Weekly Log 24-May to 30-May-2021: Wild Weather Swings

 Monday:  0

Tuesday:  5

Burlingame and Kettle Pond trails after work, with Matthew and Brady.

Wednesday:  0

Thursday:  14

AM:  8 miles on the classic VG loop with Brady.  Sometimes it's good to go back to the classics.  

PM:  6 miles at Goddard with Matthew.  Hadn't run here in a while, but since we had gone up to Attleboro to pick up a car (see separate post), we decided to run "on the way" back.  Not exactly on the way, but it worked fine.  Super hot at 84°.  Felt like I was panting the whole way, despite not pushing the effort.  At least it was all shaded on the trails.

Friday:  6

Ninigret with Matthew and Brady.  Mostly grass fields, plus some bike path.  Easy pace.

Saturday:  15

Pineland Farms 25K race.  See separate post.

Sunday:  8

Tillinghast with Matthew and Brady.  47° and steady rain.  Memorial Day weekend, eh?  Second day in a row of cold, rainy temperatures, with the highs not even reaching 50.  Good racing weather, but otherwise pretty bleak.  On the plus side, perhaps not surprisingly, not another soul out there.

Weekly mileage:  48

Weekly synopsis:  I continue to increase my mileage gradually since my surgeries, and happy with that approach.  This was actually my highest mileage since March.

Weekly highlight:  Pineland race.  Hands down.

Weekly lowlight:  The heat on Thursday afternoon.  Not that I loved the rain with high in the 40s on Saturday and Sunday, but I'll take that over 80°+ weather any day.  I know some people love the heat, and that's fine of course, but just not for me.  Hoping we don't have a super hot Blessing, as that would do me in, albeit I'll be more acclimated to heat by then.

Weekly Log 17-May to 23-May-2021: Mixed Bag

Miscellaneous rambling:

• Nearly all businesses and facilities I go into now no longer require masks for those fully vaccinated, and I am really enjoying that.  This includes supermarkets, restaurants, coffee shops, and even my own employer.  The only exception thus far is the hospital, which I guess is understandable.
• So many races are now returning in person, especially with so many COVID restrictions lifted.  Even the Blessing is now back in person, just as of this week!  So many races that I want to run, but I'm trying to dial it back at least a little so I'm not racing every weekend and burn out.  My race schedule for next two months is mostly locked down now:  2021 events

Monday:  0

Absolutely horrible day at work.  Difficult personnel situation that didn't end well.  Sometimes I really dislike corporate work.  But at least for moment, it pays the bills.

Tuesday:  8

Woody Hill run from Bradford Preserve, with Matthew and Brady.  Felt very warm out there.

Wednesday:  7 run, 3 hike

AM:  Barn Island with Matthew and Brady.  

PM:  Family hike at Pack Monadnock, Miller State Park, NH.  Unusually warm 84° mid-May day.  We had originally planned to hike Mount Monadnock until we found out that dogs are not allowed there.  That would have been a longer hike, so probably just as well given the heat.

The first part of our hike was pretty technical.

Glad the whole family was able to get in on the hike.

The tower was open, and Ernie let us
come up into the top and look around.

Thursday:  8

First time running the 'Round the Pond loop in quite a while.  Solo run.  Today's temps were a little cooler, in the mid-60s late afternoon when I ran.  Still felt warm and came back with my singlet and hat both sweat-soaked, but it didn't feel as hot as past few days.  Felt pretty good overall and dropped two sub-6:20 miles on Atlantic Avenue without much effort, so happy with that.

Friday:  2

Pretty pathetic.  I know.  Just stretching the legs more than anything, and happy that the work week is finally over.  Short loop at Woody.

Saturday:  8

Burlingame North with Brady and Matthew.  Four miles north of Buckeye Brook, four miles south.  The single-track down to the makeshift campsites along the Pawcatuck River is starting to get overgrown for the summer season.  Got a thorn and splinter in my thumb that swelled up.  Sweaty.

Such a welcome sight to see at The Bakery.
I am so done with masks, and yes, I'm fully vaccinated.

