New Haven, Ankle Sprain #2 and First DNF- Weekly Log: September 5 to 11

Supposed to be a good week with two opportunities: first road 5K in almost 2 years on a very fast course followed by my XC season opener. Unfortunately, a very rough week- the inbetween workout went well but the races didn't with me getting injured and dropping out of the second. 

The 5K was very disappointing, much more so than B2B and Falmouth. There, I had low/testing fitness and horrible conditions play more of a factor in a longer race. Being fitter with hard efforts under my belt, a super fast course and guys to run with, more was expected here and I had some uncharacteristically poor race decisions that absolutely cost me some time. 

2nd race I've addressed some what in a former post. First DNF was tough to process and disappointing, but the injury was more of priority. Fortunately bounced back well and was fully back by the next weekend so not much fitness lost or a need to change plans.

Monday: 10 Miles- New Haven, CT

New Haven 5K, part of the New Haven Road Race. The popular distance here is 20K which is extremely competitive as it usually serves as the 20K U.S. National Championship. The course for that looks really nice and is one I'd like to do but this year, I definitely wasn't in shape for that. No harm in doing a 5K and testing shorter speed, especially with some goal 5Ks later on and it wouldn't take much out of me. 

While the course was relatively simple and nothing special/noteworthy, it was quite fast. Minimal elevation gain (guessing <50ft) with no real hills and only very slight inclines/declines and 4 total turns with a lollipop format. This is the kind of course to go for a 5K PR when in great shape. Which I wasn't. But I should be relatively close to 16:00 off just base/maintenance training. My goals were roughly- A) Road PR (15:55), B) Sub 16, C) Sub 16:10. Over 16:10 would be disappointing as I shouldn't ever be over 16:10 on a fast course with some base behind me. 

5AM wakeup for 8:30AM start, seems like we'd have enough time but going back and forth between the parking garage and New Haven Green (start area) took longer than expected. After a sweaty warmup on another really humid day, we only had 10 minutes to race time and unfortunately was stuck waiting in long port-a-potty lines. The line was long enough that I'd probably miss the start so I opted to use a disgusting port a potty that no one was using to save time. Not a pleasant experience but better than either missing the start or praying I wouldn't poop my pants during the race. Had just enough time for a few strides before tucking into the front of the field. While I wasn't expecting to win, I thought I could be up there. I felt pretty bad from the minute I woke up, more so than the usual pre-race drowsiness which didn't give me much confidence. 

Really cool start/street

We went off and a few guys went out ahead but I stayed close to them. When checking my watch, I kept seeing low 3s which clearly wasn't accurate so I just assumed the pace was fine. After 200m, I kept even with the leaders and after 400m saw the pace slipping and took the lead myself. I was in the pack for maybe 1200m before a few guys went by me running a good consistent effort. But the adrenaline had worn off and it didn't help that I ran the first half mile like it was a mile race. Didn't have anything to match these guys. Hit the mile in maybe 4th or 5th in 5:05. Exactly what I wanted for a split but ran it so poorly probably going out in 2:25 or faster. 

Felt dejected as the next group went past me, I had nothing and just felt really bad. Looking at my watch did me no favors as I saw a depressing pace getting close to 5:30. One guy started to fall off as we got into the loop portion and gave me something to reach for as I passed him towards the end of the loop. Mile 2 was a sad 5:21. 

I've done this plenty of times- go out too hard, feel crappy mile 2 and run much slower than I wanted. But the final part is rallying really well over the final mile to save it from being a bad race. No turns left, just one road left to the green. A slight downhill and plenty of targets to go after. Half a mile came and went slowly and miserably. No pace increase. Last 1K and last chance to do something. Had a chance of catching a few guys if I really picked it up. Yet I kept trying to put more effort it, get the pace down to something respectable for the final few minutes and kept running 5:20 pace. 

Even in the final quarter mile with the finish line in sight, there was no pickup. Mile 3 in 5:18 with the last .1 at 5:11. 6th place in 16:23. Results here.

No excuses for this one, this was a bad performance. While I'm not completely there yet in fitness 16:23 and 38 seconds off the front was way off the mark. Even a mediocre performance still should have been much better than this. I was definitely disappointed. I was also upset with myself for letting this opportunity go. I absolutely sprinted the first third of a mile, leaving myself with very little for the second half and then got swept up with guys who paced themselves properly. It didn't help that I felt terrible from the start, but I could have made something out of it with proper pacing and tactics. It's not a coincidence that none of the top 5 at a quarter mile finished in the top 5. It wasn't a huge deal with so much time to train but also not a very good feeling to run 5:16 average pace when I'm not going for much slower in the half marathon. 

5 mile cooldown- lollipop on the farmington canal trail. Stomach sloshing and did not feel good. Ran through some hoods, big divide between nice and poor areas in New Haven as the green/start area/downtown was really cool. 

Tuesday: 14 Miles- Richmond, RI

Moved long run to today with a race on Sunday. Doubled as a recovery run staying mostly on dirt. I've done both the Frosty Hollow Plain loop and the Summit-Blitzkrieg loop (dirt roads) but never combined all 4. Ran with Andrew as he moved to the area. In the rain.

Wednesday: 11 Miles- Newport, RI

Nice to get back over to Newport. 11 Miles starting from first beach, past second beach and looped around Sachuest. Foot weirdly had a lot of discomfort in the middle anterior region which was really concerning at first but I kept going and it didn't worsen. Not enjoyable though. Fun dip in the water after.

Amusing to watch the seagulls pick up shells, fly 10 feet in the air and drop them to try to break them open.

Thursday: 11 Miles- Stonington, CT

4xMile on Barn Island fire roads with Andrew. First real XC workout. Goal was 5:20 pace with 2 minutes rest. Felt somewhat hard- especially the 2nd rep with a net uphill. But went well and felt mostly good. 5:18, 5:31, 5:14, 5:24 splits. Foot felt much better.

Friday: 11 Miles- West Greenwich, RI

Good mix of a lot of areas. Started in Tillinghast main lot and ran Shepard trail over to Hazard road. Then 4 miles of North South trail I hadn't done before to Stepstone falls (start of Arcadia)- 2.5 miles quiet paved roads into some trail which was overgrown and not my favorite. Two times where I didn't feel very comfortable passing some homes:

1. On Hazard Road, a home had a sign saying "Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again". Decided not to trespass.

2. Just past the falls on Falls River road, a dog chased and howled after me on the road. After a brief stand off, I was fortunately able to slowly walk around it and continue. 

Took falls river to hudson pond and then right on liberty hill which turns into plain meeting house. Mostly great quiet roads for running. Turned back into Tillinghast and finished up on trails. Tired legs.

Saturday: 7 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Ninigret pre-race. Felt good.

Sunday: 4 Miles- Carlisle, MA

Planned start of XC season gone wrong. Drove up with Andrew to Carlisle, MA- Great Brook Farm State Park. Cool spot with a lot of nice looking trails. This was the first race of the USATF-NE XC circuit. I had originally wanted to do most of them but had some conflicts with other races and generally the standard of the races doesn't seem very high except the championship at Franklin Park, so this would be the only one I'd do. Wasn't too confident coming off Monday onto grass for the first time in a while. 

Quiet and easy pre-race with a smaller field which was a nice feeling after doing so many huge road races. Felt quite sluggish on road OAB warm-up (races had started so the course wasn't an option). Strides didn't feel great on uneven grass. Surprised to spot a lot of pretty fast runners including Ben Drezek (fast UMass Lowell runner from RI, low 14s 5K) given how low key this meet has been in the past. 

Gun went off and I got out horribly. I pushed to the outside which is always cramped to try to move up and felt my left (good) ankle invert painfully on something. Tried to continue running hard but it was apparent that the joint was seriously off. I thought about stopping immediately but it was a race and I was surrounded by people. So I slowed down significantly, got passed to where I was nearly in last. I thought about trying to tough it out but I could feel it was not something I'd want to mess around with. Waited until I finished the first loop and there wasn't much attention of me where I pulled off and dropped out of a race for the first time ever.

I was hoping it wouldn't be a big deal switching into road shoes and even terrain and I could get another 2-3 miles in on it. It didn't feel anywhere near as bad as the June sprain. Much less swelling and pain. 

Drove home pretty quickly as I wasn't super happy to 1) drop out and 2) put the fall season in jeopardy, especially cross country. 

Race decisions were made after the next few days with some time to figure out the seriousness and implications of the injury so I'll write about that in the next blog.

Weekly Total: 69 Miles

No highlight for this one. One of the worst weeks of the year- bad race to start and then finished with another sprained ankle and in a setting I didn't think I was vulnerable in. 

Movies Watched: Jurassic World: Dominion, The Northman, *Limitless, The Thing

*Rewatch

Weekly Log: August 29 to September 4

Normal week of training culminating in New Haven 5K Monday. 

Monday: 9 Miles- Westerly, RI

Can't remember why but went for local and new roads this day. Made good progress on the Westerly Road Grab getting a bunch near Avondale and then some in Weekapaug later in the evening. Fortunately achilles discomfort from Sunday's Camden run did not carry over. 6 in afternoon, 3 more in evening. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Attempted workout at Ninigret, first XC workout of the season with XC opener on September 11 coming up soon. Wanted some moderate/not too hard given this would be my first time running fast on grass in a while. Goal was 2 mile tempo on roads + 5x1K on the grass at goal 8K pace (5:10-5:20). Seemed doable given I just did 3x2 Mile which would be more overall volume.

Had a really painful ankle twist on the warm-up. On the cross refuge trail (manicured gravel) so that's the least technical place I've had a major twist. Seemed really bad at first and the first time I've fully inverted it since the June sprain (had have plenty of partial ankle twists since but no full ones). Unstable/uncomfortable the rest of the run but nothing I couldn't run on.

