Start of XC- Weekly Log: August 21 to 27

Unfortunately, the summer offseason is over. While I have 2 weeks before school starts, running freedom has (mostly) ended and now I am chained to the boring schedule that my coaches create: hills, track, school runs, and not much else.

Monday: 5 Miles

Went to Bradford preserve and got in an easy but enjoyable singletrack run. Ran the cross country course first before adding on the pumpkins section. Had a lot of fun running hansel and Gretel (although when is that not fun?).

Tuesday: 7 Miles

Was supposed to have Monday and Tuesday workouts, but was never informed of what they were so made up my own: 4x800 @5K (2:30 target/5:00 pace) w/400m recovery. Ran over to Avondale pretty late in the day (6:40 PM) as a warm-up, before doing the workout on the Avondale road loop. Did not realize how windy it would be, but the workout went smoothly. Each one felt uncomfortably fast, but went by quickly and for the most part, I was under target pace. It got tough at the end as I started to hit the wind in the final 200, so 4 seemed like enough this time. Splits: 2:29/2:27/2:28/2:25. Difficulty: 3/5. Cool-down back home hurt as I was pretty heavy and exhausted by then.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Went to practice expecting an easy 6 mile distance run before heading over to Stonington to get in a decent effort at the new fun run, but was surprised to hear that I had a timed mile. I was feeling especially weak before and on warm-ups, so I wasn't too thrilled. Ended up doing surprisingly well. My goal was to crack 4:40, but I wasn't confident I could do that. Ended up going out in 70, which felt good but seemed awfully slow. I had to pick the effort up and was no longer comfortable going through in 2:20. I gave it what I could the last 800 and somehow closed in 2:14 to run a 4:34, a big surprise and within 10 seconds of my actual PR. Huge surprise to negative split it, I usually go the other way around. Felt much better, but trashed on the cool-down.

The fun run after was pretty awesome, but my legs were not. Hung with the leaders for a little bit but my heavy legs were not reacting so well, so I fell back, recovered mile 2 and then did what I could to pick off people in the last mile, which felt mostly good. Ended up moving from 6th to 2nd, finishing only behind Chris who had a good lead on the whole field. Loved the whole thing except the track start/finish. The two way traffic was a little annoying, but understandable to make the 5K distance without sacrificing trail running.

Thursday: 7 Miles

Narragansett hill workout, 5 repeats. Legs were not so great but I felt better than expected and put in a consistent, solid effort that wasn't too slow. It got tough starting with the 3rd one, but fortunately I didn't let up too much. Difficulty: 3/5. Longer CD to make 7 for the day.

Friday: 8 Miles

Went to Boston for some college tours and squeezed in a run on the Charles River bike paths next to BU. It was interesting to see the amount of path there available for running in the city but I wasn't very impressed as they were always so close to a road and usually pretty crowded. I can't imagine biking there. Once again legs were a bit crap. Added on an easy 3 miles at home later, which felt much better as I took it pretty easy.

Saturday: 6 Miles

10x400 on the track w/90s-120s recovery @69s each. Was terrible with the pacing on this one, ranging from a 64 to a 71. Can't remember the exact splits but they were something like: 71/68/64/67/67/67/66/65/67/66. They felt okay- since it was only one lap it was never brutally hard but each was somewhat tiring and didn't feel that great. The longer recovery really helped. The last three hurt. Was dead on the cool-down and didn't run much extra.

Sunday: 0 Miles. First off day in a while. Wanted to run, but probably best to take a day off now.

Weekly Total: 43 Miles
YTD Total:  1,558 Miles

I have my first meet next Saturday. Hopefully that will go well, but not looking forward to it. Not proud of this weekly total, but I simply do a lot less in season with less freedom and motivation.

Bobby Doyle Summer Classic 2017

The summer is absolutely loaded with competitive road racing, and even Rhode Island has its share of races. Most notably, the late July/early August trio of road races stand out above the rest. Those three are The Blessing of the Fleet 10 Miler, Run 4 Kerri and the Bobby Doyle Summer Classic, all one weekend after another and located in southern rhode island. It’s common to see fast paces at all three, which drew me in for the trio in the past two years. This year was a bit different as I wanted to cut back on the number of races I did. I ended up just running Bobby Doyle this year. With only one race left on my schedule, this one worked the best for many reasons. It gave me the most recovery following my July races, I felt that it was the best distance to attempt a PR at (of the three), I didn’t have the training to go long and the numerous amount of changes made it interesting (unlike Blessing and Kerri which were just slightly different editions of the same race). This year was non-Grand Prix which would be neat to not see that insane depth of the field and the weather would be better than last year’s unbelievably horrible conditions (mid-80s degrees, near 100% humidity). The biggest selling factor was the course change. The old course was a bit strange with 15+ turns and consisted of two out and back lollipops while the new one minimized turning (about 7) and had many long stretches of fast roads (similar to blessing).

