Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Weekly Log 7-Mar to 13-Mar-2016: Collision with a Rock Garden

Monday:  0

Tuesday:  5
Went to Buckeye Brook Road for another lunchtime hill run.  Got out of the car, and the legs were just too tired.  Ran a loop on NST in northern Burlingame and back roads.

Wednesday:  7
AM:  5.  New run location:  trails in Hale Reservation, Westwood, MA.  Unfortunately I was only 1/4 mile in when I slid on wet leaves in a rock garden and smashed my right knee into a rock.  Ow!  Lay there a few minutes and then decided to keep running.  Not sure if that was the smart thing to do, but I wanted to explore more.
Watch the footing.

I will not be running 6 minute
miles here.

Had the reservation and views to myself
PM:  2.  Beautiful winter(?) day with temps near 70 and sunny.  Went for a run at Big River.  Knee very painful.  My hope that the pain would go away was just wishful thinking, and had to abort the run.  :(

Thursday:  0
I woke up hobbling and limping.  No running today.

Friday:  5
Barn Island with Matthew.  Retesting the knee on some soft trails.  Dull pain, but nothing severe.  Let Tom know I was in for tomorrow's long run.

Saturday:  20
Started with Tom and Shara at the Y.  Tom had mapped out a 20-mile loop on nice country roads with 4 major hills:  Boombridge climb in No Sto, Maxson Hill, Chase Hill, and Potter Hill.  Ran 3 miles with T&S at low to mid 7s before venturing on my own for the next 12 miles, occasionally looping back to stay somewhat together.  When I crossed the bridge into CT, I heard something to my right and saw a pack of cows ("pack" can't be right, what are a group of cows called?) running next to me!  Seriously!  No hallucination.  Don't think I ever saw cows run before.  They ran with me for a hundred yards or so until they reached the end of their roadside fence.

Was aiming for about 6:30 pace.  At first was disappointed when my first 3 miles were in the 6:40s until I realized those were all uphill and the next few miles were much better.  Maxson Hill wiped me out.  Don't think I had ever run that before.  By the time you summit Mount Maxson, you've been climbing for about a mile and a half, gaining about 200' elevation.  Maybe this is good Sugarloaf training.  My twelfth and final mile was uphill on the steep section of Chase Hill.  Of course it was!  Paced varied with hills, but I actually averaged 6:32 over my 12 miles, so not bad.

Finished the last five miles running together with Tom & Shara, and finished up on fumes.

Sunday:  7
Trail run in Carter Preserve with Matthew and Aaron.  Again, sought refuge on soft trails.  Legs are very sore!  Matthew ran Grassland Mile hard in 5:20.  I ran it slow and easy.  The clear-cutting there is real ugly, as at Champlin.

Weekly mileage:
Run:  45

Weekly synopsis:
45 is well below what I was expecting and have been running.  After the knee / rock injury, I fought the temptation to make up lost miles, so I'm happy with myself there.  Also very happy with Saturday's long hilly run, so all in all, a good week!

 

1 comment:

  1. Herd of cows! Were you out on Boombridge at the Beriah Lewis farm? That is one of my most favorite destinations to cow watch! So many pens of cows on Boombridge and Anthony. Off the cow subject, I am glad your knee is better and you were able to get in your long run and are taking it easy on the soft ground.

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