Weekly Log 3-Sep-12 to 9-Sep-12

Monday:
16+ miles with Mike B on Labor Day holiday.  Ran the full Surftown course; great prep for the race in just two weeks.  Mike was pushing the pace (see below) especially on the first half of the course.  At the finish line on Atlantic, it was a welcome relief to walk into Sienna's Scoops and to get two cold Poland Spring water bottles on the house from the kind owner and sponsor of this year's fun run ice cream certificates.

Afternoon swim sans wetsuit from end of Old Town Beach to Windjammer. 

Ended the last summer holiday weekend with a lot of beach time, waterslide fun, and a cookout and fire on the deck.  Hopefully I won't get too depressed after Labor Day; at least I still have four consecutive races right in Misquamicut to keep me pumped. 

Tuesday: 0

Wednesday: 
4 miles.  Stavros On the Beach Run.
Results here.  2nd overall; 17:42.

Was watching the weather all day on this and in back and forth communication with our club prez, Steve, as hurricane remnants meant pouring rain and high winds earlier in the day.  Fielded a number of calls from potential runners, telling them the race was still on as I looked skeptically outside at downpours even two hours before the start.
Fortunately, the weather was favorable at start time, other than close to 90% humidity! 

Start:  most runners are barefoot

Lined up at the start of the new course (easterly from Westerly Town Beach to Weekapaug Breachway), barefoot as usual.  Jonny shot out of the gate and quickly assumed the lead as I'm thinking to myself this is going to be a long night.  The sand was perfect!  Hard-packed and reminding me of the Resolution Beach 5K.

Jonny leading the pack out

About 1/4 mile in, I caught up with Jonny and took the lead.  Hit the first mile in 5:40!  5:40 on sand, really?!  About this time I'm hearing footsteps right behind me and thinking it's Jonny, but the wierd thing is that sometimes the footsteps sound right near me and sometimes they sound like they're higher up on the beach, so I'm wondering if it's someone wearing shoes that has to keep avoiding the waves that I run through in a straight line.
Finally, at the turnaround where Polly is with the cones, I see indeed it is a shod runner, a kid I don't know, followed by Jonny.  I usually don't like turnarounds, but there's no other choice on a beach race and it's kind of neat now to see the rest of the field.  The kid is now running right next to me.  I hit mile 2 in 6:02.  Colburn, our oldest WTAC member at 79 (I hope to be still breathing at 79) says hello, and I know I'm in trouble when I pant something unintelligible back to him while the kid utters a complete coherent sentence.

1 - 2(Jeff) - 3(Jonny) coming in to finish

Final mile:  My last hope of the kid adding time and distance by running around waves is shot when he starts running through the water with his shoes on.  Damn!  At about 2.5 (didn't look at watch) he finds another gear to accelerate, which I cannot match.  I try twice in case he's just throwing a surge, but he's not, and I can't hold it.  I finish the final mile in 6:00 flat, 6 seconds behind the winner, and Jonny just 6 seconds behind me.


Sprinting final steps to finish

Now for my post-race "cooldown":  I ran and jumped into the ocean.  How refreshing!  Great night, great running company, great food, great fun, and great compliments on the new course!

Check out the waves coming in to wash Mike B away!

Thursday:
5 miles.  My alarm went off at 4, but I was tired from compiling and posting beach results and went back to sleep.  Coming home from work at 5PM and seeing Tom out running gave me inspiration!  Put on running shoes and ran the same Misquamicut roads/beach course the two of did last Sunday, only in reverse (no, I didn't run backwards!).

Friday:
8 miles.  To Tom's house at 4:30AM and back at 5:45.  Was going to go longer, but got a text from friend Steve to join him for a swim (below).

7 miles.  71 degrees and dripping humidity.  Run in the dark out to Westerly Town Beach, then on the beach to Weekapaug Breachway (repeat of Wednesday night!) before Weekapaug roads back to Tom's.  7:12 average, but that's factoring in the beach as first few miles were at 6:43!  Great to see Tom back running!
3/4 mile.  Got back home, changed into wetsuit, met Steve back at the Town Beach again!  Haven't I already been here today?  This time it's light out.  We each swim 12 minutes out and 12 back, as he's much faster than me.  Got whalloped by a wave and then learned to go out a bit further.  I've had my own triathlon today; I'm wiped and it's only 7:30AM!

Swim at sunrise

Saturday:
11 very humid miles with Mike B.  Loop from Y to Boombridge to North Stonington, Anthony to Ashaway, Potter Hill to North End and back.  I really had trouble with this one today almost from the start at 6AM.  Every hill I was panting going up, and with the thick air, downhills weren't much relief.  Saw Jeff Duda twice on the bike - he's doing the Firm Man half-iron tomorrow, while I'm fortunately running the much shorter Shoreline Biathlon, given that I haven't biked or swam enough this summer.  Somehow finished up with a 7:11 overall pace.  Mike looked strong; I felt like death.  Checked the humidity when I got home:  95%!  Ugh!

Sunday:
6 miles.  Shoreline Biathlon.  See separate write-up.
22 miles.  Shoreline Biathlon.
Weekly totals:
Run:  49 miles
Bike:  30 miles
Swim:  1.00 miles

Week wrap-up:  Another strong run mileage week, even with getting in two races during the week, both of which were great fun.  It's depressing to be at the end of summer, but the races and runs/swims with different friends are all a lot of fun and keep me going mentally and physically.  Next up:  Surftown!  Very excited about this one, a well organized run on local roads with a huge groundswelling of both participants and spectators.