Marathon Training Week 7! Week of 9-23 to 9-29

So I guess I'm supposed to taper at this point?  Legs feel pretty good, and I'm running shorter distances, but faster and some on very technical trails.  Decided to skip the St. Michael's race in favor of a big family breakfast.  We also got a new Breville juicer and have been making a lot of fresh juice with it - store bought stuff doesn't even come close.  I think my wife even took the left over sludge from it and did some sort of compost with it in the garden...

Monday, 9-23 - 3 Miles - Wheeler Cross Country trails.  Easy run through the woods behind the ball fields, faster last quarter mile...nice day!



Tuesday, 9-24 - 1.2 Miles (Road) - Sprague short run before Sophia's first middle school soccer game.  I had scoped out this tiny town outside Norwich, and it looked as though there was a reservoir with trails not even a half-mile away.  Alas, it took way too long for me to get everything done at the house and get up there, so I basically had a 10 minute window to do something.  Quick out and back on roads, but a much faster last half that felt good:



And the girls won 7-1!  Great job, and a solid performance in their first game...

Sophia giving me her "Oh, Dad!" look...

Have to get out on some technical trails tomorrow if possible...

Wednesday, 9-25 - 3 Miles (Trail, Road, Track) - Wheeler.  Started on the Wheeler CC trails, hit the roads behind, and finished up with 200's on the dirt/gravel track.  Interesting mix...



Thursday, 9-26 - 4.4 Miles (Trails) - Pachaug and Pharisee Trails, Sterling CT.  Another piece of blu blazed trail goodness.  Started with a collectively descending trail to Porter Pond, then back to the start, cross the street and ascend the rarely-used-by-runners Pharisee (Pronounced "Far I See") trail, past an active beaver lodge to the summit, which was a collection of large boulders, cave-ish holes...heard a bit of movement, and I had the distinct vibe that I was being watched, or more specifically, stalked.  Turned around and hauled ass outta there, but I have to wonder: was it just me?  I only got that feeling one other time, in all the trail runs I've done, and there have been quite a few solo trail runs...but a cool trail nonetheless, heebie-jeebies aside:

Start of this trail section, and spider free!

Friday, 9-27 - 2.5 Miles (Trails) - Green Falls Pond loop, clockwise.  Cool day, and nobody around, and a quick window for a run at my favorite playground, Green Falls...technical, scenic and a good place to start a short or long trail run.  I completed the loop in just over 30 minutes with a pretty good effort.  Sub-30 next time out, and will have to create a segment for the loop, as I'd lean toward this as a shorter, more intense course, especially with the technicality of it...



Thought I'd add this in:  although I'm running only my fourth marathon-distance race ever in just over a week, I oddly haven't been nervous at all...I'm not super-competitive except with myself, and I know I have last year's time beat.  I've about tripled my mileage from last year, and have done enough long runs to feel comfortable with this distance, and the technical trail running and hills I've done leaves me with no hesitation there either.  I've run the course.  Know the course, and how to run it.  Mentally, I know where I hit the Wall, and I think I can get over it.  I had a game plan for Surftown and it worked, I have a game plan for Nipmuck as well...gonna enjoy the Hell outta the day, and run the 30th Annual Nipmuck Marathon the best I can :)

Saturday, September 28 - 6 Miles (Roads) - Local home 6 mile loop.  I wasn't able to make the group run this morning, but I was able to get a lot done around the house, spend the day with my girls, and sneak out for a short run in the afternoon.  I did the 6 mile loop from the house today, one of the shorter loops available to me in the sticks.  Good hills, and I picked up three Strava trophy thingies, so the effort was pretty good as well.  Muddy has the CR on the Gypsy Woods segment, and I'm sure he was just out for a stroll, but my new best time is 20 seconds behind his...I can't even begin to imagine the swift and horrible retribution that will rain down if I ever take a segment from him (or Jonny, or any of you other cats out there)...but I'm getting closer :)



Sunday, 9-29 - 0 Miles - Family Day!  Spent a gloriously lazy morning with the family unit, got some things done around the house and ate and watched football all day, and visited with my mother and father-in-law.  Ate a lot!  Sophia made lasagna yesterday, so I've been gorging on that since last night...love to have a daughter who loves to cook - she's making spinach pies as we speak :)