Monday: 10
AM: Stonington, CT. 1.5 miles with Brady at SHS, checking out the previously overgrown section of the course where we're hosting a run this Wednesday. Looks good! 2 DFKs.
AM: Exeter, RI. We met Matthew at Midway parking lot on Route 165 for another 8-miles. Mix of trails and dirt roads inside Arcadia. I know the trails better, and Matthew knows the roads better, so between the two of us we got it done.
Tuesday: 12
Charlestown, RI. My turn to plan out the run. I was looking for a 12-13 road run today, and I really like running the Quonnie roads, so we went to West Beach lot (free) and started from there, running my regular Quonnie route of about 7 miles, plus added a section north of Route 1 by running Klondike up and 216 back.
This was my first run on my 3rd (and probably final) pair of NB Rebel 2. As I mentioned before, I just love these shoes. Comfortable right out of the box, lightweight, and springy. Unfortunately, they have a major flaw in the upper material prematurely separating from the midsole. This is a known issue that NB is looking to fix in the Rebel 3, which is due out any day. In the meantime, I bought my last two Rebel 2 pairs for $62 per pair ($130 retail) and the last pair made it to 290 miles before end of life, so not terrible.
Despite temps being in upper 70s during our run, I felt great. To be fair, the humidity was only about 65% so the weather was much better than of late. With two miles to go, Matthew said if I wanted to run faster I should go for it, and I was feeling good so I picked it up to close in 6:15 and 5:42.
Wednesday: 8
AM: Westerly, RI. 3 miles at Bradford Preserve, with Brady, mapping out requested course options for Westerly Middle School XC home meets, while no longer utilizing the portion of trail under the current wetlands violations restrictions.
PM: Stonington, CT. Stonington XC Fun Run, including course marking, warm-up, and running the race itself. Brief recap of my own race:
Mile 1: The first 500 meters is on the track. Went through the start/finish (400m) in 75 seconds, which is an unsustainable pace for me at about 5-flat, but I stuck it out with the pack. There are a few grass sections during the rest of the first mile to slow down the pace a bit, but the first mile also has the most road sections, and here the lead pack continued at a very fast pace for me, and I got passed here by a guy in a Bridgewater State singlet, and the five now ahead of me only increased their gap on me. Mile split 5:51.
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| Just 100 meters into the race, as Matthew leads from the start (Pics by Jana) |
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| 2nd lap around the track: I'm struggling to stay relevant here, as I'm in 5th place and I will soon be passed by the guy in the red Bridgewater singlet |
Mile 2: This mile is almost entirely trail. The course has more trail this year and less field, due to incorporating the brand new red trail at the request of Stonington Rec. This was the right move, as it eliminated both a run around a soccer field always in use as well as more importantly removing the only 2-way traffic section. The cost to pay is that the new trail (and by extension the new course) is slower as there is additional trail and that trail being newly cut is rougher, as well as has a few mildly technical sections. I would say that it's slower for everyone, which is true, but apparently favored me, as on the trails I went from 6th position to 2nd. Early on in the trails Nick sensed me coming up on him (probably by the loud breathing) and graciously moved to the side and pointed for me to go by. One down. Immediately ahead of Nick was the red singlet Bridgewater guy. He didn't seem like he'd be letting me pass of his own volition, and this was pretty tight single-track, but I soon saw an opportunity and took it: just ahead there were two decent size rocks on the right hand side of the trail. Correctly deducing that he would take the flat surface to the left of the rocks, I sped up, jumped onto the rocks and quickly vaulted off the rocks back onto the trail in front of him. It worked! Two down. Ran as an island until towards the end of the red trail, when I came up on Dave and just said, "On your left!" and went by. I almost fell as I went by! Dave is just such a nice guy that he apologized, but the truth is it was all on me rounding a corner poorly. Three down. Red trail ended, and we re-enter the trail with the short but steep hill with a caution sign. From here on out, the course would remain the same as last year. Accordingly, we were soon on much wider trail. I could see Jonny E in near distance, and gradually caught up to him before passing him at the end of the trail. Mile split 7:16.
Mile 3: The final mile is back to being fast. There is a very short section of road, a short section of trail, and the rest is grass and track. As I start to approach the section going around the pond, I see Matthew at the opposite end of the pond. He is solidly ahead of me, but I'm just surprised to see him at all. I remind myself that I passed the four guys during the trail section, and any one of them or all could re-pass me now. That kept me pushing hard, as I feared someone coming up on me, but wasn't going to waste any valuable time looking back. The mile was a hard effort for me but I managed to fend off my competitors, as I finished 15 seconds ahead of Jonny. (I was over a minute behind Matthew who won in 18:27.