Given my sub-15:50 effort at the fun run a weeks ago, I thought low 26s was doable. My goals went something like this:

1. 26:00 (5:12)
2. 26:20 (5:16)
3. 26:40 (PR, 5:20)

I also wanted to place well, but wasn’t sure how the field would shape. Top high schooler was definitely on my mind but nowhere near as important as my time goals.

I basically assumed the conditions would be favorable because of the generally cooler summer this year, but I knew differently this year when returning drenched from a warm-up. I was able to get bathroom problems out of the way, but generally felt pretty sluggish pre-race.

Soon enough, we were on the line. Saw lots of familiar faces. The start was similar to Blessing, only slightly further up the road. The entire first mile was almost exactly the same as Blessing. Ideally, I wanted to go out just under 5:10 but didn’t know how much faster it would be with the downhill. I lined up in the front row, wanting to be in a good position. Soon after, the officials announced the right side (my side) was for elite women and I had to move to the center, taking a second row spot instead.

I really had no idea how much the competition would change with the event not being grand prix and felt second row was fine but soon found myself weaving my way around people when the gun went off. It only took a couple hundred meters to secure a spot where I wanted. My watch ticked under 5-minute average pace. I figured it would slowly move back up and it didn’t feel too taxing at that point, so I wasn’t worried about going out fast. Even if I did crack 5 the first mile (comfortably) some of that would be from the downhill and I would put some time in the bank. Besides, recent Cumberland graduate Ben Drezek and Toll Gate runner Nik Reygadas were at or near my pace and if I wanted to challenge for the high school crown (for some reason, 2017 graduates are included) I wanted to keep them within striking distance. Ben was a true distance runner who goes out hard so I wasn’t surprised he was ahead, but Reygadas was more of a 800/1500 runner so him being ahead of me was a surprise. The pace wasn’t too difficult but legs were a bit heavy so it wasn’t easy either. I hit the mile in 4:59, about even with Reygadas and about 5 seconds back from Ben.

It all went to crap after that. I knew there would be an inevitable slow the second mile (both from going out fast and the slight uphill) but was expecting around 5:10. I was suddenly much more tired than I should be at this point, as the ridiculously high humidity and my mistake of going out fast was already setting in. I monitored my pace and while it slowed significantly, I was responding a whole lot less than I should have been. Still, with people going out even harder than me I was passing people. I got ahead of Reygadas and started to slowly reel in Ben. I was surprised to pass Trevor Crawley, who was likely running easy.

The turn onto Windermere pretty much marked the end. I hit mile 2 around 5:20, which was pretty slow as it is. I knew windermere with a narrower road, not greatly paved path and slight uphill would be the section to dig deep and focus, but I never counted on feeling this terrible. Mile 3 was a disaster. I was counting on hitting the 5K no slower than 5:15 pace and trying to maintain/hold on from there to PR (at the very least), but I slowed so much the time ticked over 5:20 average pace. Not even at the halfway point, I really thought sub-27 was out of the question and I’d really have to hope not to hit miles over 5:40 pace. Ben was hurting more than me and I managed to get past him. Went through 5K in 16:33, with a third mile around 5:35.

Turning did feel a little nicer, but at that point I knew my time was not going to be good. I somehow regained enough to keep the pace from dropping further and got back down to a mid-5:20s pace. Trevor Crawley went by me and if I had more in the tank, holding onto him would have been the push I needed to get back into the race (and he closed hard enough to run low 26s). I didn’t have enough and he went by with ease. I did everything I could to come back from my mile 2 blow up and while a major improvement, I simply didn’t have the strength to run fast enough splits to make a PR possible. Mile 4 was 5:25.

