Weekly Log: May 17 to 23 (w/Summer Race Preview)

Monday: 8 Miles

Easy evening run around Ninigret. Perfect temperature/weather but generally felt really lousy on this one and had significantly more achilles discomfort than usual.

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Woody Hill w/Dad and Brady. Easy on some fun trails (smooth singletrack through ferns) and some not so fun ones (dirt roads, mtn bike stuff). Legs tired on last two as I finished up solo in the fields and did 2 strides at end.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

AM: 8 Miles Barn Island with Dad and Brady. Tired legs on this one and felt really warm out.

PM: Afternoon 3 mile family hike on pack monadnock in Peterborough, NH.  Cool trails but mediocre summit and views. Swarmed with black flies.

Thursday: 7 Miles

Carolina road trail/mix with roads out to Chariho HS, a short trail behind the school before returning on N-S trail. Kept it short and strides at the end as FKT attempt the next day.

Friday: 12 Miles

FKT attempt in Yarmouth, Maine- the 10 mile OAB West Side Trail. Drove up to Dover, NH on Thursday night to stay overnight. Left around 7:30 in the morning getting to the trailhead around 8:30. Went for a 2 mile warm-up around the local parking lots and some of the trail as well as some side trails that were probably too technical for a warm-up. 

The FKT was 1:13 so I figured a good goal was mid-1:00s, with a B goal of sub-1:10 and C goal just get the FKT. These goals are usually meaningless until I hit the halfway point as it's hard to know what a target pace is on trails you've never run before. 

Was off and running just after 9am. I really enjoyed the first mile through cool pine forests. A few twists and roots but mostly a smooth surface through pine forest which was easy to go fast on. The last little section had some switchbacks which really slowed me down despite a decent decline. The second mile was faster, but less enjoyable. Much more of the trail went through powerline meadows and had some twisty, mountain-bike like turns (this is a mountain bike friendly trail). It really wasn't technical at all and I could get going at sub-6 pace on straight sections, but just lost that speed on the tight turns and slight inclines. Popped out on the road for a half mile on a bridge out to cousin's island. The terrain at the beginning on Mile 3 had been tougher/slower than the first two miles, but road running made up for it and kept the pace even. I felt pretty good running low 5s here which eventually slowed to the upper 5s. I was a little disappointed that despite being in coastal maine, there's very little in the way of ocean views, but the views from the bridge were fantastic.

The trail wasn't clearly marked at the end of the bridge, but I instinctively (based off something I had remembered off the map) went left into a parking lot where luckily the trail resumed. The next tenth of a mile was really cool on the edge of the water, but unfortunately the trail quickly went back into the powerline meadows with a lot of twists. I really didn't enjoy the cousin's island portion of the trail as there were 7 road crossings which along with the powerline meadows, really interrupted the feeling of a peaceful trail. These weren't busy road crossings but just made the trail feel less exciting and isolated. The sections that darted back into the woods were fun, although there were some twists and small inclines again that were difficult to run fast. 

I ended up messing up the turnaround a bit. At the end of the trail, the previous FKT holders went left onto a dirt road/wide trail (powerlines again) before taking a left on the next road and reconnecting to the trail going north. It actually shows that the dirt road/wider path is part of the trail on the map, but I didn't see any markings here, so I backtracked to the sign before resuming and going right on the wide trail, thinking that was the turnaround loop. I took that to the road before reconnecting with the end of the trail. I was confused but figured that was the turnaround loop I needed to do. I still ran the entire trail OAB and added extra distance plus running the trail the same way back rather than the powerline wider path is certainly slower, so I really don't think it should count against me for FKT verification purposes (had I cut the route shorter there may have been grounds to flag the attempt). 

The way back was tiring. The 7 road crossings again just made the cousin's islands return feel really long and growing fatigue didn't really help. I was pretty exhausted after hitting the bridge on the return and while I did manage 5:30s again for this section, it felt considerably harder. Last few tiring, but I glad to be nearly done and my momentum kept me going. The only real climb/noticeable hill was with a mile to go as going out had a net downhill. This 100ft climb was really tiring and I was pretty gassed the last mile, my only mile over 7 minutes. Finished up in 1:07:09, good for a new FKT. While it was fun to check out a new trail, the frequent road crossings, twists and turns and not especially attractive sections near the powerlines were reasons I didn't love this trail. It's not bad, but I really don't like twisty trails and much prefer challenges in the way of technical running and big climbs. Opted not to cool down since I was tired.

Saturday: 8 Miles Run, 21 Mile Bike

Nearly went on a hike with friends, but plans fell apart at the last minute which I was mostly okay with as I wanted to run 7 days this week and was having difficulty figuring out when I could get a run in. I was exhausted from the hard effort Friday and driving home from Maine after so expecting a slow recovery effort. Run with Dad and Brady in Burlingame, felt better than expected, just didn't have any drive on the uphills where I was dropped a little. 

Evening bike ride in Middletown/Newport with Frank (substitute activity instead of hiking). I didn't really know he biked and just assumed he had a decent road bike, so was surprised when his bike was kind of garbage and only had one gear. The first 5 miles were busy/urban so I was going slow anyway, but I waited quite a bit the next five. Just gave him the route back from there and did the second half solo. Awesome views from ocean drive, forgot how nice that is as I haven't been there in a while. I had planned 27, but got fairly tired/weak and was cutting it close to the sunset so 21 was fine, especially with having run earlier today.

Sunday: 12 Miles

Effed up sleeping in late on the hottest day of the year. I knew I was screwed on this one and just hoped for the best running in mid-80s for temperature. I expected to feel bad, but was hoping I'd manage to get through. I may have done 14 miles had the temperature been decent. Ended up going right before 3pm so pretty hot and sunny. Usual mystic loop up river road in groton and back cove road with an add-on up Pequot hill, down deer ridge. I felt sluggish and hot for about 7 miles but decent enough to keep going and not be worried about feeling bad later. Pequot hill is pretty steep and hit me hard in the heat as I felt exhausted and took a break after turning on Deer ridge. Felt okay for another mile, before slowly starting to die in the heat. After mile 8, I wanted to try to tough it out and continue running through the end as I knew stopping would make it really hard. I felt like I could do it until having to stop to cross route 1 at the end in the direct sun, where I felt like death. Ran up to the opening in milner cove and took my shoes off to go in the water. This basically saved me and I felt okay enough to finish up the run. Had both achilles discomfort and some weird abdominal cramping/pain. Was so glad to be done with this one, ridiculously hot for May and hopefully the next time a day like this comes around I'm in a routine of getting up early.

Weekly Total: 66 Miles + 21 Miles Bike

YTD Total: 665 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Grabbing another FKT, even if it wasn't a trail I really enjoyed.