Sunday:  10

Between excessive heat and an unusual Sunday that I had to work for a Disaster Recovery drill, set my alarm early for 6am to get out there.  Ran with Brady on Yawgoog and Green Falls trails.  One added advantage of the early hour was that were almost no humans out there!

Weekly mileage:  44 run, 3 hike

Weekly synopsis:  

• Running-wise, pretty good.  I'm still off my arbitrary goal of 55 mpw, but not by too much.
• Work-wise, terrible.  When you're literally losing sleep over work and personnel issues, something is wrong.
• Health-wise, encouraging.  For the second straight week, a lot of progress is being seen, and my wound care attendants feel that my running and active lifestyle plays a role.
• Family-wise, while Mark has now returned to Florida, it was great to get in some in-person time with the whole family this week.

Weekly highlight:  Having the whole family together for a hike in NH.

Weekly lowlight:  Stressful work issues.  I need to do better about not letting issues both me.

Weekly Log 10-May to 16-May-2021: Epithelialization

Monday:  0

No exercise today, which was just as well given that 1) I'm still sore from Shad Bloom 2 days ago, and 2) Mark came home for a 10-day visit, before starting his first full-time job.  After getting his MS in Marine Biology from Texas A&M, he received two offers, one for a Fisheries Observer in Point Judith, RI and the other for a Biologist Scientist with Florida Fish & Wildlife.  While I was hopeful he'd accept the former, that's only for selfish reasons and I understand his reasonings for the job preference on the latter.

Tuesday:  8

My Tuesday morning routine used to be going to CCC (30 minutes coffee hour, 2 hours working or leading task du jour).  That is on pause for a while, as my Tuesday mornings are now spent with my new friends at the Westerly Hospital Wound Care Center.

The word of the day week is "epithelialization".  This term refers to the most important part of the wound healing process, where cells start to migrate upwards and repair the wound.  Yay!  Today is three weeks out from my second surgery, and is the first day that has shown progress.  The amount of slough and dead tissue is reduced, which is a prerequisite to wound healing, and while the dimensions of the wound have not yet shrunk, the edges of the wound are starting to heal.  I think the medical staff was more excited than I was, and I was excited that they were excited to see this!

Today's session was shorter and much less painful, so since I had blocked off the morning for recovery, I popped a couple of Vitamin I tablets and took Brady to Burlingame for a loop on the VG Trail.  Sunny, warm, singlet, and renewed optimism in my thoughts all contributed to a great run!

Wednesday:  5

Post-work run at Grills, with Brady.  After a stressful day, I was especially thrilled not to see anyone else parked in the lot or in the preserve at all.  Not being selfish (or am I?), but I just needed some down time.

Thursday:  0

Tough, stressful day at work, followed by a family dinner, and then WTAC final board meeting before September.  Unfortunately did not have a window for running today.

This bathroom door label made me chuckle.
(Mangos Pizza, Mystic)
Fortunately I did not encounter any triceratops (?)
inside the bathroom.

Friday:  5

Post-work run from the house.  Why I thought it would be a good idea to run on Tank Road at 5pm on a warm sunny Friday was beyond me.  Cars driving very fast and I had to constantly pull Brady's leash very tight so he was almost up against me.  So glad to get off the road and run grass fields (recently WLT mowed a perimeter trail!) at WFP and trails at Champlin.

Saturday:  10

Burlingame loop with Brady.  Now that it's mid-May, I guess I need to get started a little earlier.  It was 58° at the start, which isn't bad, but unfortunately 70° when we finished and I sure haven't acclimatized.  Stopped at rivers, streams, and Watchaug Pond when we could, but some of the streams will dry up soon.

Sunday:  16

Soapstone Mountain 24K.  Separate write-up to follow soon.

Weekly mileage:  44

Weekly synopsis:  A pretty good running week overall.  Mileage is starting to come back, and if it weren't for other commitments, would have been the first 50+ week in a while.  Next week!

Weekly highlight:  Evidence of wound healing!  I was getting impatient.