I think my goal for the tempo was 5:20 pace but I went 5:24 and 5:28 feeling really flat and strained. Then started the 1Ks after a good break and felt terrible- like I was racing a mile. Intensity was just way too high. I ended up frustratingly just stopping after 2 minutes at 5:20 due to how hard it felt. Ended up doing 6x1 min/1min but I really had nothing and ended up stopping after #5 which was over 5:30 pace and wasn't able to keep the rest honest at all. 

Difficulty of workout: N/A- incomplete. 

Not a good feeling at all struggling so much and not completing any of the grass portion but just one of those days where there's nothing in there at all. Seems to happen every once in a while. Maybe not enough rest post-mountain runs?

Wednesday: 12 Miles- Richmond, RI

Carolina loop with some roads but a lot of quiet dirt paths. The Northern section of carolina is so nice with very few people and a lot of pine forest singletrack. I think Carolina North has the most pine trees of anywhere in southern RI. 

Thursday: 12 Miles- West Greenwich, RI

West Greenwich road loop exploring some new areas. Starting from Stepstone Falls, ran N-S to Midway junction, had never been on the Sand Hill trail before which was pretty nice (non-technical pine singletrack). Then back on midway rail and a closed (to driving) section of Plain Road, both of which were awful, washed out rocky jeep road style. Finished out with 4 miles of paved road, which was very nice and quiet but I was pretty tired at that point and quite dehydrated.

Friday: 16 Miles- Westerly, RI

Long run from home, first with a hard block. Wanted to just do a moderate 10 at 6:00 pace for a tester to check aerobic fitness. Not a particularly hard pace but would be good to see how it would feel doing a much longer block fast. Fast enough that it's a quality effort but not too fast that I'd have to race the last few miles or be overly stressed about it. 5 warmup with Dad, took a gel and bathroom break then set off for a loop from noyes neck road to shore looping through avondale. First mile felt effortless in 5:44 then the legs got a bit heavier and it took effort to maintain after that. But still too fast on Atlantic with 5:45-5:50 pace for most miles in the first half. Came back to bite me as 6-8 was no longer cruising and then the last two got pretty hard out of nowhere. Started to tie up in the last mile. 5:52 pace for the full block which is good and being almost 80s too fast is reasonable for working hard that much at the end. Was pleased with this one. I'd like to get more comfortable with 4-6 mile blocks (at a faster pace) but would definitely like to do some 10 mile blocks down the road. Maybe 5:45-5:55 pace for the next one probably in a future block (would be a great marathon workout).

Saturday: 10 Miles- Westerly, RI

WTAC Group Run 10 mile beach OAB- AKA just Dad, Nick, Brady and I. Didn't do enough beach runs this year and my feet were feeling the return trip. Got smoked coming back and dropped hard but wasn't going to push into the mid and low 6s coming off yesterday. I do enjoy the beach runs but feel you have to get used to the surface which takes more effort to run on.

Sunday: 7 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Usual ninigret pre race. Except the park was closed for some festival so I left and parked at the wildlife refuge parking off route 1 and had to avoid the main park areas. Hot day and late start, did not feel too good. 

Weekly Total: 78 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Good week of training overall- got in 78 miles. Would have been 80 if I didn't have a race Monday. Solid longer effort on Friday which I'd happy to get into as that feels much more manageable than fast intervals. 

Weekly Lowlight: Tuesday's run. Just didn't have it all and discouraging/not fun to have a bad ankle twist. 

Made this map of U.S. Counties I've Run/Hiked In

Movies Watched: Uncharted

Weekly Log: August 22 to 28

A real week of training before another road race the next week (technically the following week, but really extended Labor day weekend). This was basically the start of the fall block with my base mileage complete, some hard testing runs in racing but still have some more summer rustbusters with low expectations before getting into more goal races in October and November.

Some noticeable training differences in this block versus what I've done in the past. Focus is consistent higher mileage (still not super high yet, but I'll get there after multiple seasons), long runs and hard workouts to get fit and feel out tough paces/situations but not too much to risk injury or burnout. Trying to go for higher volume, slower workout reps but low rest. Much more tempo/moderate pace to get strong and build endurance whereas speed is not so important. Trying to keep everything hard until the peak of the season to maximize fitness gains.

Monday: 8 Miles- Groton, CT

Slow recovery on Bluff trails with Dad + Brady. Absolute downpour and some river-like sections of trails that I was not a fan of (can't see anything, injury risk). Highlight was running into the water at the beach with full running gear since everything was already soaked.

Tuesday: 10 Miles- Exeter, RI

Typical Arcadia dirt road loop with a finish on Mt. Tom trail. Almost about 8 minutes pace so still pretty tired from the race.

Wednesday: 13 Miles- Westerly, RI

First real workout of the block. Early start at 6:12AM as I had to be back for something work related at 8AM and didn't feel like waiting until late morning to do it. 

Went for 3x2 Mile on 2 minute rest- goal 5:25-5:30 pace. Thought this might be a harder session given first workout and didn't have high expectations. Basically trying to do HMP or close to HMP for significant volume (4-8 miles) in sessions. Did on Avondale circuit to keep things controlled with no turns or elevation change.

Went well- felt reasonably hard but never overwhelming. Definitely a good first session because only doing 2 or so would be fine for now. I do think staying on Avondale is a lot easier than doing it on actual roads- much harder to maintain pace with hills or sharp turns. 

Nice thing about doing higher volume workouts (4-8 miles of hard work rather than 2-3 like some track workouts) is it's a lot easier to hit decent mileage. Meaning I can go for 12-14 on workout days rather than 8-10. 

Difficulty: 3/5.

Thursday: 10 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Burlingame loop doing half trails and half roads. I really enjoy the trail-road mix on easy runs. All singletrack usually means a lot of running time and it can drag. All road is too much pounding and/or gets boring with less visual and terrain changes. Mix the two and it's enjoyable with going back and forth between different terrain but not having it all be slow.

Friday: 9 Miles- Westerly, RI

We were heading up to Maine for a weekend trip so I just ran locally to save time. Went for some new roads as I'd like to complete running every road in Westerly, which I wrote more about here. Had some bathroom issues. Been running mostly mornings post-college because it's more enjoyable to get it done with earlier rather than have all day to think about it. I like running in mornings better for the most part but the one significant issue I've faced is unpredictable digestion. So many runs I've had to keep extra TP/tissues in my pocket in case I have to go mid-run. Let's just say I didn't have those on this day.

Saturday: 16 Miles- Bar Harbor, ME

Camping in Camden for two nights which is a great spot. One of my favorite places in New England (just can't beat the Maine coast). One of the few places I like more though is Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. I was hoping to get up for a trip so it was nice to make it work. I'll often have big mountain ambitions during the early summer/late spring but end up doing very little after July as I'll be ramping up training for a fall season and mountain runs don't fit very well into that (unless training for mountain races).

Picked a route with some semi-runnable sections as the Acadia mountain trails are absolutely brutal. Just as steep and technical as many parts of the White Mountains despite being much smaller. The excellent views and smoother ridge running higher up makes it well worth it. Last year, I had done a very hard mountain run here not realizing how difficult the trails were and was cooked at the end. I didn't want to need several days of recovery from this so I inserted some long sections of carriage roads to balance the pace out a bit and still get in a nice long run.

3 flat miles on the carriage road to start which I pushed a little. Then a tough ascent up Pemetic at 15% average grade and pretty technical. Nice summit. I did this last year and resorted to a lot of walking as it was well into the run and my legs were fading. Fun descent down that wasn't ridiculously technical. Refueled at Jordan Pond. Had to part ways with Dad/Brady going up Penobscot as there were several tough scrambles not doable for a dog. 

Just past that is a gradual (about 12%) ascent up Penobscot that is enjoyable as it is completely open ridge and has excellent views. Sargent mountain after that which is even less steep (6% grade) and probably one of the best mountains in the park. Cumulative fatigue got to me soon after. Had about 3 miles downhill on the carriage roads which went by quickly but a bit tiring. 

Last 4 miles were exhausting. I bonked hard up South Bubble which was really steep and my only new peak of the day. Finished gels/water on the top and felt less bad but still tired for the next sections which was still quite hard and technical. Got through North Bubble and Connor's Nubble. Great views but too tired to enjoyable. Slog last mile on carriage road to finish. Overall a nice route but really any trails here require great stamina and technical ability, neither of which I carry right now. 

Sunday: 12 Miles- Camden, ME

More steep hills/technical but not as difficult as Acadia. Legs/body was pretty gassed today but still enjoyed some of the downhills. Explored some new stuff in the Northeast corner of the park and returned on a dirt road. Downside to using ankle brace is it pulls on my achilles which was getting sore/irritated. Just took it off with only dirt roads left. 

Weekly Total: 78 Miles

Good week with decent mileage, good workout and nice to go to Maine.

Weekly Highlight: Good start to training and fun to be in coastal Maine.

Weekly Lowlight: Exhaustion on the mountain runs. Looking forward to when I have completely healthy ankles and am in good mountain shape again.

Movies Watched: None

Beach to Beacon vs Falmouth Road Race

This past August of 2022, I did two iconic New England road races- Beach to Beacon and Falmouth. Both were far larger (5,000+) and more competitive than I've ever done and were great experiences. Given the many similarities between the two- rolling hills, distance (10K and 7 Mile), coastal/ocean, point to point and big races I think it makes sense to do a comparison of the two. 

I didn't love every aspect of either race, but overall thought both were awesome events and have a strong desire to return to both at some point. I'll go through significant categories, and explain which race did each part better.

