Monday: 6
Westerly, RI. Short and intentionally very slow recovery run in Wahaneeta and Woody Hill with Brady.
Tuesday: 1 walk, 10 run
AM: Westerly, RI. CCC. Continued monitoring. Finished up Champlin Glacier Park. Snowing the whole time, with some minimal accumulation. Unfortunately at about 35°F it was really wet. Got pretty soaked and cold walking through the woods. Need to invest in some waterproof pants.
PM: Charlestown, RI. Solo. Almost bailed after CCC and came home to warm up. But changing out of my wet boots and gear and into dry running clothes, while blasting the heat, gave me a renewed interest. Ran my usual Quonnie 10-mile loop, except started from Blue Shutters this time. After lollygagging with slow 7:30-7:50 paces in the first few miles, I picked up steam and ran the last six miles averaging about 6:30 pace.
Wednesday: 11
Charlestown, RI. All with Brady.
Warm-up: Parked on Buckeye Brook. Two mile North Camp loop down to Watchaug Pond.
BPC run: Carter Preserve. I was forewarned in other BPC'ers Strava posts as to the amount of blow-downs, but it was just unbelievable. More than 50. I lost count. Many, but not all, of the downed trees were dead trees in middle of the preserve where it's just scrub bushes. Presumably many are dead from the gypsy moth defoliation a few years ago. It's a shame that happened, but also a shame that seemingly no one from The Nature Conservancy is maintaining these trails as the blow-downs have been there for quite a while. Ran in 53:52, almost a minute slower than Nick's fast recent time.
Cool-down: Went to Charlestown Moraine Preserve for a 1.5 mile cool-down. Undulating territory; was beat and hungry when finished and went to Dave's Coffee.
Thursday: 6 run, 5 walk
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| Groundhog Day. Well, Phil, if we get six weeks of real winter including a snowstorm, that will be good. But I've had enough of the January "winter" here with rain and 30s. |
Charlestown, RI. Burlingame Campground run with Brady. Temps in low 20s, which I think is pretty normal for this time of the year, but it seemed cold based solely on this very warm winter to date. Warmed up after about 2 miles.
Stonington, CT. Westerly Land Trust weekly Thursday hike series. My Mom had asked to go to this one, as she had never been to Barn Island. Temps had warmed up to mid 30s and felt nice in the bright winter sun. Big group of 21 humans and 2 canines.
Friday: 8
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| Wequetequock Cove, at end of hike. The Black Lab in Brady assures he goes into almost every body of water that he can, no matter the season or water temp. |
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| Just a beautiful day out there today at Barn Island. |
Friday: 8
Westerly, RI. After a WLT board meeting, I was originally thinking to run roads solo. But checking the temp (20°F) combined with wind (22mph sustained) gave me a change in heart, as I headed to the woods. Parked and ran from Wahaneeta on a loop into Woody Hill and back. Very windy and cold at the Woody Hill Marsh as it's wide open, but otherwise not bad. Everything warmed up except the fingertips. Humans seen on the trails: zero.
Saturday: 5
North Stonington, CT. Woke up to -6°F, the coldest temps in many years and the first time sub-zero in five years. Fortunately, there were three other crazies planning to join us for running, so that kept me engaged.
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| -3.6°F when I left home for the trail run. According to Channel 10 weather, this was the first time in five years that the temp has been below zero in RI. |
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| Four crazies out running in sub-zero weather |
Ran the Tri-town Border Patrol Challenge (my 12th of 19) and it had warmed up "all the way" to -2°F by the time Nick, Justin, Matt, and I started. I actually stayed warm the whole time, but it was at the cost of being bundled up so much (heavy waterproof shoes, thick long socks, tights and running pants, shirt and quarter-zip, balaclava, hat, and very thick gloves. Nick flew out ahead. At a switchback at the first summit, I could see him ahead of me and Justin behind me, and then I never saw either again until the finish. I ended up constantly pulling my balaclava down below my mouth to make it easier to breathe and was also having trouble with my eyelashes freezing, but as mentioned I did not get cold otherwise. I was very slow out there as I knew I would be, so not disappointed, and also reminded myself if I finish all 19 and still have time left over, I can also go for a re-do if I want.
Finished in 50:24, more than ten minutes slower than I ran this route two years ago in 39:49.
Met Justin and Matt afterwards at Little Man's Diner in North Stonington for hot coffee and an egg sandwich. Very enjoyable.
Sunday: 6 run, 2 walk
Westerly, RI. Easy run at Grills Preserve with Brady. Ran the 10K race course. Saw one other trail runner out there, also with his dog.
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| It's been years since I saw the Pawcatuck River frozen over! |
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| There was only one flooded section of trail (on the yellow trail). The advantage of it being frozen today was that Brady and I just walked over it and continued on! |
Post-run, we went to WLT's annual Souper Bowl hike at Wahaneeta, a short hike around the preserve followed by sampling five homemade soups.
Weekly mileage: 52 run, 8 walk
Weekly synopsis: First, regarding the Border Patrol Challenge, I've now completed 12 out of 19. So I have seven runs remaining with six weeks left in the challenge. Many weeks I've run two challenges, but three of the six remaining weeks I have a race so those weeks will single-BPC weeks. I don't have the endurance of BQ to be able to run 3 in a day (!) but the math still works out if I still to the plan.
Now to this specific week, it wasn't the best with mileage dropping off and a really slow BPC in the freezing cold, not to mention no long run, but it wasn't terrible either. Let's just get back at it next week, with goals for the week of one BPC, one long run, and a good performance at the USATF-NE 5K Championships.
Weekly highlight: 10-mile Quonnie run.
Weekly lowlight: Tri-town BPC run. Nice preserve and nice trails, and always fun to run with the guys. Just a predictably very slow time all bundled up in the frigid weather.
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