Monday: 3
Short and easy mid-afternoon run between meetings. With Brady at Woody Hill. After final work meeting, closed out the afternoon with a swim with Brady at a neighbor's pool. Likely my first and last outdoor pool swim of the year.
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| Did a tornado hit our backyard? No, it was time for our 23 year old roof to be replaced. |
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| Eight sheets of plywood had to be replaced as well, all north facing where there was mildew. Glad that was caught and is gone, and we now have three vents to improve air flow. --- I've been on my Mom's roof a number of times to clean gutters and her chimney, but I've never set foot on my own roof as it's too high and steep for me. Seeing the workers here attached with ropes reinforces that I'll never set foot in the future either! |
In the evening, fellow WTAC member Nick and I attended a Hopkinton Land Trust meeting at their request to answer questions about our proposed Grills Trail Race on October 30. After a few questions, they voted unanimously to approve use of trails at Hopkinton's Grills Wildlife Sanctuary for our race. Yes!
Tuesday: 10 run, 2 walk
Barefoot beach run with Brady at sunrise. Brilliant orange sunrise over the waves would have made for a great pic for sure. Strong headwind out to Watch Hill made for a slow going with pace in the mid-9s. What kept me going was looking forward to the return tailwind. With the same approximate effort, my mid-9s pace in the headwind became mid-7s in the tailwind! That's quite a difference.
Upon finishing back at Weekapaug Breachway, I enjoyed the still warm 69° ocean water. The only downside is it was really choppy and Brady was having a tough time. Each time a wave would come in, he would try to jump up a bit to get over the wave, but to little effect as the waves were crashing over him and dragging him back in. He stayed out in the water with me, so kudos for perseverance, but I didn't stay there long and we swam back to the shore.
Besides, time was tight before heading to this week's Tuesday CCC session. I got a team of four assigned to my self-requested task of trimming the overgrowth on the sides of the dirt road leading to Moorhouse Preserve (parking for Wahaneeta 5K) and then trimming the orange trail at Wahaneeta in preparation for the race.
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| From our crew this morning. Nice publicity on WLT's IG. |
Wednesday: 1
Had an early morning appointment with the roofing company owner to go over the now completed job and finalize payment. That's all good, but I lost my morning run window, and then spent the full work day chock full of staff and other meetings.
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| Leaving aside the whole mask issue, I have gotten very used to working from home and hope I never have to attend another in-person work meeting of any kind. (Not sure if that's realistic, but one can hope.) |
Had a short window in the evening where I got out to Wahaneeta to take care of some minor final course issues. I thought Brady might get bored while I worked on the final river crossing, but au contraire, he entertained himself running up and down the river and fishing out sticks. The downside is I finished up my self-imposed work, and now ready for a short run, realized it was getting dark quick. Oh, well. The accomplishment felt good.
In the Captain Obvious department (except not obvious to me!), I found the buttons on my Fenix 5 watch today to be sticky and difficult to operate at all. I couldn't change modes or would go to modes that I didn't intend, and fretted that the watch would need to go in for warranty work. Only back home at night did I have an epiphany: I had the watch in the ocean yesterday during a post-run swim. Apparently the buttons on the Fenix 5 are especially sensitive to salt. From Garmin: "Thoroughly rinse the device with fresh water after exposure to chlorine, salt water, sunscreen, cosmetics, alcohol, or other harsh chemicals. Prolonged exposure to these substances can damage the case." Gave the watch a bath in a sink full of warm fresh water, and then rinsed it off. Voila! Problem solved!
Thursday: 20!
Now this was a great run! 53°F at start of run. Some research studies have found that the optimal temperature range for most groups of marathon runners is between 44°F and 59°F (source). Obviously, everyone is slightly different, and I'm likely on the cooler end, but today's temp for a change was right in the sweet spot.
Felt very comfortable on today's run, most likely due to the weather. Following the maxim that you should dress like the weather is 20° warmer than actual temp, I ran in short shorts and a singlet and felt just fine. I had loosely self targeted that I wanted to run about 7-flat pace, but felt really good out there and the only two miles that were not sub-7 were Mile 1 (always slower; validating the need for warming up in races) and Mile 19 (not because I was fatigued, but because there was a 100' hill climb). In fact, the only mile that I pushed it was Mile 20 (6:16 average pace) and I still ended up with an average overall pace on this run of 6:46. Super happy with today's run!
Friday: 8
Late afternoon reverse Rhody course run with Brady. Temps about 64° with humidity less than 50% felt stellar. Calves a little tight from yesterday's long run, but otherwise felt good. Finished out the run with a jump off the docks into Watchaug Pond. Water felt warm for the first day of October.
Saturday: 10
A slightly shortened version of my classic loop at Arcadia. I was happy Nick was able to make this, and of course, Brady is almost always game. Another amazing weather day, with today's temps in upper 40s at start of run and warming up into the 50s during the run. Easy, conversational pace, and the run went by really quickly. Saw one hunter and a few hikers, but we'd go for miles in between seeing anyone. Just the way I like it!
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| Is sushi good pre-race food? Not sure, but it's certainly healthy and this one was delicious! |
Sunday: 6
Wahaneeta 5K Trail Race. Race recap to follow.
Weekly mileage: 58
Weekly synopsis: I hit my mileage goal, but it was a struggle. Wednesday I only got a solitary single mile in, and while I got out for a great 20-miler on Thursday, the hardest part was getting out the door and I almost talked myself out of it as imaginary excuses nearly prevailed.
Weekly highlight: Hmm. Clearly the two highlights are the 20-mile training run and Wahaneeta 5K. I'll write about Wahaneeta separately, but I'm going to go with the 20-miler. I performed some quick historical analysis looking at runs >= 20 miles and <=23 miles (to exclude marathon races themselves), and found this to be my fastest 20+ training run ever! Also, this was my first sub-7 pace 20+ training run in four years.
Weekly lowlight: Struggling to get out there.
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