First, here is some more information on each:

Beach to Beacon:

-Cape Elizabeth, ME

-10K

-Winning Time 28:38 (4:37 pace)

-Start Time 8:12AM

-My Result: 34:49 (5:37 pace), 61st of 5,346

Falmouth Road Race:

-Falmouth, MA

-7 Miles

-Winning Time: 32:25 (4:38 pace)

-Start Time 9:07AM

-My Result: 39:10 (5:36 pace), 62nd of 8,610

Comparisons:

Course- nod to Falmouth. Both fantastic P2P courses. Falmouth's has more distinct areas with the tight hilly roads to start, lighthouse at Mile 1, long stretch on Surf Ave, then into downtown-ish great finish with tough hill. Scenery varies it up well. Beach to Beacon- great on mostly smooth roads, great for racing, awesome park finish but mostly feels the same, less scenery, backroads aren't as nice.

Finish- nod to Falmouth. Tough one to score- both have excellent finishes. Cape Elizabeth turns into a great park then park road into downhill into grass finish by the lighthouse. Falmouth throws in a tough hill then downhill finish- jaw dropping views of falmouth heights beach/atlantic ocean. Park finish is great, but can't beat the open ocean views.

Finish Area- B2B. Big park to spread yourself around and get comfortable with. Nice refreshment area, can walk down to cove to go in ocean (although cold/rocky). Lighthouse backdrop and awards right there. A nice park will always have an advantage- falmouth you just get emptied into the streets of cape cod with a decent grass area for food but no going back, encouraged to move along ASAP and not hang around. Great dip in ocean, much better for that but a little awkward to get over there.

Refreshments- B2B by a lot. B2B had great refreshments for a big race. Falmouth's only advantage was that the water was cold versus room temperature/slightly warm water here. But Falmouth's food was the bare minimum with just a few snacks and hot dogs. B2B had a lot of fresh stuff: fruit, milk, DD samples plus the snacks. 

Race Scenery- Falmouth by a lot. Falmouth offered long stretches of beautiful open ocean views that went on for miles. Multiple points where the views were so nice, it was distracting and hard to focus on the race. This wasn't a problem at B2B as there was one "blink and you'll miss it" view of the ocean but otherwise absolutely no views.

Race Venue/Town- B2B. Falmouth is a nice town with great beaches/views etc, but Cape Cod on a whole is so overcrowded and has horrible traffic. Cape Elizabeth on the other hand has just as nice of a coast with some really cool spots (with the Portland head light/williams park + trails) without being anywhere near as packed. I'd definitely rather spend an extra day or weekend in Cape Elizabeth than Falmouth.

Logistics- B2B by a lot. Not much to say in Falmouth's defense- there's an extra 3,000 people, more crowded streets, have to get there earlier, no parking at the shuttle lot, line for the shuttle, no bag drop. I imagine for someone familiar/comfortable with larger races, Falmouth's pre-race would still be quite frustrating due to the lack of service/inconveniences faced just before a race. B2B had some challenges for a first-time big racer like me but would probably be just fine with some extra time. My rule of thumb for familiar, smaller races is to arrive an hour early. For Falmouth, you probably want to arrive 3 hours early!

Parking- B2B by a lot. Easy parking at CE High School despite arriving late with direct access to the shuttle. Falmouth is pretty bad just hoping you can get a spot and hoping that spot is close to the shuttle which you still have to walk to. 

Shade- B2B by a lot. Having trees around can seriously help conditions to block wind or in this case, block direct heat from the sun. Many stretches of Falmouth were completely open and I was baking in the heat. It was a warm, very humid day at Beach to Beacon but the shade prevented it from feeling as hot as Falmouth.

Crowd Support- Falmouth by a lot. B2B had some crowds in certain corners, before the turn on Shore and then many at the finish. Falmouth had some at the start (very few at B2B start), then at certain corners through 5K and basically lining the entire course for the last 4 miles. So B2B had good crowd support, Falmouth's was great.

Bathrooms- Falmouth. This is a problem at anything but a small race as the race organizers seemingly never order enough port-a-potties to support the amount of racers who need them. Meaning always long lines when it's too close to race start. B2B had a decent line about 45 minutes out where Falmouth had basically no line. There were also port-a-potties in many more places at Falmouth.

Distance- B2B. 10K>7 Mile. Don't think there's any argument for the reverse. Funny enough, Falmouth is actually the third 7 Mile race I've done though.

Competition- Falmouth. While my place indicates similar fields, I did feel Falmouth is a bit deeper, has more people and I ran a little better at Falmouth in tougher heat. For example, the top woman at Falmouth was 31st whereas B2B 5 women were 31st or better. At B2B, the elite men stop around 15th place where in Falmouth, they made it to about 30th place. Most pros who did both finished higher up at B2B too:

Athanas Kioko- 2nd at B2B, 9th at Falmouth

Biya Simbassa- 3rd at B2B, 2nd at Falmouth

Colin Bennie- 7th at B2B, 10th at Falmouth

Ryan Hill- 12th at B2B, 29th at Falmouth

Leakey Karoney- 10th at B2B, 33rd at Falmouth

Entry system- B2B. Much preferable to be ready to sign up at a certain time than take your chances in the lottery. Plus B2B still gives a lottery back up if the early sign up doesn't work out.

Start Area- Tie. Woods Hole is far more interesting of a place to check out than Route 77 but the street is very tight which is felt much more than B2B with a huge road to space around on. So Falmouth has a neater start area but the crowds are tough. 

Pre-Race- B2B. Better space to warm-up, nice to be able to have a bag drop and not warm up in race gear. Way more room near the start and far easier to just be a little bit away from the start and use the bathroom in the woods. Probably easier to get to the start line at Falmouth though.

I can't think of anything else so will end that there. I'm not sure whether I prefer some race's style of starting everyone at once versus going in small waves or having an elite corral. It's nice to have your own corral for space but if you're at the top of that group you might have limited competition. So I liked Falmouth's less crowded race with the elites gone but the guys at the front of the seeded probably would have preferred to race with the elites. 

Overall, both great events I'd highly recommend but knowing that some of the logistics are not fun to deal with. If you hate big races/crowds, neither would be fun but Falmouth would probably be terrible for someone who greatly prefers a smaller, easy to navigate race (although I'm sure Boston/NYC are much worse). I think I slightly preferred Falmouth which is mostly because of the course and scenery but both were great and B2B certainly did many things better.

Falmouth Road Race- Weekly Log: August 15 to 21

Hot super-competitive point to point New England Road Race #2 two weeks post Beach to Beacon. I was a little disappointed in that result so I wasn't expecting a huge improvement but wanted to be better/more consistent here. 

Monday: 8 Miles- Exeter, RI

Arcadia dirt road/trail mix with Dad and Brady in evening. 

Tuesday: 12 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Medium-long with Dad. E-W beach + hillier klondike and ross hill. Realized about halfway in that I did not have it at all and the second half was a struggle. Dad absolutely hammered the last few (sub-6, maybe faster) where I crumpled and basically jogged it in. 

Wednesday: 13 Miles

AM 5- Westerly, RI

Usual easy morning shuffle mixing roads and Champlin trails.

PM 8- Stonington, CT

Stonington XC Fun Run. I actually never did this since the 2017 inaugural event as I'd usually be off to college that Tuesday. Nice to return. Tempo effort here- don't think it's smart to just race so much in a short period of time but still able to get in a good workout and go to a WTAC event. 

Checked out a bit of the course on warm-up, second mile on trail seemed stupidly difficult. Weird scenario as I came up behind a guy on a loud dirt bike who seemed to be waiting to go. I waited maybe 20 seconds then yelled out to him where he let me go and said sorry. Hoping he'd be gone by race time. 

I wanted to get Garvin's CR and dip under 18. I think I was going for maybe 5:30ish 1st and last mile but I can't remember. Wore my ankle brace with ankle woes this year which was a weird fit in the flats (very big). Not sure what shoes would be best with the mix of so many surfaces (track, grass, road, singletrack trail). 

Got out in 5:20, faster than expected feeling decent. Next mile was 7:03 which sounds bad but that mile was windy and kind of slow in singletrack. I'm also not in trail mode at all right now so I think I could probably do it a bit quicker running all out and with some recent trail efforts (and healthier ankles). I realized I'd be cutting close it to the CR so I tried to push the third mile but was now feeling fatigued and couldn't manage much better than 5:40s. I slowed slightly onto the track so I could mount up a big kick. Needed a 65 to break the CR, ran a 67. Went into too hard rather than trying to ramp it up. But happy with that close overall. 18:27 for 1 second off. Results.

Was honestly disappointed not to break the CR when it seemed so attainable. I ran fairly hard without making it race effort but the CR seemed completely doable given I ran a lot easier in 2017 to hit 18:42. Today's effort felt maybe a minute better than that but was just 15 seconds. Later, I realized that the second mile was completely different and much harder. So I think I would have been sub-18 with the original course. Overall it was fun and good to get in a workout. Not one of the best WTAC events but totally enjoyable for a free end of summer one.

Thursday: 11 Miles- Richmond, RI

Made a loop in Carolina going through Chariho trail, a bit on switch road and then back through non-technical trails and NST. Really enjoyed this, Carolina is such a great spot and I only avoided it in the past because navigation is really tricky. But now having figured out my watch's navigation, I won't get lost. Perfect trails for me- non technical stuff through the pines. So many pine trees which makes it great. Should really make this a frequent run spot given it's only 20 minutes away.

