Roads and Trails and Oceans, oh my!!! Week of 6-3 to 6-9

Monday, 6-3 - 6.4 Miles (Bike) - Local roads tester.  Really small window of opportunity for something before the bus came, so I finally busted out the bike for a ride...wet roads and skinny tires, and my not having really ridden a bike in years might seem like a recipe for disaster, but I did OK!  And apparently I'm really fast, because Strava had me down for a 51mph top speed..."Man, did you see that Critchlery dude?  He was flying down that hill!!!"  Really pumped to get out there again, and also have to get a couple of things tweaked on it (front brake, couple of gears not right), but so far, so good!



Tuesday, 6-4 - 6+ Miles (Trail) - Francis Carter Preserve trails with Jim and Tia.  Really nice set of trails in Charlestown, RI, had never been there but had printed out maps...so when we left my place, I had Jim grab some maps out of my glove box and that was what we settled on.  Best weather day I've ever seen for running?  Low 60s, cool breeze, low humidity, and not a cloud in the sky.  Wound our way through the preserve and ended up on a power line trail for a bit, and squeezed 10K+ out of the trails, which is Tia's longest run ever!  Great job!

Perfect trail day

Tuesday Morning Turtle, trucking up the trail...

Tia on a 10K trail run

Jim at the aptly named "Split Rock"

          P.M. - 3 Miles (Trail) - Cossaduck Hill portion of Narragansett Trail.  Round two, and a hilly, slightly bloody, technical one at that.  Had to go out and pick up the VW banner I'd hung as a halfway point for last weekend's race - I just now realized that this run was a 5K as well, so the banner was dead smack in the middle of this entire section...which means an out/back on this piece of trail would make one bitch of a 10K, for sure...hmmm.



Wednesday, 6-5 - 7+ Miles (Road) - Misquamicut Beach loop, RI.  Post karate run.  Hey, it's National Running Day!!!  Ran down to the beach to check the surf (flat as a lake), and decided to do the loop.  Very flat but very scenic, and a really nice day, although a bit warm with no shade the entire route...saw a few people out running and a ton of people out biking, great to see that!



Thursday, 6-6 - 11 Miles (Bike) - Local roads in NoSto.  Bike ride #2, and while I set any land speed records, I feel like I'm doing pretty well for having 2 rides in a week after a 20+ year layoff!



Friday, 6-7 - 0 Miles - Pouring rain and a lack of morning motivation derailed my attempt to finally join the 4:45 club, which I'll most likely never live down...

Saturday, 6-8 - 2 Miles - (Trail Hike/Run) - Short maintenance session on the Wintechog Hill portion of the Narragansett Trail.  Possibly the most overgrown section of the trail I manage.  The trickling streams were swollen, so I bit the bullet and plunged my feet into the first one, best to get it out of the way :), just did trimming and clearing today, but this is the section that needs blazing the most...so that'll be this week's project.  Can't have people getting lost on the trail!  Congrats also go out to friend Gary Hebert, who texted me to say that he completed a very, very tough Cayuga Trails 50 Mile race in 12:20...and given the elevation, conditions from the rain, and number of elites that dropped out, I'd say that is quite an achievement!!!  Great job!

Sunday, 6-9 - 3 Miles (Beach) - Misquamicut Beach run.  Nothing like running barefoot on the beach - hard packed sand, soft sections to make you work a bit harder, sun, surf, and a nice breeze...great day for a short run, with negative splits too!  Didn't quite hit my weekly goals, but I got my first two rides in and with hills, which is a huge confidence boost for the tri...and some trail maintenance, and good runs as well.  A good mix.  Shooting to go long on Tuesday, then hit the fun runs before Friday's 10K in Niantic...overall, a well-rounded week!