Weekly lowlight:  Soapstone Mountain 24K.  Nothing at all against the race, but I wasn't sufficiently prepared and I suffered.

Shad Bloom 2021

New Shoreham (Block Island), RI

Saturday, May 8, 2021

This was my 5th time registered for Shad Bloom, although only my 3rd time running it:

• 2013:  Debut run.  41:50 in pouring rain, and with jetlag after arriving the night before from India.
• 2017:  Shaved a lot of time off, in better conditions.  39:30.
• 2018:  DNS.  Car issues.
• 2019:  DNS.  Moron issues.  Missed the ferry.
• 2021:  And this is where we'll pick up this blog post ...

There were a scad of WTAC runners coming over to the island this year.  In fact, more than 15!  This was really encouraging, and when added to Matthew letting me know he'd be making a trip south to run his inaugural Shad Bloom, I was pretty excited about this.  

The race start is an odd time from both a transportation and eating perspective.  Taking them in order, you had ferry choices of either 9am or 11am, against a 1pm race start.  Add an hour in ferry transit, plus time to walk from the ferry to the race start (no buses this year due to COVID) and check-in, you either had 2.5 hours or 30 minutes available before the starting gun.  There was no Goldilocks option.  With fueling, you're obviously not going to eat lunch an hour before the start.  I had a turkey pesto sandwich at 11am, so I ended up cutting both the arrival time and eating time a tad too close for comfort.

Warm-up:  Went out a 2-mile OAB on dirt road start, with Matthew and Dave Goodrich.  Had wanted to run some of the trail, but missed the trail cutoff completely.  We got back with 10 minutes to the start, and unfortunately I had unnecessarily and inadvertently added angst to Matthew's start by placing his race shoes in the "WTAC support vehicle", which had since departed.  Fortunately, with a cell phone call, we were able to get the vehicle and his shoes back to the starting line just in the nick of time.

The start:  This year the starting line was moved from one side of the Block Island School, to around the corner, ostensibly due to COVID.  I don't really know what that means; maybe COVID is more prevalent on the east side of buildings on Block Island (original start) than south side (where we actually started)?  Anyhow, my own minor moments of angst were 1) when told one minute before the start that we needed to have on masks to start the race; that's not happening as my mask is packed away in my bag in a car, and 2) at the start, they told us runners would go every 5 seconds, but they said "Go" "Go" in rapid succession (2 seconds apart?) for the first four runners, and then stopped saying anything.  I was fifth in line; do I wait for a command?  I just went, and fortunately nobody said anything to me about my lack of mask wearing nor just taking off without any command.

Milling about before the start.

Most of today's WTAC field

The dirt road:  This was uncomfortably fast from the get go.  I didn't so much set the pace as I followed Dave out and stayed just behind him for the approximately two miles of dirt road.  I could hear Nick just behind me, and we stayed in this formation for 2 miles.  I could see Matthew take the lead early on from eventual 2nd place Adrian Massie and 3rd place Steve Brightman.  I never saw Matthew again for the duration of the race, whereas I could occasionally see the latter two on longer straight sections of road.

Mile 1 was my fastest in 3 efforts, and looking back now,
I went out too fast.

Rodman Hollow trails:  The next two miles was trails on undulating hills, utilizing a mix of grass and gravel  I was glad to be done with the roads, and confidently expecting this is where I would start to make moves and have an advantage.  My confidence was misplaced, as this was not be.  After a 1/2 mile or so, I wouldn't see Dave again until the finish, and Nick caught right up to me and we ran side-by-side for a while, before he passed me about Mile 3.  One measure I like to take during a race where someone is staying with me is which one is breather harder, me or my competitor?  Advantage: Nick.

Just before the descent into Rodman Hollow, I repassed Nick, but we were really never more than feet apart from each other.  As I was running up "The Wall" out of the hollow, I thought I stopped hearing Nick's footsteps as prominently, as wasn't sure if he had dropped back a bit, or was power-hiking, or both.  This should have been my opportunity to open up and put some distance on Nick, but that wasn't to be either.  I was just gassed with little strength left.

