Weekly Log 15-Oct to 21-Oct-2012

Monday:  0
Nice recovery day for the bruised and tired legs after approximately a 60-mile week.

Tuesday:  10
Very windy this morning, so I opted for a run in the woods.  Although I'm loving my Woody Hill exploring, I wanted to try something different and was inspired by Jonny's Li'l Rhody course run last week.  Simple and easy to follow, yet I never thought of it (that's 'cuz Jonny is smarter than me).

Parked at Burlingame picnic area.  A mile warm-up, and I'm off.  Tried to simulate race-day by pushing my first mile hard on Sanctuary Road before taking the single-track into the campground.  I thought it would be muddier given last night's rain, but not too bad.  Slid off a wet wooden bridge near the covered bridge, but managed to stay upright. 

Was warm on the trail, but was chilly,
even whitecaps, at race start/finish

I was fatiguing and slowing in the normal spot for me - the 5th mile, after heading south from Buckeye Brook Road.  Wanted to take a break here, but that wouldn't be simulating race day, now would it?  Finished the last couple miles on trails, then hoofed it on the roads back and pushed stop right at crossing the painted white finish line.  Results?  51:42!  How can that be?  My time last year was 53:22, and my PR is 51:47.  Do I need to add in some factor for getting stuck behind runners, especially before Klondike?

Wednesday:  3
A 3-miler was all I could fit in this morning between 3:45AM phone calls from work and leaving for the train at 5:30AM.  At least I got out there.  Beautifully starry sky.  Quiet Misquamicut roads - never saw any cars.   Downside: 37^o.  Time to go up to the attic this weekend and get out my winter running gear.

Thursday:  0
Over-tired; wasn't in to it.

Friday:  8
66^o , sprinkling rain, WINDY.  How much does wind affect performance?
Ran a 15-minute warm-up, then prepared to re-run Tom's declining ladder speed work-out (5 minutes hard, half of that [2.5 min] recovery, 4 hard, etc.).  Running on pancake flat Atlantic Ave, what I neglected to figure was the 20 mph wind I'd be running into.  Instead of bagging it, decided to run the 5 and 4-minute portions into the wind, then turn around and see pacewise how my 3, 2, 1 minute, and :30 second slices worked:

Not surprisingly, significant faster paces running with the wind, but I had never quantified it before now.

Saturday:  14
Early morning run from the Y to Barn Island and back with Mike B and Jeff D.

Always a fun run out to the Barn and back.  About 5 miles on trails, balance on roads.  Downsides this time were so many hunters with guns and getting feet soaked on trails - I thought the dirt single-track would be soaked and gravel double-track would be fine, but it was the other way around.  The hunters were using dogs to rouse pheasants; we saw one pheasant on the trails.  The hunters were fine and polite; just seemed a little freaky to me.

Sunday:  4
Run for the Pumpkins 5K.  See separate write-up.
Weekly running total:  39 miles

Week in review:
The highlights for me were my Tuesday romp on the Li'l Rhody course, and a fun Saturday morning 14-miler.  My biggest success for the Sunday Pumpkins race was after all the work, just seeing it all go successfully with a minimum of bumps in the road, and seeing a record "crowd" participate this year.
Next up is the Charlestown Police 5K on Sunday.  I'm hoping to get some good running in early to mid-week, and then shorter runs (5-8 miles?) Friday and Saturday, but we'll see what life throws at me.