I was in 9th at the 5K, and while the possibility of a top 10 finish sounded appealing I did not count on several guys negative splitting the race. A group of 3-4 guys went by me and were quickly gone as I had no response. Most picked it up the last mile, but not me. I slowly ran it in trying to muster more strength but it took all my effort just to maintain this 5:20 pace. The entire mile was not enjoyable, with long stretches and an open sun section or two. Even in the half mile, I still had nothing. South Pier felt like it was going forever, even hitting quarter mile. I figured I wouldn’t break 27, but the finish came quicker than expected and I ended up finishing in 26:52. 13th OA.

I had very mixed feelings on this result. I was not satisfied with my overall time, but was both happy with getting the high school crown and was glad I recovered somewhat from my fade to still break 27. Given the humidity, it may have been unreasonable to expect low 26s. I was definitely a bit disappointed I didn't PR, but with the high humidity and me going so fast hurt me more than expected. I did enjoy the new course, even if it wasn't a great day to race it. I have no idea when I will be able to attempt the 5-Mile distance again, nor do I know if I will race this next year. I'm hoping to vary up my races next summer, and right now it doesn't feel necessary but I'll have to evaluate that next summer. Another stacked edition of Bobby Doyle has once again come and gone.

End of Offseason and Wahaneeta- Weekly Log: August 14 to 20

Unfortunately, my offseason is over as XC starts the following week. Tried to make the most of it by getting in a few fun runs and running the Wahaneeta Trail 5K, which I missed last year as it was later in the XC season.

Monday: 6 Miles

Easy recovery (from Bobby Doyle) on Stonington HS roads and trails. Got to check out the new fun run course as well.

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Road workout in weekapaug. 4x(200/200/400). Not sure were the  splits were but legs were complete trash and every single one felt terrible. Provably around 4:45 pace for 2s and 5:00 pace for 400s. Difficulty: 4/5

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Westerly fun run. Unfortunately the final one. Went for 6 minute pace but with Keith McAteer taking it out and both Chris and Tom passing me, I got sucked into a much faster 5:40 pace and gradually picked it up the pace but still felt crappy. Glad to finish top 3.

Thursday: 13 Miles

8 in morning at Green Falls section of Pachaug. Expected fun single-track, but unfortunately so much of it was poorly marked or maintained that the run was overall just okay. Felt good in nicer high 50s tenperature. Pachaug trail was terrible, Nehantic trail was a lot of fun. Tried to hammer the first technical section (green falls road to dam), but I guess I stopped too early and didn't get on it.

5 in PM exploring the Wahaneeta course. Still had trouble following it but did enjoy a few sections.

Friday: 9 Miles

Went to Newport early and ran the whole cliff walk, making a loop from the YMCA and returning on Bellevue Ave. Scenery was awesome but the path, at many points concrete was not enjoyable. Legs started to die as Bellevue ave was also strangely cement.

Saturday: 7 Miles

Wahaneeta trail race. Went for an 80% effort here. My plan was sit on the leaders lap 1, take off and hammer lap 2. It was super humid which made things harder as well as being a bit slippery. Tom led most of the first lap while Muddy and Dad lingered slightly behind. It felt surprisingly exhausting as I felt like this should be easy. I made a huge surge to get a good lead and the gap quickly opened. Felt mostly good lap 2 but a bit sloppy on the technical section, and probably could have been faster there. Finished 1st with a CR of 20:05. I was happy to break the record but a little disappointed not to crack 20, especially as there were many places where I could have taken off some time. Probably could have cracked 19 had I raced it. Hopefully I can come back next year and take a good chunk off that time.

Starting off

End of lap one w/Tom

Coming out the orange trail before finish.

Absolutely hammered the last 50 meters.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Tiring road loop in Stonington, with a small section of Barn Island. Felt exhausted. Legs felt pretty good at start, but only got heavier and heavier. A bit faster than I wanted as well.

Weekly Total: 58 Miles

YTD Total: 1,516 Miles

Bobby Doyle- Weekly Log: August 7 to 13

Last chance to get in a final hard race effort this season, this time at the Bobby Doyle Summer Classic. Shooting for a fast time, hopefully around 26:15.

Monday: 5 Miles.

Light rain on local roads. Felt tired for part of it, then better in the second half and picked it up. Kept it pretty short as Monday is easy day.

