AM: My legs have been a little sore, with a bit more running than usual, so despite today being a holiday (Victory Day in RI), I omitted the running and swam instead at Watchaug Pond. Swam one mile! I know real swimmers would say, so? or and?, but to me it was a big deal. Felt smooth out there. The arms were tiring as I finished up, but I did it! As I was getting out the water, a woman just entering asked me, "Want to go for another?". Um, no, I'm quite done, but thanks for the chuckle. It was Marie Labriola starting her swim.
PM: Back to Watchaug Pond late afternoon with Brady, this time for a kayak. As I mentioned, my arms are tiring, and since I'm also kayaking tomorrow, I kept it reasonably short. Finished up, and as usual of late, ran into the Bousquet clan! Played in the water for a while before heading home. 8pm now and I'm wiped and ready for bed. Fortunately tomorrow is a vacation day for me.
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| When he's lying down in the kayak, it's steady. When he stands up and moves around, not so much. I feel like he is going to capsize the boat. |
Tuesday: 8 miles run, 2 miles kayak
AM: Burlingame campground trails with Matthew and Brady. Very dry trails, as it hasn't rained here in a long time. Interesting that SK and Narragansett have complete water bans, while Westerly doesn't even have any type of rationing. Is our water system more plentiful? Anyway, felt fine on this run other than the humidity. Carried my hydration pack to have water for Brady, and put his leash and water bowl inside it. At one point, Matthew took off his sweaty shirt and put it in one of the pack pockets. So other than the fact that I can never wear it again after the foul stench from Matthew's shirt, it fits an amazing amount of stuff for a mid-size pack.
PM: After a late brunch of Mark's choice, which incidentally was our first time eating inside a restaurant since COVID, we were off to Jamestown for kayaking. The whole family came along, but it was just Mark (and Brady) and me on the kayaks. After four straight days of kayaking in the sun, my body and especially arms are tired. I'm grateful to my neighbors for suggesting and lending their two kayaks to us. My four-day escape from work is over, but if there's a silver lining during COVID, it's that I've only taken three days of vacation thus far, and have a lot left over!
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| Mark and Brady, with the Newport Bridge in background |
Wednesday: 6
AM: 3 miles. Easy local road shakeout with Brady and Matthew.
PM: 3 miles. Bottone Mile race. Small field in the COVID era, but it's a free race with very little expenses, so it was worth it to hold it for the 40+ runners that came out. We had the COVID regulations down pat now after 5 straight weeks of Fun Runs. What was new this week was the assigned waves, and the middle digit of each runner's bib told him which wave he was running in. I anticipated issues with this, but runners got it real quickly and we had no issues at all (that I'm aware of) with runners inadvertently in the wrong wave.
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| Nick Bottone giving pre-race commentary to a socially distance group, before runners entered their designated rows and circles |
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| Socially distanced start, with rows 6' apart |
I was in the 2nd row of the 1st wave, with an estimated 5:30 finish. Not sure if that was realistic, given the past two years I ran 5:43 and 5:42 on the same course, respectively, but I did have summer injuries/issues and I don't know how much of a contributor that was. The last time I beat 5:30 in a mile was way back in 2014 at 5:25, and that was on a track.
Right from the start, many of the runners in my wave of 10 rocketed out ahead of me. The first two turns come up quick and are really tight against Atlantic Avenue, but it's good to get them out of the way, as after that there's a long straight-away and the remaining turns are not tight at all. At about 1/2 mile in along Crandall Ave, I came up on and passed high school runners Brandon and Tyler. I could see Dave Goodrich ahead of me, but not only was I not closing that gap, a quick glance at my watch was now showing in the 5:40s. Gulp. At 3/4 of a mile, you make the turns to start to head back. Between an ever so slight downhill and the sounds of someone coming right up on me, I was able to push harder for the remainder of the mile. My watch showed 5:31, but I think I was late pushing the stop button in the chute.
Final results: 5:29.6. Full results here.
Short cool-down and dip in the ocean.
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| Post-run dinner at the Andrea. Nice enjoyable outdoor setting. |
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| That's a lot of garlic on my green beans. Fortunately, I really like garlic! |
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| I think we all enjoyed our dinners (top: Matthew's lobster mac 'n cheese, right: Jana's salmon tacos, bottom: my baked scallops). Not a cheap dinner, but it was really nice and partially offset by a gift certificate I won in a local race last year. |
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| The ocean views aren't bad either! |
Thursday: 0
Slept in, and then didn't have an opportunity to go out for a run, between work and getting set up to have my Mom over for dinner on our patio.
Friday: 8
Ninigret Park with Matthew and Brady. Mix of grass fields, bike path, and gravel trails. The super humid stuff is gone, and Brady seemed to do much better today because of it. Felt good out there. Bakery for scones and iced coffee post run.
Saturday: 12
First time running Arcadia in a while. With Matthew and Brady. Clockwise loop on some of my favorite trails: JB Hudson, Mt Tom, Escoheag, Breakheart, and Shelter. Felt a little bit like fall out there today. Not completely, as temp was in low 70s, but humidity was also in low 70s for a change and there was a good breeze.
I think the deerflies are just about done. Not a single one out there today! Didn't see many people out there today. Most of the ones we did see were part of an AMC trail maintenance crew in the parking lot at JB Hudson trailhead. Made sure to tell them they do great work.
I wore my hydration pack so I could offer Brady water when needed, but I didn't use much as we were able to stop at streams and rivers in places for him to cool off. With about a mile to go, we stopped at a small swimming hole. Brady went right in for a swim, and I followed suit but wasn't as brave or as quick as him, as that water was cold! Very refreshing though.
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| Nice little swimming hole. Brady didn't waste any time getting in. |
Sunday: 14
Coolest day in a long time. Today's high temp was 67°! I'll take that for mid-August. A bonus was the intermittent light rain on today's run, which felt great. It's funny that a few folks posted their Strava runs with descriptions including verbiage to the effect of "fortunately I finished up before the rain". In January, I could agree, but I like summer rain runs. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Anyway, ran from the Mystic Y with Matthew on a route he had planned out. Ran many roads in Groton that I had never been on before. Almost all were quiet and bucolic. I started out the run very stiff and afraid this would be another of those runs where I would lag Matthew badly. The first few miles that was the case, and I literally huffed and puffed up the hills. At about 6 miles in, we had a long downhill stretch and it gave me a second wind for the remainder of the run.
The last three miles were pretty flat, yet I managed to put in splits of 6:58, 6:32, and 6:09. As Matthew later remarked, and I concur, he'll take a run anytime where you feel bad and slow to start and finish strong. Finished up with a dip in the Mystic River, where I lamented the loss of the Mystic Y Tri. It was never runner-friendly with the long swim course and short (2.7M) run course, but nonetheless it is sad to see any local event in the area, especially a tri, cancelled. Since it was cancelled pre-COVID, I'm assuming it's gone. I think the closest local tri remaining now is The Wave tri in SK.
Weekly mileage: 48 miles run, 3 miles kayak, 1 mile swam
Weekly synopsis: Another good running week, with a dip or quick swim after almost every run this week. That's a good way to end a run in my books. Getting in a mile swim felt good as well. I will welcome the cooler fall weather, but miss the swim and pond and ocean dips.
Weekly highlight: A lot of good summer activities, so it's hard to pick just one. I'll go with the Jamestown kayaking with Mark as it's a rare occasion for me to have outdoor sporting activities with my southern son.
Weekly lowlight: Nada. No injuries. No bad runs. Just a really good summer week.
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