Flashback:
Monday: 0 run, 1/4 swim
Well, the holidays are truly over now. Mark went back to Texas late last week and Matthew to NH today. This will be my first five-day work week since Christmas. I know, cry me a river. I'll need to get into regular routines and force myself to get out there (that's the hardest part of my runs usually.)
My training plan calls for every Monday off from running, with either rest or cross-training. Opted to jump into the pool today for the first time since April! Arms sore, even from a short and easy 500 yard swim, but felt good overall. Glad I did it.
Tuesday: 8
You know how some mornings you get up on the "wrong side of bed"?
Wednesday: 9
Blue Heron loop (Dedham, Boston, Needham, MA). Hadn't run this in a while, and really enjoyed it, with the exception of a short section that had been leaf-blown and had a lot of exposed roots and erosion as a result. Why do people do that?
Anyway, a very enjoyable run before a work day in Wellesley. Very few people on the trails, but in Millennium Park, Boston, there were a quite a few folks out walking their dogs. All were surprisingly off leash, but all also seemed truly friendly and obedient.
Thursday: 8
Grills with Brady, before work. From Hopkinton side into Westerly for a nice, if muddy, loop, and then back. Brady jumped into every pond and stream that we went near; I guess that's the black lab in him. Coming down Big Hill, there was a deer standing in the middle of the trail. This time, Brady bolted after him. It was fun to watch Brady chase the deer, until they were both out of sight. I yelled to Brady, and to my pleasant surprise, he abandoned his chase, and came right back to me.
Misty and overcast, but fun. Never saw a soul out there.
Friday: 7
After work road/trail mix from the house with Brady. Mixed in four local preserves, which were all fun to run in. The roads - not so much, especially between busy traffic, wind, and getting dark.
Saturday: 18
Solo long run. 16 degrees. The past four weekends I had 14+ mile runs with Matthew, but today I had to get out there and do it myself. Just tried to make any excuse to myself to defer it. Maybe I'll just run in the afternoon when it's warmer. Or maybe tomorrow. Better yet, it's a 3-day weekend, so I can run long on Monday. Somehow I fought those inner voices and got out there. Brady giving me a sad look at the door, like "How come I'm not invited?" didn't help, but I got past it.
The first few miles I was still fighting the urge to cut the run short, but about four miles in, I snapped out of my funk, had warmed up, and was starting to enjoy it. Saw Shara running in her neighborhood, and one other runner on Atlantic, but there were really very few people outdoors in the cold. Ran an average of 7:15/mile, and fairly consistently. Wasn't working hard, yet on the other hand couldn't see myself running much faster today. I felt fine up until about Mile 15, and was really tiring the final three miles. Much work to do.
Later that afternoon and into the night, the old man was very sore.
Sunday: 5
Snow run! We went up to UNH to bring up stuff for Matthew, as he went up a week ago on his own (by train) for running, but couldn't bring much as the dorms weren't open then. Anyway, planned a stop in Portsmouth for a run before meeting Matthew for lunch. Parked at Portsmouth High School and ran the adjacent city-owned trails and XC course at Sagamore Creek Headlands. 6" of snow was my bonus!
Weekly mileage: 56 (against a planned 63)
Weekly synopsis: Again, not concerned about being a few miles shy of a weekly plan. I'm happy that this was my 5th consecutive week north of 50. What did bother me, though, was that a pop-up on Strava showed my 18-mile run from exactly one year ago, and in that one I had two 5-mile blocks of running about 6:20 pace. I'm way off that, and need to start mixing in faster blocks in my long runs if I want any chance of going sub-3 at Boston.
Weekly highlight: The snow run, all the way!
Weekly lowlight: My ineptitude with the alarm clock, and letting my ensuring morning get screwed up and get the best of me. Alarm clocks really aren't all that complicated.
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| For last Sunday's Newport long run with Matthew, I mentioned I wished I had had a camera for the sea foam section. Well, here it is! You can see the sea foam up and over the Cliffwalk path. It was about 6" deep! ----- (Courtesy of runner Kevin Bruff's Strava post, as we ran into him on the run) |
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| Here's another section of sea foam that we had to navigate through, and this one was much worse as you couldn't see the rocks underfoot. |
Well, the holidays are truly over now. Mark went back to Texas late last week and Matthew to NH today. This will be my first five-day work week since Christmas. I know, cry me a river. I'll need to get into regular routines and force myself to get out there (that's the hardest part of my runs usually.)
