Weekly Log 19-Feb to 25-Feb-2018

Monday:  7
Presidents' Day.  Solo run in DuVal.  Trails mostly clear, with the rest having an inch of crusty snow.

Tuesday:  0

Wednesday:  0

Thursday:  9
Blue Heron trail loop, Dedham and Boston, MA.  I've avoided this loop for over a year, as a short section of road/bridge that you run on had been under construction and you were forced into a one-lane busy road running between temporary jersey barriers and very very close to trucks.  Scary.

Was so excited the bridge construction was finished and the short section of road now has an ample protected shoulder to run on.  There also has been a lot of trail maintenance on the southernmost section, so it was really fun to get out there and run it again.  It's kind of an urban trail loop, as while there are parts where you can't hear or see any signs of civilization, you also exit briefly onto busy roads (protected shoulders) crossing the Charles River into Boston city limits before trails that connect around industrial parks.  Only saw one person out on the trail system today.

Friday:  0

Saturday:  8
Parked at Camp Yawgoog.  Ran two miles on roads down to Narragansett Trail trailhead on Canonchet Road, then technical trails up to and around Hidden Lake, before running back through Camp Yawgoog to finish.  Fun run on an unusually warm 50 degree day in late February.

Sunday:  5
Rainy, cold day.  Felt bad for teammates running Hyannis Marathon today.  Waited until the rain let up a bit mid-afternoon, and went to Bluff Point State Park for a short run.  Fun, flooded, and muddy on Bluff single-track.

Sad to see the Winter Olympics come to an end.  Although obviously bereft of running events, in some ways I prefer the winter games to the summer and really enjoy watching the skiing (alpine and XC), snowboarding, and speed skating events.  When we see the next winter games in Beijing, it will be the year 2022, Mark will be out of college, and Matthew a senior in college.  Time flies.

Weekly mileage:  29  (4 trail runs, 0 road)

Weekly synopsis:  Paltry mileage totals to be sure, but I'm having a tough time balancing a demanding and stressful work project that lately has me working 7 days a week and most nights, versus having a life outside of work.  Hence I'm focusing at the moment on the quality of my runs and not the quantity.  The work project is finite and goes live April 2, so I just need to hang in there for another five weeks.

Weekly highlight:  Running the Blue Heron trail loop.  It's a mix of urban and suburban trails, but I find it fun and hadn't been able to run it in a long time due to construction.

 

Weekly Log 12-Feb to 18-Feb-2018: Renaissance Week

Last week:
The serial killer look

This week:  the winter beard experiment comes to an end.
I never really planned it, just was lazy over Christmas
and let it go from there.  It had just gotten too itchy,
so time to go.
---
My last beard experiment was at age 17 (36 years ago).
So given that time interval, my next one should be at age 99?
(Of course if I am still breathing then, I expect
to be still running trails and rocking AC/DC!)

Monday:  0
Planned rest day.

Tuesday:  5
Took advantage of the need to be in Warwick for an evening company event, and stopped for a run in Big River.  Ran my new standard trail, Lego, which I'm finally comfortable with finding my way.  From up on the ridges, the sunset was a stunning orange.  Wound my back via Foster's Folly, with the aid of my headlamp lighting the way.  That's a fairly technical trail; I couldn't imagine running that one in complete darkness.

Upon entering the Kent County Y for a shower and change of clothes, another male patron remarked that I was "really brave to be wearing shorts".  Umm, it's 33 degrees; how do I begin to respond to that?  He seemed to just be friendly, so I told him I'm awaiting spring (I'm not).

Wednesday:  6
Ran the BRR long and short course trail portions.  This is tentatively slated for June 17 this year, pending DEM approval.  Plenty of mud and water crossings on the course; it would be great if we had either for the race itself, although not likely by then.  Felt fat, slow, and out of breath on the run.

Well, it was inevitable, but this is what happened when I
stepped on the scale today.  I'm now 7 pounds heavier than
I was in the fall.  Time to start getting serious about upping
the running and curbing the junk eating.

