Monday: 0
Rest day.
Tuesday:
4 miles. Hot Misquamicut Beach mid-morning run on a day off.
2 miles. Nick Bottone Track Mile. 5:13. Full results here (including a mug shot of Muddy, Jonny et al that I posted)
Temperature on both my car and a local bank read 92 degrees as I pulled into the track at ~5:30PM. Last year I was disappointed and literally depressed for days after I ran this race one second slower than my PR (5:11 in 2012 vs 5:10 in 2010), so this year, especially given the heat where I know I perform poorly, I completely threw out any notion of a sub-5. I set a very aggressive goal of a PR, and a more moderate goal of 5:20, one which I knew would still require a lot of hard work.
This year I learned from repeated constructive criticism last year (see, I can listen!) that running in the Masters group hurt me, as the 2nd place guy in last year's Masters heat was more than a minute behind me and I had no one to pace off. I toed the line with the Elite heat, where I don't belong based on my age or speed, but it definitely helped.
First lap felt OK. Footsteps behind Muddy, Jonny, and Jackie. Split of 75 reminded me that sub-5 was out of the question and just try to stay relatively consistent. Second split was 77. Like Muddy, by the 3rd lap I was losing it both in terms of speed and aptitude, and the math was too complex for me to figure out my split. I heard Leanne (WMS track coach) yelling, "Hurry up and catch your father!", so I knew Mark was right behind me as well. Muddy and Jonny were way ahead of me by now, but Jackie was in range, and even though she's obviously not in my age or sex, she gave me a target to focus on with 200 yards to go, and I passed her just before the finish line at 5:13.35 vs 5:13.81.
So glad this race is over! Don't like short distances to begin with, and even less so in the heat. I'd like to try for a PR again someday, but the conditions would have to be different.
Wednesday:
3/4 mile. Ocean swim. 5 of us: Steve, Larry, Jeff D, Tom, and me. I swam 12 minutes east of the Town Beach (by which time the rest of the crew had made it down to Charlestown), and covering the same distance back took me 17 minutes against the current. Arms were really tired.
3 miles. Westerly Fun Run week #6. Results here. Another hot one, but not nearly as bad as previous night. I long for the crisp, cool temps of fall, but I also don't want the summer to be over. Can't we have both ... 40s or 50s in the early AM with low humidity, and upper 70s and sunny afternoon for the beach and BBQs?
Back to reality (my mind wanders easily and often): Chatted it up with Nick and Tom on the first 1/2 mile (that's as long as I could hang w/those fast cats). It was really funny that this little guy smaller than Mason, maybe about 7(?) was running right alongside Tom and Nick for the first 1/4 mile. At one point he slowed, but then he sprinted on Maplewood to catch up with them again. I joked with Nick that he was his competition for tonight, but finally, after several valiant attempts, the reality and science of pacing had him drop off. Speaking of which, a fast looking Asian guy about 20 passed me pretty strongly at 1/2 mile in so I didn't flinch as he went after the lead guys (Nick and Tom). However, again, a pace too fast cannot be held, so I retook the same guy at about mile 1.5, by which time he was panting and ended up finishing 1:20 behind me. The urge to take off fast is so compelling and one that I've succumbed to too often, so I'm really proud when I see the likes of Mason and my own two boys (as well as others) not sprint out and run a more consistent race. Final time 18:21, for a 5:54 pace. Happy with that, especially in heat.
Thursday: 0
Needed rest day. Haven't run many miles so far this week, but two back-to-back nights of racing in the heat followed by late nights (yes, anything later than 9PM is late for me!) compiling and posting race stats (which I love) have left me exhausted.
Friday:
6 miles. Friday beach run and splash. Weekapaug roads with Tom and Mike B, beach from Old Town Beach to Weekapaug, and then a jump in the water at Fenway Beach.
Saturday:
43 miles. Long ride with FiveK from his place up into the Charlestown hills, where we went past Jonny's place, but no Jonny's car as he was out early on a group trail run. After some good climbs, made our way all the way to Watch Hill, where we hammered on Ocean View Highway Strava segment to take 3rd of 239 averaging 26.4mph on the short 1.1 mile section. It's amazing how many more cyclists use Strava than runners. Great ride; great training.