My training plan calls for every Monday off from running, with either rest or cross-training. Opted to jump into the pool today for the first time since April! Arms sore, even from a short and easy 500 yard swim, but felt good overall. Glad I did it.
Tuesday: 8
You know how some mornings you get up on the "wrong side of bed"?
- Brady woke me up, and I thought, great, time for the Grills trail run with him that I promised. The alarm clock showed 8am; that can't be right, as I know I set it for 6:10. Turns out Doofus set the alarm for 6:10PM.
- Came down stairs to eat breakfast quickly and go to work. In my haste, I knocked over a glass full of water, smashing it into hundreds of pieces with some shards of glass and water falling on Brady. He cowered, probably wondering what he did wrong. What an idiot!
- Got into my car to find an engine check light. Argh.
- Got to work to find I left my snacks (yogurt and apple) behind. I should've just stayed in bed and called in sick.
Wednesday: 9
Blue Heron loop (Dedham, Boston, Needham, MA). Hadn't run this in a while, and really enjoyed it, with the exception of a short section that had been leaf-blown and had a lot of exposed roots and erosion as a result. Why do people do that?
Anyway, a very enjoyable run before a work day in Wellesley. Very few people on the trails, but in Millennium Park, Boston, there were a quite a few folks out walking their dogs. All were surprisingly off leash, but all also seemed truly friendly and obedient.
 |
| (on the bulletin board of the Wellesley office) I'm easily amused! We will never be able to use this joke again. |
Thursday: 8
Grills with Brady, before work. From Hopkinton side into Westerly for a nice, if muddy, loop, and then back. Brady jumped into every pond and stream that we went near; I guess that's the black lab in him. Coming down Big Hill, there was a deer standing in the middle of the trail. This time, Brady bolted after him. It was fun to watch Brady chase the deer, until they were both out of sight. I yelled to Brady, and to my pleasant surprise, he abandoned his chase, and came right back to me.
Misty and overcast, but fun. Never saw a soul out there.
Friday: 7
After work road/trail mix from the house with Brady. Mixed in four local preserves, which were all fun to run in. The roads - not so much, especially between busy traffic, wind, and getting dark.
Saturday: 18
Solo long run. 16 degrees. The past four weekends I had 14+ mile runs with Matthew, but today I had to get out there and do it myself. Just tried to make any excuse to myself to defer it. Maybe I'll just run in the afternoon when it's warmer. Or maybe tomorrow. Better yet, it's a 3-day weekend, so I can run long on Monday. Somehow I fought those inner voices and got out there. Brady giving me a sad look at the door, like "How come I'm not invited?" didn't help, but I got past it.
The first few miles I was still fighting the urge to cut the run short, but about four miles in, I snapped out of my funk, had warmed up, and was starting to enjoy it. Saw Shara running in her neighborhood, and one other runner on Atlantic, but there were really very few people outdoors in the cold. Ran an average of 7:15/mile, and fairly consistently. Wasn't working hard, yet on the other hand couldn't see myself running much faster today. I felt fine up until about Mile 15, and was really tiring the final three miles. Much work to do.
Later that afternoon and into the night, the old man was very sore.
Sunday: 5
Snow run! We went up to UNH to bring up stuff for Matthew, as he went up a week ago on his own (by train) for running, but couldn't bring much as the dorms weren't open then. Anyway, planned a stop in Portsmouth for a run before meeting Matthew for lunch. Parked at Portsmouth High School and ran the adjacent city-owned trails and XC course at Sagamore Creek Headlands. 6" of snow was my bonus!
 |
| King of the hill. |
 |
| Romping in the snow. You're not in Florida (or Texas) anymore, Brady. |
Weekly mileage: 56 (against a planned 63)
Weekly synopsis: Again, not concerned about being a few miles shy of a weekly plan. I'm happy that this was my 5th consecutive week north of 50. What did bother me, though, was that a pop-up on Strava showed my 18-mile run from exactly one year ago, and in that one I had two 5-mile blocks of running about 6:20 pace. I'm way off that, and need to start mixing in faster blocks in my long runs if I want any chance of going sub-3 at Boston.
Weekly highlight: The snow run, all the way!
Weekly lowlight: My ineptitude with the alarm clock, and letting my ensuring morning get screwed up and get the best of me. Alarm clocks really aren't all that complicated.
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