Weekly Log: December 21 to 27

Monday: 5 

Christmas light run from the house with a handful of WTAC guys. Nice slow pace felt relaxed.

Tuesday: 11 

Morning mostly road run from Bradford with Dad. Over to Burlingame campground, a mile of trail on vin gormley and bog bridges in snow which was surprisingly really fun. Enjoyed this run.

Wednesday: 11 

Met Aiden in Old Saybrook. Did a 3 mile warm-up before a 6 mile tempo. Goal was 5-6 miles at 5:35 pace. Hit the first mile feeling really smooth in 5:33, Aiden surged ahead of me and picked it up for a 5:28 mile 2. This felt a bit more uncomfortable and took some effort. Once we got onto coastal roads, I felt really smooth again and we dropped consistent mid-5:20s. I picked it up a little for the last mile of the loop (5 mile loop, pancake flat) which we hit in 5:19. Aiden dropped off at 5, but I felt good enough to finish the last mile. Ran 5:13 running fairly hard but certainly not all out. Definitely faster/harder than tempo effort but feel good about this. 32:22 for the 6 miles, 5:23 average, which is a nice PR from the 5:31 average from last month. Definitely a really good tempo. Difficulty: 2/5.

Thursday: 12 Miles

Big Burlingame loop with Dad and Brady, not all that fun with a lot of the snow melting producing very wet trails.

Friday: 11 Miles

Rainy woody hill, snow pretty much gone but standing water and big puddles everywhere. Wiped out in a rock garden near the end, not fun.

Saturday: 11 Miles 

Started the Border Patrol challenge, a virtual event of 18 routes with points being awarded based on how many routes you do and your placement for each. Thought Ben Utter would be a good choice because as far as I knew, it wasn't technical and I assumed the trails would still be pretty wet from Friday's rain. Warmed up 3.5 miles on dirt roads, used the bathroom and did dynamics before heading off. Got out pretty quick in the 5:30s but puddles, bridges, rocks and some hills slowed it down. Hit the turnaround around 6:50 pace then felt much quicker going back (net downhill), ended up 17:42 which is 6:28 average. We'll see how many of these I can get to before heading back to school in 3-4 weeks, I still have some non-border patrol FKTs I'm considering. 

Sunday: 15 Miles

Ran the cockaponset trail FKT on June 21, getting lost for 5 minutes and falling apart in the heat. I wasn't at all satisfied with the effort, knowing I could run a lot faster. Was considering another go in the winter, and when Ben Nephew took down my time a month ago, I was even more motivated to do it. Drove over late morning, had to park on the road since the parking lot was full. Short mile warmup on the road, used the bathroom, then took my extra layers off and got going. Like most FKTs, it felt hard and fast at the beginning before settling in and feeling good. I remembered from June that this was a tough FKT to hit consistent sub-8 miles on so I was hoping to be in the mid-8s range. 

Was surprised early on to hit consistent sub-8 miles and feel really smooth doing so. Terrible encounter with 10 hikers or so about 2 miles in. I approached them, they were going the opposite direction, only one felt the need to move so I ran off trail for this portion as they gasped and screamed at me. Anyway, hard to recap this one. I felt good, it went by quickly, and pace was in the 7:40s when I hit the turnaround. There were a few slowdowns, such as downed trees, and wet sections of trail but no huge time additions. Lots of stream crossings on this route that demand a lot of focus as many of them don't have bridges but small rocks you can hop. I went deep into one of them since other people were using the rocks, they were amazed. Hit the turnaround in 54:04 which I was pleased with. Made a sudden goal of sub-1:50. The two miles after the turnaround were tough and nearly over 9 minutes. They felt so hilly and definitely was grinding more than on the way out. However the next 3 miles were really fast and smooth, hit some faster miles there feeling a lot better. Went off trail a lot in the last quarter of the effort, lots of intersections with many trail markers, so I'd pick what seemed the obvious choice then would see a blue/red, white, or yellow blaze and realize I had gone off. Legs finally got tired the last two, and the terrain started to feel consistent very technical (I think I was just tired and sloppy at this point). Just missed the sub-1:50, finishing in 1:50:51. Still really happy with the effort, definitely one of my best FKTs.