Tuesday: 9 Miles

Ninigret workout w/Tom and Dad. 10x1min hard w/1min recoveries around the new bike path. Didn't felt great but bad either. Certainly much better than the previous Tuesday's workout. Forced myself to start hard and then got into them. A bit hard to control the pace, had a few around 5:10 pace, many around 4:50 pace and even some around 4:35 pace. Thighs were heavy. Was dead afterwards and it was a unpleasant surprise to go for a long cooldown. With the extra miles, skipped a double in the evening. Difficulty: 3/5.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Fun run. Did the usual longer warm-ups and cool-downs to make 8. Planned 6:10 again but 4 other WTAC runners were going 5:40-5:50 steady pace and I was unable to resist running up front with them. Ran about 5:45 average pace and still didn't crack the top three. Felt strangely exhausted on this- it wasn't difficult but not strong/smooth at all. Knee strangely hurt on cool-down for the first time in a while (and didn't bother the rest of the week).

Thursday: 12 Miles

6 AM with Dad at Burlinggame. This was really early and I didn't get much sleep, so I was not looking forward and felt terrible in the first few miles. Felt better after but never great.

6 PM, track workout. Descending ladder @76-77s lap pace (5:04-5:08 mile): 1600/1200/800/400 w/2:30 recoveries and 90s between the 800 and 400. While the pace, distances and recoveries were much easier than last week's (2xmile, same recovery but 15 seconds faster) it was far from easy. I tend to go out fast but here I went a little slow and it was very difficult to pick it back up. Never felt super weak but legs/breathings was not great and I never felt awesome or smooth. 5:01/3:42/2:25/73. Difficulty: 3/5.

Friday: 7 Miles

Afternoon run in Charlestown exploring area around east and west beach. We ran a bit on the beach and while not high tide, it was soft, sloped and awful. I felt pretty drained most of the run despite a super easy pace and was glad to finish up.

Saturday: 6 Miles

Ran in beavertail around noon. Planned a short, boring road run but wanted to see if there were any trails there. Was surprised how many there were- actually made the majority of the run trails. Interesting grass and dirt easy (XC-like trails most of the way). Felt a bit tight/sore in calves which was annoying.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Bobby Doyle Summer Classic. It was an okay race for me. I was not close to meeting my expectations/goals and did not PR but did not blow up completely and continue to run slower and slower like others. I faded somewhat, but nowhere near last year or similar races. About halfway between great and horrible but doesn't really lean either way. Went out too fast in 5:00, getting sucked out with competition and the downhill and perhaps paid for it with the following uphill miles. Heat and humidity was nowhere near as bad as last year, but still not great and I could feel it draining me throughout the race. 13th overall in 26:52. With better weather and toughness, I probably could taken 30 seconds off.

Weekly Total: 55 Miles
YTD Total: 1,459 Miles

Weekly Log: July 31st to August 6th

If you've been following this blog, you'd know I'm supposed to race a half marathon later this week. After knee problems that seem to be worse when going long and feeling that my fitness was much better towards 5k than half (plus lack of training), I decided to would better to do this thing when I'm actually ready for it, rather than cram it in now without proper excitement or fitness just because I need a PR. Instead, I'll probably run the Bobby Doyle summer Classic on August 13, hoping to take a good chunk of time off my 26:41 PR. Based on my recent 5K effort sub-15:50, 26:20 or faster should be doable. To make it interesting, the course has changed (from about 15 turns to maybe 6) and its not USATF-NE grand prix this year. Really wanted to do Kerri, but don't want to overrace either.

Monday: 7 Miles.

Chariho fun run. Completely exhausted and supposed to be easy recovery but sucked into the fast running others were doing and did a 6:10 pace for their 3-miler.

Tuesday: 11 Miles

7 Miles. Early morning workout in Weekapaug at Hell Field. 4x1000 @10K pace (about 3:15 target, 5:15 pace). While these are much slower than what I do on the track and I've done similar workouts on roads (but longer and faster), this was a big struggle. Not sure whether it was early morning + humid, lack of speed on the slippery hell field or something else entirely. Split: 3:16/3:15/3:20/3:19. Got really heavy and tired in the middle and wasn't able to continue on pace. Dropped out of a possible 5th one. A couple fast 200s/strides at the end. Difficulty: 4/5. Better than nothing, but would prefer faster surfaces from now on.

4 Miles in the evening. Felt really awful and 7:20 pace on flat roads felt like mile race pace. Both weak, out of it and dead inside. Couldn't even make five. Kinda weird, but I guess glad it was a recovery run.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Was feeling really smooth and decided to go for long warm-ups and cool-downs at the fun run and decided to snag 10 instead of the usual 8. Felt good the whole time, taking the fun run at a comfortable but not slow pace of 6:10 and surprisingly fast warm-ups and cool-downs around 6:40 pace. Happy with these runs with both distance and pace, but don't expect to see this mileage continue.

