Santa Monica 5K- Weekly Log: September 2 to 8

Before kicking off the fall trail season, started with a local road race I had wanted to do last year but it conflicted with the 5th Avenue Mile. Santa Monica 10K, now only 20 minutes away living in L.A. Crazy heat wave this week which led to the 10K being cancelled, and having to run the 5K. 

Monday: 0 Miles

+22 Mile Hike

Hiked Mount Langley, my first 14 thousand foot mountain with Matt Adams. Great day and excellent hike, one of the best I've done. 

Tuesday: 9 Miles- South Pasadena, CA

Went back to Arroyo Park, but this time ran to the South with a mix of trail, road and bike path. Mostly a nice route, especially through Ernest Debs park with some hilly dirt roads, and then the paved residential roads after were mostly good too. Bike path not as great as it was cement and a lot of trash/homeless. Very hot run at 85 degrees.

Wednesday: 11 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

Griffith Park loop from Southern Railroad. Out on the Eastern ridges/trails, back on Main trail (only flat trail in the park). I was really tired and dehydrated on this one, plus still quite hot.

Thursday: 10 Miles- Culver City, CA

Tune-up workout for Santa Monica 10K. Goal was 3 to 4 mile at tempo. Started the tempo and felt really weak and out of it immediately, ended up bailing at half mile when 6:30 pace felt hard. Decided to give it another go and made it 2 miles at 5:34 pace, which is solid. Felt hard. Added on 4x1 minute hard with minute rest. Not much in the tank today.

Friday: 10 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

Some new griffith exploration, took the brush canyon trail which leads out of the park, meaning a decent amount of busier roads on this one. Not the best route overall but good to see some new trails. Legs were really tired at the end. 

Saturday: 8 Miles- Santa Monica, CA

Bib-pickup plus course preview. Ran on the palisades park dirt path, which was surprisingly quite nice and then got on some quiet roads. Pleasant surprise for a busy L.A. tourist area. 

Sunday: 10 Miles- Santa Monica, CA

5K race- 2 second road PR of 15:33. Well above my expectations, went really well. Separate recap to come. 

Weekly Total: 59 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Hiking Mount Langley and running a road 5K PR. Good week. 

Weekly Lowlight: Heat felt rough and so did Thursday's workout.

Movies Watched: The Beekeeper, Alien, Aliens, Prometheus

Return to SoCal, Last Week in Thousand Oaks- Weekly Log: August 26 to September 1

 Moved out of Thousand Oaks on Friday, where I had been living for the last year. Only having 3 months left in California meant limited options and there was just more in Los Angeles where I moved to. 

Monday: 8 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Last time doing the Camarillo bike paths route. 

Tuesday: 12 Miles

AM 6 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

Sepulveda Basin loop, went for a workout with a 2 mile tempo right around 5:40 pace. Felt a little forced but not terrible, decent for first workout back. Was originally to run in Calabasas but was running some moving-related errands in L.A. and worked out better here. 

PM 6 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Final vista del mar loop, which I probably did 30 times over the year. Just a really nice trail. Great weather in the evening too.

Wednesday: 7 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Sandstone Peak, highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. I wanted to do this one for a while. Thought it was in my "backyard", but actually 35 minutes of winding mountain roads to get over there (probably only about 5 miles away if you drew a straight line). Jogged a mile around the parking lot to get in a warm-up, as the first mile of climbing had about 700', which was a little steep and my legs are usually flat on climbs like that unless I'm fresher. 

Thousand Oaks (Newbury Park) is about 500' elevation, and the trailhead here about 2,000'. Had about 1,000' of climbing to the summit where the trail kind of ended and just made my way up the rock slab. Really nice views at the top, especially because it was a rare foggy day down in Thousand Oaks meaning views above the clouds. 

Saw a very large black wasp near me at the summit which was a little scary. Later I realized that it was a Tarantula Hawk Wasp, which are one of the most painful insect stings in the world. I thought they were exclusively in the Arizona deserts, but I guess they are common around the Southwest. Definitely seen some of those from time to time, although not often. A little scary now knowing what they can do, but fortunately they aren't aggressive at all. 

Summit

The wasp

Felt okay for the rest, hit my foot really hard on a rock so that hurt. Only moderately technical by East Coast standards, but technical for california. Fun loop and glad to get it in. 

