Weekly Log 28-Aug to 3-Sep-2023: Labor Day weekend

Monday:  20

Westerly, RI.  I had planned a long run yesterday, with hitting the road at 6am in order to make scheduled breakfast that we had reservations for 9:30am on Mark's last vacation day here in RI.  About 8am, Jana cheekily asked me, "How did your run go?".  Yeah, not too well.  I'm just not an early morning runner.

But today I made good by redeeming that run on a day that I could start at 8am.  Loop from the house going through Weekapaug, Misquamicut, Watch Hill, Avondale, and back through Winnapaug.  Water and GU break at Weekapaug, pee break at Misquamicut State Beach, and an iced coffee break in Watch Hill.  Last two miles I was fading, but good run overall at low 7s pace.

Tuesday:  8

AM:  Groton, CT.  3 miles.  Final Brew Run planning meeting, and final run of the new course for this year.  Made mental notes during my run as to where to place course signs.  Looking forward to this race, and happy that registration in this 3rd year is the highest it's ever been at this point, with 11 days to go.

PM:  Hopkinton, RI.  5 mile.  First time back to Yawgoog trails in quite a while.  With Boy Scout summer camp season over now, I could make the loop and continue on the east side of Yawgoog Pond right through the camp.  Absolutely no one was there.  The numerous rocks on this technical run were wet and slippery, but that didn't faze my VJ shoes in any way and I was happy to run aggressively on the wet and slippery rocks.

Wednesday:  6

South Kingstown, RI.  Very humid run with Brady at Duval.  Looking forward to fall.

Thursday:  10 run, 0.5 swim

Exeter, RI.  Nice loop with Brady.  Final day of August.  

Charlestown, RI.  Just one OAB between buoys at Watchaug Pond, due to choppy waters.

Friday:  26 ride, 1 run

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Slept in ahead of a busy and long day, and deferred my planned long ride out until next week.  Rode routes I've done before, but really felt like I was struggling today.  Wind was out of the NE, so I was riding into the wind headed east on Atlantic Ave and north on Dunns Corner Bradford Road, but the wind was only about 10mph, so that can't explain all of it.  Worried how I can possibly get through 112 miles in two weeks, but there will be no need for speed there and I can take as any breaks as I want.

PM:  Charlestown, RI.  Short dash and splash with Brady at Burlingame.  Repeated jumps off the dock and swimming after the frisbee!

Saturday:  10

Westerly, RI.  "WTAC Group" run with Nick and Brady.  Third year of having a group run on the beach.  Two years ago we had 12 runners, last year 6, and this year 3.  It's an early start at 6:30am before beach goers get out there, but it was the last two years as well.  Oh well, people are busy and it's Labor Day weekend, and I had a great run catching up with Nick (Brady didn't talk much).  As Nick mentioned at the end in the ocean, "this is the best part!".  The ocean actually felt pretty warm, and certainly much warmer than the Wood River earlier this week, but always enjoyable.

Sunday:  5

Charlestown, RI.  Easy run with Brady from Burlingame boat launch on a pretty usual route for me in Burlingame South.  Post-run dip in the pond.

Weekly mileage:  61 run, 27 ride, 0.5 swim

Weekly synopsis:   Good run mileage week, including a long run.  Should have been training more on bike and swim with Ironman two weeks out, but it is what it is.  Is that a stupid expression, or what?  Anyway, the point is I know I should be spending more time swimming and even more riding, but I always favor what I enjoy the most (running) and my IM is only about finishing, not about any specific time.

Weekly highlight:  Getting in a 20-miler.

Weekly lowlight:  Only that I'm not training enough on the bike and swim, which I've addressed above.

Weekly Log 21-Aug to 27-Aug-2023

Monday:  12

Exeter, RI.  First day back from cross-country trip.  Ran my "classic loop" with Brady at Arcadia, with several stream stops, a dunk in Breakheart Brook, and a swim and soak in Wood River at the check station upon completion.  Other than pesky deerflies (11 DFKs), this was a really nice run.

Tuesday:  0

Easy to find excuses not to run, and I have a few here I could list, but really it's poor planning on my part.

Tuesday evening was my debut as Race Director of Battle of Stonington 5K.  I made a few mistakes (like forgetting to order porta-jons until race day - YIKES), but scrambled and got them covered with runners none the wiser.  Race went off well with nothing but minor issues most people didn't even notice, but I certainly made some notes to help me improve next year.

