Monday: 0 run, 600 yards swim
Will try to keep up Monday as a cross-training day.
Tuesday: 8
Changed plans twice due to laziness / apathy. Left work an hour early and ran from the Y, making it up as I went along. Ran along both the CT and RI sides of the Pawcatuck River, running on many streets I had either never been on before or was unfamiliar with. That did help time pass. Uninspiring, uneventful run.
Wednesday: 11
Mid-day run on one of my favorite loops: Boombridge from the Y, across the closed bridge into North Stonington, CT and past sleepy cattle farms, up to Ashaway, and return on the RI side with some good hill climbs and descents. Mid-30s and sunny. I overdressed with a quarter-zip and gloves, and felt it a few miles in.
Ran 4 miles at target MP pace. I was shooting for 6:25. Don't know if that will be realistic come marathon day, but you have to a goal, or at least an "A" goal, right? Was kind of all over the place with rolling hills, but now that I look back at my GAP pace, I think I hit it pretty well:
Thursday: 5
Early morning (6am) run with Brady, before a long day at work. Entered the darkened trails at Champlin, and promptly went down hard on the frozen ground. Brady was running ahead of me, and ever the loyal dog, came back to check on me and stayed right with me until I got up and got moving again. I've had worse injuries for sure, and there wasn't even blood, but my knee hurt for the rest of the day.
Friday: 6
Finally Friday! Just seemed like the workweek would never come to an end. Lots of meetings, deadlines, deliverables, and contracts I needed to have finalized by January month-end.
Finished up about 3pm and called it a day. Stopped home to change, pick up a black dog who was crazy excited to go out for an adventure, and headed to Wahaneeta. Kept it shorter and slower knowing I have a long run tomorrow. Wahaneeta to Woody Hill to Bradford Preserve, then return using different trails. Didn't see a single soul out there.
End of the warm and nearly snow-less January. 236 miles for the month of January.
Saturday: 21!
Welcome to February. How did that happen? New month, new facial look (Christmas/January beard gone), new long run distances. The last time I had run 20+ miles was the Myrtle Beach Marathon 11 months ago. Time to have at it again ...
Planned out a flat coastal road run on the streets of Charlestown and a wee bit in SK. Isn't MapMyRun great? Lollygagged in bed longer than I planned to, but finally got out there and got started about 8am for my long and lonesome run. Parked at The Bakery, as a carrot for me to finish. Roughly half of my run went west through my former neighborhood of Tockwotten and out to Ninigret Park. Was tempted to call it a day twice passing a sign for a pancake breakfast at Cross Mills Church to benefit locals. Good, I don't have any money with me. After I re-approached (but by design my route did not actually go past my starting point), I contemplated just coming back to the car to finish 10 miles and run long tomorrow. I just told myself, remember, no long run finish, no stop at The Bakery. It worked!
Continued south bypassing my car and ran out to Charlestown Breachway and back before heading east to a loop in Green Hill. I could really feel that mere 50' hill climb in Green Hill in Mile 17, but still kept it in the 7:20 - 7:30 pace. No, that won't fly for the marathon of course, but again, this was my first (of several) 20+ milers in a long time, so I've got time to ramp up both the hills and pace. Happy to finish this one!
And now time for iced coffee and a warm scone. Yum!
Sunday: 8 run, 3 hike
Fun run: Had planned to run a 12-mile classic loop in Arcadia, but was feeling really sore. Headed to Tillinghast instead, where I could easily bail or run shorter loops. About 1/2 mile in, with soreness in both knees and compensating for it with a weird gait, I had prematurely made up my mind I would run a 2-mile loop and call it a day. While I felt sore the whole run, I did feel better as I went along and kept extending the loop. Good day out there!
Mean dog hike: Spent some time in the yard in the afternoon playing ball with Brady, and then Jana and I took him to Grills for a 2.5 mile hike. Great to get outdoors on a reasonably warm (42 degrees) February day. We ran into exactly two other couples out there; both also had dogs but they weren't friendly like Brady. Fortunately both were leashed. In fact, the very first couple told us right away their dog was NOT friendly. Wow, if an owner says their dog is not friendly, you know that's the case. The little thing just barked and growled incessantly while showing its teeth. Brady wasn't on the leash, but made a wide path around that thing and its owners to avoid them all. We heard the second dog long before we saw it. It was a big dog, and even though leashed, its owner was really physically straining to restrain the snarling dog from coming at us. Yikes! We leashed Brady as a precaution before going around them, but once we passed far wide of them, I unleashed Brady and he bolted further away from all of us before waiting further up the trail for Jana and me. I can't imagine having such a mean dog; it can't be a pleasant experience for its owners either.
Weekly mileage: 59 (against plan of 68)
Weekly synopsis: Mixed. On the one hand, I executed on my plan to get a 21-miler in, albeit with much soreness and mild pain the next day. However, I am way off my weekly mileage goal. It's easy to make excuses, so I'm not going to go there. I think for next week I have to try to hew tightly to the day-by-day plan in order to meet the overall goal.
Weekly highlight: Don't think it was my most fun run, but my 21-miler on Saturday was an accomplishment and confidence builder.
Weekly lowlight: Too much apathy and wishy-washiness.
Will try to keep up Monday as a cross-training day.
Tuesday: 8
Changed plans twice due to laziness / apathy. Left work an hour early and ran from the Y, making it up as I went along. Ran along both the CT and RI sides of the Pawcatuck River, running on many streets I had either never been on before or was unfamiliar with. That did help time pass. Uninspiring, uneventful run.