Weekly Total: 76 Miles

YTD Total: 3,321 Miles (still 7 miles behind my strava total, wonder whats up with that)

Weekly Highlight: Fun hard trail efforts and a really good tempo.

Weekly Lowlight: The long, slow trail runs with frequent knee high water.

Weekly Log: December 14 to 20

Cold week, lots of runs in the 20s and few above 35.

Monday: 8

Local with Keith. Light rain.

Tuesday: 10

Woody Hill w/Dad + Brady.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Early (6:50) around the pond with add on in Newbury with Dad.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Waited all day through the snowstorm, not really wanting to run. Got out there in the afternoon and really enjoyed it. Mix of well plowed fast roads, icy/snowy roads, and a little bit on the beach. Really fun, got to watch a nice sunset on the beach.

Friday: 11 Miles

Met Aiden in Long Wharf, New Haven. We were going to a 12 mile loop through New Haven downtown and parks/bike paths but realized quickly nothing was plowed very well and we were basically running on very busy roads. Turned around, got back and decided to just to do an OAB into West Haven and back. Definitely the worst route I've done with him.

Saturday: 11 Miles

Charlestown road loop with a little bit of beach. Went a little quick (low 6s on the last few).

Sunday: 14 Miles

Mystic LR, wanted to do progressive if I felt good. Did the usual Hewitt-Mistuxet-River-Jerry Browne-Mistuxet-Cove-Wilcox-rt 1 which is 11 but added on Pequot trail + deer ridge, pequotepos and latimer pt lollipop to get 11. Felt pretty good. Got a nice fast rhythm going at the end (6:00s) but legs just didn't have to hammer. Pequot trail hill is tough. 6:28 average.

Weekly Total: 75 Miles

YTD Total: 3,245 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Nothing really good this week, overall just pleased to be at 75.

Weekly Lowlight: Not getting in a workout. I blame studying for exams and the snowstorm but I probably could have done it Tuesday if I really wanted to. 

Weekly Log: December 7 to 13

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 11 Miles

Watch Hill loop with Keith.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Easy laps around Ninigret bike track, criterion and grass fields with Dad and Brady.

Thursday: 11 Miles

Coach sent out some workouts to do over break, and Thursday ended being the day I wanted to do it. I couldn't get over to a track, so I changed mile repeats to 1Ks with the goal of doing 6x1K in 3:08-3:10. Used the Avondale road loop which is great for workouts since its pancake flat and is a nice loop (no major turns) closed to traffic. The loop is just under 1K, so each rep was just over a loop then I did half loop rest, which was either slightly over or under 500m since the two halves aren't equal. Went 3:02/3:02/3:08, absolutely hammering at the start of each one. First two felt fairly controlled, then third one suddenly I was dying and unable to hit the pace. Stopped to catch my breath, changed to 3x500m on .2 mile jog (1:27/1:24/1:30), dying again on the third one then some road 200s in 31, 34, 32, 33 on .1 mile jog. Decent road workout, horrible job on the pacing but whatever. Difficulty: 3/5 (hard to evaluate since I quit big time)

Friday: 11 Miles

Tillinghast trails, some light snow and wet but fun.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Black Point and Niantic Boardwalk road loop with Aiden and Matt Adams, who was in the area (why we ran there). Nice run, Aiden and Matt were both low-key dying, kinda weird. Pouring rain but nice.

Sunday: 14 Miles Run, 17 Bike

Had little motivation to run so decided last minute after waking up to go for an FKT. Figured either Cockaponset Trail or Richard Goodwin and since the trails were pretty wet from the rain, the less technical, Richard Goodwin was the easy decision. 