Thursday:  6
After a 3-week hiatus from road running, not sure what prompted me to run roads this morning.  Even less sure what prompted me to run on busy Beach Street and East Avenue.  Running on asphalt with morning commute traffic coming very close to me and splashing wet crap on me was not so enjoyable.  Keeping it positive, two highlights:

1. On East Avenue, a car approaching me crossed the center line to give me extra room and confidence that they saw me.  Nice.  Oh, it's Matthew driving to school.  Thank you!
2. Just after Matthew went by, a baby deer crossed busy East Avenue between cars.  Once it got across the street, it paused and seemed to freeze as I ran by it within ten feet.  Poor thing.  I wanted to tell it come with me and I'll show him the trails.

Friday:  0
Should've gotten out early.  Lost my window later on with a work event that I had forgotten about.

Saturday:  9
Back to Big River.  Probably the only time I've ever run Big River twice in the same week.  I've really come to enjoy the full 3-mile Lego segment, and used that to start my run again.  Got a little out of my comfort zone on Dead Shed and then a trail paralleling Hopkins Hill Road out to a cemetery.  However, getting onto the Pump Trail gave me confidence again, and I thought it would be an easy return via Venom and Foster's Folly.  Until somewhere I took a wrong turn...

I know the see-saw near the end of Foster's Folly,
but did NOT know there are two see-saws in Big River!
Of course I ran over it.  Twice actually.

Ever watch the movie "European Vacation"?  If so, do you remember the scenes where Chevy Chase keeps coming back to Big Ben because he is stuck in a rotary?   "Look kids, it's Big Ben!" loses its appeal the 3rd, 4th time, etc.  This was my run today, switching out "Big Ben" for Carr's Pond, as I got on twisty trails that kept coming back to Carr's Pond.  Look kids, it's Carr's Pond.  Again.  And again.  Argh.  Finally, somehow, I got on a trail that didn't circle back towards the pond, and then I got in the right direction and eventually recognized the turn-off to Foster's Folly.  Just when I thought my carcass would be found and eaten by coyotes, I found my way out.

This was actually a pretty cool trail.
But, where the hell am I, and how do I get out of here?!

Got home, showered, and headed up to what could be my final visit to PCTA (unless the old man ever tries an indoor master's meet there).  Very happy to see Matthew and his team lower their 8x400 time to 8:19 and qualify for New Englands, but it seemed odd for Matthew not to be running any individual events at the indoor state meet this year.  It's good that he finally seems over his injury and can focus on outdoor track next.

Sunday:  6
Went to bed Saturday with snow blanketing the trees white, and forecast of 3 - 8".  Set out my snowshoes and was very excited.  Probably drooled in my sleep.  The wet snow also meant I could build a snowman.  Woke up in the middle of the night to a pouring rain.  NO!!!!!  Very depressed when I woke up to see only about 1" on the ground.
Tried to make the best of it, and tried out my new Gore-Tex trail running shoes in trails and puddles of Bradford Preserve and Woody Hill.  At 35 degrees, I can live with my feet getting wet today, but I had a few 10 -15 degree snowshoeing and snow run treks this winter where my feet got wet and very uncomfortable, so this would be a good experiment.

My new NB 910v4 GTX waterproof trail shoes:
time to try them out and see if they live up to their classification

So far so good on these trails, but with just 1-2" of crusty snow,
it's remotely possible my feet would have stayed dry in my regular
mesh trail shoes

Ah, now for the real test (above):
Ran right through the middle of this long puddle
and mud.  The result?
Feet and socks completely dry!

Amazing to me, but these shoes live up to their
billing.   At 9.2 ounces, not heavy, either.
Won't be my go-to trail shoe, but a good one to
have in my arsenal for cold and wet or snowy
weather.

Weekly mileage:  33

Weekly synopsis:  While 33 miles can hardly be called a renaissance, I did get out there and run 5 days for the first time in quite a while.

Weekly highlight:  Snow run in Woody Hill. 

Weekly lowlight:  Running busy Beach Street during a morning commute.

