Weekly Log 22-Feb to 28-Feb-2016: Ramping Up the Miles

Let's start with my senior moment of the week.  One day this week, as I often do, I took a break mid-morning and walked out for a coffee.  Went to the Bess Eaton across the bridge, ordered my coffee, and took a card out of my wallet to pay for it.  The owner swiped it a few times to try to collect payment, but it didn't work, so he held it up closer to examine, then gave me an odd look and handed me back my Stop & Shop card.  Apparently you can't use a Stop & Shop card to pay for coffee at Bess Eaton.  Who knew?!  What a moron!

Monday:  0

Tuesday:  14
Track workout with Tom, Shara, and Mike:  2 x 800 (2:51, 2:49), 3 x 400 (83, 81, 79).   Just couldn't get going.
Followed with a hill workout on Narragansett, which I did much better, then finished with 7 miles solo.

Wednesday: 10
Rainy, misty run in Needham.

Thursday:  11
Ran most of the new Ocean's Run course.  Had wanted to run a few miles at HMP, but just didn't have it.  My 3rd consecutive double-digit run; probably not wise to make it into a workout anyway.

Friday:  5
Planned out a tentative 5-mile option for this year's Back Road Ramble on June 12.  Adds a lot more trail, while still keeping the easier 5K option.  Will show it to the Y RD soon to see if it works for him.

Saturday:  22!
Planned out too much for the weekend:  1) Run Belleville 10K, 2) run a long run, 3) skate for Washington Trust event.  This was busy but doable until I learned Matthew would be running at New England Indoor Track Championships in Boston, so I'd be spending most of Sunday there.  Ended up jettisoning the ice skating, with apologies to my employer.  A long run Sunday was now out as well.  Had lost some interest in Belleville since there would be no snow, but since I already paid for it, I figured I'd incorporate it into my long run.

The climb from Miles 4-6 on Stony Lane seemed to go on and on and on.
Maybe I should have checked out the elevation beforehand?
Or maybe I should return there for more hill training?

Arrived Ryan Park at 7:40am.  First car in the parking lot.  Had the porta-jon all to myself.  TMI!  Ran the first 2 miles of the Belleville course getting an early read on the course.  Exited onto roads for the next 13 miles.  Most of the roads were quiet, rural, and ones I had never been on.  I knew I was starting and finishing on Oak Hill Road, so when I turned onto Oak Hill Road about Mile 9, something seemed wrong with 6 miles to go and not even crossing Route 2 yet.  A little bit of panic and confusion set in, until I realized I was in Exeter, which meant this was a totally different Oak Hill Road than my destination in North Kingstown.  Onward ho!

Arrived back at Ryan Park at about 9:45am, with still plenty of time to get my bib.  Spent a while catching up with Jeff Huckle, and then meandered over to the start line, and started about 2/3 back.  All the pressure was off.  Started next to Beth, and caught up with her for a while until the siren went off.  I was comfortably progressing forward, passing along the way, all good until a big bunch-up on the single-track section.  I passed where I could, but there was really quite a logjam here.

Back onto double-track for the long rail trestle trail section, I passed quite a few and from there on in, the race was well spread out.  Didn't care for the mentally challenging long straightaway on the power line section, but otherwise all the rest especially new single-track sections were a lot of fun. Finished just behind Seth.  Was really glad to see him out there after his recent setbacks.  21.6 miles on the day.  Pretty sore by nighttime.

Sunday:  6
Recovery day on local roads.  Ran into WTAC members Eric and Sean early on, and ran with them for a few.
Followed up with a long day in Boston.  Left the house at 9:30am, got lunch downtown with Jana, and arrived to a packed house at Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center at 12:30 before a 1:30pm start.  What none of us planned on was that Matthew didn't run until 5:30pm!  By then he hadn't eaten in a while (having planned on an earlier start) and felt little energy, but still finishing the 2-miler in 9:57 (4:59 average pace) with only one sophomore from New England finishing ahead of him sounds pretty good to me.

Weekly mileage:
Run:  68!

Weekly synopsis:
Highest mileage since last July.  I'm really pleasantly surprised with how closely I've hued to the schedule thus far, but next week will need to deviate from the bible as I'm racing Ocean's Run.  11 weeks to marathon day.