Thursday: 13 Miles

7 morning at woody hill. A bit tired but overall a nice trail recovery run with both a preview of the Wahaneeta course and an update on pumpkins/XC. Trails are looking great.

6 in the evening at track. These workouts have mostly been somewhat fun but today's was surprisingly very difficult. My speed isn't where it was in the spring but this was much worse than expected. I felt like the splits and/or recovery were much faster than they should have been. I probably would be aiming for 5:10, maybe a little faster on the track but surprised to have 2x4:50 w/2:30 recovery before an 800. The miles were brutal. I definitely felt that if I fueled for a race, I would feel better but these were downright brutal. I was on pace for the most part but it felt like the first mile of a 3K then an all-out mile. 4:51/4:55. Luckily the 800 was pretty slow, target 2:40 and was able to feel okay on that one (but still much worse than 2:40 should feel). 2:34. This was much tougher than expected and hopefully will ease up/into soon. Difficulty: 5/5.

Friday: 7 Miles

Slow watch hill recovery. Felt extremely weak/sluggish despite an easy 7:30 pace. Managed to get through it but wasn't feeling it.

Saturday: 8 Miles

8 Miles early afternoon in Narragansett. Took a moment to run the entire new bobby doyle course which is looking much faster than the old one with significantly less turns before adding a loop from the old one to make 8. Felt strangely pretty tired the whole time but managed a decent pace anyway and felt better than Friday.

Sunday: 7 Miles

Earlier in Charlestown. Felt really good and overall enjoyed it. Some soreness in knee/legs but overall felt much stronger than the previous two days and had no trouble. Watched a little bit of the run 4 kerri action post-run.

Weekly Total: 63 Miles
YTD Total: 1,404 Miles

Pioneer Ridge Vertical Mile

After racing Loon twice, I felt that my mountain racing fitness had increased significantly, but I was still relatively new to the scene. Pioneer Ridge was a completely new experience. The amount of elevation gain concentrated into just a few miles made for some very steep grades the whole way. It was nothing like loon and probably best left for more experienced mountain runners. In fact, it was easy to overhear that many of the runners had just come off doing mount marathon the previous tuesday. For comparison, Loon climbed 3000ft over 6.6 miles (450ft/mile) with varying grades of steepness which included 3 downhills. Pioneer Ridge climbs 5300ft over 4.5 miles (1180ft/mile, more than double) without any significant breaks in the climbing or grade. If I was certain about one thing, it was that this race was going to hurt.

Pre-race was a bit different. Shuttle over to the trail-head and warm-ups was one short walk of the first quarter mile of the trail. It was steep immediately and there was hardly any room between the start and the trail, so I thought it would be important to get out hard. I was a little concerned about passing on the narrow trail as well. The race had a low-key adventurous vibe to it. Not a ton of organization, but enough food and information. It felt like everyone knew what they were getting into, no one or most were not your typical runner. Some even joked about silly road 5ks were. I was a bit nervous about how tough it might be, but figured I’d still do fine.

We finally took off and I went out pretty hard to get a good spot. I was maybe in 10th entering the trail and while the grade was steep, it felt pretty easy. So easy that I immediately wanted to pass. It only took a quarter mile or so for me to realize that I still had 5000ft of climbing to go so it was fine to hang right there. Still, I was getting really close up on the next guy who eventually pulled to the side and said “Don’t let me slow you down”. That was appreciated, but I was then stuck behind another guy. This guy did not move and I really wanted to get by without having to ask him to pull to the side. Finally the trail widened up and I managed to slip by and open up a small gap. One more guy caught up and passed me, but after that I entered no-man’s land. My legs were feeling totally dead and I couldn’t believe I was just a half mile in (I hit the first kilometer close to my 2-Mile PR). I trudged on through the mile, slowly dropping the pace, killing my legs and losing confidence. First mile was okay. I wasn’t unhappy with how it went, but more concerned that I still had the whole race ahead of me and I was completely feeling it.