Weekly Lowlight: Feeling like garbage running in the heat Sunday.

Race Preview:

I've mostly figured out my race schedule for the next 6 weeks after signing up for some things and deciding not to do others. Ascutney popped up out of nowhere and given that it'll be a great tuneup for mount washington but at only 3.7 miles, not a seriously difficult race, it was a no brainer to register for that. I'm currently 39th on the Chocorua mountain race waitlist. It's moving at a decent rate, but I doubt 39 people will drop to give me a spot in the race. If they do, I'll gladly take it but I'm not expecting to race that weekend. I was thinking of doing a triathlon in New Hampshire the same day but I didn't pay attention to registration details and missed the sign-up. To be fair, I wouldn't have registered even had I known as I wasn't sure if I can swim with my leg taped (if the tape would fall off or soften) but it does delay my triathlon season a bit.

You can see basically the same thing on my race schedule page, but here's my upcoming races I'm signed up for:

May 29- Pineland Farms 25K: New Gloucester, Maine

June 2 (likely)- Westerly Fun Run Hard Effort

June 12- Ascutney Hill Climb: Windsor, Vermont

June 20- Mount Washington Road Race: Gorham, New Hampshire

June 26- Catamount 25K: Stowe, Vermont

July 4- Peachtree Road Race: Atlanta, Georgia

I'm excited to get up to Vermont a few times after not going to the state the last two years. I think it's a good schedule, I was initially worried about doing too much and being undertrained for certain races, but the only one I'm somewhat worried about is Pineland. I haven't run over 13 miles this year so jumping to do 15 could be tough. I think the FKTs will be good tune-ups, but I feel 5-10 miles is more my trail distance right now so those last few could certainly be difficult. I think I should have more long runs and hard efforts under my belt for Catamount in a month and I feel more confident about racing that distance then. 

I'm not sure what or if I'll race after July 4, there's some options in races I've done before like Loon, Blessing and Run 4 Kerri but I'll have to evaluate how healthy, fit and fresh I am and how those races would affect each of those going into the cross country season. There's also Track is Back, but I probably won't opt to do a track race unless I feel I'm in really good shape and can hit a big PR. I'd definitely like to do a triathlon or two this year so there's options for that in July and August as well. I'll mostly likely run Bottone Mile again as a mile race won't take much out of me.

Between races and after July 4, there's definitely still some FKTs I want to go for. Having the June 5th weekend free, I think this would be a good time to go to the white mountains and do a first big mountain run of the year. I'm thinking about running the Kinsman Ridge Trail, but that's very difficult and I haven't really built up to that, so I'm not sure. I'll definitely give the Walkabout Trail FKT a shot as it's local and I didn't get a chance to go for it during the Border Patrol Challenge. As for other routes, there's many more on my list, but no specific ones I "have" to do. I would like to get an FKT in every new england state + new york, so I'd like to get one in Vermont and New York completed by the end of the summer. The Greylock AT traverse also looks really cool and hopefully I can get that in. I'd also like to get back to my favorite place this summer, Acadia National Park. There's a really cool FKT, Acadia Traverse, that covers a lot of the cool peaks of the eastern portion of the park. I've never actually run on the technical trails, so it'd be awesome to get over there in summer for that FKT. At the end of the mountain season last year, I was disappointed not to get to do the Squam Range traverse or a Wapack trail full run, so those are some options for some non-FKT mountain runs. (There's so many cool traverses/point to point mountain runs in the Northeast though, that it's impossible to do them all). Last year, I also wanted to do an all-out Franconia Ridge Loop and Presidential Traverse as I've done both with lots of stopping and not hammering the entire time. They both are really iconic and cool routes and I'd like to give both of them an honest all out effort. Franconia should be doable, but I'll need to have some fantastic endurance and climbing ability to do Presi pushing the entire time with minimal stops. 

While all these races and FKTs will be fun and get me into great aerobic and trail shape, the two main goals of the summer are 1) Run a great Mt. Washington Road Race and 2) be fresh, fit and healthy going into the Cross Country season. I'll continue to do cool trail runs, races and FKTs but my focus is definitely on running well at Mt. Wash and then getting ready for a great cross season. 

Weekly Log: May 10 to 16

Went 1 for 2 in FKT attempts, getting back to technical trail and mountain running which is really fun. Did my first mountain run of the year at Wachusett.

Monday: 0 Miles Run, 27 Bike

Mapped out a route on both sides of the Piscataqua river in New Hampshire and Maine. Crossed over into Maine on Gulf Road, was in Eliot for a while before entering Kittery and crossing back into Portsmouth, NH. Quickly got back into Dover. Passed some guy just starting his ride at the beginning of middle road (Dover) and hit the last 3ish miles pretty hard as I didn't want to be repassed. He eventually caught me. This ride felt hard, need to get these in more often if I want a decent triathlon result.

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Homecoming (6 mile loop) with guys at practice at 6:30s pace. Slowed down a bit on my add-ons miles into college woods and around the stadium as I was feeling a bit tight. Did 4x80m strides on the indoor track which felt good.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

First FKT of the year. There aren't a lot of FKTs in the NH seacoast area, with only a few true local ones. Extending my driving radius to around an hour, I found three I was willing to go for and looked interesting- Agamenticus 3 Peaks (25 min drive), Pawtuckaway 3 Peaks (35 min drive), and West Side Trail (1hr5min). With my last final on May 20th, I decided I wanted to get these three done before driving home, so I planned Agamenticus for 5/12, Pawtuckaway for 5/15 and West Side for 5/21. 

Agamenticus was the first natural FKT to go for on the year, given that it's a short drive and only 6 miles. The previous FKT holder did it in the winter in poor trail conditions, so the time seemed doable. While I had run here back in the fall, I was doing a different route today. The route was simply "summit" the three hills in the park using any trails you'd like and start/finish in the same place. I wasn't sure what to expect for pace, but knew the trails were pretty hilly and technical. Navigation would be quite tricky on this one. I've mostly done FKTs on single trails that follow just one blaze, so loops are definitely harder to memorize specific intersections. This was significantly harder than Wachusett however, given that I had the advantage of having the midstate trail to guide me out there so I only had to memorize half the turns (maybe 4 or 5). Here there were 20 or so intersections and the white blazes being reused on many trails didn't help my case. I looked over the map, strava activities and FKT webpage many times.

Pulled onto mountain road in York, Maine mid-day Wednesday, disappointed to see the parking lot was full of school buses and school children taking a field trip. I didn't mind parking on the road but was worried the massive cluster would get in my way. Went for a 2 mile OAB warm-up on the road noticing I was pretty tight. Stretched out a bit but not enough to feel good. 