Sunday:
21 miles! Ran with Muddy from Weekapaug up to Charlestown hills via Woody Hill and Bradford. When we were running South Woody Hill Road, Muddy's famous last words were something like, "The deerflies haven't been bad this year". Ran short trails in Woody Hill, and when we stopped for a pit stop, the deerflies and mosquitos were feasting upon us. It seemed every swat I took to my head and body felled a deerfly. Back on the roads, we had several dozen following us for a little while. Uggh!
Them Charlestown hills are a tough workout. Ran past Jonny's house for day #2 - this time our yells got a response from him, but we couldn't figure out if it was "What?!", "Strava!", or "Shut the xxxx up!". Water and snack break on Buckeye Brook put us back into insect territory. It was a crazy sight as we were dancing around in the middle of the road trying to eat and drink while swatting bugs at the same time.
Took Klondike (newly paved!) down to Route 1, where after already having 16 miles into the game, we set out to run 3 miles at sub-6:30. We did it (6:08, 6:22, 6:06), but it was as much a mental as a physical challenge going after that 3rd mile. The cold drinks and jump into the ocean were a huge welcome after this long and hard run. Smuttynose in just over two months!
8 mile Misquamicut spin with Mark. Bad news for Tom and I at Crabman - the kid is strong on the bike as well.
4 miles with Matthew. It should have been an easy run, but for some reason my legs were feeling sluggish by this point in the day.
Weekly totals:
Run: 43 miles
Bike: 51 miles
Swim: 0.75 miles
Weekly recap, and week ahead:
Incremented my age by 1 (Mike B - are you thrilled that I'll be exiting your age group next year?); however, I'm not quite ready for the retirement home yet. Really pushed it by riding 43 hard on Saturday, and then running 25 the very next day. Although I still wasn't able to PR in Bottone (early in week), I am feeling elated by the endurance test of the past weekend.
Now the next two weekends will be back-to-back double race weekends: running the Blessing with Matthew Friday as I try to help pace him to a PR, and turn around early Sunday morning with the Crabman - excited to race Crabman myself, but also to see how FiveK and my boys will fare, as well as several other WTAC'ers. The following weekend will be Block Island Tri (my favorite), followed by Run 4 Kerri.
Rest day.
Tuesday:
4 miles. Hot Misquamicut Beach mid-morning run on a day off.2 miles. Nick Bottone Track Mile. 5:13. Full results here (including a mug shot of Muddy, Jonny et al that I posted)Temperature on both my car and a local bank read 92 degrees as I pulled into the track at ~5:30PM. Last year I was disappointed and literally depressed for days after I ran this race one second slower than my PR (5:11 in 2012 vs 5:10 in 2010), so this year, especially given the heat where I know I perform poorly, I completely threw out any notion of a sub-5. I set a very aggressive goal of a PR, and a more moderate goal of 5:20, one which I knew would still require a lot of hard work.
.JPG) |
| Finally, start of the heat |
 |
| Damn, these top 4 guys are fast and efficient looking! |
First lap felt OK. Footsteps behind Muddy, Jonny, and Jackie. Split of 75 reminded me that sub-5 was out of the question and just try to stay relatively consistent. Second split was 77. Like Muddy, by the 3rd lap I was losing it both in terms of speed and aptitude, and the math was too complex for me to figure out my split. I heard Leanne (WMS track coach) yelling, "Hurry up and catch your father!", so I knew Mark was right behind me as well. Muddy and Jonny were way ahead of me by now, but Jackie was in range, and even though she's obviously not in my age or sex, she gave me a target to focus on with 200 yards to go, and I passed her just before the finish line at 5:13.35 vs 5:13.81.
 |
| End of lap 2: Muddy, Jonny, and way, way behind them is me, with Mark literally on my heels |
 |
| Catching Jackie in final 100 yards, and holding off Mark (Jonny's comment on FB to this photo was perfect: " Father still ahead of son (barely). ") |
So glad this race is over! Don't like short distances to begin with, and even less so in the heat. I'd like to try for a PR again someday, but the conditions would have to be different.
