The Offseason

For me, the majority of racing is fun. Championship season for my school career is certainly not as it's so stressful, in the early months of the season there are a few races I enjoy. And out of season, I enjoy pretty much all the races. This is my 4th offseason (not including summer), here's how the previous ones went:

Offseason 1
November 3, 2014-November 30, 2014
Weeks Off: 4
Total Mileage: 110 Miles
Average Mileage/Week: 28
Average Mileage/Day: 4
Races Run: 3

Avondale 5K- 1st in 17:30, 18 Second PR
Little Rhody Runaround- 14th in 50:37, 5 Minute PR
Rivalry Run- 1st in 16:40, would've been a PR (short course)

Offseason 2
February 23, 2015- March 15, 2015
Weeks Off: 3
Total Mileage: 64 Miles
Average Mileage/Week: 21
Average Mileage/Day: 3
Races Run: 0

Offseason 3
November 15, 2015-November 28, 2015
Weeks Off: 2
Total Mileage: 53 Miles
Average Mileage/Week: 27
Average Mileage/Day: 4
Races Run: 3

Little Rhody Runaround- 3rd in 47:44, 3 Minute PR
Washington Trust Turkey Trot 5K- 3rd in 16:49, fast splits
Chariho Alumni 5K- 1st in 17:10, slow splits

Offseason 4
February 29, 2016-March 13, 2016
Weeks Off: 2
Total Mileage: 54 Miles
Average Mileage/Week: 27
Average Mileage/Day: 4
Races Run: 2

Hare Hop 5K- 3rd in 17:33, Negative splits
Ocean's Run 4-Miler- 1st in 23:23, would've PR'd (long course)

So I'll do race write-ups in a separate post, but here are my weekly logs.

Weekly Log: February 29 to March 6

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 0. Starting to think about weekend races.

Wednesday: 0. Find out hare hop and ocean's run are on the same day.

Thursday: 0. Decide just to do Ocean's run.

Friday: 3 Miles. I change my mind, and decide to do both. My run is easy, but since I don't really feel like running roads I run the nearby Champlin. Super easy: low 9s on trails, high 7s on roads. Not feeling as good as I want to, maybe I should've ran Thursday. Thighs feel super heavy/uncomfortable. Not looking good for tomorrow.

Saturday: 9 Miles. Short warm-up before Hare Hop, then I run Hare Hop. Great race. Short warm-up before ocean's, ocean's run, and a short cool-down.

Sunday: 0 Miles. Sore.

Weekly Total: 12 Miles

YTD Mileage: 348 Miles

Weekly Log: March 7 to March 13

Monday: 0. Eating unhealthy.

Tuesday: 10 Miles. I feel good about myself when I run long at a good pace. I wanted to do 10 miles on Tuesday. I was either shooting for a low 7s with a few hard segments or a hard 10 miler, around 6:50 pace. I ended up picking the latter, since I wanted consistent splits and didn't feel like doing short sprints, as that would wear me out. This was one of the best runs I've been on in a very long time. I ended up running 10 at 6:38 pace in 1:06:17, which actually beats my Blessing 12 and 13 times. So many things went well. The weather was perfect, it was enjoyable, the views were great, and it felt good. Running 6:35s felt very easy at first, and it wasn't until Mile 6 that it began to get hard. But still, only the last mile was very difficult. An awesome run.

Wednesday: 7 Miles. I kinda wanted a big week, but would obviously have to tone it down from yesterday. I was very sore, and I had the pacer test in gym. It's a really stupid way to test your running fitness as you have to constantly do 180 degree turns after only running 20 meters. It's nearly impossible to get into a solid pace, as you lose your momentum on the turn and then have to pick it up again. I was shooting for a 160, as that would be far ahead of the current record of 130, but I felt horrible and my thighs were sore and hurting from Tuesday's run. I got tired at 30, then really tired at 100 and jogged the last one in at 130 after missing a few. If it were converted to laps around a track, I don't think I'd have a problem getting 160. I got home even more sore, and went out for a short Champlin. My legs and thighs felt horrible, and the pace was super slow.

Thursday: 5 Miles. It was a pretty hot day, especially for winter. Felt pretty crappy again, still sore. While my pace was pretty good (6:59), it seemed harder to run it than usual. Just a forgettable rockridge run on a full stomach.

Friday: 6 Miles. I felt like eating when I got up, not running. Even though I missed a good opportunity to run in the morning (no school), I still got in a good run at the Barn with Dad. And since we threw in a few segments, it was pretty great, despite a slower pace than I wanted (not feeling it again). Last time, I failed to even PR on the segments: this time I tied my PR on West Main Spur, Had a six-second PR and two-second CR on East Main Spur, and a 4-second PR and CR on Wequetequock Cove Return. Good run.

Saturday: 8 Miles. I originally wanted to do 10, and do a few miles on the beach but after I slept in too late, I wasn't feeling it. I almost cut it down to 6 after failing to find a route that I liked, but then I moved it up to 8. Got dropped off at Weekapaug, and I planned to do some segments. Segment #1 was Wawaloam Dr Climb on Noyes Neck Road. I felt good on it until halfway through, before I got really tired and slowed down a little. It seemed really long. However, I felt that I posted a good time on it. Next was meadow ridge, and while it tired me out, I felt that I got a good time on it. Finally, I ran another Wawaloam Dr Climb (this time a longer stretch of flat coastal Weekapaug), but I felt tired. I was tired but I got my energy back and eventually picked it up, ending up with a 6:38 average once again. I ended up not even getting on the first segment, as my strava map shows that I ran through background (and of course, it only glitched when I was running the segment), I was way off on Meadow Ridge since I stopped early, and I took the third segment easily in 5:17 pace. Frustrating, as this is not the first segment error. I did end up getting two CRs on winnapaug, even though I didn't run them extra hard.

Sunday: 8 Miles. I guess this made up for me doing not doing the full 10 on Saturday, because I didn't expect to run this long. A solid run through Carter Preserve with Dad and Aaron. This was the first time where I had plenty of energy without eating or drinking anything before. Fun run, we explored most of the preserve, and I got a solid time on the grassland mile (5:11). However, twisting my ankle and leg several times was not fun.

Weekly Total: 44 Miles (pretty good for me)

YTD Mileage: 392 Miles

Average pace is weird, since I ran three sub-7 runs, three over 8-runs but never any in the 7s range. Kinda wish it was faster.