Old Mountain Field 5K 2018

South Kingstown, RI
Saturday, February 10, 2018

This is the 7th year of the winter trail series, and my 7th year running this specific race.  This is my favorite race of the series, primarily because it's the most technical. 

I was bummed out that the snow we had in January is completely gone, as I had hoped for a good snow trail race and the chances diminish beyond mid-February.  What's the next best thing to snow for a race?  Mud!  Knowing the course terrain and all the recent melting snow and rainstorms, there was a high probability of mud and on this note, I was not disappointed!

As we pulled into the OMF parking lot at 9:30, even Pard remarked that we had arrived uncharacteristically late.  Totally my fault as I was working Saturday morning on sending out a work project status communication that was already behind schedule and I knew would be a relief off my mind to get finished and sent.  Anyhow, picked up my bib and went for a short solo run on the trails, before coming back to change into my lighter minimalist trail shoes.  Then off for Team WTAC pics and making my way to the starting line.

Team WTAC before the start,
less a few stragglers.  I really like our new green singlets.
(All race pics courtesy of Jana)

The start:  Lined up in 2nd row behind Brightman and Jackman, knowing they would lead it out quickly.  The start is always hectic, and hopefully RD Mike Galoob's admonition for younger runners NOT to fly out in the beginning helped to keep it somewhat in check.  Nonetheless, the first 200 meters or so, on the field before entering the woods, is a mad dash for positioning.  At the first corner around the ballfield, the muddy slide would be a harbinger of the course conditions yet to come.

Crossing the road just steps ahead of Ralph Lufkin. 
Ralph finished just ahead of me at Resolution, so I was conscious of
where he was at today's race and happy I stayed ahead of him for the duration.

Just before crossing the road into the trails, I passed a young girl to get into better position.  On the short trail scramble leading up to the stone steps, I went past one guy, and then afterwards it was a little tight on single-track as I followed closely to a guy in front of me.  On a downhill section that temporarily widened a bit, I went to the right to get past this guy but did not see two dogs in my way in the middle of the path until it was too late to correct.  I was going downhill over a rock, passing someone, while avoiding two labs.  I feared a gazelle/canine collision, but went as far right as possible brushing bushes and got by. 

The swamp:  I jumped in next behind Mike Daniels and when we went over the technical rocky stream bed, I caught right up to him.  Much like at Run for the Beavers, I sensed him slow a bit on the more technical sections and each time I would contemplate trying to pass him, but it would be tough to pass here so I continued behind.  Deep into the swamp we went.  I was truly enjoying splashing through the wet sections and muck.  Soon we caught up to a guy and fell in behind him.  As to wardrobe choices, to each his own I suppose, but it's hard for me to take male runners as serious or legit when they're wearing shorts over tights, especially when the temp is 45 degrees.  I bided my time jumping and ducking under trees, splashing through muck, and towards the end of the swamp, I found enough of a runway to go past both Mike and shorts-over-tights.  I gave frenemy Mike some encouragement as I went by.

The finish:  Emerging from the fun romp in the swamp, I saw a TNT singlet a ways ahead of me, but couldn't make out who it was.  The rain started anew here, and that was fine with me.  Climbed up the "mountain", where we took a 90-degree left down a steep hill to the bridge crossing the north end of the pond.  It was on the downhill that I went into gazelle mode and caught right up to the mystery turtle, Dave Principe!  Followed right on Dave's heels as we went over the bridge and started to make our way around the pond and over very slippery wooden bridges.  Unfortunately on one of the twisty turns near the pond, I slid and went down.  When I got back up, Dave was gone. Tried to catch back up to him and got him back in sight, but as we crossed the bridge around the south end of the pond, I felt he was pulling away a bit. Followed him on the twisty climb back up the mountain, and starting downhill I was hoping I could catch and pass him as I did here a few years back, but it wasn't to be.  He was a little too far ahead of me, and while I kept him in close sight, he was able to hold me off through the final twists and turns, and finish 7 seconds ahead of me.  I was able to hold off Mike Daniels this time.