Dropped my bike off at the end of the trail, Chapal Preserve in East Haddam, then headed over to East Lyme for the start (Mostowy rd). 1 mile OAB warm-up, stretched and used bathroom before starting. Got off pretty well with the pace actually sub-5 for the first quarter mile since it was a steep downhill on very wide trail. This was followed by a 200 foot climb which really slowed the pace down. Really smooth on mile 8, some rollers but almost all either very smooth non-technical singletrack and 3 miles of dirt roads, some washed out and in terrible condition while others were very smooth. All miles sub-6:40 up to this point, felt very comfortable on the singletrack but was hurting a little on the dirt roads. 9 and 10 were much harder with a lot of twists, more rocks and larger hills. Some tiring stuff in there with miles over 8 minutes but nice downhills at the end where I got the pace down. Realized it would be very close to be sub-1:30 or not and I picked it up a little. Accidentally missed a very short section of the trail with .3 to go, but it has minimal effect on the time and distance. Finished in 1:29:22, previous FKT 1:46 (the guy set the full OAB FKT during the run so twice the distance is of course a very different effort). Pretty happy with it and happy with the intensity I maintained. I probably felt a little too comfortable on some of my FKTs but got fairly close to race effort on this one. Definitely a few sections where I was hurting.

The bike ride back was awful. Drank my water in the first few miles then was thirsty for the rest. Thought a turn 3 miles in was right when I was supposed to go straight and didn't check again until 8 miles in. Ride was supposed to 10 miles, but added so much extra distance with the wrong turn and had to finish up with a long stretch on route 1 where I bonked big time. Felt miserable/wanted to call for a ride but toughed it out and finished it. Really hilly, 1300 feet of gain.

Weekly Total: 67 Miles

YTD Total: 3,167 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Getting my 8th (?) FKT, definitely want to pick up a few more before heading back to school. I have my eye on Cockaponset (Ben Nephew just took it from me and I wasn't happy with my effort anyway) and Quinnipiac as well as some in the Hudson Highlands region. I don't feel totally ready for the high elevation gain and technical profile so I probably won't do that many. Also doing the border patrol challenge, which has a lot of routes near me including 2 that are FKTs Mt. Tom and Walkabout trail. 

Weekly Lowlight: Biking

Weekly Log: November 30 to December 6

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 8. Ninigret usual stuff. More splish splash in giant puddles.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Over to Burlingame campground, where I warmed up and cooled down trails, 10xmin hard/min easy in the middle. They all felt like uncontrolled all-out sprints but most were at a decent pace (sub 5) and since each rep was fairly short, it never felt too hard. Difficulty: 2/5.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Went to Carter for a usual perimeter loop but didn't have orange so I went the safe route of staying on the grassland loop. Thought this would be really boring but I guess I like this trail a lot, because it was borderline just as enjoyable as running all the trails here.

Friday: 10 Miles

Arcadia Singletrack w/Dad + Brady, warm day in the upper 50s.

Saturday: 10 Miles

VG + Burlingame trail loop, really awful storm with strong winds and pouring rain and sleet in the 30s. Got cold, parts were miserable. 

Sunday: 12 Miles

Bluff + Haley, we went on lots of cool singletrack, was fun.

Weekly Total: 61 Miles

YTD Total: 3,100 Miles

Weekly Log: November 23 to 29

 Monday: 7 Miles

Run around Ninigret just before dark. Splish splash in the puddles.

Tuesday: 9 Miles

Barn/road mix with Dad and Brady. Got dark so I didn't do 10.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Wanted to workout and do a longer workout, did a 2 mile tempo on South County bike path (10:36), 5x Biscuit City Hill 30s sprints, 4x400 in 70s on 200 jog. Felt totally gassed at every single stage, probably went a little too hard but guess I wasn't feeling totally on today. Anyway, not a bad effort for being solo. Difficulty: 4/5.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Thanksgiving 10 Mile Rhody Loop. Enjoyed this one even though I didn't want to run to begin with. Wet day.

Friday: 13 Miles

Ran the goodwin trail, which goes from East Lyme to East Haddam, point to point. Fairly nice trail going through several properties, a lot of smooth, non-technical singletrack.

Saturday: 8 Miles

Solo dark trustom pond loops, kind of fun.

Sunday: 17 Miles

Late long run from the house, went 6 easy, 6 tempo in 33:06 (5:31 average), 5 home easy. 6:18 average for 17 miles, very pleased with that. Easily the best tempo I've ever done, usually I drop out early or tie up really bad after 4 miles and have to stop because I suddenly can't go faster than 6:20, but today I ran all 6 planned miles, the whole thing felt fairly smooth and like I had more in the tank, and I ran a decent amount faster than planned. A good sign of aerobic fitness.