Friday: 11 Miles- Falmouth, MA

Falmouth requires the bib pick-up to be done prior to the race. Had looked at hotel options but extremely expensive in Falmouth. Decided 2 hours isn't a big enough drive to warrant getting a hotel an hour or so away where the prices were more reasonable (basically spend a good deal of money but still have an hour drive). 2 hours is probably my maximum.

Felt it made more sense to pickup on Friday so I wouldn't have the fatigue from driving over in the heat carry over to the next day. The traffic entering Cape Cod was horrible and added 30 minutes or so to the drive. Probably took 20 minutes to move a quarter mile. 

Start Point of Run- Shining Sea Bikeway

Ended up starting the run around noon which was not ideal given it was a pretty hot day (80 at start, but felt much worse). I did a loop doing 5.5 of the 7 course miles. Turns out these roads have zero shoulder and the popularity in the summer made it not a great route. Still got to see the course though. Didn't feel stellar finishing up in the heat.

Falmouth expo was pretty neat as I got free ice cream, sampled untapped sports drinks, free yogurt and free frozen greek yogurt (not my favorite). Bib just okay. Glad to get home because the heat and drive was tough.

Saturday: 6 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Typical Ninigret easy pre-race. Cut down the mileage a bit as I had been doing a decent amount midweek.

Sunday: 11 Miles- Falmouth, MA

Background on the race. Unlike Beach to Beacon, this wasn't a bucket list race I was really eager to do. But it is a very competitive event and relatively close for something so competitive. The course, point to point on the water looked quite cool and I think part of the fun of running is racing in unique, interesting events. Even more worth doing New England events. So I decided to go for it without a lot of summer races lined up and put my name in the lottery in May, assuming I'd have better fitness when the race came around. I got in and signed up. It was almost ridiculous how it cost- about $110 including a forced $5 donation. But I was in, would probably be healthy and I do feel it's worthy to take good opportunities like these. There are so many other big summer races and not doing a bunch of those made this slot possible. For the next few years, I could push it off list not trying to over race, I could be hurt or I could want to do it but not get in the lottery. It lined up to do this year, so why not go to do a cool looking event?

Fitness/goals were a wash. Beach to Beacon was a lot slower than I expected but I knew my fitness was just starting. The heat/humidity could definitely be a factor because unlike Beach to Beacon, much of the course was completely open and could be sunny. I took an estimate based off hard efforts lately that sub-5:30 would be decent but at the very least I'd want to be faster than Beach to Beacon.

A very interesting pre-race. While the Beach to Beacon logistics were a new challenge to me not having done a big race, this was an even bigger race with an extra 3,000 people. That didn't seem to impact the pre-race too much except for having a smaller start space which meant more crowded. What was a huge difference was parking and shuttles. Beach to Beacon kept it simple and the issues were more related to how long certain activities took. But it had what you needed- park at a lot with plenty of space, take a bus from there to the start, bag drop available so you didn't have to warm up in race gear and clothes, and then you can take a bus back to the lot after. Falmouth didn't have most of that. No gear drop- so warm up ready to race. No bus back to parking lot. There was a bus to the start but there was no parking available there. The parking situation made me a little nervous because the policy seemed to be "you can try to find parking, but no guarantees". I made a list of the suggested lots and put them in order from closest to furthest. 

Drive went fine. Probably the earliest I left the house for a race at 4:15AM. Too far out from race to eat breakfast, so I stopped at Dunkin (bagel) and McDonalds (oatmeal) in Fall River (really sketchy and gross city) which was fine. Tastier stuff than home too. It is a little annoying that Dunkin doesn't have oatmeal so I have to go to two locations but not a big deal in this case as there's probably a Dunkin and McDonalds on every corner of a big city in Massachusetts. The McDonalds oatmeal was surprisingly tasty- they had cold apple slices and dried fruit to put in which was a nice touch versus my bland oatmeal at home. There was a little bit of traffic getting into Falmouth- but only 5/10 minutes or so compared to the huge delay in Beach to Beacon. I had also allotted myself extra time in case I had any issues with traffic/parking (as in a second buffer to the already necessary first one which could easily get swallowed up). I went towards my first lot but a cop was completely blocking that direction. I momentarily panicked because the next lot was an extra mile away which would affect my race with a decent amount of walking. I spotted that the Falmouth Art Gallery wasn't opening until 2PM on google maps and after seeing several racers park there, I did so too. Good save as it was only a quarter mile from where the shuttles were. Good thing I got there early too as the lot was completely full maybe 10 minutes after I got my things ready. 

Like Beach to Beacon, there was a latest time you could get on a bus which was 7:15AM. I think I got to the lot around 6:30AM and was at the shuttles around 6:45-6:50 which had a decently long wrap around line and a wait for the bus (not present at Beach to Beacon). Beach to Beacon started at 8:12AM whereas Falmouth started at 9:07 (?), so a lot more time and forced to get there early and wait. 

Arrived in Woods Hole with almost 2 hours to race start, so some time to kill. Didn't have drop bags either meaning more time because no need to change after the warm-up. Probably a good thing as the streets got so crowded I wouldn't have felt good about stashing my bag somewhere. Falmouth's race website stated they had a lot of port-a-potties and the further away ones often have no wait. Sounded good when that's a huge problem with bigger races. Sure enough, basically no wait right away but basically none maybe up to 45 minutes before. Explored the start area. Brought a water bottle as that would be easy to dispose of but there were also cups of water. The street area was tight and crowded, but found some private club that had a shaded areas with chairs to sit down. Hung out there then went to warmup with 45 minutes to go. Ran into Scott Grandfield who was the only person who knew me there. 

I absolutely shuffled on the warm-up (over 8 minute pace) as with no bag drop, I didn't want to be drenched in sweat before starting. Also got 2 strides in case it was impossible to do them at the start line like B2B. I'm glad I did because I wasn't able to later but would have done more had I known. I should probably just get into the habit of doing early strides at bigger races in case that ends up being an issue. Wanted to go to the bathroom again but this time (20ish minutes to go) the bathroom lines were really long. Ended up taking two very public pees, the second of which I probably could have been arrested for if I was caught (basically behind a wall on private property 10 meters from thousands of people who couldn't see me but barely). But I was about to race and it felt worth it not having to pee badly on the start line. I've heard pros have taken much more public bathroom breaks before races and when it comes to it, it's probably worth it not having another thing to worry about during the race. I have to imagine half, if not more people on the start line had to pee badly which can't be comfortable. A problem that comes with having to hydrate well. Such a conundrum because you have to drink a lot of water to be properly fueled for the races which forces many bathroom stops when there isn't time to wait in lines before a big race.

I got into the seeded corral which was nice rather than taking your spot with the other 9,000 people. Unfortunately, actually doing a pre-race routine and showing up to the line with maybe 8ish minutes to go put me at a disadvantage as many slower, less serious looking runners just clogged the start line. I looked at their race attire and shoes (many just wearing trainers) so it was a little annoying that these people I would almost certainly beat would start higher up because they waited around at the start for 30 minutes to mark their spot. Also no strides. Kind of frustrating given the elites were just doing normal strides like it wasn't a massive race (to be clear I don't have a problem with that, it was just tough to stand around packed in watching that). I was hoping once the elites went off, since we had a three minute buffer we could get some strides in but no such luck. Spotted Kyle Merber with us with the seeded which was interesting given his running credentials. The announcer here was great. Earlier on he gave a short interview with a guy who had done every Falmouth to date (this was the 50th running) and asked him "Will you be with us for another 50 Falmouth Road Races?". After the elites took off, he stated "Now we have the real race, am I right?" which I thought was funny. 

Our race went off and the start was bit frantic as I had to go pretty wide to get around the less serious runners who thought it was cool to start in front but not too wide to crash into any barriers. All good after 30 seconds or so. I felt my pace was controlled and reasonable for a 7 mile race, but maybe just half a mile in (similar to B2B), the pace started to slip away and I had to work a lot harder to maintain it. Still felt like a good effort, but there was no cruising to maintain it- it had to be worked for. Early on, there were some stunning open views of the Ocean and I was distracted for a little bit, finding myself gazing towards the water. Had to remind myself I was here to race and refocus on the road and those ahead of me. The top 30-40 runners going off early was great as it felt like I was in the race. On long stretches in the first three miles, I could see the lead pack, Kyle Merber just behind them and then the chase pack who I was just behind. Only 10-15 guys ahead of me total. Whereas in B2B, I was simply one guy lost in a sea of competitive runners. While I love the idea of pack running, the pace seemed a little too fast and the hilly first 5K would be easier if I just relaxed and ran it at my pace. I decided instead to try to stay near a red singlet guy who also decided not to go with the pack but was just ahead of me (and looked strong). First mile end was nice right near a lighthouse and with a slight downhill. 

For the first 5K, I felt strong but working hard and kept every split under 5:30 which I was happy with given the hills (GAP around 5:20 average). Scattered section of crowds/cheering, which after the 5K point the crowd support was phenomenal.

I thought the narrow roads wouldn't be fun to race on given my discomfort with them on Friday but I was wrong. It was pretty cool hitting these narrow, windy and rolling roads hard with woods and greenery on both sides. A different setting to race from so many long, flat and open stretches of road typical in road races. Any pack started to get away from me but I tried to stay relatively close to red singlet guy. Like most road races this year, I was better at the downs than the uphills. But early enough in that it wasn't a huge difference.

After 5K, we exited the rolling hills and shade- the next mile would be in the open sun and pancake flat (it was pretty much flat until the last half mile). We had a 1.5 mile section of Surf Ave which had fantastic views of the ocean throughout. I thought feeling reasonably strong over the hills around 5:30 pace meant I could cut down some time with the same effort with no hills. I did not really take the heat into consideration. Mile 4 was weird. Still pushing well but the strength I felt earlier was fading and I started to feel a bit drowsy. Enough to run a respectable 5:31 but a lower quality mile given the flat surface. Any packs ahead before had now fallen apart as there were a bunch of scattered guys running on their own- both ones ahead who were fading and ones behind who were picking it up. The crowd support from here to the finish was fantastic with people pretty much lining the streets most of the way.

