Weekly Log 9-Jul-12 to 15-Jul-12

Monday:

5 miles.  Chariho Fun Run.

Track portion of the run at CHS

Went up with Matthew to my alma mater to run the 1 mile and 3 mile runs, both mostly on grass, with a little track mixed in.  Put on by John Ward and Earl Thomas, both fellow Chariho grads and marathoners.  John is unfortunately ending his 22-year Blessing streak this year due to injuries.
Ran the 1-mile pretty much all out in 5:23, which leads me to question how I'll do any better next week at Bottone.  Was neat to run through the higher powered sprinklers around the perimeter of the field.
Ran the 3-mile comfortably hard, but not all out.  18:13.

Following the "Four Horsemen" at start of the 3-mile

(Funny, the 4th one in yellow shorts wasn't what I expected!)

After the runs, caught up with Mike Marsella, Chariho all-American running star.  I was amazed how down to earth and easy going he was.  After a while, he actually started to ask me about my running, marathon experience, and Chariho days.  He seemed astounded to hear that his coach (Haberek) was my teacher back in the late '70s and when I ran laps on the track for CHS soccer training, back then it was a dirt track.  Of course back then I also rode in a horse and buggy to school. J

Tuesday:
5 miles.  Fun Run week continues with the Stonington Fun Runs.  Ran a warm-up loop with Matthew.  Got stuck back in the pack at the beginning, and took me a while to get free with the record crowds.  Had to hoof it to catch up with Mike B.  It took me over a mile to catch him, as it turns out he was blasting out a 6:24 overall pace.

The whole family is running
tonight

Huge running field this week

1/2 mile in: 
heading down Water St

Jeff & Mike finishing up
Yes, that's a Lamborghini in lower left
No, it's not Mike's

WTAC'ers Matthew and CarolAnn finishing up
Note the appropriately named park (white sign on right) and
street name (green sign in back)

The long wait to the bar
is almost over for Mike and Jeff

Mike's yacht is somewhere
out here; can't tell which one

Wednesday:
8 miles. Misquamicut Beach loop solo run. 5 miles road, 3 sand. Tried to run easy today, especially as I've run hard the past few days, broke my Monday rest day rule, and will likely run hard tonight.
3 miles.  Westerly Fun Runs.  18:18, top 3 results here, click through to individual results. 
Great turnout again tonight!  Too many WTAC'ers to list.  Tied my record on this twisty course.  On a bright note, Mark is on his way to mending as he jogged his way through his first 5K since a nasty ankle injury a few weeks back.

WTAC'ers at registration table:
background:  Steve, John
foreground:  Mary, "Coach" Tommy, Jeff

WTAC event banner

Tom (orange) on his way to a 17:00 finish
Matthew (lt blue) en route to his fastest 5K ever (20:44)

Great turnout tonight.  WTAC'ers John (white hat & WTAC singlet, red shorts)
and Way (orange singlet, lower right)

Thursday:
8 miles.  Fun Run frenzy continued at Mystic Fun Runs.  Small group of less than 20.  There were only 8 of us that ran the 10-K, which after 1/4 mile in downtown Mystic is mostly on the Tarzan Brown course along the river.  The others ran the shorter options of 3 or 4 miles.  Ran mostly with Matthew and a guy named Skip; it turns out he's doing the BI Tri next month and is a Chariho grad also.  Small world!  I was surprised to see a staffed water stop on the course, especially given the small numbers and being a fun run! [47:50,7:43 pace]

About to start Fun Run

Beautiful river views along
run looking back into
Stonington

After being held up
at drawbridge, just
turned final corner in
Mystic with runners
following

Finishing up

Friday:
6 miles.  Track workout at Stonington High School with Tom and Mike B.  Ran a 2-mile warm-up through neat parts of the campus I had never seen.  There were cross country trails through here begging us to come back another time.
Here's the workout and stats:
- 1x800 [2:31]
- 2x600 [1:52, 1:50]
- 2x400 [73, 72]
- 4x200 [38, 35, 35, 33]
For the 200s, Mike and I alternated leading and the other riding right on the leader's shoulder to simulate potential race day.  Good workout to wrap it up before Bottone Mile; hopefully this will help me break my PR of 5:10.  The real bummer was that Tom had some sort of pop in his hips and had to drop out on the last 400.  Hopefully with 3 1/2 days, he'll be fully recooperated.
6 miles, all trails.  Final fun run of the week.  Groton Fun Runs, Bluff Point State Park.  Saw Way 5 out of the past 6 days (Sailfest 5K, plus 4 out of the 5 fun runs I ran); he said he sees me more than he sees his wife!  I ran the "long" course of 3.5 miles; felt like the pace was easy and was running consistently with a couple of guys at the pack lead, yet I ended up with a 6:21 pace overall and way ahead of the others.
Ran a 2-mile cooldown with Matthew that I thought was going to be easy, until he took me off the main trail onto a steep singletrack long incline over rocks.  The legs felt it, especially after the workout this morning!

Start of Groton Fun Run

View from the run on the way out

Finishing up the trail run

Cool down with Matthew

Post run get-together

Saturday:
25 miles.  5:20AM ride out to Jonny's.  11 miles out via 91 and Burdickville.  Bike -> Run -> Bike.  14 miles return via Kings Factory and Route 1.  On the way back, was feeling hungry and stopped at Dave's Coffee for a drink and bite to eat, or so I thought:  had a $5 bill, and for that I could get either an iced coffee OR a muffin, but not both!  Got the iced coffee, sat outside, put my head back in the chair and just about fell asleep!
10 miles.  2 miles roads, balance trails on a early morning Burlingame run with Jonny and Muddy.  Started down Burdickville Road and then ran North-South trail in a southerly direction, eventually crossing Buckeye Brook Road, kind of the reverse of the trail Tom and I ran a month or so ago before getting lost.  At one point early in the run I looked back and saw at least 50 deerflies trailing Muddy's head!  Wearing my Clamdigger hat today greatly reduced the annoyance factor.  Split off from the gang after 7+ miles because I had had enough of them!  No, actually, it was a great run with great company and running talk as usual, but I felt that was enough running for me with my first triathlon of the season tomorrow morning.

Sunday:
0.5 miles.  Ocean Beach Triathlon.  See separate write-up.
16 miles.  Ocean Beach Tri.
4 miles.  Ocean Beach Tri.

Weekly mileage:

Run:  55 miles
Bike:  41 miles
Swim:  0.5 miles

Week in review:  This was a really big running mileage week for me.  Enjoyed all the different fun runs, and the weekend came at me fast and hard with the Friday track session, Saturday trail run, and Sunday tri. 
I've been running for 13 days straight now; that's probably a PR running streak for me but I'll be looking forward to ending it Monday with a zero.  My legs are sore and tight and need a break.  I can really feel it walking up stairs at home Sunday night.
Upcoming:  Bottone on Tuesday, then a rare race-free summer weekend, before two back-to-back double-header race weekends (Blessing & Crabman, followed by Block Island & Kerri).  Lovin' the summer fun runs and races.  Definitely my favorite time of year.