After racing the 10K Saturday, I can relax knowing I don't have another fast road race until August. A couple of fun but slow mountain races coming up, with this weekend a return to Loon Mountain. Not sure what I'm expecting, just hoping to do well.
Monday: 6 Miles.
Was looking at SK trail maps and really wanted to the Browning loop which I haven't done before. Wanted to combine with Duval but with the shorter distance I was looking for it really wouldn't make sense. Instead did two browning loop, each time going back to the parking lot. Did my first loop counter clockwise and second clockwise. Not a bad trail- there were a few cool sections with ferns and small wooden walkways but overall nothing amazing and given the small size I probably wouldn't return. 7AM start was nice- not hot but not a super early wakeup either.
Tuesday: 12 Miles
7 in AM with Dad and Tom, Buckeye Brook Road hill workout. Interestingly enough, we did the exact same workout the Tuesday before loon last year. I don't remember feeling particularly bad last year, just that the splits were kinda slow. This year, the splits were slow and I wasn't feeling great. Energy and breathing wise I was fine, but legs were super heavy. We did 2 short steep sprints and 2 longer (1 mile) climbs with a slightly lesser grade. I got through the steep ones fine but couldn't really do anything on the longer ones as my quads totally locked up and I wasn't able to go any faster than 6:40 pace. A little frustrated. The second long one was even worse and I decided to drop out and just make 7.
5 in PM at Stonington Fun Run. Don't know how many of these I will go to, certainly won't be every week for me. This one was definitely enjoyable. Felt pretty smooth on two mile warm-up. Was looking for a comfortable 6:30 pace at fun run. Stayed behind Sam Alexander and his friend along with James Rose and some other guy in a light blue shirt. Alexander and the other guy took over pacing while me and the blue shirt guy hung a few meters back. Went through the mile in just under 6:30. They gradually dropped the pace down to low 6s and I felt great hanging about 5 meters back from them. Very enjoyable fun run.
Wednesday: 8 Miles
Westerly fun run. Last week I used this as a 10K workout but this time I just wanted to run moderately but not overdo it and stay comfortable. I figured the top guys would be around 5:40 pace and I'd just hang a little bit behind them the whole time. I did my usual 3 mile warm-up, making a loop around browning and ocean view highway. Felt really smooth and was enjoyable. I spotted a fast looking Stonington guy. The kid who sprinted out last week went out hard, which was a little strange as he faded bad doing the same the week before but made more sense when we learned he was just doing the mile. The stonington guy was next and then I lingered back in third. I decided I wanted to slowly reel in the Stonington guy then hang a few meters back and let him pace for the rest. I figured Tom would do the same but as I picked it up he let me go on Crandall. I slowly caught up to the stonington runner by about Bayberry. This was definitely a progression run and even when I was right on the guy and had no intention to pass I kept picking it up. It was more tiring than expected. I stayed about 5 meters or so back until Atlantic where I alternated running by his side and slightly behind him. We picked it up a bit in the final quarter mile but I was content to let him go at the end.
Interesting run, as neither of us ran all-out. Splits: 5:40/5:26/5:16/56 (4:47 pace). My final time was around 17:15 and interestingly enough, it felt worse than running 16:34 the previous week (maybe just going out so much slower had that effect).
Beach cool-down with Sam after. Took my time and jumped in the cold ocean.
Thursday: 8 Miles
Slept in super late and didn't run until 11:30. Mystic loop. Felt really heavy at first and was running high 7s but settled in and was able to coast at 6:50 pace. Was a little weak at first which was worrying as that is usually a sign that I'll feel terrible in a few miles but surprisingly never felt bad. River road helped me get into a nice rhythm but at the same I was sweaty and hot and really wanted to jump into the river.
Friday: 6 Miles
Mystic trails at the Denison Pequotsepos Nature center. Some of the trails were enjoyable, but overall felt gross/slimy running in humidity and through spiderwebs. Decent amount of trails but still found myself coming back to the start before hitting my target 6 miles and having to get an extension.
Saturday: 4 Miles
Shakeout pre-loon. Ran on the same path as last year's shakeout, a bike path through Franconia Notch state park. To mix it up a little this year, I wanted to do some of the side trails but every single one of them was flooded/very muddy from the earlier downpours and I had no traction with road shoes. It was late, the forest had heavy cover, and the wetness/rain/humidity made it very dark. Overall, felt fine energy wise but legs were heavier than ever and barely ran sub-8 on asphalt. The heaviness was worrying before a mountain race and annoying as I had run easy all week to try to shake the heaviness out.
Sunday: 8 Miles
Loon Mountain Race. Went pretty well. Nothing exceptional time-wise but an improvement from last year and I held my own, place wise and surprisingly on the steep uphills. An absolute blast again and felt much easier this year. Possibly my favorite race, all the more reason to do more mountain running. 11th OA in 1:05:19. Will do separate write-up, but it may be a while.
Weekly Total: 52 Miles (probably increase about 5 per week, then keep it around 60-65)
YTD Total: 1,112 Miles
I have been falling behind on blog writing lately, as the weekly logs are not the only posts I want to be doing. Vacation is next week in Alaska which will be awesome and deserves and equally awesome post but I don't know how much blogging I will be able to do. Here's what posts to expect in the next couple of weeks, but they may come later:
-List of Trail/Road running destinations I want to run this summer
-A couple of racing bucket list posts (did a list of bucket lists racing in RI a long time ago, want to continue w/CT, MA and northern NE)
-Outdoor Track Recap/Senior XC/track expectations (not sure if I'll do this one at all, track already ended 3-4 weeks ago)
-Summer racing update/thoughts (primarly to figure out and finalize a racing schedule, specifically whether or not I do run a half, whether Blessing is 100% out, if Bobby Doyle is an option or if I want to jump into other fun trail races (Beavers, Killington)'
-Alaska races recap/weekly logs
-Possible other stuff that I can't think of right now
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