Shortly after the 4th mile, I started to feel the heat get intense and the energy to really fade. Over the next half mile, drowsiness turned into weakness, form drooped a bit and the drive I had to run a steady pace over the hills early faded away. The road was so close to the water (maybe 20m of beach between the road and water) that it was tempting to run into and seek relief from the heat. 

I was happy to turn off Surf Drive to make progress towards the finish, but the next road was more uncomfortable as fatigue was starting to hit pretty hard. I passed red singlet just before and now there was a lot of passing both ways. Just about everyone who passed me was not going much faster but it was enough that I didn't give much chase in my weakened state. It was clear that a lot of people were suffering. Mile 5 in 5:40 which was the official start of the fall off. 

The next mile and half was suffering going back on some long stretches of road. Had a little bit of relief in it being shaded again but I was just cooked at that point. Felt really terrible for that portion, just that horrible feeling of being nearly completely depleted during a race while feeling way overheated. Mile 6 in 5:48. Probably a contender for one of my worst race miles of the year given it was completely flat and plenty of competition. I was slowing even more the next half mile which really dragged on. I took a very small victory thinking I had gone through 10K maybe 15-20 seconds faster than Beach to Beacon but later the official split was one second slower. 

With half a mile to go, I started to pick it up and make a drive for the finish. I'm trying to work on finishing strong even in bad races as it can make up a decent chunk of time, provides a positive takeaway when the result is disappointing (pushing to end, not packing it in) and is a good habit to get into. After all, if you can have a respectable close when everything has fallen apart the close should be really good during a strong race. 

I passed a guy and surged up the final hill which I knew was upcoming and pretty much the end of the race. I thought "Wow, that wasn't bad at all. Time to kick to the finish which should be all downhill". Turns out it wasn't so bad because it was simply a small bump before the real hill and I turned the corner to reveal a much bigger hill (not a big hill, but a challenge at the end of the hot race). I sank like a stone on this as the guy passed me back quickly. But I stayed with him, battled the pain of the top and turned gears to go downhill to the finish which I opened back up for the pass. Not my strongest kick as the finish line seemed to never appear and I was gassed from the race and trying to kick early. It seemed like I'd break 39 but just missed and 39:10 officially. 5:36 last mile so decent after dying a bit for 5 and 6.

I wasn't thrilled with this as I was shooting for sub-5:30 average which seemed doable but got 5:34 on strava and 5:36 officially in the results. That being said it was an improvement over Beach to Beacon (5:37 pace) for slightly longer so it is a little bit of progress. I feel like I raced it a little better too with the first half being solid whereas B2B I faded/fell off early. Sure, I blew up somewhat towards the end so the paces ended up similar but at least I was close to goal pace through half the race versus maybe a quarter of the way at B2B. Felt a little bit stronger too. Conditions were brutal today- definitely worse than B2B especially with all the open hot sections which evens out the extra hills at B2B. I combed through strava activities of the race and it was hard to find people who didn't blow up. Many much, much worse than me including/especially the elites. So just a tough day all around whereas B2B didn't seem to see anywhere near as much as carnage. Thinking the weather hit me harder today whereas B2B was more feeling the burn of racing for the first time in a while and also not totally having it that day. 

Ended up finishing 62nd- full results here. At first, I was listed at 61st which is the exact same place as Beach to Beacon but Kyle Merber's time was screwed up as he was registered as an elite but started with everyone else. 8,610 finishers so this is now the biggest race I've done. Supposed to be a field of 10,000 so I wonder if that many people really dropped out.

Really cool finish with a superb water view coming into view and Martha's Vineyard in the background. I was pretty overheated so I asked one of the volunteers if I could head over to beach which I was fortunately allowed to do. Great dip in the Ocean, cool enough to reduce the body heat but not cold enough to have trouble getting in (probably similar temp to Westerly). Overheard someone walking by say "That's genius. Go run the race and then go into the ocean". Got back into the chute for a longish walk to the food. Not great- some packaged snacks plus a hot dog stand (which was actually pretty good). Jogged back to the car carrying a bag with my snacks and water which was not enjoyable as I felt quite depleted. Thankfully only 1.5 miles instead of 4 like B2B. 

Overall a great event with a really nice course and stellar competition but some real logistic challenges which aren't fun to deal with. I would definitely like to come back next year if it fits into the schedule but definitely down the road soon. 

Found this on my car, which I found a little annoying given 1) the Falmouth site says to park at any lots not open and 2) I left around 11AM, well before their business opened. Would definitely park here again.

I'll post a separate post comparing Beach to Beacon and Falmouth and what each does better as they are such similar events in so many ways. 

Weekly Total: 73 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Experiencing the Falmouth Road Race for the first time.

Weekly Lowlight: Suffering in the heat at Falmouth.

Movies Watched: *The Other Guys, Stepbrothers

*Rewatch

End of a two-week summer season just testing the waters getting back to racing with only base fitness/mileage and having some fun with the WTAC events as workouts (except Bottone which I raced). Fun 4 races in three weeks with a fun run and Stonington XC as workouts. Nice way to increase fitness and test the body without having to do hard workouts. Starting real workouts the following weeks with good indications of current fitness- at a decent place but a long ways to go. No races the following week which is a good thing after a lot recently.

Bottone Mile and Sharon Triathlon- Weekly Log: August 8 to 14

Bottone Mile up on Wednesday. Never prepared to basically sprint on the roads but even less so this year. Becoming an annual event for me- 3rd year in a row and would have been 5th had I not been injured in 2019.

Then got in my triathlon for the year. A last minute decision, wasn't going to do a tri as I didn't want to do bike or swim training gearing up for harder running but didn't want to miss out on a fun triathlon and just trained through it/had fun. Was going to do the more local Niantic Bay triathlon for the second year in a row it was sold out when I went to sign up. This year was closer though as I had gotten through the entire registration process before showing it sold out, meaning it sold out while I was registering. I did wait last minute to make sure swimming/biking was okay which I don't regret in case I didn't feel ready for it. I wish HMF showed the amount of spots left as I would have tried to sign up earlier in the day had I known it was about to sell out. 

Ended up finding the Sharon (MA) Triathlon which wasn't far. Mostly very nice courses so perhaps even preferable to Niantic Bay where the run course looks awful. Lucked out with great weather too. I originally thought about doing Bobby Doyle but just didn't feel ready for that with my B2B result and had another road race on deck next week at Falmouth.

Monday: 6 Miles- Charlestown, RI

+ .5 Mile swim, 9 Mile bike

Triathlon practice/tune-up. Burlingame is the spot for this swimming in the pond and good hilly roads to test the bike out on. I didn't take it as seriously as last year where I hit all legs hard including transitions, but tried to push some of the swim and bike. 

Miserable weather day. Run shows (at 10:20AM) 81 degrees, feel like 89 and 88% humidity. Not fun. Even swim felt uncomfortably warm. Did most of this with Dad. Fell really far behind in the swim which was struggle. I had goggle issues throughout so I stopped frequently to adjust but couldn't get them right as it was too difficult to tread water and tighten them. When I was swimming, I couldn't get into a rhythm at all and my upper body felt weak/exhausted. 

Bike much better. Regular effort first half then hammered second with some good hills. 17mph average which is good for me. I am not a very good biker but I also feel biking is somewhat "pay to win". If you can afford a significantly better, very expensive bike, there will be massive improvement in speed. I also don't have bike shoes/clip ins which I would get if I spent more time training but not worth it right now (plus it's nice not to have to change shoes for transitions). My point is I'm not good, but I wouldn't be so bad with better equipment. 

The run was horrible. The weather and fatigue combo hit hard. Just miserably hot and tired. 

Tuesday: 10 Miles- Stonington, CT

Full 10 miles- zero taper/back off for Bottone. Not an important race with low expectations due to general lack of fitness and big lack of race specific fitness (speed). Normally I'd go 6-8 easy but valued the training more here and would rather get more of workout in being a little tired and not having to do a big miles later in the week. Really a workout week training through the triathlon as well. 

Osbrook OAB + Barn fire roads with Dad. Slightly painful ankle twist and deerflies in Barn. Felt pretty good- humid weather again but for some reason I had a lot more today. Osbrook is a very nice (and quiet road).

Wednesday: 13 Miles- Westerly, RI

AM 5- Regular double day not wanting to do long cooldown post race. Typical mix of local roads and champlin trails. 

PM 8- Bottone Mile. I wasn't really looking forward to this one as you need some speed and decent fitness to run well here which I never have at this time of the year. Meaning it's a painful race. Running low 5s is hard enough on the road so 4:30 pace really just feels like an unsustainable sprint. I was thinking I'd get my first win of the year with the competition looking bare but then Jake Serra and Sebastian signed up. Sebastian a no show, but Jake was there. I thought I could battle for the win, but didn't expect to get it. Jake is a 1500-800 runner coming off training for those in the spring, meaning much better speed retention than me. I'd like my chances a lot more in a 5K. 

I rarely get nervous for races, especially a low key one like this but the thought of trying to run so fast was not a welcome one. I surprised myself with a 4:33 here last year but that's partially because Jake took it out hard and I had someone to chase. 

We went off. I had told myself pre-race to actually get the pacing down right and not hammer out like the last few and dig a hole for myself on Crandall. In 2020, I went out really hard and suffered big time falling apart on Crandall. Last year, I did the same but with a much more competitive race, having people to chase kept me from fading too badly. 

