Two weeks with no races! Yes! Time to get back to some good old fashioned training, especially for Hartford Marathon. Gotta get the miles in, or as I think Greg puts it, at minimum "time on feet". Our Hartford Marathon WTAC contingent is growing. FiveK got us on the bandwagon a month or two ago, and now Mike B is signed up, the Galoobs are on board, newest WTAC member Faith McDonald is running it and Jeff V is planning this as his next marathon. Any others? Matthew keeps saying he wants to run it, but he's a year plus away from Hartford's minimum age (16), not to mention his soon-to-be high school XC coach would probably kill him. Still enjoying the summer season, but fall marathon season is almost upon us.
Monday: 0
Tuesday:
8 miles. Morning trip around the pond, and then the luxury of a low-tide beach run. So cathartic. If only for a moment, any worries and pressures melt away and I'm in a happy place.
Wednesday:
3 miles. Westerly Fun Run week #9. Started out with a fast 1st mile pace (5:27), but couldn't keep it up with the humidity (that's my excuse of the day) and finished with a 6-flat and 5:57. It was payback time for me taking two weeks off as the majority of WTAC volunteers had the night off with vacation and other commitments.
Thursday:
6 miles. Morning 4:30AM hospital loop. So refreshing to run in 59-degree weather! Believe it or not, I ran into 3 separate runners. Didn't recognize the first two. Came up on the 3rd runner running down the middle of East Ave and recognized him as Jeff Vuono. Ran with him for a short stretch. He's planning Hartford as his next marathon - nice!
Friday:
21 miles. Up to Bradford, back through Charlestown. Finished out in Misquamicut. Was pushing a good pace on a Strava segment through Misquamicut, when cars were stopped ahead of me. I pulled a "Juniper Drive" stunt and passed all the cars on their left (i.e., on the wrong side of the road). As I got past the last car, I saw why they were all stopped: a Westerly police officer in the middle of the road stopping traffic. Oops! Came to a hard stop, as the officer read me the riot act that cyclists need to follow traffic rules also. He was correct, of course. I assume at this point a remark like, "But, officer, I'm on a Strava segment" wouldn't have helped or may have just drawn an odd stare, so I just tried to smooth the situation by saying I was out training and didn't mean to cause any issues.
6 miles. Groton Fun Runs. Matthew and neighbor/friend Jonny Eckel came along as well. Kudos to Jana for running the 3.5 mile trail run. Finished up with dinner at Paul's Pasta.
Saturday:
19 miles. Torn between a cycling offer from FiveK and a long run offer from B, I decided to give precedence to my run training for Hartford over my cycling training for Rhode Warrior. From the Y south to Watch Hill, Misquamicut, and back. Was happy to see Mike get his longest run ever. Original plan was to run 18, and Mike seemed to be getting tired as we approached the Y and 18 miles, so I encouraged him to run 1 more mile to get used to running uncomfortable.
Sunday:
40 miles. All right; time for some saddle time now on the Rhode Warrior course. Lost my opportunity to ride with friends, so this was all solo. Rhode Warrior as far as Hopkinton City, then cut Route 3 down to Hope Valley to pick up the return portion of course past Chariho and into Hammett territory. I had intended the Route 3 section only as a connector, but it was really good training as there were a lot of steep and long hills. On one such, I was going downhill at 36mph in 27th gear and just couldn't push the pedals enough to do anything but spin. The Tomaquag and Woodville Road sections are awful for bikes; I'm hoping Muddy can use his Hopkinton influence to get the roads improved; maybe he can wink more at the holier-than-thou dames at Town Hall or something.
3 miles. Easy jog from Old Town Beach down to Seaside back with Jonny E and my two boys to catch up on the day's running exploits of the two CT Mikes. The younger boys pushed it on the way back, thus I got to spend some quality time with my older boy (Mark) having an unusually mature conversation on academics, college, and careers. He even stayed with me back at the beach to continue the conversation between waves. It was a nice change, as I'm usually persona non grata in places where people could recognize him.
