Monday: 5
Westerly, RI. Easy run at Grills with Brady.
Tuesday: 1 walk, 7 run
AM: Westerly, RI. CCC. Using a bladed weedwhacker, maintained the newest trail at Grills, just east of Big Hill.
PM: Exeter, RI. Late afternoon with Brady in Arcadia. Parked at Frosty Hollow and ran a loop going NW on Shelter Trail, and back via Breakheart Trail.
Wednesday: 17
Milton, MA. 3,400' elevation gain. Blue Hills Reservation with Matthew and Brady, with much on the famed Skyline Trail. We started at the Trailside Museum parking lot on Route 138, in very comfortable 50°F weather. En route to Blue Hills, sitting in traffic on I-95 North on a weekday morning reminded me of my once-weekly commutes to Wellesley, MA, and back in my Fidelity days, my once-weekly commutes to Merrimack, NH. I enjoyed working in Wellesley and Merrimack, but most certainly did not enjoy the drives.
Anyway, back to the run, I'll just a hit a few highlights. Put some ice cubes and one liter of water into my pack, along with three gels, two granola bars, and some trail mix, plus Brady's collapsible water bowl. We started off right away with the steepest climb of the day: 300' up Blue Hill with a quarter-mile section at 29% grade. I ran this entire section, which may not have been the smartest as it used a lot of energy. We then had a couple of much easier miles as we ran past Houghton's Pond.
The most technical climb of the day was in Mile 6. It wasn't the steepest and only 100' elevation gain, but it sure was rocky! We had another climb in Mile 8, where we stopped at the summit to get some food and drink, and then had three easy miles and flat miles. We saw more people and dogs at the eastern end of the park, where we turned around, and not surprisingly almost no one in the middle miles furthest away from parking lots.
 |
| Very technical climb, Mile 6. |
 |
| Break for food and water, mile 8. |
 |
| Brady found one of the few streams along the way, and smartly immersed himself. |
It was on the way back that things started to fall apart for me. We had a 400' climb at Mile 11, and that was the first of four remaining 200+' climbs. At about Mile 15, I just totally bonked and laid down on rocks. And we still had two more miles and two more climbs to go. And I just ran out of water. The last couple of miles were not enjoyable for me, but the rest of the run was interesting and mostly fun. Back at the car, had plenty of water and Powerade. Brady quickly downed 1/2 liter of water. I didn't have any hydration issues (unlike Providence), but I mostly felt bad that I didn't bring enough water for Brady. Time to get some food to fuel back up, as we headed towards home.
Thursday: 4
Richmond, RI. After visiting my Mom, went to nearby Grass Pond Preserve just off Beaver River Road. This is a joint DEM / Nature Conservancy 430 acre property. These trails did not exist when I lived here in the 70s and 80s. Easy run with Brady exploring the trails. Place was near deserted; just saw one woman walking her dog as we were finishing up.
Friday: 5
Charlestown, RI. Ninigret Park with Brady. A little bit of soreness today, but not yesterday, from Wednesday's adventure. I guess that's what they mean by "Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness".
Saturday: 5
Manchester, CT. Spring Street Mile, including warm-up and cool-down. Separate write-up has been posted.
 |
| Cool down on nearby Case Mountain Trails. |
 |
| First sighting of mountain laurel in bloom |
 |
| At Case Mountain parking lot off Spring Street |
Sunday: 13
Amherst, MA. 3,700' elevation gain. Holyoke range run with Brady and Matthew. We originally had planned out a 16-18 mile run, but the reality was that my legs hadn't fully recovered from Wednesday's run, and this would have been miserable for me. Did OK until about 9 miles in, then started planning my exit strategy. I was lagging way behind on the hill climbs.
 |
| Nice views along the way on the western section |
 |
| Yes, this is the trail! Brady did need some help on this section going up (behind him). |
 |
| At the Summit House. Unfortunately there was an auto road here, and then with it, lots of people. |
We got back to the car at about 10 miles, refueled, and Matthew pointed out a 5K shortened second loop option that included Mt Norwottuck and Horse Caves. I figured I could make it another 5K without too much suffering. I ended up walking much of Mt Norwottuck, saw Matthew briefly at the top, and then he went ahead and Brady stayed with me. Fortunately, unlike Blue Hills, the last two miles were mostly flat and runnable and I didn't completely bonk. Good run overall. Slightly less technical than the Blue Hills run, but with longer climbs. Overall more enjoyable, with the exception of the rutted out climb up Mt Hitchcock.
 |
| This is the Horse Caves, with the trail going downhill between the two boulders. Had to precariously carry Brady on two sections here. |
 |
| Trail intersections were very well marked! |
Weekly mileage: 57 run, 1 walk
Weekly synopsis: Big hill / mountain training week, with just under 10,000 of vertical gain. Also ran the Spring Street Mile, which will be my last road race for two months (until Blessing) as focus is now on trail running and build-up to my 50K.
Weekly highlight: Holyoke Range run. Just enough to push myself and be challenging, without bonking like I did at Blue Hills.
Weekly lowlight: Grass Pond Preserve run. Not a huge deal, and glad I explored it, but the place is a bit overgrown, and several trails seemingly go nowhere and suddenly end or disappear.
No comments:
Post a Comment