I hadn't hit this pace since April (where it was a similar situation where it wasn't a comfortable/familiar pace) so I automatically just hit it hard going out, making the same mistake as the last two years. I was disappointed in my lack of good pacing but at the same time practice makes perfect and I probably would have needed race-pace workouts to pace it properly. 

4:10 pace on the watch right away. Jake let me pace which is the classic sit and kick strategy and not good for my chances of winning because there's no way I'd outkick him. I'd have to hope that I'd be strong enough to keep up a solid pace in the middle to drop him. We made those first two left turns the second of which was pretty awkward. I wanted to cut them close to avoid running extra distance but didn't want to cut off Jake. The competitor in me would have surged a little and cut in but I went very wide and let him have the inside. I guess I should have started on the left but it wasn't something I thought about.

Once turned onto Crandall, it was a struggle. I tried to maintain 4:30s but slipped away quickly as it was an intense, difficult pace that I simply was not prepared for. I didn't have the advantage I did last year trying to reel some guys in. Jake could probably care less if we slowed as he likely just wanted to win and the slower the race the easier for him to kick. I knew it was time to turn on the jets to have any chance to win, but the pace was simply too difficult. 

After what felt like an endless amount of misery, finally made the turn on Shirley. I made my move here last year but wanted to wait until the final straightaway to shift gears as there wasn't much left. Jake went onto the final turn. His move seemed easily matchable but it was the classic 2022 scenario when I went shift gears before realizing there were no gears to shift into. I managed to pick it up but was disappointed to cross the line in 4:40/4:41. 

While I had zero expectations and this race means little given the shorter distance and far from meaningful fitness, 4:40 is really the minimum standard to walk away with some decent run and I shouldn't be over that. It's not a good feeling not being able to break 4:40 in the mile. Somehow the final time ended up being 4:39.7. I don't know how and it seems highly questionable with the hand timing but it's the time I was given so I'll take it. While far from a great mile and well off last year's, there was the "at least I broke 4:40 so it's not a complete disaster". Certainly much better than a 4:37 indoor mile where I completely fell apart back in February. 

Anyways, it's fine. It's such a horrible feeling to run a mile race with no speed so maybe I'll be able to work on that during indoor and outdoor and hopefully retain some and do a little better. The short stuff is actually really fun when prepared for it. 

Worth noting Adrian Massie was only 3 seconds behind for 3rd. I didn't really feel him there until someone was cheering for him right at the end, he must have closed very well and paced it better than I did. What a fantastic run for him.

So not as competitive as last year, but still a solid event with 2019 and 2020 being much weaker than other years:

2021 had the fastest 1st, 2nd and 3rd times. 2018 and 2022 not far behind. 2019 and 2020 much less competitive.

Bottone Road Mile Sub-4:40 Performances:

Matthew Walker (4): 4:33, 4:38, 4:39, 4:39

Jake Serra (2): 4:35, 4:35

Tim Champlin: 4:25

Chris Garvin: 4:37

4 mile cooldown with Jake. He's going off to Clemson for his freshman year and I couldn't help but be jealous of how much traveling he'll get to do going around to meets and all the gear he'll got, as my program basically didn't give out anything. That being said, I'd still go to UNH over Clemson any day (or Louisville which a former teammate transferred to). Sure the running benefits would be huge but location matters too and the south is not the place to spend 4 years in. One thing I was very happy with about being at UNH is how nice the Seacoast area is. Just a pleasure to be in that area.

Thursday: 10 Miles- Exeter, RI

Classic Arcadia dirt road loop + added a bit of Mt. Tom trail (extra to what I had been doing) to make the loop 10. Harder stretch of trail but I'd always come back to the parking at 9 miles and be frustrated to do an OAB to finish up. Was very tired post race, over 8 minute pace. Arcadia is great because it's thick, quiet woods- get to enjoy nature. Well worth the half hour drive to be alone for 80 minutes running in the forest.

Friday: 15 Miles- Westerly, RI

Long run for the week. Building to 16 miles which will be the regular half marathon training distance. From home, big around the pond loop through links passage/neighborhoods, around Weekapaug, and back through Browning/Avondale. Cruised low 7s/6:50s then up into 6:30s with a 5:20 in there to put in some harder work. That's goal half pace- very felt hard but also was 3.5 months away at this point so not a worry. Really just finishing up the base building now, getting used to running hard again before some real workouts trying to get fit fast. 

I think this was the run (forgetful of details now writing 2 months later) where some woman said I was really fast on Noyes Neck road and asked if I went to Hendricken. The downside to wearing my nice tech Hendricken track invite shirt is everyone misses the invite part and assumes I went there. Earlier the summer in Charlestown, some guy yelled out "Hendricken sucks". Yeah, I didn't go there.

Saturday: 9 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Lower VG + roads mixer. Better weather with low 70s at 10AM and not humid at all compared to last week. The part of VG between the campground and Klondike was so busy (generally no one or barely anyone here period), actually had to come to a complete stop a few times because bikers weren't ready to pull over. Some apologized, others gave me a dirty look. On the way back, a biker was stopped and completely blocked the trail. I called out to him to let him know I was there. He turned to look at me but didn't acknowledge me and didn't move, forcing me to go off trail past him which was especially awkward as there was a group walking the other way as well. 

That encounter reminds that I had several casual bikers (think basket bikes, no helmet) on Friday's run who were quite annoying. Basically don't move over until the last minute, barely move over almost hitting me over simply don't move at all forcing me to go onto the sidewalk. These people are so rude and clueless and it makes some of the summer runs unpleasant dealing with them. The cold months are of the year are great because the are so few people on the trail and the ones there are generally much more respectful. 

I was originally going to do my long run Saturday but glad I switched it around not carrying the fatigue of 15 miles on me going into the triathlon.

Sunday: 11 Miles- Sharon, MA

+ 12 Bike, .5 Swim

Triathlon day. I had only done triathlons in Rhode Island prior to last year (Oh My Goddard, Fat Clam, Crabman, Block Island, Rhode Warrior) but Massachusetts has many more options especially now when all but Block no longer exist. Last year, I did the Appleman triathlon in Littleton, MA (just off I-495). It was a fun event with a great bike course, low key so I was able to snag top 10 without a super competitive field. 

This year I went for the Sharon triathlon (just of I-95), not a long drive at 1hr15min. Unlike appleman which seemed to be a local, town-sponsored events, this was put on by Max Performance which puts on a bunch of seemingly competitive triathlons across Eastern Massachusetts. 

Early wake-up (I think about 4AM). Waking up before 5AM is tough for me but I'm starting to do it for many races so it gets a little easier. I think I was trying to get there at 6AM. Seems super early for an 8AM start but with a little longer drive and having much more to setup for triathlon plus I hadn't done packet pickup I wanted to give myself plenty of time. The race organization was very smooth and efficient so I had a lot of extra time. I'm learning the hard way at a few races that you need extra time for various things (bathroom lines, finding parking, etc.) but it wasn't an issue at all today. 

After setting up transition , I went for a 3 mile warm-up. It was more than an hour out but we were supposed to be out of the water before 20 minutes to race start and I didn't want to miss getting in the water. Got through all that fine. A little bit of a bathroom line but nothing crazy. I was worried about an unexpected issue- my handlebars weren't capped. Not much time to fix that so I ended up taking ones off a bike we never use in the garage. They didn't fit quite right so I worried they might fall out but it ended up not being an issue. 

We were told to be at the check in area for pre-race announcements 15 minutes prior, but then they were given maybe 5 minutes before which was a little annoying- too much standing around and doing nothing. Eventually we organized by waves and did a time trial start. 

I ran into the water at 8:04AM with my wave being one of the earlier ones but having lined up towards the middle of the wave. Not one of my favorite swim venues for a triathlon- lake was nice enough especially for Southern Mass (and better looking/cooler than last year's in Littleton) but it was so shallow that my arms would hit the ground a decent ways out. Pretty annoying. I can't remember too much of the swim. Pushing hard throughout. Felt long. Made a hard left turn and suddenly couldn't see anything due to sun glare but fine after the next one. The way back felt so long. In Appleman, I felt I had taken the shorter direct distance but here I felt I went wide. Not too much kicking and pushing, but a little bit. 

Out of the water, definitely tired but not completely cooked. Felt like a good effort. 

Swim stats: 17:54, 141/378. Hard to evaluate. Way slower than Appleman (a full 5 minutes) but I felt it was a similar feeling effort so I'm guessing the courses aren't exact. Might be slightly worse than last year but definitely not 5 minutes worth. Overall, solid but not exceptional for my standards.

T1- 2:04, 146/377 (I think the total varies because it includes duathlon and aquabike, relay?). Can't remember a thing about this. I opted not to put a gel on bike or even water. I normally do, but 1) would I really need it for just 30-35 minutes of riding and 2) it would be awkward to take trying to ride so hard in a shorter distance, plus I had put my bike number in a position that was completely blocking the water bottle holder and it'd be difficult to move it. I figured if I was absolutely bonking off the swim, I could take it then in transition and if I wasn't, I probably wasn't going to on the bike. 

Felt a little trashed going out into the bike but was hitting 20mph on a flat smooth road early. Some guys seem to really struggle in that first half mile/mile as I passed a few people who blew me by shortly after. I kept a good rhythm going generally pretty fast and near 20mph. Went back and forth with an 18 year old- I'd pass him on the uphills then he'd get me back on the downs. Went by him for good on the first major turn. Not super eventful- generally pushed well and felt reasonably strong/good. Flat course with only some slight inclines/declines. I passed a good amount of people but was also passed by better bikers. Thought for sure I'd go over 20mph for the first time ever but some decent headwinds in the last third derailed that. Still pleased to go over 19mph for the first time and my fastest bike at 19.6mph. A very nice course.