Trailing Dave Principe

Around the pond, before entering the trails for the final 1/2 mile or so

Final trail section

Final results:  21:27, 6:55 average pace.  10th overall, 2nd in age group.  Full results here.


While I've certainly had much gorier runs,
was none the less happy to be called up for
"Most Mud & Blood".

Caught up with Chris, Dave, and Mike post-run, before going out on a WTAC/TNT group cool-down.  Afterwards, Mike told me he's training for Providence Marathon.  Hmmm ... should I really be giving up a spring marathon?  Unfortunately, I couldn't persuade Jonny to go back into the swamp again, but it was a good run and catch-up regardless.  Caked in mud and blood and a bit shorter on time today, I opted to pass on the group lunch at Mews this time and went to the nearby South County Y for a hot shower and change into dry clothes.  What a great race; so much fun!

Bonus:  while I generally prefer Saturdays to Sundays for racing, I was going to have to miss the next race, Belleville, due to a conflict.  BUT now that he just switched Belleville to Sunday, the race is back on the table for me.  Now if Mother Nature could only do us a favor and dump some heavy snow on the course before the next race ...

Weekly Log 5-Feb to 11-Feb-2018

Monday:  0

Tuesday:  0
Why run, when you can work 13 hours a day instead?  Ugh.

Wednesday:  0

Thursday:  5
Finally!  Ran the deserted trails of Westerly Town Forest.  While it's not my favorite trail system in the world, mostly due to erosion and flooding issues, it's still a nice piece of property that I'm glad is preserved.  Many of the trails were dry, but also ran through frozen muck, mud, and icy puddles.  Just great to get away from civilization, even for an hour, during an otherwise hectic week.

TMI alert (skip this paragraph if you desire):
Last fall amidst some groin and lower back pain I ended up going to four specialists, spent the better part of the day in the ER at South County Hospital, and endured a number of tests.  What I played a little close to the vest was a scare with a sharply rising PSA reading, which among other items, can be an indication of prostate cancer.  Coupled with the facts that my father's father died of prostate cancer and my father's brother is being treated for prostate cancer caused me to panic a bit.  I was told to come back in three months and if not reduced, I should go for further, more invasive tests for cancer detection.  Well, today was that follow-up day, and it was a big relief to me that my PSA reading has in fact gone down.  Not enough to close the case completely, but it is highly likely that I do not have prostate cancer, and it's more likely elevated from the prostate issues I've been having.  I need to come back in six months to see that the reading continues on a downward trend, but today was a good day.

Friday:  0

Saturday:  5
Old Mountain Field 5K.  See separate write-up.

Sunday:  5
Fun solo run at Paffard Preserve and Stonington Cemetery, in the pouring rain.  Flooded trails, dicey water crossings, and mud.

Weekly mileage:  15 (3 trail runs, 0 road runs)

Weekly synopsis:  Pretty pathetic.  The rut and work stress continue.

Weekly highlight:  The OMF!  Great run in challenging conditions.

Weekly lowlight:  Continued dearth of running in general.

Weekly Log 29-Jan to 4-Feb-2018: Fleeting Snow Runs

We're into February now.  It might be about time for me to plan out some races.  I'm been having some motivation issues running this winter thus far, so hopefully some race goals will help.  The latter half of the year is more a placeholder than anything, and is quite malleable.  I would like to run something long in the fall, but haven't given it much thought yet.  Conversely, I have given some serious thought to the winter, spring and summer, however, and while I won't run all of these, hope to get the majority in.  Here is my first draft of races.

Random observation #1:


[Runners World, Jan 2018] Different strokes for different folks, so
not trying to proselytize anyone or provide TMI, but this gave me a
measure of personal vindication.  What works for me is minimum layers,
and minimizing chafing and bundling up.  Had never thought about infection.

Random observation #2:

It's official:  Punxsutawney Phil emerged and saw his
shadow this Groundhog Day, thus six more weeks of winter
remain.  This is obviously proven science, so I'm psyched for more snow
 on the way, hopefully in time for OMF.