Slightly faster uphill climb on "The Wall" than 2013,
but this section overall was tied for my slowest ever.

Fresh Swamp and finish:  Final mile.  One mile to go.  My legs were feeling wobbly, and as I tried to climb that awkward stepladder thing going up and over a stone wall, I crashed into the stepladder instead.  Whatever small advantage I had had coming out of Rodman Hollow was gone.  Nick had once again caught right up to me.  To add insult to injury, there was one final climb that I had totally forgotten about, and it just did me in.  My focus now was just on getting to the finish line.  I was done.  I continued to slow, and when I exited onto the road, I had nothing in me for a chase and wished Nick a strong finish as he passed me for the final time.

My final mile was the slowest of all three of my races,
and it felt it as I just tried to hold on.

Trailing by Nick at the finish,
by 6 seconds net time

Glad to be done

Final results:  40:49 (chip time), 7th out of 158 overall, 1st out of 12 in age group.  Full results here.

Westerly Sun article here.

In Tommy 5K fashion, what went well:

• Well, I actually showed up.  Yeah, that's a pretty low bar, but I was only 50/50 going into the four previous times I had signed up for this race.
• This was possibly my first time ever racing with a hat, and I was afraid it would be a distraction as I don't like to change anything up on race day, but once I got going, I completely forgot it was even there.  (Since every run will have to be with a hat for a long time, I'll need to buy some more of these lightweight tech caps.)
• I had great competition (Dave and Nick) to push me along; otherwise I'm certain my finishing time would have been slower.
• I held in there and gritted it out when so many times I just wanted to slow down (even more).
• A shoutout to all the WTAC runners that came out and ran, and an extra kudo to those who went home with an age group win (Dave, Nick, me, Paul Collette, and Erin 2nd female overall).
• Pretty cool to see Matthew take the overall win, plus possibly the course record.
• Fun time getting together with some of the WTAC clan for a late post-race lunch on Block Island, before taking the ferry back.

What could be improved:

• I went out too fast, plain and simple.  Yeah, I was kind of being pulled along trying to keep up with Dave on the roads, but it contributed to my fatigue later on.
• I felt out of shape and had a tough time running the trails, which I shouldn't have to that extent.  Sure, I can blame some of that on ten consecutive days off recently for surgery/recovery, but I own that one to get back in better endurance form.

Weekly Log 3-May to 9-May-2021

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• I have a serious case of wanderlust.  I feel like I've been locked up in a cabin for a year (I know, not exactly), and am anxious for some type of summer trip.  I keep tabs on which borders are opening to Americans (not many) and which states are open for travel (most).  
• I am really bummed about the Blessing decision to hold this summer's race as virtual again.  It's been an annual rite for me for 18 years, and while there is a clause "If an in person event is able to take place we will notify all participants and advise.", the reality is they could hold an in-person event if they wanted to, as Providence Marathon had 1,000 in-person participants last weekend and RI outdoor event caps expire completely on May 28th.  We'll see.
• I got invited to an HR meeting next week to discuss the potential for returning in-person to work starting June 1st.  After working from home for 14 months, I am in no hurry for that to happen.  (The irony is not lost on me in that I want to have my cake and eat it too; specifically I want all races to return to in-person, but I don't want to go into work in-person myself!)

Monday:  0 run, 1 walk

Normal Monday off, with a post-work walk in the neighborhood.

Tuesday:  0

Woke up to rain, and deferred a potential run to the afternoon.  But a mid-afternoon session at Westerly Hospital's Wound Care Center left me in a fair amount of pain, and I took Vitamin I and crashed on the couch instead.  Today is two weeks to the day from my second head surgery.  I was hoping for some solid progress on the wound healing, but none yet.  I was told this is normal at this early stage.  OK, patience, patience.

Wednesday:  6

Rainy Grills run from Hopkinton side.  I pushed the uphills and downhills as best I could, and ran the flats easy.