Wednesday:
3/4 mile. Ocean swim. 5 of us: Steve, Larry, Jeff D, Tom, and me. I swam 12 minutes east of the Town Beach (by which time the rest of the crew had made it down to Charlestown), and covering the same distance back took me 17 minutes against the current. Arms were really tired.3 miles. Westerly Fun Run week #6. Results here. Another hot one, but not nearly as bad as previous night. I long for the crisp, cool temps of fall, but I also don't want the summer to be over. Can't we have both ... 40s or 50s in the early AM with low humidity, and upper 70s and sunny afternoon for the beach and BBQs?Back to reality (my mind wanders easily and often): Chatted it up with Nick and Tom on the first 1/2 mile (that's as long as I could hang w/those fast cats). It was really funny that this little guy smaller than Mason, maybe about 7(?) was running right alongside Tom and Nick for the first 1/4 mile. At one point he slowed, but then he sprinted on Maplewood to catch up with them again. I joked with Nick that he was his competition for tonight, but finally, after several valiant attempts, the reality and science of pacing had him drop off. Speaking of which, a fast looking Asian guy about 20 passed me pretty strongly at 1/2 mile in so I didn't flinch as he went after the lead guys (Nick and Tom). However, again, a pace too fast cannot be held, so I retook the same guy at about mile 1.5, by which time he was panting and ended up finishing 1:20 behind me. The urge to take off fast is so compelling and one that I've succumbed to too often, so I'm really proud when I see the likes of Mason and my own two boys (as well as others) not sprint out and run a more consistent race. Final time 18:21, for a 5:54 pace. Happy with that, especially in heat.
Thursday: 0
Needed rest day. Haven't run many miles so far this week, but two back-to-back nights of racing in the heat followed by late nights (yes, anything later than 9PM is late for me!) compiling and posting race stats (which I love) have left me exhausted.
Friday:
6 miles. Friday beach run and splash. Weekapaug roads with Tom and Mike B, beach from Old Town Beach to Weekapaug, and then a jump in the water at Fenway Beach.Saturday:
43 miles. Long ride with FiveK from his place up into the Charlestown hills, where we went past Jonny's place, but no Jonny's car as he was out early on a group trail run. After some good climbs, made our way all the way to Watch Hill, where we hammered on Ocean View Highway Strava segment to take 3rd of 239 averaging 26.4mph on the short 1.1 mile section. It's amazing how many more cyclists use Strava than runners. Great ride; great training. |
| Spent Sat afternoon ocean swimming, eating, and jumping rocks with the family at Beavertail State Park - one of RI's true gems |
21 miles! Ran with Muddy from Weekapaug up to Charlestown hills via Woody Hill and Bradford. When we were running South Woody Hill Road, Muddy's famous last words were something like, "The deerflies haven't been bad this year". Ran short trails in Woody Hill, and when we stopped for a pit stop, the deerflies and mosquitos were feasting upon us. It seemed every swat I took to my head and body felled a deerfly. Back on the roads, we had several dozen following us for a little while. Uggh!Them Charlestown hills are a tough workout. Ran past Jonny's house for day #2 - this time our yells got a response from him, but we couldn't figure out if it was "What?!", "Strava!", or "Shut the xxxx up!". Water and snack break on Buckeye Brook put us back into insect territory. It was a crazy sight as we were dancing around in the middle of the road trying to eat and drink while swatting bugs at the same time.
Took Klondike (newly paved!) down to Route 1, where after already having 16 miles into the game, we set out to run 3 miles at sub-6:30. We did it (6:08, 6:22, 6:06), but it was as much a mental as a physical challenge going after that 3rd mile. The cold drinks and jump into the ocean were a huge welcome after this long and hard run. Smuttynose in just over two months!
8 mile Misquamicut spin with Mark. Bad news for Tom and I at Crabman - the kid is strong on the bike as well.4 miles with Matthew. It should have been an easy run, but for some reason my legs were feeling sluggish by this point in the day.Weekly totals:
Run: 43 miles
Bike: 51 miles
Swim: 0.75 miles
Weekly recap, and week ahead:
Incremented my age by 1 (Mike B - are you thrilled that I'll be exiting your age group next year?); however, I'm not quite ready for the retirement home yet. Really pushed it by riding 43 hard on Saturday, and then running 25 the very next day. Although I still wasn't able to PR in Bottone (early in week), I am feeling elated by the endurance test of the past weekend.
Now the next two weekends will be back-to-back double race weekends: running the Blessing with Matthew Friday as I try to help pace him to a PR, and turn around early Sunday morning with the Crabman - excited to race Crabman myself, but also to see how FiveK and my boys will fare, as well as several other WTAC'ers. The following weekend will be Block Island Tri (my favorite), followed by Run 4 Kerri.
Wow. Picture number 2 is a case study in racing form... form I don't have! Summer is definitely here.
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