Thursday: 10 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA

Last run in the Ventura County area (technically Agoura Hills is Los Angeles county). Had a lot of nice running routes out here, but this was definitely my favorite. Possibly the last one here, might have to try to get out there again. Also I think I saw another 2 tarantula hawk wasps. 

Friday: 7 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

First day in Los Angeles. Only place I knew well was Griffith Park so headed over there and did the popular stuff (Observatory, Mt. Hollywood, back on the road). 

Saturday: 10 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

Griffith Park with workout- did a 3.6 mile tempo up Vista de Valle drive, one of several closed paved roads in the park. About 600' of climbing in that. Went out a little hot but a nice effort at 5:28 GAP/6:09 pace and got a CR. Late start and it was pretty hot at 76F. 

Sunday: 9 Miles- South Pasadena, CA

Lot to explore now, tried a lollipop with a dirt "stick" and road "pop", the road pop being the popular 3 mile loop around the rose bowl. I didn't love this route initially because it was quite crowded, but much better coming on a weekday later on. 

Weekly Total: 66 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Nice new routes and good re-intro to workouts. 

Weekly Lowlight: Not running related, but moving all my stuff to the new apartment by myself was pretty miserable. 

Movies Watched: The Iron Claw

Ireland- Weekly Logs: August 12 to 18, August 19 to 25

We went on a family trip to Ireland this year. Turns out one week is a good amount of time to explore this small country. Since the trip was during two different weeks, I'll keep both weekly logs here. Went back to SoCal at the end. 

August 12 to 18

Monday: 6 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Solo Burlingame with Burlingame trail/Ridge loop. Rolled my ankle on the rooty bog bridge section. 

Tuesday: 8 Miles- Exeter, RI

Arcadia Mt. Tom and dirt road loop with Dad/Brady. Had my pupils dilated at the eye doctor prior, and my eyes were really bothering me in the open sun sections, fortunately those were brief.

Wednesday: 10 Miles- Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland

+4 Miles hiking the Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher was pretty cool albeit crowded. Love the cool, windy, rainy weather here. Great views but maybe slightly overrated as this is considered to be the best attraction in Ireland. 

Running in Limerick I was pretty tired from the overnight flight. Sidewalks for a while, then got onto some trails, bike paths, and running on the road. Okay overall, but cool to finish up in the city as it got dark. 

Thursday: 9 Miles- County Kerry, Ireland

Today Dad and I would run up the Ireland highpoint- Carrauntoohil (3,406' or 1,038 meters). We had done Ben Nevis two years on the Scotland trip, highest in UK and with a great trail running culture in this area, makes sense to do all the Constituent Country + Ireland highpoints. 

I was expecting big crowds like Ben Nevis, but that wasn't the case which was nice. Actually not crowded at all. A few easy miles on a rocky dirt road before things got hard. Probably the most difficult terrain I've run on this year- very technical, and extremely muddy. Legs were flat and did some hiking-running alternating. Wild sheep was cool. Got onto a ridge after close to 2,000' of climbing and more runnable there, although quite windy. Last bit to the summit was steep and power hiking. Fantastic views at the top. 

Coming down the technical scree was super fun from the summit and really enjoyed that. Didn't take all that long to descend overall. Great mountain. Mud was crazy.

Friday: 7 Miles- Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland

+4 Mile Hiking

Nice bike path route through the national park, but legs felt very flat. Lots of deer. Perfect running weather. 

Explored some spots of the national park in short walks. Really cool historic sites and ruins and a nice waterfall. Saw rock of cashel on the way back, huge castle. 

Ross Castle

Muckross Abbey in distance

Muckross Abbey Interior

Rock of Cashel

Dublin

Saturday: 10 Miles- Laragh, County Wicklow, Ireland

+4 Mile Walking

Run the Ridge Trail 10K. Went okay, rustbuster race, can't complain. Will write a separate recap. Explored wicklow mountains national park a little bit after, great lake and saw some more historic ruins. AC/DC concert in Dublin to finish the day. 

Glendalough

Sunday: 8 Miles- Howth, County Dublin, Ireland

+4 mile walking

Ran a loop around a peninsula just next to Dublin called the "Bog of Frogs" trail. Really nice loop, some cool coastal road running then onto manicured dirt paths similar to (but also superior to) the Cliff Walk. Great coastal views, then a steep climb up to a higher point in the peninsula and back over to the start. 

