Typical day off. Neighborhood evening walk with Jana and Brady.
Tuesday: 6
Supposed to be the last day of a 4-day heat wave. It can't come soon enough. I am just not a heat fan at all. Fortunately, living only one mile to the ocean, the heat is not nearly as bad as interior locations, and it's quite rare for it to hit 90° at the house, but it sure cam close. Already 80° by 8am, went for a very warm run with Brady at Burlingame. Planned it so midway he'd get a break to drink and wade in Watchaug Pond, before continuing on through campground trails.
Post run (or actually with 1/4 mile to go), it was a nice long soaking and swimming at the boat launch for both of us. I have tried and failed for him to jump off the dock in the past, but after just two tries today, he ran with me and jumped right into the pond! I was impressed.
Wednesday: 9
AM: Five miles with Brady and Matthew at Woody Hill. Pretty evenly split between roads and trails.
PM: Fun Run #4. 18:59. Just eked out a sub-19. It was indeed less heat and humidity tonight, but it was also full sun and felt hot. Started in the first wave, and watched the back of Dave Goodrich's WTAC singlet for almost two miles, until passing him going down the hill on Kathleen Drive. I felt someone coming up on me as I was passing Dave, and this helped me maintain momentum. After a while his/her footsteps were no longer within earshot. Held on decently for the 3rd mile and finished strong, but took me a while to get my breathing back. I thought it might be Brandy LeClair behind me, but it was James, a Westchester NY high-schooler who summers locally and beat me last week. (Turned out he had a workout in the morning, so now that made sense to me.)
Thursday: 10
Soaker from the house with Matthew. No, it wasn't raining, but it was 97% humidity! My singlet and shorts were soon drenched and clung to me. First few miles were comfortable on Atlantic Ave and around 7:10 pace. I could've really used some water, but it turns out all the fountains are turned off or removed due to COVID. Is that really necessary? I'm not going to lick the fountain, and I doubt the person before me would either. Anyhow, it was off dehydrated for the rest of the run, as the energy was sucked out of me and I slowed to 7:30-7:40 pace. Got home and Jana and Matthew alternated spraying me down with the garden hose. Felt soooo good.
Friday: 8
Ninigret in the rain with Matthew and Brady. The rain was light and actually felt pretty good, but others must feel differently as the park was pretty much deserted. The rain was coming to an end as we finished up, and we went to the nearby Watchaug Pond for a quick dip. The water isn't as cool as I would like, but it still feels really good.
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| Running down the dock with Brady, at Watchaug public boat launch. |
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| Yes! Here he comes. He's finally up to jumping off the dock into the pond. |
Saturday: 9
People's Forest Trail Race. Separate write-up shortly.
Sunday: 30 ride, 6 run.
Ride: Met up with Chris, Tommy, and Mikey for an early ride from The Bakery out to Wakefield, through Peace Dale, bike path up to Kingston train station, and back through Charlestown, before baked goods and iced drinks served with conversation. Legs were a bit sore, but I didn't drag too far behind. Good conversation throughout the ride, except the short parts on Route 1, where I'm a little uncomfortable and hung back far to the rightmost portion of shoulder.
Run: Impromptu solo run from East Beach State Beach. I snagged one of the last parking spots, and ran out the East Beach Sand Trail to Charlestown Breachway. A few bunnies scampered across the trail, but I only saw one human when a DEM truck was headed my way and stopped and pulled off to let me run by. The soft sand was tough to run in. I hit a few hard packed areas, which were nice but few and far between. Also, some of the sand was starting to burn my feet, so I was looking forward to finishing up the sand trail portion. There were a LOT of people on the other side of the breachway. I paused for just a few minutes to watch boats go by and fisherman reel in fish, before heading back.
We were between tides, but it wasn't as soft as I had imagined. Occasionally you'd see a cluster of 10-20 people on the beach, but that was just where their 4-wheel drive vehicles could pull off into the three of four parking lots, and people are generally too lazy to walk any distance. Oh well, that meant I had long stretches of empty beach to myself as I ran in and out of the crashing waves. Neat place. Finished up with a nice dip in the Atlantic Ocean.
Weekly mileage: 48 run, 30 ride
Weekly synopsis: Again very close to my 50-mile run target. Mostly trails, but also mixed in some roads and a beach run. Felt good and ran well!
Weekly highpoint: Racing at People's Forest Trail Race!
Weekly lowpoint: Hot weather.
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