, hitting the big hill up to Rte 3. I then ran south on Rte 3 with the wind at my back to Dawley Park Rd. I continued to Tug Hollow, Hillsdale, Hoxsie, and Gardiner roads. This included another 3 hill climbs. Total time: 1:19:59 with 839' of elevation gain.
Friday: 10 miles - more roads with hills. I'm still not feeling beat up from Wednesday. Good sign. Today I parked on Congdon Mill Rd. I again began with a brutal hill climb. I checked my watch at the top and my ave. pace was 7:52. This was going to be a slow run. I meandered on down Robin Hollow Rd and back up the other side. I turned north onto Fry Pond Rd then east on Sharpe Street (soon turning into Weaver Hill Rd). Eventually I hit Rte 3 and had to run into the wind up a big hill. I was very surprised at the finish to see that my average pace ended up at 7:07 (total time 1:11:06). Another 806' of climbing.
Saturday: 17 miles - long road run/workout with Muddy. I was happy to get in a quality long run this weekend and not do it alone. I was nervous about Muddy's plan of 3E, 6M, 1T, 5M, 3E. I didn't think my legs could hold up to this, but guessed that he was also not feeling fresh after another monster week of training. It turns out we were in the same boat physically. After our hilly warm up of 3 miles, we got to work. Immediately, the pace felt too spicy to me and unattainable. Muddy soon after was expressing his displeasure as well. I pushed on the best I could thinking we just needed to get to 5 miles and then reassess. Somewhere in the 5th mile I began feeling better, and mentally I felt like I may be able to knock out a few more miles at this pace. The key was to just make it up the hill on Pine Hill Rd in one piece. At the top of the hill I heard Muddy shout out behind me that he was going to stop. It was at exactly 6 miles (37:07 - 6:11 ave. pace). We got moving again, this time at a pace that felt easy (but was in the high 6's). We then began another undetermined amount of marathon pace work. We were running into the wind on Pine Hill Rd and I couldn't wait to turn north onto Switch Rd. I pushed hard, too hard, and had to back off a bit. We turned down Sandy Pond Rd and my watch began acting up (bad GPS signal in the pines?). Despite my best effort, my average pace kept showing slower and slower. I was frustrated. Another turn onto Woodville Rd with the wind at our back and bright sun. Unfortunately it was mostly uphill back to Switch Rd. This was tough, but I felt good about my effort. We were closing in on 3 miles as I began fighting the strong wind in the turf fields. I wanted to get to 4, but I noticed I couldn't hear Muddy behind me, so turned around to see he had stopped. I decided to stop as well (3+ miles @ 6:15 ave. pace). We then had 4 more miles to go to get back to my house on top of the hill. I was tired, but ok. Muddy was bonking, and suffering. Glad we made it back in one piece. Total time: 1:53:11 (6:40 ave. pace) with 516' of elevation gain (Muddy's barometer based watch had 816').
In the afternoon, I took my son on a long hike (he picked) in Wickaboxet (the blue loop). It was advertised as 4 miles, but my GPS watch measured it as 4.5+. We walked clockwise, saving the highlight - Rattlesnake Ledge, for last. Still snow in the darker spots, but it was a warm day (mid 50's). Total moving time of 2hrs 8 minutes. Spirits were high and fun was had on the ledges.
Top of Rattlesnake Ledge.
The full ledge from below.
Sunday: 0 - rest day. After 73 miles in 6 days, plus over 4 hours of moving time yesterday, I was happy to not run today. I thought about it a few times, but I just wasn't motivated. I still spent plenty of time outside working in the yard and also walking for about 40 minutes in Ninigret with my wife as the kids biked. Good enough. Thus begins my taper for the Belleville Pond Trail 10K next Saturday.
Weekly Total: 73 miles
Last Week: 63 miles
Year to Date: 510 miles
February to Date: 197 miles
Major miles! You amaze me! I've often wondered about Wickaboxet, looks fun and intersting. The fact there is a marked loop is good to know, helps for the directionally challenged.
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