Wednesday:  8

Charlestown, RI.  Ran VG loop with Brady, and then jumped off the docks in the usual spot.  A few deerflies trailing Brady in just a couple of places, but no DFKs today at all.  So that's something to celebrate.

Post-run fun at Watchaug Pond

Thursday:  8

Westerly, RI.  Wahaneeta / Woody run with Brady.  OK, so I found out the deerflies aren't completely gone, but at just 2 for this area, they certainly are waning.

Friday:  0

Saturday:  12

Charlestown, RI.  Humid, muddy, and buggy.  Extended VG loop with Brady from Burlingame campground.  Deerflies were just awful today, so hopefully they're making their last hurrah for the summer.  Mid-run we had light sprinkles, and since I was already drenched from the 95% humidity, I was hoping for a downpour, but it didn't come.  Jumped in the pond at North Camp Beach.  No one there but was surprised to see a person paddle by on a SUP.  They must have come a ways.

I didn't put back on my soaked singlet after getting out of the water and the deerflies were relentlessly taking advantage of that.  I couldn't wait to get out to Cool Spring Road, because I knew for the remaining three or so miles after that there would likely be zero deerflies.  Jumped off the docks with Brady for our final run break.  Good run overall; just miserable weather and bug conditions.

Sunday:  15 ride, 1 walk

AM:  Westerly, RI.  Ride through Avondale, Watch Hill, and Misquamicut, catching up with a few RWYC'ers before heading off to breakfast with my Mom and Mark before he returns to Georgia.

PM:  Westerly, RI.  Late afternoon walk at Avondale with Jana and Brady.

Weekly mileage:  39 run, 15 ride, 3 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Hot and steamy week, with low mileage.

Weekly highlight:  Classic run at Arcadia.

Weekly lowlight:  Deerflies.   Miserable creatures.

Weekly Log 14-Aug to 20-Aug-2023: Westward Ho!

Monday:  11

Charlestown, RI.  Burlingame with Brady, and my friends the deerflies.

Tuesday:  3

Westerly, RI.  Short local run with Brady before taking a train up to Boston and flying to Minneapolis to meet up with Matthew and join him for the rest of his cross-country road trip to get settled for grad school in California.  First time ever flying JetBlue, and with it came the first time ever that I had free wifi on a flight! 

Travel Day 1:
Amtrak from Westerly to Boston,
fly from Boston to Minneapolis

Just outside the hotel we stayed downtown.
Matthew had a virtual school event, so I went out
and explored.

Honestly I wasn't sure what to expect in light of the
George Floyd incidents, but I found the city to be clean,
the parks beautiful and the downtown area to
be very safe.

Originally I figured I'd just get some takeout, and then I came
across this sushi place.  The conveyor belt style reminded
me of places Jana took me to in Taiwan and with her half-sister
years ago in San Jose.

I was not disappointed with various sushi, sashimi,
and sushi roll options.  Fantastic dinner!

Wednesday:  13

Minneapolis, MN.  I've run quite a bit in Rochester, MN before, but never here.  A lot of similarities in that you can run on interconnected bike paths for miles and miles and in many places the bike path simply goes under or over busy streets so you don't need to stop and wait for traffic or a signal light.

Three sections to today's run with Matthew:

Nice scenic bike paths.  1.5 miles urban, and then 3.5 along the Mississippi River.  A lot of people out running, biking, walking, skateboarding, etc here.

Along the run today.  The mighty Mississippi on the right.
Great bike paths!

This was in a city park, "Minneapolis Chain of Lakes Park".
Took this pic as 1) it was nice to have water fountains for
people, but 2) even cooler to have dog-specific fountains!

Travel Day 2:
drive from Minneapolis, MN to Lincoln, NE

Iowa:  In the afternoon on the drive west, we stopped at the Iowa high point.  This was my first time visiting the Hawkeye State, and unfortunately, it was just as I expected:  flat, miles and miles of cornfields and prairie grass, and "God, Guns, & Trump" signs.

Me at the Iowa high point

My 41st state visited.

Thursday:  11

Lincoln, NE

Some gravel trails, and even a little bit of single-track through the woods.  However, and it's a big one, there was just so much of the route on concrete paths that it was a big detractor.  At a few points, there was a quiet road close to the concrete path and I thought about switching to running on the road until I realized the roads were concrete also!  Not that we don't have concrete roads and paths in New England, but they pale in quantity to what I've seen in the midwest thus far.