Mile 2 was an absolute sufferfest. Not only did the trail remain very steep but it was suddenly super-muddy. I was slowing tremendously, and even walking was exhausting. The mud was just awful. On every uphill with mud I wanted to run but failed as I slipped and only went backwards. This began an extremely frustrating and brutally exhausting cycle of walking (more like crawling) these muddy uphills then resuming running. Others seemed to do much better with this and soon enough I was caught. I was probably passed by 2 before hitting the waterstop with another quickly gaining on me. There were also oddly placed logs across and for each I had to slow down to a crawl to manage my way over them. When people went to pass, I got out of the way and totally lost momentum but had a quick and much-needed break. We finally got above the treeline with unreal scenery, but the misery continued with mud everywhere. I was passed again and was just thinking it wasn’t my race. 

Finally the course veered onto rockier terrain and while the climbs became so steep that it was pretty much a walk from then on, I was so happy to leave the mud behind. On a switchback I could see the next group coming for me and on the back was Dad. I thought for sure he would beat me and was mentally defeated about going out so fast and getting destroyed by everyone now. Getting onto the rockier stuff was more enjoyable but started a sequence of seeing what appeared to be a peak (which suggested either a break in climbing or the finish) but upon reaching that peak there was always another one waiting ahead. Scenery was unbelievable and now I could see everyone ahead but the pattern of thinking I was done but only having one more was getting exhausting and I just wanted the race to end. I was slowly caught by a couple guys but the gap remained between Dad and I. I tried to run the slight flats or small downs upon hitting what looked like a peak but the ascent started immediately after and I did not do so well.

At this point we were so high that fog was everywhere and you couldn’t see thirty meters ahead. It finally levelled off and we started going another direction. We were on a steep ledge next to snow but with enough downhill and less steep terrain I held my own. I hit 4.5 on my watch but the finish was not in sight. I was able to muster up some more strength and avoid being passed again. I actually managed to pass some guy but the climb was once again really steep and he passed me back soon after. On the bright side, suddenly the finish was right there.

1:29:44, 14th OA. Finishing and consuming snow-pumped water was so refreshing. Took a moment to enjoy the scenery before heading back down in a brutal “cool-down” that killed the legs. I was concerned about wiping out on the muddy sections and on one turn I slipped, going off the trail and into a nearby bush.

Very impressed with this race. Glad I did it and while I didn’t run too well I guess it was just good to finish. Easily the hardest race I’ve done and one of the most tiring but worth it for the experience. Officially adding mount marathon to the bucket list. Hopefully I have moved up another level as a mountain runner.

Weekly Log: July 24 to 30

Another great week without any races to worry about...besides a fun run CR attempt if that counts. Unfortunately, also dealing with knee issues that don't seem to slow me down in hard running but don't feel great either and are often uncomfortable.

Monday: 0 Miles. Wanted to beat this knee issue and thought a day off would help. Ended a month long running streak, but I guess it was time for a rest day anyway.

Tuesday: 7 Miles, Stonington Fun Run. Taking Monday off and not doubling Tuesday basically ruined any chance of me keeping mileage over 60, but it seemed worth it to get rid of an injury. Frustratingly enough, it seemed like it was gone until it returned the minute I started running again. Super annoying. Didn't have any extreme pain but was extremely uncomfortable throughout. Felt like my entire stride was off the whole run.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Did 4 in the AM, easy on the beach at low tide. Wanted an easy shakeout so I wouldn't have to rely on any WU or CD miles at the fun run later. Was only 1.5 hours past low tide but still suffered effects that come with high tide, including awkward slopes, soft sand and deep water running. A few sections that were better, but on the whole not a super enjoyable run. Knee was very uncomfortable throughout, but never had any bad pain. I had been planning on going for the CR that night at the Westerly Fun Run, but considered putting it on hold.

6 in PM. Felt really good, knee didn't feel normal but had the least pain/least discomfort of any run since Friday, so decided to go for it. I was a little concerned about getting out hard, but it ended up being fine. The CR was 16:30 so basically I needed about a 15:54 effort (GPS tends to run about .1 long on the course) to break it. I wanted to go out in 5:00 to get momentum going and put time in the bank while I'm feeling good, stay focused and not let up in mile 2 (hardest mile of the course, only hills) maybe split around 5:15 and try to push through in mile 3 with whatever I had left, maybe a 5:05 split.