Wednesday: 11
Mid-day run on one of my favorite loops: Boombridge from the Y, across the closed bridge into North Stonington, CT and past sleepy cattle farms, up to Ashaway, and return on the RI side with some good hill climbs and descents. Mid-30s and sunny. I overdressed with a quarter-zip and gloves, and felt it a few miles in.
Ran 4 miles at target MP pace. I was shooting for 6:25. Don't know if that will be realistic come marathon day, but you have to a goal, or at least an "A" goal, right? Was kind of all over the place with rolling hills, but now that I look back at my GAP pace, I think I hit it pretty well:
Thursday: 5
Early morning (6am) run with Brady, before a long day at work. Entered the darkened trails at Champlin, and promptly went down hard on the frozen ground. Brady was running ahead of me, and ever the loyal dog, came back to check on me and stayed right with me until I got up and got moving again. I've had worse injuries for sure, and there wasn't even blood, but my knee hurt for the rest of the day.
Friday: 6
Finally Friday! Just seemed like the workweek would never come to an end. Lots of meetings, deadlines, deliverables, and contracts I needed to have finalized by January month-end.
Finished up about 3pm and called it a day. Stopped home to change, pick up a black dog who was crazy excited to go out for an adventure, and headed to Wahaneeta. Kept it shorter and slower knowing I have a long run tomorrow. Wahaneeta to Woody Hill to Bradford Preserve, then return using different trails. Didn't see a single soul out there.
End of the warm and nearly snow-less January. 236 miles for the month of January.
Saturday: 21!
Welcome to February. How did that happen? New month, new facial look (Christmas/January beard gone), new long run distances. The last time I had run 20+ miles was the Myrtle Beach Marathon 11 months ago. Time to have at it again ...
Planned out a flat coastal road run on the streets of Charlestown and a wee bit in SK. Isn't MapMyRun great? Lollygagged in bed longer than I planned to, but finally got out there and got started about 8am for my long and lonesome run. Parked at The Bakery, as a carrot for me to finish. Roughly half of my run went west through my former neighborhood of Tockwotten and out to Ninigret Park. Was tempted to call it a day twice passing a sign for a pancake breakfast at Cross Mills Church to benefit locals. Good, I don't have any money with me. After I re-approached (but by design my route did not actually go past my starting point), I contemplated just coming back to the car to finish 10 miles and run long tomorrow. I just told myself, remember, no long run finish, no stop at The Bakery. It worked!
Continued south bypassing my car and ran out to Charlestown Breachway and back before heading east to a loop in Green Hill. I could really feel that mere 50' hill climb in Green Hill in Mile 17, but still kept it in the 7:20 - 7:30 pace. No, that won't fly for the marathon of course, but again, this was my first (of several) 20+ milers in a long time, so I've got time to ramp up both the hills and pace. Happy to finish this one!
And now time for iced coffee and a warm scone. Yum!
Sunday: 8 run, 3 hike
Fun run: Had planned to run a 12-mile classic loop in Arcadia, but was feeling really sore. Headed to Tillinghast instead, where I could easily bail or run shorter loops. About 1/2 mile in, with soreness in both knees and compensating for it with a weird gait, I had prematurely made up my mind I would run a 2-mile loop and call it a day. While I felt sore the whole run, I did feel better as I went along and kept extending the loop. Good day out there!
 |
| On the trails at Tillinghast Preserve. Lots of fun pine forest trails. |
 |
| Doesn't really look like a mid-winter scene. Wimpy winter of 2020. |
Mean dog hike: Spent some time in the yard in the afternoon playing ball with Brady, and then Jana and I took him to Grills for a 2.5 mile hike. Great to get outdoors on a reasonably warm (42 degrees) February day. We ran into exactly two other couples out there; both also had dogs but they weren't friendly like Brady. Fortunately both were leashed. In fact, the very first couple told us right away their dog was NOT friendly. Wow, if an owner says their dog is not friendly, you know that's the case. The little thing just barked and growled incessantly while showing its teeth. Brady wasn't on the leash, but made a wide path around that thing and its owners to avoid them all. We heard the second dog long before we saw it. It was a big dog, and even though leashed, its owner was really physically straining to restrain the snarling dog from coming at us. Yikes! We leashed Brady as a precaution before going around them, but once we passed far wide of them, I unleashed Brady and he bolted further away from all of us before waiting further up the trail for Jana and me. I can't imagine having such a mean dog; it can't be a pleasant experience for its owners either.
 |
| I know, just numbers. But still the date looks pretty cool with all twos and zeros. Will never happen again. --- Follow-up: I just thought the date looked interesting, but then I read on the 'Net that today is "Global Palindrome Day" (using the full 02/02/2020) and was the first time this happened in 909 years, since 11/11/1111 (that was even before I was born) |
Weekly synopsis: Mixed. On the one hand, I executed on my plan to get a 21-miler in, albeit with much soreness and mild pain the next day. However, I am way off my weekly mileage goal. It's easy to make excuses, so I'm not going to go there. I think for next week I have to try to hew tightly to the day-by-day plan in order to meet the overall goal.
Weekly highlight: Don't think it was my most fun run, but my 21-miler on Saturday was an accomplishment and confidence builder.
Weekly lowlight: Too much apathy and wishy-washiness.
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