Travel Day 3:
drive from Lincoln, NE to Denver, CO

Similar to Iowa, miles and miles of flatlands,
corn fields, and prairie grass

At the high point in Nebraska,
29 miles down a dirt road!

My 42nd state visited

The wild sunflowers along the roadside were very attractive.

Friday:  12

Denver, CO

Continuing our trek westward, our brief stay in the Centennial State (or is it the Rocky Mountain State?) was a fun one, and what a great run!

Much of our run today was inside this refuge.

Beautiful scenery along manicured trails.

Was pleasantly surprised about how close I was able to
get to this doe

Started and ended our run in this very well-kept
neighborhood (Matthew's car in foreground)

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Travel Day 4:
drive from Denver, CO to Las Vegas, NV

Continuing our journey west.  Today's leg would be the longest,
as we passed through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and into
Nevada.  Sections like this (Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, I-70 West)
were breathtaking.  And yes, we're about to enter the tunnels
going under the mountains.  [Matthew was driving while I took this photo.]

Vast uninhabited areas in the San Rafael Swell along
I-70 at the Colorado / Utah border.
Before entering this area, we saw a sign warning that there
would be no services for 108 miles.  108 miles!!
Fill up that fuel tank.

Impressive formations of sandstone, shale, and limestone
along this area.

And when we finally reached that first and only service station
in the desert in Utah, it got really weird.

As enticing as this was, I did NOT buy any
Mega Slime Licker.  We bought diesel fuel only, I used the
gold glitter covered toilet, and then we
were happy to get out of Dodge.

Saturday:  7

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV

My final run of this trip did not disappoint!  We spent the night in the Las Vegas area and then it was a short drive to Red Rock Canyon.

Really cool views along the trail!

We both wore hydration packs, as we're in a desert environment
after all, but fortunately the temps weren't bad at all.
(The previous few days saw triple-digit temps here.)

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Travel Day 5:
Drive from Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, CA

Continuing our trip west with our final leg (or final leg for me):

The World's Tallest Thermometer,
Baker, CA
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Made for a convenient bathroom break
and driving switch, but otherwise,
just a tourist trap.  Reminded me of
Chevy Chase's "Vacation" movie,
where I think he insisted that they stop at
the World's Largest Ball of Mud (?)

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Now, on the other hand, Peggy Sue's 50's Diner,
at the Ghost Town Road exit in Yermo, CA, was well worth
the stop!  You drive miles through barren landscape and then
come across this gem, actually dating to the 50s.
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Reminded me of the "Happy Days" 50's set and TV show.

Probably not the healthiest lunch in the world,
but the open turkey sandwich, mashed potatoes, and lots
of gravy hit the spot.  As did that shake!

Somehow I did not get this charge on my bill.  

And then post-lunch, you can go behind the restaurant,
where this is this bizarre collection of huge metal dinosaurs.

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Final stop of interest before hitting suburbia and then 
the city (Los Angeles):
Mormon Rocks,
San Bernardino National Forest, CA

Cool place!  Very unusual.

You can see me about 1/3 of the way up this structure.  Had to really watch my footing,
as lots of loose sand.
(Photo by Matthew)

We had to again defer a visit to Griffith Observatory in LA, as both the parking and traffic were horrific.  Went to dinner, and then after sitting in more traffic, Matthew dropped me off at LAX for a red-eye flight home.

Sunday:  0

Complete rest day (after flying back across the country, that is).  Tired physically and lack of sleep didn't help.  All worth it for a great trip!

Weekly mileage:  58 run, 1 walk

Weekly synopsis:  Don't know that I would want to do this with any regularity, but looking back now, this was a fun trip and neat way to see parts of the country that I hadn't before.  Combining it with exploration runs every day was pretty neat and a good way to break up the trip.  In retrospect, 8 hours might be about the maximum drive that I'm comfortable with in a day.  I don't like driving at night, and my legs just get really stiffened up much longer than that, even with stops.  The penultimate day of our trip was 13 hours door-to-door, with the final part in the dark and rain and that just wore on me.

Weekly highlight:  Red Rocks Canyon National Conservation Area!  Really fun trails in a beautiful environment that is very different from my norm.

Weekly lowlight:  Iowa.  Pretty much as I expected, flat and boring with miles and miles of cornfields.