38:23 for 12 miles, officially 19.2mph with the slow down/bike walking in and out of transition. 93/377. I thought for a while I was better at swimming than biking but now doing both appleman and this off no training and placing better in the bike, I think I'm a little better at the bike. A solid ride, probably equivalent to last year's appleman performance (18.8mph on a hillier course).

T2- 48 seconds, 16/375. Helped greatly by not having to switch shoes.

Run- it went well. Great weather today, low 60s to start and low humidity (helped the Bobby Doyle guys out). Goal was to hit 5:45 for the first mile feeling heavy off the bike and then get into the 5:30s for the rest. Unlike Appleman, I didn't have a major breathing struggle and hurting big time to get out in the run. It felt hard and the legs were heavy but it was manageable. I ran easy out of the dirt parking/transition for 30 seconds then ramped it to what felt like a hard tempo effort.

I thought we'd have to run on the sidewalk with bikers still out on the right for the first part and the roads being open to traffic but it was quiet enough I ran just next to it. A few uncomfortable moments stepping on and off the sidewalk for cars but after seeing some just run right to the bikers, I crossed the street and ran on the right as well. No sidewalk there and running tangents more efficiently. The run was pretty flat as well so not much of pace variation. Also 4.4 miles instead of the usual 5K so I had a bit more. Passed a lot of people. 

Out in 5:35- great. Maintained that next two miles- 5:36 and 5:35 again. Consistent. Passing less people further on. Nice to have targets to visually go after. So many seemed really far away and unreachable but I caught everyone I saw. Helps to be running 5:30 pace when they are doing 7:00. Felt like a good, hard tempo with heavy legs but reasonably comfortable. I turned the jets on and raced the last mile or so. 5:23 for the last full mile. No longer comfortable. Passing became harder as I was running out of room and had to increase the pace to get people. Came through the finish with one more target and he saw me coming. Absolutely sent it through the line and made it hurt. 

Run- 1st in 24:08, 5:29 average pace. Easily my best triathlon run performance. My fastest prior was 5:50s at Rhode Warrior sprint for 3.5. Solid, but not great when I can run 5:00s without a swim and bike. I think 5:30- maybe 20s off what I could do on a pure running race is very good. I felt strong, closed well. Definitely happy with this leg although I'll admit the flat course and great weather helped. Kind of a weird feeling to do a road 10K at 5:37 pace just last weekend and then run 5:29 pace for just 1.8 miles less with a bike and swim in my legs. Sure, some of that was the hills and humidity but the road 10K should be at least 5s faster per mile. Today went well but also indicated I should have a bit more for fitness than I thought. Or maybe the heat/humidity is really that much of time killer if you don't specifically train in it.

Overall- 22nd place of 375. Full results. More competitive than Appleman where I got 9th. Happy overall, solid legs all around. Could do better with more training of course which I would like to do eventually when I'm not so focused on pursuing running goals.

Great venue and event, would definitely do again or do some of the other Max Performance events. 

4.5 mile cooldown through some nice trails. Some painful partial ankle twists though, showing while I have had a lot of recovery in 2 months, there's still a long ways to go for full ankle health and running trails hard again. Bonked towards the end. Got a glass for 2nd in AG and a hot chicken + rice meal which looked greatly but really tasted just okay. 

Weekly Highlight: Sharon Triathlon. Fun times returning to the triathlon and a solid run.

Weekly Lowlight: The brutal feeling of racing a road mile without the shorter speed to do well.

Movies Watched: *The Shawshank Redemption, *Donnie Brasco

*Rewatch

I'm trying to catch up on the blog but am only falling further behind with so many summer events to recap. Next week's will take a while as Falmouth was a big events, but should be able to get through September quickly. 

Beach to Beacon- Weekly Log: August 1 to 7

I generally enjoy the beginning of summer the most. It's great to see the trees full of green leaves after many months of being bare, comfortable short sleeves weather, get to swim after runs again and go back into the mountains. By the time August rolls around, I typically am doing less in the mountains (usually gearing for XC or a fall race season), the fresh feeling of warmer weather, swimming and green leaves has worn off and the temperature ticks up to extremely uncomfortable marks. There's almost two acclimation periods- one for getting used to early summer weather and then a second for how brutal in gets in August. This week was a particularly hot and humid one and was testing.

As for training, this was the first race in a while. I probably would have taken a few more base weeks to really feel comfortable in the 70s for mileage and get a few more long runs before working out but now I had run out of time and it would be a poor decision to go into the race with zero harder efforts. I actually felt underprepared enough that I probably wouldn't have raced if I wasn't already signed up. 

Monday: 7 Miles- Stonington, CT

Barn lollipop. Full loop around the fire roads, half of which were really overgrown. Would be a nice double spot when the trails are cleared. The overgrowth was terrible in a few spots having that awful feeling of everything brushing up against me. I turned around to get a glimpse of how many deerflies were on me leaving Barn Island. I figured there would be 5-10 but instead there was just a huge cloud of maybe 100. I picked it up and little and was happy to see them all gone shortly after.

Tuesday: 10 Miles- Richmond, RI

Similar loop to last week's blitzkrieg-summit road but with a few changes. More trails in the middle, ran on dove crest trail to bypass summit (not my favorite) and then finish up on KG ranch road and arcadia trail. This was a miserably hot run and could just feel the intense heat in my body by the end. We went into the wood river to cool off after which was so low I had to pretty much lie down to cover my whole body. But it was cold and felt great.

Wednesday: 12 Miles- Westerly, RI

AM 5- Easy Champlin-Newbury loop.

PM 7- Westerly Fun Run. First workout in a while. Goal was 5:25 which would be roughly goal 10K pace for Saturday. Was hoping to get through it while feeling reasonably good but just getting through it at all would be a success after zero workouts. Haven't hit any kind of pace in long enough that I was a little bit nervous about trying to run sub-5:30.

Went out at a hard effort but enough to be relaxed and controlled. I was a bit fast right away but the pace quickly slipped down and I suddenly had to tap into several more gears to hold it. I was a little concerned but kept pushing, distracted by several kids who were right on my heels and I was wondering why they were hammering. The first mile went by quickly as it always does in 5:15. Okay, a little fast.

Mile 2 was harder with the hills but still hit 5:26 when I knew I was good to hit my overall pace. Cruised down Crandall feeling strong (such a fast stretch of road) then the last kilometer suddenly felt really hard. Hurting but kept it together enough to maintain pace. Kicked it in a little bit, but not as much as I would have in a race. 16:43 for the win, which ended up being my first win here in 2 years (beat by Sebastian consistently last year) and one of the faster times I've run. Controlled but hard through 2.5 was a good sign given I was faster than pace- last bit not as great but I do think the whole run could have been controlled/strong if I had paced better. 

At the very least, it gave me the go ahead to go for 5:25 pace on Saturday. Called it roughly 33:30, which would be a PR. Seemed doable with this first workout getting me used to running hard again. Good for a first workout, especially given my pre-june ankle sprain tempo attempts weren't pretty. Basically racing just to run 3-4 miles anywhere from 5:35 to 6:00 pace. So 5:17 pace today with some controlled was a good sign. Difficulty: 3/5.

Thursday: 10 Miles- Westerly, RI

10 Mile low-tide beach OAB. The slope and challenge of the running on the beach really got to me on the way back (plus the always high humidity) and I struggled.

Friday: 7 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Ninigret easy pre-race. Felt pretty good. Looking back now, I've done every pre-race this year at Ninigret (excluding school races) except Loon as I ran near the race the day before. I guess it's a good place to do a pre-race: pancake flat, quiet, good area for strides, soft surfaces and roads but surprised I didn't change it up more. I don't think I planned for every pre-race to be here but I can't remember.

Saturday: 13 Miles- Cape Elizabeth, ME

Beach to Beacon 10K- this had been a bucket list race for me for a while. I'm not sure what drew me to it but I was looking for competitive summer events and signed up in 2019. I like their online registration progress- it opens on a certain Thursday in March at 7:00AM and you enter a queue. You wait a few minutes then are given the option to sign up. If you get there too late, you miss your opportunity and have to take your chances in the lottery. So many other races with limited spots are lottery which is complete luck. Here you get rewarded for paying attention to the sign up process and being ready to register early. 

This was actually the first successful attempt to do the race after 3 attempts. I had signed up in 2019 (and so had my Dad as well as the following year) but had terrible injuries throughout the summer and it would have been stupid just to do it easy as I couldn't even run 3 miles without pain. I signed up again in 2020 but it was cancelled due to COVID. I was hopeful to try again in 2021 but the organizers completely dropped the ball and basically never updated the site. After a while, they announced the 2022 race would happen. There was a code sent out to 2020 registrants to register before the general public registration but it went to my spam meaning I never saw it, missed the deadline and once again had to wake up early to sign up. Fortunately all went okay and Dad and I got in.

I had it on my calendar all year but didn't put much thought into it. I figured I'd be decently fit by then and could do well but then my fitness was reset after the June ankle sprain so now I was coming in underprepared. Fortunately still enough of a base to have some racing expectations. Wednesday had increased my confidence but one workout certainly wasn't enough. But at least told me I probably wouldn't run horrible.

Woke up 4:30AM in Andover, MA where we stayed for the night. 1.5 hours to Cape Elizabeth which was reasonable. We grabbed breakfast at Dunkin which is a great option when not being at home or having access to a stove (huge advantage of camping is portable propane stove). 