Lined up at the ring trail trailhead before starting. Got off well but almost instantly felt like I was decelerating a great amount. Decent 300ft climb right off the bat up Mount Agamenticus (first hill) with the first half of the ascent gradual and very runnable on the ring trail (6% incline), but the second half on blueberry bluff trail very steep and slow (18% grade). Grinded through this and popped out on Mt. Agamenticus "summit" (not a real mountain). Pretty good views there but no time to enjoy. Felt tight and slow on this first climb, but much better on the steep quarter mile descent on sweet fern. Despite being pretty steep at -15% grade, this was all smooth rock slab and I was able to run relatively fast at sub-6:30. The next section of trail was much more technical and a little twisty and the pace slowed. Instinctively took a right turn onto what I expected what the trail to second hill. I wasn't 100% confident in the turn so I pulled out my trail map which confirmed that. I somehow managed to do this while still running fairly hard and didn't lose much momentum. The second hill climb was only half as big as the other two at 150ft and went by quickly, as did the next set of downhill, especially notch trail which was wider and quite a bit faster. The third trail climb, in contrast, was a bit of a slog and felt really long. I followed a sign left that showed third hill trail but after not making any progress uphill, I hesitated and pulled out my map, realizing I was supposed to go straight. Lost about two minutes but got myself back on track. The climb had some switchbacks and felt really long. I kept thinking I was almost there but it took a good bit longer than anticipated. Purposely ran over the third hill summit until I started going downhill to make sure I hit the top for FKT verification. 

The return downhill also felt long as it was difficult to gain any consistent speed with the sharp switchbacks. I guess I did decent as I picked up a segment CR for that portion by a decent amount. Despite getting to skip the first and second hill summits on the way back, there was still another 350 feet of climbing which I felt too beat to do at this point. My momentum from pushing to this point kept me going, but I felt quite tired and lacking any extra gear to push at this point, which is pretty common in the last 25% of FKTs I've set. Got through the last set of uphills which felt long before a good 200ft decline back to the parking lot. I felt that I had run pretty fast here (7:30 pace for -7% grade on pretty technical double track) last time, but having the momentum from a hard effort going, I was flying this time around. Felt really out of control as it was pretty rocky the whole way. Finally caught up to the school group which I narrowly avoided crashing into. Got to the end and stopped my watch at 51:59, good for a new FKT. Ran the last downhill at 6:05 pace.

This is a really cool place. Well marked, fun hilly technical singletrack. Definitely enjoyed the majority of the route and was fortunate enough to only screw up navigation once when there was potential for going off course many times today. It's not a bad idea to do a scouting trip for this one. I thought there'd be more fast/smooth sections to open up on and balance out the steep and technical, but every single mile split was over 8 minute pace and I averaged 8:36 pace, which is the slowest pace for an FKT I hold. I feel like it's very difficult to go 100% or even 95% effort on a FKT as it's a solo effort, you have to concentrate on navigating as well as pushing, and it's very difficult to replicate the intensity of an effort on a faster surface like track or road and bring that same effort to trails with many challenging features. For these reasons, I generally feel that my FKT efforts are around 85-90% effort, a hard effort for sure but I don't yet have the experience or mental discipline on trails to go all out like I would in a road/track race. I feel like today's was 75-80% and a decent yet not great effort. Just felt really slow on the climbs after second hill and too many sections where I settled so much the effort could have been mistaken for a casual run. I think it's fine for my first FKT of the year and only my second hard longer effort of the year, but given that this is my 11th successful FKT, it's definitely not one of my better ones. With navigation improved and more focus on keeping a hard effort throughout, I think I could be well under 50 minutes. Glad to grab another FKT though on a great route and fun to hammer technical trails again. Had some light achilles discomfort but much better than shad bloom.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Chain and back (5.5 miles) with the team into a bunch of local miles solo for 10 total. Enjoyed the group portion but just bored and tired on the add-on. Likely my last run in Durham until August.

Friday: 8 Miles

Drove to Great Bay Wildlife Refuge in Newington for something different but still pretty close. A few miles on the trails there into a road loop. Felt uncomfortably tight for much of it and even when I got into more of a groove, I was still pretty tight. Spent a lot of time rolling out and stretching that night. Great roads to run on.

Saturday: 11 Miles

Local FKT attempt #2 at Pawtuckaway. Short warm-up doing loops around the parking lot, didn't feel that great and was concerned I only ran 8:30 pace. Legs felt better once I got going. The loop starts the booth on top of the hill, runs a half mile down the road to the trail entrance. From there, you can take whatever trails and dirt roads you want as long as you reach the top of the 3 "peaks" (like agamenticus, these are more like massive hills). The original FKT was set by Matthew LeBlanc, a NH local (also had agamenticus FKT) before being taken down by about 20 minutes by Keith Nadeau who has some decently hard FKTs (Mt. Isolation, Blue Hills Skyline double OAB). Of the three local ones, I knew the time would be really stiff on this one and I wouldn't have a lot of room for error or running easy. While Keith and Matthew opted to run the loop CCW, doing the 3 peaks South-Middle-North, I was more familiar running the opposite direction and I found the North ridgeline/climb and descent to be easier from a clockwise approach. Additionally, the 3 miles south of North mountain are mostly doubletrack and quite a bit faster than other sections of the loop which would allow me to get in some faster miles while feeling fresh. 

The first third of a mile was super uncomfortable at a -7% grade or so and was all sub-5 minute pace. My eyes got watery turning into the trails which made it difficult to see or focus. I seemed to have some kind of adrenaline rush and as soon as that wore off after a mile or so, I suddenly felt weak. I struggled to get into a rhythm on the uphills and felt really slow. I'm used to taking the north mountain trail all the way to north mountain, but noticed the previous two FKT holders chose to run on reservation road which cut off a slight distance and is a faster surface. Not being familiar with that, I made a wrong turn onto the first right off the road and lost about thirty seconds taking out my map and correcting my mistake. I was not feeling strong at all and seriously doubting my ability to run this distance three more times when I hadn't even hit any technical or steep terrain. Still, my splits were probably good enough so far to still challenge the FKT so I carried on. Got to the first major climb of the day up North mountain, which is really steep (400ft in a quarter mile, 24% grade). I had run the entire climb and set a few CRs my first run in the park last March and wasn't far off on a run here last month. I was toast on that incline today. Just instantly suffering so much. No climb will ever be easy, but much of the time I can get into a rhythm of running slow and grind it out. After just a short period of time, I just could not run anymore and started walking which still felt horrible. I took a few minutes walking before submitting and calling it an attempt on the FKT before a long break. I was actually really disappointed on this ridge. Each FKT attempt is a commitment to go out there and hammer the full trail/loop, and it's somewhat mental crushing as I usually expect to beat the FKT and at the very least, finish. I also didn't allot any extra time or days for a reattempt in the case that I would fail. The rest of the loop was really tough. I had nothing but still had a decent chunk of climbing left and had to just push through a lot of weakness and fatigue. I did get to scout out the trail locations I was confused on, so when I do go for this one again, I shouldn't have any navigation difficulties. 