I ended up going out really hard. I opened a gap quickly and it only grew and grew more. At about a quarter mile I was just under 4:40 average pace and it slowly ticked down through the mile in 4:56. It felt mostly good and no knee issues but my legs were feeling a little heavy. I kept monitoring the pace and stayed strong mile 2 which was 5:13 (10:09). I was pretty tired at that point and tried not to let up but didn't make a big push until turning onto Maplewood. The wind on Atlantic was especially exhausting and I slowed a little here. Mile 3 was 5:10 (15:19), I hit the 5K in 15:50. The time did not seem right for a 5:05 pace and I was actually concerned I wasn't going to make it. I was able to just get it by hitting a 16:21.

Looking at the performance, I was overall happy with it but the time seemed a little slow for such a hard effort. It turns out I got one of the longest measurements for the course that I have yet in 3.23. Perhaps since I was pushing so much more and much more tired, I was sloppy with the turns and did not run the tangents. Since I had done so much extra, the conversion to 5K was a much faster 15:41 which seems pretty good.  Went for a cooldown on the beach and smashed my already injured knee into a metal chain which killed the cooldown there. Not exactly a victory lap.

Thursday: 12 Miles

7 AM, moonlight loop. I was thinking of doing a fun trail run, maybe in CT but just couldn't get a nice route together that I knew well and I was super tired that night so I slept in really late. It was already 10:30 when I was putting together this run, so I decided just to do 7 from the house. Was surprised to have no knee pain for the first half and just when I felt that the pain was permanently gone, it came back and hurt quite a bit. For the most part, it was just more uncomfortable/awkwardness but in a few spots it really hurt.

5 in the evening, going back to the weekly track workouts. I had some discomfort, but for the most part my knee pain stayed away and I was able to do the work. 8x400 @68s w/90s recovery and a longer 3:00 recovery after 4. Splits: 68/68/68/67/66/68/68/67. Usually I'm not so great at the pacing, but was very consistent on these. Nothing brutal, but was more tired than usual perhaps because its been so long since doing speed work. Difficulty: 3/5.

Friday: 5 Miles

The summer's gone by pretty quickly and I ultimately don't have a lot of time left to reach one of my goals: do fun and interesting trail runs. I was looking to see if I could go early and run Monadnock, but with the long drive, and either poor access(to less crowded/longer trails)/crowded main trail I decided to do Ragged Mountain in Berlin, CT instead which also looked pretty cool. Somehow Sam Lutzel, who can't even commit to going on the closest and most convenient runs, was able to find the time to spend the morning in central CT on the run with me. Drive over was all right, but it was a little difficult to find the trail and the parking. Once we got started, it was clearly not an easy trail, but I was very, very excited. Sam, not used to real or hilly trail running, fell back and I ran up to 200 meters ahead at some points. The trail, billed as "Ragged Mountain loop" probably sounds hilly but was actually not too bad, but extremely technical in spots. The first section went by quickly and was very enjoyable. Soon we started the actual ascent towards the summit (which wasn't a huge summit at 760ft). There an awesome overlook over some body of water before hitting the rocky (ragged) summit that was really cool. The trail down was very difficult, both of us were tired at that point and it proved to be the steepest (descent) and most technical section yet. It was a pretty amazing trail however, and had at least 5 incredible overlooks within half a mile. Very cool run, definitely lived up to the hype. Mileage was a bit low, but to experience this awesome place it was worth it. Place was very well marked and I probably could have gotten by without a trail map (which contrasts with Devil's Hopyards- I not only needed a trail map there, but my phone as well). Castle Craig  was only 5 minutes away but I was too tired to add on other 4. It seems like there's a ton of awesome trails in this general area, would like to do another run over here (probably castle craig) but not sure I can fit it in. Stopped by nearby Wadsworth falls on the way back.

Where to park was very unclear, but ended up being fine.

Much of the trail looked like this.

View from the summit.

One of many overlooks on the way down.

This was the picture for Ragged Mountain in the article I read, but there wasn't a single part that looked anything like this.

Nearby wadsworth falls.

Saturday: 8 Miles. Evening run in Ninigret. Not at all in a mood to run but felt really smooth and love this place. Ran the usual grassy/gravel trail loop plus a few bike paths. Knee pain pretty minimal but some tightness. Saw lots of rabbits.

Sunday: 8 Miles. Grills preserve (both) late-morning recovery. Pretty tired and glad to finish. Probably would have just done 5 had I not needed extra mileage just to make 50.

