Weekly Log: April 17 to 23

Interesting runs with week off from April vacation and short NY/MA trip.

Monday: 5 Miles, Buttermilk Falls. Out hotel was near some ugly looking roads and only had sidewalks to run with a view of cars, so it was very relieving to find that there was a state park less than a half a mile away. Not only a state park, but one with great scenery and an amazing stair climb. It's part of the Cayuga Trails 50-Miler (which looks like an awesome race, but I'm not a huge fan of two loops). This run was one the best of the year, at least so far. I hate just doing 5, but the initial stairs ascent was at a brutal 13% and climbed up a mile. My legs didn't have much after that. While it became much easier and less scenic after, the rest of the trails were still very enjoyable. Back problems from Saturday were present, but I had discomfort instead of pain and most of the run I felt fine.

Tuesday: 10 Miles, More NY Running

Ithaca seems like a great place to run trails. I really wanted to check out Robert H. Treman State Park, but we had to run early in the dark so brutal climbs without much vision wasn't a great option (I'll definitely go back sometime in the future).

The first run was early morning, mostly in the dark on the Cayuga waterfront trail. A nice, about 7 mile paved biking running path. Unfortunately, it was not actually on massive Cayuga lake, but on a much smaller inlet. However, it was a fine route and one of my favorite terrains. I wasn't feeling great on this one and was actually okay with just 5.

Run #2 was much better. This run was mid-day at Green Lakes, a State Park east of Syracuse. There seemed to be a variety of terrain and places to run, but this was a quick run so we stuck to the main flat dirt path around the scenic lakes and added in a rolling hills grass path to get 5. Felt great on this run and could've kept going easily. There was an additional 5-10 miles of trails on the west of the park and 37-mile long Erie Canal trail was just across the street. I definitely would like to return to this general area of New York for more running.

Wednesday: 6 Miles, MA.

The Mount Holyoke Range always seemed like an amazing run, and I always hear about how brutal the Seven Sisters Race is. It was pretty cool to actually run in the range, but unfortunately I didn't like it as much as expected. The trail itself wasn't usually scenic and the difficulty of the Metacomet-Monadock trail was just a bit too high, at least for my tastes (maybe more fun in a race). The view on the top was rewarding, but the flat trails after that didn't seem any better than something I would find locally. There were a few highlights and great spots, but for the most part it wasn't what I expected. I later learned the seven sisters is on the other side. This was a pretty solid run and I was glad to try out a new location, but it simply didn't compare to the NY runs.

Thursday: 7 Miles, Back in RI.

Hillview repeats, 7x. Felt pretty horrible as I somewhat expected. First two went well (and I set the CR) but after that they got gradually slower and most of times were bad. My coach thought I did well, but I didn't really have much on this one. On the bright side, first time with no back pain doing something fast.

Friday: 7 in Mystic, easy paced road run with Dad.

Explored some new roads but wasn't anything outstanding. Felt good enough at the end to run my final mile in 5:52. One of those last-minute runs. Would have liked to run river road, but distance and time didn't really work out. Next time.

Saturday: 3 Miles.

Started a track workout. Didn't finish it. Despite feeling fine all week, on the hills, and during the warm-up my back started to hurt badly again and I only got through two 600s of 4 (and there were 5x400 after). My coach had me run an easy road run, but that wasn't going well either and I only got a mile in before coming back. I think this is the first workout I've ever not finished in any on my seasons.

Sunday: 0. Day off to try to rest.

Weekly Total: 38 Miles
YTD Total: 602 Miles