It's mentally discouraging to fail an FKT and definitely makes returning to the place a little tougher. After being done with the run, I was fine with it. I probably won't go for this one again this season as there are many more routes I want to try, it'll be very hot/humid out soon and I'm signed up for a bunch of races in the next month and a half. I'll certainly keep it on my list. This is my 5th failed FKT and I'm sure it won't be my last. I think I had some combination of feeling like crap from it being warmer than usual and getting the second dose of vaccine yesterday. The nice thing about FKT attempts is they're so low-key and informal that not having a great day on an attempt means very little as opposed to races where a defeat can be tougher to swallow (the flip side is that a great FKT probably won't feel as good as a good race). 

Sunday: 13 Miles

Was looking to get in some of kind of mountain run before driving back home, but opted for easy roads rather than a hard trail effort considering I was likely tired from yesterday and could potentially feel terrible again. The only two options for auto road loops were really greylock and wachusett and greylock was just too far. Made a nice loop on the wachusett roads with 1800ft elevation gain. Despite being very hilly and getting a late start in the heat (mid to high 70s), I actually felt pretty good on this one. Took it slow the whole and got into a rhythm on the climbs. Big climb right off the bat 2/3 of the way up the mountain before getting into some quieter dirt roads on the back side of the mountain. Really enjoyed being in this state reservation, just a great area. The scenery doesn't really compare to northern new england, but it's fantastic for eastern massachusetts. Got to the summit about 9 miles in and enjoyed the view of Mount Monadnock from the observation tower. Was tired the last three but easy to wrap it up with the majority of it on downhill. Not a bad idea to come back here for some mount washington road race prep.

Weekly Total: 61 Miles + 27 Bike Miles

YTD Total: 599 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Scenic and fun first mountain run at Wachusett as well as getting a successful FKT attempt on fun, technical trails. I now have FKTs in every new england state except Vermont (which is the tricky one as most routes are very hard/long).

Weekly Lowlight: Totally bombing Saturday's FKT attempt and feeling worse than I have in a long time. Feeling really tight on certain runs (better at time of writing though).

Shad Bloom 10K- Weekly Log: May 3 to 9

Got past 60 miles this week and made my debut in the shad bloom 10k, a local low-key trail race I've wanted to do for a while.

Monday: 8 Miles

Chain and back with team into 2 mile loop with Andrew into stadium loop solo. Everyone was recovering from conference so this was an easy run and I felt good. Running 7 days a week is so much better than 6, I had room for four 8 milers this week and only one 10 during the weekdays which makes hitting mileage feel much easier and more manageable.

Tuesday: 8 Miles

Solo run as I'm late to practice most Tuesdays due to Physics lab. Just did a short rose into a faculty plus some stadium loops as I figured that route would be the least boring/go by quickest. Felt pretty heavy/tight starting up, but after a few miles I effortlessly went into 6:20s and 6:30s feeling super smooth. Dropped some low 6s/high 5s at the end. Pretty good, legs are coming around now and I'm starting to feel that I have some fitness. Makes sense, given I'm in week 7 of running again and am starting to get back towards good mileage. Feel like I'm much stronger, fitter and healthier than I was when I dropped the 9:30 3K in April. Don't think I would run anything special given the lack of track workouts, but I think just having the extra 4 weeks of mileage would put me in a much better position to race. Considering doing the track is back meet in July, but that's a ways off and I'll see what how healthy and fit I am then. Did four strides after, want to incorporate these into my routine for 2-3x/week. Really just want to do tempos, strides, long runs and mileage this summer to get very aerobically fit without any intense workouts so I come in fresh for cross.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Long snell solo in pouring rain, plan was to do a 3 mile tempo in the middle of the loop on Hayes roads, somewhere in the 5:30s probably. Felt tight on warm-up so took the time to stretch, get a bathroom break in, and tighten shoes before going. Went out in a 5:26 feeling really heavy after .75 but good effort-wise. I was concerned I'd completely tie up and be unable to finish. 2nd mile actually felt better though with a slight downhill to coast on. At 1.5 miles my soles started to slip around uncontrollably due to the constant rain/wetness and eventually went all the way back in my shoes and were completely under my heel. Super awkward to run like that and was messing up my form so I hung on for 2 then stopped to fix my shoe. Hit 5:24 for mile 2 so still a solid shorter effort. Mile 3 was a slight uphill so I may have fallen apart regardless. Ended up doing the 10 at 6:25 pace so a solid run and much better/more natural than a month ago. Difficulty: 3/5. Did about the same workout in early october a little over a month before running my 15:21 5K PR, so I'm looking good to be in great shape from june-november. Signed up for Shad Bloom after this. I had been on the fence about it and wanted to see how I'd feel after a tempo, both aerobically and injury-wise. Achilles felt fine and I felt mostly good, so I signed up.

Thursday: 8 Miles

Ran a few college woods loops with the team then a few more with Yassine. Pretty easy.

Friday: 8 Miles

Ran two loops around Ponkapoag Pond in Canton, MA on the way home. Felt a bit tight but enjoyed the trail and went by quickly. Drove a few minutes over to the local high school to do some strides which felt good but really fast. Definitely zero speed right now.

Saturday: 14 Miles

Took 11am ferry over to Block Island, had some bagels which I consumed too much of. The other ferry option was 9am. Neither are perfect as the 9am you have to wake up a lot earlier and wait around in the island for 1.5ish hours, the 11am is a little rushed as we did warm-up pretty close to the race start. Did feel a bit rushed with bib-pickup, bathroom break and warm-up. Had an issue getting my trail shoes and changed into them literally minutes before the race start. Was a bit nervous about that, would have liked a few extra minutes for strides and stretching, but it mostly turned out okay.