Went into Northern Ireland (UK) after for 2 short coastal walks, the better of the two being Giant's Causeway which was great. 

Weekly Total: 58 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Exploring Ireland, best run specifically was Carrauntoohil. 

Weekly Lowlight: Struggled a bit on the uphill of the race.

Movies Watched: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

August 19-25

Monday: 6 Miles- Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland

+3 miles walking

Slieve Donard today, highest point in Northern Ireland. Short one, but steep with nearly 3,000' of elevation gain. At 2,789' it's the shortest of the constituent country highpoints and only one under 3,000'. Gradual climb up for 2 miles on smooth stone steps, nowhere near as technical as Thursday. Raining the whole time, but got very cold/rainy/windy towards the top where I put on gloves. Fortunately there was a wall blocking the wind for the final section, which was a steep powerhike. The summit was insane with winds likely over 60mph, almost certainly would have had to turn back if the wall wasn't there. Of course, no views with the thick fog and conditions. Able to make it back down pretty quickly. Nearly wiped out on some rock slabs due to overconfidence in the grip which seems to be wearing down. 

Walking today included the botanic gardens in Belfast, and Bru na Boinne, a historic site (over 5,000 years old) with burial tombs. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Last morning in Ireland, so an early run in Dublin's premier park. Very nice route in Phoenix Park and a bit on canal paths, although pretty busy for a few miles returning to the park on road. Great weather but I slept on my neck funny and it was very stiff. Super nice park. 

Wednesday: 8 Miles- Charlestown, RI

VG with Dad/Brady in low 50s, surprisingly nice cool weather. 

Thursday: 10 Miles- Dublin, NH

The other dublin. Run up Monadnock with Dad, made a loop from Pumpelly, up Spellman, and down Dublin before returning on the road. Another very cool morning at 49. I had been enjoying the technical mountain runs, especially the descents to this point but not so much today. There was a lot of wet slanted rock slab where my grip was failing me and I could not go as fast without risking a fall. Just didn't feel strong at any point, and very foggy at the top meant not much in the way of views. 

Friday: 7 Miles- Charlestown, RI

Just slogging around Ninigret. Final one in RI until December. 

Saturday: 7 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Evening run in Santa Rosa Valley. Felt surprisingly decent as usually I'm exhausted post flight and late run. Cut it close to the time the gate closed.

Sunday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Old Boney trail loop, one of the popular ones for trail running in Point Mugu. Hadn't gotten around to this one as it's over 2,000' of gain which was too much during marathon training. This was extremely overgrown and not that fun, but the weather was nice as I ran at 5:50am since I couldn't sleep.

Saw Steve Miller Band/Journey/Def Leppard at Sofi Stadium, phenomenal concert. 

Weekly Total: 60 Miles

Weekly Highlight: The variation of running in Ireland, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and California. Also got in nearly 9,000' of elevation gain. Specifically most enjoyed running down Slieve Donard.

Weekly Lowlight: Struggling and slipping on Monadnock. 

Movies Watched: King Richard, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Monkey Man, Eddie the Eagle

Thoughts on Ireland: In the interest of actually finishing these posts, I'm not going to go too in detail. With it's highest point under 4,000', Ireland may lack the physical spectacle of some other countries, but it's natural scenes are still really impressive for their lack of height. Really liked Carrauntoohil and Giant's Causeway specifically, and while Cliffs of Moher was very crowded, it was still pretty nice. The biggest positive of Ireland is the culture- lots of really cool historic ruins all around the country, my favorite being Muckross Abbey in Killarney. 

Got to see everything on my bucket list, although didn't really get to explore Dublin or Belfast very well. Also didn't go to major cities such as Galway, Cork, or Waterford. County Donegal/Sligo area would be interesting. But overall having this as one of my top destinations for years, it lived up to the hype and was a satisfying trip. Looking at the strava heatmaps compared to the UK, there's a lot more trails/more to explore in the UK. Although I'd certainly come back here, I see UK trips as more of a priority. The advantage to Ireland is it's extremely safe and peaceful with the low population. Worth noting the food was mediocre at best, especially compared to excellent meals nearly every time in Scotland. 

Really liked Killarney and County Wicklow, didn't spend enough time anywhere else to make a lasting impression. Would really like to see Dublin more, and I plan to run the marathon at some point. Ireland country #10, but probably my second or third favorite of ones visited (definitely superior to the US!).