We made good progress until maybe 15 minutes to go where we hit a big traffic jam. This was my first ever big race (5,000+ participants) as Blessing was the only thing to even come close. Which meant I was a rookie and didn't plan for many of the time setbacks encountered due to being a big race. The race would start promptly at 8:12AM but given the point to point design of the course, you had to park at either the HS or another lot and take a bus to the start. The latest time of arrival was 7:15 or you wouldn't be allowed to board the bus which would cause big issues for us. We were on schedule to arrive 30+ minutes before but the traffic was so bad we got there with 10 minutes to spare.

The building for bib pickup wasn't clear at all so we spent another 5 minutes wandering around before finding it. Grabbed our stuff (race shoes, singlet, bib, water) and just made it to the bus. Likely had some extra time but it worked out okay.

Got to the start with seemingly plenty of time (50 mins to start). Except a good chunk of that time was devoted to waiting in bathroom lines. It was one of those days where I wasn't digesting well and I had to go multiple times- I grabbed some extra TP and planned to try again in the woods on the warmup. I thought we were fine for time on the warm-up, but when we got back, things took longer than expected putting on racing gear and we only had 10 minutes or so to get to the start after. We also ran into Chris Garvin who I was surprised to see before the race as it was so crowded in the start area. The start corral was absolutely packed and we never would have gotten close to the front trying to shuffle through the crowd. Fortunately, we were able to bypass most of it running on grass next to the road. Still weaving through people (some waiting in a now enormous bathroom line) and running on sloped uneven grass was somewhat stressful as the last thing I'd want to do is roll my unhealthy ankle badly and worry about/feel it during the race. Fortunately I (or Chris) didn't roll an ankle and we got up to the start after some more uncomfortable pushing our way through the crowd. Settled into the 5th (?) row or so which like a reasonable spot and it would be been difficult to push further up. I thought it was cool to spot Colin Bennie on the front line but I couldn't see most of the elites with how packed it was. 

Crappy last few minutes pre-race. Just stood there doing some light stretching frustrated with how rushed the pre-race routine became and with how crowded the start was while not having the ability to do strides which are a pre-race must even if it's just a few. But starting a race stressed out was not the way to go so I tried to refocus and get ready to go. This was typical rough summer conditions- 71 degrees and 100% humidity. Was glad the bag drop was an option as I was quite sweaty finishing up the warm-up and I was able to switch to a different race singlet. It's probably not a big deal but helps a little mentally not starting completely drenched.

The gun went off. I hugged the left to get around anyone who I felt was going too slow. The first 1K was great- pretty close to 5:20 pace running right with Chris (who had similar goals) and just feeling really easy and controlled. I started to slow a little and Chris detected that and made a small move to pick it up, dropping me. I was disappointed to be left behind so early so I tried to cover it but reel him in slowly rather than making a big surge. He definitely made the right move as I probably felt good from race start adrenaline and settling in rather than trying to maintain pace. But it also seemed like he surged rather than slowly picking it up which created a small gap. I hit the mile in 5:20 a few seconds back from Chris which I felt content with and still very much in the race. But also slightly disappointed to be dropped.

Mile 2 was entirely uphill and I kept seeing 5:30s on my watch which was too slow. It was gradual but an increase in effort was definitely needed to maintain the low 5:20s. I picked up the effort to a level that felt appropriately hard for where I was at in the race. Second mile in 5:30 even. This one suffered from the hill a bit but regardless of the hill challenge, it was off. I felt reasonably comfortable still but just couldn't hit race pace. The effort and how I felt seemed fine but the pace was not. I convinced myself that I was only slightly off and I could still be in the race. Meanwhile, Chris loomed further ahead. I found myself going back and forth with an Atlanta Track Club guy who looked like he was in his 50s/60s. I was thinking he was a really impressive runner to be doing this pace. I was also slightly embarrassed to be working hard to race an older guy. 

The next half mile was downhill and the downhills made me feel a little better as I'm much better downhill racer than uphill in faster races (mountain I'm probably even assuming good fitness). I was able to run low 5s (5:10-5:20). If I could run 5:20 for downhill miles and 5:30 for uphill, I'd still be reasonably close to my goal. What I didn't realize was the next half mile was uphill. 

Love the free pics.

Then my race went to complete trash. Whatever confidence and being comfortable was completely shattered on the next hill. No uphill power. I knew coming through the third mile in 5:35 and 5K around 17:00 that it was not going to be a stellar time for me. The next turn and busy cheer section I was passed a lot and just felt really terrible. 5:41 for mile 4 which was the final nail in the coffin. The downhills kept it from being a complete disaster as it was enough that I'd have sections repassing people and running goal pace so a momentary respite from the tough slog. 

I thought had rallied a bit to run a 5:33 Mile 5 and was thinking maybe I could still run something solid. But I rethought that a bit when I saw my cumulative time at 5 miles was just under 28 minutes- almost a full minute slower than I should have been. Kind of a "yikes" moments. 

Having low energy and uphill strength by this point meant the toughest mile being last meant an ugly split for me. I still ran decently on every downhill but my uphill and flats were so bad it didn't matter. Happy to turn into the park as the road seemed endless and I knew I was close to the finish. I ran a rough 5:54 for that last mile but fortunately didn't look down at my watch to see that being so close to finish. I got some cheers, and was curious to how several of these people near the finish knew who I was. Later realized my name was on my bib and they were just reading off it. The cheers, fear of getting passed and being so close to the end was enough to muster a small kick- nothing great but beats slogging it in any day. I was able to hold off any more passers. 

Crossed the line in 34:48 immediately thinking that was a rough performance. 61st place. Full results here. Over a minute back from Garvin who ran very well. Two kinds of off performances to me- a gradual fade: not having it or not feeling stellar early on and slowly falling off as it gets harder and harder or the blow up: feeling strong for a while or keeping pace and then just suddenly totally falling off. Today was the former which is probably more common. Usually I'm able to hold race pace for a decent while before realizing I can't so it was kind of weird today slipping off so early. Also a little disappointing to run 5:17 at the fun run and then so much slower here, thought that would have translated better. 

I felt absolutely horrible as we had to walk up a hill in the sun to the water. I don't remember feeling overheated during the race, just bad, but here I felt like I was cooking. I chatted with Elijah Caret briefly (former UNH runner) who beat me by more than a minute despite running similar times in college. The UMaine contingent generally ran really well here with guys in the 31s and 32s. The water was disappointingly warm and the water fan they had was also disappointingly not very refreshing. Fortunately the food spread was pretty good for such a big race. Dad and I went down to the beach after but I was too much of a coward to go into the cold and rocky water.

Finish Line Video (I'm at 25:10ish)

Hung around for a bit to get more food and then a longer cooldown on trails back to the HS. Felt okay, but awkward as we had to carry our gear bags full of stuff which was uncomfortable. The line for buses to go back was ridiculously long though so it was the right move.

I didn't stay disappointed in the race for long- it was a tough course in tough conditions and my first fast race since May. I don't think it's worth taking a lot of stock into the first performance as the significant ones are the ones you do further along in much better shape. I also knew I probably wasn't ready to race coming in. I do feel I should have been able to do better than that but it just isn't really a big deal. I chalked this one down mostly to having low fitness and the only thing to do is get better so I race better in the future. I still felt it was a great workout and a nice reintroduction to suffering. The hills and humidity definitely played a factor in slowing the time down, but fitness is certainly a bigger factor now for me.

Falmouth in two weeks from this, so the goal is do better than this. Expectations for that lowered a bit, but any improvement would be progress.

Overall a very cool event. The downs I already went through- lack of updating the website during COVID, experiencing huge race logistics and so many unexpected delays for the first time. I suppose the weather as well but that's just part of summer road racing in New England (and most of the country). The positives- fantastic competition: finished 61st place, can't remember finishing that far back in a road race in recent times (plenty of very competitive XC races though), fantastic course with great roads to race on, a cool finish and really liked the point to point style. I'd say the Old Ocean House road stretch and route 77 section between old ocean house and shore were just okay, but the rest of the roads were wide, smooth and great to race on. Not much for views- only one brief spot during Mile 5 with a nice view but otherwise no clear spots of the ocean. For sure will be back. Anytime I do a cool or iconic race and don't feel my performance was what I'm capable of, I want to return to "redeem" myself. Likely not next year as I'd like to get back to the local trio of Blessing-Kerri-Bobby Doyle for 2023.

Sunday: 14 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Long run, building my way up to 16 which will be my common half marathon training LR for this block. I'll probably get up to 18 for halfs in the future but 16 will cut it for this first one given I haven't done more than 13-14 consistently in the past, let alone with workout blocks. Today was easy effort given the race yesterday. Around watchaug pond on roads + East/West beach loop to get the full distance. Absolutely miserable weather meant a slower pace. Already 80 degrees at 9AM and the combo with 90% humidity was just terrible. I knew this would be horrible without water so stashed water on a spot we'd pass twice- mile 8 and 12. Wasn't too bad after 8 as I knew we had cold water (and gels) in just 4 miles then 2 miles to finish. One of those days where Watchaug Pond was too warm to feel truly satisfying. 

Weekly Total: 73 Miles

Good week of training, back into 70s, LR, two hard quality efforts. Race wasn't quite where I wanted, but a reasonable starting point to work off of.

Weekly Highlight: Crossing off Beach to Beacon off the bucket list after failing twice due to injury and COVID cancellation. Great race, not the best experience with a lackluster performance and logistical challenges but I'll be back and get things right next time. Always great to go to Maine as well.

Weekly Lowlight: That classic horrible feeling of racing in the humidity and with a lack of fitness. Just never had it. 

Movies Watched: *The Lost City of Z

*Rewatch