I ended up lining up in third behind Steve Brightman and Adrian Massie as I got to the starting line so late. The timer said we'd have 5 seconds between runners (chip timed) for a staggered start but he basically told us to go within a second or two after the other. I used the first quarter mile to catch up to Massie and Brightman, which felt quite fast and aggressive. My main goal was to come away with the win. I really had no idea what time I was capable of on this course and hammering from the gun seemed risky when I didn't know if I had the aerobic fitness to hold that. I thought trying to go out in 5:40s for the first two miles on dirt roads then try to run as close as possible to 6:00 on the trails would be a good idea and get me a time probably in the mid-36s. I was also considering just sitting on the guys until 3 or 4 miles into the race as that would be safer. After pulling even with Brightman and Massie, we slowed a little. This part felt really effortless and without really pushing, I pulled a little ahead of Brightman. I figured I felt comfortable enough to go for it, so I slowly accelerated from there and extended the lead. Ended up going out much quicker than expected in mid 5:20s (mid-5:10s if the mile split is accurate) feeling pretty good. The second mile was a lot tougher, which I wasn't expecting given a net downhill. We changed roads a few times, with a brief asphalt section into a narrower dirt road with some (avoidable) puddles. The adrenaline of starting fast was starting to wear off as well and I began to tighten up considerably. 

Miles 3 and 4 in Rodman's hollow felt very long and difficult. I expected rolling hills of open grass singletrack, but was constantly surprised at the very tight turns and narrow sections that felt difficult to maintain momentum through. There were three or four decent climbs which were all exhausting and felt really slow. The wall itself was a grind and felt something more like in a mountain race. It's definitely tough to approach that grade (10-15%) when running on faster trails as opposed to getting into a slow rhythm during an actual mountain race/run and not trying to hammer it. Anyway, this section hurt. I felt exhausted throughout and my stomach was full. Tried to keep the gas on but it was tough.

Came out to the road knowing I only had a little left and tried to keep the momentum going. There was an awkward staircase reentering the trail which I had to nearly stop due to how steep the steps were. Was cooked for this last section and any climb that came with it. Some XC style faster trails towards the end, I looked back at one of the turns and figured I had the win at that point even though I had been scared I would be run down. Tried to close hard on the road but felt flat, heavy and tired. Still ran low 5s for this so pretty good for the end of trail race. Ended up running 35:28 which was way faster than I expected and I was pretty happy with that. Turns out I ran 27 seconds faster than Galoob's course record from 2015 but it's hard to compare the two as the start was moved up a bit and the course was a little shorter. Using strava route builder, it looks to be 0.08-0.09 miles short and given my average pace of 5:42 from the results, it's just about equivalent to Galoob's time. Given that this is my first real aerobic test/workout in a month and I wasn't even sure if I'd race this, I'm pleased to run about the same effort as Galoob did. We actually had very similar efforts. It looks like he ran the first 2 miles on the dirt roads about 10 seconds faster than me, while I ran the rodman's hollow trails about 10s faster. I ran the final mile of single-track a few seconds faster, but he closed the final quarter mile a few seconds quicker. Probably would have been very close had the courses been the same. From the last week of running a little harder, I no longer feel super flat on runs and do feel that I'm start to make some fitness gains. Just got to put in the work to be healthy and fit without burning out, and I'll be ready to go this summer and cross country season. Definitely a good first race of the "summer" season. This race has actually been on my bucket list for a while, so it's satisfying to get the win and a good time. I don't feel like I need to come back here. I appreciated the scenery and unique vegetation, but the twisty trails and sharp turns also weren't really my thing. Full results.

Ended up doing a pretty long cooldown of 6 miles. Did around 3 with a group, felt heavy and tired. I had really wanted to check out the stairway down to mohegan bluffs as well as the southeast lighthouse but we made a wrong turn on the roads and ended up looping back to the school. Given that I haven't been to Block Island in 5 years and might not be back for a while, I wanted to check off both places, so I headed there after the awards ceremony. Stomach hurt and felt exhausted but fun checking out both sites. Mohegan bluffs was really cool with a steep staircase, the lighthouse was allright. Groaned when I realized I had 2 miles back to downtown from the light, but actually felt a lot better on this portion.

Here are the shad bloom top 3 back to 2013 (no race held in 2020):

Sunday: 10 Miles

Arcadia mt tom- part of breakheart loop with Dad and Brady. Felt tired and it was warm out, but legs held up better than expected.

Weekly Total: 66 Miles

YTD Total: 538 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Getting the win and a decent time at Shad Bloom. Nice to be doing races again and getting ready for a good summer of trail and mountain running.

Weekly Lowlight: None

Happy to break into the 60s this week. Will probably take a week or two to get back to 70 mile weeks. Only big race I'm focusing on this summer is Mt. Washington. Otherwise, I generally want to keep my mileage up and do the occasional strides and tempo to stay fit going into the cross country season. I'll definitely do some other road races, trail races, FKT and mountain runs on the side, but Mt. Washington will likely be the only target race of the summer for me that I want to excel in. There's a handful of triathlons I'm looking at, I just need to be able to run without tape or swim with the tape before I can commit to one. 

I'll be in New Hampshire through May 20th to take my last finals. There's three local FKTs I'd like to get before heading home, I'll likely mostly focus on mountain stuff for FKTs after mid-june. I'm leaning towards doing one of the races at the Pineland Farms trail festival on May 29 as well. Will shift into triathlon and mountain training after.

Weekly Log: April 26 to May 2

Monday: 0 Miles

Tuesday: 10 Miles

It's a little tough being in the situation where I'm doing mostly easy mileage and the rest of the team is working out/racing. Puts us on completely different schedules and I really don't have anyone to run with. I don't mind running alone at home as I vary up the locations so the runs stay fresh and enjoyable, but it's hard to find motivation running the same routes all the time in Durham mostly by myself. I definitely have respect for the early morning runners who run the same routes all the time by themselves, that's how running gets boring for me. 

Anyway, felt that on this run as I did the 2.5 mile warm-up with the team, then went into 7.5 by myself. Don't remember much about this run.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Weird run. Intended to do 4-5 with people then 2-3 solo, but people were just walking so I just ran away from the group and did most of it solo. Tried to pick up a little in foss farm coming back, but just felt really flat and was slowed down by some very muddy sections.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Been alternating 8 and 10 milers, and interestingly the 8 milers seem to go by very quickly while the 10 milers feel really long despite only a 14-15 minute difference. Garrity with Jamie, Sully and Andrew into 2 mile loop solo. Pouring rain, felt comfortable until I took the tape off for last 2 when I got cold from waiting around. Leg/achilles had seemed to feel good on the untaped running, but the last .1 miles of this I felt some discomfort/weakness that was concerning. I haven't run without the tape since and have felt I may have damaged it a bit during this. The physical therapist said once I can hop on my achilles, I can run on it without the tape. I can't hop on it at all without high pain, so I'm concerned it's going to take a long time to get off the tape. It's not uncomfortable and doesn't seem to be straining my knee anymore, but it's annoying to have to purchase it frequently and spend 5 minutes taping it pre run. It won't be an issue for running but I really can't spend 5 minutes in transition for a tri taping my leg and I do want to return to tris very soon. 