Monday:  0
Monday is often my day off, but it made for a really easy decision for a rest day when I woke up this morning with very heavy and mildly sore legs.  Two days after a 5K; is that what it's from?  Is that what my lack of running has done?

Tuesday:  11
AM:  5 miles.  1-3" of snow had been forecast overnight, and we ended up getting over 6" of snow in Westerly!  Yes!  I always get really excited when it snows.  Went for a solo run through Champlin.  Loved it!  (At a team lunch that day, of the 7 people having lunch at Bridge, I was the only one that was happy about the snow.  The rest were all whining about it.  Get outside and enjoy nature!)

The majesty of winter

Fresh snow all around me;
I am a happy boy.

PM:  6 miles.  A double!  First in a long time.  Met up with the two Jonathans and Chris for a snowy headlamp run in Burlingame.  Ran VG, Sammy C's, and Lenny's Lane.  Fun!

Left to right:  Chris, Jonny, Jonathan

Wednesday:  5
Jonny had predicted I would be sore after two snow runs yesterday and he was not wrong.   But with snow still on the ground, I couldn't resist getting out there on snow covered trails again.  This run was in Hale Reservation in Dover, MA.  Never saw a soul on any of the trails, but when I was finishing up on a short section of snow covered road, I saw a guy getting out of a Hale maintenance truck to talk to me.  I know I went behind closed gates, but I'm pretty sure it's still open to foot traffic.  It turns out that he just came over to say "Good morning", warned me about some slick spots, and said glad to see me out using the facility.  Really nice!

With YakTrax, even running the short road portions were fun!

All is quiet and pristine on Noanet Pond

Single-track snowy fun!

Thursday:  0

Brought my running clothes and headlamp to run after work,
but didn't have a strong conviction with the temps in upper 40s and melting snow,
so when my colleagues invited me to Flip Side, that was an easy and fun choice.
Where else can you find pinball machines and jukeboxes these days?

Friday:  0
Nope.  Long work day; didn't happen.

Saturday:  6
Hit up the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center trails in Mystic.  Crunchy snow run.  The trail markings could be better, and I ended up inadvertently getting off the Avalonia Trail (orange) and onto roads for a longer section than I was happier with, but it was all good.

Post-race, went up to watch Matthew's Class B indoor meet.  While he's not back to running his longer 1500 and 3000m distances yet, it was cool to see him anchor the Westerly High School 4x800, and the team won in it 8:28.  Class B champs and a new meet record!

Sunday:  12
Got an invite from Tommy to join him in running with the nascent Sunday Avondale running group.  I always appreciate the thoughtful invites I get, but I had just run this same route last Sunday, and as I'm having enough motivational issues to run as it is lately, I really to need to mix it up to avoid boredom.

Instead, I went to Bradford Preserve and had a great solo trail run.  The surface on the trails today varied between crunchy shallow snow and frozen dirt, both of which were fine by me.  Ran CCW from BP south to Wahaneeta, east to South Woody, and north around the Woody Hill Marsh and onto the new RINEMBA trails.  Encountered a couple of mountain bikers riding the Captain's Daughter.  (Hope the Captain didn't mind.)  Otherwise, it was just 1,200+ acres to myself.  A few short sections of double-track cobbled together with about 1/3 mile of ugly asphalt, but all the rest was great single-track.  Finished up before a rainstorm will inevitably erode the last bit of snow. :(

Well signed new mountain bike trails.

Weekly mileage:  34  (5 trail runs, 0 road runs)

Weekly synopsis:  No whining here this week.  With a spring marathon off the table, it's refreshing not to fret about training.  I'm looking forward to upcoming trail races, and will put in a modicum of training, but nothing structured.  By early April, when my stressful and time-sucking work project is over and daylight hours are in abundance, I'm confident my weekly mileage will increase and give me a good base for summer races.

Weekly highlight:  The group headlamp run in the snow!  With the darkness and headlamp reflections, it's as if you're running completely different trails, and even though these are the Burlingame trails I know and love (Vin Gormley, Sammy C, and Lenny Lane), at times I had to really focus and think to get my bearings on where we were.  Great fun!