Weekly Total: 74 Miles 

YTD Total: 3,039 Miles

XC- Weekly Log: November 16 to 22

 Yeah, I'm pretty far behind. Going quantity over quality for these posts until I catch up. First XC race in over 2 years.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Coach announced a 3K time trial very last minute, and already having done a moderate LR Sunday I wasn't feeling like jumping into a race last minute. However, I figured I'd be around and have the time to pace which I greatly enjoy doing. Did a 5 mile warm up solo which is a little long but was trying to hit 10 on the day. Was tasked with hitting 70s, I wanted to go to 2K. Felt fairly hard the whole time with the effort needed to hit the pace increasing every lap. Could feel Jamie right on me, with Nico and Dylan just behind. Hands down the best pacing job I've ever done, hit 70 pretty much right on every single lap. Nico made his move at 1800 so I stepped off there, definitely a hard effort at a pace I haven't done much work at. 4 mile CD on the track with some guys. 

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Chilly Kingman Baja with Andrew, Earl and Forest for first 3. Got sort of lost but still pretty close to the intended route.

Thursday: 8 Miles

Did a pudding hill with Matt Adams as he recapped his entire life for me.

Friday: 6 Miles

Shakeout short rose with Aiden, felt a little tight.

Saturday: 10 Miles

USATF-NE XC Champs at Mine Falls Park, Nashua, NH. 12pm start so I got to sleep in. I was looking forward to the competitive aspect of this race (15:40 seed put me around 18th) but was uncertain how I'd fare on XC surfaces which I've had a history of inconsistent races on and have had very few hard efforts on grass or dirt since my last season (Fall 2018). 

Got out pretty hard and somewhat comfortably, hitting low 4s which is definitely aggressive. Led out wave 2 with a 15s deficit on wave 1, was hoping to catch some of the wave 1 guys. Had a good group of guys to work with, which I maintained a pretty solid pace with in the front. Racing on dirt felt very hard and not comfortable at all, and I allowed the pace to slow to get back into the comfort zone. The wheels never fell off, but I slowly allowed myself to fall further and further back and got completely out the race and way off the intensity required to run well in a 5K. One guy who I had heard of passed me and knowing I should be well ahead of him, I woke up a little to pass him. Stayed more or less in that spot for the rest of the race, running more of 10K-10 mile effort rather than 5K. Mile 2 was much narrower and pretty rooty, not slow but would require some serious mental focus to run fast (i.e., you'd need to be a good XC runner and I'm not). Dropped an embarrassing 5:46 mile 2, seriously wondering what I was doing and if I'd even break 17 minutes. With half a mile to go, I finally remembered I was racing and that I should actually be trying and ran it in at a respectable pace (4:50s???) although I didn't really kick. Came across in 16:31, which I was kind of shocked that it wasn't 17:04. I then realized I was wave 2 and my actual time was 16:16 (actually 16:17, but I have no idea where that extra second came from). Had a slight happiness knowing that when I thought I had run the most garbage race over 17 minutes that I actually ran pretty comparable to my average junior/senior year HS XC times. I then realized that I had come off a 15:21, 15:55 hilly road course and considering how fast and competitive this was, there was really no reason I should have been over 15:50, let alone 16:10. Not a good race, didn't sulk and cry about it like I usually do but I did get out of there immediately, went to the Nashua River rail trail for a 5 mile CD. In the end, definitely a missed opportunity to run really well but also served as an XC rustbuster. I definitely need some actual workouts and races on dirt and grass to perform well on it, so I'm not too disappointed in it. I can't help but think I would have ran much better if a teammate of similar fitness did it, just had no reaction to getting passed because I didn't know anyone.

Sunday: 13 Miles

Pachaug trails with Dad. Body had forgotten how to run technical trail and was shocked. Mind hated the leaf cover, although I've gotten used to both since.

Weekly Total: 58 Miles

YTD Total: 2,965 Miles

I'm going to skip the highlights/lowlights until I'm caught up on logs.