Friday: 8 Miles

3.5 with guys doing a pre-meet for conference into a bunch of add-ons. Felt pretty flat and tight on this one. 207 miles in April so I am making progress, despite my frustrations about feeling tight a lot and having to use the athletic tape.

Saturday: 12 Miles

Longest run of the year. Exhausting weekend, drove to Lowell to watch the team run at conference so had to get up at 7:10 for this. Drove to Adams Point, the area of Durham right on great bay. Mix of roads and trails, great route. Felt tight in the beginning, but good enough to close in low 6s/high 5s at the end. Overall run was pretty good and nice to have some pop at the end.

The America East 10K championship went out in 6:08 through the mile then the top two guys closed in 4:14. Crazy race, but fun to watch. I'm not really a fan of tactical racing although the insane closes are exciting.

Sunday: 10 Miles

Was exhausted coming back from the meet, and had to stay up to some studying. Today's wake-up was 6:10 as the events started a lot earlier and it took a lot of willpower to not skip the run and go back to bed. Absolutely dead for 30 minutes. I do think the morning is a great time to run, but I'm not really a morning person. Drove over the rail trail and felt accordingly pretty weak, but fortunately not weak enough for the run to be miserable. Energy came back around in the second half. Felt pretty good running mid-6s and legs felt great. Decided to throw in a fast mile of 5:18 on the way back, felt fast and difficult but not terrible. Will slowly incorporate aerobic workouts so I can build fitness. Went back to lowell for some good races. Fantastic 5K.

Weekly Total: 58 Miles

YTD Total: 472 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Varied up the weekend runs, put in some faster pace and my legs felt great for the first time in a while. Can't complain.

Weekly Lowlight: A lot of solo running and not having made progress on achilles strength. I feel like my achilles is 95% with the tape but only 35% without (walking is fine though).

Weekly Log: April 19 to 25

 Slowly building and getting there.

Monday: 0. Few more 6-day weeks to have a day off just to be safe.

Tuesday: 10 Miles

Solo trail loop, went out oyster river trail, did the mile loop in Thompson forest moderate to grab the CR. Around 5 miles there where I felt extremely tight through much of it and especially awful during the segment pickup. Foot very tight too. Stretched out really well and felt smoother on the return, although hip flexor got pretty tight and uncomfortable and achilles tender. Not the best run overall but not a disaster either.

Wednesday: 8 Miles

Solo short snell. Same thing as yesterday, felt super tight first half, okay but not great after stretching in the middle. Hip flexor tight again in second half but achilles definitely better. A little faster than I've been going for one of our hillier routes.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Run with Trevor, nice to have company. Felt better, not super fluid and smooth but didn't have the same level of restriction and tightness of the last few days. Cruised in the high 6s through a jenkins with a radar trail add-on. 20 mph winds for sections, but mostly avoided it. Wild april weather with it snowing pretty hard.

Friday: 8 Miles

Car battery dead, so I missed practice. Got in 4 while waiting for service (jump start) from apartment in dover, then drove to campus to get another 4 in. Another tight day.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Woke up "early" (7am) to get in my run before the meet. Haven't done much singletrack this year and pretty much no technical/steep stuff so went over to Pawtuckaway for the first hard trail run of the year (terrain/elevation wise, not effort). A little tight early on but shook that out and felt mostly good on this. Got lost around mile 6 and couldn't find the south ridge trail so I ended up changing my route up a bit. Got back on the road at the end where there's a 150 foot hill. Felt strong and randomly decided to push it for the segment which I got. Felt hard but also controlled. Was also happy to see I was just a little off two of my CRs here I got in March 2020 when I was in much better shape and had a little more technical/climbing experience at that point. Definitely a bit of a confidence booster going into the mountain running season. 1700ish feet gain.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Slept really late and ended up running early afternoon. Didn't feel like running in Durham or Dover since Dover is a terrible place to run and running the same routes all the time is boring, but I also didn't feel like driving very far, so just parked over near Madbury trails and ran a local mix of trails and roads. All the stuff we do from the field house but having a different starting location did change it up a bit. Felt sore, likely from the trail run yesterday but mostly fine. Ran the last .3 miles without having my leg taped up and it felt fine, so I'll continue to do a little bit without my leg taped at the end of runs and slowly increase that until I don't need the tape at all. 

Weekly Total: 55 Miles

YTD Total: 414 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Injuries generally holding up, meeting my mileage goal and getting back to harder trail running.

Weekly Lowlight: Had some inner knee discomfort on some of the runs, pretty sure it's from the tape straining my knee a bit. Doesn't seem super concerning but I don't want it to get worse. I'm also not thrilled with how flat I felt for many of the runs this week. I think some of that can be relieved by stretching more, but I hope the mileage catches up to me and I start to feel strong soon. I've completed 5 weeks now and aren't super far off some goal races.

Ranking Every Mountain I've Summited- Part 2: The Middle Tier (40-21)

I'm going to get straight into this. If you read part 1, you know that I'm ranking the 60 mountains I've summitted. Part 1 covered the bottom, more mediocre 20 (rating rules/description in that post), this ranking covers the middle 20 which are definitely a better group of mountains.

40. Mount Battie (ME)

Elevation: 780'

# of Summits: 2 (July 2018, August 2020)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 5

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 20

Mount Battie is the other major, easily accessible peak of Camden Hills with Megunticook being the first one. Since the summit is open and offers pretty great views of downtown Camden and the atlantic ocean, it's a much better mountain. What prevents it from being truly great, however, is the auto road that increases traffic at the top, reduces the natural area of the summit, and limits the number of trails to the top (really only 2, with only one being especially steep/exciting).

39. Mount Field (NH)

Elevation: 4,327'

# of Summits: 1 (June 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 4

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 20

Mount Field is certainly better than its neighbor Mount Tom, but is far from one of the most exciting white mountain peaks. It's another peak with a pile of cairns in the woods and decent below treeline ridge trails. The view is through a small clearing in the trees and is quite good, but it's hard to really enjoy when you can see so little. 

38. Sugarloaf Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 3,806'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 1

Trails Rating: 9

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 20

Sugarloaf Mountain probably has one of the worst summits on this list, without even as much as a cairn to mark the peak. I missed it entirely and realized several hundred meters later than I had summitted at some point. It makes up for it with a solid viewpoint just past the summit. It's similar to Field although the view isn't quite as good but you can also see much more. The best part of the mountain is the trail going up and over it, the Devil's Path. There's nothing typical about the path, it's a very steep (20% grade +) and rather technical trail with some scrambling here and there. Very good hiking trail overall.