Early in the run, I was crossing a river (Tomaquag Brook) via a wooden bridge, when I heard a splash behind me and then nothing.  OK, I figured Brady jumped into the river, jumped back out, and will soon be sprinting to catch up to me.  Nope.  Continued on.  Nothing.  Turned around and looked.  Brady is nowhere to be seen.  Called him (he always comes).  Nothing.  Uh oh.

Turned around on the bridge and hurriedly started running back to the other side.  Panicked thoughts arose, such as did he get trapped in brush in the water?, is he drowning?  Fortunately after just a few more seconds I saw him.  He was UNDER the long bridge span, swimming, as he opted to swim across the river instead of taking the bridge.  This was a first!  My mood changed from desperation to amusement, as I literally laughed out loud.  I'm guessing these are the kinds of moments that my wound care medical staff recommended I have a dog accompany me for healing powers.

Thursday:  8

Woody Hill late afternoon run with Brady.  Took it easy on mostly easy trails, but yet had some sort of rock hard feeling in my calf.  Not painful, just awkward.  Hopefully nothing.

Lots of mountain bikers out there today.  A few by themselves, but most were in long lines of riders.  All were polite and friendly and most pulled off the trail for me, which was very nice.  Saw a RI NEMBA sign that said bikers should yield to hikers; I guess they expand that to include runners as well?  One rider stopped before approaching me and put on a face mask.  My initial thought was, "Didn't your hear our President say you don't need to wear a mask outdoors?", but I have to remember to each to his own.  It was much less awkward than a week ago with Nick at DuVal when a hiker upon seeing us quickly scrambled a good 15' off the trail into the woods, faced away from us, and hurriedly put on a face mask.  

Friday:  2

Avondale Preserve.  Super short shakeout.  How's that for unintended alliteration?  Brady ran ahead of me and was sniffing something crossing the trail.  A foot long snapping turtle!  Whoa, easy, boy.  Ran back to the car to get my phone to snap a picture, but by the time we got back the turtle was off the trail into some brush.

Unfortunately not a great picture by the time we returned.

Saturday:  10

Shad Bloom trail race.  Separate write-up to follow.

Sunday:  10

Acadia Management Area with Matthew and Brady.  My quads were sore from the get-go, especially on the climbs.  Probably not the best recovery route, but then again, as I found out yesterday, I have some work to do on the hills, and I'm soon coming into some big hill and mountain races.

Ran my "classic" loop, with a few modifications, including running it in the "wrong" direction (CCW).  Pretty good run.  I will need a day off tomorrow.

Weekly mileage:  37 run, 1 walk

Weekly synopsis:  I'm still not paying attention to the mileage, and as long as it continues to climb in the next few weeks, I'm fine with it.  I'm definitely feeling I lost some fitness with my downtime and recovery, and will write more about that in the Shad post, but again, a small price to pay for my overall health.

Weekly highlight:  Hands down, the Shad Bloom race.   More to come on that.

Weekly lowlight:  Again, I'm just trying to stay positive and optimistic.  No complaints.

Weekly Log 26-Apr to 2-May-2021: Run Resumption!

Miscellaneous ramblings:

• Thank you for all the kind texts, e-mails, in-person wishes, etc on my recovery.  It is much appreciated.
• In my college days, I would get excited when I saw two-seater European sports cars.  These days I get excited when a new package of medical supplies arrives.  Sad, but true.
• I put on a few [more] pounds during my forced sedentary recovery time.  And of course all of it was attributable to the lack of running.  Eating German chocolate cake and ice cream had nothing to do with it.

Monday:  2 walk

AM:  2nd session at Westerly Hospital Wound Care.  I was relieved to hear that the yellow stuff and blood leaking out of my bandaged head was normal in this early stage of my head wound healing.  (Don't worry, I won't post pictures here.)  Using a surgical blade, they scraped and removed "necrotic debris" (that sounds like a good thing to get rid of, right?!) and "slough".

The real good news is that I am cleared to start "light running" in two days!!!  Yay!  The nurse practitioner actually suggested that I bring along a dog, as dogs truly provide restorative healing.  OK, I just happen to know where I can find one.

PM:  Family walk post-work.  Charlestown Moraine Preserve with Jana and Brady.  Absolutely no one else there.  I think that was only my second visit ever.

