Weekly Log 18-Feb to 24-Feb-2013

Monday:  0 miles running, but 4.5 miles X-C skiing late afternoon

Started flat skiing in the meadows (Jana, with Mt Washington in background)

Then my distance runner boy asked if we could find some hills

Matthew next picked a back-country trail and then exclaimed,
"This is just like Mike Galoob's Snowy Sufferfest course"

Tuesday: 7
Hilly workout in Bartlett, NH.  14 degrees.  "Cow Hill" was a killer on the thighs for me.  Followed that up with a full-day of skiing at Attitash.

Mark tearing up a mogul field.

Guess which trail I took?

Wednesday:  7
Bartlett, NH.  29 degrees with 3" new snow.  Local roads.

Hilly road climb and beautiful views on today's run

Matthew picking his way off a ledge on a glade trail today -
6" fresh powder at Bretton Woods

Thursday:  8
Bartlett, NH.  Thigh killing run up Cow Hill again.  Uploaded to Strava to find most of 350' hill climb was between a 15 and 19 degree incline.  It was a mental struggle to keep going and fight the impulse to stop.  Running downhill at similar grade was crazy.  Picked up Matthew and his friend at Mile 4, and took them up a 200' hill with up to a 13 degree incline.  Impressed that they both made it.  This run was a real thigh burner!

Cow Hill between Mile 1 and Mile 3

Friday:  5
Morning:  Champlin Glacier Park trails.  23 degrees, clear and calm.  Hoping to get out this afternoon also, but just getting back to Westerly and seeing most of the snow gone in my front yard, was itching to get into Champlin.  Made note of a few downed trees to clear later and notify Westerly Land Trust.  Brought along my Yak-Trax, which turned out to be a good move.  While there were long sections of trails that were bare ground, most of the trails were hard packed snow and ice.  Trails that had many frozen footprints weren't bad, but the few trails I went on that had just one or two prior sets of footprints were tough as had to keep breaking through the frozen crust. Took off my Yak-Trax prematurely before jumping back on a final trail, and regretted it, as was slipping all over the place.  Definitely a Yak-Trax day today.
Afternoon:  Never made it out for another run.  Went clearing downed trees in Champlin instead.  Sent my trail report to Westerly Land Trust, and they responded saying they're either going to erect a statue of me in Champlin, or put my name on a tree stump.  I'll go with the latter!

Before (blue trail blocked)

After

Saturday:  16
Group running tour of Hopkinton.  Met up at 6AM with Muddy, Jonny, and Seth.  Originally we were hoping to have a group run in Big River with Mike G ahead of next weekend's festivities, but due to schedules not aligning and Jonny's reconnaissance report of heavy snow covered trails, we opted for [mainly] roads instead.  Early on, we took the Tomaquag Trail, one certainly I had never been on.  The first part was enjoyable with shallow snow, but the last half was really tiring breaking through deeper virgin snow.   This was followed up by several hilly miles on roads - there were some honest climbs in there.  My favorite was Tomaquag Valley Road, a dirt road, hilly and winding, with picturesque countryside dotted with homesteads.


We had a welcome drink and snack break (thank you, Muddy!) about 8 miles in at the Grills Preserve Hopkinton.  Trails too snowy to run on today, but would like to get back in there now that I know where it is, especially after Polly Coon Bridge is rebuilt sometime in the spring to connect to the Westerly Land Trust trails.  Next a run up fairly steep Chase Hill Road, which Muddy promised would be the last hill (he lied).  Wound our way back to Ashaway along the Westerly line and Pawcatuck River, and finished up with a hill climb up to and onto Route 3.  By now, all conversation and running strength had pretty much died.  Certainly a good workout today!  Thanks Muddy for putting this one together. [2:00:24]

Sunday:  9
Session 1:  FiveK was looking for 6 miles, and I was looking for 8-10, so I ran a few solo first, running yet more hills, from Y up Narragansett Ave to WHS (130'), and winding back down through Wilcox Park to meet up with FiveK at Y parking lot.
Session 2:  Funniest thing all run: We were running through the North End, when we passed an elderly man walking towards us, as he was inhaling hard on his cancer stick.  I politely said "Good Morning" to him, but he uttered nothing as that would have required removing the cancer stick from his mouth, which he never did.  Instead, he just kept staring us up and down, like he'd never seen such creatures.  FiveK glanced back as we rounded a corner, and said the guy was still staring at us.  Wierd!  The old man went home, and said, "Mabel, you wouldn't believe what I saw today.  After all my years in the North End, never saw anything like it.  There were these two guys wearing shorts in the middle of winter, and get this, they were running!  Probably high on drugs, or running to or from their drug deal."
Rest of the run was more normal, with good conversation on running, skiing, and triathlons.  We had more hill climbs in store on Canal to Potter Hill to Autumn Lane (140' climb), adjacent to hill climb up to the Town Forest.  FiveK just texted me that our last three miles were 6:15, 6:21, 6:21, without even realizing it.  Good run!  Finished in time to spend some time in the Y sauna, and watch Mark qualify in today's time trials in his 3rd event for YMCA New England Championships in Springfield, MA next month.

Weekly mileage total:  52

Week highlights:

• Fun week of skiing, cross-country, and running challenging hill climbs in NH.
• Fun group runs on Saturday and Sunday.
• Getting permission from the boss, and signing up for two events in Block Island:  Shad Bloom Trail race, and BI Tri.

Good Boston prep with hills and 50+ miles this week.  Need to try to keep in that range through end of March, plus get 3 more 20-milers in.  Next up:  back-to-back 1/2 marathons next 2 weekends - Big River and Ocean's Run.