37. Beech Mountain (ME)

Elevation: 839'

# of Summits: 1 (August 2018)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 6

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 20

Like most peaks in Acadia National Park, Beech mtn is a true "bang for your buck" hike- a short and relatively easy hike that offers far better views than most hikes that difficulty offer. While a fairly nice peak with good trails and views, the views aren't as dramatic since it's a few miles inland from the ocean and the trail aren't quite as epic or fun as some of the peaks on the east side of the park.

36. Indian Head Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 3,573'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 4

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 20

Two peaks over from Sugarloaf mountain, this is a pretty similar peak although not quite as difficult a climb and has a slightly worse view. However, it ranks ahead due to having a much better and distinct summit, with a large slab of rock with a 60 degree viewpoint.

35. Mary's Rock (VA)

Elevation: 3,514'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2019)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 4

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 21

The first of two peaks on this list not in the Northeast US, Mary's rock is an easy yet scenic hike in Shenandoah National Park. It has great views at the top from a nice summit, but the trails are quite manicured and nothing special.

34. Mount Everett (MA)

Elevation: 2,625'

# of Summits: 2 (May 2019, July 2020)

View Rating: 5

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 21

Mount Everett is the tallest peak in the MA-NY-CT tri state area and offers a steep and technical traverse over it on the AT, which is a great hike/run. The summit is wide and flat but loses points to a high amount of shrubbery which obscures the views quite a bit.

33. Gunstock Mountain (NH)

Elevation: 2,244'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 22

While just a peak over from Rowe and Belknap, which were rated much lower, Gunstock offers much nicer views given that it's a ski resort and has a wide grass summit. That does take away a isolated natural summit feeling, but given that its' two neighbors have no views, it's definitely much better. Nice views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the rest of the range. Great approach trail from mountain rowe through some dense pine forest.

32. Bear Mountain (CT)

Elevation: 2,323'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 22

The highest actual peak of Connecticut, it's certainly a better spot overall than the high point. Pretty nice of views of Salisbury and the twin lakes, even you can only see about 180 degrees. Really fun scramble on the AT to get there.

31. Mount Race (MA)

Elevation: 2,365'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2019, July 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 22

Just north of Bear Mountain and slightly higher, although the views are not quite as good due to the shrubbery obscuring some of it. The summit is nice and rocky, although not very big and absolutely swarming with flies last July. Awesome ledge trails with much better views coming from the south and a very technical scramble to the north.

30. Gorham Mountain (ME)

Elevation: 517'

# of Summits: 1 (August 2019)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 23

Another tiny peak that requires an easy and short hike, this is another Acadia NP park mountain that delivers on the Atlantic ocean views. Some fun rocky trails from the south.

29. Storm King Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 1,339'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2020)

View Rating: 9

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 24

Like Acadia, The Hudson Highlands is a gem for short, very accessible hikes that have fantastic views. Storm King was nothing more than a short stop on the way back from the catskills, yet was arguably better than the main destination. Phenomenal trails with many fantastic viewpoints of the Hudson. Summit a bit small.

28. The Beehive (ME)

Elevation: 539'

# of Summits: 1 (August 2018)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 7

Trails Rating: 8

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 24

Classic Acadia peak with iron rung climbing on cliffs and a great lookout of Sand Beach and the Atlantic. Definitely a must-do in the park.

27. Alander Mountain (MA)

Elevation: 2,238'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 7

Summit Rating: 8

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 8

Overall Rating: 24

The taconic crest trail was mediocre and quite overgrown, but there's a about a quarter mile of above-treeline trail which I was not expecting in this region. Solid views from there into three states.

26. Acadia Mountain (ME)

Elevation: 681'

# of Summits: 1 (August 2019)

View Rating: 9

Summit Rating: 8

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 25

A lesser traveled peak on the east side of mount desert island, Acadia mountain is a little different from the more popular ones in that it offers views of Somes Sounds rather than just the ocean. Cool summit with great views for pretty low effort (steep trail though).

25. Breakneck Ridge (NY)

Elevation: 1,260'

# of Summits: 1 (June 2018)

View Rating: 9

Summit Rating: 5

Trails Rating: 10

Elevation Rating: 1

Overall Rating: 25'

Iconic trail in cold spring, it's only about a mile to the summit but feature very steep scrambling (about 1,000 feet climbing in that mile). Really fun ascent that is not runnable whatsoever. Fantastic views of the hudson in many places, summit isn't really big or doesn't offer the best views.

24. Mount Major (NH)

Elevation: 1,785'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2020)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 8

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 25

While not one of the higher peaks in the Belknap range, mountain major has a much bigger, rocky, and open summit which offers much better views. It's right next to lake Winnipesaukee and has a great vantage point of the lake. Pretty cool and steep trails in both directions. Only downside is that the summit is packed. 

23. Mount Monroe (NH)

Elevation: 5,371'

# of Summits: 2 (June 2018, August 2020)

View Rating: 9

Summit Rating: 4

Trails Rating: 9

Elevation Rating: 4

Overall Rating: 26

While it has all the epicness of the presidential range, it's a much weaker mountain than the surrounding ones in my opinion due to having a much smaller and less epic summit as well as little prominence over the nearby area. Out of all the presidential (excluding Pierce), Monroe just has the least wow factor upon summiting and isn't a great place to pull out a lunch (it's still great, just not as good some nearby mountains).

22. Twin Mountain (NY)

Elevation: 3,650'

# of Summits: 1 (May 2020)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 6

Trails Rating: 9

Elevation Rating: 3

Overall Rating: 26

Unlike nearby Catskills Indian Head and Sugarloaf mountain, Twin has a much larger viewpoint in many directions and the summit isn't simply in the middle of the woods in singletrack. Great steep climb up to it as well.

21. Mount Esja (Iceland)

Elevation: 2,999'

# of Summits: 1 (July 2016)

View Rating: 8

Summit Rating: 9

Trails Rating: 7

Elevation Rating: 2

Overall Rating: 26

Scenic huge summit with ocean views and a cool climb up to with iron chains to hold for support. Trail options pretty limited, however.

April 23 Update: Finally finished this, did the last 12-13 mountains just now despite intending to them last September after finishing part 1. I'd like to finish Part 3 before I start hiking/mountain running for this summer. Definitely limited the actual write-ups so I could just get it done. Also, all photos were taken by me. If there's no photo, I didn't take a photo on that peak.

Weekly Log: April 12 to 18

Getting close to regular running again, so I'll continue with the weekly logs. I've hit week 4 without pain and have now run 50 in a week and several 10 mile runs, so I'm confident that I'll get back to normal this time. It'll be a little while until I'm fit and back to regular training/racing (and 100% healthy), but it's nice to finally make progress after a pretty rough first quarter of the year. 