Tuesday:   2 walk

Pre-CCC, I went over to nearby Bradford Preserve to check out the "Pumpkins Up" trail we use for 8K amidst some reported lazy trail shortcuts built.  Fortunately, I had already mentally prepared myself for this so it wasn't as bad as I had feared, and I was especially glad to see some recent trail "fortifications" (sticks and logs to keep people ON trail) made by Mr Puddin' were intact.

Today's CCC will be my last one for a while, as for the next three weeks my wound care appointments conflict.  My team's assignment was to paint virgin red blazes on the old "road" (now gradually narrowing to a single-track) leading from Wahaneeta field up to Woody Hill (and eventually to Fern Drive).

Wednesday:  7 run

The surgeon had given me the all clear to resume "light running" as of today.  Of course, light running is relative to each individual.  Making the point, in a text exchange with my friend Tommy 5K, he relayed, "Glad you are 'light running' again!  But do you know how to do that?"  No, not at all, actually!

For me, since I was in Wakefield for an appointment at a medical facility right near the South County Bike Path, I thought I would go for five miles easy on the flat surface of the bike path.  

Ran south into Narragansett and once there, figured I'd run along the beach at the Pier.  I ran an easy pace of about 8 minutes per mile, and it felt good.  I was having a great time especially on the beach and lost sight of my mileage, as I ended up running 7 miles.  A good start.  Yay!

I had a minor wound setback in the afternoon.  I won't scribe the gory details, but to be fair, I shouldn't expect a linear progression in my recovery.  As long the net progress is positive each week, I'm fine with that.

Thursday:  5

After today's wound care session, I headed to Kettle Pond visitor center to run the trails there plus Burlingame campground.  First run with Brady in almost two weeks.  He seemed to enjoy it, especially jumping in Watchaug Pond for a quick swim!  Never saw a soul out on the trails.

Friday:  5

Post-work run at Wahaneeta into Woody Hill.  With Brady (a double for him, as he ran with Jana in the morning).  There were four other dogs at Wahaneeta.  None were on leash (leashes not required on WLT properties, as long as dog under voice command), and no issues at all.  They were all fine, but where the other four just wanted to play, Brady wanted to run and sprinted off down the trail.  

Saturday:  9

WTAC Monthly Group Run.  This was our 4th to date, and my turn to select and lead a run.  Chose DuVal trail system in South Kingstown.  A group of ten showed up, with most being their first ever time here.  Ran the flagging (minimal) warm-up and run itself with Nick (and Brady).  Post-run coffee catch-up with a smaller group at The Bakery.

Before start of run at DuVal.  Mostly familiar faces, 
and good to see a few new ones.

Sunday:  9

Burlingame North with Brady.  Parked at Buckeye Brook Road and ran north.  It had been years since I had been down (up?) to the campsites along the Pawcatuck River, so we took the white single-track out to the campsites, only to find them full of people camping and just getting up to cook breakfast.  I felt like I interrupted their camping, but they were fine.  Continuing out of the campsite and onto double-track, I was sucking wind on the mere 150' hill climb.  This does not bode well for the next 3 races I'm registered for:  Shad Bloom, Soapstone Mountain, Mt. Washington.

Rolled my ankle, but didn't think much of it.  Finished a loop north of Buckeye Brook Road, and ran Sammy C's to School House to VG and then down to North Camp, where Brady went for a quick swim.  Stopped at WTAC sponsor Dave's Coffee and caught up with owner Dave for just a moment.

When I got home, it hurt to put pressure on the foot of the ankle I rolled.  Uh oh.  Ice bath of the right foot until it got too numb, then repeat.  Hopefully better after a day or two of rest.

Weekly mileage:  35 run, 4 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Mileage goals out the window in the short term, and I'm really happy I was able to return to running this week.

Weekly highlight:  Back to running in general!  Don't ever take it for granted.  As Jeff Vuono says and repeated in an e-mail to me this week, "Run While You Can"!

Weekly lowlight:  None.  Life is good.