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| 400 meters to go. Pushing hard to stay ahead of Jonny. |
Final result: 19:31, 2nd of 46 finishers. Results here.
Thursday: 10
Westerly, RI. Low tide beach run with Brady. This was actually my first time running barefoot the full 10-mile stretch (Weekapaug Breachway to East Beach, Watch Hill, OAB). And it's mid-August now. Finished with an obligatory swim in the ocean. Very refreshing.
Friday: 9
Charlestown, RI. Rhody reverse loop with Brady, plus tacked on North Camp with a swim in the middle. So surprised to see so much traffic on the local Charlestown roads on a Friday morning. Some of it looked like it was for Camp Watchaug. Glad we got that road mile out of the way first! Additional swim at boat ramp when we finished. Unfortunately, there were two young girls that seemed very afraid of Brady. I get that some people don't like dogs and/or have had bad experiences, so I kept him on a leash until we got to the dock, but I wasn't about to put him on a leash in the water jumping off the dock and swimming! Sorry, girls. Their Mom seemed totally fine with Brady and did her best to tell the girls that Brady was fine.
Saturday: 20
Charlestown, RI. Parked at The Bakery, and mapped out kind of a double-lollipop: head west with a small loop in Arnolda/Ninigret (8 miles round-trip) and then head east with a small loop in Matunuck Beach section of SK (some of same roads on Run 4 Kerri, but skipping neighborhood).
The run went surprisingly well, especially given humidity north of 90%. I wore one of the lightest singlets I own, but still very early could feel the dampness and about four miles in I my singlet was just soaked. Fortunately, the course gave me an opportunity to return to the car 8 miles in and by then I was feeling dehydrated, so a good time to stop, lose the singlet, and get a gel and water.
I saw a few people in Ninigret Park, was surprised on way out to Matunuck to see so many walkers, runners, and riders on Matunuck Schoolhouse Road. All the walkers and runners said hello, and in keeping true with Mikey B's biker theory, less than half the riders waved or nodded. I want to be fair in that the ones that did wave and/or nod were exemplary, as one even deliberately rode into traffic in front of a car just to make sure that I had plenty of unobstructed room to run.
I feared getting tired and having issues on the way back in the humidity. As I reached Mile 15, by now my shorts and even my socks were drenched. But I trucked on and at a sub-6:45 pace at that. When I finished up 20 at The Bakery, I was conscious that I was a disgusting sweaty mess in line at The Bakery. The owner said it must have been a tough run out there, and as a former WTAC runner himself, I doubt he minded my condition.
I was quite dehydrated by now. Quickly downed an iced latte, a cranberry juice, a scone, and most of the water I had with me before the short drive to Watchaug Pond to jump in and soak. Not my kind of weather, but I got it done! 6:42 average pace for 20 miles.
Sunday: 7
West Greenwich, RI. One mile dirt road, six miles trails. Slept in and drove to Stepstone Falls, as I thought that would be a good place to take a dip at the end of the run and maybe even try the rope swing. I just feared there would be too many people on a lazy summer Sunday morning. Wrong on all accounts. The good news is that very few people were there, but the bad news outweighed the good, as the falls were completely dried up. There was a pool of water where the rope swing was, but it was about a foot deep at most. Yeah, this isn't going to work.
Ran down the Ben Utter Trail, and at the base of the trail, there were at least a few pockets of moving water deep enough for Brady to lie down in and cool off. Ran Breakheart -> Shelter -> Plain Road, where we once again to took a short break for Brady to hydrate and cool over in the river. On Plain Road, I waved to the only biker I saw, who scowled back at me and then looked away. I have no idea what was up with that. Went back via the unnamed (?) trail just west of and parallel to Ben Utter Trail.
Deprived of my own dip (and Brady's) at the falls, I stopped at the check station on Route 165 on the way back. The Wood River there was very low, but fortunately there was a decent length of a 4' deep section, deep enough and long enough for me to dive under and swim some strokes. Cool and very refreshing!
Weekly mileage: 76!
Weekly synopsis: Highest mileage week since Christmas 2018, so certainly quite happy with that. Also happy to get a 20-miler in. Eight weeks 'til fall marathon.
Weekly highlight: Completing the 20-mile training run in average 6:42 pace in spite of horrible humidity.
Weekly lowlight: Not mixing in any biking or swimming, but clearly the fall marathon is my goal, and triathlons are just a fun distraction for me.
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