1/4 mile. Easy swim along the beach with Matthew and Jonny E.
Weekly Tally:
45 miles
59 miles
0.25 miles
Monday: 0
Tuesday:
8 miles. Morning trip around the pond, and then the luxury of a low-tide beach run. So cathartic. If only for a moment, any worries and pressures melt away and I'm in a happy place.Wednesday:
3 miles. Westerly Fun Run week #9. Started out with a fast 1st mile pace (5:27), but couldn't keep it up with the humidity (that's my excuse of the day) and finished with a 6-flat and 5:57. It was payback time for me taking two weeks off as the majority of WTAC volunteers had the night off with vacation and other commitments. Thursday:
6 miles. Morning 4:30AM hospital loop. So refreshing to run in 59-degree weather! Believe it or not, I ran into 3 separate runners. Didn't recognize the first two. Came up on the 3rd runner running down the middle of East Ave and recognized him as Jeff Vuono. Ran with him for a short stretch. He's planning Hartford as his next marathon - nice!Friday:
21 miles. Up to Bradford, back through Charlestown. Finished out in Misquamicut. Was pushing a good pace on a Strava segment through Misquamicut, when cars were stopped ahead of me. I pulled a "Juniper Drive" stunt and passed all the cars on their left (i.e., on the wrong side of the road). As I got past the last car, I saw why they were all stopped: a Westerly police officer in the middle of the road stopping traffic. Oops! Came to a hard stop, as the officer read me the riot act that cyclists need to follow traffic rules also. He was correct, of course. I assume at this point a remark like, "But, officer, I'm on a Strava segment" wouldn't have helped or may have just drawn an odd stare, so I just tried to smooth the situation by saying I was out training and didn't mean to cause any issues.6 miles. Groton Fun Runs. Matthew and neighbor/friend Jonny Eckel came along as well. Kudos to Jana for running the 3.5 mile trail run. Finished up with dinner at Paul's Pasta.Saturday:
19 miles. Torn between a cycling offer from FiveK and a long run offer from B, I decided to give precedence to my run training for Hartford over my cycling training for Rhode Warrior. From the Y south to Watch Hill, Misquamicut, and back. Was happy to see Mike get his longest run ever. Original plan was to run 18, and Mike seemed to be getting tired as we approached the Y and 18 miles, so I encouraged him to run 1 more mile to get used to running uncomfortable.Sunday:
40 miles. All right; time for some saddle time now on the Rhode Warrior course. Lost my opportunity to ride with friends, so this was all solo. Rhode Warrior as far as Hopkinton City, then cut Route 3 down to Hope Valley to pick up the return portion of course past Chariho and into Hammett territory. I had intended the Route 3 section only as a connector, but it was really good training as there were a lot of steep and long hills. On one such, I was going downhill at 36mph in 27th gear and just couldn't push the pedals enough to do anything but spin. The Tomaquag and Woodville Road sections are awful for bikes; I'm hoping Muddy can use his Hopkinton influence to get the roads improved; maybe he can wink more at the holier-than-thou dames at Town Hall or something.3 miles. Easy jog from Old Town Beach down to Seaside back with Jonny E and my two boys to catch up on the day's running exploits of the two CT Mikes. The younger boys pushed it on the way back, thus I got to spend some quality time with my older boy (Mark) having an unusually mature conversation on academics, college, and careers. He even stayed with me back at the beach to continue the conversation between waves. It was a nice change, as I'm usually persona non grata in places where people could recognize him.1/4 mile. Easy swim along the beach with Matthew and Jonny E.Weekly Tally:
45 miles59 miles0.25 miles
And has FiveK signed up yet? Guess I know where I'll be on the 11th of October, cheering! Way to go guys! Glad you also recruited a fast girl too!!
ReplyDeleteOf course, the one time you break the rules, you get caught. Isn't that how it always works? I'm curious what our Juniper Drive expert would have done in that situation. We still have much to learn from him.
ReplyDelete