Weekly Log: January 20 to 26

First week of classes, another solid week of training but also still dealing with physical ailments.

Monday: 0

Off day after such a heavy week last week and the achilles issues.

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Short Snell kinda fast w/Aiden, Slants, Nico and new team member Eli. Nico pushed the pace in the second half and got the pace in the low 6s. Followed by 2x(5x160m strides/160m jog rest). Felt fast and my legs were heavy but nothing too difficult.

Wednesday: 11 Miles

2.5 mile warm-up where I felt awful followed by another kinda hard but not terrible distance workout. Workout was: 400/500/600/1200/600/500/400/1200. 400 at 66, 500 at 1:28, 600 at 1:50, 1200 at 3:30, 2.5 min rest between reps, 6 mins rest after the first 1200. Had a bunch of different people pacing, most guys did a pretty bad job (mostly way too fast with a one slow one) except for a select few who were right on. I paced the first 600 pretty well but went a bit fast on the second 1200. Splits: 68/1:26/1:49/3:30/1:45/1:26/65/3:28. Was feeling strong but legs really heavy on the first set, then didn't notice leg discomfort as much in the second set but felt much more tired. Difficulty: 3/5. Longer cool-down w/Aiden to get some real mileage.

Thursday: 8 Miles

Early (7:30) Pudding Hill w/Aiden. We both felt tired so we didn't do that much. Had to poop twice, so I was sorta pushing the pace in the second half to get back to the field house ASAP.

Friday: 11 Miles

Mostly solo run as most guys were doing 5 as a pre-race shakeout. Ran 4 with them then broke off for a bunch of add-ons. Run felt long and boring, and it didn't help that I was pretty tight and tired.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Long snell by myself, motivation was not there. Felt kinda good at the end but tired and tight before that. Before the meet.

Sunday: 16 Miles

Finally did UNH's longest (and most iconic?) route, Bay rd. Very quiet and scenic 16 miler, possibly on the best routes here. Thought I was in for another long solo run because no one seems to do long runs here anymore but fortunately was joined by Aiden, and Andrew and Kenney both jumped in at the last second. There was a big emphasis on going slow this run and many times I got a big lead then had to slow a lot. Gapped everyone by 30s just 5 miles in but decided to go with the slower pace rather than do most of the run solo. It became too much for me at 10 and I broke off for good. I was contemplating going back but Aiden ran back with me and Andrew/Kenney averaged slower than 7:30 pace so it was good point to break off. Legs felt kinda heavy the whole time, but I felt decent (and ready to go) until 13ish where I got pretty tired. Picked up the last mile in 6:11. A pretty good run.

Weekly Total: 67 Miles
YTD Total: 277 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Another solid week of training, can't complain.

Weekly Lowlight: Ailments continue and while my achilles is slightly better than last week, it definitely hurts at the beginning of most runs. Hip also hurts sometimes, it's definitely annoying. Probably a bigger lowlight than that is doing solo 10-12 milers while not feeling very good. Unfortunately, being the only guy not racing but still pursuing higher mileage has some serious drawbacks.

Movies Watched: *Naked, *Goodfellas, Parasite, The Lighthouse
*Rewatch

Weekly Log: January 13 to 19

Winter camp week, a week of training but no school (still part of break). Wasn't looking forward to it, but was surprisingly a lot of fun. Got in a really good week of training despite achilles pain resurfacing.

Monday: 10 Miles

Wednesday Hill w/Andrew. Kept the pace easy yet I felt really tight and slow.

Tuesday: 11 Miles

AM: 2 mile campus shakeout. Easy but achilles was painful walking over and during the run so it wasn't very fun. Everyone did 2x(10x80 strides on 80m jog), I did the first set then skipped the second one. Definitely the worst run/practice of the week. 3 total in the morning.

PM: 8 Miles, Pudding Hill w/Jamie. Coach had me do a normal run instead of the workout to take easy for my Achilles, which was all right with me. Sounded like the workout was really hard so it was fine (and I worked out Wednesday). Achilles a little sore but felt way better than the morning.

Wednesday: 12 Miles

AM: 2 Miles, same campus shakeout as yesterday w/far less pain and discomfort.