In my return to running, I've gone 37-45-38-50 for weekly mileage with most weeks feeling healthier than the last. I definitely feel significantly more strain on my achilles when doing the workouts, so now that I'm not racing outdoor I'll cut out the workouts until I can run without having to tape up my leg and am more fit/have more mileage under my belt. My first outdoor collegiate race was pretty rough as I dropped a 9:30 in the 3K, which is the slowest time I think I've run since sophomore year of high school and my first time over 9 minutes in about 3 years. I obviously wasn't ready to race and felt  a lot of strain on my injuries, but I don't regret it as it was worth giving the season a shot. It's disappointing to miss outdoor but we don't really even have a long distance squad this year (2 of the guys are injured, 2 of the guys are out of shape) and the meets haven't been great regardless (good competition sometimes, but mostly local stuff that's hard to get excited about). 

The plan moving forward is to continue to monitor both my achilles injury and smaller ailments (usual shin splints, a little bit of foot tightness from January, somewhat strained/tight hip flexor) while slowly building mileage/fitness for some fun summer races, FKTs and Cross Country. There are some road races and trail races in June, but don't seem to be much after that. Outside of running the Mount Washington Road Race on June 20th, I don't really have any plans, just a lot of possibilities. I would like to return to high points this year and have been thinking about either driving west and doing a handful of midwest high point, or going south and doing some of the southern appalachians. I am signed up for the peachtree road race in Atlanta, but I'm not sure whether or not I'll do it considering the price of hotels/flights and that I don't run very well in the heat. It'd appeal to me much more if I could combine it with some kind of southern highpointing trip. I'd also like to return to the triathlon this year. I've been enjoying biking much more than usual this year, even if I'm slower than pretty much anyone I know who bikes. I haven't done a tri in quite a while and it's a pretty great sport. I can't see myself seriously training for the bike or swim, but considering I've nearly PR'd for yearly mileage on a bike just 1/3 into the year, I should definitely be much stronger than in year's past. Next month will probably be a boring mileage build with minimal workouts and hard efforts and mostly focusing on getting/staying healthy, but I look forward to the period after that. Anyway, here's this weeks log. I won't write about the last few weeks, but I've made most of the activities public on strava.

Monday: 0

Completely off. Certain things trashed from the race and PT didn't want to me run either.

Tuesday: 4 Miles

Planned a 10 mile local trail loop. Wore these adidas I got a month ago in the hope they'd help with achilles pain (they didn't) and for some reason, my left foot gets extremely tight and painful in them. Could not deal with it anymore after a few miles, so I turned around and just called it. Shin was pretty tight anyway.

Wednesday: 10 Miles

Drove home in the afternoon as I had a few days off school, stopped at Minuteman National Historical Park in Lincoln, MA to get in my run. The battle road is a really nice smooth gravel surface and has cool scenery to run by in the form of historical (american revolution) houses and monuments. Ran the entire battle road trail out and back for the first time (I usually do a short run here after hiking in the white mountains). Very convenient place to stop right off I-95. Moderate shin discomfort, high hip flexor discomfort, low achilles discomfort. Tired in the later miles.

Thursday: 10 Miles

Ninigret with Dad and dog in rain/windy conditions. Low discomfort on all injuries but legs really heavy and a bit of struggle to go anything but slow. 

Friday: 8 Miles

Bluff point run. I haven't run technical trails all year and this was a shock to the system, especially running them when the trails were wet and flooded in areas. Got dropped as I just can not run comfortably fast on wet technical terrain (and my achilles probably isn't quite ready for it either). Had some foot discomfort which was annoying, same thing as January injury. Was worried about but it seems fine two runs later.

Saturday: 10 Miles

Was lacking motivation to run after waiting all day and going solo. Goal was to hit 10 today so I could just run 8 Sunday to hit 50 on the week. Surprisingly felt strong throughout and went by quickly, went 6:20s for the last mile which I definitely did not feel good enough to do any other day this week. Started at Chariho high school and made a lollipop on Carter trails. Interestingly, my hip flexor was tight/sore again, guessing any degree of steep incline/decline causes this. Something I need to get better before mountain running, but it's also not a huge issue. Easily the best feeling run of the week.

Sunday: 8 Miles

Regular rhody loop. Felt kind of flat today and we went slow. 

Weekly Total: 50 Miles

YTD Total: 360 Miles (according to strava, I'll just let strava track it from now on). Funny how this is only slightly more than I ran in January or March 2020. Definitely not PR'ing for yearly mileage in 2021.

Weekly Highlight: Feeling strong on the Chariho-Carter run when I came into it worried about foot pain.

Weekly Lowlight: Having to deal with four "injuries" at once and even when 3 of them are great, struggling with another area.

Random questions/thoughts:

-What pace should you shoot for on the run leg of a triathlon? I feel like any run portions of a tri in the past for me have been really slow and I should probably be running 5:20s-5:30s for a 5K.

-I've run in 5 of 6 New England states this year, almost certainly the earliest in a year I've run in Maine. I feel like I could run in a lot of states this year, depending on what I do for travel. Unfortunately, Vermont is really far out of the way and I don't really have a lot of bucket list runs/races to do there like I do for the other states. 

-Where are good places for Southern Rhode Islanders to train for the Mount Washington road race? I was thinking doing repeats on the Wachusett Mountain auto road and Castle Craig road would be a good start, but those are still only a fraction of the full length of Mt. Wash and a good drive away.

-The high point of Illinois, Charles Mound, is only open 5 weekends a year. This is pretty frustrating inconvenience for highpointers to work around and seems selfish the owners won't allow more weekends or give up the property to the state.

-I somewhat enjoy running in the cold rain. It's definitely miserable sometimes, but other times there's a peacefulness to the raw weather. I don't think anyone in the world feels the same way. My ideal walking temperature is probably 40 degrees with a slight breeze.

Potential summer races:

-Mount Washington road race (Registered and planning on doing it)

-Peachtree road race (Registered, but not sure if I'll do it)

-Black fly in my eye 10 mile trail race: fun looking trail race at the base of mount washington, could be a good tune-up for MWRR but not sure what the competition is like 

-Loon Mountain Race

-Newport 10 Miler: scenic and fast course, I'd need to be in pretty good shape by then (June 6)

-Shad Bloom: this race looks great, but I'll still be in NH for school and I don't know if I'll be healthy enough for a hard 10K effort by then

-Pineland farms trail festival

-Harvest triathlon: great, single loop Olympic courses

-Run 4 Kerri

Chocorua mountain race and Catamount ultras look really cool, but have massive waitlists so there isn't really a chance of running them.