Weekly Total: 50 Miles

YTD Total: 1, 341 Miles

Weird week with losing miles to knee issues, but it seems like its improving and I should be back to normal, at least mileage wise next week. Planned a half (John and Jessie) on August 5th, but after not feeling like my fitness is where it should be, I'm going to drop out and run shorter, faster races instead. Highlights in the week were my Fun Run CR and the awesome Ragged Mountain run.

Weekly Log: July 17 to 23

Finally, a week without races. More about getting in training, trying to hit 60 miles (and possibly break my PR of 62) and keeping it fun.

Monday: 8 Miles

Quick one from the house even though I typically prefer to vary it up as much as possible. Wanted to sleep in a little more, so doing this gave me an extra hour or so of time. Besides a PM in the early miles, it was mostly smooth and comfortable. Overall, an easy run. Last mile was somewhat hilly and that tired me out.

Tuesday: 12 Miles

AM, 7 miles early misquamicut run with Dad and Tom. They did a workout, but I just wasn't feeling it and with two moderate-hard runs coming up in the next couple of days, I decided just to go for another smooth, comfortable run. It was super humid so I didn't regret taking it easy.

PM, 5 at the Stonington Fun Run. Ran super easy this time but was worn out before I started and didn't feel that great.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Westerly Fun Run. Decided to go fairly easy this week at 5:50 pace and was joined by Chris and Tom. They were slowing a little, so I decided to drop them in order to get pace down to 5:50. Felt really good the whole way on this one. I felt tired on the warm-up but somehow much better after. Went for a refreshing dip in the ocean afterwards.

Thursday: 14 Miles

With my entire morning free, I decided to do explore a new (to me) trail system, even if it was further away and a nearly one-hour drive getting there. While I want to run Ragged Mountain before the summer runs out, it was almost 9, so I picked something a little closer- Devil's Hopyard State Park. It was a very interesting experience. I got there just before 10, looking for a certain parking lot. The parking lot was tiny and there were no marked or clear trails leading from there. I explored some of those trails, but they didn't seem right so I turned around and found it by going on the road to find another trail. I wasn't expecting anything difficult, so basically the entire run was a surprise. It was both technical and hilly throughout. The first section on yellow trail wasn't enjoyable- deerflies were right on me and the entire way was confusing and poorly marked. I got onto red trail, which was the only easy trail in the whole run and it was much better from there. I came out to the main entrance, which offered a great view of the falls, before tacking on a orange and blue loop on the other side of the roads. The orange loop was wide and looked easy, but soon started some steep and rocky climbs that were exhausting but really fun. There was a nice overlook and a 30% grade short ascent to "Devil's Oven". I walked that. I finally got back to the main entrance and was pretty beat up from all the climbing and the heat. The way back was torture as I tried several times (all while completely exhausted) to find my way back using the yellow trail and failed, eventually coming back out to the road (but not before I ran off trail 5 or 6 times). I decided just to go back on the road and eventually gave up on a steep climb and walked back (until the deerflies starting biting). Was looking for 7 easy miles, got 9 difficult ones (and last 3 were brutal).

In the evening, did a track workout. 2x1200 @3:45 w/2min recovery, followed by 3 min rest, 2x400 @75 w/1min recovery. Felt pretty good although my pacing was crap and my knee was bothering me when I stopped. Splits: 3:42/3:38/70/71. 5 miles total. Difficulty: 2/5

Friday: 7 Miles.

Groton Fun Run. Wasn't going hard or anything, but went a little faster than usual and felt pretty tired. Post-run dip was ruined by some stinging sensation I felt in the water (jellyfish?).

Saturday: 13 Miles

Was super disappointed to miss my alarm and not fuel properly for this long run, which was easy with 4-6 miles in the middle at HMP to train for upcoming races. Knee bothered me at first, but once we started the HMP session, it went away. It took me a little bit to get into the HMP, but I got it down to a 5:50 average like I wanted. 5 miles at HMP (29:14). I was happy with how that went, but it wasn't fun after as my knee continued to bother me and hurt a lot at the end.

Sunday: 5 Miles

Took it really easy and just tried to get something. Felt better than expected, but knee was definitely uncomfortable. Probably take Monday off.

Weekly Total: 67 Miles (Weekly Mileage PR!!!)
YTD Total: 1, 291 Miles

This knee issue was unexpected, but fortunately I don't think it's going to be much of a problem in the future. However, if it does continue I may have to drop out of my CR attempt Wednesday and if it goes beyond that, out of all races until XC starts.