PM: 10 miles broken up into a 7 mile easy run (7:30), followed by 3x1200 in 3:36/3:33/3:30 on 6 mins recovery and a 1 mile cooldown. Everyone else did a workout Tuesday so I was definitely the freshest but my legs still felt awful. Somewhat hard but still pretty doable. Actual splits: 3:37/3:32/3:32. Difficulty: 3/5.

Thursday: 8 Miles

Easy, snowy.

Friday: 11 Miles

Pudding Hill w/Aiden before 2xGables add-on solo before 3x160m, 2x80m strides w/Aiden.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Cold bennett w/Jamie before the meet. Broke off into Faculty solo to get 10.

Sunday: 17 Miles

Interesting run where I set a new longest run PR. Wanted to get in a solid long run (14-16ish miles) but was feeling a lot less motivated when literally everyone else was doing 5 miles. Ran 4 with them, then broke off into various routes to get a long run in. Committed to 15 and eventually just made the final push for 17 to get 80 on the week. Felt somewhat solid, running many splits at 6:30s or faster in the second half. Legs tired. One of my better long runs for sure.

Weekly Total: 80 Miles
YTD Total: 210 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Got in a really solid week of training including 80 miles on the week, a good long run, and a semi-difficult track workout.

Weekly Lowlight: The reemerging of achilles pain for the first time in quite a while.

Movies Watched: *The Hurt Locker
*Rewatch

Weekly Log: January 6 to 12

Last week of break before a training week (no school, but practice resumes) back at UNH.

Monday: 7 Miles

Ninigret with Dad and Brady. Started going for all the segment CRs mid-way through 2018 taking 5 of them (Ninigret Path, Fishing, Cross Refuge Trail, Grassy Point, and Bike Path Loop) and 2 of them during winter break last year (Chili 5K, Arnolda Loop). None of them were too difficult although all required a hard effort, especially Ninigret Path which had a really fast CR around 5:10 pace. Chili 5K was awkward to memorize and then follow the course all while running 5:30 pace. Wrapped up the challenge by taking the final segment Ninigret Bike Track which I bailed on last year as Jonny had it as a ridiculous 5:00 mile pace (for .9 mile). So basically I'd have to drop a sub-5 mile to take it. Went pretty hard but felt surprisingly really comfortable through .75 miles at 4:45 pace. Slowed down from there without feeling bad just legs got a little heavy and I couldn't keep pace and then took the segment at 4:51 pace (although it strangely shows 4:39 pace on the computer). Ended up doing 1.2 miles hard as I kept going for a small amount before seeing 5:10 pace and calling it. While obviously not a good indicator of determining fitness, I was surprised to feel this good running this fast after doing pretty much no workouts (I usually feel pretty terrible doing sub-5 mile repeats, even on the first one). Rest of the run easy in the dark.

Tuesday: 9 Miles

Woody Hill late w/Dad and Brady. Pretty fun although I got somewhat disoriented when it got really dark.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Watch Hill at lunchtime w/Dad, felt solid but kinda heavy. Broke off around 6.5 miles so I could add a little more and ran on the golf course off Ocean view highway.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Pawcatuck road/trail mix with Dad. Felt pretty good. First colder day in a while (around 29 degrees) in whats been a warm last 2 weeks.

Friday: 10 Miles

Bluff Point +  Haley solo. Didn't feel great and had to stop several times to go number 2.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Hammonasett Beach w/Aiden. Really nice place, plenty of paths (gravel or grass) to run and running the perimeters got us almost exactly 10. Nice beach and marsh views. Would definitely come back here for a run.

Sunday: 15 Miles

Windy 15 w/Dad in Newport. Legs felt heavy and dead throughout but a nice route and run. Started from Fort Adams and looped around the southern area of the city, including the cliff walk and brenton point. Cliff walk was wet and slippery. Extremely windy at the beginning and along Brenton point.

Weekly Total: 72 Miles
YTD Mileage: 130 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Hammonasett Beach was easily the best run and venue of the week, although nice to get in something hard in Ninigret.

Weekly Lowlight: Achilles felt sore on some runs which is unusual but worrying.

Movies Watched: *Hobbs and Shaw, *Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, *Aladdin, 1917
*Rewatch

Weekly Log: December 30 to January 5

Been lazy on writing these, which is maybe strange as I really don't have responsibilities right now.

Monday: 0 Miles

Much needed, planned day off. Crossed Museum of Natural History off my bucket list spending most of the day in Manhattan. Fun day overall. Here's a photo in Central Park (foggy, windy, rainy day) I took since I pretty much never have photos for my weekly log. Walked 4-5 miles, so still got some exercise.

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Groton trails, easy paths in Haley to start, small road portion, then cross town trail back. Nice run, felt really good. W/Dad.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Burlingame North trails w/Dad and Brady. Mix of wide dirt roads and single-track, checked out the schoolhouse pond trail. Seriously forgetting the details of these runs, I can't remember anything else besides that.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Solo run from home, seriously lacking motivation to get out there. Waited forever then started late morning. Originally wanted to do a progressive 13 but it's a lot easier to plan for it than actually do it, so I cut down a lot as didn't really want to even run. Started out somewhat progressive, running low 6s with the wind on Atlantic Ave but felt really terrible in the second half, taking two breaks (one because I was dead, the other for a poop) and slowing a ton. To be fair, I was still running 6:30s in a strong headwind but the effort felt high and there wasn't a lot left in the tank. Probably wish I had either done an organized workout or just easy run as usual, and not this weird thing in between. Ended up average 6:20 so still faster than usual. Not a fun run in any regard.

Friday: 13 Roads

West Rock Ridge State Park w/Aiden. Nice to explore a new place, and route was pretty simple to follow/decide on as the red and blue trails made for a perimeter loop. Red was mostly easy manicured gravel paths with a short section of easy singletrack and a section of hilly and technical singletrack. Blue trail offered great views of New Haven and surroundings as it was along a ridge/cliff but was extremely technical throughout. I like some technical trails, but this was definitely too tough as we running 10-11 minute pace for 3-4 miles only because the terrain was so hard as there weren't a lot of significant elevation gains. Seriously underestimated the distance and the Blue (regicides) trail felt really long as I became afraid that I either missed the turn or was totally lost. Relieved to finally turn back on red, but still a good 3.5 miles to go from there (although easy). Pretty dead the last 3-4 miles. Solid run overall, always enjoy exploring new places. 

Saturday: 16 Miles

Long run in Narragansett w/Dad. Didn't feel great, but better than I felt on the last 16th miler (which was already much better than the 14 the week before). Kinda getting better at long runs but they still really wear me out. Split up the run nicely by doing the Resolution 5K unofficial race after 11 miles of roads, followed by a 2 mile cooldown. I didn't realize most people were racing it so I did somewhat of a tempo, running around 6:00 pace for the beach/trail course (maybe 5:40 road effort?). 4th overall behind Chris (who destroyed everyone and ran super fast, not sure if I could have hung with if I was racing), Jackman and Brightman. Was right behind Brightman for the first half. I found it hard not to pass him on the road as he had gone out fast and had been slowing but he accelerated going into the trail and put a slight gap on me. I was planning on staying within 10-20 meters of him but my shoe (really loose because I never tightened between my easy miles and the race) came off in a mucky section and he gapped me when I stopped to put it back. Basically dogged it in from there as my shoe was really loose and I didn't want to risk it falling off again. Very sloppy/slow through the only hard section (through the stone house and water crossing). Almost caught by Mike Daniels at the line. Felt surprisingly decent (although definitely not great) during this despite doing 13 the day before and 11 prior. The fatigue caught up with me the final mile (of the entire run, not "race") as I felt awful.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Cockaponset State Forest for the first time w/Dad. Was surprised how hard (hilly) the blue cockaponset trail was and definitely enjoyed the white and red-blue trails coming back more. Leaf cover made things harder than anticipated.

Weekly Total: 66 Miles

2019 Final Mileage: 1,430 Miles

2020 YTD Mileage: 58 Miles

Let's see how long I can stay at the top

Weekly Highlight: Ran in a different municipality every day of the week (Groton, Charlestown, Westerly, Hamden, Narragansett, Chester). Not sure if I've ever done that before. Exploring West Rock Ridge was fun.

Weekly Lowlight: Thursday run was weirdly mentally and physically difficult to get through.

Movies Watched: *John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum, *Moonlight, It: Chapter 2, Uncut Gems, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The Lego Movie 2
*Rewatch